Monday, September 30, 2019

Monster Verses Monster

Today, people still recognize the ghastly, atrocious Frankenstein as a monster, but according to Deems Taylor’s Monster, Richard Wagner is the monstrous beast. Monsters are expected to be frightening like Frankenstein, but some monsters are real humans like Richard Wagner. Oddly, when comparing Frankenstein and Wagner–they certainly share some of the same grim features. Frankenstein and Wagners’ faces manifest a gloomy expression of black death. Their spirit for life lacks warmth in their eyes. Frankenstein’s eyes are hollow and dreary covered with drooping, eyelids, and underneath his eyes are massive sandbags. Similarly, Wagner’s vengeful gaze leers inertly like a frozen statue. Taylor says, â€Å"[he has] a genius for making enemies† (695). The pasty bags (sagging above his cheekbones) are blown up like air pockets. Moreover, they share similar shriveled lips. Frankenstein’s colorless lips are dimly distorted like the mouth of a ruined, porcelain doll. While Wagner’s, sickly, pale lips evoke a spine-chilling eeriness causing most people to shutter; it’s the kind that makes the skin crawl with goose bumps. Undoubtedly, their cold expressions are lifeless, and wicked; however, the size and shape of their heads are equally dreadful. Their large, peculiar, heads resemble a heavy mass wobbling like a bobble head. Their foreheads dominate their gigantic skulls. Frankenstein’s forehead is like a stretched-canvas awning for protection over his eyes. It protrudes along his brow like a piece of metal rod lodged underneath his skin. Likewise, Wagner’s receding hairline emphasizes the size of his enormous skull. According to Taylor, he states, â€Å"[his] head is too big for his body† (693). Furthermore, the structure of their chins is abnormally malformed. Frankenstein’s square chin bulks like a block of wood wedged into his bottom jaw. Its size is the dimension of a small building. On the other hand, Wagner’s narrow, pointy chin extends like an arrow heading for its target. Indeed, the likeness of Frankenstein and Wagners’ massive skulls are laughably creepy. Nonetheless, the magnitude of resemblance is uncanny. All the same, the fearsome expressions on a face or the bizarre proportions of a body can depict a vision of a monster. Frankenstein is a character, created, monster, but Wagner is a real person; a monster in the eyes of Taylor. As attested by Taylor, â€Å"the name of [his] monster [is] Richard Wagner† (695).

Sunday, September 29, 2019

History Questions Essay

(1) European explorations were motivated by desire for wealth, power and prestige. Explorers hoped to find gold, silver and spices, new colonies to conquer and expand empires, opportunities to increase trade, and spread Christianity. Expeditions not only accomplished the missions but in the process they discovered new and faster routes as well as advancements in cartography and navigation instruments. (2) Puritans relied only on the Bible for their guidance in daily life.  Their strong faith in God is reflected in their customs, traditions and in all their actions. Their common faith held them together especially through the rough times. They were strict in their interpretation and observance of the teachings of the Scriptures. They believed that hard work will earn them the rewards in heaven. Drama, religious music and erotic poetry were prohibited, as they may lead to evil acts. Religious music took the attention away from the Word of God while Drama and Poetry portrayed lust and immorality.  They were allowed the Greek Classics and they were encouraged to compose their own poetry, drama and music which must have religious themes. (3) Quoting from Matthew 5:14 â€Å"a city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden,† John Winthrop in 1630 addressed the Puritan colonists in New England and told them that their community was â€Å"a city upon a hill watched by the world. † By that he meant that they must conduct themselves in ways that God may be glorified. They must bring honor to God and His worthy followers by their actions at all times. (5) The wars in the late 17th and early 18th centuries brought a realization among the colonists that they were made to fight wars for the mother country that colonists have little or nothing to gain from. They were made to fight wars that were not their own. As a result, the colonists conceived of declaring their independence from Britain and asserting their rights for self-governance. Britain lost in terms of excessive taxes that it levied on the colonies for their own coffers. The colonists lost in terms of protection from a great and skilled military power.  The greatest gain of the colonists was their independence. (6) John Adams was for the Republican type of government, with a bicameral legislature and the independence of the 3 branches: executive, legislative and judiciary. Thomas Paine was for a Representative system of government which took in the diverse and individual interests of the states and their people and which governs with independence from a superior or outside means, meaning a federal or hereditary government such as that from Britain. That era’s constitution followed Thomas Paine’s model. (7) The strengths of the Articles of Confederation were: it established an independent government where every state was represented through its Congress, its Congress had all the powers of government, and its system of government placed the power on the people through the states. The weaknesses were: there was no separation of powers, there was no check and balance of power as there was only one house in Congress, Congress did not have the major powers like taxation, diplomacy, regulation of commerce and expediency to amend constitutional provisions. The purpose of the Articles was met, which was for the thirteen colonies to unite, but the government it created lacked significant provisions for a judiciary and an executive to carry out functions which Congress can not by itself do. Something must be done with the economy which was not within Congress’ powers. George Washington believed that there must be a single power over the thirteen colonies to manage their collective affairs.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Property Asset Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Property Asset Management - Case Study Example Its choice of location of the retail outlets will most likely determine the strategic location of its warehouses so that logistical support of fast and cheap delivery expenses is maximized. The choice of location of warehouses is therefore crucial and is heavily dependent on their projection of where the retail outlets are to be situated. It seems that leaseholds are long-term and for 30 years. On the other hand their strategy to expand and locate retail outlets are yet to be tested and any error in their choice will mean that they have to pre-terminate their leaseholds, if they go on leasing, or assign them. The existing leases are FRI types which mean that Dell has the annual burden of maintaining the facilities, repair and cover them with insurance. But it saves them to raise the capital cost to set up the facility. In a leasehold Dell does not need to raise the initial cost of constructing the facilities. On the other hand in a freehold Dell will have to raise the required huge funding at the start of the project. In a Leasehold the company does not end up owning the facility and thereby benefit from it increases in value. In freehold they benefit from the gain on the sale of the property at values that are higher than the acquisition cost. The impact on the net income in terms of leasehold costs as against depre ciation will be minimal. Leasehold rates include financial charges of lessor, whereas in freehold that is funded by debt the company will incur financial charges as interest and depreciation expense that is over the life of the asset. In both freehold and leasehold with FRI Dell will incur the same cost of annual maintenance and repair, and cost of capital. In Dell's decision to acquire as freehold warehouse facilities and retail outlets chains has an impact on capital investments. There are two types of properties that they need, namely: warehouse facility, and retail outlets. In either case they will also need transport delivery system, between the plant and the warehouse, and from warehouse hubs to the retail outlets. Capital asset investment. Definitely, the freehold strategy will require huge long-term funds. The location and number of square meters will determine the acquisition price of each type of facility. In the case of warehouse facilities their location will likely be outside commercial centers may not be as expensive in terms of property values compared to retail outlets which are to be located in commercial centers where property values are higher. Also, the retail outlet and location of property will likely increase in value over the years compared to warehouse locations. In terms of the size or area required the warehouse facilities could be larger on the average compared to warehouse outlets. Their current cost of acquiring could be the same with the outlets of higher price per floor area but less area, while the warehouse is with a lower price but larger area. But when the total areas of warehouses and retail outlets are compared the investment on each type that is needed to acquir e them could be significant. We do not know which one will be more expensive when the aggregates

Friday, September 27, 2019

Refer to assignment criteria Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Refer to assignment criteria - Case Study Example It was not until the 1940s that English law tolerated the possibility of corporations committing all types of offences. For these, a much more limited doctrine was developed. Known variously as 'direct', 'identification' or 'alter ego' liability, it sought to overcome the objection that an unnatural person such as a company was incapable of forming an intention or being reckless. It opened up the possibility of corporations being liable for the whole range of mainstream offences, including fraud and manslaughter. The notion of identification was brought into play under which the wrongdoing of certain senior officers - natural persons - in the corporation was identified with the corporation itself - the unnatural person. Their acts and accompanying guilty minds, on this version of liability, were those of the company - they acted as the company and sometimes on behalf of the company. Thus, as a juristic person, a corporation itself was capable of committing almost any criminal offence , so long as a director or equivalent had authorized it. It is not necessary actually to prosecute a director or officer in order to find the company itself liable. It should be sufficient that there is evidence against the director or officer. ... However, in practice such an action is rarely brought. Of more practical significance is the potential for growth in the use of what are known as directors' liability clauses, which are common in regulatory legislation and are increasingly demanded to satisfy European harmonization. Such legislation often has provided specifically that where the offence is committed by a corporate body with the consent, involvement of, or is attributable to the neglect of any director, secretary or similar officer, they as well as the corporation shall be guilty and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Prosecutions under these provisions were likely to increase and finally after suffering through an era of financial cutbacks in the early 1980's, many regulatory agencies learned lessons. As a matter of public policy, law does not allow insuring against Criminal penalties. The Companies Acts do, however, permit companies to cover the costs of civil claims and the costs of a successful defence of a criminal action. (Celia Wells) Changing Legal Attitudes The confusion of the English law resulted in changing legal attitudes to corporate criminal behaviour. As English law takes two different routes to find corporation guilty of an offence. For regulatory offences, the vicarious principle has always been used while for mainstream offences; the much more restrictive identification doctrine was invoked. Under this, only when directors of senior officers were, or should have been aware, of safety shortcuts will liability be possible. It was not until the House of Lords' decision in Tesco v Nattrass in 19711 that serious consideration was

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Formal recommendation report - android tablets Research Paper

