Beethoven Informative Speech Essay

You can realize that he probably wasn’t the easiest of people to be with. Impressive, certainly; exciting, perhaps; but rarely cosy and good-natured. This might be the common impression about this talented composer. Ladies and gentlemen, in my today’s speech I’m going to inform you about Beethoven’s individualism with two parts. 1. How individualism spirit helps him to success 2. A controversial individualist /we can say his arrogant. Beethoven is usually seen as an individualistic hero in the classical music world. There are many stories of how he did not take crap from the nobility. He removed Napoleon from his dedication of his third symphony after Napoleon declared himself to be royalty. He heard thunder on his death bed, raised up and shook a fist at it before expiring saying that I will take fate by the throat. And so on. Here, Individualist I mean is not in general context with any derogatory sense, but Beethoven devoted himself to fighting for individual’s fate and freedom, personal dignity and equality. As Beethoven said Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life. His individualism spirit also presented in his artworks, which have five specific features: passion, power, pride, freedom and independence, and makes him become one of the greatest composer in the world. Stravinsky once said his individualism like this : â€Å"Beethoven is the friend and contemporary of the French Revolution, and he remained faithful to it even when, during the Jacobin dictatorship, [hju,m? n? ‘t? r n] humanitarians with weak nerves of the Schiller type turned from it, preferring to destroy tyrants on the dramatic stage with the help of cardboard swords. Beethoven, that ordinary genius, who proudly turned his back on emperors, princes and magnates – that is the Beethoven we love for his indubitable optimism, his virile sadness, for the inspired sympathy of his struggle, and for his iron will which enabled him to seize destiny by the throat. † Romain Rolland evaluated him as: Perhaps he was unfortunate, poverty, disability, loneliness and pain continue to hover over his fate, but he still could see the dawn – the world did not give him happiness, he is a source of pleasure and power! He is the brave souls of all the world wrote the best motto – happy with the pain in return. So much for this point, I would now like to shift to the controversial of Beethoven’s individualism. Actually, as an individualist, Beethoven sometimes magnified his personality to a level of disgust. The highly praise in Romain Rolland’s masterpiece cover up some of Beethoven’s piu? disrepute behaviors, which mislead us away from a fully recognize of him. After reading some biographies and periodicals, I find he has really bad temper and absolutely not a perfect person. In order to show off his own talents, he described his variations on Mozart’s work as â€Å"I should never have written down this kind of piece had I not already noticed fairly often how some people in Vienna after hearing me improvise one evening would next day note down several characteristics of my style and palm them off with pride as their own. . . But there was another reason, too: my desire to embarrass those Viennese pianists, some of whom are my sworn enemies. I wanted to revenge myself on them in this way because I knew beforehand that my variations would here and there be put before the said gentlemen and that they would cut a sorry figure with them. † There are still many examples, but I think this one is enough to proof Beethoven’s arrogant. And Beethoven’s personality problem is also why Tchaikovsky admired him but did not love him†¦. that love was reserved for Mozart†¦. respect to these two genius’s personality, he thought of Beethoven as the Jehovah of music while he thought of Mozart as the more approachable Jesus So, to sum up, I have to say I won’t bias Beethoven’s achievements for his personality problem, that’s not an objective attitude. What I mean is that, it is necessary to have a fully recognition on Beethoven, so that we can really understand his music. Even though his over-individualistic personality makes him an arrogant and unpleasant genius, his spirit and art works are still highly admired generation by generation. That’s all. I hope I have made myself understood. Thank you for your attention.

A Symbol of Strength and Courage

I happen to be the youngest of the clan. My siblings often talk about what I call â€Å"the olden days†, going Into explicit details of their many childhood tales of fun and hard times mixed. Their stories were full of fun, excitement, and mischievousness. In each tale one or many of my siblings' anecdotes would include the trouble that they had gotten themselves Into, and then always tell of my mom's response. Mom would definitely give you her opinion (as she stood with her hands on her hips, fussing at you) on whatever crazy idea you had, but she would always still come to our rescue.Now that I am an adult I see Just how brave my mom really was. I TLD always believe that my mom was courageous. When I was young, I resented her for many years for the things that I had to endure as a child. I couldn't understand why certain decisions concerning us were made. I remember saying to myself when become a mother I will be different, my children will have options, our life will be bet ter. However, in a time when marriage was supposed to last forever, my mom with only a 10th grade education ended up raising her children mostly simplemindedly.My sisters and brother would often describe how my father's drinking affected their lives when they were young. I was too young to remember those times but I was told how mom would get up early in the morning and go Into the vegetable fields to work in order to put food on the table for her children. Later, when I came along mom worked in the seafood industry. It all was very labor intensive work standing on your feet all day. But mom never complained. My favorite memory is when I would get home from school and my mom would have dinner prepared and you walked into all kinds of luscious smells coming from the kitchen.My mom never really talked about that time of her life, she Just showed her children her love for them by ensuring we had what we needed. What makes my mom great? I used to ask myself that very same question, but not anymore. Now that I am a mother of two challenging teenagers, I have a world of respect and gratitude for my mom for the way that she raised my siblings and me. The morals, values, and belief system that are now Ingrained In me; I can only hope and pray are ingrained in my children as well. I often think about my holding and the lessons I learned from my mom.Growing up, in VA, was not the sleet thing In ten world My Tie consisted AT Nanning clothes on ten line, rolling in wood for the stove, and pumping water from the well to bring into the house. Everyday doing the same thing over and over, I hated them so much. I was upset that we had to live that way. It wasn't until years later that I realized, that my mom was right there with us every step of the way and encouraging us all that we could do much better in life. Each day I strives to do better in school.I also, realized that those chores were making me responsible and teaching me work ethics even while I was young. I have hop efully passed on to my children my hard working nature and taught them responsibility as well. Mom spent each day of her life showing those around her how much she loved Christ. I saw my mom as a beacon of hope and encouragement to me each day of my life. As I look back and reflect over my childhood, we went through some really hard times. But I can say that my mom let her faith guide her and keep her positive in the midst of bad situations.I never saw y mom cry or get upset over the things that we went through. I do remember her taking us to church and helping us to develop a relationship with Christ. I often think back to times when my mom would sit on the couch in our living room and she would sing hymns. She didn't have the best voice in the world but it didn't matter. She would sit there for an hour and sing and record herself on her tape recorder. Then she would playback her songs and sing along. I never got the chance to tell my mom, how much that encourages me even to this d ay.She showed me how to stay in a costive frame of mind and not be overtaken by disappointing situations. Caring, dedicated, compassionate, understanding, committed, and loving my mom, not Muhammad All was the greatest. I'm only sorry that it took me so long in life to realize it, because once I did, there wasn't much time left for me to spend with her. My mom spent her life sacrificing for her children and family. As I sat at her funeral and listened to all the wonderful things people said about my mom, I can only hope and pray that one day those great words can be said about me.

Can Rapers Be Good Role Models

Im a teen whose influenced by rap, rap myself because love it and I breathe hip-hop but I dont smoke pot I dont have guns dont sell drugs I dont go out and try to kill people because know whats right to do and whats wrong to do heroes a perfect example ill Haynes a rapper but he tells kids to stay in school he was a straight a student in school yeah Hess really stupid right and amine yeah he Was a drop out and a attic but he tells kids now not to get involved with that stuff he tells kids to stay in school USIA does not influence you in a bad way just describes how you feel at times and IP hop and raps good for that because it come out and says how its feeling. Is the response of a boy interviewed about the topic. Teen that view rappers as their heroes, chose them because they can related to them, many who grow up in bad neighborhoods and with out a mother or father, are the ones that can related to OPAC, Amine and Baggy Smalls.Others who just had their mommas, related to Ill Wayne and know about that mother love. Rappers eventually have to make songs at times about partying and drinking, but thats just to sell record, the true fans of those rappers know better than to live that thats the massage being send by their role models. I myself am a fan of rap music.Amine and Tuba Shaker, have been role models to me yet I dont drink, smoke, are involve in gangs or neither am I having sex, those are just stereo types people make about music, When view this artist as role models, I look at what they really stand for and what they try to do with their music, those who use them as an excuse to the negative decisions they decide to take shouldnt blame it in a person, instead they should blame it on their self.

