Taking a Look at Human Centered Design - 761 Words

The course has taught me one major thing that has stuck with me- human centered design. From designing a bus library to watching a video concerning a team designing incubator to save lives, I have learnt that when you seek to really solve a problem you think you have identified, you must empathize to find out if first and foremost, it is really a problem and whether the problem you have identified is not a just a symptom of a deeper, covered problem. So whether the client gives you something to do and after going through the stages of human centered design, you realize that is not what they need, you give the users what they actually need. It has disabused my mind greatly of what I thought design to be. I taught design was all about aesthetics and making things look visually appealing. I am glad to have discovered that it transcends that into solving real world problems to make the world less cumbersome to live in. To begin with, I used to believe that circumstances are just the way they are and nothing can be done about them. For example, I did not know that the lives of patients who spent most of their time lying on their sick beds in hospitals could be made any better but with design, I realized that every inconvenience, no matter how little, can be removed and lives will be happier. It is refreshing to know that there was a more convenient and more personal way for patients in wheelchairs to communicate with the nurses who help them move around with something as simpleShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of Type I Diabetes747 Words   |  3 Pagesrechargeable battery packs. Twenty years’ worth of interaction improvement have allowed my mother to remain in control, rather than be controlled. When I think about that device and the design and engineering aspects that went into it and what that has meant in my life, the answer is clear: the device improved quality of life. As human beings, improving quality of life is the ultimate pursuit, and as users of technology we’re always looking for the latest iterations to assist us in doing so. Technology is noRead MoreOrganizational Behaviour - Leaders Are Born Not Made1579 Words   |  7 Pagesactivities of an organised group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement (Buchanan and Huczynski, 2010). In any organised field there is the necessity to recognize the distinguished figure of a leader, wheter it is the animal kingdom or the human modern society. Businesses and firms (but even hospitals, politicians, schools, military, sports†¦) requiere a strong figure able to inspire and being a role model to follow. In order to accomplish the purpose of the essay, it will be first introducedRead MoreThe Ethics Technique Of Wearable Technology1278 Words   |  6 Pagesinnovations that screen our practices. 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In the end while some may see integration as selling out or losing the point of the therapyRead MoreMy First Day Of My Academic Career1031 Words   |  5 Pagesregistered for another math class which was a prerequisite for the Statistics course. That was my first day of what would turn out to be a lengthy college career. Looking back the question held deeper meaning than I initially thought. My reasons for taking that course and others was due to following friends and feelings of obligation to attend college. I was enrolling in courses as if I were checking off items from a grocery list. Never meeting with advisors or forming an academic plan, I naively assumedRead More Comparison of Masaccios The Holy Trinity and Grunewalds The Isenheim Altarpiece964 Words   |  4 PagesUnderneath the altar (a masonry insert in the painted composition) is a tomb. Inside the tomb is a skeleton, which may represent Adam. The vanishing point is at the center of the masonry altar, because this is the eye level of the spectator, who looks up at the Trinity and down at the tomb. The vanishing point, five feet above the floor level, pulls both views together. By doing this, an illusion of an actual structure is created. The interior volume of this structure is an extension ofRead MoreHyten Corporation Case Study909 Words   |  4 Pagesproblems/personality problems.) Management at Hyten has several problems in accepting formalized project management. It has to forgo must of what could keep them back like a better coordination and communication among the concerned departments taking part of the project. Some more of the major problems at Hyten are the limited authority and responsibility of the business development department, the department also has difficulty proceed with a project according to the original plan and that causes

Socio Cultural Morals Of Feminine Beauty - 1212 Words

Socio Cultural morals of feminine beauty are put in all forms of favored media, battering women with images that portray what is advised to be the impeccable body.These morals of beauty are almost completely far-off for most women; a majority of the models advertised on television and in advertisements are below what is considered healthy body weight. Mass media s use of unrealistic models says an implicit message that in order for a woman to be beautiful, she must be unhealthy.The media puts an image of beauty that is unattainable. They do this by showing very unhealthy stick-thin girls with â€Å"flawless† attributes. In the bad world of marketing, the companies that make an item to sell, like makeup, depend on the insecurities of females. The companies use skinny girls with a perfect complexion of the skin and a killer smile to flaunt around with the product they are willing to sell. When women see this, they think to themselves, â€Å" I wish I can look like her.† or â€Å"Why can’t i look like that?.† Because we only display skinny girls in our media, they feel as if that is how they should be and look like. The media contradictorily influences girls’ perception of body image, which can cause eating disorders and low self-esteem. Dove surveyed 1,027 women with the ages of 18 and 64. The results showed that women are more than twice as likely to say that their conception of beauty is shaped by â€Å"women in the public domain† and social media (29 percent and 25 percent, respectively)Show MoreRelatedEssay about The Status of Women in Islam2807 Words   |  12 Pagesand theorist Elaine Showalter’s idea of evolution of a female through the stages of feminine and feminist. 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Accounting Decision Making Genesis Energy Limited

Question: Discuss about the Accounting Decision Making for Genesis Energy Limited. Answer: Introduction AGL Energy Limited is a publicly-listed company on the Australian Security Exchange. It is engaged in generating the power and electricity from the power stations which uses "thermal power, natural gas, wind power, hydroelectricity and coal steam gas sources. The company was established in 1873, in the name the "Australian Gas light Company." It has it headquarters in North Sydney, New South Wales Australia. It provides services like Electricity Generation, Distribution, Retailing and natural gas distribution. It also has huge investments in the supply of the electricity and gas. It is one of the largest "private owners" and also operating and developing renewable energy assets (Agl.com.au 2016). Genesis Energy Limited is currently known as Genesis Power Limited is public listed company listed company on the Australian Security Exchange. It engaged in the electric generation, natural gas, LPG retailing, and providing electricity. It was formulated as part in 1989-99 in the new Zealand electricity sector. It has been taking the retail client from the boards in lower North Island. Genesis is the biggest electricity and retailer of the natural gas, in New Zealand. It is ranked as the third largest electricity generation regarding Mega Watt in all over the New Zealand (Genesis Energy NZ.2016). Analysis of the Financial Statements As per the financial statement of the AGL Energy Limited and Genesis Energy Limited the company shows huge variation in each and every portion of the Financial Statement (Brigham Ehrhardt 2013). The Statement includes the cash flow statement, Income Statement, and Balance Sheet. AGL comparatively has the most non-current asset as compared to Genesis which is 74%. The current assets also show 90% variation in the i.e. AGL has some current Assets (DeFusco et al., 2015). Total current liabilities also show a similar variation with 86%; this shows that the Genesis has comparatively low liability or debt to pay its debtors. The research also shows that Net income or the profit of the company is comparatively high that is profit earned by the AGL is more than the Genesis; it is 50% more than the Genesis. So let's also compare the sales and cash element sale is 80% more, and cash is 90% more than Genesis. Further moving on with the research the total assets, liabilities and Equity is also comparatively high with 77%, 75%, and 79% respectively. All the criteria as compared to the AGL is good and sound as compared to Genesis but in respect of the outstanding share Genesis has less no. of an Outstanding share which shows a good sound (Henry Robinson 2015). Measurement and analysis of the Ratio This section includes analysis and measurement of the ratio which is Profitability, Liquidity, Capital Structure and Market performance are as follows: Profitability ratio Under this category there are many ratios but for our study, we need only to calculate only Net Profit Margin Ratio and Return on Asset and the formula of which is given below As per the calculation AGL has Net Profit Margin Ratio in 0.02 and Genesis has 0.05. Return on asset of AGL is 0.01 and Genesis are 0.03. It represents that the capacity to generate profit in its operational profit and return on its assets of Genesis is better (Innocent et al., 2013). Liquidity Ratios Under this category, there are many ratios but for our study, we need only to calculate only Current Ratio and Quick Ratio and the formula of which is given below- As per the calculation, a Current Ratio of AGL and Genesis are 1.46 and 1.12 and Quick Ratio of AGL and Genesis is 0.91 and 0.67 respectively, which implies that the capacity of the AGL to pay the current long-term liability is more than that of the Genesis (Patel 2016). Capital structure Under this category there are many ratios but for our study, we need only to calculate only Debt to Equity Ratio and Equity Ratio and the formula of which is given below As per the calculation Debt to Equity Ratio of AGL and Genesis is 0.80 and 0.93 and Equity Ratio is 0.56 and 0.52 respectively (Jankowski et al., 2015). This show Genesis has comparatively more Debt as compared to Equity and AGL has more share of Equity as regarding the Asset of the Company. Market performance- Under this category, there are many ratios but for our study, we need only to calculate only Earning per share and Dividend per and the formula of which is given below Earnings per share = ( Net Income/ No. of outstanding Share) Dividend Per Share = Payout Ratio * Earning per share As per the scenario AGL 0.33 has comparatively EPS more than Genesis 0.10 and Dividend Per Share is also more AGL 0.59 and Genesis 0.08. AGL is having comparatively good paying dividend and return capacity more (Lartey et al., 2013). Recommendation As per the quantitative analysis, AGL is giving the high return as well the good dividend so the investment should be done on it. Genesis is not the company for doing investment and getting invested (liquidity ratio2014). The competitors of the AGL and Genesis are not so much competitive to be invested. But as it is looked into the scenario AGL is company for getting invested as compared to Genesis as well to its competitors (Malek et al., 2012). Conclusion Finally to conclude it is said that the financial position of the AGL is very sound as compared to the Genesis. In each and every aspect the AGL is found to be the gainer as well as in the better position. Regarding the getting return as well as of debt paying capacity AGL is the gainer in each and every area. Instead of being the largest producer of electricity in the New Zealand which is 14%, as compared to its competitor it still does not have a good position in the global market for getting the investment opportunity. Reference List (2016).Agl.com.au. Retrieved 22 August 2016, from https://www.agl.com.au/about-agl Brigham, E. F., Ehrhardt, M. C. (2013).Financial management: Theory practice. Cengage Learning. DeFusco, R. A., McLeavey, D. W., Pinto, J. E., Anson, M. J., Runkle, D. E. (2015).Quantitative investment analysis. John Wiley Sons. Henry, E., Robinson, T. R. (2015). Chapter 1. Financial Statement Analysis: An Introduction.CFA Institute Investment Books,2015(2), 1-35. Innocent, E. C., Mary, O. I., Matthew, O. M. (2013). Financial ratio analysis as a determinant of profitability in Nigerian pharmaceutical industry.International journal of business and management,8(8), 107. Jankowski, K. J., BudzyÅ„ski, W. S., Kijewski, Ã…Â . (2015). An analysis of energy efficiency in the production of oilseed crops of the family Brassicaceae in Poland.Energy,81, 674-681. Lartey, V. C., Antwi, S., Boadi, E. K. (2013). The relationship between liquidity and profitability of listed banks in Ghana.International Journal of Business and Social Science,4(3). liquidity ratio(2014). (5th ed.) Oxford University Press. Malek, A., Mohammadi, M., Nasiri, F. (2012). Comparison of Malaysia manufacturing companies by financial statement analysis tools. InProceedings of: International Conference of Educational Performance and Development(Vol. 1). Patel, A. D. (2016). To Measure Short Term Financial Strength of Selected Steel Companies in India Based on Liquidity Ratio.International Journal of Scientific Research,4(5). Power Company - Electricity Companies - Genesis Energy NZ. (2016).Genesis Energy. Retrieved 22 August 2016, from https://www.genesisenergy.co.nz/home profitability ratios(2016). (6th ed.) Oxford University Press.