Formal recommendation report - android tablets - Research Paper Example The android tablets are fundamental in the teaching and learning process. Among their basic functions and advantages, include their portability. Android tablets have small sizes and light thus easy to carry and therefore facilitate interactive communication regardless of the location of either a student or a teacher. The size makes the tablets convenient for students to use thus making them fundamental. Additionally, as students of information technology the android tablets epitomize the future of mobile communication. Understanding their operations and specifications is therefore basic to the study of hardware in the class. Such requires a degree of practicality only achievable if the students possessed the devices. The gadgets function as effective mobile phones thus perform all the functions previously performed by mobile phones but also sum up as hand held computers. They are therefore essential in the learning process as students use such in carrying their digital notes thus sus taining the learning process. ... implications of the project Equipment/Activity Price Units Total cost Android tablets $ 550 21 $ 11,550 UPS $ 210 3 $ 630 Teacher training $ 350 2 teachers $ 700 Total project cost $ 12,880 Possible Solutions To address the evident lack of the hand held communication devices in the class is a collective responsibility that must involve all the stakeholders in the facility. Such include the parents, students and the teachers. Additionally, the absence of the devises also portrays an administrative inefficiency thus compelling the inclusion of the administration of the institution in the solution determination process. Among the possible urgent solutions to the problem is to seek the schools resources in availing the devices to the students or compelling the parents to purchase the devices to their children. An effective long-term solution is to institutionalize the creation of a computer lab and equipping it with the fundamental devices for practical classes or compelling every parent to buy such for their children before admission. Knowledge and Interests As an active class member, I have the firsthand experience on the effects of the absence of the android devices. As stated earlier, the devices are fundamental in the learning process, they facilitate practical classes thus making learning a cohesive process in which every class member contributes and learns equally. With such knowledge, it becomes possible to study the prevalence of the lack among the students thus determine a cost effective solution for every student. In devising a solution to the problem, one must consider the cost implications of such solutions vis-a-vis the importance of the devices to the learning process. Preliminary Findings With adequate observation of the prevalence of the lack in the class

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Three major causes of soil erosion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Three major causes of soil erosion - Essay Example Sheet erosion is caused by the effect of rainfall on the surface soil. The force of water running downhill caused by adequate rainfall could remove the soil particles on the surface and carry it towards the lower areas. The heavier the rainfall is or the longer the rain occurs, the more soil particles are taken from its original position. Sheet erosion is definitely a natural phenomenon. However, the degree of erosion can be determined also by natural and artificial factors. The most effective natural means of preventing sheet erosion is vegetation. This is because â€Å"sheet erosion mainly occurs under conditions where the soil surface is insufficiently protected by vegetation cover† (Govers, 2004, p.947). The roots of plants and trees on slopes contribute in reducing the effects of erosion by holding on to the surface soil. Aside from this, the roots also tend to siphon certain amount of the rainwater that seeps into the soil. The foliage also prevents portions of the total rainfall from hitting ground. Human intervention may be necessary in order to prevent soil erosion. Such interventions would include actual planting of trees on slopes that are most vulnerable to erosion due to rainfall.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Movie Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Movie Journal - Essay Example The movie introduces an aspect of love when Bliss falls in love with a guitarist, Oliver. However, Oliver heartbreaks Bliss by going on a tour around the states with his band. Another turning point suffices when the police unravel the scheme where some roller players like Bliss are underage. Bliss’s parents know about her involvement in Roller Derby. The movie brings the aspect of intimacy where Bliss and Oliver make love (Barrymore Film). Bliss thinks she is old enough to decide on herself while her mother keeps pampering her. Bliss gets heartbroken on realizing that Oliver is cheating on her and seeks comfort from her mother who coerced her to participate in the Blue Bonnet Pageant. However, the pageant and the roller derby match were taking place the same day and Bliss chose to participate in the pageant to please her mother. Nevertheless, Bliss’s father coerced Bliss to participate in the derby to the dismay of Bliss’s mother. Ultimately, Bliss pursues her pa ssion for Roller Derby (Barrymore Film). The movie shows how love supersedes pressure in one’s career and in sports as well as how roller derby solved Bliss’s emotional problems. The movie had 58 songs of different genres. Although the movie received positive reviews, it recorded financial losses thus becoming the greatest underdog sports movie. Personal Best is a 124 minutes movie directed and produced by Robert Towne in 1982 (Towne Film). The movie revolves around the lives of four sports women personalities and their efforts in trying to qualify for the American track-and-field team that would participate in the 1980 Olympic Games. During their preparations, Chris Cahill, a young experienced athlete meets, Tory Skinner, a more experienced athlete where Tory guides Chris on how to improve his performance to qualify for the American track-and-field team (Towne Film). Nevertheless, this generates conflict in the movie where Terry Tinghoff, the coach insists that Chris should only follow the coach’s advice. Moreover, the conflict and anger persists when Tory and Chris develop an intimate relationship and Chris further engages in a heterosexual relationship with Denny (Towne Film). Nevertheless, despite the athlete’s efforts to qualify for the American track-and-field team, United States announced its boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games for political reasons leaving the athletes with only their â€Å"personal best† records from the training sessions and a chattered sporting dream (Towne Film). The movie presents the complexity in relationships between coaches and athletes as well as the challenges of being a woman athlete. Indeed, the movie displays the position of sexuality in spots. More so, the movie depicts distinct sexual relationships in the training camp as well as rewards, uncertainties and risks involved in athletics (Towne Film). Although the movie did not succeed in the box-office, it attracted positive reviews and the refore making a good movie (Towne Film). Sugar is a 120 minutes sports drama film revolving around the life of a baseball player, Miguel (Sugar) (Boden Film). Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed and produced the film in 2008 where Miguel seeks to deliver his family from poverty by participating in professional baseball leagues (Boden Film). Indeed, his call to the United States' minor league system marked his breakthrough in sports when he was just 19 years old (Boden Film). As a

Monday, September 23, 2019

Carrying out research Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Carrying out research - Coursework Example Note the water collects into the potato chip. The potato chip engorges, and increases in mass (Soodak & Iberall, 1979). Osmosis is the process where water molecules from regions of low concentration (often the solvent solution) to higher concentration (often the solute) through a semi-permeable membrane. In most biological processes, osmosis involves movement of water molecules through the cell membranes of different organisms (Sack, 2005). However, other larger molecules such as the sucrose molecules cannot pass due to their large size. When cells are placed in distilled water the water molecules pass into these cells, causing them to increase in size and their mass increases. Most cells have a low water potential since they contain many dissolved chemicals. As a result, more water molecules pass through the cell membrane into these cells and less water molecules pass out of the cell. The net increase in water molecules into the cell results in increased cell mass. The process continues until a point where no more water can pass the cell wall, even though the water concentration is uneven. The cell wall stretches preventing more water molecules from passing into the cell. With the potato chip containing numerous cells, when the chip is inserted into a test tube containing low concentrations of sucrose solution, the chip is more likely to increase its mass. The converse also holds when the chip is inserted in highly concentrations of sucrose solution where the water molecules pass from the cell into the highly concentrated sucrose solution through the cell wall. The cell therefore decreases in size and mass by becoming flaccid (Sack, 2005). From the above results its evident that increase in the sucrose concentration (from 0 to 60 percent) results to decline in the average percentage increase in the mass of the potato chip. However, when the concentration rises above 75 percent, the percentage increase in the mass of the potato chip is

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Four questions - short essay style Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Four questions - short style - Essay Example IMC is meant to maintain a proper and coherent communication relation as one of the most important basic principles of IMC is to ensure ‘consistency’ in messages being communicated. IMC is not only a careful coordination of some or all promotional messages such as personal selling, advertisement, sales promotion, sponsorship etc, but also a very strategic tool to ensure consistency in each and every contacts between the firm its stakeholders including management, employees and customers. As some literatures noted, IMC’s philosophy advocates that there should be a proper coordination in messaging so as to ensure that IMC facilitate multiple messaging with a single voice (Shimp, 2008). Marketing communication is a process of exchanging facts, ideas, opinions, emotions etc about the brand or the firm that are important for the marketer to impact customers’ behaviour and attitudes. An important principle of IMC suggests that marketing communication should not only influence customers’ awareness about brand, but also should encourage them to respond to the desired action. If IMC’s specific goal is to improve word-of-mouth, the messages should be able to affect customers’ positive talk about the brand. Assessing what present and future customers want and need and what can satisfy them is a critically important requirement in marketing. A firm is not supposed to offer to its customers a product or service that it simply wants to produce or provide, but rather, it should see what its customers want now and in future and then to design and develop products or services accordingly. Marketing orientation is a process of organization-wide generation of market intelligence pertaining to current and future customers’ needs and wants. There are basically three dimensions in marketing orientation- They are:- For example, the marketer of a computer manufacturing firm needs to foresee

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Trurl’s Machine Essay Example for Free

Trurl’s Machine Essay As a boy Stanislaw Lem showed an early interest in science as well as in the imaginary worlds of fantasy and science fiction. The young Lem’s interest in tinkering mechanical devices of all sorts was put to use by secretly damaging the German vehicles during the Nazi occupation. Later on, he became a full time writer establishing himself as leading science fiction writer in Eastern Europe. This writer from Lvov Poland (now Ukraine) worked on serious themes as the purpose of life and relationship between human beings and technology. Once upon a time Trurl, a constructor built an eight-story thinking machine. As always, he asks it a ritual question of how much is two plus two. Every time he asks this question the machine always says seven that make him so disappointed. He collapsed in despair at the foot of the machine, and sat there until Klapaucius found him. Klapaucius asked what was wrong, for Trurl looked as if he had just returned from a funeral. Trurl explained what happened and Klapaucius said that there still a good side to everything. Trul keeps on kicking the machine until he is warned by it; they notice that aside from being stupid it is also sensitive. Instead of stopping what he is doing, Trul keeps what he is doing, that’s why the machine shuttered, shook and without any word lift itself from its foundations. The machine was swaying like a high tower, advancing slowly; at every step sinking to is second floor, but stubbornly doggedly pulling itself out of the sand and heading straight for them. This left broken concretes behind. They ran straight and soon saw houses before them. The streets were practically deserted at this time and the construction had gone a good distance without meeting living soul, when suddenly an awful crash, like an avalanche at the edge of the town, indicated that the machine was coming after them. The machine is tearing down all the houses! It is plowing all the building. There are dreadful screams, confusions in the streets. The mayor pleased the machine to stop what it is doing and the machine said that it will only stop if they give up Trurl. The mayor pleases the machine to have mercy on them. The mayor said that the damage made by Trurl’s machine will be answered by Trurl. Trurl and Klapaucius went to the machine and escaped by going in the cave but the machine has closed the cave with the rock. They are trapped. They talk to the machine and say that all of its answer is correct that two plus two is seven. They ask if they can go now but the machine said that it will think about it, but first they need to answer what is two times two. Trul fell into a rage, and he said that two and two is four, from the beginning till the end it is four. The machine had begun to ram its eight-story hulk again and again into the wall of stone, hurling itself against the mountain side until huge boulders broke away and went tumbling down into the valley. Thunder and sulfurous fumes filled the cave and sparks flew from the blows of steel on rock, yet through all this pandemonium one could still make out, now and then, the ragged voice of Trurl. They heard an explosion and saw the machine, lay smashed and flattened, nearly broken in half by an enormous boulder that had landed in the middle of its eight floors. With the greatest care they picked their way down through the smoking rubble. In order to reach the riverbed, it was necessary to pass the remains of the machine. Without a word, the two stopped together in the shadow of its twisted hull. The machine still quivered slightly, and one could turning, creaking feebly, within. Yes this is bad enough you’ve come to, and two and two is—as it always was—â€Å" began Trul, but you just then the machine faint, barely audible croaking noise and said for the last time, â€Å"seven. † Then something snapped inside, a few stones dribbled down from overhead, now before them lay nothing but lifeless mass of scrap. The two constructors exchanged a look and silently, without any further comment or conversation, walked back the way they came.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Requirements for a Pilates Instructor