Informational management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Informational management - Essay Example These information flows cannot be ignored: they are potent and effective, and they are the basis f most really good decision-making. Generally, MIS deals with information that is systematically and routinely collected in accordance with a well-defined set f rules. MIS plays a major role in a company's informational process. Information that has major managerial planning significance is sometimes collected at golf courses. Such information is not part f MIS, how ever, one- shot market research data collected to gauge the potential f a new product does not come with in the scope f an MIS by our definition because although such information may be very systematically collected it is not collected on a regular basis. (SMITH 1991, 60-85; O'REILLY 1980, 684-96) Normally, the information provided by an MIS helps the managers to make planning and control decisions. Now, we will see, what is planning and control. Every organization in order to function must perform, certain operations. For Example, a car manufacturer has to perform certain manufacturing activities, a wholesaler has to provide water to its area f jurisdiction. All these are operations that need to be done. Besides, these operations, an organization must make plans for them. In other words it must decide on how many and what type f cars to make next month or what commissions to offer retailers or what pumping stations to install in the next five years. Also an organization must control the operations in the light f the plans and targets developed in the planning process. The car manufacturer must know if manufacturing operations are in line with the targets and if not, he must make decisions to correct the deviation or revise his plans. Similarly the wholesaler will want to kno w the impacts that his commissions have had on sales and make decisions to correct adverse trends. The municipal corporation will need to control the tendering process and contractors who will execute the pumping station plans. Often there are elaborate systems for information that assists operations. For example, the car manufacturer will have a system for providing information to the workers on the shop floor about the job that needs to be done on a particular batch f material. There may be route sheets, which accompany the rate materials and components in their movement through various machines. MIS has all the ingredients that are employed in providing information support to manager to making planning and control decisions. Managers often use historical data on an organization's activities as well as current status data to make planning and control decisions. Such data comes from a database, which is contained in files maintained by the organization. This database is an essentia l component f an MIS. Manual procedures that are used to collect and process information and computer hardware are obvious ingredients f an MIS. MIS sub serves managerial function, collects stores, evaluates information systematically and routinely, supports planning and cont

Astro All Asia Networks ( DBA CONSULTANCY ) Assignment

Astro All Asia Networks ( DBA CONSULTANCY ) - Assignment Example Astro also runs production of films and its business ranges from commissioning and distribution of films. Its subsidiary Celestial Pictures own the largest film library in China. At present, Astro All Asia Networks is looking to expand its business in entertainment and media markets of the growing markets in Asia where there are ample scope of market penetration. Astro have invested in a joint venture of DTH services in India where the company envisages opportunity for growth. Apart from the opportunities, the threat to the company and concerns over its current positions are also important to study. Rationale of Study The rationale of the study is to examine the strategies of the Astro All Asia Networks in promoting its prospects of short term and long term growth. The current position of the company and the strategic methods of alliance for entering the foreign markets could be discovered with the help of this study. The study also provides an insight on the political, environmental , social, technological, economic and legal risk to which the company is exposed in its current business position. The strength, weakness, opportunities and threats to Astro could be analyzed with the help of this study. Significance of Study The significance of the study on Astro All Asia Networks and its current business position is that the performance of the company and its current position could be used to get an understanding of the position of media and entertainment industry. The threat of substitute products and services of the Astro could be analyzed with the help of this study. The emerging trends in the media and entertainment industry of Astro would provide information on the competitive market scenario. The current situation of Astro’s business could be analyzed to find the potential threats of the new market in the under-penetrated markets of Asia. Apart from this information on the bargaining power of the suppliers and the customers could also be obtained. Obj ectives of Study The objective of this study is to provide an insight to the managers of the concerns of the company, the emerging risks and threats to the business of the company. The study is aimed at investigating the threats of Astro’s business like the probabilities of convergence its businesses of digital media and entertainment with the business of computers, laptops and note books. The threats of World Wide Web to the business of Astro are also examined. The threats of mobile networks on the business of Astro are also examined with the help of this study. The study is also aimed at exploring possible weakness in terms of political, social and environmental exposure in the foreign markets for expansion activity. The technological, economic and legal challenges for Astro in its current situation are also investigated with the help of this study. Scope and Limitation of Study The scope of this study is that it provides an insight on the opportunities of expansion of Astr o All Asia Networks in Malaysia as well as in the under-penetrated markets of Asia. The possibilities for stabilization of acquisition cost of subscriber through its quality of services helps to judge the prospects of profitability of the company. T

Construction contract Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Construction contract - Assignment Example Engineers are opting for NEC because it is more flexible and can suit the whole construction industry. It is also highly adaptable, provides a range of options for risk allocation. Compared to other construction contract forms, it is the simplest using understandable language where the roots of many disputes have been left out. The use of flow charts also makes it more clear and easy to use. In this paper, the core clauses of NEC and FIDIC are compared with particular emphasis to the core risks and insurance. NEC assigns risks cover according to contemporary principles. Nevertheless unlike FICID, it defines the contractors’ risks in reference to those risks not listed under the employers’ risks. Under NEC conditions, the responsibility of care of the contractor goes beyond the completion of a contract. In the clause 80.1of NEC 3, the employers risks are articulated. They are categorized into six broad groups which include: one, risks involving the site or works and the legal and general liabilities and defaults that may arise from his design. In cases of risks that may crop up from the employer design fault can be insured against through a professional indemnity policy. If it is the employer own design or covered by NEC professional service contract where an outside contractor is involved. In dealing with unexpected situation, NEC has a range of provisions offering compensation for the events or occurrences that are at the employer’s risk. This goes a long way in assisting the project manager and contractor to man the construction projects without being obscured by these events. In the sub-clause 60.1 provision for variations are made where the contractor may request for extension of time for completion and even addition of payment. In such cases, the contractor only articulates his desire for time extension or rising of payment in a quotation. In sub-clause 61.6, affirms that in instances where the results of compensation of an event are

Racism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Racism - Essay Example His therefore, provided a scientific basis to the claim. This may sound offensive today but, not then when it was a common knowledge, or so people were made to believe. Pearson (20-21) argues that the black race is a bad stock which he doubts can evolve to a higher type by them. He talks of a higher state of civilization which has been achieved through the struggle of race with race where the physically and mentally fitter race survives. Thus in the struggle between nations, the fit (militarily superior) always emerge victorious .This then calls for and justifies the domination of inferior races with superior ones through the use of military coercion. This sentiment is echoed by Spielvogel (520) who says that the domination is to show the strength and virility of the superior race. Putting superior and inferior races together to live in one soil according to Pearson (23) will only yield a relationship of a master and a servant or that of a slave-owner and a slave. Again, this stateme nt not only justifies European domination over other races, but it also calls for imperialistic exploitation of the so called inferior races. It is undoubtedly true that, Pearson seemed to be glorifying violence and its application on what he termed as the inferior races. The inferior races are so unfit even to fully exploit the resources in their environment, and as such Pearson (23), calls for their expulsion out of such lands by the superior race. This idea resonates with that of other Darwinists who posit that the inferior races have demonstrated their unfitness by losing out in the socio-economic struggle, all thanks to heredity endowment (Chase et al, 581). Unfit as they are, Pearson (32) suggests that this bad stock ought not to have existed at all, and to prove their worth, they should go to new lands as miners, cowboys and storekeepers. But, he cautiously warns of the mixing of the races. Superior race must eject the inferior ones and not mix or live alongside them lest it degenerate itself (45). The call for a homogenous superior race is clearly evident in Pearson’s work as he offers this as a solution to the problem in South Africa then: All black men in the fields and mines to be replaced by whites and the Kaffir are pushed back towards the equator (50). The unhealthy social status in South Africa then was attributed to, from Pearson’s racist point of view, mixing of the bad and good stock. Gobineau, referred to as the father of racism, appears to be in concordance with Pearson in this. He argued that the intermingling of races would untimely lead to the downfall of western civilization (Chase et al., 593). In his scientific view of a nation, Pearson (46) argues that an organized whole nation is kept up to a high pitch of internal efficacy by recruiting its numbers from the better stock, and kept to a high pitch of external efficacy by war with inferior races and with equal races. The contest here is over trade routes, food supply and sources of raw materials. By this he implies that, the Europeans can use their military strength to rob Africans and other so called inferior races, and even to instill fear and submission. Consequently, the latter being weary and ‘inferior’ has to undergo immense suffering. The superiority of the Europeans gives them the privilege and right to

Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6500 words

Project - Essay Example The rich historical background of agriculture in Australia is traced in the 1800s when the government encouraged exploration of huge tracts of land for farming and for pasture. However, due to the physical characteristics of the land coupled with the dry climate, the indigenous agricultural product that initially became the trademark for Australia is wool. The culture portal of the Australian government revealed that â€Å"wool became the cornerstone of Australian agriculture and Australia is often said to have 'ridden on the sheep's back' through the early days of its economic development† (Australian Government, par. 5). In the 1900s, greater diversity in crops and agricultural products emerged in Australia. Among the predominant produce, aside from wool and wheat were beef, different grain varieties, fruits and vegetables. Sugar and grapes also emerged as an income generating products. The early part of the 20th century marked the growth of production in agricultural produc ts beyond what the population could consume, necessitating exports to international markets (Australian Government, par. 10). The incentives provided by the Australian Government to encourage production and discourage imports paved the way for continued growth in the agricultural sector of Australia. It was thereby revealed that â€Å"across much of the early 20th century, the Australian government provided assistance to farmers and primary producers in the form of bounties, to encourage production, employment and export. The government also placed tariffs on some goods to discourage imports† (Australian Government, par. 11). The official report on Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry in 2010 reveal that a total of sixty percent in agricultural produce is being exported and has generated $32 billion during the period 2008 to 2009 (At a glance, 5). In this regard, the research aims to proffer relevant features of Australian agriculture, to delve into its role in the growth and development of the economy, to determine its current status together with its advantages and disadvantages, recent improvements and future trends. After determining current problems, the research would recommend courses of action to address the dilemmas affecting agriculture in Australia. 1.2 Features of Australia Agriculture The contemporary status of agriculture in Australia is measured in terms of its gross value of domestic production or GDP which, as of 2002, was revealed to amount to $39.6 Billion (Australian Bureau of Statistics, par. 1). There are other measures of the contribution of agriculture to the economy of Australia, to wit: â€Å"gross farm product (GFP), which is a measure of the value added in production contributed by businesses classified to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) Subdivision 01 (Agriculture). In 1999-2000 GFP was calculated to be $17.6 billion, or just under 3% of gross domestic product; ag gregate

