The Odyssey

The Odyssey In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus does not deserve his reputation as a brave and clever leader because he is very arrogant, conceited, and he only cares about his glories which causes him the life of all his loyal companions. Odysseus makes the mistake of bragging out to the Cyclops about how he conquered stabbing his eye and escaping his cave â€Å"Cyclops if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca! (Book 9, lines 416-420). Odysseus does not think about the consequences he will have now after yelling out his real name, his father’s name, and his home land. His journey home will be much more difficult due to a non-clever decision. The Cyclops tries to trick Odysseus into going back and possibly eat or kill him ‘’Come back Odysseus, and ill treat you well, praying the god of earthquake to befriend you, his son I am †¦ if he will, he may heal me of this black wound †¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Book 9, lines 431-435).Odysseus does not return which does show some cleverness but then again he yells out to the Cyclops â€Å"if I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The god of earthquake could not heal you there! †(Book 9, 437-440). This aggravates the Cyclops and he puts a curse on Odysseus â€Å"†¦grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home †¦let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home†(Book 9. Lines 445-452). Due to all of his actions, bragging about his glories, Odysseus will face many difficult challenges and may not return home. The Odyssey In the tenth book of the Odyssey Odysseus and his companions find themselves trapped in the cave if the Cyclops Polyphemos. After their monstrous host has munched his way through several of his guests, the remainder take action. Odysseus makes a sharp, wooden stake, cutting it from the massive cudgel discovered in the cave; then together with four of his men he plunges the stake into the eye of the drunken, sleeping Polyphemos. Snodgrass, however, would dissent. His whole book is devoted to proving that not only did early Greek art rarely illustrate Homer, it was rarely even inspired by it. This theory is not a new one. Many other scholar have thought and pondered the same ideas. Snodgrass meticulously studies examples of scene often thought to be illustrations of Homer. Geometric art, he argues, offers nothing that can be identified as Homeric; indeed, there is only one Trojan war scene and that is Ajax's rescue of the body of Achilles, a scene which occurs in neither the Odyssey nor the Iliad. One of the more bizarre apparitions of geometric art takes the form of a pair of Siamese twins, warriors with two heads, four legs, four arms and one torso and the subject of some fascinating pages in Snodgrass's book. They were especially popular in early Greek art, but there is no clear Homeric influence here. Twice does the Iliad does refer to the twins, yet significantly he does not mention their rather striking deformity. It is preferable to understand both the artist and Homer as drawing on the same body of legendary material. By the mid seventh century figures on vases are beginning to be identified by captions. This at least makes it easier to determine whether the scene is from the Trojan war. Instead of two warriors fighting over a body we can be sure that we are looking at Menealos and Hektor fighting over the body of Euphorbos, as found on a famous Rhodian plate of the late seventh century, a picture that makes an impressive and appropriate cover for the book. This could very well be an illustration of the Iliad book where Menealos abandons his attempt to strip the corpse. Evidence for this tradition can be found in the shield of Euphorbos by Menealos himself. This is certainly plausible and helps to show that common subject matter is insufficient to prove influence. On the other hand, where a minor character is names, such as ‘Odios' in the embassy to Achilles, then we can be more confident that the artist had Homer in mind. This is a book of enormous leaning and subtlety, and it conclusion is surely right, yet at the same time it seems something of a missed opportunity. It is devoted to a negative and tightly-argued thesis, that Homer's epic poems had only minimal influence on early Greek at. Snodgrass is re-thinking early Greek art as he goes, but he is re-thinking it within the restrictions imposed by the very narrow focus of the book as a whole. Thus, the positive, for instance the illuminating chapter on synoptic narrative and on composition, can be rather swapped in the relentless negative arguments. Other will now need to work through the implications of his thesis, for example the role that must be assigned to oral tradition and all its local variations. Perhaps it is no conscience that his book should appear at a time when the literary culture of the recent past is being eroded by an increasing emphasis on the visual. The Odyssey The Odyssey In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus does not deserve his reputation as a brave and clever leader because he is very arrogant, conceited, and he only cares about his glories which causes him the life of all his loyal companions. Odysseus makes the mistake of bragging out to the Cyclops about how he conquered stabbing his eye and escaping his cave â€Å"Cyclops if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s on Ithaca! (Book 9, lines 416-420). Odysseus does not think about the consequences he will have now after yelling out his real name, his father’s name, and his home land. His journey home will be much more difficult due to a non-clever decision. The Cyclops tries to trick Odysseus into going back and possibly eat or kill him ‘’Come back Odysseus, and ill treat you well, praying the god of earthquake to befriend you, his son I am †¦ if he will, he may heal me of this black wound †¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Book 9, lines 431-435).Odysseus does not return which does show some cleverness but then again he yells out to the Cyclops â€Å"if I could take your life I would and take your time away, and hurl you down to hell! The god of earthquake could not heal you there! †(Book 9, 437-440). This aggravates the Cyclops and he puts a curse on Odysseus â€Å"†¦grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home †¦let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home†(Book 9. Lines 445-452). Due to all of his actions, bragging about his glories, Odysseus will face many difficult challenges and may not return home.

The European Middle Ages – Change over Time

The economy of the Middle Ages The economy has long been a major force in the development of societies for centuries. It often changes and fluctuates, consequentially resulting in the success or failure of civilizations. The economy of medieval Europe originated as that of a feudal systemdue to the dangerous and chaotic conditions of the continent at the time. By the end of the Middle Ages, the feudal system no longer being used due to its newfound inefficiency with the new situations emerging.Towns and trade began to get more popular, but society was still agriculturally based and comparatively less developed than the societies of Asia. The early Middle Ages are characterized by the Church and the feudal and manorial systems; systems in which every European’s life were centered around. In this arrangement there were kings, lords, vassals, knights, peasants and serfs. The hierarchy was that of a property owning basis. It was a land exchange for protection. During early medieva l times, Europe was in a state of chaos.Muslim, Magyar, and Viking invaders devastated the continent and surrounded it from all sides. With no true government in place, people were susceptible to invasions, and then came the feudal system. When kings gave men plots of land, those men would have to provide protection for the king and the land given through knights. The system was actually extremely complex because a lord was a vassal and he could also be a knight. In addition to that, a vassal could be a vassal to multiple people and they often fought over land.After the knights were peasants, people who worked the land of their lord. Some peasants were serfs, who were legally bound to the land they were born on, but they were not slaves. The wealth of every lord came from the work of his peasants. The manorial system branched out of the feudal system and was the more economic side of feudalism. The manor was the estate of the lord and there was an agreement between the lord and the peasants who worked the land. In exchange for housing, some farmland, and protection from bandits, the peasants would maintain the estate.A manor was like a small community in the way that is was self-sufficient and had all the necessities for someone living in that time. The manor normally consisted of the lord’s house, a church, workshops, fields, pastures, and a small village for the peasants. The serfs and peasants were also able to produce most of the goods needed for everyday life. The downside of living on the manor, for peasants at least was the taxes. There were taxes on the grain from the lord’s mill, a marriage tax, and a tithe, a church tax, to the village priest.Both of these systems were rigid and social mobility was essentially nonexistent. There was much change in medieval society; some of the causes for these changes even started some domino effects. For example, there was a huge population increase around the 1000s because more efficient farming. Peas ants began to rely on horses more than oxen, resulting in a faster plow. The three-field system was also being used, allowing more land to be farmed and more diversity in the medieval diet. Not only was the population increasing, but people were also living longer.Additionally, the worry of being robbed by bandits or invaded by foreigners was gone, so people could now be more independent and could travel without as much fear. Through these factors, there is a growth of towns and the decline of the feudal and manorial systems begins. The expanding towns mainly consisted of peasants and runaway serfs and weren’t as reliant on farming as they were before. This led to other professions reemerging. Local manufacturing was part of town life and the managing of the training of apprentices, the quality of products, and the prices for the goods were all controlled by a guild.Guilds had a monopoly for their trade in their town. Although guilds and towns did help, what truly had a subst antial effect on society were wars and diseases. The Crusades, the Bubonic Plague, and the Hundred Years’ War caused a variety of events and eventually led to the end of the Middle Ages. Although it was technically a failed expedition, the Crusades, a series of wars for the reconquering of the holy land fed by religious zeal, had quite a good effect on Europe’s future. After the Crusades, Christians’ relationship with Muslims was severed, but trade routes to Asia opened up everywhere.The trade between the two regions led to new technologies being introduced to Europeans. Furthermore, the power of nobles decreased and the feudal system began to slowly decline over the next 200 years. An example of a flourishing city is Venice that expanded and grew rich. Despite the slightly less unpromising time after the Crusades, the Black Death devastated Europe and made it digress some. The bubonic Plague originated in Asia and had already rampaged through Asia and Africa. E ntering Europe in 1347 through a fleet of Genoese merchant ships that arrived in Sicily, the plague spread all throughout Europe quickly.Over one-third of Europe’s population died because of the plague and medieval society was shattered. The population drop led to a scarce amount of workers and increased prices. Farms were abandoned and peasants living in manors demanded higher wages. The nobles refusing to the peasant demands resulted in many revolts. The plague would come in waves, so recovering and surviving more than once was difficult. While the plague struck Europe, England and France were in a war that would come to be known as the Hundred Years’ War. During the war, England used cheaper foot soldiers that used longbows to decimate the French.Knights were being defeated by lowly foot soldiers that were most likely peasants at home, making many people question the functionality of the feudal system. Ultimately the basis of the economy was moving towards trade and the success of towns and cities, ending the system that used to hold medieval society together. Like most past and modern societies, Europe remained dependent on agriculture, the class system was still similar to that of its predecessor, and when compared to other places of the time, Europe isn’t as active in trade and gaining land.A change in economic factors didn’t deviate from the need to feed the growing population. An agricultural based economy was necessary for the survival of Europeans, so that towns could grow and trade could expand. Moreover, the class system still had the king and religious leader on top because of the new sense of nationality and the fact that Europe was primarily Catholic. The class one was born into continued to define the lives of many and social mobility was still nonexistent.Whereas Europe’s trade was beginning to flourish, the trade in Asia and Africa were far beyond that. Just like in the 800s, Europe remained fairly isolated when paralleled to other civilizations. This is partly due to the strong religious intolerance. Namely, the Spanish Reconquista and Inquisition are examples of prejudice against non-Christians, implying a sense of superiority among Christians. The continent was also recently hit with a catastrophic plague, killing one-third of the population, making trade less of a priority.In the 650 years that were the Middle Ages, the economy of the time changed drastically. Europe went from having a strict hierarchy of property owning aristocrats to the growth of merchant-led towns. Nobles lost immense power and the population wavered at the mercy of new agricultural techniques and deadly plagues. Trade became an important component of the European economy, but it still remained very agricultural and not as adept in trade as its peers. The economical change would lead the continent to become on of the principal contributors to history today.