Requirements for a Pilates Instructor Pilates Instructor What is required to be a Pilates instructor? A Pilates instructor offers hands-on comprehensive Pilates instruction to a group of students or to an individual. As a fitness program, Pilates is designed to increase the muscular strength, and to improve one’s posture while toning the body. This is usually taught by working on specifically designed Pilates equipment as also using a Pilates mat. The majority of Pilates instructors are certified practitioners having completed a lengthy training program, but there are also some excellent instructors that have been instructing for many years who are not certified because they probably began instructing before certification existed. Ask yourself the following questions: Do I enjoy teaching? Do I have an interest in body mechanics, anatomy and exercise science? Do I enjoy speaking in front of large groups Am I self-motivated? Am I ok trading my job stability for job flexibility? Core Strength Core strength is the foundation of Pilates. Core muscle is the deep, internal musculature of the back and abdomen. When these core muscles are strong and correctly executing their role, as they are trained to do with Pilates, they will work together with the more superficial musculature of one’s trunk to support the spine and one’s movement. As one develops core strength then also stability is developed throughout the entire torso. This is one technique by which Pilates assists people to overcome their back pain. As the trunk of the body is correctly stabilized, any pressure on the back is released and then the body is able to move more freely and efficiently. The Six Pilates Principles: Centering Control Flow Breath Precision Concentration These six principles are the essential components found in a high quality Pilates workout. The techniques have always emphasized quality over quantity, and you will find that, unlike other systems of exercise, Pilates does not include a lot of repetition for each posture. Alternatively, performing each exercise fully, with precision, will yield more significant gains in a shorter period than one would imagine. A Unique System of Exercise Core strength and thus torso stability, along with the six principles, establish the Pilates techniques apart from so many other types of exercise – which mostly are merely exercise. Weight lifting, for example, can place much attention on arm or leg strength but without attending at all to the inescapable fact that these body parts are connected to the rest of one’s body. Even swimming or running can seem to be all arms and legs, with either an overly tense or a floppy core. Ultimately those people who really do succeed at their sport also learn to use their core muscles correctly and to their advantage. In Pilates an integrative methodology is taught and learned from the outset. Training to Become a Pilates Instructor It is a challenging goal to aim for Pilates fitness instructor certification, but it is clearly worthwhile if you love fitness and group exercise. Equally, you must be willing to invest in the time and effort necessary, for you could become certified and start teaching Pilates within less than one year. As an instructor, you shall be able to assist others to reach their fitness goal while also maintaining your own. The training required to become an instructor of Pilates is intense. Most individual training certifications are in the 20-hour range. To be a completely certified Pilates instructor this will require some 500 or so hours of courses, and will take most people approximately 18 to 24 months to accomplish. You have to love Pilates and also be prepared to study and train hard. You will be spending many weekends at seminars and also a lot of time by yourself practicing, while also practicing teaching upon your friends and those willing to lie down on a mat for you instruction. Expect to spend approximately $4,000 to complete the full training. To qualify as a Pilates instructor, it’s recommended that one participates in Pilates classes for a lengthy stint in order to discover one’s aptitude and interest for the program. Additionally, many of the instructors also study anatomy and other exercise and fitness principles before they embark upon gaining certification from a studio; some number of studios simply will not accept applicants for Pilates instructor training without some background in human anatomy. A student will be required to choose certification in either Pilates mat instruction, which is simpler and so less expensive Or in the comprehensive instruction course with competence of Pilates equipment. Pilates instruction can take place in a group scenario, with several students, or by teaching individual private clients. If an instructor is employed by a studio, then generally they need to teach a required number of classes as determined by the studio, yet many instructors are self-employed and thus are able to determine their own schedules. Choose a mat or comprehensive certification Both the Pilates mat certification or the comprehensive Pilates equipment certification programs, will involve regular classes, both in group and as an individual, including hands-on instruction, written course work, and a final examination. The examination will also include both hands-on work and written questions. The instructor applicants may also be required to assist an existing certified instructor for a number of classes before they are granted the certification. An instructor will need to thoroughly understand the over 500 exercises in the full program, and also how to instruct them on the mat and also using the equipment. They shall need to know how to modify the postures for individuals who may have different needs, such as pregnant women, those with injuries, disabilities, diminished flexibility, or the elderly. Instructors may also wish to incorporate Pilates with other forms of exercise or well-being sciences, like Yoga. The Pilates Method Alliance is the governing body for the Pilates industry. But as this is an unregulated sector, it is not essential that one gets certification through the PMA, but it is recommended. Pilates certification is usually split into two parts Pilates mat certification Comprehensive certification in Pilates, covering all of the specialized Pilates equipment. Following these two basics, there is the professional certification and also further to this several levels of advanced training. This is available for those students who choose to also specialize in a sport-specific, or in the rehabilitative dimensions of Pilates. Basic Mat Instructor Mat instructor training is generally available to those students that have demonstrated the basic proficiency in their classes. It’s recommended that a student should study Pilates for some period before they commence a teacher’s training class, but unfortunately, not all of the certifying bodies are requiring previous Pilates experience. The training courses for mat instructors cover all basic mat exercises, including the techniques of modification sometimes required for different client needs. Expect a mat instructor examination to include a teaching demonstration and also a written test. The basic Mat Instructor certificate is often offered as an intensive one weekend course, or as a course spanning two weekends, this will depend upon the provider. Expect this to cost anywhere from $100. to $300. And even more for certification. Again, please beware. Pilates training is not standardized, so therefore you will get what you pay for. Do research the certification body that interests you and confirm that it meets your standards and needs. Comprehensive Instructor Certification Comprehensive certification that includes Pilates equipment is a more elaborate course than the basic mat instructor certification. A potential student is often required to have undergone at least one year of Pilates study, which includes a number of private lessons. Completion of the mat teacher training course will also be expected. At this comprehensive level, a student must undertake a basic course in human anatomy and physiology, plus the history of Joseph Pilates and also the evolution of the Pilates Method. Moreover in-depth instruction of the Pilates equipment and the exercises performed on it with modifications, are expected. The higher the level then the more sophisticated the certification becomes, so these days there is a trend toward phasing the comprehensive instructor certification process into several segments. Each certification program course has its own design and they do vary, e.g., one may see a program where there is a study level for the reformer, or another for the Cadillac or other apparatus, and perhaps a level dealing with issues regarding special needs. Each of the levels may be an intensive course, or learnt over a longer period of time. Comprehensive certification may take over a year of studies to accomplish, it regularly requires many hours spent in a studio as a teacher apprentice, totaling approximately some 900 hours over a year. Validity of Certification Carefully research which type of fitness organization that you may wish to be associated with. Where you actually obtain the fitness instructor certification will no doubt influence the future job search after training is completed. Various organizations do offer training and subsequent certification, however not all are reputable or even recognized by many gyms or other fitness and health facilities. Do ask established Pilates instructors regarding their training, and understand that acknowledged fitness training organizations, such as the American Fitness Professionals Associates (AFPA), offer you bona fide and specialized group instructor training of all types. Your overall fitness career goal To reach the goal you have chosen, do work with a competent organization that will enable you to reach it. Firstly, secure a Group Fitness Instructor Certification via professionally authenticated fitness training organizations, like Americas Authority on Fitness (ACE). The basic group exercise training and certification will assist you in opening more doors than not having such validity, and moreover it will provide a sturdier foundation for further specialized training, including comprehensive Pilates certification. Understand precisely what you need to accomplish to gain certification, and research the full cost of training prior to committing. Calculate the added costs for other prerequisites, such as CPR training. Ensure you receive the appropriate fitness credits for all the training courses completed. Many fitness training organizations tally the course credits for certification similar to how most colleges and universities calculate the accumulation of credits for a degree. Sometimes the fitness credits may be applied to other types of certifications. Hybrid Pilates. Yoga Pilates. Pilates with Bands, The great Ball, etc†¦ Think about combining Pilates with other exercise methods or fitness equipment techniques as this is a growing field. You can now get certified for Yoga-Pilates, Pilates with exercise bands, and Pilates on the ball, and more. These sort of certification programs are regularly offered in weekend programs that have few prerequisites. Though hybrid combinations may be fun and helpful, it is equally important to understand that Pilates is a highly specific methodology. A minimum requirement of a mat instructor certificate is recommended prior to commencing any cross-over teaching. Pilates Instructing tips Pilates can be somewhat difficult, especially for beginners. When instructing Pilates, it is crucial for the instructor to consider the ability levels of all the participants. To make this easier, it is usually better to limit class sizes so that each participant will receive more of an individual guidance. Classes should be designed to a specific ability level so that on the whole, while abilities will naturally vary, the class is moreorless of a beginner standard, or intermediate etc. One of the mistakes instructors can make is not to put in sufficient effort that keeps the class fun. Instructing Pilates is much more than simply getting people to exercise; it is also about teaching participants to develop healthy long term habits. One way to do this is to keep the activities fun for the class, as this will influence the class to want to keep on with learning. Engaging with individuals is vital, while ensuring that each individual is within their ability level, while also expanding their comfort zone. The effectiveness of any Pilates instructor depends upon their knowledge of the exercises and routines and of their enthusiasm.. these character traits are contagious and those participating in a class will respond to how they are being instructed, and mirror that enthusiasm. An instructor should be clear and precise regarding their instructions and able to guide seamless transitions between the activities while teaching Pilates. This presupposes that you are able to work as an effective communicator while ensuring that each student in the class can understand the guidance. In between the exercises, an instructor must be offering encouragement and also motivation to learners, and explaining carefully the following activity and why it is important. Repetition may be necessary as many students will not clearly follow or understand the directions in full, initially. Some students will inculcate instructions much better by observing, therefore the instructor may need to demonstrate an exercise before and during a set of exercises being performed by the students. Be assured you that you do not have to be young, thin, and extremely agile or a strong individual to toward become instructor. However it’s necessary, to have a passion for passing on knowledge to others.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Cooperative Education Opens Doors for Students :: Journalism Journalistic Essays