The Armed Forces Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Armed Forces - Essay Example It was a professional field where individuals had the opportunity to save the lives of others without considering the effects that their actions may have on their personal life. Despite of my liking for the armed forces personnel, I never wanted to opt for this career. This was because of my own confused feelings with regard to this profession. Though I did believe that it was a position of authority and dignity to fight for your country in difficult times, I could not analyze the fact that how people could actually consider the lives of others to be more precious than their own lives. But I have understood now that it is with maturity and greater understanding of the world that a person understands the true meaning and essence of many important things in this world. My maternal uncle was working for the army of the United States and had been on the rank of sergeant major. I really looked forward to visiting him and asking him about his experiences. He had gone to many places across the world and his knowledge and experiences were very different from the other people I had ever met. He was not like the other members of my family. There was an air of authority and dignity when he was around. We respected him a lot and I used to enjoy asking him questions about the various occurrences in his life. I always wished to ask him about why he had opted for this profession as he was not home for most of the year. He missed important family events and occasions. I wanted to ask him that was his profession worth all the losses that he was facing. I wanted to know if it was worth the fact that he had not been present on the occasion of the birth of his first child. Despite of my desire, I could never raise these questions in front of him owing to his poise and his love for his profession. Time went by and even if my uncle was not home, they had a happy family. Everyone was really happy when he visited and brought with him gifts and shared his experiences with everyone. Eve ryone looked forward to his arrival and eagerly waited for him. Life is very unpredictable and these happy moments were not meant to last for long. The war in Afghanistan started in 2001 and my uncle was deployed in the country to participate in the war. It was a very sad farewell as the consequences of this war were not known. I had expected my uncle to be sad and reluctant but I was surprised to see that he was very happy and was confident as he always was. When he was about to leave, his daughter asked him if it was necessary to leave. He replied by telling her that he was going to fight for her and for their family. He told her that he was going to fight to make her future secure so that she could lead a happy life and that no one could harm their country and their family. His words had a very deep meaning and I was highly touched. He left to never return again as he lost his life in a suicide attack carried out on the armed forces by the militants in Afghanistan. Though he did not return, but his words left a great impact on me and my life. I realized the reason for his dignity and his confidence at all times. I also understood that he seemed to be different from others because he was not like the other people and his priority was the benefit of others. I did not opt for a career in the military but my thoughts with regard to the armed forces changed. All the questions in my mind were answered. If I would be capable enough, I would

Constitutional Law and Offender Treatment Analysis Essay

Constitutional Law and Offender Treatment Analysis - Essay Example Therefore, the justice system has been given power in line with the enacted laws to ensure that the powers granted are implemented by all sectors in compliance with the statutes. This paper therefore aims to identify and examine the statutory authority and responsibilities of justice system officials, security personnel, and private citizens regarding investigation, detention and the arrest of suspected offenders. It will particularly make an evaluation on the psychological and physical treatment of suspected offenders and associated laws by all concerned parties including the police, private security personnel, and the wider society. The paper will also examine the various laws in relation to the use of force by public police and private security.  Finally, it will examine the manner in which established laws affect public safety and individual rights associated with probation, parole, and correctional organizations. Constitutional Rights The U.S. Constitution's Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments, through the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment, provide the rights relating to criminal laws that all citizens have. The Fourth Amendment forbids unrealistic and unwarranted searches and arrests of citizens and their property. The Sixth Amendment provides for rights and freedoms for criminal suspects. The amendments provide for a speedy and extensive investigation by the judge followed by a fair hearing in court. The constitution also has provisions that protect the suspect from harassment, intimidation and torture by the police, justice system and the wider society (Legal Rights Hand Book, 2005) Rights of Citizens The Constitution guarantees citizens the right to life, freedom of movement, speech, association etc. as long as the rights bestowed do not result in the violation of the rights of another individual or the State. If a citizen of a particular country feels that his or her rights have been violated he or she has the right to inform the police for intervention. However, in the event that the life of an individual is in danger hence cannot wait for police intervention that individual has the right to act in self-defense. For instance in South Africa in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act(sec 42) an individual who is not a security personnel has the right to arrest an individual suspected of committing crime without a guarantee under special circumstances (Vuuren, 2000). The Justice System is the branch of government that is responsible for the execution and enforcement of laws that are enacted by legislature. The security personnel that include the public police and private security personnel have the duty of ensuring that the citizens follow the law and therefore help in maintaining law and order. When citizens fail to obey and respect the laws in place the police are entitled to act within the law and ensure those responsible for committing crimes are brought to justice by carrying out speedy and appropriate inves tigations and arresting the culprits. After the police have carried out extensive investigations, the justice system has the authority of using the evidence presented to sentence the offenders in accordance with the law. Once the offenders have been sentenced, it is the duty of the correctional centers such as prisons, parole and probation centers to ensure that the offenders serve their sentence and reform

Big Drive Auto Scenario Essay Example for Free

Big Drive Auto Scenario Essay It is the dream of every organization to enter a new market and in the process realize its dreams. However, this dream becomes very difficult to achieve due to a number of factors among them entry barriers put in place by those companies that are already operating in those countries. According to Arthur, S. Sheffrin, M. , (2003), some common non-pricing barriers likely to affect a firm wishing to enter a new market are high advertising costs, government policies, customer loyalty, and cost advantage independent of scale and distributor agreements. It would therefore be recommendable for such a firm to enter into negotiations with the government of the country where it wants to venture and the other firms that are operating in the country. This way, the new company will be able to cut on the cost of production. The reason is that in the negotiations, the companies will be able to discuss and have a common pricing index that should apply to the new company. Even though the other old company will not pay any new prices, the new company will have its prices reduced substantially. This helps the new company to reduce on the cost of production thereby having more disposable income. It can use this disposable income to invest on new technology or to maximize on its production. (Arthur, S. Sheffrin, M. , 2003) Another recommendation would be for the new company to first form a joint venture with the other operating company in the new company. This way, the new company will be able to escape or rather to get over all the other non-pricing barriers such high advertising costs, customer loyalty and distribution agreement. Under the umbrella of the already operating company, the new company now in the joint venture will be able to penetrate the market and only after it has succeeded in establishing the market should it break and be on its own. Due to these barriers, we can present sales at the new company in the tables below taking a span of ten years. From the tables, it is clear that the business is moving all right up to the year 2002 when it suddenly goes down. This defines the time when the new company decides to break-off from the joint venture and be on its own. The business goes down as they are now running independently but it slowly regains momentum because they are familiar with the market. (Arthur, S. Sheffrin, M. , 2003)

Cultural Differences between United States and Italy Essay Example for Free

Cultural Differences between United States and Italy Essay All societies provide for certain broad areas of social living. Wissler (2000:99) identified these as universal patterns of culture, such as speech, material traits, art, mythology and scientific knowledge, religious practice, family and social systems, property, government, and war. Even within these broad areas of social living are a number of common elements. Moreover, cultures between countries differ because of the great variety of solutions people in different societies evolve in solving life problems. Amongst the important factors which give rise to cultural differences are the kind of environment within which the society lives, the human and natural resources available within this environment, the extent and intensity of exposure the society has to other people from which they can borrow ideas, and their cultural heritage. This paper intent to figure out the differences between the United States of America and Italy in terms of history, languages, Ethnical diversity, culture, superstitions and religions. II. Discussion A. United States of America The United States developed and grew from 13 English colonies on the Atlantic coast into an independent republic that eventually extended to the Pacific, with Alaska and Hawaii among its states. Although the original 13 colonies were British, several other nations took part in the discovery, exploration and settlement of the territory that became the United States. Both France and Spain once controlled more of North America than did Great Britain. Dutch and Swedish colonies existed temporarily on the Atlantic coast. Thus the beginnings of the United States, like its later development as a nation, involved contributions by people from many lands (see Graff, H. America: the Glorious Republic (2 volumes; Houghton Mifflin, 2001). North America was inhabited by Indians and Eskimos long before the first Europeans arrived. White men came into contact with the Indians from the very beginning, but the Eskimos were not greatly influenced by the white man’s civilization until the 20th century (see Link, A. S. , and others. American Epoch: a History of the United States since 1900, 9th edition (2 volumes: Knopf, 1999). There are various religions existing in the United States such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Unitarian Universalism and Hinduism while others claimed that they don’t have a religion. Amongst the religions mentioned, Christianity has the greatest number as surveyed in 2001. On the other hand, English is the de facto national language of the United States. Spanish language has also been taught as â€Å"non-English second language† (see Boorstin, D. J. and R. F. The Landmark History of the American People, revised edition (2 volumes; Random House, 1999). B. Italy Italy is a country in the southern Europe. Jutting southward from the Alps into the Mediterranean Sea, Italy consists mainly of a slender boot-shaped peninsula and the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Ital is bordered by France, Switzerland, Austria, and Yugoslavia, and the Adriatic, Ionian, Tyrrhenian, and Ligurian seas. It completely encircles two tiny, independent states: San Marino, east of Florence, and Vatican City, in Rome. The name Italy was first used by the Greeks for the southern tip of the peninsula, where they established colonies as early as the eighth century B. C. Gradually, as the peninsula came under Roman rule, the name was applied to everything south of the Alps (see Coppa, F. J. , editor. Dictionary of Modern Italian History (Greenwood Press, 2000). Italy has contributed greatly to western civilization. For hundreds of years it was the center of the far-flung Roman Empire. It was in Italy that Christianity first flourished in Europe and became powerful force. Rome has long been the seat of the papacy and the world center of the Roman Catholic Church. The Renaissance, the period of enlightenment that ended medieval times, began in Italy and during this period Italians contributed greatly to the intellectual and artistic development of the Western world. Italy still preserves much of its noble past in its cities, museums, and ruins, attracting more foreign visitors than any other country in the world (see Guicciardini, Francesco. The History of Italy (Princeton University, 1999). The Italians, an Indo-European people, were settled in theItalian peninsula by 1000 B. C. In the eighth century B. C. the Etruscans (or Tyrrhenians), who came probably from Asia Minor, founded Etruria on the west. To the south was Latium, established by the Latins, an Italian tribe, with Rome as its strongest city. Farther south were Greek colonies (see Guicciardini, Francesco. The History of Italy (Princeton University, 1999). By the middle of the sixth century B. C. the Etruscans dominated central Italy, including Rome. Greeks and Romans cooperated in driving back the Etruscans. Raids by Gauls, who had crossed the Alps and settled in the Po Valley, helped weaken Etruria, and it rapidly declined (see Coppa, F. J. , editor. Dictionary of Modern Italian History (Greenwood Press, 2000). In the fourth century B. C. the Greeks made several attempts to conquer the Italians, but in the third century the Greek colonies fell to Rome. From that time until the collapse of the Roman Empire, the history of Italy coincides with the history of Rome (see Coppa, F. J. , editor. Dictionary of Modern Italian History (Greenwood Press, 2000). III. Conclusion United States and Italy has many differences in terms of culture and history. However, these two countries were able to experienced invasion from other countries that tried to colonize them. References: 1. Coppa, F. J. , editor. Dictionary of Modern Italian History (Greenwood Press, 2000). 2. Guicciardini, Francesco. The History of Italy (Princeton University, 1999. 3. Graff, H. America: the Glorious Republic (2 volumes; Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 4. Link, A. S. , and others. American Epoch: a History of the United States since 1900, 9th edition (2 volumes: Knopf, 1999. 5. Boorstin, D. J. and R. F. The Landmark History of the American People, revised edition (2 volumes; Random House, 1999.