Managing Self and Personal Skills free essay sample

Management is the process of planning, organising, staffing, directing, motivating and controlling an organisation. The main responsibility of the manager is to achieve a good result by involving all the resources surrounding. Personal development planning provide a framework that make individuals identifies the areas of strength and weaknesses and come up with a quick that will optimize and capitalise all their existing skill and capabilities. It is the drop of development from a single person which will spread to many areas with the help of different media and communications. It is the combination of procurement and new skills and knowledge depending upon goal. The main theme or objective of PDP is assessment or asset including our knowledge, skills, capabilities and other qualification. It gives the concept of road map in terms of career when we will know which part of area we would like to develop and taken steps to move forward . We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Self and Personal Skills or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page It helps to find out what will be the right decision at right time and by the right person and helps to find out the image of future. Managers should have several competencies and skills in order to be effective. It is important for the manager to have these skills to achieve their goals and meet organisational targets. The main purpose of this report is to look for the skills and competencies required by the managers. The first part of the report describes the skills required by the managers for achieving organisational goals and for effectiveness and successfulness of the managers. In the second part self-appraisal is conducted by doing SWOT analysis in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses needed to meet the required skills, opportunities and threats that I may face while running day to day business. Competencies required by managers: The main skills that the managers should have in order to lead the employees are as follows: Honest, integrated and trustworthy. They should have respect for all employees at all levels. Commitment for the growth and development of the organisation. Prominent, persistent and pessimistic; who doesn’t think situations cannot be improved. They should not let unethical behaviour go unchallenged. They should be friendly, understanding and helpful. They should do feedbacks and questionnaire from other employees so that they can make improvements if needed at regular basis (http://www. acbas. rg). However, this type of analysis is not too helpful for understanding the skills and knowledge that needs to be integrated into development initiatives (http://www. acbas. org). The empiricist such as Rosemary Stewart (1967) and Henry Mintzberg (1973) think that management is the process involving decision making, problem solving, intuitive and judgemental a ctivities. According to Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1984), managers also have to be specialists in ambiguity, with the ability to cope with conflicting and unclear requirements (How to be an even better manager: a complete A-Z of proven techniques; Michael Armstrong). Apart from those basic skills, managers should also require other competencies such as: Leadership Quality Good Communication IT skills Innovation and creativity Problem solving Leadership Quality: This quality is very vital for the effective manager which means leading other team members towards achieving organisational goals. â€Å"Leadership focuses on most important resource, people. It is the process of developing and communicating, a vision for the future, motivating people and gaining their commitment and engagement† (How to be an even better manager: a complete A-Z of proven techniques; Michael Armstrong). A manager has to be dynamic in his leadership and should be able to adopt different leadership styles to suit different conditions. A manager has to appreciate his staff and know how best to motivate them. Different people are enthused by different things and therefore knowledge of the staff’s personalities will be vivacious to success. Problem solving /conflict management Whenever the business needs the executive should step forward to explain the problems and how to overcome from these problems in very less time. Whenever there is dispute between staff or any work matter the manager should have high skill of solving their problems and should have an ability of finding another option to get rid of that problem. Information Technology Skills A manager in today’s world has to possess the needed IT skills for his position. For e Eg; there are different kinds of programs which help us to make our work easier with less effort and less man power. Today’s world is run by IT that means nearly 90 % of works are done by the programs of IT in every field of business and helps to run the business smooth and faster. PART TWO SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT analysis provides a strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats we face. SWOT analysis is a powerful technique that can be used when seeking a career improvement (or indeed any other personal improvement in your life). It helps to take advantage of our skills, talents and abilities to take our career to the next level. Resounding out a personal SWOT analysis can help you to recognise yourself and support the decision you make. It helps to highlights areas you may not have considered before and may help you to realise a different perspective in each area. It gives you a foundation from where you can move forward with our goal to support our career improvement and for you to take action. STRENGTHS Good team leader As I worked as a manager I have good ability to lead to team in good path and always try to make them together as far as possible. Quick and good decision maker As I have got good experience as a manager I can manage any problem promptly and in very simple way. Helpful and friendly As a manager I always try to treat all staff as friends and always looking forward to help if they are in need. Fast learner After looking any work I can easily follow that on second time . Good interpersonal skills I have worked in very busy areas so I have got good interpersonal skills. WEAKNESSES Innovation I am less innovative as I have not got good ideas about new business. IT skills As IT is new technology in this world it is bit hard for me to follow it as it have got lots of function. Oral communication I believe in working rather than talking so I cannot speak fluently . Time management I still cannot manage the time effectively. OPPORTUNITIES Learn to achieve new qualification I can learn new technology and skills which will help to improve business. On the job training I have a chance to improve on the skills I am lacking while working. THREATS Competition from other managers Other managers with the skills I am lacking are always waiting in the wings to take my job. Other organisation Other companies have got managers with the skills I lack and therefore may perform better than us which can put my position under threat. PART THREE PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING Personal development planning simply can be defined as a well structured and supported process undertaking by an individual in other to reflect on their own performance. It helps people to describe about their future and career development. It gives shapes to our planning and help to fulfil our goal in the easy and quickest way with following proper rules and way. It shows the best way and the effective way in order to reach at our goal. It always try to show the good part and bad parts of the business and personal life. In fact, it enhances our self-esteem and adapt to our qualification when we view complete for our higher position. Personal development plan also called IDP(individual development plan) or PEP (personal enterprise plan) usually include a statement of one’s aspiration, strengths or competencies, education and training, and stages or steps to indicate how the plan is to be realized. Personal development plan helps on the following way; Define short and long term objectives Decide what is needed to achieve these aims and objectives Be able to list, analyse and understand my strength and weaknesses. Use the analysis of aims and objectives and strengths and weaknesses to define my need for additional study, training and further development of all kinds to enhance my skills, knowledge and competencies. My personal development planning is made up of the following sections; Self-evaluation Target setting Action planning Action and practice Reflection Self-evaluation- where am I now? This stage helps me to find where I am and what position I have got and the position that I got is deserved or not? It tries to find in what areas I am good and in what areas I am bad and how far I have got success at my work. It helps to make yourself good and tries to make perfect in your current work with making little change and make up. I work at Mc Donald and I started as a crew member and recently I went for the crew trainer course and in future I may become manager. My strength is I have good experience about the customer service so I have got lots of ideas about dealing with different customers having different attitude and views. And my weakest point is I can’t find the right decision quickly. And also I am very bad in time keeping. Target setting –where do I want to get to? Target means the point or boundary up to where we want to extent. According to my view to head forward we need to plan because we can imagine what circumstances may arouse on the way to get that point. As I have got one target to become a store manager. For this I need to do very hard work and I need to make a initial planning and should have my strong determination to make it success. Action planning- how can I get there? Planning is the systematic way of getting things done. It is very important in order to see how the planning work and what will be the effects and results in future. It helps how to make the plan more useful and more effective and tries to make the plans successful. Action and Practice This means the plans are put into practice in order to see how does it work and will help to find what changes should be done in other to bring plan in action and also it helps to find the action is on practice or no? Reflection-how well did I do? Last but not the least it helps to analyse what was the result and how well does the plan works. And also helps to know what difficulties are seen and how we can overcome from those difficulties. It helps to find what are the main problems and what may be the remedies to sort out that problems. And it shows in what areas we can apply those. CONCLUSION: Last but not the least; we came to conclude that the competencies required by a manager is very important to become a perfect manager and to lead the business ahead. A manager acts as a guide in business who plans and tries to apply in it with different ways. If a manager doesn’t have any qualities then a business will be in loss and manager cannot balance the business and work. To become a manager lots of qualities are required. Today’s world is a business world so the manager should have an idea how we can improve the business and how we can take the advantages. According to the above statements it says that most of the good qualities are not come naturally but need to learn and follow. REFERENCES: Belbin, R. M. (2004) The Management of Teams: why they succeed or fail, 2nd edition, Oxford: Butterworth- Heinemann. Gallen, D. and Buckle, G. (2001) Personal and Practice Development Plans in Primary Care: a practical guide to getting started, Oxford: Butterworth- Heinemann. Katzenbach, J. R. and Smith, D. K. (1993) The Wisdom of Teams: creating the High- performance organisation, USA: Mckinsey and company. Kouzes, J. M and Posner, B. Z. (1987), Leadership the Challenge: Workbook, 1st edition, United states: Jossey-Bass, A wiley Company.