Cooperative Education Opens Doors for Students As the college application deadline draws nearer, high school seniors across the country will make their final decisions as to what handful of colleges and universities will receive the applications they rigorously spent their autumn weekends working on. Each year students consult different college prep tools to aid them with their continual search for the â€Å"right† school. Whether it city versus suburban, large versus small or public versus private; high school seniors today have a schmorgous board of options for furthering their education. However, a trend in education that is growing more popular in recent years, perhaps most notably at Northeastern University, is cooperative education. Northeastern was ranked #1 in 2003 among institutions that require students to combine classroom learning with real-world experience by U.S. News and World Report. Cooperative education, more commonly known as co-op, is emerging as a poplar way to stay ahead of the competition while in college. Started in 1909, one of the first co-op programs in the United States, Northeastern has a unique program that alternates periods of classroom learning with period of â€Å"real world† working experience outside the classroom. Students work full time in fields that are related to their future education pursuits and these are usually paid jobs. The co-op job allows the student to try out various jobs while still an undergraduate. The typical Northeastern student graduates with as much as two years of on-the-job experience already on his resume. Katie McDonald, 19, a sophomore at Northeastern is currently going through the process of beginning co-op. McDonald, who is a nursing major, will start her first job this January at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. â€Å"At first I was shocked at the whole process of interviewing and finding a job. Freshman year I looked forward to it, but once it came I was a little overwhelmed. Once I got started with it though, I found the process relatively easy. Now that I have interviewed and have a job I am really excited to begin,† said McDonald. Although students aren’t guaranteed a job every co-op period, known among students as â€Å"No-op†, there are faculty advisors who stay in close contact with employers to develop and maintain interesting salaried positions. Finding a co-op job, similar to any competitive job hunt, depends upon the candidate’s qualifications as compared with others, the current needs of the organization, the specific demands of the position and the job market in general.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Abortion is Legal Murder :: The Right to Life, Pro-Life Essays

Every day, over 4,000 unborn babies are killed in the United States because of abortion. It has also been scientifically proven that a fetus had a heartbeat earlier than 22 days of conception. And yet people say that the baby in not living, simply because it is unborn? How can something with a heartbeat not be alive? Some people might say that it depends on the situation. What possible situation would make it ok of someone to simply kill her baby? The baby had never done anything wrong, and yet it is still legal to erase its existence. But what if the woman was raped? Some people would argue that the woman should have the right to have an abortion, because it was not her fault that the baby was conceived. It was not the babies fault either, so the baby should not be punished? If the pregnant woman does not want to carry the baby for the full 9 months, the fetus could be placed in a surrogate mother, who will nurture the fetus inside of her, and when the baby is born, the baby will be placed in the arms of the original mother. And if she does not want the baby, she can put the baby up for adoption, and be placed in a home where its life will be cherished forever rather than simply thrown away and forgotten. Some people also say that if a teenage girl gets pregnant, she has a right to get an abortion, because her life should not be ruined at such a young age because of a child. My answer to this is simple: don’t do the crime if you cant do the time. In other words, don’t have sex if you don’t want to have a baby. Contraceptives may help reduce pregnancy, but it is not 100% safe. If you have sex, there will always be a chance of pregnancy, no matter what age you are. But what if the pregnancy is threatening the life of the mother? There are many safe ways to extract the baby from the womb without killing it. The baby could be placed in a surrogate mother until it is born, or it could become a Vitro baby. Vitro babies are commonly knows as â€Å"test tube† babies. This works by very carefully removing the fetus from the womb into a glass tube-shaped container, where it will be properly nourished, and soon develops into a full functioning human baby.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Reinhold Niebuhr :: essays research papers fc

Reinhold Niebuhr Theologian, ethicist, and political analyst, Reinhold Niebuhr was a towering figure of twentieth﷓century religious thought. He is well known and is appreciated for many reasons among American theologians. Niebuhr had a very strong opinion and much to say when it came down to man and violence in regards to peace and war. Although he thought of himself as a preacher and social activist, the influence of his theological thought on the field of social ethics and on society made him a significant figure. Reinhold Niebuhr was born in Wright City, Missouri, on June 21, 1892 as the son of Gustav and Lydia Niebuhr. His father, Gustav was an immigrant from Germany and became an ordained minister of the German Evangelical Synod after graduating from Eden Seminary at St. Louis, the training school for ministers of the Deutsche Evangelical Synod of North America. His mother was a daughter of German Evangelical Synod missionary, Edward Hosto. Gustav and Lydia had four children, Hulda, Walter, Reinhold, and Helmut Richard (who is as famous as Reinhold in theological circles). Thus Reinhold grew up in a religious atmosphere in his parents’ parish of St. John in Lincoln, Illinois. His father considered himself as an American and a liberal. It is not surprising that Reinhold aspired to have such liberal values and follow in his father’s footsteps to Eden Seminary in 1912. With a strong impression from his father’s ministry, Reinhold, the favorite child of his father, decided to be a minister. By his decision, Reinhold studied in the Evangelical pro-seminar, Elmhurst College, near Chicago, which provided him with foundations of liberal arts and languages, from 1907 to 1910, and then he moved to Eden Seminary at St. Louis, following his father’s path. After graduating from Eden Seminary, he encountered a serious money problem because of his father’s sudden death in the spring of 1913. In the same year, Niebuhr became an ordained minister of the German Evangelical Synod. Then he attended Yale Divinity School with a scholarship and received a Bachelor of Divinity in 1914 and his final degree of Master of Arts from Yale University in 1915. His professional life began with the ministry. In 1915, the mission board of his denomination sent him to Detroit as pastor where he served for thirteen years. The congregation numbered sixty-five when he arrived and grew to nearly seven hundred when he left. His witness of working class life in his ministry with American automobile industry laborers in Detroit gave him a critical view of capitalism and made him an advocator of socialism concerning social and economic reality.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Latinos in America

What is an American? This is a difficult question to address, especially concerning Latinos who only speak English. Many Latinos in the United States, consider language a point of high controversy. Some consider speaking spanish an essential part of being Latino , while others consider it a barrier that will prevent the assimilation into the American culture. Tanya Barrientos, like many other Latinos, wrestled with this very issue her entire life. Growing up as a Latina came with many stereotypes, speaking Spanish being one of the most negative characteristics for Barrientos. As society changed its views and learned to accept this diversity in language, Barrientos learned to embrace her heritage. The true question lies within her reasoning for this change in her perception, but was it for the right reasons? What makes this country great is that you can be both: A Spanish speaking latino that is fully emerged in American society. Being American is not about the language you speak but about your ideals and how they fit in the American way of life. Many Americans don’t realize that the choice in language is not determined by the individual but lies in the choice parents or caregivers. This choice is one that will haunt individuals for the rest of their lives. In Barrientos’ case, her parents decided it would be best for her to only speak English. As Barrientos grew up, she embraced her parents choice, saw this as a positive trait, one that differentiated her from most Latinas. She enjoyed defying expectations. Since childhood, she felt that speaking Spanish translated to been poor, holding less desirable jobs and discrimination towards the Latino community. It is because of this that she enjoyed attending a public school that attracted few Latinos, she wanted to distance herself from the rest. In her opinion, not speaking Spanish gave her an edge over other Latinos and allowed her to successfully fit into the American Anglo society. In her own words, it made her feel superior and American. Society pushed her to want to stay away from her heritage and embrace the melting pot as a full fledge citizen. Prejudice or stereotypes should not affect the way you feel about your ulture or background. If society is going to view you in a negative way because the way you look or where you come from, they will do so regardless of what you do. This should make you embrace your heritage and take pride in what makes you unique. This is especially true when it pertains to language, which is something that cannot be perceive by looking at a person. In Barrientos’ case it did not make sense to refuse a language when society would already perceive t he stereotype due to ethnicity. In her situation, not speaking Spanish made her feel like as if society did not view her as a Latina, when clearly by the comments from school staff and most likely other untold accounts, it didn't make a difference. To others who did not know her, she was still a Latina, no different than the rest who were Spanish speaking. She had very little sympathy or affection for other latinos and held many negative views of her own culture. She tried to differentiate herself from the Latino community as much as possible, and succeeded. In a way she had become what she was avoiding, holding prejudice and acquired a feeling of superiority towards Spanish speaking Latinos. Barrientos was concerned about blending in with society, this meant being seen as â€Å"white†. In her mind white meant American, you could not be American if you spoke Spanish. As she puts it Spanish associated you with the radical thinking of Mexican-Americans or Afro-Americans. While emerging yourself in the society you live in is positive, refusing/denying your culture is not the best way to do it. She pushed her culture away because it did not have anything positive to give her, it would only bring her problems and misfortune. Barrientos did not care to even be considered Latina. That is what a selfish, insecure individual would do. It wasn't until society view about Latinos and Spanish changed, that she started relating her culture to something positive. Once the realization that being Latino and speaking Spanish was not a negative but a positive, she began to change. In her own words it was time to take pride, but as she puts it, it felt fake, because in a way it was. It wasn't until she had something to gain, that she wanted to fit in. It seems that is the overall theme of her life, always trying to fit in, but only when its most convenient for her. This attitude will never truly allow her to belong. Even after trying to learn Spanish, other Latinos notice that she was different. Her entire life she worked on putting up walls between her and the Latino community. She outcasted herself for so long and then found it very difficult to connect with her own community. I suspect it was not just the language but her attitude and demeanor as well. In a society as complex as the one in the United States, it is important to realize that you can never fit in with the entire population. If you try to conform to what others want, you lose a part of your individualism. It is also important that in the process of assimilating you do not end up alienating others in your same situation. At the end of the day, you can not change the preconceived notions that come with belonging to a specific ethnic group, but you can choose to embrace your culture and enjoy that part of your life while still emerging in the American way of life.