Research on medical ethics Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

On medical ethics - Research Paper Example The present usage of best-practice anti-malaria drugs, optimal forms of pilot training in high-G environments, and some forms of optimal fitness training for the soldiers are also examples of the end results of military medical research. Ethics has always been an integral component of every walk of life. The profession of arms, like any profession, lays down codes of conduct for medical too that bind members of a ship, a regiment, or a squadron, or an entire service or nation. Many tenets of military medical ethics at the national or international level are understood as the Laws of War, most formally codified in the Geneva Conventions. (Pearn, 2005, 10) By contrast, at the individual level, issues of medical ethical import are a recent phenomenon. (Day, 2005, 349) Military dictates of discipline, control by line of command, and the subservience of any individual rights for the greater aim-all are themes that, at least in the historical context, have made medical ethics questions irrelevant. The core doctrines on which the discipline of medical ethics is built beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice often represent the antithesis of what service members are required to do. (Gillon, 2004, 186) Historically, a parallel system of loyalty, respect, courtesy, and chivalry has evolved to form an alternative modus operandi that binds those who command to those who obey. According to Pearn (2006) since the Second World War, and specifically since the Nuremberg Trials of 1945 and 1946, the medical ethics responsibilities, indeed some medical ethics rights, of service members have been specified. The International Military Tribunal was established by the London Agreement of August 8, 1945. Representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union (and with the provisional membership of France) formed the Tribunal. Subsequently, 19 other nations accepted the provisions of its

Forecasting Crude Oil (Spot Price) Volatility Dissertation

Forecasting Crude Oil (Spot Price) Volatility - Dissertation Example Daily prices for crude oils are effective in volatility forecasting. 17 It was also imperative to use the two cluster analysis in the paper. 17 In the case of GARCH to obtain the unknowns the formula was applied where the initial value Xk was taken to be 25.56 where a= 0.001 (fixed) 17 b= 0.00 18 c= 0.00 18 In using the same formula the values for a, b and c were P-GARCH established to be 18 a= 0.001(fixed) 18 b= 0.394 18 c= 0.050 18 Xk= 25.56 18 For GARCH GJR, the values were found to be 18 a=0.001 (fixed) 18 b= 0.488 18 c= 0.110 18 Xk= 25.56 18 for E GARCH a=0.001 (fixed) 18 b= 0.488 18 c= 0.11 18 From the findings captured in the spread sheet, we can derive various important factors about the GARCH family models and answer important questions arising from the same. These are 19 The data should be within range in order to get rid of outlier values.The data is reliable since the projection/ forecasted values are within limit. There are no outlier values as a result of projection. 19 The null hypothesis – Garch models predict uniformly 19 Alternative hypothesis- GARCH models predictions differ. Based on the results, it is clear that there exists variations among the four models. Thus it is rational to conclude that the alternative hypothesis holds. 19 The best model should be as closer to the baseline as possible. GARCH is a replica of the baseline and hence cannot be taken to be the best.Of the four GJR GARCH varies the least from the baseline hence is the best. 19 EGARCH has the largest variation from the baseline hence is the worst. 19 20 BIBLIOGRAPHY 20 APPENDICES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.20 METHODOLOGY AND DATA Introduction Volatility is a concept that refers to the spread of all possible outcomes within an uncertain variable. Finance discipline has various unc ertain variables such as prices of products, returns on assets, and share prices amongst others (Olowe, 2010). Modeling and forecasting of volatility have been attributed to increasing uncertainty in financial aspects and components (Day & Lewis, 1993). Oil price fluctuations in the global arena experience significant uncertainties thereby invoking interests amongst financial and market participants (Kang, Kang, & Yoon, 2009). The main reasons explaining such significant interest include the fact that oil price fluctuations affect decision making process for both producers and consumers in addition to investors’ decisions. Whereas oil price fluctuations affect strategic planning and appraisal of projects for producers and consumers, investors continue to face challenges in investment, allocation of portfolios, and management of risks decisions (Campbell, Lo, & MacKinlay, 1997). Policy and decision making within the oil markets require accurate forecasting of the crude oil pri ces (Olowe, 2010). Attaining accurate and adequate forecasting require adequate and accurate data. In most cases, daily prices of crude oil are used to predict or forecast volatility (uncertainty) for purposes of developing effective policies and decision making processes (Campbell, Lo, & MacKinlay, 1997). Forecasting volatility of crude oil prices have been done for a

How might a large multinational clothing retailer ensure its workers Essay

How might a large multinational clothing retailer ensure its workers and its suppliers are acting ethically at all times in all the countries in which it operates - Essay Example Formulation of the special code of ethics would demonstrate sensitivity of the corporation to the local traditions. The companywide code of conduct should be supplemented by the internal business units of the corporation. Formulation of the special code of ethics should be a teamwork effort by the different functional areas of the corporation. â€Å"Enlisting the support of these local functions is important in shaping acceptable policies and dispelling notions that people at the home office dictate standards of behavior without respecting cultural differences† (LRN, 2007, p. 2). Top management assumes great responsibility for developing ethically responsible culture in multinational corporations. They should frequently conduct meetings to identify any lapses and temptations of unethical business conduct by the employees (Godiwalla, 2012). Multinational corporations should have an efficient communication and reporting system in place to timely identify and control ethical