Quality Perception of Ready to Cook Meals

Quality Perception of Ready to Cook Meals The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of quality perception of housewife towards their preference of use of ready to cook meal and to know that which variables of quality perception have an impact on the preference to use. The variables we have taken for the study are taste, freshness, storage life, hygiene, quality of ingredients. Primary data has been collected through personal survey; we have used the questionnaire as an instrument for the data collection. The convenience sampling method was followed. The questionnaires were filled by 150 respondents i.e. housewife. Optimal scaling or categorical regression was used which is statistical technique used to analyze the impact or effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The results show that there is no effect of the independent variable (taste, freshness, storage life and quality of ingredients) on the preference to use of the ready to cook meal. In other words we can say that the housewives are not influenced by these variables of quality perception i.e. they have no effect on the preference to use. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Overview Every region has different culture and different perceptions related to meal, (Rozin, 1999). Industry response to consumers varying lifestyles and preferences has seen an excess of prepared foods (ready-to-cook items) introduced into the market over the past two decades. During this time period, the food industry has prepared a concerted effort to meet up the desires of a time-hungry consumer through enlarged offerings of semi prepared and ready to cook meals. As the emergence of time, men and women both are preferred to work, (Goyal Singh, 2007) because the daily requirements are grown very high and everyone wants to live a lavish life. For women its mandatory to look after their home and family along with their job. It is also factual that many of us do not have the time or energy to cook like that everyday. Mainly responsibility for the preparation of meal lies with women. Its true that housewife is always responsible for meal, even she spend more hours away from home than her hu sband. For working women it seems daunting to give time to cooking after a long working hours. It is quite tiring to plan and prepare a meal for working women, where every day chores as well as office work have no avoidance. She has a more purchasing power however less time to cook and eat. There are options available for the food that fills the empty tummies which are also healthy and take less time. And even some of them have pretty good taste too.As the work habits of women have increased; it has an effect on life style. I have found a way out to this menu planning and making phobia. The easiest way out that I could think of was ready-to-cook meals. Ready to cook meals is a packaged meal that already cooked or just need to reheats it before use. Many research shows that the concept of ready to cook meal comes from during wars, military has limited resources to prepare food and it is available in pouches and tin cans. It is popularly used in US and Europe countries for ages and has a mature market in food industry. Although it has also captured a market share in Asian countries for past two decades. Ready to cook meals makes life easier that they are easy to make, ready to eat whenever you want to and you just have to do reheat it and it is all done, it is easy to store. These meals can be stored for long time like kept frozen for over three months and once it has cooked then can be stored up to three days in the refrigerator. So, it is a nice deal unlike the consumable commodities. The adoption of ready to cook meal is easier specifically for working women against home cooked meal because she usually dont get the time to make va rieties of meal on everyday basis. Thats why working women are more likely to buy convenience products than the housewives. Daily dine out is not a healthy choice. Because restaurants offers a heavy and fattening meals which are injurious to our health. So, the people who are health conscious and want a high quality meal or try a new eating experience, they prefer to have natural food ingredients then ready to cook meal is a good choice for them, which is hygienic and tasty like restaurant food. While on the other hand, the advantage of making own home cooked meal is that you can prepare meal according to your preferences, some people like less spicy food. So, you can add or eliminate the ingredients as per your desire. You have a complete control over making of your meal and no preservatives used in it. 1.2 Problem statement The research we conducted is about to study the effects of housewife quality perception of ready to cook meal on their preference to use. This research is actually an experimental research in which we found that do the housewives prefer to use the ready to cook meal. And how do they find the ready to cook meal in aspects of its taste, freshness, storage life, hygiene, quality of ingredients in comparison of home cooked meal. There are many companies which offers ready to cook meal in the market. The task of cooking a big meal after a full day of work might appear kind of off-putting. Due to scarcity of time, the difference is arising in purchasing of substitution of purchased goods. Both the employed and non employed wives are going to apply Time-Buying strategies. But the employed wives take more care of their time so they go for convenience meals or purchase meals. Ready-to-cook meals are dependable with modern consumer fashions towards greater involvement in cooking and the desire to use natural, unprocessed ingredients. This type of food can be served in a short amount of time. This type of food prepared available in market that gives benefit to both employed and non employed women. The perception of ready to cook meal depends upon some factors which are highly effective on buying of purchased food. When the women consider using ready to cook meal there are some variables like taste, freshness, storage life, hygiene, quality of ingredients, which comes in her mind and make comparison with the home cooked meal. In this report we came to the knowledge that both working n nonworking women were willing to cook food tasty as well as quick. Although we got know that we added flavor in food through long, slow and simmering cooking but now women are finding other ways of infusing flavor that we saw in this study. Mostly women collect recipes that take short time, some keep their pantry and freezer stocked with ingredients used in most quick tasty meal recipes. Some tasty and healthy shortcuts can make cooking trouble-free and delicious. The other significant variable to consider is storage of ready to cook meal. This discipline describes how to handle, prepare and safe meal in ways that prevent food borne illness, WHO (2007). This practice is to be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Housewives are very conscious about food safety. They dont take risk for health of their families. They try to Store their food properly and under the best possible position that would extend its life to its extreme potential. Some foods can be stored at room temperature and some must be refrigerated. Freezing can be exploited to increase the life of many items for consumptions. To get the most out of the storage areas, definite conditions must be maintained. These meals are designed to be heated, but can be eaten cold since they are already fully cooked. With the passage of time storage methods are changing with eating patterns. No women look like to be ready to spend hours in cooking foods. Even though, it means we just can not have right to use to real time fresh food. But so is the need of time that we have started showing willingness to buy meals ready to eat where no issues of storage arise. The quality of ingredient is another very important characteristic of meal that is considerable among consumers. This contains such features as texture, and flavor and so on. As well as ingredient quality, there are also hygiene requirements. It is important to make sure that the food processing surroundings is as clean as achievable in order to produce the safest possible food for the consumer. 1.3 Hypotheses H1: The taste perception of ready to cook meal has a positive effect on housewife preference to use. H2: The freshness perception of ready to cook meal has a positive effect on housewife preference to use. H3: The storage life perception of ready to cook meal has a positive effect on housewife preference to use. H4: The hygiene perception of ready to cook meal has a positive effect on housewife preference to use. H5: The quality of ingredients perception of ready to cook meal has a positive effect on housewife preference to use. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW Quality and safety are two important elements in consumer food perceptions and decision making associated with food choice (Grunert, 2005). But the both quality and safety are two different and broad categories. If we take quality as benchmark it may include study hygiene, taste, freshness, health effects and storage life. These five variables also lead to safety of food and if these five variables will be taken under consideration in making home food or purchasing ready to cook meal can be the most important variables to be in consideration. At first it is to be understand that either women now days are cooking food at their home or not or purchasing it from outside. There is a growing demand for the convenience of take-out food, and food service establishments are seeking to satisfy this demand (Food Institute Report, 2007). The ratio of purchasing the food from outside is growing day by day but the preference to use food will remain the same because the compromise on hygiene, taste, freshness, health and storage has to be always in consideration. With the emergence of the supermarket and hypermarket culture, consumer preference for packaged food products has increased significantly in the recent years (Stewart-Knox Mitchell,2003). This factor should not be neglected that with opening of more and more supermarkets, the demand and use of frozen food, ready to cook meal and have increased and consumers are also very well aware of quality and preference to use food (Silayoi Speece, 2004). Consumers have now become more discriminating in their food product choices and have started emphasizing more on convenience, freshness and quality of the products (Quagrainie, 1998). Freshness, hygiene, taste, all these factors are very important before purchasing package food product because health is an important factor and consumers cant compromise in any kind of health issues(Acebron, Levy., Mangin, Calvo Dopico, (2000) . The desire for convenience and an increase in the number of working women are some of the significant factors driving a strong growth of packaged food products (Goyal Singh, 2007). Besides, consumers have now started preferring quality food intake and are becoming more aware in terms of nutritional diet, health and food safety issues (Ruth Yeung, 2001). The producers of the packaged food should take this factor in reflection because as trends changes the producers have to adopt it quickly because of to capture the market and to remain the markets leaders (Rimal, Fletcher, McWatters, K.H., Misra, S.K. Deodhar,2001). As economies develop and incomes increase, people not only demand higher levels of safety and quality in their food (Smith Riethmuller, 1999), but