By What Means Do The Poets in These Five War Poems Convey Their View Of War? Essay

We have studied five poems of that only two poems- â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† and â€Å"Who’s For The Game† are pro-war the other three are anti-war. â€Å"Who’s For the Game† is a poem aimed at all those young men at the time of the First World War to try and get them to enrol in the army. It talks about the war, as a fun game and that you should join with your mates as a bit of a laugh and kill some Germans while you are at it. In the first verse Jessie Pope the poet who wrote the poem compares the war to a game of rugby with lines such as â€Å"who’ll grip and tackle the job unafraid†. This puts the idea in the readers head that only strong tough rugby player will be able to fight for their country and that only the weak men who are scared stay behind while everyone else has the fun and gets praised and cheered. In the second and third verse they use the idea of inspiring guilt in the men into joining the army by saying such things as â€Å"Who’ll give his country a hand† it personifies the country as a human that is in a fight and you are the only person that can help it. It also uses the idea of all your mates going and having all the fun without you and you being left behind. It uses ballad rhythm very well to get the reader to read it in an up beat way like a song or a chant. â€Å"The Charge of the Light Brigade† is also the other pro-war poem. It’s a poem about a cavalry charge in the Crimean war that goes on a suicide charge to their deaths because a mistake was made in the communication between the officers. This poem is all about how the cavalrymen were prepared to charge to their deaths for Britain and because of this they become heroes. It starts with a use of feet in the rhythm it uses anapaestic diameter. This gives the idea of hooves galloping â€Å"Half a league, half a league, half a league onward,† This rhythm is broken in the third line, the poet does this to emphasize the word â€Å"Death† as it is an important word in this poem. In the second verse the poet expresses that the cavalry were oblivious to the situation they would be in soon as they rode into the valley, â€Å"Not tho’ the soldiers knew someone had blundered.† There is a sense of patriotism, as they do not ask why they just do, â€Å"Theirs not to reply, theirs not to reason why Theirs but to do and die,† In the third verse the poet emphasizes the fact that they are trapped by repeating the word cannon to the left to the right and in front of them this works and brings up he idea of despair. It also personifies death as a horrible monster that has big powerful jaws, â€Å"Boldly they rode and well, into the jaws of Death, into the mouth of Hell.† In the fourth verse the poet stresses the fact that even though the cavalry was greatly out numbered they still went in ‘all guns blazing’ as the saying goes, with the sabres in the air fearless. It also talks about the amount of men at the end of each verse it talks of there being six hundred at the start of the poem â€Å"Rode the six hundred† but as we go through the poem the number slowly depletes â€Å"Then they rode back but not the six hundred.† At the end of the poem they tell us to honour them, â€Å"Honour the charge they made! Honour the Light Brigade, Noble six hundred!† The next three poems are all anti-war programs ‘Drummer Hodge’ is a poem written by Thomas Hardy it is a poem about The Boar War were they used to hire under age drummers that were too young to join the army to fight but they used to join so that they could play the drums for the soldiers. In this case there is a young boy that loses his life along with a lot of other boys. â€Å"They throw in Drummer Hodge, to rest uncoffined-just as found† this is the first line in this poem and it uses the word throw to almost mean that he was forced to his death or as the poet puts it â€Å"to rest†. The poet stresses the fact that Drummer Hodge was just a young boy from Wessex that did not know anything about the war and was not involved with the cause of the war yet still has to go and die in it, â€Å"Young Hodge the Drummer never knew- Fresh from his Wessex home- the meaning of the broad Karoo.† The Drummer doesn’t even get any acknowledgement or funeral but is just left to rot without a coffin, underneath the stars. He never even gets taken home but left there in a strange place along way from home. The poet gives us the impression that he is a long way from home by bringing the fact that there are strange stars that he has never seen before, â€Å"Strange stars amid the gloam†¦ And strange-eyed constellations reign†. Also in the last line, â€Å"His stars eternally† this is the poet’s way of saying that even though he didn’t get a funeral and no one even realized he had gone but the stars will always remember him. The next poem is I called ‘Disabled’ and it is written by Wilfred Owen. It is a poem about a man that served in the war that has lost his all his limbs. In the first verse he talks of â€Å"his ghastly grey suite† this is a suite that he would be made to wear it because it has been specially made for him without any limbs. It goes on to say that he hears the boys playing like used to before he became disabled and this saddens him, â€Å"Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn.† He looks forward to the nurse coming to him and putting him to bed to blot out his sorrow and take him away from this world, â€Å"Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.† In the second verse he goes back to before the war and talks about how he used to swing and swagger down the street on a Saturday night in the town. Now he knows that he will never be appealing to girls again and now they touch him with no love or care but just purely professionalism and no passion or attachment, â€Å"Girls’ waists are, or how warm their subtle hands; all of them touch him like some queer disease.† He then goes back to talking about when he was before the war and says that he used to have artists wanting to paint him because he had such a good looking face but since the war it is almost as if he has had all the blood drained from his body, when he lost his limbs and all the colour has been lost from his face. All that is left is a pasty white body. â€Å"He’s lost his colour very far from here, Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry†¦ and leap of purple spurted from his thigh.† He carries on talking about how when he used to play football with his mates that he would like a bit of blood on his leg because then it would look like he had played hard, â€Å"One time he liked a blood- smear down his leg, After the matches, carried shoulder high.† He goes on to say how he didn’t even join up to the army for any real reason it was just because he had had too much to drink and he did it to impress the ladies and he wasn’t even old enough. He joined because he thought he would look good in a kilt and would like to pose in front of the ladies. He wanted to join up with his mates and have a laugh with them and bond with them. He talks about when he came back from the war he got a small cheer off some people but not as much as when he scored a goal in football. He feels that he got let down by the country as all that he got back was a small thank you off a priest and some fruit but he gave all his limbs, â€Å"Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal. Only a solemn man who brought him fruits.† He reflects on how he must take pity like benefits from the nurses and also and how the girls were the main reason he joined up in the first place but now they look upon him with pity and turn to the other whole men, â€Å"To-night he noticed how the women’s eyes passed from him to the strong men that were whole.† At the end of the poem he can’t wait till the nurses come and put him to bed so he can drift away into his dreams and get out of this world, â€Å"How cold and late it is! Why don’t they come and put him into bed? Why don’t they come?† The last Poem is called ‘The Night Patrol’ and it is written by Arthur Graeme West. It is about a night patrol in the second world war that goes out into ‘no mans land’ to listen to the Germans and see if they are up to anything. In the first verse it is direct speech presumably by an officer telling the soldiers what to do. Once the soldiers get over the top of the trench the poet goes on to explain in detail about what it is like in ‘no-mans land’ the poet gets the point across that this patch of land has not been used for its original use for many years, â€Å"tufts of crackling cornstalks, two years old, No man had reaped,†. The poet also goes into detail about the things that are strewn there from recent attacks, â€Å"Packs, rifles, bayonets, belts and haversacks, shell fragments, and the huge whole forms of shells.† He then goes on talk about the dead laying there and he talks of â€Å"the vile sickly smell of rottenness;â €  which spares no feelings for the senses. There is no dignity for the soldier they even put them in weird positions so that they can guide their way back to their trench. The poet then talks of coming to the next obstacle which happens to be a number of dismembered corpses. This angers the soldiers because it is easy to dodge one dead corpse on your belly but it is harder to dodge lots of pieces of dead corpse, â€Å"All blown to bits, an archipelago of corrupt fragments, vexing to us three.† In the poem the soldiers finally get to the German wire the poet and the poet write of them lying down like the dead listening to the Germans, â€Å"We lay in the shelter of the last dead man , ourselves as dead,†. At the end of the poem they get back to the trench past all the dead corpses â€Å"and through the wire and home, and got our rum,† rum being the reward for doing what they did. Out of all the poems I think Disabled by Wilfred Owen is the most hard-hitting and moving. It talks about touching him like a â€Å"queer disease†. It is similar to ‘Drummer Hodge’ as it stresses the fact that there is no reason for these wars and these innocent lives to go to waste. I think ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ and ‘The Night Patrol’ are also similar as they both tell a story about a group of soldiers. Even though one of them is anti-war and the other one is pro-war. I think that ‘Who’s for the Game’ is on its own because it is written by a woman that has no experiences of war like the other poets.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Macbeth, Shakespeare Retold Essay