Globalization, Education, and Cultural Identity Assignment

Globalization, Education, and Cultural Identity - Assignment Example As the essay declares in recent decades, the push towards globalization had been unrelenting. Seen mainly as a means by which countries could improve its competitiveness in the global market for goods and services, nations of the world embarked on an all-out race to adopt the international (read: Western) manner of speaking, dressing, and acquiring a taste for music on the MTV, products sold on eBay, or movie stars on HBO. Children are especially vulnerable, because their minds are much like a blank book for anyone to write in, so unguarded are they in discerning right from wrong. It is therefore a valid concern for policy makers to determine whether educational stress on globalization benefits a country economically at the expense of its unique cultural heritage. Answering this would provide direction for institutionalized education on how to deal with unfolding developments in this area. As the paper discusses Christoph Wulf, professor of general and comparative educational sciences in Freie University in Germany, outlined some crucial points in the transmission and learning of intangible heritage. Focusing, for example, on the cultural element of rituals and practices, Wulf is of the view that what makes rituals and other practices socially and culturally effective is the performative character of the body. Rituals are valuable social functions. They help to organize the transition from one social status to another, at socially and existentially central moments such as marriage, birth and death.

Palestine between WWI and WWII Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Palestine between WWI and WWII - Essay Example Arguably, Muslims, Christian and Jewish groups invoke religious arguments to hold their positions on the Canaan land territory hence sparking conflict. Muslims argue that the land belongs to all Abraham descendants with Ishmael included whom they believe as their origin. Jews and Christians believe that God promised the land of Canaan to them through Abraham’s young son Isaac. The conflict exploded to a full-blown civil war in 1947 leading to establishment of Israel modern state in May 1948. Competing territorial ambitions initiated political and nationalist conflict following the fall of Ottoman Empire shifting large-scale Arab, Israeli conflict to local Palestinian Israeli conflict (Goldschmidt & Davidson, 2009). The large-scale conflict largely ended after 1973 October cease-fire. In the interwar years, the conflict was further fuelled by land purchases and culture conflicts, mainly attributed to religious differences. The other major cause of the war was the rise of anti-S emitism and the rise of the Arab Nationalism. The anti-Semitism caused by a notion that there was a Jewish conspiracy that was propagated by the Europeans and had no roots to Islam. The rise of the Arab Nationalism saw the coming of leaders such as Hajj Amin al-Husayn who were both educated and enlightened the masses on their rights and what they needed to do. The Great Britain white paper was also known as MacDonald white paper. This was because Malcolm McDonald presided over it as the British colonial secretary.

Marketing plan of a restarant Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing plan of a restarant - Case Study Example Therefore it is important for investors to have knowledge of the target group in regard to the hotel type. For example Urspace Cafà © located in Temple City can arguably be considered a business hotel since it mainly deals with customers seeking day food and breakfast. However, despite the hotel type it important to ensure that the marketing strategies employed are excellent. Excellent hospitality operation is one of the basic marketing strategies applied by in the hotel industry. Hospitality operations go beyond the normal daily greetings as customers enter the premise. Successful hospitality operations involve increased knowledge about the customer base in order to offer the best services without necessarily being prompted to. For starters, waiters and waitresses should have good knowledge of all available foods and beverages to avoid uncertainty when an order is placed. Additionally, they should be aware of the frequently requested food types especially by frequent customers to give room for suggestions. This is also important to ensure that frequently foods and beverages are always present hence eliminating customer disappointments. This improves interactions between the personnel and the customers thereby creating a sense of satisfaction. Additionally, building strong relationships with the customers makes it easy to identify arising problems. This is because loyal customers accustomed to the hotel feel welcomed to give suggestions on improving levels of service. Therefore, in case of a complaint a customer will not opt for another hotel but rather will consider communicating with the personnel so that the problem can be addressed. Additionally, in as much as caution is taken, there is bound to be errors though few thereby prompting a customer’s complaint. Part of excellent hospitality is ensuring complaints and suggestions raised are addressed fast enough and accurately.

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 9

Human Resource Management - Essay Example Human resource management (HRM) is a practice through which an organisation can control and supervise their workforce. In order to define good practice of human resource management, it can be stated that this HRM is embrace by an organisation to attract potential individuals towards the organisation for working purpose. Apart from this, human resource practice helps an organisation during selecting and training new employees. Moreover, the practice of HRM also facilitates in supervising organisational leadership and culture. On the contrary, personnel management is a method through which organisations eventually maintain people and their workforce in order to establish satisfaction relationship within the organisation. Moreover, through practicing personnel management an organisation can ensure commitment of its people and employees to contribute their participation towards the organisation in order to attain organisational goal.In order to evaluate the role and responsibilities of line manager, it can be apparently affirmed several individuals and even a team can be work directly under the line manager. Simultaneously, most of the managers who are controlling few individuals or a team also took order from the supervising authority.

Writing to Evaluate Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Writing to Evaluate - Essay Example However I feel even though what conditions these people had to face are mentioned in dramatic detail there seems to be the key aspect of not knowing what these exact hardships were. "A persistent stream pressed northward, circling the scattered settlements, staring wide-eyed at the sights of the settled land" (78). This phrase depicts the people yearning for what they didn’t have now but perhaps at one point in time did have. You can clearly feel the desperation that surrounds the nomad’s as Oz has artfully depicted their lack of options and the clear undeniable message that they were not welcome. "If you passed them on a noisy tractor and set billows of dust loose on them, they would courteously gather their scattered flocks and give you a wide passage, wider by far then was necessary. They stared at you from a distance, frozen like statues."It is the descriptive power that the writer so gracefully unfolds that brings to one’s mind not just the scene in astonish ing clarity but also the ability to get absorbed in the narrative. With the air so thick with unwelcome it is only when you really invest yourself in the narrative do you understand the message and placement that these unwelcome nomad’s served for the Israeli’s. They were blamed for every negative incident that took place regardless of whether the accusation made sense of not. The fact that there were no witnesses or solid evidence that backed up the accusations was of little value. Disease, theft and even crop damage were blamed on the new neighbors. The unfairness of it all I find ludicrous but at the same time it fascinates me as it seems to be a mere reflection of human nature – Our ability to blame others only to admitting fault within ourselves. Another interesting observation that I would like to mention is that the role of the narrator though showed considerable effort to seem fair and impartial as far as any mention of the nomads was concerned, there we re considerable amount of cracks in his demeanor. This was seen in the way racism was evident in several phrases that he had used. Such as , ‘We are no believers in forbearance or vegetarianism. This is especially true of our men. Decency constrains me not to dwell in detail on certain isolated and exceptional acts of reprisal conducted by some of the youngsters whose patience had expired, such as cattle rustling, stoning a nomad, or beating one of the shepherds senseless." It is hilarious that after admitting the behavior that they had indulged in a poor he makes excuses for it by stating that the shepherd in question "had an infuriatingly sly face. He was blind in one eye, broken nosed, drooling, and his mouth was set with long, curved fangs like a foxes"(80). Once again I marvel at the tactics adopted by the author to inject interest and a note of realism in his narrative by drawing attention to the intolerable nature that human beings have the ability to exhibit. It is alm ost a minute reminder of the segregation conducted by the Nazi’s in Germany in the way the behavior of the Israeli’s towards the nomads unfolds. Moving forwards we notice how the author shows the gradual onset towards a more cordial relationship between the nomads and the Israeli’s as the secretariat holds and audience with the elders of the nomad tribe to try to mitigate the hostilities. The nomads are seen to admit somewhat of the responsibility for the thievery and return the stolen gods. This seemed to be a promising start of a ‘mutual understanding’ between the two nations however I sense undercurrents of lessons learnt from history in which lavish and extensive promises between two nations are always in

