Monday, September 30, 2019

John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice

In his influential book A Theory of Justice, John Rawls structured his concept of society around two principles of justice that he argues were best chosen under a â€Å"veil of ignorance† (1971).Rawls maintains â€Å"that the first requires equality in the assignment of basic rights and duties, while the second holds that social and economic inequalities are just only if they result in compensating benefits for everyone, and in particular for the least advantaged members of society† (1971). His argument for the second, while not purely and purposefully classifying society as equitable and impartial, supports the idea that contribution should be proportionate to one’s ability or capability.There are a multitude of ways to interpret Rawls’s second take on the concept of justice, some agreeable and some not. He argues that in order for others to prosper, some should have less (Rawls, 1971).He also asserts the idea that in looking at the bigger picture, everyo ne in the society achieves benefits by catering to what seems like a monopoly of wealth, power and therefore, opportunity. Rawls’s justice supports the socialist idea that majority of society’s responsibilities and burdens should be carried by those who can—those who are wealthy, have power, and therefore, are more capable of managing the said responsibilities.While these may be good points to support his ideas, Rawls’s theory fails by theoretically preventing change in societies where these so-called social inequalities already exist—societies where those high up already enjoy the benefits of good living standards, while those in the lower brackets either continue or further suffer in their disadvantages. It is also faulty in the sense that the poor essentially â€Å"pick up the scraps† that the rich had left.Rawls idea that inequality can actually be just and fair leaves much to be desired. It should have been more egalitarian in the sense that both the rich and the poor would have equitable access to wealth and power. It would be difficult to guarantee justice in a society that separates those who can afford justice from those who can afford justice more.ReferencesRawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Marketing and Nike Essay

We can evaluate Nike’s core marketing strategy as related them to the relevant marketing theories. First of them is distribution theory. Nike distributes its products on different level basis. The high quality products are given to a certain distributers while the low price to be sold at highly discounted price at the retail stores such as Wal-Mart. Nike has also become the leader in the e-commerce by being the first to the market whit its e-commerce website. This program represents the first time a company has offered mass footwear through the internet and provides competitive advantages to Nike. One of the other theories is advertising and promotion. Nike makes contracts with some celebrity athletes which can take attention to their products such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Maria Sharapova, Ronaldo. This has created a relatively high level of Nike’s awareness. Nike also employed a large amounts of advertisements. Their aggressive advertising campaigns, celebrity endorsements and quality products all enhance their brand and image. The other theory is price. The price is not effective on their strategy because Nike’s target market is based on the consumers who care more about the utility and quality of the product . This strategy focuses on the consumers who like Nike and pushes the products value to a higher level. Once the consumer develop the product intimacy, they come to associate their person with the products and will pay whatever price quoted on the products. Nike use vertical integration price strategy and they also engaged in various channel level operations both to control costs and influence the price function. And when we look at the market segmentation theory, we see that most of the consumer of Nike’s products is mainly athletic. Their segmentation market typically targets athletes, both women and men, from the age 15 to 35. Nike focuses on creating premium consumer experiences on product innovation, brand leadership and elevated retail presence. But Nike focuses on athlete more than any group of individuals. This strategy is especially successful because of its ability to reach a large number of athletes. Although Nike’s core marketing strategy had brings lot of positive directions to the company, but it will bring negative directions to Nike too. The mainly negative theory is the cost theory. Nike had incurred high costs in producing and promoting its products. The costs are increasing among handling inventory, designing, advertising and production. The inflation had also rised the costs. So Nike has increased the products prices and reduces its marketing budget. Nike had also employed child labor in Cambodia to reduce its production and labor costs. This affected brand image negatively and many people stop buying products from Nike. Furthermore, Nike has been using child labor in the production of its soccer balls in Pakistan. One of the Nike’s core marketing strategies is depend on a group of athletes to promote its products. Nike prefers to have high profile athletes as its endorsers, like Runner Steve Prefontaine, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. The action and attitude of Nike’s chosen spokespersons could bring the impacts on its promotional strategies. For instance, it will attract the athlete’s idolater to purchase the products if Nike using a popular athlete as endorser. On the other hand, if the athlete were caught in drug addicted or any immoral attitude, it will affect the customers not to buy Nike’s products, thus will affect Nike’s sales, revenue and profit. There is intense competition faced by Nike. Their competitors are Adidas, Reebok, Puma, and so forth, whilst competition is tighter with the coming of Adidas. More, the product line is slightly different between Nike and Adidas. Nike faces many risks when they use their core marketing strategies to achieve their goals and these risks can come from both internally and externally environment. The risks will have a negative influence about Nike’s future development. Nike needs to stay on the top of changes in consumer taste and preferences as evidenced by changes in fashion. So Nike face the risk that fashion trends may change so fast that Nike fails to follow. If Nike cannot follow the fitness trends in the market they will face risks of losing market shares. To compete with this risks and problems, Nike should position it as a trendsetter and not a trend follower and be responsible to their customers. The global trends are to be fashion and personality. So Nike change its marketing strategies and products design to become more fashion and focus on the youth consumers. It brings risks to Nike because in the traditional mind of customers, they consider Nike only sell the athletic products. The fashion or the changing style products is unimaginative for customers to purchase. Not all the customers can follow the changing of Nike. Therefore, Nike should analyse the market and customers’ preference as well as customers’ buying behavior from time to time. One of Major Nike’s marketing strategies is to expand to overseas and become the leader in the world. It also will bring risks to Nike when they expand their business globally. Currency exchange rate fluctuations can disrupt the business of the independent manufacturers that produce Nike products by making their purchase of raw materials more expensive and more difficult to finance. Besides that, the global economic recession influence the overall business operation in the outsourcing countries. 2) If you were Adidas, how would you compete with Nike? One difficulty most likely to be faced by Adidas is in its marketing, compared to its competitor Nike, Nike spends more money on advertising and promoting their products reputation. Adidas will have a hard time trying to compete with Nike in terms of advertising and promotion, considering Nike’s utilization of low labor cost of production, Nike can afford to spend so much money in creating awareness for their products and gaining consumers loyalty by utilizing celebrities. If I were Adidas I would invest more money on advertising and create innovative means of advertising their product, having consumers in mind and following the trends of technologies, for example, Adidas can collaborate with IT companies such as Samsung to create innovative means of advertising their products. Also a merger could be good for the Adidas, if the right strategy has chosen. For example; Adidas and Reebok joining up together as a merger would be a good deal for leading over Nike but the two companies have a bad reputation due to financial problems which almost led them to bankruptcy and since they are to work together.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A Review Of Employee Management Systems Information Technology Essay

A Review Of Employee Management Systems Information Technology Essay Nowadays, Employee Management System is being adopted by many sectors in the real world whether it is small or large scale. But currently most of the fast food restaurant does not have this system implement to the website. Thus, the author decided to develop a web-based employee management system for fast food restaurant. The system will be built consists of human resource management function such as leave request, employee report and job application, this function will be integrated to this web-based system. The aim of this project is to design and develop a web based Employee Management System using PHP and MySQL. In this project, a web-based Employee Management System will be developed for Carl’s Fast Food restaurant to manage employee job information, working schedule, leave request, employee report on achievement, training and evaluations. In addition the system will also manage job application information that apply job online by visitor. In this web-based system basica lly it has 4 main users that are administrator, manager, employee and visitor. For employee, manager and administrator they can login to the system through online to perform their different task respectively that available for them, for visitor they can apply job. Where manager can do managerial work such as view/modify/create employee report, in addition it also can approve/deny/view leave request, accept/decline/view interview for job candidate, search for employee information and modify/view employee schedule. Manager can upload a doc file to the administrator, if there is any change about employee and manager information. In addition manager can search for specific employee information, view and print information. In employee, it can request leave and check for leave request whether their leave is approve or deny. Employee also can view working schedule that has been arrange by the manager and search for colleague to view their basic information. Administrator has just a small t ask such as create new user if there is any new employee, manager and administrator. In addition, it also can modify user information and delete user, and download doc file that uploaded by the manager to update the require information. And lastly the visitor can apply job online through the job application This web-based system is important where it can improve the way of managing and keep track of employee information such as leave request, employee performance report and others. Thus, this can determine the success level of the fast food restaurant. 1.1 Company Background Carl’s Fast Food Restaurant is one of the fast food restaurants in Malaysia, located at Cheras, Kuala Lumpur which founded in the year of 2008. This fast food restaurant is relatively similar to another fast food restaurant, which primarily sells french fries, fried chicken, hamburger and soft drinks. The restaurant has a traditional way and manual system of managing their employee information, hence the restaurant itself has the intention to improve the management of their employee. 1.2 Problem Statement One of the problems of the current Carl’s Fast Food restaurant is, they still using the manual way of managing the employee information and records, in term of keeping employee information such as employee leave request, employee report, and employee working schedule.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Demand for Equal Airtime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Demand for Equal Airtime - Essay Example The essay "Demand for Equal Airtime" talks about the Donald Trump’s appearance and hosting of the Saturday Night Live- SNL show that has raised alarm among three other Republican presidential nominee hopefuls. Trump’s appearance has been observed as free publicity offered to the Republican presidential nominee front runner. There is need for all political candidates and opponents to get equal opportunities for airtime. This allows and enables for the notion of free and fair elections as prescribed in the constitution. All candidates should be equally endeared to the public in regards to publicity stints offered by non-news programs. Under the equal-time rule, US television and Radio broadcast stations are tasked to provide equal opportunity to any political candidate opponents who request it. The rule was created because the FCC believed that broadcast stations could easily influence elections results by showcasing just a single point of view while excluding other candi dates. The equal time rule does not apply to news interviews, documentary, on the spot news or a scheduled newscast. Therefore, the three republican presidential nominee hopefuls are well within their rights to demand and file requests for equal airtime as that accorded to Trump on SNL which is a non-news program. The three GOP hopefuls have exercised their right in a bid to gain free publicity as well as aim to increase their low poll numbers. Under the FCC’s ‘equal time rule’, if a candidate receives a minute on a non-news shot.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Scholarly Paper Caring for Individuals, families and groups Research