The History and Invention of Peanut Butter

The History and Invention of Peanut Butter It’s one of the country’s favorite things to spread over bread. We dip celery sticks in it. It’s often baked into cookies and countless deserts. I’m talking about peanut butter and as a whole Americans consume tons of the pulverized pea about a billion pounds worth each year. That’s roughly $800 spent annually and  a booming increase from the roughly two million  pounds produced at the turn of the 20th century. Peanuts were first cultivated as food in South America and natives in the region began turning them into grounded up paste roughly 3,000 years ago. The kind of peanut butter that the Incas and Aztecs made was of course much different from the manufactured stuff sold in grocery stores today. The more modern story of peanut butter actually began towards the end of the 19th century, not too long after farmers began mass commercializing the crop that was suddenly in demand after the civil war. A Nutty Controversy So who invented peanut butter? Its hard to say. In fact, there appears to be some disagreement among food historians over who deserves the honor. One historian, Eleanor Rosakranse, says a woman from New York named Rose Davis started making peanut butter as early as the 1840’s after her son reported seeing women in Cuba grinding peanuts into a pulp and smearing it onto bread.      Ã‚   Then there are some who think the credit should go to Marcellus Gilmore Edson, a Canadian chemist who in 1884 filed and was granted the first patent in the United States for what he called â€Å"peanut-candy.† Conceived as a kind of flavoring paste, the process described running roasted peanuts through a heated mill to produce a fluid or semi-fluid byproduct that cools into a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment. However, there wasn’t any indication that Edson made or sold peanut butter as a commercial product. A case can also be made for a St. Louis businessman named George A. Bayle, who began packaging and selling peanut butter through his food manufacturing company. It’s believed that the idea was born out of a collaboration with a doctor who had been seeking a way for his patients who were unable to chew meat to ingest protein. Bayle also ran advertisements in the early 1920’s proclaiming his company to be the â€Å"Original Manufacturers of Peanut Butter.† Cans of Bayle’s Peanut Butter came with labels touting this claim as well. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg It isn’t difficult to find those who dispute this claim as many have argued that the honor should go to none other than the influential Seventh-day Adventist Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Indeed, the National Peanut Board states that Kellogg received a patent in 1896 for a technique he developed for making peanut butter. There’s also an 1897 advertisement for Kellogg’s Sanitas company Nut Butters that pre-dates all other competitors. More importantly, though, Kellogg was a tireless promoter of peanut butter. He travelled extensively throughout the country giving lectures on its benefits of to health. Kellogg even served peanut butter to his patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, a health resort with treatment programs supported by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The one big knock on Kellogg’s claim as the father of modern day peanut butter is that his disastrous decision to switch from roasted nuts to steamed nuts resulted in a product that barely resembled the ubiquitous jarred goodness found on store shelves today. Kellogg also  in an indirect way played a part in the production of peanut butter reaching a mass scale. John Lambert, an employee of Kellogg’s who was involved in the nut butter business, eventually left in 1896 and founded a company to develop and manufacture industrial strength peanut-grinding machines. He would soon have competition as another machine manufacturer, Ambrose Straub, was granted a patent for one of the earliest peanut butter machines in 1903. The machines made the process easier as making peanut butter had been quite tedious. Peanuts were first grounded using a mortar and pestle before being put through a meat grinder. Even then, it was hard to achieve the desired consistency.    Peanut Butter Goes Global In 1904, peanut butter was introduced to the wider public at the World’s Fair in St. Louis. According to the book â€Å"Creamy and Crunchy: An Informal History of Peanut Butter, the All-American Food,† a concessionaire named C.H. Sumner was the only vendor to sell peanut butter. Using one of Ambrose Straub’s peanut butter machines, Sumner sold $705.11 worth of peanut butter. That same year, the Beech-Nut Packing Company became the first nationwide brand to market peanut butter and continued to distribute the product until 1956. Other notable early brands to follow suit were the Heinz company, which entered the market in 1909 and the Krema Nut Company, an Ohio-based operation that survives to this day as the world’s oldest peanut butter company. Soon more and more companies would start selling peanut butter as a disastrous mass invasion of boll weevils ravaged the south, destroying much of cotton crop yields that had long been a staple of the region’s farmers. Thus the food industry’s growing interest in peanut was fueled in part by many farmers turning to peanuts as a replacement. Even as demand for peanut butter grew, it was primarily being sold as a regional product. In fact, Krema founder Benton Black once proudly boasted â€Å"I refuse to sell outside Ohio.† While it may sound today like a bad way of doing business, it made sense at the time as grounded peanut butter was unstable and best distributed locally. The problem was that, as the oil separated from the peanut butter solids, it would rise to the top and quickly spoil with exposure to light and oxygen.                All that changed in the 1920’s when a businessman named Joseph Rosefield patented a process called â€Å"Peanut butter and process of manufacturing the same,† which describes how hydrogenation of peanut oil can be used to keep the peanut butter from coming apart. Rosefield began licensing the patent to food  companies  before he decided to go off on his own and launch his own brand. Rosefields Skippy peanut butter, along with Peter Pan and Jif, would go on to become the most successful and recognizable names in the business.