The Cornell University Essay Example for Free

The Cornell University Essay Is a research that was conducted by the Cornell University and it did set a good example and helped in the development of the undeveloped nations. The research covered areas of Lake Titicaca Lima, Peru and Chibote. The main objective of this project was to make the natives of these areas in to the new world full of technology and improve their economy. Is was tasking job to put into practice because they still were to implement in other places like Bang Chan, Thailand, India, they did put records of all the works they did and even today is available in the libraries. During the course of their mission they were having problems due to communication barrier between the researchers and people who lived there, but as they continued with their research they learned these languages and some of them finally managed to speak the Quechua Language. Mario Vazquez was hired as the acting director of the Vicos Project, other seven Peruvians. The whole project to complete took the team fourteen years to complete and compile all their findings. They evaluated places like the Vicos Hacienda which had an area of estimated 44000 acres of land and of which less that 10% of it was cultivated. The fertile lands were controlled by the rich, but later the Hacienda was announced a public property something that many termed as ironical. The Cornell Project in conjunction with the government enacted good health plans and supply of essential dugs to the residents of the area, as mast of them were affected by infectious diseases which they helped and treated. Vegetations were adversely affected due to pest which had invaded the area and thus totally reducing the production. In the Hacienda there were workers who protected the horses in the farm and they were being overworked by their bosses.The project was a major success for those who managed it and they achieved their objectives as they had planned. References JSTOR: Directed Cultural Change in Peru: A Guide to the Vicos retrieved on 21st Dec 2008, available at links. jstor. org/sici? sici=0002-7294 (197703)2%3A79%3A1%3C144%3ADCCIPA%3E2. 0. C – Women and Gender Equity in Development Theory and Practice: Google Books Result retrieved on 21st Dec 2008, available at books. google. com/books? isbn=0822336987

Discoveries And Inventions In Fundamental Sciences History Essay

Discoveries And Inventions In Fundamental Sciences History Essay There is a general concept that the sciences are exclusively the products of Western minds. Review of any standard book or encyclopedias regarding the history of science makes evident that the only contributors are Europeans and/or Americans. The most oft-mentioned names are Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Bacon, Da Vinci, Franklin, Newton, Benjamin etc. Thus it is made unavoidable to conclude the major contributions to the development of the modern sciences by other cultures are minimal. The advancements made by ancient Chinese, Indian or particularly, Muslim scholars are hardly mentioned in most standard books and literature. Although Western civilization has made many invaluable contributions to the development of the sciences however, so have numerous other cultures. Unfortunately, Westerners have long been credited with discoveries that were made by muslims scientists many centuries before. Thus, many of the basic sciences were invented by non-Europeans. For instance, George Sarton states that modern Western medicine did not originate from Europe and that it actually arose from the (Islamic) orient. inShare91 515 points on reddit Major Inventions of Muslim Scientists: A number of inventions and discoveries were made by the Muslim scientists throughout the history. Muslim geographers and navigators learned the use of magnetic needle, from the Chinese, and were the first to use magnetic needles in navigation. Muslims invented the compass and its use in navigation, which was later on passed to the West. European navigators relied on Muslim pilots and their instruments while exploring the unknown territories. Gustav Le Bon claims that the magnetic needle and compass were the inventions of Muslims. The Chinese, probably learned of it from Muslim traders. It is noteworthy that after the interaction with the Muslims during the 8th century the Chinese improved their navigational expertise. Ibn Firnas a Muslim scientist of Islamic Spain invented, constructed and tested a flying machine in the 800s A.D. Roger Bacon learned of flying machines from Arabic references to Ibn Firnas machine. According to Will Durant, Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain, invented a watch-like device in 9th century, which kept accurate time. The Muslims also constructed a variety of highly accurate astronomical clocks for use in their observatories. As early as the 9th century A.D Muslim mathematicians, the inventors of algebra, introduced the concept of using letters for unknown variables in equations. They solved a variety of complex equations through this system, including quadratic and cubic equations. They used symbols to develop and perfect the binomial theorem. Thabit bin Qurrah was among the first Mathematicians of the Islamic Empire who accomplished this precisely this as early as the 9th century A.D, and he was followed by Abul Wafa, whose 10th century book utilized algebra to advance geometry into an exact and simplified science. In the 9th century Muslim astronomers made numerous improvements upon Ptolemys findings. They were the first astronomers to dispute his archaic ideas. They produced hundreds of highly accurate astronomical tables and star charts. Many of their calculations are so precise that they are regarded as contemporary. Copies of works on astronomy the Alphonsine Tables was transmitted to Europe via Islamic Spain, i.e. the Toledo Tables. In their critic of the Greeks, Muslims synthesized proof that the sun is the center of the solar system and that the orbits of other planets and the earth might be elliptical. During the 9th century the Muslim physician originated the science of pharmacology and was developed into a highly refined and exact science. Muslim chemists, pharmacists and physicians produced thousands of drugs and/or crude herbal extracts one thousand years prior to the supposed birth of pharmacology. During the 9th century, eyeglasses were invented by Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain and they were manufactured and sold throughout Spain for over two centuries. Any mention of eyeglasses by Roger Bacon was simply a regurgitation of the work of al-Haytham (d. 1039), whose research Bacon frequently referred to. During the 8th through 15th centuries, Muslim geographers produced untold volumes of books on the geography of Africa, Asia, India, China and the Indies. These writings included the worlds first geographical encyclopedias, almanacs and road maps. The 14th century masterpieces of Ibn Battutah provide a detailed view of the geography of the ancient world. The science of ethnography was invented by the Muslim scholars of the 9th through 14th centuries. A number of Muslim geographers classified the races, writing detailed explanations of their physical appearances and unique cultural habits. Blumenbachs works were insignificant in comparison. Muslim physicians used a variety of specific substances to destroy microbes. They applied sulfur topically specifically to kill the scabies mite. Ar-Razi (10th century) used mercurial compounds as topical antiseptics. During the 9th and 10th centuries, the Venetians learned of the art of fine glass production from Syrian artisans. Glass mirrors were in use in Islamic Spain as early as the 11th century. Ibn Yunus al-Masri discovered the pendulum in the 10th century, and was the first to study and document its oscillatory motion. Its value for use in clocks was introduced by Muslim physicists during the 15th century. Muslim mathematicians as early as the 10th century solved numerous equations of even higher degrees with ease. Binomial theorem was utilized and perfected for its use in the systematic solution of algebraic problems by hundreds of the Muslim mathematicians. In the 10th century numerous Muslim chemists produced medicinal-grade alcohol through the process of distillation and manufactured the first distillation devices on a large scale for use in chemistry. They used alcohol as a solvent and antiseptic. The prophet Muhammad wisely warned against entering or leaving a region suffering from plague thus introducing the concept of quarantine for the very first time in the 7th century A.D. later in the 10th century, Muslim physicians innovated the use of isolation wards for individuals suffering with communicable diseases. As early as the 10th century, Muslim physicians and surgeons of 10th century used to apply purified alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent. In Islamic Spain surgeons utilized special methods for maintaining antisepsis prior to and during surgery. The origin of specific protocols for maintaining hygiene during the post-operative period raised the success rate so high that dignitaries throughout Europe came to Cordova, Spain, to be treated at what was comparably the Mayo Clinic of the Middle Ages. Islams ar-Razi wrote an in-depth treatise on the venous system, accurately describing the function of the veins and their valves in the 10th century. Timeline of Muslim Scientists from 700 900 AD: 8th century: 700s [petroleum; civil engineering] In Baghdad the streets were constructed and paved with tar, coming from the petroleum that oozed in natural oil fields in the region.   