Scholarly Caring for Individuals, families and groups - Research Paper Example (A Nation Free...p.2) The factors such as geographic location, mental health, age, gender, socioeconomic status, religion are found to be main determinants in health care discrimination. Lack of insurance is the biggest barrier, more than any other economic or demographic barrier that affects the quality of health care received by these groups. They constitute about one-third of the U.S. population, but make up more than half of the 50 million people who are uninsured. Of the total 50 million people who are uninsured, almost half belongs to the racial and ethnic group; while they constitute only one-third of the U.S. population. Reforms under the Affordable Care Act have to be seen in above light and it is likely to be a boon for many and may be a bane for someone. Some of the significant milestones of the act can be described as per the following. Benefits to Children and Senior Citizens The reforms have brought new rights and benefits for children and to those under the age of 26 t o stay on their parent's health insurance. It has also ended annual limits on care. The new act provides 50% discounts on brand-name drugs to seniors in Medicare and it also provides tax credit to small businesses for extending insurance to employees. Providing Access to Insurance for Uninsured Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions Uninsured Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions A Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) is made for individuals who are uninsured for at least six months for that reason. States are also free to run the new programs. The Department of Health and Human Services will run the plan, if the state does not have a plan. This program will serve as a bridge until 2014, when any discrimination against pre-existing conditions will not be allowed. The act will have influences on health and caring across wide section of ethnic minorities in varied ways. Though, the Affordable Care Act is formulated to provide the health for all but it essentially addresses th e needs of those who had no access to adequate coverage due to their underprivileged status. Well-Being, Health, and Safety of the American People The broad range of health indicators pertaining to racial and ethnic minorities is far worse than their non-Hispanic White counterparts hence well-being of these people needs special attention. Hence need is to create an environment that can control chronic diseases and associated risk factors. The effective community-based programs and policies can reduce and tackle the disparities in health standards. (A Nation free†¦p4) Racial and Ethnic Minority It is true that all American citizens do not have equal access to health care. Various racial and ethnic minorities, low-income groups and most of the underprivileged populations have higher rates of illness and less treatment options. Mostly, they do not have any insurance coverage for treatment. They’re less likely to get chance of preventive care and will have no access to the t reatment and screenings to stay healthy. Preventing diabetes and heart disease is a tough task for them. Perhaps, this is the group who is going to get the biggest benefits from this new healthcare program. Economical Ways The Affordable Care Act is geared to reduce these disparities regarding health care by improving access to health care for all citizens. This is aimed at bringing down the

Stafing and Selecton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Stafing and Selecton - Essay Example The title of the new job openings at Thomson Rail is Contract Manager. These individuals would be responsible for retaining existing customers and gaining new customers for the company’s services. While the present responsibility for this lies with the director and senior managers, the expanding business as well as the need to grow has created a requirement for new individuals to be hired who are good at sales, customer relations and know the industry as well. Such people may be hard to find but the company may have to settle for the best available candidates amongst those who apply. The two central legal issues for the company for recruitment and the hiring process can be understood as anti-discrimination laws and equal opportunity rules. Simply put, all candidates must be viewed and hired based on their strengths and weaknesses as applicants without giving any weight to their race, gender, age, physical abilities except in situations where such requirements are an intrinsic part of the job. Given that the nature of the job is office related there are very few exceptions to the law which can be obtained by the company and it should be assumed by the recruiters that the law applies in the fullest sense. At the same time, there are additional legal and ethical requirements which must be followed in the selection, interview and recruitment process which mainly deal with ensuring confidentiality and the privacy of the candidates. While making the application for the job, candidates may give out information which is considered to be private information in the eyes of the law and that must be kept secure by the company. Even things like the candidates email address and telephone number may be required by ethical rules to be kept secure. It is probably a good idea for the company to speak with a legal consultant or obtain legal advice from individuals in the company who have had experience with recruitment procedures in the past. The London Underground market is a

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Best Practice, Best Fit and Resource View of the firms analysis for Essay

Best Practice, Best Fit and Resource View of the firms analysis for relevance - Essay Example But these new concepts definitely did one thing, forced the organizations to focus on a neglected area. Similar is the case with "Best Practice", "Best Fit" and "Resource View of the Firms". The three concepts led to awakening which provided insights into organizations themselves on practices, organizational variables and the organizational resources respectively. Best Practice term arrived in the 1990s when the entire world of organizations were in a flux, the world became unipolar and the resources deployed hitherto for anticipated war between two poles of the world were suddenly available for better use, for business and the core of business is essentially the needs, desires of human beings and the ability to fulfill them. The geographical boundaries had suddenly collapsed and the resulting globalization created aggregation of these needs, desires and the abilities to fulfill them, unleashing a state of huge threats and huge opportunities. A plethora of business concepts arrived on the scene, quickly delivered by ICT elements across a wider spectrum of organizations. Best Practice concept was one of them. The search of reasons or factors behind a superlative performance led to a process-by-process analysis and its comparison with the more successful companies. Best practice is essentially kno... It is a quest for improvement through the use of experience behind creating a better practice by others. The comparison could be either through unstructured or structured mechanisms, documents, interactions. Benchmarking encompasses best practices and best practice results are the starting point in improvement through benchmarking partnerships. Normally two organizations enter into benchmarking partnerships and try to transfer the best practices from one context to another. It starts with regular comparison of performance measures in identified areas and when it is found that performance of some parameters is quite high, a detailed analysis is carried out to find out how it is done and what is the practice being adopted to achieve that superior result. Now the key is to understand and implement that practice, leading to closer people to people interactions, depending on the understanding and enthusiasm of the implementing organization. Another approach seen regarding best practice is industry or sector specific associations engaged in sharing and exchanging of data, experiences in seminars or workshops to facilitate the growth of the industry itself through capture of best practice and disseminating the same. The approach has definitely helped organizations to see the organizational activities in terms of a set of practices and look the process-wise comparison with others. The practice of comparison came down to the level of practices. Best Practice Blues There have been significant activities in the efforts to capture best practices from other sources and deploy in the own context. There are reasons to say that these efforts did not get a fair amount of success except the possible benefit of communicating a comparative message that someone

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Marketing Orientation Concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Orientation Concepts - Essay Example A company’s focus on the market revolves around the concepts that it may apply when targeting that particular market. Although there are different variations of market orientations, there are four principal categories that have been significantly explored. In the production concept, a company mostly attempts to increase its production without taking customer demands into account. The primary focus of a business that adopts this approach is to minimize costs through large scale production (Morgan, Vorhies and Mason, 2009). This model is based on a company’s belief that economies of scale resulting from production in large amounts would make it possible to reduce operational costs, while maximising profits. Production orientation is virtually extinct or completely assimilated into other approaches, since product quality is currently vital to enhancing the appeal of a commodity.The focus of a sales oriented corporation is clear cut, since it involves producing commodities and then selling them to target markets. This model entails companies manufacturing products or creating services that they forecast customers would need, without carrying out comprehensive research. The model overlooks the fact that selling goes beyond availing products to the market and must involve intensive research, before venturing into product development and eventually putting an appropriate promotion strategy into place. Nonetheless, the sales concept upholds the notion that customers are unlikely to make a purchase.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Financial Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial Risk Management - Essay Example An analysis of the article Risk Management Lessons from the Credit Crisis can effectively assist in evaluating financial risk management particularly in light of the credit crisis. In presenting its cause, the article is divided into a number of parts each of which has its own speciality. Section 1 looks at the various structures of the modern risk measurement systems. Of particular interest is the position-based risk measurement system that tackles the various drawbacks brought by the traditional returns-based system. The traditional system is shown to be rigid in that it cannot adjust to the various new parameters that characterize a dynamic society. In essence, they prove to be largely unreliable, thereby necessitating the adoption of the position-based measures. The article highlights how the position based risk measures are more versatile and can accommodate various aspects in relation to the dynamism of the contemporary society. Part 2 of the article focuses on the various risk s that establishments are exposed to. The classification is divided into broad categories of known knowns, the unknown unknowns, and even the known unknowns. All of these categories are reached at depending on the pre-existing uncertainties, with the most uncertain risk being classified under the unknown unknowns. Known knowns are fairly manageable, and are the most basic of uncertainties that an institution is bound to encounter. The traditional system is shown to be rigid in that it cannot adjust.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The girls stories Essay Example for Free