also express concerns about the environmental sustainability, the logical use of natural resources and the protection of farmers and animals health (Overby, Gardial, Woodruff, 2004). These changes in attitudes and values (Tansey, 1994) have also been stimulated by a number of food scares and crises (e.g. pesticide residues, saturated fats, veterinary drugs, food additives, dioxins, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, etc.) that have become a major public health problem worldwide and shaked consumers confidence in food quality and food safety. Furthermore, the increasing technological change especially the genetic engineering and its use in agriculture and food industry is generating much controversy over its costs and benefits with the majority of European consumers having a negative attitude towards genetically modified food (Verdurme Vi aene, 2003). Where consumers are going towards package foods, at other side increase in health issue is an another problem. So still there is a huge majority who is still love to cook food their home and prefer it more than ready to cook meal because for them taste, freshness, hygiene is more than the package foods (Hobbs, Bailey, Dickinson Haghiri, 2005). Consumers are believed to generally prefer products of high quality. However, the underlying cognitive determinants of quality and safety are not sufficiently understood within the area of consumer behavior. (Rijswijk Frewer, 2008). Quality is always the benchmark for the people and in food no one like to compromise on it. The variable which is in discussion of hygiene, storage, freshness, taste and effect on health is the benchmark for the preference to use the food. People can spend premium price but will not compromise on the given variables because health is an important factor for everyone(Rohr, Luddecke, Drusch, Muller Alvensleben, 2005). It is important to understand consumers own perceptions and representations of quality and safety. This is because consumers will base their purchasing decisions on these beliefs (Rijswijk Frewer, 2008).It is not necessary that the variables which is being considered is the benchmark for everyone, For some only 3 will be considered, for oth er 7 attributes can be in their view. Consumers are likely to derive quality or safety perceptions from other product cues, either intrinsic (e.g., appearance of the product) or extrinsic cues (e.g., a quality label) (Nelson, 1970). Its an another view of judging quality by looking to other product looks because no one knows what is inside, how it is cook, etc. In addition, the interrelationship between consumer conceptualization of food quality and food safety warrants further investigation. If consumers perceive quality and safety as independent attributes, different decisions may be made depending on whether consumers focus on quality or safety issues in their food choices. However, if the two concepts are inter-related, and are implied by one another, food choices may always involve decisions about both quality and safety. (Rijswijk Frewer, 2008). Both qualitative and quantitative research has addressed issues associated with cultural determinants of food choice. It is evident that when analyzing factors that influence food choice it is important to take consumers cultural backgrounds into account (Nayga, 1999). It is believed that people from different cultural backgrounds have different perceptions and experiences related to food (e.g., Rozin, P., Fischler, C., Imada, S., Sarubin, A. Wrzesniewski, A., 1999). So the culture factor will be having an impact on our results because most of the house wife will not prefer the ready to cook meal because their mothers dont like this concept, they might have a thought which is not good for health, so these factors can have an impact on preference to use food. There is a growing demand for the convenience of take-out food, and food service establishments are seeking to satisfy this demand (Food Institute Report, 2007). The current trend in today world is to consume the frozen food, package food, ready to cook meal or restaurant food because of the lack of time in current life (Lennernas, Fjellstrom, Becker, Giachetti, Schmitt, Remaut de Winter Kearney, 1997). To live a good life every member of the family has to earn for the good living, so the trend is setting now for the ready to cook meal which can get ready as soon as possible. The challenge is to find containers that keep the food hot, and are cost effective (Matsumoto, 2000). Initially in package food idea was introduce, it was having the flaws how to keep food hot and how to make it cheap because the idea was very costly. And when you think the consumer will be purchasing the food because every one has the different schedule, so the idea of ready to cook meal has come up, when you get home you just have to cook for around few minutes and have good hot food at consumer convenience. Despite the increasing sales, it is only take-out and curbside services that are fueling the market. Consumer interest for dining in restaurants is not growing; the value to the current consumer is the ability to purchase already prepared food, and take it away to consume at home (Prewitt, 2002). Consumers are not interested in purchasing the prepared food because till they take that to home it may not remain fresh because distance from the restaurant to home can be long or short both, other perspective is that it has been observed that people dont like to eat as soon as they reach their home, they first like to fresh up, get relaxed and then loved to have food with their family, so ready to cook meal is very much good for these kind of people as it is safe, hygiene, taste good. This market is supported by single working people, and dual-income couples, with children or without, who are purchasing take-out food five times per week due to time constraints (Binkley Ghiselli, 2005). In Denmark, the respondents of one research (Poulsen, 1999) believed that prepared meals provided convenience by enriching the every day diet. This convenience may be supposed as promoting an easy way of healthy living. However, consumers also perceived unnaturalness and uneasiness towards the taste changes, higher price, doubt about the enrichment effect, and uncertainty toward eating functional food products. On the other hand, attitudes were seen to be more encouraging towards the tangible aspects of functional foods. Some of these aspects, included enrichment with supplements of calcium and vitamins (Poulsen, 1999). CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS This chapter covers the detail information regarding method of data collection, research questions, and objective of this study, research hypothesis, data collection, sample size and technique. It also includes the tool which has been used in the study. 3.1Method of Data Collection: The method of data collection was a personal survey technique. The data was collected from different housewives in whom both working and non working housewives were included. 3.2 Instrument of Data Collection: The instrument used to collect the data was a structured questionnaire. It contained 10 questions, in which 3 questions were regarding personal information of the respondent, 2 questions regarding the usage of ready to cook meal and other 5 questions were regarding the effects of housewife quality perception of ready to cook meal on their preference to use. The different quality factors of ready to cook meal were considered like taste, freshness, storage life, hygiene, quality of ingredients in this questionnaire. 3.3 Sample size: The sample size was of 150 respondents. The respondents were housewives who were to ask to fill the questionnaires. Two categories of housewives i.e. working and non working women had been considered in this study. 3.4 Sampling Technique: The sampling technique used in this study was convenience sampling that based on random data collection. 3.5 Statistical Technique: The statistical technique used for the analysis was regression. To find out the effect or impact of independent variables which were taste, freshness, hygiene, storage life and quality of ingredients on the dependent variable which was preference to use, we applied optimal scaling or categorical regression test because the data was based on categories. In summary shows that the questionnaires filled were 100% valid and all 150 respondents filled the questionnaire. The value of Cronbachs Alpha shows the reliability of the data. It is greater than .50 so, we can process further our study. . CHAPTER 4: RESULTS The effect of housewifes quality perception of ready to cook meal was determined by the optimal scaling which is categorical regression analysis, this technique is used to predict the impact or effect of the independent variables quality perception of ready to cook meal in which we studied taste, freshness, hygiene, storage life, quality of ingredients on the dependent variable i.e. preference to use. Summary The ANOVA table tests the acceptability of the model from a statistical perspective. The table shows that there is no effect of taste on preference to use because the significant value is greater than 0.05. The significant value should be less than 0.05 to accept the model. CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Conclusion In the research an attempt was made to examine the quality perception of housewife towards the usage of the ready to cook meals. As the result shows that there is no effect of quality perception in which taste, freshness, storage life, hygiene and quality of ingredients variables were studied, on the preference to use of ready to cook meal. The significant value of all the variables came greater than 0.05 which means there is no impact of independent variables on the dependent variable and all hypotheses has rejected of the research. 5.2 Discussion In this research the women are involved from different areas of the city. Majority of women used the ready to cook meal and agreed to the statement that ready to cook meal makes life easier especially for working women. It was seemed that the common perception among consumers about the ready to cook meal is changing life style. The quality of food considered as the packaging and its appearance of the meal. On the other hand, women also like traditional style of cooking because they think that home cooked meal have a variety of ingredients and they can make their meal by their own style. 5.3 Implication and Recommendation On the basis of this research we came to know that the companies which are producing ready to cook meals are recommended that they should advertise more their products because mostly people know just one or two companies which are producing these kinds of meals. And they should spend more expenses over RD because it was determined during this survey that there is lowest impact of storage life on the preference to use. The companies should go for line extension in ready to cook meal because variety of consumers seems in market. 5.4 Future Research The future research on the effect of housewife quality perception of ready to cook meal on their preference to use will need to take account of the observation that these concepts are strongly related to the safety of food and convenience of time. The other issue on which we can focus in the future study would be that how people from different cultures define the quality of food because every culture has its own style of preparing food, food safety have an impact on purchasing decision, and the brands impact of ready to cook meal on the preference to use.