700s 800s [cosmetics] In Spain a beauty institute was started by Ziryab (Blackbird). 740 828 Al-Amai, Zoology, Botany, Animal husbandry.   770 840 [mathematics] The Calculus of resolution and juxtaposition (hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala), more briefly referred to as al-jabr, or algebra, was developed by Kharazmi, Algebra was a unifying theory which allowed rational numbers, irrational numbers, geometrical magnitudes, etc., to all be treated as algebraic objects. It gave mathematics a whole new development path so much broader in concept to that which had existed before, and provided a vehicle for future development of the subject. Another important aspect of the introduction of algebraic ideas was that it allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not happened before.   Al-Khwarizmis successors undertook a systematic application of arithmetic to algebra, algebra to arithmetic, both to trigonometry, algebra to the Euclidean theory of numbers, algebra to geometry, and geometry to algebra. This was how the creation of polynomial algebra, combinatorial analysis, numerical analysis, the numerical solution of equations, the new elementary theory of numbers, and the geometric construction of equations arose.   Late 700s 800 [musical science] Mansour Zalzal of Kufa was a musician (luth) and composer of the Abbasid era. Contributed musical scales that were later named after him (the Mansouri scale) and introduced positions (intervals) within scales such as the wasati-zalzal that was equidistant from the alwasati alqadima and wasati al-fors who made improvements on the design of the luth instrument and designed the Luth. In 715 800 [chemistry] The Muslim chemist, Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan), is considered the father of chemistry, for introducing the experimental scientific method for chemistry, such as alembic, still, retort, pure distillation, liquefaction, crystallisation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation, and filtration. He was the first chemist known to produce sulfuric acid, as well as many other laboratory instruments and chemical substances. His works include The elaboration of the Grand Elixir, The chest of wisdom in which he writes on nitric acid, Kitab al-Istitmam (translated to Latin later as Summa Perfectionis), and many others.   715 800 [alchemy] Geber, introduced the first theories on the transmutation of metals, the philosophers stone, and the artificial creation of life in the laboratory.   715 800 [glass] Geber added colour to glass by introducing small quantities of metallic oxides to the glass, such as manganese dioxide (magnesia). This was a new advancement in the glass industry unknown in antiquity.   9th century: 800 868 [biology, zoology, linguistics, language,] Amr ibn Bahr al-Jahiz wrote a number of works on zoology, lexicography, rhetoric, and Arabic grammar. In his most famous book the Book of Animals, he was the first to discuss food chains, and environmental determinism by arguing that the environment can determine the physical characteristics of the inhabitants in a certain community he also stated that the origins of different colors of human skin is the result of the environment. The struggle for existence and the theory of evolution by natural selection was first discussed by him. 800 873 Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi (Latinized, Alkindus.) was an expert in Optics, Metallurgy, Cryptography, Medicine, Mathematics, Physics and Philosophy. He worked at the House of Wisdom which was set up in 810. He introduces quantification into medicine in his book De Gradibus.   In 810 the works of Greek and Indian scientists on astronomy and mathematics were translated into Arabic in Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) which was set up in Baghdad. 820 [mathematics] Mahani (full name Abu Abdollah Muhammad ibn Isa Mahani in Arabic Al-Mahani). Conceived the idea of reducing geometrical problems such as duplicating the cube to algebraic problems.   836 901 [anatomy; astronomy; mathematics; mechanics] Born Thabit Ibn Qurra (Latinized, Thebit.) made considerable contributions in mathematics particularly in number theory and geometry while studying at Baghdads House of Wisdom under the Banu Musa brothers. He discovered the theorem by which pairs of amicable numbers can be found; i.e., two numbers such that each is the sum of the proper divisors of the other. Later, al-Baghdadi (b. 980) and al-Haytham (born 965) developed variants of the theorem.   838 870 Tabari (full name: Ali ibn Sahl Rabban Al-Tabari) made many contributions in Calligraphy, Mathematics, Literature, and Medicine.   In mid 800s [chemistry] Al-Kindi gave 107 recipes for making perfumes and also wrote on the distillation of wine as that of rose water, in his book Kitab Kimia al-`otoor wa al-tas`eedat (book of the chemistry of perfumes and distillations).   850 930 [mathematics] Abu Kamil of Egypt (full name, Abu Kamil Shuja ibn Aslam ibn Muhammad ibn Shuja) made an important link in the development of algebra between al-Khwarizmi and al-Karajis time not using the symbols, but writing powers of x in words, he had begun to understand what should be written in symbols. 852 [aviation, flight] Abbas Ibn Firnas (Armen Firman) made the first successful parachute fall near CÃÆ' ³rdoba, Spain using a huge wing-like cloak. 858 929 [astronomy mathematics] Al-Battani (Albategnius) made valuable works on astronomy, trigonometry etc.   860 Al-Farghani (Al-Fraganus) was master in Civil engineering and Astronomy. 864 930 [chemistry; medicine] Al-Razi (Rhazes) studied Astronomy, Chemistry, Medicine, Ophthalmology and Smallpox. He wrote on Naft (naphta or petroleum) and its distillates in his book Kitab sirr al-asrar (book of the secret of secrets). When choosing a site to build Baghdads hospital, he hung pieces of fresh meat in different parts of the city and selected the location where the meat took the longest to rot, for building the hospital. He also suggested that patients must not be told about their real condition so that fear or despair may not affect the healing process. His notable works were on soap, alkali, caustic soda, and glycerine. He also gave the descriptions of equipment, processes and methods for their preparation in his book Kitab al-Asrar (book of secrets) in 925.   870 950 Al-Farabi (Al-Pharabius) wrote on early Islamic philosophy, logic in Islamic philosophy, Muslim sociology, musical science and political science. In   875 [aviation, flight] Abbas Ibn Firnas made the first flight in a hang glider with artificial wings, but his landing was unsuccessful. He also worked on mechanics of Flight, Planetarium, and Artificial Crystals. Ibn Firnas was the first to investigate the means of flight.   800s [chemistry; petroleum] Oilfields in Baku, Azerbaijan, generated commercial activities and industry. These oilfields, were wells dug to get the Naft (or naphta, or crude petroleum) these were described by geographer Masudi in the 10th century and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads.   10th century: 900s [mathematics; accounting] By this century, three systems of counting were used in the Arab world. First was the Finger-reckoning arithmetic, in this system the numerals were written entirely in words this system was used by the business community. Second was the sexagesimal system, originated by the Babylonians, in this system the numerals were denoted by letters of the arabic alphabet it was used by Arab mathematicians in astronomical work. The third was the Hindu-Arabic numeral system, which was used with various sets of symbols. Arithmetic of this system required the use of a dust board (a sort of handheld blackboard) because the methods required moving of numbers in the calculation and rubbing some out as the calculation proceeded. Later these methods were modified by Al-Uqlidisi (born 920) for pen and paper use. Eventually the advances enabled the decimal system to be used throughout the world in its standard form.  