The girls stories Essay What is there about Millers presentation of the society of Salem which allows the girls stories to be believed? In the 16th century, the lives of most people were centered around God. Many of the laws of the time were based from the Bible, the Ten Commandments in particular. It was believed at the time that there were supernatural forces at work to cause one to stray from Gods path. Ministers and clergymen thought it their duty to purge the Earth of these beings when they presented themselves. During the 1600s, due to most peoples strong belief in God there was consequently a strong belief in the Devil. It was believed that, as God had angels working in his order, the Devil had witches working to corrupt innocent souls. If something went wrong, there were two reasons for it: that you had displeased God or that the Devil was tempting you. So naturally when something as devastating as your child falling ill occurs, you would be looking for someone to blame: a witch. As the people of Salem based their laws on the teaching of the Bible and believed that the Bible itself told them that witches were to be punished by death. To the people of Salem the forest that surrounded the town was met with suspicion. The forest was inhabited with Indians, and as the Indians were not Christians they were believed to be evil, and therefore any association with the forest was considered to be part of the evil. As the girls were struck down by illness after dancing in the forest, it gave the town people the suspicion of the Devils involvement. The original cause of the suspicion was that two of the girls in the town fell ill, one of who was the daughter of Goody Putnam. Having already lost seven children at young ages, Goody Putnam was very worried for the health of her child. She was also becoming suspicious of how many children she had lost, with them all being seemingly healthy at birth. Goody Putnam was the first to cry witch. As the people of Salem based their laws on the teaching of the Bible they believed that the Bible itself told them that witches were to be punished by death.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Relationship Between Self-confidence and Sports Performance

Relationship Between Self-confidence and Sports Performance Self-confidence is probably the most regularly reported psychological elements considered to have an effect on athletic performance. For instance, as observed by Arkes and Garske (1982), researchers have well-known that the separating elementbetween high and low accomplishment motivation is self-confidence. Athletes who are self-confident and expecting to do well are generally the same athletes who do win. Self-confidence has been operationalized in numerous different ways.These include the constructs of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1997), sport confidence (Vealey, 1986), perceived capability (Harter, 1982; Nicholls, 1984), outcome expectancies (Rotter, 1954), and movement confidence (Griffin Keogh, 1982). Anacknowledged description is the one proposed by Feltz (1988) who shows that self-confidence should be considered as: â€Å" the confidence that one can efficiently perform anexact natural process rather than a global trait that accounts for overall performance optimism. For in stance, one may experience a high point of self-confidence in one’s driving skill in golf only a low level of self-confidence in putting†. Self-confidence, as operationalized by Feltz, is essentially the same as self-efficacy, a construct defined by Bandura (1977). The theory of self-efficacy, which was originated within the structure of a social cognitive theory, has been one of the most widely used theoretical basic for assessing self-confidence in sport and exercise. Self-efficacy was originally projected as an account of the sort of interference procedures utilized in the discussion of anxiety, and has been employed in sport to explain the intervention of achievement behaviors. Granting to the theory, self-efficacy is determined as the cognitions that symbolize the sentences or beliefs that one can successfully accomplish a specific action to create a certain outcome rather than a global threat that account for overall performance optimism (Bandura, 1997). Self-effi cacy is not concerned with the skills of an individual, merely with the assessment of what he or she can get along with her/his expertise (Feltz, 1992; McAuley, 1992). In really simple conditions, self-efficacy represents a variety of situation specific self-confidence (Vealey, 1986). For instance, an individual may feel very positive in her/his ability to perform on the volleyball court, but be totally intimidated at the idea of public speech production. People’s opinion of their personal capabilities has been evinced to be an important determinant of choice of activity, how much effort is expended in those activities, persistence in the face of aversive stimuli, thought forms, and emotional reactions (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). When confronted with stressful stimuli, low-efficacious individuals tend to break up, assign the failure internally, and have greater anxiety or depression (Bandura, 1982). Judgment of self-efficacy is based on four major sources of information: Past performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, persuasion, and physiological states (Bandura, 1977). Performance accomplishments are the most reliable and influential sources of efficacy information since they are founded on authentic mastery experiences. This notion is reflected in the hypothesis that mastery attempts that are perceived as a success will facilitate efficacy expectations, whereas attempts perceived as failures will result in lowered efficacy. Once strong feelings of self-efficacy develop through repeated successes, occasional failures will be of little effects.The influence that performance experiences have on self-efficacy depends on the perceived difficulty of the project, the attemptfinished, the quantity of physical leadership received, and the sequential patterns of achievement and disappointment (Bandura, 1986).Successes with difficult projects, tasks tried individually, and task s achieved early in understanding with only unexpecteddisappointment will increase self-efficacy more compared to easy tasks, tasks carried out with external aid, or projects in which repeated failures are seen early in the learning process. Vicarious experiences are sources of efficacy data derived through observing or imagining others engaging in the job to be done.Seeing similar others perform successfully can raise efficacy expectations, especially when the individual perceives similarities with the model in terms of capabilities or personal characteristics (Gould Weiss, 1981; McAuley, 1985). Persuasion is widely used by teachers and coaches in order to motivate people to think that they possess capabilities that will enable them to reach their goal (Gould, Hodge, Peterson, Giannini, 1989). Examples are verbal persuasion, self-talk, imagery, and other cognitive strategies. These techniques are effective when the heightened appraisal is within realistic bounds. Furthermore, persuasion determine by the believability, reputation, reliability, and knowledge of the inducer.Ultimately, one’s physiological state can provide efficacy information through cognitive evaluation of the arousal states. When an increase in arousal is interpreted as an inability to hold away the tasks successfully, efficacy expectations will fall. However, when the individual interprets arousal as being psyched up and quick to perform, efficacy expectations will increase (Bandura, 1986). When discussing efficacy expectations, it is significant to differentiate between personal efficacy and response-outcome expectations (Bandura, 1997).Self-efficacy is a mind of one’s ability to perform at a certain stage, whereas outcome expectancy pertains to one’s judgement that certain behaviors will lead to desired results.For example, one may think that running a marathon in less than two hours will guide to social appreciation, cash, and self-satisfaction (outcome belief), but may uncertainty whether he can actually run that fast (efficacy belief).Bandura (1986) argues that self-efficacy beliefs predict performance better than expected results. Competitive State Anxiety Competitive sport anxiety is very usual in young athletes (Wilson, 2008). Anxiety is a pessimistic reaction that happens when individuals doubt their ability to cope with the situation that causes stress (Humara, 1999). Anxiety can delay an athlete’s ability to completely or normally react. According to Wilson (2008), increased pressure and stress can build up intoanxiety and affect a child’s manners and performance in a sport. Research has identified several possible causes of competitive anxiety. Anshel andDelany (2001) evaluated youth sports competitors, male and female, where the participants evaluated a list of potential origins of intense stress and anxiousness. The results indicated that the intense pressure of the sport, over competitiveness, and negative response increased stress for both males and females (Anshel Delany, 2001). A similar study by Peden (2007) explained that when a player becomes more and more uneasy in some positions due to the surroundings, negative automatic thoughts become more numerous and more negative, which can dominate thinking, wipe out confidence, and harm performance. There is a huge deal of learned inquiry into figuring out approaches that can be used for handling performance anxiety in athletes (Humara, 1999). Specific ways such as relaxation, cognitive restructuring, (Humara, 1999), and positive self-talk method (Peden, 2007) will be discussed in the Implications sections of this study. Multidimensional Anxiety Theory Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, and Smith (1990) produced the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory (MAT), which concentratesspecifically on competitive sport anxiety. This particular theory expresses that competitive anxiety is consists of two anxiety state components: cognitive state anxiety and somatic state anxiety.Cognitive state anxiety is set like a fleeting condition of anxiety that contains of worry or an individual’s negative belief or worries about performance, as well as concentrationtrouble and lack of assiduity.Somatic state anxiety can be defined as a fleeting condition of anxiety that contains psychological response symptoms that pass in the soul.Symptoms of somatic state anxiety include extreme sweating, increased heart rate, wobbly, or tension (Martens et al., 1990). According to Martens and researchers (1990), somatic state anxiety may be categorized out as a vulgar reaction to opposition and can result in absolutely no needed problems to perform.However, a growth in cognitive state anxiety in an athlete can make awareness and concentration dysfunction and a mental growth process of worry and self-doubt.An absence of awareness and focus while taking part in sports can harmfully have an effect on entire performance. Possiblesituations of cognitive state anxiety are negative verbal feedback, insufficient of preparedness for competition, a bad attitude or mindset towards a past poor performance, or negative prospective of other individuals for example team members, family members, and coaches (Marten et al., 1990). Anxiety negatively affects an individual’s psychological and physical capabilities to accomplish (Hardy, 1996).A negative effect of competitive sport anxiety is distress (Selye, 1987).Distress happens when an individual is actually up against objectives that may happen in an improvement process of demand, and needs coping management, and reoccurring issue or difficulty with young athletes because of their lack of abilities, several overall performance mistakes, or failure to create away with tense circumstances (Peden, 2007). As an effect of enduring competitive anxiety resulting in burnout and other mental and physiological problems, drawback from the sport can become a standard escape for young and adolescents. Multidimensional Anxiety Theory shows that in relation to performance, cognitive anxiety knowledgeable within an individual will illustrate a negative linear relationship and somatic anxiety will prove and inverted ‘U’ relationship (Martens et al., 1990).The inverted ‘U’ relationship describes that in an individual’s somatic state, procedure should be bad at very low levels of somatic state anxiety, maximum at an advanced level of somatic state anxiety, and then become more and more worse as somatic anxiety increases past the optimal level (Perreault Marisi, 1997). The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) is a study based on the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory build to measure competitive state anxiety (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, and Smith, 1990).The CSAI-2 investigates the present state of competitive anxiety of an athlete by calculating current anxiety states of cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence in athletes just before to competition (Martens et al., 1990).The CSAI-2 offered as the major instrumentation used for this questions. Past research are delivered to check out the estimations of the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory applying the CSAI-2 in addition to several revised types of the instrument.Chamberlain and Hale (2007) examined relationships between the amount as well as directional areas of competitive sport anxiety. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2D (direction) was useful to assess the state anxiety intensity and direction of 12 experienced, basic male golfers starting in age from 20-22 years.The CSAI-2D is equal to the initial CSAI-2 apart from the seven-level degree which usually assess path.In parliamentary law to appraise both the negative linear and inverted ‘U’ relationship described in the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory, anxiety and performance rating from similar positioning duties carried out under three different anxiety-manipulated competitive conditions were utilized.Solutions suggested that cognitive anxiety intensity proven a poor linear relationship with performan ce and somatic anxiety intensity displaying a curvilinear relationship with performance.Multiple regression examinessuggested that course, which paid for 42% of the deviation, was an even better predictor of overall performance than intensity, which accounted for only 22% of the deviation. Findings decided with the original MAT hypothesis (Chamberlain Hale, 2007). The modified inventory contained of the three pre-existing subscales of the CSAI-2 (cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) but as an alternative of 9 items per scale it comprises of five items per subscale, ensuing in a 15-item scale.Researchers finished a confirmatory aspectevaluation of the CSAI-2C to assess the level to which the three-dimension model of competitive anxiety composed from the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory backed with regards to other designs (Stadulis et al., 2002).After evaluating 632 children ages 8-12 years old, internal consistency coefficients (i.e., Cronbach’s Alpha) for the three subscales were: Cognitive anxiety state, ÃŽ ±=.75; Somatic anxiety state, ÃŽ ± =.78; and state self-confidence, ÃŽ ± =.73. The entiretool internals consistency deducted in a value in.96 (Stadulis et al., 2002). Summary of the Chapter Professional football players as we know are elite football players that involves in a high level of sport competition. Sports offer players with organizations and programs from which they can help through skill development and enhanced self-confidence. Unfortunately, some professional players experience competitive sport anxiety, which can negatively affect their performance. Competitive sport anxiety can make athletes to lose focus, worry, and become anxious towards competition. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-confidence and competitive sport anxiety on Johor professional football players. This research can be helpful to coaches and officers of the professional football teams because it can detect the level of anxiety among players and if it related to self-confidence. The information may support coaches and officers of the professional football teams to take precautions such as modifying training programs and techniques, or coaching education on ways to help lower or prevent sport performance anxiety in professional football players.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Important Role of Mathematicians in Society Essay -- essays resear