Glory Essay -- essays research papers

Glory: A Look From Within It is the evening before a powerful and epic battle with more than victory at stake. Tomorrow, the 54th regiment will forever stamp themselves as a symbol of hope and freedom in a new world during an attack on Fort Wagner as soldiers for the North. Dozens of men with young children, wives, and an idealistic dream of a free world will die in a matter of hours. As the Northern soldiers gather on this night before war, there are no tears of fear to be shed. The din in the air is that of song and the feeling is that of an inspirational victory. On this night before their death, slaves turned soldiers have put aside their personal differences and become one; a metaphoric battle has been won. This is one of the final scenes from the movie Glory, a power depiction of the heroic efforts of the first African American regiment during the Civil War. The deep, multiple plot layers, and moving acting performances in Glory create a captivating viewing experience. The story leads up to the summer of 1863, during which the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment led an unsuccessful attack on the Confederate’s Fort Wagner in South Carolina. The 54th regiment was the Nation's first black regiment and because of their skill, courage, and determination, they were credited with paving the way for the successful entry of other black soldiers into the ranks of the Union. In addition, these brave men demonstrated that black men were willing to fight and die both for their country and for their freedom. The setting was primarily outdoors and on the battle ground. There was some rain during training, but mostly the weather was mild in climate. The setting also alluded to the camaraderie of the regiment, and what was most memorable was the manner in which the men, who were once divided, came together for the common goal and good of all men regardless of the color of their skin. Glory did not use make-up for the purpose of beautifying or improving the looks of the actors. Make-up was used to intensify the conditions and the severity of the wounds of soldiers who fought in the â€Å"Battle of the States.† The make-up helped to illuminate the emotional intensity of the soldiers and their roles in the war. The composition of the wounds brought reality to the movie and the human aspects of the soldiers. The make-up had a tremendous impact on how the viewer experience t... ... historical significance of this film. When the film was made, it might have been considered a risk to cast Matthew Broderick as a valiant civil war leader. His past performances included childhood roles in movies such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, War Games, and Project X. In his first feature role as a serious actor, Broderick is believable and has just the right amount of emotion and dramatic resonance. Morgan Freeman is also well-cast as the patriarch of the group soldiers. His calm, yet powerful soliloquies of life as a hopeful slave painted many of the films non-battle scenes. Glory had all the elements of a great motion picture. There were moving performances by both lead and supporting actors. There was great historical significance. The casting, setting, and writing were as close to perfection as I have seen in years. Most importantly, the depth of layers in Glory’s plot left many layers of theme for the viewer to absorb. The conflict associated with the basic human struggles of the characters defined this movie for me. Private Trip said it best on the night before the final epic battle: â€Å"Ain’t much matter what happens tomorrow, cause we men, ain’t we? We men, ain’t we?†

Effective Communication :: Communication in Leadership

Overview of Section In Long’s chapter â€Å"Communication† in Leadership Tripod: A New Model for Effective Leadership (2004), Long defines communication as â€Å"the passing of information between at least two parties† (p. 89). He shares general communication principles, ways to improve communication, and evaluate it. His premise is: â€Å"Unless those placing leaders, the leaders themselves, and those under leadership can communicate effectively, leadership will not be as strong as it should be in order for the organization to achieve at its highest level† (p. 87). All involved in communication from the top down need to understand and implement effective communication despite misconceptions. †¢ In the process of encoding and decoding (communicating), â€Å"noise† occurs. â€Å"For true communication to take place, the receiver has to be able to decode the message the way the encoder wants to be understood† (p. 90). Both, encoder and the decoder, need to take the time to ensure a message has been correctly decoded. †¢ It is important to understand methods of communication and inhibitors to decoding. o Vernacular use and inflection are two common hindrances to verbal communication. o The telephone can create communication problems. Voice mail can be impersonal and unprofessional; therefore, these communications need to be clear and thorough. o Handwritten communications include the note, letter, and electronic mail. While the note can be used to encourage and affirm, it takes time and must be distributed fairly and equally. Letters should be personalized, even if database generated. E-mail seems to be immediate, efficient, and quick; however, it can be impersonal and allow the encoder to not be responsible for ensuring communication has occurred and been correctly decoded. o Nonverbal communication includes behavior, gestures, facial expressions, body language, and personal space. Many do not realize the nonverbal messages they send; therefore, leaders need to understand and be able to truly interpret them. Implications for Teacher †¢ Teachers are leaders in the classroom, thereby, responsible to effectively communicate with students, parents, the community, colleagues, and administration. †¢ Teachers need to take the time to ensure communication has been successful—encoding and decoding. †¢ Teachers utilize verbal, telephone, written, and nonverbal communication.

Comparing Poe and Whittman Essay -- comparison compare contrast essays

Comparing Poe and Whittman  Ã‚     Ã‚   A successful writer is he who is able to transmit ideas, emotions, and wisdom on to his readers. He is cable of stirring emotions and capturing the reader's attention with vivid descriptions and clever dialogues. The writer can even play with the meanings of words and fuse reality with fiction to achieve his goal of taking the reader on a wonderful journey. His tools are but words, yet the art of writing is found in the use of the language to create though-provoking pieces that defy the changing times. Between the lines, voices and images emerge. Not everyone can write effectively and invoke these voices. It is those few who can create certain psychological effects on the reader who can seize him (or her) with inspiring teachings, frightening thoughts, and playful games with the language. These people are true writers†¦ In addition, authors frequently lack originality and simply take the reader on all-too-familiar voyages into politics, morals, or religion. Successful writers are those who risk and go on to write about topics that many times others have been less willing to address. The product of these extraordinary efforts is compositions richly enhanced by human feelings and real problems that we encounter and relate to our everyday lives†¦thought-provoking discussions about religion, philosophy, or politics. These pioneering authors are not afraid to write about evil, the perverse aspects of man, or even sexuality†¦Ã‚   Their true voices have risen from behind the words taking shape in the minds of the readers. Few have done this, but in the 19th Century two remarkable Americans produced compositions of unequal quality. Their styles and the way they approach the reader are different from t... ... something (AL 2139) Could it be that their originality sprouts from the fact that they have both been able to express so humanly the cries of the soul while at the same time leaving mysteries and ambiguity for the readers' minds to personalize to their own life experiences? Their distinct styles enabled them to expresses exactly what was on their minds with words, leaving behind all inhibitions. The themes of their compositions and the moral issues captured our attention. I think the reader was able to "feel" he was truly experiencing the story simply because so much was left as a mystery for our unconscious to reflect upon†¦ I am convinced that this is the key element that makes both Whitman and Poe successful writers.  Ã‚   Works Cited Reidhead J. ed.   (1998, Fifth Edition) The Norton Anthology of American Literature Volume 1: Norton & Company, New York

Why did Stalin emerge as the leader of the USSR in 1929? Essay

There are many reasons why Stalin emerged as the leader of Russia, some of these are due to his intelligent mind and determination for power, others because of his criminal mind-set and willingness to overcome his rivals. The most important reason why Stalin emerged as leader of the USSR is because he manipulated his party members and his own place within the party, he did this by recruiting his friends and supporters into the party after the Lenin Enrolment, as well as this Stalin removes any competition within the party that may contribute to a threat, this shows how Stalin abuses his own position in the party to manipulate everyone into getting what he wants. Having his supporters within the party, Stalin could not be voted out or overpowered within the party. One of the important reasons why Stalin emerged as leader of the USSR is because of his individual factors, because of Stalin’s previous convictions of bank robbery and treachery he was not trusted straight away, but because he is devious and knowledgeable person he stayed back in the party until the right moment struck, when Lenin had the stroke, Stalin saw his opportunity to get into the hierarchy of the party, this shows that Stalin’s devious mind played a large part of why Stalin emerged as the leader. Stalin’s personality served him well to becoming the leader of the USSR, this is shown when he sent a telegraph to Trotsky explaining when the funeral of Lenin was, unknown to Trotsky, Stalin had actually gave him the wrong date and made a big funeral, this was seen as Trotsky being dishonourable, making him less likely to succeed Lenin, this improved Stalin’s chances of succeeding as Trotsky was him main competition. The true nature of Stalin’s p ersonal traits is shown when he keeps Lenin’s testament secret, knowing what Lenin thinks of him Stalin seems motivated to win leadership, by being devious Stalin stopped the corruption of Lenin’s testament getting publicised therefore making him in line for leadership.