How Addicted Are Users To Social Networking?

How Addicted Are Users To Social Networking? Social networks have become an essential part of a persons everyday life. The purpose of this study is to explore the preferences of a user on notification settings, addiction rate of a user on social networks, and compare prompt vs. non prompt usage behavior. Semi structured interview was the methodology used in this study. The study was conducted at computer science building of Dalhousie University, Halifax. The interview was conducted with 21 students participation. All the participants were male students pursuing Undergrad/Grad/PhD at Dalhousie University. The participants were of age ranging from 17-30. There was no limitation or criteria to participate in the interview except that the participants must be a member of any social networking site. The interview was conducted by 5 interviewers. The participants were asked to sign a consent form in order to use their data for further analysis. The whole interview was audio recorded with participants knowledge. The duration of interview ranged from 5-20 minutes depending on the users response to specific questions. The questions were framed in a way that useful and relevant data can be collected during the interview session to answer all the research questions. The data collection and analysis will be discussed in detail in the following sections. The participants were not limited to focus on a specific social networking application but allowed to think broadly on their experiences with any social networking media. The participants were allowed to answer beyond the given choices and include their own concerns about their interaction using the social networking media. Data Analysis a) Addiction The word Addiction implies how a person tightly bound with particular action. In this report, addiction refers to a person addicted to any of social networking site. There are enough reasons for a person to become addicted to social networking sites such as: chatting, gaming, status updates, sharing pictures or posts, and keep in touch with their friends. In a simple words social networking sites are just clouding the people with most advanced features as well as cost efficient services. Social networking sites open a door to track people with less effect. Initial findings to support the people addicted with social networking sites were projected below. Success of any social networking site depends on making users to stay connected by offering extraordinary features. There are number of social networking sites out of which only few seems to be interesting or engaging to users. With this initial finding, we analyzed the list of social networking sites that play a major role in the present. Participants have an account with Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ etc., and Facebook plays a major role with 14 participants out of 21 choosing Facebook as their primary social networking site. There are few participants having the account in more than one site, one for the friends and another for their own interest. The previous response makes clear that success of any social networking site is based on how many active users it has. To find how addicted people are with social networking, the survey was included with the research question as how frequently do you use social networking. The response for this question is categorized as people visiting social networking site every hour, few times a day, always and less active (once a day or less than that). 13 out of 21 (62%) participants said they would visit their site account few times a day. Participants visiting their account every hour, less active, and always in social networking are 5, 2, and 1 respectively. This clearly indicates that more addicted people are far less from frequent users. As the response doesnt contain any negative value, it reflects that everyone is bounded with social networking regardless of its service. The following graph implies the response from the participants. Interest of every individual differs depending on the features they like or use and those features makes them addicted with particular social networking sites. Figure 1: Frequency of social networking usage The way participants admired by social networking sites are depends on fun, interaction with friends and family, and games (I dont understand the sentence). Even though every social networking sites offer numerous features, chatting plays a vital role and the communication with family friends through text or video keeps the participants more involved. Other features that the participants were attracted to were games and fun activities. Participants mention fun activities as picture sharing, tagging, news feeds, status updates, tweets, and other activities of their own as well as others. Figure 2: Major role in social interworking b) Prompted Vs. Non-Prompted Users are prompted by means of notifications. Notifications can be through messages, friend requests, news feed etc. If a notification makes a participant to login into the system, the user is considered to be prompted user and vice versa if not. A participant can be prompted by many ways like email notification, push messages. Most of the participants interviewed were prompted. The graph below shows the first login of the day; say morning, afternoon, evening, night, anytime (always) compared with quick response for the notification. A participants first login is considered to know how obsessed he is with the social networking site. Quick response to notification indicates during which part of time the participant were prompted. Nearly 48% (10 out of 21) of the participants were logged-in in the morning and 24% (5 out of 21) of users were logged in always. This tells the participants were prompted as the day starts as shown in blue color bar in the graph (figure 3). About nine participants respond quickly to the notification anytime. Six participants respond to the notifications in the evening more often than any other time. From the red bars, participants were considered as prompted because of the intention to look into the social networking site by the notification. Figure 3: Participant first login VS quick response to notification c) Notification Notification is one of the very important aspects of the social networking sites. Social networking sites notification system intimates the user about any new activity that occurred in users network space on that specific social network. In this semi-structured interview different questions were framed to elicit important information from the user regarding their perspective about different aspects of notification system. In order to determine the users likes and dislikes of notification settings, few questions were asked relating to their preference in notifications and settings management. Users interests or reactions on specific notification settings were also analyzed. Analysis of the collected data uncovered very interesting information about users experience with notification system. The results are represented as graph in the following section: E-mail notification Figure 4: Participants response to e-mail as their mode of notification The study indicated that 86% (18 out of 21) of participants disliked the e-mail notification feature in social networking site. This is because most of participants found e-mail notifications as spam and it required significant time for checking each and every notification whereas few participants said that the push notifications facility provided by smart phones are convenient than e-mail. The result indicates that the e-mail notifications are the Notification Settings Management The study shows that majority of users want to have control over their notification management. The participants were asked if social networking sites can change their settings on their own without prior information, or they should allow customization of settings. Though the result was as expected, few interesting responses were captured during the interview where six participants said that the social networking sites have full rights to change their settings as per their wish since the sites are used at no cost. 71% (15 of 21) participants reported that they would like to customize their settings whereas the remaining 29% participants reported that they have no problem with social networking sites changing their settings without notifying them. Figure 5: Participants response to notification setting management Discussion The study to identify the interests in notification settings, prompted vs. non-prompted usage behaviour, and addiction gave many valuable and interesting results. The analysis of the collected data gave us both expected as well as unexpected results on the usage of social networking media. The voice recordings of the whole interview session helped us to understand the mood of the candidate and also aided in double checking the obtained results. The methodology of semi structured interview gave us a huge amount of data and helped us to understand the activities of users under different categories. It allowed us to make comparisons between the participant data for the same set of questions. It also helped to form a more general and flexible question base to get an overview of the general opinion in great detail. It made the candidate to speak easily on sensitive topics related to social media. On the other side, we as a team encountered some difficulties in adopting this methodology one such is that we were unable to evaluate the participants data in the real world by making them use their favourite social media application and analyse them. The semi structured interview seemed resource intensive in some scenarios while collecting user data. As interviewers we cannot guarantee the honesty of the participants in answering the imposed questions. In some situations the cause and effect of the participants response will be very d ifficult to compare. As an interviewer specific skills are required to obtain a better result. The results obtained from the semi structured interview gave us a comprehensive conclusion on the various activities in a typical social networking application. The usages of social networking have gained widespread importance especially among the teenagers, adolescents and adults. The main reason for such a huge user base is the basic functionality of staying connected with friends, family and acquaintances. The various options of sharing media within a group and communicating with their friends over text, voice and video chats are very prominent in many social networking applications. The three topics of the social networking which the semi structured interview dealt were addiction, prompted versus non-prompted use and notifications. As researchers we were well satisfied with the data collection from these descriptions of use by the participants. We were well convinced to provide conclusive results on the collected information and achieve the goal of this semi-structured interview

Bilbo Baggins, a True Hero Essay -- Literary Analysis, J.R.R Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins, a True Hero â€Å"I wish I could be a hero!† Many adults in today’s society hear small children wishing they could become heroes. Children wish to be more like heroes for the reason that heroes are the type of people who risk their lives to help others. Throughout history, children have had a positive connotation with the word â€Å"hero.† The heroes many small children talk about are the fictional ones who protect cities from villains: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and others. However, these are not the only types of heroes in today’s world. Firefighters and policemen are also considered heroes because they save the lives of those in danger. Many adults consider their inspirations to be heroes, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Michelle Obama. Heroes do not always have to be real; for instance, they can also be literary characters such as Atticus Finch, Jonas, and Odysseus. Heroes, fictional or not, only have one purpose, to help people in need. These motivating people are in the rare category of people who willingly spend their whole lives helping people achieve their dreams. Heroes are the people who unselfishly help people live their lives in a peaceful manner. Many children wish they could become heroes, such as Bilbo Baggins. In The Hobbit, J.R.R Tolkien explores how Bilbo Baggins matures and ultimately becomes a hero. A hero, as stated before, selflessly thinks about others’ well beings before his or her own. Bilbo Baggins, the hobbit who was enlisted to help the dwarves retrieve Thorin’s family treasure, does the same thing when he decides to take matters into his own hands, and end the fight between Thorin, the lake men, and the woodelves. Bilbo decides to give the Arkenstone, a p... ...s. Bilbo is the one that gives the precious Arkenstone to Bard to help stop a war from starting. If it was not for Bilbo’s courage, Thorin would still be fighting for the Arkenstone and might have also been hurt. Bilbo also helps the dwarves by being a good leader and helping them find a way out of Smaug’s lair. Without Bilbo, the dwarves would not have the audacity to try finding a way out of Smaug’s cave. Bilbo, like a real hero, always makes sure that he finishes the task he sets out to do. Without Bilbo, the dwarves would not be able to finish all the tasks that they want to finish. Bilbo is also the reason why the dwarves are still alive. Bilbo saves the dwarves from many different disasters. The disasters range from the spiders to Smaug. Through good or bad, Bilbo has been able to show the characteristics that a real hero should be able to show.