Macbeth, Shakespeare retold, commonly referred to as macchief, is an modern retelling of the old classic by Shakespeare. The storyline is this. Joe Macbeth is Head Chef in an famous restaurant owned by celebrity chief Duncan. Whilst Duncan receives credit, award and fame for his amazing cooking Joe is in the kitchen making the food Duncan take credit for. Joe is a passonate and cheerful chief who’s inthusiastic about making the best food he can. One night, three binmen meet Joe and his friend and fellow chief Billy and tell them that the restaurant will win three Michelin stars and that Joe will own the whole place one day. They also tell Billy that his sons are also in line to inherit. Just like in the original play their predictions start to come true as soon as the boys arrive back in the restaurant. Duncan drops by to tell them that the restruant have been awarded the coveted three stars, a privillage given to very few restruant in the world. He also tells Joe that his teenage son Malcolm will take over the restaurant when he’s old enough, but in the meantime joe is first in line to inherit the restrunat if something happens to him. Joe tells his wife Ella about everything. Ella is ambitious but troubled, and urges Joe to continue his rapid rise through the ranks. If they kill Duncan, the restaurant kingdom which they’ve worked so hard for, will be all theirs†¦ Spurred on by Ella, Joe kills Duncan and puts the blame on 2 robbers who raided the restruant. However him and ella was both haunted by the act they have committed. It is also at this stage that billy started to suspect Macbeth in duncans murder. Realizing that billy was on to him joe had billy killed too. However at this stage joe started to hallucinate and act wirdly causing maceduff, another chief in the kitchen, suspiscious. Macbeth realised this as well and also planned Macduff to be murdered. The murderer then arrived at macduff’s house and killed hs whole family. However Macduff was spared since he was away at the time. Ella, being haunted by gulit at the murder of Duncan, walks to the rooftop and jump off. Wnen joe was informed of this his reply was that he felt nothing at the deathof his wife. Shortly after this Macduff arrives and after hearing Macbeth admit he has Macduff blood on his hand he grabs a knife and stabs Macbeth. The movie ends with malcom who is now running the restruant meeting billies kid therefore possibly fulfilling how billi’s kid will one day inderit the restruant. The movie is a suspenseful thriller that manages to be intertaining and engaging while following the rough guideline of the original Macbeth. There are many things that I like about this film. I particularly liked how they descie to base their story in a kitchen since if you think about it a big kitchen is srt of like a kingdom with the head chief being the king and welding absolute authority and everyone else his subjects. I also liked how they managed to link the film to the original Macbeth without being too constrained by it. Even though the setting of the two stories are completely different they still follow the same plot with the same characters in each roll. Inspite of this devotant following to the original story the film was turned into an exciting thriller with a great sense of suspense. I also loved the visual and audio aspects of the film. I loved billi’s ghost and how creepy and realistic it looked. The audio aspect of the film, especially the music, is occasionally weird but strangely appropriate. The music especially manages to creat a great amount of suspense in the movie and really draws the viewer in However there are also some problems I have with the film. One of the problems is the pace of the film. You see Shakespearere told macbeth and the original macbeth follow the same storyline, but while the original macbeth has 4 hours to reach its final conclusion the retold version only has 1 and a half. Hour in which to do this and as such all the plots and stories are a bit crammed in for my liking and certain parts of the plots are outright ignored. For example the film does not adequately explain how ella was driven to suvicide by gulit. I believe that macbeth, Shakespeare retold, is an excellent thriller which follows the rough storyline of the original macbeth in an modern setting. It is very engaging and entertaining to watch and it is an must watch for anyone who loves thriller or who is an great fan of Shakespeare

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Globalization Process Essay

Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas, and other aspects of culture.[1][2] Globalization describes the interplay across cultures of macro-social forces. These forces include religion, politics, and economics. Your shirt was made in Mexico and your shoes in China. Your CD player comes from Japan. You can travel to Moscow and eat a Big Mac there and you can watch an American film in Rome. Today goods are made and sold all over the world, thanks to globalization. Globalization lets countries move closer to each other. People, companies and organizations in different countries can live and work together. We can exchange goods , money and ideas faster and cheaper than ever before. Modern communication and technology, like the Internet, cell phones or satellite TV help us in our daily lives. Globalization is growing quickly. A German company can produce cars in Argentina and then sell them in the United States. A businessman in Great Britain can buy a part of a company in Indonesia on one day and sell parts of another business in China the next, thanks to globalization. Fast food companies open shops around the world almost every day. Advantages * Globalization lets countries do what they can do best. If, for example, you buy cheap steel from another country you don’t have to make your own steel. You can focus on computers or other things. * Globalization gives you a larger market. You can sell more goods and make more money. You cancreate more jobs. * Consumers also profit from globalization. Products become cheaper and you can get new goods more quickly. Disadvantages * Globalization causes unemployment in industrialized countries because firms move their factories to places where they can get cheaper workers. * Globalization may lead to more environmental problems. A company may want to build factories in other countries because environmental laws are not as strict as they are at home. Poor countries in the Third World may have to cut down more trees so that they can sell wood to richer countries. * Globalization can lead to financial problems. In the 1970s and 80s countries like Mexico, Thailand, Indonesia or Brazil got a lot of money from investors who hoped they could build up new businesses there. These new companies often didn’t work, so they had to close down and investors pulled out their money. * Some of the poorest countries in the world, especially in Africa, may get even poorer. Their population is not as educated as in developed countries and they don’t have the new technology that we do. * Human, animal and plant diseas es can spread more quickly through globalization.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Future Direction of Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Future Direction of Health Care - Essay Example One of the most important challenges that will influence the future strategic direction of the healthcare sector is the advancement of information technology. The sector will face challenges with the implementation of technological platforms such as electronic medical and health records. For instance, the sector has to train workers on how to use the platform in order to maximize service delivery and achieve organizational goals (Shi & Singh, 2010). Additional complications may emerge in cases where service providers try to avoid penalties because of the failure to implement the platforms. The issue of information confidentiality is also applicable in this case. Users of healthcare information technology must maintain high levels of confidentiality, while ensuring that the systems are safe and efficient. The healthcare sector will expectedly experience a shortage of skilled workers. Most of the skilled and experienced workers are within the retirement age. The fact that the workforce is aged leads to problems of reduced productivity. When the retiring workforce leaves the workplace, there will be a loss of skill, knowledge and experience (Shi & Singh, 2010). In addition to the retiring workforce, the healthcare sector faces competition for workers from other countries and international organizations. Most healthcare practitioners are relocating to countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. Economics will influence the future strategic direction of healthcare because they determine the cost of healthcare and the availability of financial resources for the management of the sector. Government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are unsustainable (Shi & Singh, 2010). The current structure of these programs is not sufficient for the achievement of their goals. Funding towards these programs increase yearly, but they are not able to provide services to their target

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Effective parenting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Effective parenting - Essay Example This essay is a critique of effective parenting. It highlights the practices that can enhance proper parenting, and the behaviors that parents need to avoid for the growth of their children. It is important for parents to realize that the manner in which they speak and the gestures they make amongst other expressions are significant for the growth of their children. Self-esteem in children largely depends on the behavior of parents Brooks (1997 p 67). For example, a little congratulation for good actions among the children means a lot in their development of self esteem. Self esteem is accomplished especially when the children are allowed to undertake tasks independently, which makes them realize their potential. This means that parents need to avoid trivializing the efforts of their children. The initial steps of a child mean a lot in the development of walking ability (Snow et al. 2001 p 103). It is therefore important for parents to ensure that they do not discourage their children by not showing appreciation of their efforts. Insults and quarrels are a major threat to effective development of children. Parents need to ensure that they use simple words when they warn the children concerning undesirable behavior. Rather than using insults, they need to use strong but controlled words to avoid generating frustration amongst the children (Ranga & Denise, 2006 53). Words such as â€Å"your brain must be very thick!† need not be used. Rather, parents are supposed to offer an understandable explanation of why children should act in a particular way and not the other. In essence, human beings learn from mistakes. Children should be allowed to learn effectively from their mistakes. Rewards are important in encouraging repetition of desirable actions. Children need to be reminded often regarding particular actions that were desirable to parents or other grown ups. Their initiatives also need to be

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Application Case 3-1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Application Case 3-1 - Assignment Example sexual harassment cases have been formally indicated, investigated and confirmed, an employee should be terminated; then, the same action should be applied to the president, as well. The handling of sexual harassment cases is considered complicated due to the following reasons: (1) due to its sensitive nature, there are almost always no witnesses; (2) the cases should be handled on a case-to-case basis; (3) reporting the incident was considered fact-specific, subjective, and takes into account the credibility of both the accuser and the accused; and (4) evolving behavioral changes with regards to accepting some patterns of behavior differ through time (Pfeiffer & Henneman, p. 90). Consistency in handling sexual harassment claims is important because there could be legal sanctions and cases filed for discrimination if employers would treat their employees differently in situations where sexual harassment complaints are made. As such, based on company policies or codes of discipline and ethical behavior, organizations should clearly and explicitly stipulate instances that render the behavior as veering towards sexual harassment (irrespective of race, gender, age, length of service, position in the company, and other factors noted in the Equal Employment Opportunities

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Different ways of manufacturing aluminum Research Paper

Different ways of manufacturing aluminum - Research Paper Example minum has thousands of different applications particularly in construction and manufacturing sectors and â€Å"more than 10 billion pounds of aluminum are produced worldwide annually† (Lindamood n. d.). The most commonly found aluminum ore bauxite is a mineral of aluminum (Al) and hydroxyl (OH) with very strong covalent bounding between oxygen and aluminum. Hence on large scale, it is not possible to directly extract Al from its ore by simple chemical process. The separation is carried out through various indirect methods. The manufacturing of pure aluminum (lxx.x, 99.00% or greater) from its ores is done through following process as given below. Also known as ore separation/purification process is invented by an Austrian chemist Carl Josef Bayer while working at Saint Petersburg, Russia. In this process, after mining, the ore is mechanically crushed into very fine granular form. The fine powdered ore is then mixed in hot caustic soda liquor (NaOH) at 110-270 °C under 340 kPa Pressure to produce slurry of liquid. After several hours of process NaOH completely dissolves the Al. The liquid is then passes through a series of flash tanks to reduce the pressure and to recover the heat. The mixture is separated from its solid impurities by passing it through a settling tank and through filtration process. The saturated aluminum rich liquid passes through a series of six-story-tall precipitation tanks (Hall 1997). As the liquid propagates through each tank, seed alumina hydrate crystals are also added from the top of each tank. The â€Å"aluminum trihydrate crystals grows in size and precipitated calcined in rotary kilns or flui dized bed calciners to produce alumina (Al2O3)† (Aluminum Manufacturing 1998: pp.261).The crystals obtained through kiln are cool down and proceed to smelting process. In Hall-Heroult Process also known as smelting processing the alumina crystal abstained through Bayer process is further dissolved in molten cryolite at a temperature of 960-970 ° C