The Important Role of Mathematicians in Society Thesis Statement This report will focus on the professional field of mathematicians. It will highlight some of the history, responsibilities, opportunities, and requirements of this occupation. Outline I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A condensed history of mathematics B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Famous mathematicians and their accomplishments II.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Body A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Opportunities for mathematicians B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education and training C.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Requirements D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Earnings III.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Conclusion A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Good mathematicians are problem solvers Mathematicians: Making numerous contributions A mathematician is described as someone who uses logic or theory to solve problems. Mathematicians and their craft have been making milestones in history ever since the Neanderthal man became homo - sapiens and began communicating, with the use of speech. The first period of time in the history of mathematics is known as the Chinese / Egyptian / Babylonian Period. This era starts in 50,000 B.C., and reaches to 601 B.C. During this primitive age, man used notches in bones, and clay tokens for counting. Sundials were used as a method of telling time and keeping track of the days. The most infamous mathematician from this time was Ahmes of papyrus. Ahmes was the author of the Egyptian scribe â€Å"The Rhind papyrus†; it is one of the oldest mathematical documents in existence. The Greek Period (600B.C. – 499 A.D.) took mathematics far beyond the realm of counting and measuring time. The Greeks brought a variety of great minds to life, including Thales of Miletus, Archimedes, Apollonius, Euclid, and Democritus. They began using logic to explore new mathematical concepts. Pythagoras of Samos was one of the foremost logical minds of this age. He is the inventor of abstract mathematics, and the founder of the â€Å"Pythagoras Theorem†. This theorem is still used today, in modern geometric equations The Hindu / Arabian Period (500A.D. – 1199A.D.), gave us Aryabhata the Elder and Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khowarizmi. Al-Khowarizmi wrote a very important Egyptian book titled â€Å"Al-jabr† His book helped to advance the study of algebra, and is re... ... salary for a government mathematician is $62,000; for mathematical statisticians, $65,660   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, â€Å"Good mathematicians do not rush in to apply a formula or an equation. Instead, they try to understand the problem situation; they consider alternative representations and relations among variables. Only when satisfied that they understand the situation and all the variables in a qualitative way do they start to apply the quantification.† Bibliography   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mathematics its power and utility Sixth Edition Karl J Smith   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Math & Mathematics The history of Math Discoveries around the World   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vol. 1&2 Leonard C. Bruno   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Career Discovery Encyclopedia Volume 5 Ferguson Publishing company   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance- Eleventh Edition VOL. 1 & 3 Ferguson Publishing Company   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A History of Mathematics –Midair MacCormaic

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Shylock in Merchant of Venice :: Merchant Venice Essays

The Character of Shylock in Merchant of Venice  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   Few characters created by Shakespeare embodies pure evil like the character of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Shylock is a usurer and a malevolent, blood-thirsty old man consumed with plotting the downfall of his enemies. He is a malignant, vengeful character, consumed with venomous malice1; a picture of callous, unmitigated villainy, deaf to every appeal of humanity2. Shylock is the antagonist opposite the naive, essentially good Antonio, the protagonist; who must defend himself against the "devil" Shylock. The evil he represents is one of the reasons Shakespeare chose to characterize Shylock as a Jew, as Jews of his time were seen as the children of the Devil, the crucifiers of Christ and stubborn rejecters of God's wisdom and Christianity. However, when Shakespeare created Shylock, he did not insert him in as a purely flat character, consumed only with the villainy of his plot. One of the great talents that Shakespeare possessed, remarks Shakespeare analyst Harrold R. Walley, was his ability to make each key character act like a real, rational person. Walley said of all of Shakespeare's characters, hero or villain, that "Their conduct is always presented as logical and justifiable from their point of view3." To maintain the literary integrity of the play, "Shakespeare is under the necessity of making clear why a man like Shylock should be wrought to such a pitch of vindictive hatred as to contemplate murder4." His evil must have some profound motivation, and that motivation is the evil done to him. Shylock is not an ogre, letting lose harm and disaster without reason. He was wronged first; the fact that his revenge far outweighs that initial evil is what makes him a villain. Beneath Shylock' villainy, the concept of ev il for evil runs as a significant theme through the play. In order to understand the concept of evil for evil, one must examine the initial evil, aimed at Shylock, through Shylock's own eyes. Some may see the discrimination aimed at Shylock as justified, as he is a malicious usurer; certainly the Venetians thought so. However, the discrimination took its toll on Shylock, until he began to hate all Christians. Shylock saw himself as an outsider, alienated by his society. The evil he saw done to him took three major forms: hatred from Antonio, discrimination from Christian Venetians, and the marriage to a Christian of his daughter Jessica.

moralhf Essays - Adventures Of Huck Finn And Moral Progress :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays

Adventures Of Huck Finn And Moral Progress    The main character of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn undergoes a total moral transformation upon having to make life defining decisions throughout his journey for a new life. Huck emerges into the novel with an inferiority complex caused by living with a drunken and abusive father, and with the absence of any direction. It is at this point where Huck is first seen without any concept of morality. Fortunately, Huck is later assisted by the guidance of Jim, a runaway slave who joins him on his journey and helps Huck gain his own sense of morality. Throughout Huck's adventures, he is put into numerous situations where he must look within himself and use his own judgement to make fundamental decisions that will effect the morals of which Huck will carry with him throughout his life. Preceding the start of the novel, Miss Watson and the widow have been granted custody of Huck, an uncivilized boy who possesses no morals. Huck looks up to a boy named Tom Sawyer who has decided he is going to start a gang. In order for one to become a member, they must consent to the murdering of their families if they break the rules of the gang. It was at this time that one of the boys realized that Huck did not have a real family. They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or something to kill, or else it wouldn't be fair and square for the others. Well, nobody could think of anything to do- everybody was stumped, and set still. I was most ready to cry; but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson-they could kill her (17-18). At this moment, Huck is at the peak of his immorality. A person with morals would not willingly sacrifice the life of someone else just in order to be part of a gang. It is at this point where Huck can now begin his journey of moral progression. Huck encounters his first major dilemma when he comes across the wrecked steamboat and three criminals. When J im and Huck take the skiff for themselves, leaving the three robbers stranded, Huck realizes that he has left them to die. moralhf Essays - Adventures Of Huck Finn And Moral Progress :: Adventures Huckleberry Huck Finn Essays Adventures Of Huck Finn And Moral Progress    The main character of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn undergoes a total moral transformation upon having to make life defining decisions throughout his journey for a new life. Huck emerges into the novel with an inferiority complex caused by living with a drunken and abusive father, and with the absence of any direction. It is at this point where Huck is first seen without any concept of morality. Fortunately, Huck is later assisted by the guidance of Jim, a runaway slave who joins him on his journey and helps Huck gain his own sense of morality. Throughout Huck's adventures, he is put into numerous situations where he must look within himself and use his own judgement to make fundamental decisions that will effect the morals of which Huck will carry with him throughout his life. Preceding the start of the novel, Miss Watson and the widow have been granted custody of Huck, an uncivilized boy who possesses no morals. Huck looks up to a boy named Tom Sawyer who has decided he is going to start a gang. In order for one to become a member, they must consent to the murdering of their families if they break the rules of the gang. It was at this time that one of the boys realized that Huck did not have a real family. They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out, because they said every boy must have a family or something to kill, or else it wouldn't be fair and square for the others. Well, nobody could think of anything to do- everybody was stumped, and set still. I was most ready to cry; but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them Miss Watson-they could kill her (17-18). At this moment, Huck is at the peak of his immorality. A person with morals would not willingly sacrifice the life of someone else just in order to be part of a gang. It is at this point where Huck can now begin his journey of moral progression. Huck encounters his first major dilemma when he comes across the wrecked steamboat and three criminals. When J im and Huck take the skiff for themselves, leaving the three robbers stranded, Huck realizes that he has left them to die.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Disciple Making Plan Essay