Inner Speech - Definition and Uses

Inner Speech - Definition and Uses Inner speech is a form of internalized, self-directed dialogue: talking to oneself in silence. The phrase inner speech was used by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky to describe a stage in language acquisition and the process of thought. In Vygotskys conception, speech began as a social medium and became internalized as inner speech, that is, verbalized thought (Katherine Nelson, Narratives From the Crib, 2006). See Examples and Observations, below. See also: DialogueInterior MonologueLanguageMemorySpeechTelegraphic Speech Examples and Observations: Dialogue launches language, the mind, but once it is launched we develop a new power, inner speech, and it is this that is indispensable for our further development, our thinking. . . . We are our language, it is often said; but our real language, our real identity, lies in inner speech, in that ceaseless stream and generation of meaning that constitutes the individual mind. It is through inner speech that the child develops his own concepts and meanings; it is through inner speech that he achieves his own identity; it is through inner speech, finally, that he constructs his own world. (Oliver Sacks, Seeing Voices. University of California Press, 1989)If inner speech is marked by the intimate sense of my active thinking, is also quite concretely a thinking in a language. (Don Ihde, Listening and Voice: Phenomenologies of Sound. SUNY Press, 2007)Difficult as it is to study inner speech, there have been attempts to describe it: its said to be a shorthand version of real speech (as one researcher put it, a word in inner speech is the mere skin of a thought), and its very egocentric, not surprisingly, given that its a monologue, with the speaker and the audience being the same person.  (Jay Ingram, Talk Talk Talk: Decoding the Mysteries of Speech. Doubleday, 1992) Inner speech comprises both the inner voice we hear when reading and the muscle movements of the speech organs that often accompany reading and that are called subvocalizations. (Markus Bader, Prosody and Reanalysis. Reanalysis in Sentence Processing, ed. by Janet Dean Fodor and Fernanda Ferreira. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998) Vygotsky on Inner Speech Inner speech is not the interior aspect of external speechit is a function in itself. It still remains speech, i.e., thought connected with words. But while in external speech thought is embodied in words, in inner speech words die as they bring forth thought. Inner speech is to a large extent thinking in pure meanings. It is a dynamic, shifting, unstable thing, fluttering between word and thought, the two more or less stable, more or less firmly delineated components of verbal thought. (Lev Vygotsky, Thought, and Language, 1934. MIT Press, 1962) Linguistic Characteristics of Inner Speech Vygotsky identified a number of lexicogrammatical features which are foregrounded in both egocentric speech and inner speech. These features include omission of the subject, the foregrounding of predication, and a highly elliptical relationship between these forms and the speech situation (Vygotsky 1986 [1934]: 236). (Paul Thibault, Agency and Consciousness in Discourse: Self-Other Dynamics as a Complex System. Continuum, 2006)In inner speech the only grammatical rule at play is association through juxtaposition. Like inner speech, film uses a concrete language in which sense comes not from deduction but from the fullness of the individual attractions as qualified by the image which they help to develop. (J. Dudley Andrew, The Major Film Theories: An Introduction. Oxford University Press, 1976) Inner Speech and Writing Writing is part of the process of finding, developing, and articulating inner speech, that reservoir of internalized thought and language on which we depend for communication. (Gloria Gannaway, Transforming Mind: A Critical Cognitive Activity. Greenwood, 1994)Because it is a more deliberate act, writing engenders a different awareness of language use. Rivers (1987) related Vygotskys discussion of inner speech and language production to writing as discovery: As the writer expands his inner speech, he becomes conscious of things which he was not previously aware. In this way, he can write more than he realizes (p. 104). Zebroski (1994) noted that Luria looked at the reciprocal nature of writing and inner speech and described the functional and structural features of written speech, which inevitably lead to a significant development of inner speech. Because it delays the direct appearance of speech connections, inhibits them, and increases requirements for the preliminary, internal prep aration for the speech act, written speech produces a rich development for inner speech (p. 166).  (William M. Reynolds and Gloria Miller, eds., Handbook of Psychology: Educational Psychology. John Wiley, 2003)

Critical contexts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical contexts - Essay Example e principles of EU law within its borders and since there is no distinction between citizens and non-citizens in its provisions, then UK is bound to apply all EU laws without discrimination on all persons subject to its jurisdiction. Under international law, a state has prescriptive jurisdiction or authority to apply its national laws on all persons within its jurisdiction, regardless of the nationality of persons. The application of this authority within its territory is exclusive and absolute but may be subject to such concept as exterritoriality, usually in the form of diplomatic immunity. This authority may also be extended outside of its territory under the extraterritoriality principle subject to the grant of authority by another state (Dixon 143-144, 146). Since Gabrielle was a worker in UK prior to her death with a valid working visa, she was subject to its jurisdiction. Thus, under the EU law she was supposed to be subject to its protection by implication and extension. Her mere presence within the UK jurisdiction entitled her to the rights reserved under the EU law. The same was true in the case of Karl while he was temporarily in UK under a tourist visa. His presence within the country’s jurisd iction had entitled him to protection under the EU law. In the event of failure of the UK government to protect them as provided by the terms of the EU Charter, gives them the right to file a complaint before the European Court of Justice. The usual procedure is for individual litigants to challenge in the country’s courts the failure of the State to apply Community law and if the court needs assistance to rule on the issue before it, it may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice under Article 234 of the EC Treaty (Weatherill 2007 95). In line with the above, Gabrielle could have gone to a UK court to file a complaint against her employers for their discriminatory treatment re her salary. Under the Article 15 of the European Charter, â€Å"nationals

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 81

Discussion - Essay Example This research explores the effect of competences of emotional intelligence including empathy, awareness, emotional response, and emotional control on effective delegation of tasks and authorities in the banking industry of Malaysia. This research found a relative link between competitiveness and productivity in the workplace and emotional intelligence. There is on-going debate and research work regarding the extent to which emotional intelligence sets the stage for effective leadership. Competitiveness and success of bank managers imparts the need for managers to understand their own as well as their team’s emotions, and the importance of their role in the organization. Managers need to draw a balance between their intellect and emotion. The success and growth of any industry depends upon the productivity of the workers. Study of this article leads one to the conclusion that there is a huge role of emotional intelligence of managers in the correct delegation of tasks to the right employees. Delegation of authorities to the right people for the right reasons and at the right time boosts workers’ productivity and helps the organization achieve its goals

War-torn country Essay Example for Free

War-torn country Essay The war in Viet Nam, unlike previous conflicts entered by America, provoked a bitter, emotional debate that divided the nation. Wayne’s traditional faith in God and country would have seemed out of place, but he remained firm in his convictions. Moreover, he was not content to stand idle while the American flag was being ripped to shreds. His reaction was in the form of another war picture, this time set in the battlefields of Viet Nam. In 1967, after visiting that war-torn country, he decided to make a film, entitled The Green Berets, about the exploits of the Special Forces. At 62 years he was to play a Green Beret, but Wayne did not mind. He hoped it would bring home the message to Americans about the necessity of the war being waged in Vietnam. Until recent times, The Green Berets has been the only film that supported the American intervention in Southeast Asia. (Wayne 221). In Wayne’s war pictures, the message was unmistakable: one has a duty to his country and he has to do his best to perform it. In the 1949 film Sands of Iwo Jima which earned him his first nomination as Best Actor, Wayne portrayed Sergeant Stryker, a professional soldier who fought in the blood-soaked beaches of Iwo Jima. But many Americans were beginning to question the U. S. newfound role as keeper of world peace. Attacks against The Green Berets were therefore expected. Wayne was labeled â€Å"Apostle of War† by the press. Critics lashed at the film at all angles. But people lined up in theatres to see the movie, which was a huge box office success worldwide. In a period of turbulent protests, Wayne bravely faced anti-war crowds, giving them his idea of what America had always stood for. Once, he confronted student demonstrators in the University of Southern California who waved a Vietcong flag; they ceased waving the flag when he told them that his companion, Jimmy Stewart, had lost a son in Viet Nam. (Szabaga 3). Gamely facing a forum of hostile youths in a university, Wayne even managed to win â€Å"the other side† by his father-figure and sense of humor. Asked why he wore a â€Å"phony toupee,† Wayne countered: â€Å"You’re wrong, this isn’t phony; it’s real. It’s not mine, of course, but it’s real† (Wayne 250). John Wayne continued to star in big-budget films long after contemporary actors had faded, retired or shifted to â€Å"character† roles, which meant they were no longer considered box-office draws. Surprisingly, his aging lent greater depth and believability to his roles, and critics were beginning at last to take notice of him. In 1969, when he was 61 years old, he won the Oscar Best Actor trophy for True Grit. The climactic fight scene in that film shows John Wayne, as federal marshal Rooster Cogburn, ranged against four mounted antagonists on high altitude. His challenge rang clear: â€Å"Fill your hand, you son of a bitch! † Placing the reins between his teeth, he drew a pistol in his left hand and spun a rifle on the other, charging the bad guys. Filming of the sequence took place all day before director Hathaway, a true perfectionist, was satisfied. Wayne refused to have a double, and the scene is one of the best ever produced. His Oscar could not have been more deserved: while filming the gut-wrenching action sequence, he was suffering from pain, one of his lungs having been removed some months before. While the critics did their best to downgrade his films, taking potshots at everything from the story to the acting, his films continued to make it big at the tills. John Wayne made it a point to exclude all kinds of graphic violence in his movies, no rape, no â€Å"adult† scenes. His only passionate love scene was with Maureen O’Hara in the 1952 film The Quiet Man, the only contemporary love story he ever made. Despite the advent of the so-called â€Å"spaghetti westerns† starring Clint Eastwood and company, patronized due to their novelty and shocking violence, the appeal of the Duke did not wane, nor his formula for old-fashioned westerns change: the good guys still defeated the bad guys, and they did it fair and square. Most people, movie fans in particular, often presume their idols are not unlike the roles they portray on screen. Thus, they are disappointed when they discover their swashbuckling hero on film a very tame, unexciting character in real life. John Wayne may not be exactly the same as his never-say-die characters, but he gave everything to maintain appearances as long as he could. His fans remember Duke as an aging but no less heroic figure. The lined, weather-bitten face, in fact, accented the gritty roles he portrayed onscreen, adding a touch of realism, vulnerability, and pathos. That an aging actor would continued to act and be patronized by loyal fans was unheard of in Hollywood; Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson were to follow Wayne’s footsteps. Although ravaged by cancer, he refused to display weakness until the end. Three weeks after he was operated on, Wayne was about to leave the hospital, looking terribly un-John Wayne, bound to a wheelchair. He was aghast when told that reporters waited outside, eager to confirm rumors about his real condition. Reporters saw, not an emaciated patient, but a confident-looking John Wayne striding to the hospital entrance as if he had just been on a two-week vacation. He had kicked his wheelchair aside and â€Å"forced some color† into his face, truly an award-winning performance. At the car, Duke groaned as he asked for oxygen. (Wayne 188-189). Ronald Reagan remembered Wayne for his courage in the stand-off against communists in the film industry, his generosity and compassion to those suffering and in need. Nancy, describing how it was to be with the Duke in moments of crisis, said â€Å"it was like being next to a force bigger than life. † Elizabeth paid him a tribute by saying â€Å"He gave the whole world the image of what an American should be. † John Wayne’s battle against cancer would inspire other sufferers to fight what was then considered an incurable disease. With his legendary tough talk, he told people that the Big C could be licked, and acted as if battling cancer was like taking cure for a cold. He was instrumental in raising millions of dollars for private cancer research. He urged his doctors, when it was apparent there was no hope for a cure, to use his body for medical research (Reagan). His role of the cancer-stricken, dying gunfighter in The Shootist, depicted John Wayne at his best: courageous until the very end. As abovestated, John Wayne’s real life image is inseparable from his screen persona, no matter what role he played. Whether as a police officer, marine sergeant, frontiersman, gunfighter, John Wayne was John Wayne, and his fans could not care less. John Wayne was relevant and continues to be so because his fellow Americans still identify with him. He had endured for so long because Americans saw themselves in his roles. To them, John Wayne was everything they could ever hope to be. WORKS CITED â€Å"Biography†. 19 May 2007. http://www. leninimports. com/john. wayne. html â€Å"John Wayne’s Congressional Gold Medal†. 20 May 2007. jwplace. com/medal. html O’Hara, Maureen. â€Å"John Wayne, American†. 19 May 2007. http://www. congressionalgoldmedal. com/JohnWayne. htm â€Å"Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient John Wayne†. 19 May 2007. http://www. medaloffreedom. com/JohnWayne. html Reagan, Ronald. â€Å"Unforgettable John Wayne†. Readers Digest, October 1979. 19 May 2007. http://www. jwplace. com/biography. html â€Å"Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin was So Angered by John Wayne’s Anti-Communism that He Plotted to Have Him Murdered†. 19 May 2007. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/America/3114963. shtm