Abortion Pill Essay -- essays papers

Abortion Pill 1.Problem Statement Approval of the abortion pill RU-486, also recognized as mifepristone, has put abortion back into the spotlight. This has stirred up controversial issues of reproductive rights in America, and a growing concern for the potential impact of RU-486 on the well being of our society's morals and values. 2.Facts and Analysis A Brief History Mifepristone, formerly known as RU-486, provides women with a medical alternative to surgical abortion. Mifepristone is an antiprogesterone drug that blocks receptors of progesterone, a key hormone in the establishment and maintenance of human pregnancy. Mifepristone induces spontaneous abortion when administered in early pregnancy and followed by a dose of misoprostol, a prostaglandin. Researchers have discovered many potential uses for mifepristone beyond pregnancy termination. Uses include treatment of breast cancer, Cushing's syndrome, endometriosis, glaucoma, meningioma, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, uterine fibroids, and the induction of labor. In very low doses, mifepristone may even be used to prevent pregnancy as a method of emergency contraception within. In higher doses, of course, it can be used to terminate pregnancy. Other existing emergency contraception cannot be used to terminate pregnancy because they are not abortifacients. Mifepristone offers women another choice for abortion. It causes a miscarriage and can be used earlier than surgical abortion. Medical abortion is totally non invasive, meaning there's no surgery, and no anesthesia is necessary. Like everything in life, there are some down sides to the use of RU-486. One can assume that it will make abortion easier and more available for a lot of women. However, mifepristone doesn't get rid of all of the discomfort that can go along with an abortion. Similar to a miscarriage, it can cause side effects including nausea, vomiting, bleeding, and heavy cramping. If the pills don't work, a surgical abortion will be necessary. Unintentional pregnancies statistically bring a host of economic, emotional, and physical ills to mother and baby. About half of the unintended pregnancies in Washington State are aborted, according to the state Department of Health. That rate is consistent with the rest of the US. Even though there is a demand for abortion providers, man... ...hese questions. The number of abortions that result in the approval of RU-486 shouldn't be our main concern. If there is a reason to be concerned, it should be on the ethical and moral issues that stem from the reproductive rights of women in America. Without question, abortion is an extremely controversial issue in today's society. However, the different attitudes of abortion activists are more important factors than that which involve the actual abortion procedure. The focal issue of this paper is not to evaluate whether or not abortion should be legal, but rather the question of RU-486 being legal - and readily available. If women have been granted the choice to terminate a pregnancy, then RU-486 simply provides them with a choice on the procedure they prefer to use. The approval of RU-486 will not vastly impact the landscape of abortion in America. Though nearly every individual in America has a personal opinion on abortion rights, abortion remains an issue between a woman, her creator and her physician. As long as abortion is legal, women will now have RU-486 as an option when making the choice that is best for them. Bibliography: www.findit.com

Can Childhood Asthma be Outgrown? :: Health Respiratory Essays

Can Childhood Asthma be Outgrown? Today asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, with the number of children with asthma increasing every year. In 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency reported that 5.5 million children in the United States had asthma. Now an estimated 6.1 million children under 18 in the United States currently suffer from asthma, according to the American Lung Association. However, some asthma sufferers manage to â€Å"out-grow† their childhood asthma. â€Å"By the time high school was over I found that I wouldn’t need to use my inhaler anymore and I haven’t used my inhaler in about three years,† said Jen Nelson, sophomore journalism major at Northeastern University. Today Nelson is asthma-free and in good health. â€Å"I have been pretty much okay. Last year I got the flu so I had a couple of symptoms, but it wasn’t to the point where I needed to use my inhaler,† said Nelson. At the age of 7, Nelson suffered a â€Å"really bad† asthma attack and was diagnosed with one type of asthma, bronchial asthma. â€Å"I developed it [asthma] because I had so many cases of bronchitis†, said Nelson. After having asthma for about 10 years, Nelson was told by her doctor that her asthma â€Å"wasn’t severe anymore† and â€Å"that they no longer considered her to be asthmatic.† Then there are the asthma patients who still have occasional problems with asthma accompanied with allergies that developed during their childhood. â€Å"I was diagnosed with asthma at a very early age. I have had it ever since I was very little. It has come and gone (and come again) over the years,† said Joanna Old, senior journalism major at Northeastern University. Through the age of 10, Old suffered from severe asthma. â€Å"I was hospitalized when I was around 4 or 5 for asthma†¦[Usually] when you have an asthma attack, your lungs get tight and you hear wheezing. Well, during this particular attack, the nurse didn’t even know what was wrong-it turns out my lungs were closed so tightly, there was no wheezing-no breathing at all. I stayed in the hospital for about 3 or 4 days hooked to an IV with an oxygen tent,† said Old. During this time, Old was also on steroids and used an inhaler regularly to manage her asthma. â€Å"I was actually very sickly looking because of the drugs. I remember my hair being very thin and wispy—and I never wanted to brush it!,† said Old. As Old grew up, her asthma seemed to become less severe.