The mandate of the Body of Christ to make disciples has been established. The Church needs to embody in physical structuring and deeds what is necessary to make this happen. It is obvious we need to do whatever it takes to make that a reality. Therefore, we must put together a plan – a disciple making plan that embraces that vision with biblical truths that show the values from which give direction for that vision to follow. The structural and existing means to how this is to be done, also known as the vehicles that enable this to get accomplished must be examined. The different player’s views that steer the work as they sense the work of the Holy Spirit need to be defined and understood. And finally, there must be tangible means of measurement to evaluate the effectiveness the work. God spoke to His people through the prophet Jeremiah. It was during a time where the children of Israel were in exile. God was showing His faithfulness to His people during this time of being without. God shared His heart and how it all relates to having a plan. Jeremiah 29:11 (KJV) says, â€Å"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.† God’s plan shows us He has a vision for us, His people. This is a plan for our benefit, future, and to give us hope. The same kind of plan should be what is put together within the church for His people. Scott M. Gibson and Warren Wiersbe write about the importance in what is preached and its relationship to the plan. They underscore the value of God’s Word and the need for us to develop a love for it. For the Word of God is to be the foundation as well as our life-long source that brings believers from infancy to maturity as we present it with love and grace. Each message builds upon the basis of which the plan is established.1 Vision The senior pastor has written the following as â€Å"The Vision Statement† for our church: â€Å"That the presence of God be around us, in us, and working through us to win the lost through the love of Jesus Christ. We believe all people matter to God. We want to see people saved, healed, set free, equipped,  empowered and serving as disciples, fully becoming devoted followers of Jesus Christ to impact the nations. We believe in the Father, we believe in the resurrection of God’s son and we believe in the Holy Spirit indwelling everyone, making all things new.† The senior pastor has been in this position for less than one year. My attendance and being a part of the leadership team is barely two months. Since that time, there has been only one formal meeting of the leaders of the church. However, personal conversations and public attitudes by the senior pastor have been expressed which will be how I will be able to answer the questions for this paper. This church has not had an attendance over twenty-five people in the two months I have been attending. The senior pastor gave each of the four leaders, or what he refers to as Pastors, a list of names of persons (and their phone numbers) that have at one time or another have come to the church and indicated this would be their church home with the assignment to reach out and call these individuals to invite them (back) to being involved with the church and its activities. These individuals are located throughout the greater Tampa area. This encompasses technically two counties and a considerably large amount of area. The senior pastor himself lives over one hour in driving time to the church facility. Another one of the pastors lives at least 30 minutes away. It is unknown about the socio-economic differences of the other pastors. The neighborhood of which the church is located is classic Central Florida with what appears to be higher middle class at one address and immediately next door, what would appear to be someone under more economic oppressive circumstances. The senior pastor has said he wants the neighborhood to be involved in the church. The church leadership embraces ethnic and social diversity and I believe the senior pastor wants the church population to also reflect this. The Central Florida population has a wide assortment of Cuban, White, Black, Pacific Asian and Asian Indian peoples. There is not a specific area of town that focuses on any one of these cultural groups. Thus, the integration of all these people is desired for the church’s population. We already have ages in this body ranging from very young children with little  to no Christian influences to a widowed wife of a former pastor. There are teenaged young people that have come from time to time. The majority of who has been in regular attendance has been mid-thirties to young fifties. The senior pastor has expressed his desire for these age groups be increased. World missions has been brought up as a desired form of outreach but specifics as to where and how has not been shown or provided for. My own personal work with various countries has been of the attention of the senior pastor but he has not asked about getting involved with this. Habakkuk 2:2 (KJV) says, â€Å"And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.† The formal and clear vision for our church has not been provided to me. It is possible it just is something I am not aware of it because of my being with the church for only a short time period. It is hoped that is the case. Mel Lawrenz writes about the church that may have fragmented from transition of leaders, the plans or lack thereof, and or the philosophies within a church. Two important components for the church’s success are having cohesion and momentum.2 Thus far from what I can observe, this church is working hard to enhance and uphold these factors. I look forward to seeing the plan and its full execution. Values The church has been alerted to the heart of the pastor to be a church in unity. He knows with the ethnic diversity and having the different pastors and those in leadership roles can seem to portray a wide variety of approaches and ideas in fulfilling the call to make disciples. Nevertheless, he is calling for unity to be not only the heartbeat with the church but also be demonstrated so that those that come once will experience this deeper than just what may be perceived. Psalms 133:1 (KJV) says, â€Å"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!† Our pastor wants the differences in us each to be the means to which gives us individual and collective access to those that join us in study, in fellowship, and ultimately in worship. Of course, this is all possible by remembering the importance of God’s peace  to heal and overcome any and all preconceived world based issues that could arise. Having such ethnic diversity and living in a culture such as Central Florida, the need to establish a true and lasting bond of peace is critical with our congregation. Paul said it best in Ephesians 4:3 (KJV), â€Å"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.† The growing together in faith and knowledge of our Lord Jesus in unity is what our church wants, not just for itself, but more importantly for the overall well-being of the membership. Ephesians 4:13 (KJV) says, â€Å"Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:†. Walter Kasper writes about the call the church has to be the church of unity. He points out that this is not a result of mere chance or happenstance but by the divine work of God’s Holy Spirit to the lives of the believers and into the life of the church as a whole.3 Views In the writing of Aubrey Malphurs, the church in first years of the new millennium is not the same church many of us grew up in the mid to late 1900’s. The church is not considered the central point of reference for faith and the expression of that faith.4 Our church is not any different than this assessment. The members all come from different socio-economic backgrounds which results in different interpretations of the people and their respective roles as a part of the work and workers within this specific Body of Christ. The church is seen in probably the narrowest of views in that it is seen to only include those that are under the roof at the current facility. That would extend to literally the people that are there at any given time as well. The senior pastor is clear to point to the other three he has designated as Pastors. He is looking to their contributions in nurturing, teaching, and shepherding the members as a whole and a separate list that he wants each pastor to be associated with. There is one problem – the people do not know they have been put on these lists. The beginnings of groups is taking place but the groups have not been formalized that people can relate to. The addressing the church body as God’s Saints is met either with casual acceptance and understanding or it is considered too â€Å"Christense† which results in losing its effectualness. The  Gospel does not have a consistent strand in meaning. The understanding and education as it relates to the first four books of the Bible being the Gospels and the fact we are referring to The Good News is not universally embraced by the congregation as a whole. This makes the work of Evangelism, the sharing of the Gospel both in word and lifestyle witness difficult to unite in as both a purposefully designed poster we are to uphold but also have the church communicate as one voice. There is not a deliberate discipling program or effort within the church. Although individual responsibility to walk out a life in the manner for which God has made available for us all, the church does not have the groups or education tools for making disciples. Leadership is a widely used and common designation within our church. This is partly due to the fact we have a small population. There is an encouragement to pursue leader responsibilities. Unless you are known to be either not a Christian or a not as mature of one that is preferred for such a role, the opportunities to lead and take charge of things is easier than in larger congregations. This church is committed to one another. They are looking for the manifestation of the goodness of His work in this place. 