Financial Contingency Planning: Sources of Funding Essay

California has the largest prison population in the United States and some countries around the world. For over 40 years, the incarceration levels have risen. The prison rates have risen 700 percent since 1970, today it is estimated that one in 100 adults are incarcerated. Who pays the bill for this large increase, tax payers have and will continue until the Department of Justice and government have a solid plan to reduce the overwhelming criminal justice deficient. The taxpayers are not only paying to house the prisoners but to feed them and all their medical needs. One plan that was pass by the Supreme Court was to reduce the prison population, they gave California two years to do this (Henrichson, 2012). Revenue is big for state prisons; most states rely on taxpayers to foot the bill. Around the mid 1980’s is when prisons were financed by the pay as you go method and bonds there were $9.6 billion in construction costs. In the late 1990’s the expenditures were up to $ 22 billion dollars, this was over half the debt it cost to finance prisons. The general obligation bond was another way to pay for prisons, but this was financed by tax revenues and back by government credit. Getting prisons built pressured the Governor at the time, Mario Cuomo, he tried to use the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), and this fund was for oversight for low-income housing. This was shot down at the state supreme court. The lease revenue bonds became a way to pay for prisons. An entity or agency was created to build the prisons, they this agency would lease it to the government. In turn the taxpayers would pay back the loan, it was done this way because it did not require the government to ask the voters (â€Å"Public Bonds†, 2004). The Department of Justice (DOJ), just like most organizations has a contingency plan. The Antideficiency Act regulates what can and will not be paid for if the contingency plan is put into action. There are certain programs that will  always keep going; they are Diversion Control, Health Care fraud and abuse control, debt collection, asset forfeiture fund, and federal prison industries. According to â€Å"United States Department Of Justice† (2013), â€Å"Also, the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) Buildings and Facilities and Commissary accounts have multi-year authority and have adequate carryover funding to meet expenses during a lapse in appropriations †. In the event, the California prison system would need to activate their contingency plan the Bureau of Prison Buildings and Facilities and the Prison Industries and Commissary funds would carry over to meet any expenses. The employees, including medical staff are except from any finical constraints. (U.S. Department of Justice Contingency Plan). Public prisons became a drain on the budget since the mid 1990’s, and only getting worse. With the cost of living going up so does the cost of medical and psychiatric car. Also, another big stressor is the overcrowding in public prisons, with more inmates there is a need for more officers on duty, this results in more overtimes and hiring more officers. A way to lessen this burden is privatized prisons. There are several investors in the public stock market. Privatized prisons have investors that fund them. Miller (2012), â€Å"Private prisons can be defined in one of the following manners: a transfer of public facilities to a private organization; a contract to design and operate new prisons; and a contract to provide other services to public prisons such as transportation, medical care, food, and maintenance â€Å"(The Drain of Public Prison Systems and the Role of Privatization: An Analysis of State Correctional Systems). Private prisons do not have ties to the government , they are funded privately, however, and they may enter into a contract with the government. These contracts could be to house inmates and the government helps regulate private prisons. The public prisons use the private prisons to house many of the overcrowded prisons and the government has the power to place limitations and regulations on the organizations. AB 109 is a bill passed by the U.S. Supreme Court that ordered California to fix the overcrowding. This required California to reduce the prison population to 137.5 percent capacity. When the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California in May to fix its overcrowded prison problem, citing constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment, the court  rejected California’s bid for more time and upheld a two-year deadline to drastically cut inmate population in its 33 prisons to 137.5% of capacity by May 2013. To get there, there are several major steps, including a reduction of 10,000 inmates by November 28 to reach 167% of capacity. One idea California has is to use more community base programs for those non-violent prisoners who are released early. Some of the programs include transitional housing, jobs, and medical and mental health services. A poll was taken to see how the community felt about the early release of non-violent, non-sex, and non-serious offenders back into the community, they were in favor of them being released and managed within the community (Krisberg, 2011). The new parolees are supervised by the Post-Release Community Supervision program, about 104,00 are already living within the community. These changes would slowly take place. There are currently 65,000 current prisoners that fall under the AB 109 bill. These number will change as new people go to prisons and others are patrolled. A concern of the counties is funding, with the influx of offenders they worry how the communities will afford the large amount of people (Krisberg, 2011). Prison bonds are a fixed income security called lease revenue bonds (LRBs). These bonds are used to finance prisons. There are different types of bonds, traditional revenue bonds and lease revenue bonds. Traditional revenue bonds help repay the debt, the down side to these bonds is prisons do not generate revenue. The state treasury had to figure out how to create them, their solution was to have a private agency build the prison and then leases it to the state. The state takes money from one entity to pay another, a lot of the time it is taken from the general fund. These bonds are also tax except. The downfall to these bonds is the state can raise taxes to repay these obligations (Anderson, 2014). California has the largest prison population in the United States. Some of the questions asked about reducing the population are will this alter rates of incarceration, probation, supervision, and community programs. The state was giving a grant totaling $650.000 dollars from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the James Irvine Foundation, and the Public Welfare Foundation; this grant funded the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) to  conduct the research. The SCJC was asked to effectively help California undertake and assess the realignment. This research this grant will provide will not only help California, but other states to reduce their prison population as well (â€Å"Stanford University†, 2013). There is another program called Fund for Nonviolence. This program is having several grants under the justice with dignity program. The total grants for 2013 were $372,500 and had 13 different grants that were awarded. Most of them were directed toward inmates who re leased back into the community; these grants were to help them to start over (â€Å"Fund For Nonviolence†, n.d.). It is predicted that in the two years over 3,700 more beds will be added to prisons. The state of California faces being held in contempt if they fail to meet their deadline of overcrowding. This brings up more costs for the state to have to fight this matter in court. Three judges orders 34 prisons to be downsized. The state faces two class-action lawsuits because the overcrowding has led to deaths. A report released by the correction’s department shows there is a $500 million dollar expansion project that would allow for two more prisons to be built, that means more officers, more health care staff, and more beds, just to 26,000. California passed the three strikes law and there has been a 36% increase in admissions. The three strikes law increased the prison population by 34,000. This is a record high for California (â€Å"Governing The States And Localities†, 2014). One answer California has to help offset the budget constrains is legalizing marijuana. The idea would be to use the excise tax, which could yield $770-900 million per year and the sales tax, another $240-360 million a year to reduce the states swelling budget. If the state was to legalize marijuana this would save over $200 million prosecution, arrest, trial, and prison time (Gieringer, 2009). The state of California is faced with a big challenge, how to reduce prison size and keep the re-entry rate low. The three strikes law has not helped with lowering the numbers. The Supreme Court passed AB 109, which told California they had two years to lower the prison population. California is faced with two on ongoing law suits that claim wrongful death suits. The state government has gone over how to reduce the budget and be able to find revenue to make the deficit lower. One thought was to legalize marijuana; this would not only bring a large  revenue but also save on costs from arrest, court, and jail time. Another approach was to build two more prisons to increase the population by 34,000. Also, the state could use more private prisons, they are funded by private entities but are still backed by the state. The prediction is the prison population will steadily increase, there for the need for more beds and more staff is apparent. References Anderson, A. (2014). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2008/10/22/prison-correctional-bonds-pf-ii-in_aa_1022fixedincome_inl.html Eaton, K. (2002-2011). BI. Retrieved from http://blog.bi.com/industry-news/ab-109-what-is-it-and-what-does-it-mean-to-california-counties Fund for Nonviolence. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.fundfornonviolence.org/index.html Gieringer, D. (2009). California NORML. Retrieved from http://www.canorml.org/background/ca_legalization2.html GOVERNING The States and Localities. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/news/headlines/california-prison–overcrowding-its-going-to-get-worse.html Henrichson, C. (2012). VERA Institution of Justice. Retrieved from http://www.vera.org/sites/default/files/resources/downloads/Price_of_Prisons_updated_version_072512.pdf Krisberg, B. (2011). Berkeley Law University of California. Retrieved from http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/REALIGNMENT_FINAL9.28.11.pdf Miller, D. (2012). Pro Quest A discovery guide. Retrieved from http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/prisons/review.pdf