Monday, September 9, 2019

Explain the bilateral trade flow between China and Australia through Essay

Explain the bilateral trade flow between China and Australia through the traditional and modern trade theories - Essay Example (Chambers, 2006). On the other hand, Australia’s economy has turned out to be extremely prominent and so the bilateral trade between China and Australia. The economic boom in China cannot be ignored world wide and constitutes a number of opportunities to trade with Australia. The gas treaty between the two countries had established as the predecessor in order strengthen their trade relationship. However, China needs to have raw materials and is an eminent buyer of liquid gas and minerals from Australia. The Prime Minister of Australia John Howard and President Hu Jintao of China decided on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as well. Hence china has become Australia’s chief customer whether it is Australia’s natural possessions or it the iron ore, which has made Australia expand its seaport to export more iron to China. The international relationship of China with Australia has been progressing since the year 1973 when the two governments signed the trade agreement and the bond between these two countries is growing even stronger day by day. The joint accords have been established since past 32 years related to numerous commodities such as dairy products, agriculture, raw materials, natural gas, iron ore, energy, hygiene guidelines along with capital protection and support for traditional aspects that have developed the business association of the two countries. *Footnote: Thomas Nicholas, Re-orienting Australia- china relations 1972 to the present, Great Britain, MPG Books LTd.2004. The relationship has further enhanced due to their combined Participation in APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation). The study also focuses on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the challenges along with opportunities for Australia and China where the involvement of WTO (world trade organization) also plays a vital role. Initially the conciliation tool place in Sydney in 2005, May and continued till the beginning of year 2008 and had 11 negotiable meetings. A free t rade agreement is a contract between two countries where tariffs are excluded from deals and it lies under the rules set by WTO.( Thomas, 2004) A gauge to determine the economic conditions of a country is its gross domestic product (GDP) which refers to a final worth of every product in a particular time frame and is measured in terms of comparison with last year (quarter of full year), e.g. if the current GDP of a country comes out to be 5%, it shows that the economy has raised by 5% in the current year. A negative GDP value indicates a state of recession in a country, leaving the investors in trouble due to economic crisis. A strong economy will lead to good salary increments as the companies stay in profit, while a fluctuation in GDP (up or down) will also affect the stock market and the investors. GDP may be calculated in two ways: first method is to calculate the total earnings and profits, and second way is the calculation of expenditure (amount spent in a year). China is cons idered as one of the largest economies in the world. According to The Economist 2004a, china stood at 3rd number in increasing global GDP and importing goods from the year 2000 – 2003. The country is famous for a wide range of products whether food stuff, machines, toys, plastics goods, electronic products, appliances, industrial goods such as food processing units, rubber goods, furniture, etc. The GDP of China is increasing by seven percent every year since last 5 years. The contribution of China to global economy is growing gradually and trade constitutes as a chief feature in making its

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Final Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Final - Assignment Example The power of media, as a source of credibility, is a tool of political persuasion. The linkage between politics and media has not been explored extensively with a little research connecting the two. It is important to research on the extent to which persuasion in news media depends on the viewers and listeners attitudes towards the news media as an association. One source confirms that people who trusted the media were susceptible to agenda settings from media information. Other studies show that people tend to adopt the position of media hosts, especially where the host is trustworthy and knowledgeable (Wasserstrom 25). During the political campaigns, media houses carry out pre-polling surveys and provide statistics to the public. In some cases, media gives factual results and in some cases non- factual. Politicians’ incentives lead them to favor information sources they can control and try to reduce the influence of sources affiliated with rival political factions or with no faction (Wasserstrom 34). This is done to counteract negative publicity as portrayed by rival politicians in the same race for a political seat. As a way of influencing the public’s behavior on the main Election Day, the majority of the public adopts the media’s story and votes for or against the particular candidate. In examining press freedom, media houses are allowed by law to filter the information they share with public to suit a particular interest so long as the interest is not meant to cause violence or harm to the public. Professional journalism is the only way to ensure credibility in the media to gain public trust. An attempt to understand media freedom introduces media pluralism, which a few people would oppose in principle. The media have allowed access to a broad range of cultural expressions and political views, which constitute the fundamental policies of the media policy which directly link media with democracy (Wasserstrom 54). This views that media pluralism as a political, theoretical, or empirical approach, which is believed to embody the central conflicts in modern thinking about the societal role of media. Religion contributes in the creation of the collective consciousness of the faithful, which builds strong religious bonds among the Christians. Religion has its own established institutional frameworks which immensely contribute in the enactment of laws and maintenance of peace and order in a nation. Moreover, the religious institutions influence the economic status of nations given that the church and society are inseparable. Religion also plays a role in the rehabilitation programs of errant members of society, hence enhancing peace and order in the society. This results in reduction of crime rate and increase in economic activities. This results from the small scale entrepreneurship and farming done by the rehabilitated criminals. Education contributes to proficient communication, which influences the socialization of citizens in politics. For instance, verbal communication is sufficient in communication, hence communication through writing is also emphasized. This is because communicating verbally enhances stressing of points and it is more lively compared to the written communication. The average people realize that communication through writing enables people to appreciate social interactions. In addition, the latter provides a record of events, thus in case there is a need for information reference can be made easily to the documented written document. The majority of people

Saturday, September 7, 2019

Deep Ecology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Deep Ecology - Essay Example Deep ecology is a belief, while religion is defined as beliefs that are concerned with nature, purpose and the cause of the universe. As a religion, its dominant tenet of spirituality is that human species are part of the earth and not a separate entity. This paper will argue out that deep ecology is a religion. The main principle of deep ecology is a belief, just like humanity, that the environment which is living has an equal right to blossom and live. It is said to be deep due to its persistence questioning on â€Å"how† and â€Å"why† and as a result, it is based on philosophical questions which are fundamental on the effects of human beings life as a part of the ecosphere, rather than dealing with the minor view of ecology as a biological science branch. In addition it focuses to stem anthropocentric environmentalism that is based on environmental conservation with an aim of exploiting human objectives which buffers the philosophy of deep ecology. It seeks more vie w of the world that we leave in a holistic way, and further, seeks an application of life understanding that separates the functioning of the ecosystem parts as a whole. In addition, it seeks to eliminate the issue of supremacy in religion life, of which it is impossible to give concrete evidence that eliminates the existence of God. The happenings in the world alone can tell that there is a supreme power that is in control of the living and the non living. Policies of ecologically take into account only the concerns on pollution and resources depletion. It is relevant to note that there is deeper issues which are involved with the principles of diversity, autonomy, complexity and decentralization in deep ecological movement. The act of referencing human beings in the environment is a favor to the rationale total field image. Organisms have an intrinsic relationship. As a result of this, it dissolves concepts of the human-in-environment. In addition, the ecological field worker has a deep seated respect or the veneration for the kinds and forms of life. Human beings acquire an understanding from within. This kind of understanding is also reserved for other human as well as for narrow sections of life forms. The intrinsic relationship that is within organism in the environment is as a result of the common ground of creation that everything originates from. The world did not just come to exist, but God who is supreme brought this up, and beings cannot be the most relevant to the environment on their own. In addition, the equal right of individuals to live and flourish is clearly intuitive and value of axiom. Furthermore, its restriction to life of human is anthropocentrism with effects which are detrimental on human life quality. The quality pleasure depends on the satisfaction that is received from a correlation which is close with other life forms. The attempt of giving dump ears to our dependency and the establishment of other roles which are master levels a contribution to human alienation. The egalitarianism of ecology claims that the reinterpretation of future research variables on human population levels and loss of life is equally not taken seriously. This is because it is beyond human understanding; the life of human is unclear on how it came to be. It is therefore obvious that we are taken care of by a supreme being who gave breath to the souls on earth and at any time the ability to breathe is

Social Factor Essay Example for Free

Social Factor Essay War Child is a network of independent organization, working across the world to help children affected by war. Theyre a social organization to advance the cause of peace through investing hope in the lives of children caught up in the horror of war, which is mainly their number one aim. Employees of War child has a big influence in the organization, because their all there for the same reason to help the organization reach their aims. What is also a social factor of War child is that anyone can volunteer and take part of the important events to save those kids. Employees can move to different countries where they can set up camps to build programs for war affected kids, the only thing that can go wrong is if an employee doesnt want to go or even work together as a group, this can both cause conflict and also can become public to donators and cause a downfall in the organization. But of course they would only send qualified employees to do to go into post conflict areas for their safety and health. War Child believes that interplay between physiological and social factors is consisting of healthy emotional, cognitive, social and spiritual development, which includes social integration. As a social factor they implement either or together with their partners, progress to protect and empower children and young people. War Child is a right-based organization committed to the fulfillments of children rights! Comparing the organizations As you can see that both companies are not that far from each other, they all can perform well so long the economy is going good and positive. The only difference really with the both organization is that for MS aims for profit and War child for a good cause by helping war affected children. But both of this company can get into to problems with the economy for example if theres an economic crisis, people will not spend as much money, .sales will go down and even have to fire people from their jobs and with War child is the economy is still being greedy by wanting more diamonds and causing war in places such as Angola and Sierra Leone. One the social part there are not too far from each other nearly the same, they all needs to work together to achieve their organizational aim. So long there is the right communications and respect amongst each other, then conflicts can be avoided. Because of the globalization, the economy changes and the society, there will always be changes if there can. For example government regulations and the standard of living the people has paid a price for. The external factors do have a lot of influences on these companies. If the economical crises arise can cause the company to close some stores or even come to debts and could case war not only from war affected kids but the whole society in general.