2 Thessalonians 2:1 & 2 says, â€Å"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.† This is very applicable to this body of believers. Vehicles Gary L. McIntosh writes about the steps taken to get a church to its next level. In a conversation he has with a colleague, it is pointed out that the church may be in good health but it not in good enough shape to show the true endurance necessary of a church that is going to go the full distance. There is a fine distinction between a church that is growing numerically and a church that is maximizing its potential in discipleship.5 My church is transitioning itself from a mainline denomination church to a fellowship of believers. Exactly what denomination the church is becoming has not been made clear. The senior pastor holds ministry papers with two different organizations. One of the other pastors has his credentials by an unknown to me association. There is one pastor and myself that has ordination with  the same board. Recently, there was a state meeting or conference of one of the two ministerial boards that the senior pastor is connected with. It was announced after the fact that there was an expectation of the membership to participate in this function. Because of members that are related to the senior pastor, they were in attendance and this satisfied his request. He is scheduled to be absent from a soon coming Sunday morning service to be involved in this group’s convention or some type of gathering. So far, there has not been any kind of ritual or conduct that is practiced or expected. We seem to be worshipping as one. Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, â€Å"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.† There are no small groups – yet. Nothing has been formally announced but I could see how the senior pastor has laid groundwork in and through the appointing of three others to positions that could be small group leaders. The leaders live in geographically different areas which will benefit the area of influence we have. Unfortunately, the church does not come together for study in God’s Word other than Sunday morning service. Sunday School and Thursday night Bible Study is not bringing everyone in as desired. It was just announced some events that the senior pastor wants church wide participation in. These announcements have been made orally, not in print. The events are being coordinated by one of the other pastor’s wife. She has announced she will get members to contribute in these meetings. A â€Å"Fall Festival† was held last year (so I am told) as an evangelistic outreach. The senior pastor has announced that that will not be repeated but instead a Summer â€Å"Vacation Bible School† will be conducted just prior to the beginning of the public school year. The curriculum has not been disclosed. Workers have not been selected and it is not known what kind of preparations will be necessary for those that are involved with this. The use of social media, specifically Facebook has been said to be a means of communicating both to the current members of the church but also to encourage those seeking a place for worship. The church’s website does not seem to have updates or is kept current on the affairs of the church. Daniel Collison and Rochelle Nielsen Barsuhn give warnings of how the church of today has left the model of self-denial and looks to self-gratification instead. The value of the relationships Jesus formed and has called us to copy has potentially become minimized or even eliminated from the church’s structure. We need to never forget the importance in the following through of building with one another and the faith that is found in this.6 Verifiers There has not been any indication that there will be any specific tools to measure the growth or effectiveness of an outreach or program. The senior pastor has not made any reference to any means other than visual perception as to if the church has increased or decreased in membership and its grasp on Christian doctrine. A database has been created but who and what information it contains is not known. For measuring the church’s growth both numerically and in various areas of concern (i.e., Christian education, spiritual gifts in operation and various forms of involvement in service to the church and in evangelism), I would start with identifying the people that showed strengths and or willingness to learn in such areas. It would be important to understand what previous experience they may have. Attendance in classes and their participation in the various forms of outreach would be able to be monitored. Their performance would be evaluated to see what their giftings are in. Jesus said in Matthew 7:20, â€Å"Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.† Thus far, we have not had visitors or new converts. The existing church body does not respond to calls to commitment. Currently, there is not a church wide program that incorporates members in evangelistic outreach. There are individual efforts but not under the direction of the senior pastor. There are sources found on the Internet such as www.leadershiptransformations.org that work with churches and the strengths they already have to grow into stronger and better churches. As pointed out in our text book â€Å"Disciple Making is†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , concentrating on leading individuals to the Lord and assisting the maturing in their life with God is what we are  to be all about. Then, we can deploy them to replicate this process.7 There needs to be a deliberate effort by the church members to bring people into the church in order to hear the Gospel and ultimately receive salvation. If each member were asked to bring one person with them once a month, the church population would double. In order to keep these new members, classes would need to be formed to educate in ways of Christianity. Additional classes would need to be formed to further the disciple making process. From these classes, it would be hoped that ten percent of those attending would carry on the disciple making process. From those people, various forms of leaders and Christian workers (missionaries, teachers, pastors and etc.) would be set apart for such works. Conclusion This church has been primarily an extended family but has begun to evolve into a multi-ethnic congregation and diverse socio-economic backgrounds due in part to the merging of two of the associate pastors. The senior pastor has been encouraging members to reach out to church dinners and a church wide rummage sale. With the expected growth in people attending and becoming part of the Body of Christ, we need to put in place the disciple making process for both the current membership and those that will be coming. Act 14:22, â€Å"Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.† Bibliography Collison, Daniel, and Rochelle Nielsen Barsuhn. Church in Translation: Vibrant Christianity in Your Time and Place. N.p.: Abingdon Press, 2010. Accessed March 1, 2015. .com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=10432028&ppg=82. Earley, Dave, and Rod Dempsey. Disciple Making Is†¦ How to Live the Great Commission with Passion and Confidence. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2013. Gibson, Scott M., and Warren Wiersbe. Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers. N.p.: Baker Books, 2012. Accessed March 1, 2015. .liberty.edu:2048/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=10722483&ppg=116. Kasper, Walter. That They May All Be One: The Call to Unity. N.p.: London : Burns & Oates., 2004. Accessed March 1, 2015. /ebookviewer/ebook/bmxlYmtfXzI0Mjk2NV9fQU41?sid=fb0c38e1-4143-479f-874c- 0eaaaada1a24@sessionmgr4004&vid=2&format=EB&ppid=pp_170. Lawrenz, Mel. Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement. N.p.: Jossey-Bass, 2009. Accessed March 1, 2015.? .actiondocID=10307582&ppg=117. Malphurs, Aubrey New Kind of Church: Understanding Models of Ministry for the 21st Century. N.p.: Baker Books, 2007. Accessed March 1, 2015. /lib/liberty /reader.action?docID=10762835&ppg=16. McIntosh, Gary L., Taking Your Church to the Next Level: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There (n.p.: Baker Books, 2009), 196-97, accessed March 1, 2015, liberty.edu:2048/lib/liberty/reader.action?docID=10745538&ppg=88.