Threatening Women of Homers Odyssey Essay example -- Homer, Odyssey E

The Threatening Women of Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aristotle called this poem 'a story of character' which is very true, as the analysis of people in the Odyssey id detailed and they are carefully depicted. Though the women still remain a fairly mysterious force that test Odysseus' determination for 'nostos' (hero's return home), requiring the man whose words are "like snowflakes" to use every trick he has to evade their threat, his civility not allowing him to strike them. In the Underworld, Agamemnon made it very clear in his enlightened state (consider the wiser Achilles who now regrets his noble death - "rather work the soil as a serf...than be King of all these lifeless dead" 11.490), as one of the dead that women "are no longer to be trusted". It is no co-incidence then that the female figures that Odysseus meets after this point are the most ferocious and dangerous. Both Scylla and Charybdis are hideous monsters, depicted as female, and so too are the tempting Sirens, all which test the hero. It is evidence that even after all his endeavours, Odysseus is still an Iliadic hero at heart, as he dons his armour uselessly to face Scylla's 12-headed threat and look at the good it does him ("Obstinate fool" 12.115). The actions of Odysseus' men result in him swimming in the sea and hanging over the swirling Charybdis, holding onto a fig tree ("clung like a bat" 12.433). Without warning from Circe, Odysseus would not have gone past the Sirens without doo m, since we see what the effect was without the wax in his ears ("longing to listen...set me free" 12.193). However, it is the humanoid females which are to add the most to the poem. The monsters test and batter the hero whilst the women test the man. To threaten Odysseu... ...ly). When he wishes to leave also, no effort is made by Circe to try and stop him unlike her counterpart above, Calypso ("do not stay on unwillingly" 10.484). Odysseus has been kept for the pleasure of Circe and he could have left at any time. This tarnishes our view of the hero's withstanding of the females' subtle threat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Whether successfully or unsuccessfully, the female figure of the Odyssey all attempt to stop Odysseus on his inexorable journey home to his own female. Portrayed in contrasting depictions to draw out emphasis and focused details, the women and monsters threaten the hero in slightly different ways each time, testing Odysseus' flexibility and forcing him to break the Iliadic mould. Work Cited: Homer (Translated by Robert Fagles. Preface by Bernard Knox). 1996. The Odyssey. New York: Viking Penguin, div. of Penguin Books, Ltd. Threatening Women of Homer's Odyssey Essay example -- Homer, Odyssey E The Threatening Women of Homer's Odyssey      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aristotle called this poem 'a story of character' which is very true, as the analysis of people in the Odyssey id detailed and they are carefully depicted. Though the women still remain a fairly mysterious force that test Odysseus' determination for 'nostos' (hero's return home), requiring the man whose words are "like snowflakes" to use every trick he has to evade their threat, his civility not allowing him to strike them. In the Underworld, Agamemnon made it very clear in his enlightened state (consider the wiser Achilles who now regrets his noble death - "rather work the soil as a serf...than be King of all these lifeless dead" 11.490), as one of the dead that women "are no longer to be trusted". It is no co-incidence then that the female figures that Odysseus meets after this point are the most ferocious and dangerous. Both Scylla and Charybdis are hideous monsters, depicted as female, and so too are the tempting Sirens, all which test the hero. It is evidence that even after all his endeavours, Odysseus is still an Iliadic hero at heart, as he dons his armour uselessly to face Scylla's 12-headed threat and look at the good it does him ("Obstinate fool" 12.115). The actions of Odysseus' men result in him swimming in the sea and hanging over the swirling Charybdis, holding onto a fig tree ("clung like a bat" 12.433). Without warning from Circe, Odysseus would not have gone past the Sirens without doo m, since we see what the effect was without the wax in his ears ("longing to listen...set me free" 12.193). However, it is the humanoid females which are to add the most to the poem. The monsters test and batter the hero whilst the women test the man. To threaten Odysseu... ...ly). When he wishes to leave also, no effort is made by Circe to try and stop him unlike her counterpart above, Calypso ("do not stay on unwillingly" 10.484). Odysseus has been kept for the pleasure of Circe and he could have left at any time. This tarnishes our view of the hero's withstanding of the females' subtle threat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Whether successfully or unsuccessfully, the female figure of the Odyssey all attempt to stop Odysseus on his inexorable journey home to his own female. Portrayed in contrasting depictions to draw out emphasis and focused details, the women and monsters threaten the hero in slightly different ways each time, testing Odysseus' flexibility and forcing him to break the Iliadic mould. Work Cited: Homer (Translated by Robert Fagles. Preface by Bernard Knox). 1996. The Odyssey. New York: Viking Penguin, div. of Penguin Books, Ltd.

The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood – Consider the way Atwood presents Professor Pieixoto’s conference speech in the’Historical Notes’