Friday, September 6, 2019

Search and sort Essay Example for Free

Search and sort Essay Direction: Provide the appropriate output for the following machine problems. Note: To authenticate the output, please insert the printscreen and the source code in a zip file. Deadline of submission: September 18, 2013 (no extension). 1. Write a program to test the method binarySearch. Use either the method insertionSort or selectionSort to sort the list before the search. 2. Suppose that the elements of a list are in descending order and they need to be put in ascending order. Write a Java method that takes as input an array of items in descending order and the number of elements in the array. The method rearranges the element of the array in ascending order. Your method must not incorporate any sorting algorithms, that is, no item comparisons should occur. 3. Write a method, remove that takes three parameters: an array of integers, the length of the array, and an integer, say, removeItem. The method should find and delete the first occurrence of removeItem in the array. If the value does not exist or the array is empty, output an appropriate message. (Note that after deleting the element, the array size is reduced by 1.) You may assume that the array is unsorted. 4. Write a method, removeAt, that takes three parameters: an array of integers, the length of the array, and an integer, say, index. The method deletes the array element indicated by index. If index is out of range or the array is empty, output an appropriate message. (Note that after deleting the element, the array size is reduced by 1.) You may assume that the array is unsorted. 5. Write a program to keep track of a hardware store’s inventory. The store sells various items. For each item in the store, the following information is kept: item ID, item name, number of pieces ordered, number of pieces currently in the store, number of pieces sold, manufacturer’s price of the item, and the store’s selling price. At the end of each week, the store manager would like to see a report in the following form: Friendly Hardware Store itemID itemName pOrdered pInStore pSold manufPrice sellingPrice 4444 Circular Saw 150 150 40 45.00 125.00 3333 Cooking Range 50 50 20 450.00 850.00 . . . Total Inventory: PHP #########.## Total number of items in the store: _______ The total inventory is the total selling value of all the items currently in the store. The total number of items is the sum of the number of pieces of all the items in the store. Your program must be menu driven, giving the user various choices, such as: check whether an item is in the store, sell an item, and print the report. After inputting the data, sort it according to the items’ names. Also, after an item is sold, update the appropriate counts. Initially, the number of pieces (of an item) in the store is the same as the number of pieces ordered, and the number of pieces of an item sold is zero. Input to the program is a file consisting of data in the following form: itemID itemName pOrdered manufPrice sellingPrice Use seven parallel vectors to store the information. The program must contain at least the following methods—a method to input the data into the vectors, a method to display the menu, a method to sell an item, and a method to print the report for the manager. After inputting the data, sort it according to the items’ names.

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Competition And Market Power Economics Essay

Competition And Market Power Economics Essay For a long period of time, De Beers has been successfully raising consumer demand for diamonds. The company is famous for its monopolistic policies during the last century, when it used its leading position to control the international diamond market. De Beers had a number of methods to ensure its control in the market: thus, it joined some independent manufacturers to its single channel monopoly, it pushed the manufacturers who refused to join the cartel out of the market by overfilling the market with diamonds, it bought and stored the diamonds of other producers in order to regulate the prices (De Beers Company). Pure monopoly means the conditions in the market, when only one company produces and sells a product that has no substitutes. The market access is limited and the company has complete control over prices. Thus, in pure monopoly, the market is dominated by a big enterprise-monopolist fully controlling the prices. Establishment of extremely high prices is restrained by the risks of a fall or a lack of consumer demand. Monopolist assesses demand and sets the price at a level that ensures the greatest return on investment (Larue, Gervais Pouliot, 2008). Monopolies are also public utilities, the services of which are used by any business. The existence of natural monopolies is justified by the fact that they best meet the public interest. In rural areas, such monopolies can be companies supplying agricultural machinery, chemical fertilizer, seed and breeder farms, businesses that provide repair services. The main features of monopoly are as follows (Larue, Gervais Pouliot, 2008): There is only one firm in the market, which affects the prices, adjusting the proposal; There are no identical products in the market; Controlling the market of raw materials in the industry, the company-monopoly excludes the emergence of new producers. Thus, the market of pure monopoly is the market of one seller. Most frequently, these are the governmental organizations, with the state monopoly able to solve various problems through pricing policies: To set a price below the cost for socially important goods to maintain their standard of living; To set a price covering the costs or providing a good income; To set a high price to reduce consumption. Returning to De Beers Company, for the last decade it has been undergoing changes turning into a more reliable company. A number of factors led to the necessity for transformation in the De Beers model (De Beers Company). In 2004 the company was declared guilty according to the 1994 accusation that De Beers had merged with General Electric to control the price of industrial diamonds; the company paid $10 million to the United States Department of Justice. Contemporary diamond industry is noticeably differs from that of the last decade, as it is now a complicated and continuously developing geopolitical notion. Today, apart from De Beers, the most important players in the diamond business are the African producer countries (e.g., Botswana and Namibia), Rio Tinto, Lev Leviev, BHP Billiton, Alrosa, Harry Winston, etc (De Beers Company). 3. Monopolistic Competition Luxury Watch Industry: Go to http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/05/watches/source/1.htm (Retrieved May 17, 2010). This is an interesting article on luxury watches. Click on the slide show in the upper right window (check out the prices!). Are these three firms participating in a monopolistically competitive market? What characteristics of the good make the market monopolistically competitive? Explain. A recent study by the Luxury Institute has determined the watches that are considered by the wealthy consumers to be the best out of the top 17 ultra luxury watch producers: Franck Muller, Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Breguet, though Rolex and Cartier were most famous brands. Nowadays, even not so well-known watchmakers take an equal part in monopolistic competition with the world leaders (Business Week, 2010). The market with monopolistic competition is characterized by the following features (Yomogida, 2010): The presence of multiple buyers and sellers (the market consists of a large number of independent companies and customers), the number of which doesnà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢t exceed the one present in pure competition. Low barriers for the entry into the industry. This does not mean that it is easy to start a monopolistically competitive firm; such difficulties as problems with registration, patents and licenses are still present. To survive in the market in the long run, monopolistically competitive firms need to produce diverse, differentiated products, which differ from that is offered by competing firms. Moreover, products may differ from one another by one or several properties (e.g. chemical composition of watches); Buyers and sellers are perfectly informed about market conditions; Predominantly non-price competition; advertising of products is very important for the development. Companies of this type have a negative slope of the demand curve. In monopolistic competition, the output is set at the level of profit maximization (marginal revenue equals marginal cost). However, when deciding on the establishment of prices for products, a monopolistic competitor acts like a monopolist: the price for the goods is set at the highest possible level, i.e. at the level of the demand curve for products. Just as at the market of perfect competition, in monopolistic competition the firm relies on the value of the average total costs, deciding whether to remain in the industry or leave the market. Thus, if the company continued to suffer losses, it means that the average total production costs exceed the established price per unit, and the firm will leave the market in the long run. It should be noted that, since the monopolistic competitor is dynamic in the decision-making, it cannot effectively allocate resources, which leads to inefficiency of such firms in the long run. It is practically impossible to have a positive profit at the market of monopolistic competition in the long term (Yomogida, 2010). 4. Oligopoly The OPEC Oil Cartel Go to www.opec.org (Retrieved May 17, 2010). What are the organizations stated goals, which countries are members, and when was it founded? Is it normal for them to be successful in keeping oil prices high, or have they faced difficulties in keeping the cartel united in the past? The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an international intergovernmental organization (also called a cartel), established by oil-producing powers and including 12 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador and Angola. The aim of OPEC is to coordinate and develop a common policy with regard to oil production among members of the organization, maintaining stable oil prices, providing a stable supply of oil to consumers, and benefit from the investments in the oil industry (OPEC). OPEC members control about 2/3 of world oil reserves. Their share in the world oil makes 40%, or nearly the half of the world oil exports. At different periods of its history, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries controlled from 25% to 60% of oil production in industrial countries (Hansen Lindholt, 2008). At the same time, the cartel represents a very unstable structure, based on collusion in order to establish a monopoly price in the market, which can be unsatisfactory for some members of the cartel; this finally leads to the violation of the cartel agreement. At first glance, the similarity of the cartel and monopoly is obvious. But the cartel very rarely (in contrast to the monopoly), controls the entire market, because the policy has to deal with non-cartelized enterprises. In addition, the cartel members have quite a powerful temptation to cheat their partners, reducing prices or actively promoting their product, which creates the conditions for the capture of the market (Hansen Lindholt, 2008). Failure to fully and consistently use the cartel for the interaction of oligopolistic firms is forcing them to conduct secret economic policy in price changes and in the delineation of the spheres of influence. Such cooperation may manifest itself in the form of price rigidity or leadership in price formation, and through special organizations such as patent pools. The rigidity of prices is the oligopolistic practice, when, even with changes in costs or demand, an organization is not inclined to change prices, believing that if it has to raise the price, others will follow, which will lead to loss of market share. In this way, the cartel stays away from changing prices due to the fear to unleash the war of prices. Leadership in prices means the practice, when the formation of prices for the product is focused on the prices set by the leader often dominant in this industry. This demonstrates the kind of implicit collusion, although its presence is usually not proven (BÃÆ' ¶ckem, 2004). Patent pools represent an agreement on specialization and cooperation of production, and the consortium the union of firms to conduct joint scientific research and joint construction of large investment projects. Both of these organizations perform cartel functions and are the basis for the organization of conspiracy to divide the market. Thus, the oligopoly is characterized by three features: there are two or more competing firms in the industry, so that the industry is not monopolized (OPEC and Russia relation); demand curve has a falling character, so the industry does not have rules of free competition; at least one large organization operates in the industry, any action of which causes a reaction of competitors (OPEC oligopolistic practices), so that there is no monopolistic competition (BÃÆ' ¶ckem, 2004).