Monday, September 16, 2019

The Vampire(TM) by Jack Prelutsky Poem

Choose a novel in which the novelist makes effective use of symbolism. Show how the writer made use of this technique to enhance your appreciation of the text as a whole. In your answer you must refer closely to the text, and to at least three of symbolism, theme, structure, or any other appropriate feature. â€Å"Lord of the Flies† by William Golding Have you ever imagined being stranded on a fictitious tropical island? , Or how about waking up one morning with a group of children on an island and finding out there is no sign of adult life? In the book â€Å"Lord of the flies† by William Golding these circumstances come true as a group of young boys are stranded on an island as they face their fight for survival following a plane crash. The boys face a tough task on the island as they face the expectance of the unknown. The night is still and sombre, and in the murky gloom, arisen from his slumber, the vampire leaves his tomb. His eyes are pools of fire, his skin is icy white, and blood his one desire this woe begotten night. Then through the silent city he makes his silent way, prepared to take no pity upon his hapless prey. An open window beckons, he grins a huge grin, and pausing not one second he swiftly climbs within. And there, beneath her covers, his victim lies asleep. With fangs agleam he hovers And with those fangs, bites deep. The vampire drinks till sated, he fills his every pore, and then, his thirst abated, licks clean the dripping gore. With powers now replenished, his thirst no longer burns, His quest this night is finished, so to his tomb he turns, and there awhile in silence he'll beneath the mud until, with thoughts of violence, he wakes and utters†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ blood! Jack Prelutsky. Out of all the alternatives which could have been my choice, I have picked ‘The Vampire' by Jack Prelutsky because of various reasons. In this essay, I will be explaining about some of the poem's features and why I have selected it as my favourite. First of all, the most intriguing thing was how the writer had formed such a vast and intense environment within the space of merely a few words: as soon I started reading this poem, I had no problem whatsoever settling into its mood and setting; the other factor which came to my interest was how quickly I had adapted to tone of the poem. From the very beginning of the poem, a vivid and ominous atmosphere is created- take the first stanza for example: â€Å"The night is still and sombre, and in the murky gloom, arisen from his slumber, the vampire leaves his tomb. † It is quite easy to notice the strong adjectives (still, sombre and murky) and the nouns (night and gloom) used by Jack Prelutsky to produce this dark and eerie setting. Throughout the poem, the vampire's intension is concealed by the writer-however, Jack Prelutsky does provide the reader with contextual clues: â€Å"blood his one desire† in line 3 of the second stanza and â€Å"upon his hapless prey† in the last line of the third stanza are just two of the phrases giving an vague idea of the vampire's objective. The writer used this technique as a tool to engage the reader to the poem, by making them try to figure out what was the vampire's purpose through the evidence he had given. In addition, the concept of rhyming can be seen in the poem; every stanza follows the rhyming pattern A B A B. This pattern is constant throughout each stanza of the poem, except, that is, the last: the last verse follows the pattern A B A C: the reason for the change of rhyming pattern in this verse is yet again one of the ingenious skills used by the writer to form a simple, but an immense effect. If the last line, â€Å"he wake and utters†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ blood! † is compared with the other lines of the poem, then many contrasts can be found among them. Firstly, this is the only line in the poem which uses an exclamation mark; in this case, the exclamation is placed there to show a sign of surprise and revelation in the last word of this line; an ellipsis is found just before the last word, to hold the reader in suspense, in doing so amplifying the surprise that follows. The change in the rhyming pattern in this line acts with the exclamation mark and the ellipsis to expand the contrast between this line and the rest of the poem and multiply the effects of the disclosure in the last verse. Numerous figures of speech are also seen in several parts of the poem. A metaphor is a word or a phrase applied in an imaginative way to compare two things or people of the same quality by saying that they â€Å"are/ is† the object to which they being compared with. Another figure of speech that is much alike to metaphor is simile; however, unlike metaphor, a simile compares two similar objects using words such as â€Å"like† or â€Å"as†. In this poem, Jack Prelutsky uses metaphor in many situations: â€Å"His eyes are pools of fire† and â€Å"his skin is icy white† are two of the metamorphic phrases in line 2 and 3 of the second stanza. There is another figure of speech within the phrase â€Å"His eyes are pool of fire†- if this phrase studied carefully then it would appear that â€Å"pool and fire†; two words which are the opposite of each other; is combined here to make a metaphor. When opposites are used together, like in this example, an oxymoron is produced. On the first line in the fourth verse, â€Å"An open window beckons†, another figure of speech is shown: this type is named personification. Personification is when an object-in here, the window- is given human qualities, which, in this phrase, is beckoning. Besides the personification and the metaphor, there is one example of alliteration-the repetition of letters and sounds for effect. This is in the first line of the poem, â€Å"The night is still and sombre†. All of these figures of speech work together with adjectives and adverbs to generate meanings beyond the literal meaning of words throughout the poem. There are other kinds of figures of speech such as onomatopoeia, assonance and pathetic fallacy- nevertheless they are not included in this poem. Although not everyone may prefer it and the vocabulary is rather difficult to fully understand, I personally think that this is great poem-overall, from my prospective, â€Å"The Vampire† by Jack Prelutsky is a narrative poem written with tremendous caution and elegance. The first sign of symbolism in the book is when one of the little boys, also known as ‘the littluns', tells the group that he saw â€Å"A snake-thing. Ever so big†. This puts the group into an uproar about how some sort of beast is lurking on the island. Being holder of the conch, Ralph tries to calm everybody down by saying â€Å"he must have had a nightmare†, but Jack just has to pop in stating that â€Å"if there was a snake we'd hunt it and kill it. During the night of the boy's search for the beast, Jack claims to have seen it. The following morning he calls a meeting and lets everyone know that there is really a beast. The beast a creation of the boys' minds, reflected as the most frightening object ever. The â€Å"beast† was slowly transformed from a bear to a flying, invisible, living thing, which eats everything in its way, especially human beings. It holds fear in the most terrifying way causing the end of the book to develop like it does. Although the beast they imagine doesn't exist, they flinch at the thought of the beast. This changes their behavior; they are so scared that they do not wander alone in the jungle. This fear, which the beast causes in the boys, allows Jack to keep his tribe under his command by creating an image for him. He is looked up upon as someone gutsy and strong, not scared of the beast unlike everyone else. The fire on the mountain is a symbol of escape and hope, and used as a signal for attracting the attention of passing boats/planes which might rescue them. Ralph introduced this idea in an attempt to establish a shift of kids for the maintenance of the fire. Towards the middle of the book, the shift wasn't followed, resulting in the fire being put out. It is easy to understand that when the fire burns high the boys have a high sense of hope of being rescued, but when the fire burns low because of neglect there is a low sense of hope and depression affects them all. Despite all of Ralph's attempts to keep the fire going throughout the book, Jack's authority is too strong and with the tribe Jack formed, Ralph is forced to let it burn out since he has no one to take care of the fire. The lord of the flies is a pig's head on a stake used as a sacrifice for the beast. It is given this name for the swarm of flies, which surround it. Jack believes that by giving the beast some food, the beast will not bother his tribe. At one point in the novel, it appears to be talking to Simon defining what is evil and what is good. This conversation inspires Simon to go to the mountain to find the beast. He realizes that the beast does not exist and this leads him to his death when he is brutally killed by the other kids because they thought he was the beast. The scar symbolizes a wound caused by mankind upon an untouched natural island. It is the place where the airplane crashed on the island. It plowed through the thick jungle, creating an area of chopped-down trees and shrubs. This is the place where Piggy and Ralph first met. Piggy introduced himself and became Ralph's companion. Close to the scar is the pool that Ralph and Piggy find the conch in. The conch is an symbol of peace, organization, and honesty for it has an authority which Ralph created at the beginning of the book. The conch is used to establish order in the boy's meetings because whoever has the conch, has the right to speak. The conch gave order in a world without grown ups and, like the law, it was respected, but when the kids realize that there was no punishment for disobeying it, they took advantage of the freedom to rebel against it. In the end of the book, when the conch is destroyed, Ralph is forced to give up and, with him; all the desperate attempts to be civilized are pointless. Golding presented numerous themes and basic ideas that give the reader something to think about. One of the most basic and obvious themes is that society holds everyone together, and without these conditions, our ideals, values, and the basics of right and wrong are lost. Golding is also showing that morals come directly from our surroundings, and if there is no civilization around us, we will lose these values. There were many other possible secondary themes I noticed in the book such as people will abuse power when it's not earned, When given a chance, people often single out another to degrade or improve their own security, You can only cover up inner savagery so long before it breaks out, given the right situation, It's better to examine the consequences of a decision before you make it than to discover them afterwards and the fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, which can turn you to either insight or madness. One thing I found interesting about this novel was I recognized that we must study and compare the characters of Jack and Ralph to understand Golding's meaning of the novel. Once the author lets the reader find the characters of similarities and differences it lets them understand Jack's and Ralph's rivalry. Golding tries to tell us a lesson of staying in a civilized society and not entering the dark and gloomy society. Watch the people around you for the people closest may be the people about to destroy civilization and the chance of being saved in this case. The Lord of the Flies† has so far been the one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The book is extremely addictive and written very cleverly, it did not take long for me to get into and finish it. Golding is an author with deep thoughts and a good understanding of human nature, which was very noticeable throughout the novel. I felt the novel was certainly both entertaining and educational. Entertaining in a way that the book is packed full of death, torture and most importantly, realism. Reading this book made feel as though I had my own character role in my mysterious exploration of the unknown. The educational side of the book I think was being on the adventure. What you learned from your experience. It lets you see what kind of issues you would have to handle or face up to if you were on the island with the others. If I was to trapped on an island now I think actually reading Lord of the Flies who fill me with experience and ideas to take me through my fight for survival.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Macroeconomics vs. Microeconomics Essay

hese are two branches or rather methods of exposition of the science of economics. The distinction between them can best be explained by comparing their main features. As the terms suggest, macroeconomics deals with the market on a large-scale and its aggregate problems, while microeconomics concerns markets on a small-scale and individual aspects of the problems. There are six distinct aspects of the two approaches that are shown as in the following table: Microeconomics Macroeconomics (a) Units of the study Individual consumers, producers workers, traders, etc. Aggregate units such as state National or International economy. (b) Activities Optimization and maximization of personal gains and profits. Long term growth, maintenance of high levels of production and employment. (c) Origin Micro activities emerge on the demand side of consumer’s choices. Problems of long-term growth depend upon the supply of productive resources (d) Conditions This approach is functional under static conditions and small time intervals. This approach is functional under dynamic conditions and complex long run changes. (e) Methods It is concerned with small adjustments, for which the application of a marginal method is suitable. It deals with complex, dynamic changes inviting the use of advanced mathematical techniques. (f) Levels Micro adjustments in resource A allocation are made in response to changes in relative prices of goods and services. The aggregate level of income or total economic activities is considered to be constant. Macro approach attempts to find the conditions of long-term expansions in output as a whole, assuming relative prices as constant (or significant). This distinction between micro and macroeconomics as presented above is only a matter of theoretical convenience. The two approaches are complementary and not competitive; one cannot consider these to be watertight compartments

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Schooling the Smash Street Kids Book Review

Paul Corrigan’s ‘Schooling the smash street kids’ takes the ever problematic issues of education and youth and provides a glimpse into it from the other side of the street. Impulsive, informal and unorthodox in writing style, Corrigan talks as if you were an old friend, pulling you in and gently nudging your opinions with personal memories. His work was based in the gritty north-east city of Sunderland, studying 14-15 year old boys in two schools with very different levels of facilities but both with undoubtedly working class pupils. This book does not start with a hypothesis and then test it but arranges each chapter around a relevant question, i. e. why do kids muck about in class, and answers that question at the beginning of the chapter using existing theories and another way at the end showing the process of the sociological research that had been completed. The nature of the book is to discuss youths and the system of education in 1970s Britain and to highlight problems faced everyday in the classroom by teachers and pupils alike. The book is aimed at giving a voice to those in similar situations, teachers that are struggling to engage the tough to handle children that they teach and those in government that can change it so they can ‘see some point in education itself’ (page 153). Schooling the smash street kids provides real insight to problems that need solutions drawn from actual research that was carried out in schools by the author. Paul Corrigan was able to do this in an effective way as he did not project himself to the pupils as a teacher or an authority figure, but as an author who was writing a book about the students and they were his only reason for being there. This in turn created trust between them and he was therefore able to conduct much more meaningful research that may have not been obtained had he taken on a more authoritative persona. Although the style of the book is written in a way that can be understood and interpreted by people of different abilities and from different backgrounds, holds the readers attention and gets its information across in a succinct and interesting way, the chatty and informal nature of the writing could be a flaw. It may not be taken as a serious piece of research due to this and could lose some credibility among academics, when in fact it could provide significant findings to the field of research. Overall, this book is an easy and interesting read and may be useful to students starting out in the field of criminology, to grasp basic understandings. The book is well organised in structure and incorporates personal experiences and statistics which helps drives home its purpose, to change and improve the schooling system and give a, albeit a small, platform to those and others in a similar position, that Corrigan encounters.