The anti-utopian novel, ‘The Handmaid's Tale', tells the futuristic story of Offred, a Handmaid of the oppressive Gileadean regime, a society immune to any form of external influence and governed by an elite. It is the ‘Historical Notes' at the end of the novel that help the reader to put one woman's autobiographical record into historical perspective by acting as an epilogue to the tale of Offred. Although not part of Offred's narrative, the notes are part of the novel, working as an essential supplement to the story in a hope to answer some of the many unanswered questions evoked throughout the novel. The notes stand as a framework with which one can use to reflect on Offred's narrative from a point in the distant future, where Gilead is long gone, along with all of the main characters of story. The ‘Historical Notes' are a transcript of a convention held in 2195, two-hundred years after Offred's existence, taking place at the University of Denay, Nunavit in Arctic Canada. The symposium is lead by a male archivist from the University of Cambridge named Professor Pieixoto, proving the notes to be of a view from outside of America. The introduction to the main text of the notes is light, whilst prefacing the main speaker, along with the works for which he is recognised. The main work for which he is recognised is that entitled â€Å"Iran and Gilead: Two Late-Twentieth-Century Monotheocracies, as Seen Through Diaries†, Iran being a country that imposed severe restrictions on the freedom of women and so has a direct link to Gilead. It is ironic that Iran and the United States are famous enemies yet impose similar restrictions upon their people. The name of the university has great significance for the reader as although it's set in one of the first aboriginal self-governing territory in Canada, ‘Denay Nunavit' is also a pun of ‘Deny none of it', in reference to the story as told by Offred. It is through this play on words by Atwood, that the reader is advised to believe Offred's story, whatever explanations or misinterpretations may be offered by the professors, in the ‘Historical Notes'. The Chair of the conference is a woman professor called Maryann Cresent Moon, her name indicating that she is a member of the Native people, along with her associate Professor Johnny Running Dog, suggesting that both women and Native people have substantial status at this point in the future. She begins the conference by addressing the students with notices about several other talks and expeditions taking place, and the reader can grasp that the fact the students go on nature walks and can eat fish, â€Å"Arctic Char†, from the sea, suggests an unpolluted environment contrasting that of Gilead. Professor Cresent Moon goes on to introduce the succeeding speaker, prefacing him along with his work, allowing Professor Pieixoto to then take the stand. Although this epilogue is set two hundred years in the future, it is through her speech that the Professor Cresent Moon reveals that the society of 2195 is more familiar to the society of today than the times of Gilead. However, there are also subtle differences to our society, as primarily, the culture that is presented in the future is characterised by non-Caucasian cultures seemingly studying Caucasian culture, the evidence provided through the names of the professors giving talks, such as Professor Gopal Chatterjee and Professor Johnny Running Dog. Traditionally, Western academia has been characterised by Caucasians studying anthropology, eastern philosophy and eastern religions and so much of the beginning section of the notes, spoken by Professor Cresent Moon, hints a mild ridicule of current academic practice by Atwood. Despite the advances in non-Caucasian academia, the male perspective of the Professor Pieixoto is typical of the historical male dominance and perspective in academic research and seemingly, it's through his seminar that Atwood satirises the methodology and manners of a male academic historian. Professor Pieixoto's jokes about ‘tail' and ‘Frailroads', instead of Femaleroads, have a sexist tone, indicating that sexist attitudes have not changed in the two hundred years that have passed since Offred's time. It is in this context that the nature of the professor's name has meaning as Atwood got the name ‘Pieixoto' from a Brazilian novel where it is the name of a character who continually is reincarnated in the same form. It is here that Professor Pieixoto demonstrates the same masculinist characteristics as those who created the Gilead regime, who had modelled themselves on the Old Testament patriarchs. Pieixoto starts by locating a historical context for Offred's story and goes on to tell his audience that the tale, later titled ‘The Handmaid's Tale' in tribute to Geoffrey Chaucer's ‘Canterbury Tales', came in the form of thirty cassette tapes that were discovered in Maine, in a sealed army footlocker near what used to be the Underground Femaleroad. We are told that each of the tapes began with several songs, â€Å"as camouflage, no doubt†, in order to disguise the nature of the recordings and that the same voice speaks on all of the recordings. Pieixoto also discusses the difficulties in reconstructing the narrative as the tapes were not numbered nor arranged in any particular order, along with the problems associated with the speaker's old-fashioned accent. Therefore, the professors transcribing the story had to guess the intended chronology of the tapes and this provides an explanation for the interrupted structure of the narrative. For all of Pieixoto's detailed account of how he came about Offred's story, he seems to lack concern for Offred as an individual and is more concerned in implementing the authenticity of her tale and its worth as impartial historical evidence. He seemingly avoids the moral issues raised by Offred, claiming â€Å"our job is not to censure but to understand† and most obviously, he is more interested in establishing the identity of her Commander than Offred herself. Surprisingly, Pieixoto cautions his patrons against judging the Gileadean regime too severely, as judgements on events in history are â€Å"culture-specific†. Furthermore, he seems to attempt to justify the establishment of Gilead by claiming that it was under a large amount of pressure due to the rapidly declining birth rate and environmental depravity. Pieixoto goes on to talk about the falling birth rate, elaborating on the reasons that caused it such as abortion, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases and also miscarriages that resulted from exposure to nuclear waste. Using the Bible as a justification, he explains how Gilead rounded up a collection of fertile women by pronouncing all second marriages and non-marital relationships illegal, confiscating the children of these relationships and allowing the women to take on the role of â€Å"walking wombs†. Similarly, Pieixoto clarifies of how Gilead adopted the regime of what he calls â€Å"simultaneous polygamy† rather than â€Å"serial polygamy†, taking inspiration from the Biblical story of Rachel and Leah. Pieixoto explains that similarly to all new systems, Gilead drew on the past for inspiration in creating its ideology. Specifically, he mentions the racial strains that troubled pre-Gileadean America, which Gilead embodied in its main principles, and later talks of how the idea of dumping â€Å"more than one boatload of Jews† into the Atlantic Ocean was one of the ideas dreamt up by one of the two possible Commanders of Offred. It is here that Pieixoto talks of his and his fellow Professor Wade's interest in identifying the author of the tape, but due to her name being concealed by the Gileadean patronym, he's unable to tell the reader anything new about Offred, her life before, within or after the Gileadean regime. However, it is noticeable to the reader than Pieixoto is more interested in identifying the Commander of Offred, as perhaps by discovering his identity and more about him, he can so do the same for Offred. After attempting to research the names used by Offred in her story, after having no leads, Pieixoto comes to the conclusion that the names such as ‘Moira', ‘Luke' and ‘Janine' must have been pseudonyms, in order to protect those that she loved. The two possibilities that Pieixoto offers as the Commander's real identities are Frederick Waterford and B. Frederick Judd, both men leaders of the early Gileadean regime and instrumental figures in the structuring and establishment of Gilead. He runs through what both men contributed to Gilead, starting with Frederick Waterford, revealing that he was â€Å"responsible for the design of the female costumes† and came up with the idea that the Handmaids should be branded by the colour red. He was also responsible for some of the names of the events practiced in Gilead, such as ‘Particution' and ‘Salvaging', taking his inspiration from events in the past, along with the design for the Handmaids costume, which resembled the uniforms of German prisoners of war during WW2. Judd on the other hand is credited with devising the form of the Particution ceremony, rather than the name, and proposed the idea that the Handmaids should be governed by women as he believed that â€Å"the best and most cost-effective way to control women for reproductive and other purposes was through women themselves†. He was also responsible for the dumping of the Jews into the ocean. Although both were childless, there is more evidence to support Frederick Waterford in being Offred's Commander as although his wife wasn't called ‘Serena Joy' or ‘Pam', but instead ‘Thelma', he was into market research and was involved in one of the earliest purges of Gilead after being accused of â€Å"being in possession of†¦ heretical pictorial and literary materials†, as well as â€Å"harbouring a subversive†. However, although all of this evidence points towards him, Pieixoto explains that because historical details of Gilead are few due to the fact that the destruction of records was a regular practice during the purge, it's unlikely that they can be certain of her identity of her Commander as Frederick Waterford. Pieixoto concludes on the note that the final fate of Offred is unknown, and that she may have been recaptured, reached Canada or could have even made her way to England. What he notes as surprising is that if she did escape to Canada or England, why she didn't make her story public, although he recognises that Offred may have wanted to protect what family and friends she had left. However, the aforementioned ‘subversive' is thought to be Nick, a member of both the Eyes and the Mayday movement, and that the men he called in at the end of the novel were sent in order to rescue Offred. The final sentence of the speech, â€Å"Are there any questions? thereby invites the reader to question the issues raised, having heard the two opposite perspectives, by Offred's narrative and the addition of the ‘Historical Notes'. It is at this point that the novel undertakes a moral tone, typical of dystopian literature. The ‘Historical Notes' alter the readers perspective of Offred and her tale, as it can be recognised that she is no longer a living human but an anonymous voice. It appears to the reader that Professor Pieixoto seems to doubt the tes timony of Offred and he attempts to discredit her by claiming her not to have paid attention to the more important issues going on at the time. For the reader, it seems as though Pieixoto has not taken notice of what Offred chose to tell, a tale of suffering and persecution within the regime, and this results in the reader feeling as though the professor is not only paying attention to the wrong things but is also belittling her story. Pieixoto's version of Offred seems surprisingly inept in warmth, humour and the genuine human emotion expressed that the reader will have felt from reading Offred's testament and so ironically, as Offred had predicted, â€Å"from the point of view of history, we'll be invisible†, Pieixoto has partly erased her from history. The narrative technique of the ‘Historical Notes' is entirely different to that of Offred's story, in terms of both its form and language, and so the change in voice from the personal account by Offred to the rather generalised and removed version by Professor Pieixoto forces the reader to take a more moralistic view of what he or she has just read. The historical glance back at Gilead, what preceded it and what was happening in other parts of the world at the same time, has the effect of drawing the experience of Offred much closer to home for the reader. It is unsettling to learn that the Gileadean practices were based on real practices formerly or currently in existence and this serves as a warning by Atwood that the reality of Gilead is not as far away as it seemed when reading Offred's account. After the abrupt ending of the main text of the novel with its leap into the unknown, the epilogue follows and the ‘Historical Notes' are simultaneously a welcome objective explanation of the Gileadean society, a parody of academic conferences and offensive to the reader. The notes are a shock to the readers, as they have just gone through the emotional ups and downs of Offred's account, suffering her torments with her, and is therefore shocking, as intended by Atwood, to hear Offred's life discussed in front of an amused audience, joked about and treated as a quaint relic. The significance of the ‘Historical Notes' to the novel as a whole is that they provide an open ending for the journey which Atwood takes the reader on, allowing each reader to have a different interpretation on the fate of Offred and the other main characters of the novel. It is the last line of the novel, â€Å"Are there any questions? † that signals to the reader that the fate of Offred is debatable, and an ending like this causes the story to stay with the reader some time after finishing reading it, as the ending is left up to the reader to decide upon.