Fitt’s and Posner’s Phases of Learning Essay

Describe â€Å"Fitt’s and Posner’s† phases of learning and explain how you would structure practises to enhance a performance In this essay I will explain Fitt’s and Posner’s phases of learning and how I would structure practises to enhance performance. By practising a skill we can become better. Fitts and Posner theories were that everyone has to go through stages of learning, known as the cognitive, associative and autonomous stages of learning. Depending how good a person is at a particular sport, they will fall into a certain category. An example of this is Wayne Rooney. At a young age he was introduced to football and played amateur football from a young age, becoming one of the youngest strikers in football history. However by learning a skill in sport involves the development of skills by practice. An example of this is shooting practise – you can only become good by practising to kick the ball in between goalposts. Until a person becomes confident enough that they score a goal, they will naturally fall into the next category. The three stages of learning can be divided into two main categories; associationists and cognitivists. Associationists views learning of a sport as the link of particular stimulus and particular responses. Cognitivists see it as a function of the brain, where we learn through the understanding and knowledge of the sport. There are 3 stages of learning according to Fitts and Posner. They are: Cognitive v Associative v Autonomous Cognitive This is the initial stage of learning and is essential if the learner is to process successful through the other stages and is to move a stage where the skill can be performed. The cognitive stage involves formation of a mental picture of a skill. The most efficient way is from a demonstration, which allows them to see the key requirements and to work through the performance mentally. Visual guidance is one of the best ways to make others understand, and so that the person learning can see the correct method to perform the skill. They will then attempt to perform. Success rate is usually 2/3 out of 10. The cognitive stage initially concentrates more on the skill, rather than the game. There is a lack of control and consistency. Trial and error is also a key way to learn. Reinforcement of this can be by giving positive feedback. Questions will arise when learning skills of a sport if the skill is not correctly learnt. The learner will be confronted with some very specific, cognitively oriented problems. Examples of this are, â€Å"How do I score?† â€Å"What is the aim of this game?† â€Å"If so, where are the positions for players?† If the mental picture is not correct the skill will not develop. It is important that the coach explains very thoroughly what is required of each athlete. Associative Learning at the associative stage means that the skill is becoming more consistent, but there are still some errors. The simple element of the skill has been grasped however the performer still refers back to the mental picture. The performer can begin to detect errors and begin to realise his/her mistakes. Feedback should encourage a ‘feeling’ of a well performed skill. This means that the performer will begin to enjoy the sport. Success rate is 5/7 out of 10. Verbal guidance is essential as it is used in the associative stage. Some people never exceed this phase. An example of this is a semi-professional shot-put thrower. Some performers return to the cognitive stage to refer to the mental image of the skill. Also, some professional players return from autonomous stage to the associative stage if they have an injury – they need to work hard and rise up to the expected standard of an autonomous performer. Autonomous Learning at the autonomous stage is where the skill is done without conscious thought. The movements of the performer are fluent, consistent and athletically pleasing. There is an advanced stage of learning where the elements of the skill have become part of long term memory and are automatically produced in response to a an appropriate stimulus. The skill is automatic. The attention of the performer focuses on the next movement, for example tactics. Consistent practise is required to reinforce being at the autonomous stage. Success rate is 9/10 out of 10. In tennis for example a player would be able to perform a serve whilst contemplating what their opponent will do next, rather than being focusing on the technical side of the serve. Not all performers reach the autonomous stage in all skills. For those who do, if practise is not maintained revision to the associative stage will occur. Closed skills such as throwing events can be finely tuned so that a high level of performance can be produced. â€Å"Learning in its simplest form is the development of a position where we can’t perform a skill to a stage where we can perform it.† Knapp, 1973 The quote means that learning is a more or less permanent change in performance brought about by experience. Knapp is suggesting that once something is learnt, it remains with us, thus supporting the statement: Once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget’. Learning in sport involves the development of skills through practice, hence the saying: ‘Practice makes perfect’. Fitts & Posner recognised that as we learn, we do not move directly from â€Å"can’t† to â€Å"can†. They suggest that the learning process is sequential – we move through specific stages/phases as we learn. These stages are hierarchal, in other words each stage must be passed through before the next one is achieved. Ivan Pavlov was a scientist who conducted experiments on the response of dogs. He taught them that when a bell was rung, the dogs would learn to understand that it was time to eat. These findings link into Fitts and Posner’s phases of learning because a particular response with a stimulus can give a great benefit to sports performances. This approach can be used to mentally prepare the athlete for the sport. The player may be taught switching into the ‘zone’ whilst walking onto the pitch. However in order to achieve this, the player would need to gradually progress to that level of conditioned stimulus. In order to teach and improve somebody’s skills at a sport, I would structure a 6 week Personal Exercise Programme (or PEP). A PEP would help improve the skill of the performer, and help the learner to enhance their performance. This way the performer can test to see how long it takes him to master one specific skill. As a trainer I would encourage the performer and give feedback and give a clear understanding to the performer what they are doing right and wrong. Doing something wrong doesn’t mean its negative feedback it would just acknowledge the performer on how to improve, becoming more successful. I would ensure that the performer practices the skill consistently and monitor any improvements in their ability. In a professional football match I would help keep the players to the standard that is required by making them do drills as a team. Warm-ups are essential as they prevent muscles getting damaged. I would also make sure that the stamina of the players is always high; this can be achieved by the Cooper run. In a tennis match the athlete must be able to complete a full match. There are no substitutions so the athletes’ stamina must be high. By hitting a ball for a long period of time every other turn there must be a large amount of upper body strength. In order to help the athlete achieve this, the coach should set the athlete physical training such as sprints, press-up, sit-ups and bicep curls. Technique is needed when serving, volleying; as being able to retain balance quickly is essential. An example of this is Andre Agassi. â€Å"†¦he focused more on physical conditioning than in the past and became one of the fittest players on the tour. His upper-body strength allowed him to bench press 350 lb (159 kg), which helped him retain pace on his shots late into a match, as well as adding to his serve power. He had remarkable endurance and rarely appeared tired on court.† Golf is a sport where the athlete has to be very concentrated on the game. Having a perfect technique allows one to compete to a high level. In order to help raise concentration levels the coach must remove all apprehension and put the athlete in a confident frame of mind. To help an athlete raise concentration before a game the coach could give the athlete a structured diet. Junk food will slow down the concentration rate. Tiger Woods had a bad putting strike so he went home and perfected it. â€Å"Well, that’s one of the worst putting weeks I’ve had in a long time, very frustrating. When I get home I am going to practise until I get it right.† References: * Advanced P.E for Edexcel – Heinemann * http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html. * http://www.answers.com/topic/andre-agassi * http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=410149

Business Organization Essay

In 2005 my aunt left me an inheritance. It was a large sum of money. There was a stipulation to receiving this gift. I needed to invest in a company of my choice. My last employer was a cleaning company and I approached my old employer with a proposition. I and another business partner that I convinced in investing with me would organize a joint-stock company. This was to be a private partnership, as well as a limited partnership. So I approached him with this idea and he agreed. So after several negotiations the other investor and I devoted the majority of shares to this company. We received a registrar of completion certificate for this joint company venture and we expected our common seal to come next. We also had to increase the liability insurance before registering with state authorities as a Limited Liability company (LLC). With this Partnership all investing parties agreed that there would be a semi-annual information report to look at income deductions and any gains or losses that the company might occur. This is to insure mutual interests and success. The semiannual meetings would also indemnify any problems or debatable issues. It is now 2010 and the company has developed into a four person joint stock company, opening three more cleaning offices and we are in the process of franchising. In 2000 I had a dream and that was to open a gym called Anytime Fitness. Well, this dream was put on hold when I invested in other enterprises. So, I talked to my wife and she agreed to help me open up this fitness facility and she would have sole proprietorship and I would be a silent partner. I give thanks in my prayer to my aunt who gave me this opportunity.

Classifying Terrain for Ground Vehicles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Classifying Terrain for Ground Vehicles - Essay Example However the technique is always inefficient when visibility is interfered due to climatic conditions. The reaction based classification is dependent on the sensor measurement like wheel sinkage, vehicle vibrations, and wheel slip (Garratt and Chahl, 2011). However, some of the interactions of vehicle terrain like the wheel sinkage and slip is not easy to measure accurately. Therefore, the reaction based terrain in normally performed with the help vehicle vibrations. This is because they are easy to measure with the help of accelerometers and inertial sensors. An unmanned vehicle ought to have a complete understanding of the features and the terrain around it in order to be able to navigate multifarious environmental safety (Brooks and Iagnemma, 2010). In other cases, the terrain can only be understood when speed and optimality is sacrificed. This chapter is a literature review that will utilize the measured acceleration values in the vertical direction of the vehicles to classify the terrain traversed. The literature review will be divided into a number of parts discussing wheel sinkage methods, vision based methods and different vibration methods aimed at classifying the data. Terrain classification for ground vehicles are normally categorized as reaction based methods, vision based method, and combination of a reaction and vision based methods. The reaction and vision based approaches are quite analogous to the recognition of human drivers of a terrain in respect to what can be seen and felt through the reaction of the vehicle during the terrain traversal. Vision-based terrain is performed with the help of laser range finders and cameras. To illustrate the various terrain signatures that arise from the various terrain processes, 100 terrain profiles from asphalt, gravel, grass, and sand were researched with the help of

Business in its cultural Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business in its cultural Environment - Essay Example The material and human resources at its command are considerable, and their various orientations and expertise a veritable potential source of wealth. However, the same is also a source of difficulty for a company that has to cope with the imperfections of all human endeavor. Usually when the size of the undertaking is bigger, the imperfections become magnified, as the case appears to be here. In this case, the Airbus had difficulty integrating and coordinating among its multi-national components. The fact that the various components of the Airbus A380 were manufactured in centers located in the different countries already present logistical difficulties. However, it was the cultural divide amongst the groups of workers in the collaborating countries that posed the more serious challenge. There appear to be two general levels of cross-cultural inconsistencies in the Airbus organization. Neither of the types of problems Airbus is encountering has any bearing on racial discrimination, so much as technical mismatch. For instance, the case cited the wiring problems that materialized due to the difference in the versions of the CAD software used by technical personnel in France and in Germany. Such a problem does not bear on deep-seated cultural traits, and may be addressed by adopting standard technical systems (not just measurements or verbal language) that are consistent th roughout the organization. The case study shows that these are lapses caused by company attention being focused on power plays in internal company politics (â€Å"jostling for positionâ€Å"), and the human resources diverting its efforts to resolving legal issues rather than operational problems. Simply put, the discrepancies were the result of negligence. The second problem is more inherent to the way Airbus SAS is organized, and was highlighted by the failure of communication and coordination besetting production and design. Because of inefficiencies in operations, the