Friday, September 13, 2019

Review Based on the Book Educational Studies Essay

Review Based on the Book Educational Studies - Essay Example Within the context of this paper, I will discuss how community, family, technology, society, and relationships all have a strong effect on the quality of education children get and whether they decide to go to college. The quality of the education a child gets also determines if they become lifelong learners, leaders, and have confidence in themselves and their abilities as they grow and develop throughout life. Family, society, and classmates all play a significant role in how children develop their sense of self and their self-esteem (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). The development of this sense of self has a strong impact on the ability of the child to excel in academics, sports, and it will also affect their thoughts on higher education (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). Children that have low self-esteem tend to think poorly about their abilities and may not think they are capable of learning the complex curriculum taught in today’s schools. A strong sense of self enables t he child to have the courage to explore their surroundings, engage in activities, and develop their sense of self (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). Culturally responsive teaching is an important factor in helping young children learns to develop a positive sense of self (Sadker and Zittleman, 2009). From birth, children are gathering knowledge of their own culture from the people around them and they use this information in the development of their self-image (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). ... Biological factors include inherited or genetic traits, personality or temperament, and physical and health attributes, like disabilities or premature birth (Sorte, Daeschel, and Amador, 2011). These factors don’t just play an influential role in the development of the child, but can also have a negative affect on the relationship that the child has with their caregivers (Sorte, Daeschel, and Amador, 2011). Environmental factors include the child’s family, the neighborhood they live in, and the presence of environmental toxins, like second-hand smoke (Sorte, Daeschel, and Amador, 2011). These factors can effect a child’s social and emotional development by adding stress to the child’s family life (Sorte, Daeschel, and Amador, 2011). Relationships with other children that are not related to them and the values and attitudes of their teachers add additional influences to the child’s development (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). All these influences are the effects of socialization or the child’s nurturing environment (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). The nature of the child is determined mostly by biological factors and plays a vital role in the way the child learns (Sharp, Ward, and Hankin, 2009). Programs that create supportive environments, provide time for unstructured play, and allow the child to establish caring relationships with others will help the child gain the tools they need to be successful in the future (Sorte, Daeschel, and Amador, 2011). The standards of a supportive environment are: small group sizes, developmentally appropriate curriculum, competent instructors, and parents that are involved with the child’s

Thursday, September 12, 2019

Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 18

Response paper - Essay Example Ultimately, it is the view of this student that the choice to diversify into the economy market is a positive one. Essentially, this decision is based upon the fact that unless a firm is continually growing and seeking to diversify its new markets, it risks becoming irrelevant and shrinking. Likewise, relying upon the cash cows that have provided the sustenance of this company into the foreseeable future is not a tenable business plan that can likely continue to promote further success. In terms of what the CEO might actually think of these arguments, it is likely that he will be hesitant to risk company profitability and productivity based upon a product that has not sufficiently been analyzed, tested, or room for market space determined. Nevertheless, he will likely be intrigued by the possibility of engaging this particular product line and production with relatively low startup costs and without a great deal of investment in machinery or

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Age And Acquisition Of English As A Foreign Language Essay

Age And Acquisition Of English As A Foreign Language - Essay Example The ‘age factor’ has at all times been one of the chief issues in terms of research and investigations focused on the acquisition of second/foreign language. Nonetheless, the crucial point has now shifted from investigating the question of whether there exists a crucial phase, as observed during the 1970s and 80s, to the suitable time to begin education in L2. Such a trend is mainly applicable in foreign language acquisition perspectives across Europe and visibly apparent in countries like Spain where the age of instruction for teaching English was significantly reduced from 11 years of age to 8 years by the Reforma. It is hence, highly likely that advance improvements might press forward the starting age for learning a foreign language to age 6. Although these changes fail to consider the conclusions from current research, they do, however, replicate the common fear regarding the significance of languages, particularly English, in our every day lives. This book review i s, as a result, of supreme significance to teachers as well as students of English as a second/foreign language. It accumulates certain chosen contributions in two parts. The first part deals with "Theoretical Issues" discussed in three chapters which present a general idea about the role of age in learning languages. Chapter 1 in part 1 titled â€Å"Critical Period or General Age Factor(s)† written by David Singleton provides a methodical introduction to the CPH Critical Period Hypothesis as well as the theory of CP Critical Period.

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Business Law & Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business Law & Ethics - Assignment Example They also argue that the design of cyberspace disqualifies notice of prevailing law that is critical to the legitimacy of the law. On the contrary, cyberspace members are much better sanctioned than territorial watchdogs to formulate wide-ranging legal policies that would grant appropriate notice to cyberspace members and internalise the expenditures of cyberspace transactions. The regulation cynics assume from these claims that national regulators must â€Å"defer to the self-regulatory efforts of Cyberspace participants† (Thierer & Crew 2003: 31). This paper will challenge the cynic’s claims and their assumptions, or more specifically, this paper will argue that the law of nations applies to the Internet. The cynics have three obvious mistakes. First, they overemphasise the dissimilarities between cyberspace activities and other transnational activities. Both entail individuals in actual space in one national jurisdiction negotiating with individuals in actual space in another national jurisdiction in a manner that at times brings about actual-world damages. Second, the cynics do not address the delineation between mandatory laws and default laws. Their absolute normative argument that self-regulation should be granted to cyberspace makes sense in relation to default laws that, theoretically, private factions can adjust to suit their needs (Spinello 2002). On the contrary, it makes much less logic in relation to regulatory or mandatory laws that, for protective justifications or in order to safeguard intermediaries, set restrictions on ‘private legal ordering’ (Spinello 2002: 101). Lastly, the cynics undervalue the capability of established legal instruments and technology to lighten the regulatory difficulties caused by cyberspace. Cyberspace activities do not naturally permit any more respect by territorial regulators, and are not considerably less opposed to the instruments of

Monday, September 9, 2019

The causes of world war I Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The causes of world war I - Research Paper Example World War 1 was by caused the diplomatic clashes that occurred between some of the great powers from countries such as Italy, the Austro Hungarian Empire, Germany and the British Empire. These countries clashed over some European and colonial issues causing high tension. The diplomatic clashes might have resulted in a change to power balance in Europe. One source of dispute was over the Balkans territory. This tension was caused by the competition between Austria Hungary, Serbia and Russia over the territory. There are many events that are thought to have triggered the war, which include national politics, assassination, economics and cultures, complex webs of alliances and counterbalances, which were developed with some of the European powers in the year 1870. There are some domestic political factors that may have resulted to the war. They include such factors as German domestic politics. This involved politics between parties such as Social Democratic Party, which had a significant impact on the elections that took place in Germany in the year 1912. The government in Germany was dominated Prussian Junkers; they were the Prussian landowning gentry, who controlled Prussia. This led to increased fear as a result of the rise of left wing parties. It is with such fear that Fritz Fischer thought an external war would distract the population resulting to support for the government.1 Germany might have been ambivalent about the war with the worry that if the Germans lost the war, Germany woul d have faced disastrous consequences, which include a drop of the economy and a shortage of raw materials. Another domestic factor that might have contributed to the war was French domestic politics. The loss of the Alsace-Lorraine resulted to increased anger among the French. France being compelled to pay large reparation to Germany in the year 1870 was seen as a source of humiliation in

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Barbie as as Sexual Archetype Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Barbie as as Sexual Archetype - Essay Example Barbie was an instant success and quickly became the masthead and promotional icon for toy maker Mattel. Part of Barbie’s allure is her ability to transcend generations as a primary toy. Hitting fifty-three years old this year, she is probably one of the oldest toys to still be as well embedded as she is as a familiar childhood toy, still being swept off the shelves by parents for their children today. Moreover, Barbie, so ingrained in the culture of America, has become a sexual and cultural archetype for two sides of the same coin: body consciousness and women empowerment. Truly, one â€Å"could regard Barbie as one of the most successful creative products by a woman and one of the most widely disseminated women’s artworks in Western European human history, thus ranking Handler alongside the Brontes and Jane Austen in her universal cultural currency and influence† (Peers 11). An important distinction, considering many people have become so inflamed by Barbieâ₠¬â„¢s crimes against feminism that they forget Barbie was, in fact, created by a woman and celebrated by women for her ability to transcend gender inequality, despite her breast size. ... In doll form, Barbie represents an absolute sexual icon, an archetype of femininity. Over the years, Barbie slowly became the symbolic ideal for women, one that had been ingrained in the minds of young girls throughout their childhoods—so much so that women have become influenced by this childhood idol to make changes to their own bodies in an attempt to look physically like the sexual bombshell. One woman, Cindy Jackson, has become famous for spending more than fifty thousand dollars on plastic surgery in her attempts to look like a real-life Barbie doll. On numerous talk shows, Cindy has told her tales of obsession with the sexual icon and the pressures she placed upon herself to strive for the same physical perfection. Cindy still strives for the perfection that Barbie represents, and her story is often presented as one of desperation, ultimate sadness, and as a cry for help that will only end when her reality becomes shattered by the imperfection inherent in being a human. Nearly anatomically correct, Barbie’s dimensions are that of a completely unrealistic woman. Standing at just about six feet tall, Barbie’s real-life measurements would put her as having a â€Å"39 inch bust, 18 inch waist, and 33 inch hips† (Slayen). Any real woman wouldn’t be able to survive with a body of this shape, being unproportionately thin and with breasts so large she would literally topple over. Even the makers of Mattel, after bending to the pressure of their sexual icon as being too unrealistic an ideal for women, starting re-vamping Barbie’s shape to that of a more conservative image. Over the years, Barbie’s dimensions changed drastically, her hips smoothed out, her waist gained a few inches, and she was dropped from what could be considered