History of Biligual Education Essay

My project was to go and find out about bilingual education’s history, process, and the experts in the field of bilingual education. Bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages fluently. Bilingualists study Bilingualism and bilingual education, which is teaching all subjects in school through two different languages. Bilingual Education was first adopted in Ohio in 1839, due to the increase of German-Americans (Rethinking). By the end of the 19th century, many states had adopted bilingual education laws to meet the demands of new immigrants due to industrialization. When World War I came many Americans changed their views of bilingual education, due to the fear of German-Americans and the government’s new Americanization policies, including English-only instruction. It wasn’t until the Civil Rights Movement Era and the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, when bilingual education was reintroduced into the United States. â€Å"The court’s decision in th e landmark Lau v. Nichols case required schools to take â€Å"affirmative steps† to overcome language barriers impeding children’s access to the curriculum. Congress immediately endorsed this principle in the Equal Educational Opportunity Act of 1974.†(Rethinking). In California, bilingual education was banned until 1967. In 1967, Governor Ronald Reagan signed legislation (SB 53) that authorized bilingual education, before the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. A blow for bilingual education came in 2002, when President George Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act got rid of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, changing the way people look at bilingual education. In 1998 California, under Ron Unz’s Proposition 227, reverted Ronald Reagan’s SB 53. This Proposition later confirms Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act and the country’s renewed interest in English only instruction, due to the Iraq War. Many critics of bilingual education believe that bilingual education is failed, but proponents of bilingual education feel bilingual education is a better option than English-only instruction. Critics of bilingual education believe that children who receive bilingual education will not be able to help students learn English as well as English-only students. One of the critics of bilingual education, Rosalie Pedalino Porter of the Institute for Research in English Acquisition and Development (READ), believes that â€Å"the expectations for bilingual schooling were threefold: better and more rapid learning of English; better mastery of school subjects; and higher self-esteem among students, which could lead to higher academic achievement and fewer school dropouts. Unfortunately, none of these goals was achieved†¦The goal [of English immersion] is threefold: early literacy development in English, subject matter instruction in English with a special curriculum, and early inclusion of LEP students in mainstream classrooms for maximum exposure to native speakers of English and for greater integration of diverse student populations†(Porter). However, â€Å"controlled studies consistently show that children in such properly organized bilingual classes acquire at least as much English as those in all-English classes and usually acquire more†(Krasen). Another proponent of bilingual education, Jay Greene provided research that â€Å"the use of the native language in instructing limited English proficient children has â€Å"moder ate beneficial effects† and that â€Å"efforts to eliminate the use of the native language in instruction †¦ harm children by denying them access to beneficial approaches†(Greene). In addition to the belief that children who receive bilingual education will not be able to help students learn English as well as English-only students, critics of bilingual education believe that the passage of Proposition 227, caused test scores to increase. Proponents of 227 from the READ Institute argue that, the test scores from 1998-2000, show that minority English language learning students in California have done better on the SAT 9 test than those in bilingual education had done before (Mora). Kenji Hakuta, shows in his article, Points on SAT-9 Performance and Proposition 227, â€Å"test scores rose in districts in California that kept bilingual education, as well as in districts that never had bilingual education† (Hakuta). In addition, â€Å" Scores increase about 1.5 to 2 points per year after a new test is introduced. Thus, test score inflation accounts for about half of the increase in grades two and three in the SAT9 reading test since 1998, and all of the inc rease in grades four through seven SAT9 reading scores in California have actually declined slightly in grades eight through eleven†(Linn et. al). Research done by these bilingualists show that Proposition 227 has not increased the minority English language-learning students in California’s English skills. Critics of bilingual education believe that poorly trained teachers and complicated bilingual education structures cause more confusion than English-only programs. Susan Headden, writing in U.S. News & World Report, comments, â€Å"Poorly trained teachers further complicate the picture. . . . The paucity of qualified candidates has forced desperate superintendents to waive some credentialing requirements and recruit instructors from abroad. The result is teachers who themselves struggle with English† Advocates cite that just because bilingual education needs improvement doesn’t mean it should be eliminated. Critics of bilingual education look at the success of Canada’s French immersion policy in schools. In kindergarten and first grade native-English speakers are taught entirely in French. Then gradually, English is introduced and by the end of elementary school, most students become fluent in French and English. However, more impressive is the bilingual education of European countries. Since there are eleven different official languages of the European Union, students are taught multiple languages .The study of first foreign language begins in first year of primary school, then an additional language is added in the second year of secondary school and the fourth year of secondary school. By the time students exit college with a Baccalaureate degree, they will know at least four languages. From, my research I was able to find proponents and critics of bilingual education. I noticed that there were many more proponents of bilingual education, among them are Kenji Hakuta of Stanfor d University, Colin Baker of the University of Wales, Stephen Krashen of the University of Southern California, Wayne P. Thomas and Virginia Collier at George Mason University, and Jim Cummins of the University of Toronto. Critics of bilingual education include politicians, George Bush, Susan Headden, and Rosalie Pedalino Porter. Perhaps we should be looking to other nations to solve our educational issues, as neither English-only nor bilingual education seems to work. References *Based on an Analysis by National Association of Bilingual Education. (2002, Winter). History of Bilingual Education. Rethinking Schools. Retrieved May 10, 2007, from http://www.rethinkingschools.org/special_reports/bilingual/langhst.shtml * Greene, J. (1997). A meta-analysis of the Rossell and Baker review of bilingual education research. Bilingual Research Journal , 21(3), 103-122. *Hakuta, K. (2000). Points on SAT-9 Performance and Proposition 227. Lecture presented at Stanford University , Cubberley Hall 228, 485 Lasuen Mall Stanford, California. *Headden, S. (1995, September 25). One Nation, One Language? U.S. News & World Report, 38+. Retrieved May 10, 2007, from http://faculty.ed.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/articles/onenation.html *Krasen, S. (1996). Under Attack: The Case Against Bilingual Education. Culver City, CA: Language Education Associates. *Linn, R., Graue, E., & Sanders, N. (1990). Comparing state and district test results to national norms: The validity of claims that ‘everyone is above average. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice , (9), 5-13. *Mora, J. K. (n.d.). What Do the SAT-9 Scores for Language Minority Students Real ly Mean? Retrieved May 10, 2007, from San Diego State University Web site: http://coe.sdsu.edu/people/jmora/SAT9analysis.htm *Porter, R. P. (1999, December). The Benefits of English Immersion. Educational Leadership, 1(57), 52-56.

The Ancient Greek Underworld and Hades

The Ancient Greek Underworld and Hades What happens after you die? If you were an ancient Greek, but not too deep-thinking a philosopher, the chances are you would have thought you went to Hades or the Greek Underworld. The Afterlife or Hereafter in the mythology of ancient Greece and Rome takes place in an area often referred to as the Underworld or Hades (although sometimes the location is described as a distant portion of the earth): The Underworld, because it is in the sunless regions under the earth.Hades Realm (or Hades) because the Underworld was Hades third of the cosmos, just as the sea was the god Poseidons (Neptune, to the Romans) and the sky, the god Zeus (Jupiter, to the Romans). Hades is sometimes referred to euphemistically as Pluto, which refers to his wealth, but the Lord of the Underworld had little in the way of a following. Underworld Myths Perhaps the most familiar story about the Underworld is that of Hades taking an unwilling young goddess Persephone below the earth to live with him as his queen. While Persephone was allowed back to the land of the living, because she had eaten (pomegranate seeds) while with Hades, she had to return to Hades every year. Other stories include Theseus being trapped on a throne in the Underworld and various heroic voyages to rescue people down below. Nekuia Several myths involve a voyage to the Underworld (nekuia*) to obtain information. These voyages are made by a living hero, usually, the son of a god, but in one case a fully mortal woman. Because of the details of these trips, even at such a great remove both in time and space, we know some details of ancient Greek visions of Hades realm. For instance, access to the Underworld is somewhere in the west. We also have a literary idea of whom one might meet at the end of ones life, should this particular vision of the after-death happen to be valid. Life in the Underworld The Underworld is not entirely unlike Heaven/Hell, but its not the same, either. The Underworld has a glorious area known as the Elysian Fields, which is similar to Heaven. Some Romans tried to make the area around the burial site of prominent wealthy citizens resemble the Elysian Fields [Burial Customs of the Romans, by John L. Heller; The Classical Weekly (1932), pp.193-197]. The Underworld has the dark or murky, torturous area known as Tartarus, a pit beneath the earth, corresponding with Hell and also the home of Night (Nyx), according to Hesiod. The Underworld has special areas for various types of deaths  and contains the Plain of Asphodel, which is the joyless realm of ghosts. This last is the main area for the souls of the dead in the Underworld neither torturous nor pleasant, but worse than life. Like the Christian Judgment Day and the ancient Egyptian system, which uses scales to weigh the soul to judge ones fate, which could be an afterlife better than the earthly one or an eternal end in the jaws of Ammit, the ancient Greek Underworld employs 3 (formerly mortal) judges. House of Hades and Hades Realm Helpers Hades, who is not the god of death, but of the dead, is Lord of the Underworld. He doesnt manage the limitless Underworld denizens on his own  but has many helpers. Some led their earthly lives as mortals specifically, those selected as judges; others are gods. Hades sits on the Underworld throne, in his own House of Hades, beside his wife, the queen of Hades realm, Persephone.Near them is Persephones assistant, a powerful goddess in her own right, Hecate.One of the attributes of the messenger and commerce god Hermes that of Hermes Psychopomp puts Hermes in contact with the Underworld on a regular basis.Personifications of various sorts reside in the Underworld and some of the creatures of death and the Afterlife appear to be on the periphery.Thus the boatman, Charon, who ferries the souls of the deceased across, might not actually be described as inhabiting the Underworld, but the area around it.We mention this because people argue over similar matters like whether Hercules went all the way to the Underworld when he rescued Alcestis from Death (Thanatos). For non-academic purposes, whatever the shady area in which Thanatos looms may be considered part of the Underworld complex. *You may see the word katabasis instead of nekuia. Katabasis refers to a descent and can refer to the walk down to the Underworld. Which Is Your Favorite Underworld Myth? Hades is Lord of the Underworld, but he doesnt manage the Underworlds limitless denizens on his own. Hades has many helpers. Here are 10 of the most important gods and goddesses of the Underworld: Hades- Lord of the Underworld. Combined with Plutus (Pluto) lord of wealth. Although there is another god who is the official god of death, sometimes Hades is considered to be Death. Parents: Cronus and RheaPersephone- (Kore) Wife of Hades and queen of the Underworld. Parents: Zeus and Demeter or Zeus and StyxHecate- A mysterious nature goddess associated with sorcery and witchcraft, who went with Demeter to the Underworld to fetch Persephone, but then stayed to assist Persephone. Parents: Perses (and Asteria) or Zeus and Asteria (a second-generation Titan) or Nyx (Night) or Aristaios or Demeter (see Theoi Hecate)Erinyes- (Furies) The Erinyes are goddesses of vengeance who pursue their victims even after death. Euripides lists three. These are Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera. Parents: Gaia and the blood from the castrated Uranus or Nyx (Night) or Darkness or Hades (and Persephone) or Poine (see Theoi Erinyes)Charon- The son of Erebus (also a region of the Underworld in which both the Elysian Fields and the Plain of Asphodel are found) and the Styx, Charon is the ferryman of the dead who takes an obol from the mouth of each dead person for each soul he ferries over to the Underworld. Parents: Erebus and NyxAlso, note the Etruscan god Charun. Thanatos- Death [Latin: Mors]. A son of Night, Thanatos is the brother of Sleep (Somnus or Hypnos) who along with the gods of dreams seem to inhabit the Underworld. Parents: Erebus (and Nyx)Hermes- A conductor of dreams and a chthonian god, Hermes Psychopompous herds the dead towards the Underworld. He is shown in art conveying the dead to Charon. Parents: Zeus (and Maia) or Dionysus and AphroditeJudges: Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Aeacus.Rhadamanthus and Minos were brothers. Both Rhadamanthus and Aeacus were renowned for their justice. Minos gave laws to Crete. They were rewarded for their endeavors with the position of judge in the Underworld. Aeacus holds the keys to Hades. Parents: Aeacus: Zeus and Aegina; Rhadamanthus and Minos: Zeus and EuropaStyx- Styx lives at the entrance to Hades. Styx is also the river that flows around the Underworld. Her name is taken only for the most solemn oaths. Parents: Oceanus (and Tethys) or Erebus and NyxCerberus- Cerberus was the serpent-tailed 3- or 50-headed hell-hound Hercules was told to bring up to the land of the living as part of his labors. The task of Cerberus was to guard the gates of Hades realm to make sure no ghosts escaped. Parents: Typhon and Echidna

Thing to Consider When Planting A Norway Maple

Thing to Consider When Planting A Norway Maple Norway maple (Acer platanoides) was introduced by botanist John Bartram of Philadelphia from England to the U.S. in 1756. It has been planted on farms and in towns for its shade, hardiness, and adaptability to adverse conditions, which has ensured that the maple, when planted, would spread like wildfire. Because of this, and a variety of other negative factors, the Norway maple has earned itself the title of a Bad Tree, meaning its destruction is often sought out by city governments and concerned landscapers fearing that the large canopy of leaves this particular maple yields will block all other growth underneath it. However, there is a number of redeeming qualities to this type of trees such as its tolerance to multiple types of soil nutrients and climate conditions, its optimal fall foliage, and beautiful yellow flowers in the spring. Why Norway Maples Are Bad Trees The shallow, fibrous root system and dense shade of Norway maple make it virtually impossible for grass to grow under the tree, and the aggressive roots frequently girdle even the parent tree, ultimately choking itself to death, making it a bad tree if youre planning on growing anything else around it. Further, Norway maples are also non-native invasive exotic trees that have escaped the urban environment and is a threat to native maples because of its sun-blocking foliage. Norway maple populations overwhelm sites by displacing native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous understory plants, and once established, creating a canopy of dense shade that prevents regeneration of native seedlings; it is also thought to release root toxins that inhibit or prevent the growth of other plants. Norway maples also reproduce quickly, forming dense root systems in a matter of seasons that are nearly impossible to fully remove without killing the surrounding soil entirely. However, this isnt to say there are no redeeming qualities for this type of tree. Redeeming Features Norway maples are arguably among the most beautiful variety of maple tree currently in North America with rich yellow leaves in the fall under optimal conditions and lovely yellow flowers on leafless branches in the spring. These trees are also highly resistant to climate conditions and lack of nutrition in the soil and can grow almost anywhere as a result, which makes them great for planting on land that usually cannot support much greenery. Also, due to their nature of spreading rapidly, harvesting new trees for distribution is surprisingly easy- just replant one of its many roots and a new tree will begin growing in no time. Plus, Norway maples grow rather quickly and provide lots of shade, so they can be used to generate a quick, natural privacy fence for your property.

Teacher Professional Learning and Development Assignment

Teacher Professional Learning and Development - Assignment Example This should be useful particularly to those who are involved in helping teachers develop the professional skills they need to teach challenging curricula to diverse students, including students who typically have not achieved well in some of our educational systems. There are four out ten important understandings that arise from the evidence base. These include notwithstanding the influence of factors such as socio-economic status, home, and community, student learning is strongly influenced by what and how teachers teach. Teaching is complex and teachers’ moment-by-moment decisions about lesson content and process are shaped by multiple factors, not just the agendas of those looking for changes in practice. Such factors include teachers’ knowledge and their beliefs about what is important to teach, how students learn, and how to manage student behavior and meet external demands. It is important to create conditions that are responsive to the ways in which teachers lear n. A recent overview of the research identified the following as important for encouraging learning: engaging learners’ prior conceptions about how the world works; developing deep factual and conceptual knowledge, organized into frameworks that facilitate retrieval and application; and promoting met cognitive and self-regulatory processes that help learners define goals and then monitor their progress towards them. Professional learning is strongly determined by the context in which the teacher practices. This is usually the classroom, which, in turn, is strongly influenced by the wider school culture and the community, and society in which the school is located. Teachers’ daily experiences in their practice context determine their understandings, and their understandings determine their experiences. The focus of this particular research is on the conditions for professional learning and development that impact positively on valued student outcomes (Sleezer, 2002). 1. Focus on valued student outcomes Professional learning experiences that focus on the relationship between particular teaching activities and valued student outcomes are associated with positive impacts on those outcomes. Research findings The major factor influencing whether professional learning activities have a positive impact on outcomes for students is the extent to which those outcomes form the rationale for, and ongoing focus of, teacher engagement. Such focus requires teachers to understand the links between particular teaching activities, the ways different groups of students respond, and what their students actually learn. In addition, success needs to be defined not in terms of teacher mastery of new strategies but in terms of the impact that changed practice has on valued outcomes. Because teachers work in such varied contexts, there is no guarantee that any specific approach to teaching will have the desired outcomes for students. Therefore, it is important to keep pro gress towards