World climate change

IntroductionThe ambiance and interact with each other, the Earth changes the orbit, volcanic eruptions and the energy received from Sun alterations – these are consequences of the universe clime alteration. Over 100 yeas ago, people had begun firing coal, gas and oil, which lead to climate alteration and causation nursery consequence and planetary heating. As a consequence of the human activities the emanation of nursery gases, such as C dioxide, azotic oxide and methane, influence on planetary heating and leads to atmosphere that known as â€Å"greenhouse effect† . Merely because of combustion of fossil fuels, every twelvemonth over 30 billion metric tons of C dioxide go oning emitted to atmosphere and even 7 billion metric tons to boot go oning to breathe by deforestation activities. Increasing concentration of C dioxide in the ambiance can increase planetary temperature to 7A °C and influence on the planetary biggest ecosystems to resistless recession. For comparin g, increasing temperature to 2A °C can take to disappearance of 20 – 30 % of species. The nursery gases – azotic oxide and methane are increasing by human activities as good and have less powerful nursery consequence than C dioxide. Methane produces on topographic points such as landfill sites, favored bogs and besides in the backbones of domestic animate beings. Amount of azotic oxide is increasing by N fertilizers being used in agribusiness. During the last 20 – 30 old ages the Arctic has been heating twice than remainder of the universe. Land – ice and snow screen is decreased, during this period, which effects the land heats faster than sea. This heating leads to conditions that Northern Hemisphere is warming more than Southern. In fact, sea degree is rises, because of ice thaws, when warming clime cause that H2O from melted glaciers flows into the oceans ; and thermic enlargement – when warming clime leads to warming H2O in ocean, which is cause sea degree rise.The Kyoto understandingIn 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan was adopted and in 2005 entered into force the Kyoto understanding – international understanding – Convention on Climate Change. In the Kyoto understanding set marks for 37 industrialized states and the European community to cut down nursery gas emanation. Harmonizing to the Kyoto understanding, the states should accomplish marks through national steps and offers three market based mechanisms for it ; emanation trading, clean development mechanism and joint execution. Emission trading or the C market is administrative control of emanation. All parties of the protocol accepted mark to restrict or cut down emanation. Just because of C dioxide chiefly is the chief nursery gas, that ‘s why C now traded like other merchandises. The clean development mechanism allows to a state with emanation decrease or restriction committedness to work on emanation decrease undertakings in developing states. Joint execution allows to a state with emission restriction or decrease committedness from emanation decrease or remotion undertakings to gain emanation decrease units. Harmonizing to the protocol, emanations of states have to be monitored and all these records should be kept. The chief aim of the Kyoto protocol is to cut down corporate emanation of nursery gases by 5 % in comparing with twelvemonth 1990. The emanation mark for each state should be achieved by 2008 – 2012 old ages. The Kyoto protocol is the first measure in planetary decrease of emanation and stabilizing of nursery gases.The causes and effects of clime alterationThere are exist two classs of clime alteration causes: natural and human-made. Presents, scientists in the universe concerned about clime alteration are speed up because of human activities. Natural clime alteration causes. Climate on the Earth changed through influence by natural causes like orbital alterations of the Earth, volcanic eruptions, solar fluctuations, ocean current etc. Volcano eruptions lead to elimination of sulfur dioxide, dust, ash and H2O vapor to the ambiance, which is influence the clime by increasing planetal coefficient of reflection that causes atmospheric chilling. The chief constituent of clime is the oceans. Huge sum of heat moves across the Earth by ocean currents. The sea surface pushes horizontally by air current. Deep ocean H2O moves in way from the poles to the equator and motion of warm H2O back from equator to the poles. The poles would be colder and equator warmer without this H2O circulation. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 determines by the ocean H2O circulation. Changes of the Earth orbit: The tilt alterations of the Earth may take to little but of import clime alterations ; more jousts leads to warmer summers and colder winters and less jousts leads to colder summer and heater winter. This sort of little clime alterations thereby produce ice ages. Solar fluctuations: Small alterations in solar system can take to climate alterations. Scientific surveies demonstrate that clime alterations occurred in the past by solar fluctuations. For illustration, the Little ice age between 1650 – 1850 triggered by solar activity decreasing. However, solar fluctuations can non do planetary heating. Measurements, which were done in the early 1980-s showed that the entire sum of solar energy making the planet decreased of 0,1 % in the period merely over 18 months. Some of scientists tried to happen nexus between clime alteration and maculas. Sunspots are magnetic storms, which are seen dark countries on Sun. However, scientific researches showed that maculas prevented energy of the Sun from go forthing its surface. Human causes of clime alteration. Scientific grounds of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) shows that human activities lead to climate alteration and influence on planetary clime. The chief ground of human activities that lead to climate alteration is the combustion of fossil fuels ( oil, coal and gas ) and deforestation. Fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are resources of energy to bring forth electricity, run vehicles and as a consequence of it the big sum of C dioxide, methane and azotic oxide have been emitted to the ambiance. The chief causes of clime alteration in the UK are: 4 % C emanations from industries ; 7 % from agribusiness ; 21 % from conveyance ; 65 % from energy generate procedure by the use of fuel. The beginnings with the biggest sum of emanation are conveyance, air travel and use of energy in families. Harmonizing to the IPCC, the three chief causes of the nursery gases addition are land usage, fossil fuels and agribusiness. Agriculture has important influence on clime alteration by production and release nursery gases. Agriculture cause clime alteration by alarming land screen of the Earth, which leads to act upon on ability to absorb and reflect the heat and visible radiation. The combustion of fossil fuels, deforestation and desertification are the chief beginnings of C dioxide emanation. Deforestation leads to construct up more CO2 in the ambiance. We know that trees absorb CO2. Cuting down rainforest leads to increasing CO2 in the ambiance by 17 % . The recent study of the IPCC says that temperature on the Earth in the period of from 1906 to 2005 has increased by 0.74A °C and temperature are continue to increase. The mean temperature of the Earth is 14 A °C. In instance of natural nurseries consequence did n't be, the mean temperature would be minus 19A °C. A assortment of gases causes greenhouse consequence. The important part for it makes H2O bluess. CO2 – followed by H2O bluess, causes the content of nursery gases in the ambiance. Current concentration of CO2 in the ambiance is 385 ppm. Before of the industrialization, it was – 280 ppm. Air analysis from ice cap of the Antarctic showed that air contained CO2 more than remainder of gases and than in the all period of 650000 old ages.Consequence of clime alterationNowadays people can detect effects of planetary clime alteration on ambiance, human wellness, agribusiness, economic etc. Ice on lakes and rivers interrupting up earlier, glaciers have been shrunk, trees blooming earlier, some types of animate beings and workss are shifted. Climate alteration effects were predicted by scientists in the yesteryear, which is go oning: sea degree rises faster and longer, sea ice is loss, more intense heat moving ridges. Scientists rather confident about lifting planetary temperatures for decennaries, which have been caused by nursery gases from human – made activities. Harmonizing to the IPCC, clime alteration consequence will be vary in some parts over clip, which is depend on the abilities of environmental and societal systems for version and extenuation for alterations. IPCC says that lifting of planetary temperature by 1-3A °C in comparing with 1990 will consequence beneficially on some parts and detrimentally on others. These conditions will consequence economic state of affairs of states as good. Some of planetary clime alteration impacts on parts are following:Europe Risk of inland inundations are increasing, coastal implosion therapy and eroding from inundations are increasing and sea degree is lifting, snow screen and winter touristry is reduced, glaciers in mountain country is retreats, harvest productiveness decrease in southern EuropeAsia In south, east, sou'-east and cardinal Asia predicted decreasing of fresh H2O by the 2050, coastal countries under increasing hazard of implosion therapy, therefore decease rate from inundations and drouths can be increased in some parts.Africa Water emphasis traveling to be increased by 2020, outputs from rain-fed agribusiness in some parts can be reduced by up to 50 % by 2020, badly impact can be on agribusiness production.North America In the western mountains of North America snowpack is diminishing and therefore, outputs of rain-fed agribusiness of some parts is increasing, strength, continuance and frequence oh heat moving ridges is increasing in metropolissSouth America In eastern Arizona tropical woods replacing bit by bit by Savannah, in some tropical countries species extinction leads to the important hazard of biodiversity loss, impact on agribusiness, H2O handiness and energy coevals.Skeptics and lobbyist about clime alterationHaving talked about clime alteration the most likely to run into skeptics, who denies climate alteration effects by seeing confederacy of grant – hungry broad scientists, or rely on viing theories, or see climate alteration as misrepres entation from authorities. All brief information on causes and effects of planetary clime alteration shows important hazard for the full universe in all facets of life. Harmonizing to Pew Global Attitudes Survey 2006, 47 % of Americans 37 % Chinese people do n't concern about clime alteration job. These states is the chief manufacturers of nursery gases and non responsible on C, which goes up to the ambiance and effects the full universe. The Competitive Enterprise Institute ( CEI ) , which supported financially by such companies as Amoco, Ford Motor Co, Exxon Mobile, Texaco etc, supply information to skeptics. Harmonizing to the CEI, if there are topographic point for scientific argument on clime alteration its agencies that there are non scientific consensus about planetary clime alteration.Aims of the Kyoto understanding awaken â€Å"deep pocket† and are non good for such large industries.Skeptics says that alliance financed by big corporations and trade groups from oil, c oal, car industries and budget of the Kyoto protocol in 1997 was $ 1,68mln. During 1990s alliance conducted million dollar advertisement runs, politicians and scientists were debating on how people perilously heat the planet. Presents, their arguments changed on how to respond on lifting temperature.

International Development Personal Statement

A degree In International studies will Improve my understanding of the impact of education, health, human rights, the environment, economics, conflict, and other fields on development as well as the Impact of under development on those fields. In Dalton, the multi-adolescently nature of the subject will enable me to explore options for later speculation. My Interest In International development has arisen out of my experiences as a child when I was fortunate to spend extended periods of time In Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.In Thailand and Cambodia I became aware of the plight of refugees and displaced populations. In Vietnam I learnt about the effects of war on the population and the continuing effect of Agent Orange. I also became aware of the difficulties faced by ethnic minorities who don't speak the national language and don't have the same rights as the majority of citizens. From my experiences in South East Asia I can see that although we live in a globalizes world, the benef its of globalization are not spread equally between countries or within countries.Studying International Development will help me better understand why some countries have become developed, some are in the process of developing and some have not developed at all. I would like to understand the satirical forces like colonization, the impact of political systems like socialism and capitalism and the politics of aid such as why some countries receive help while others do not. In addition to understanding the causes of poverty and inequality, I want to understand how to change things for the better.I would like to learn about sustainable ways of lifting people out of poverty and ensuring their basic human rights. I would also like to understand how to ensure that social development doesn't harm the environment. A special interest that I have is to understand how best to assist people in emergencies like natural disasters and war and how to help them recover in the long term. The B progr ammer has enabled me to study a range of subjects from the fields of science and the humaneness rather than confining me to one specific field.I think that this Is excellent preparation for study of a multi- disciplinary course like International Development and topics such as politics, gender, economics, the environment and other global Issues. Although I have found the B programmer challenging, I have appreciated the opportunity It has provided to evolve critical thinking skills and Independent study skills as well as to broaden my outlook on the world in general.I feel the academic rigor of the B programmer has prepared me well for the challenges of undergraduate study. I am a keen sports seasons. I enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures. I have enjoyed the greater independence given to students at The Henley College compared to the strict learning styles of conventional schools. I now feel ready to take on the challenge of university study and look forward to making the most of the opportunities that the study of a degree in international development will bring.

Demographic Influences And Product Positioning

I spoke about the strengths that Ryan Air has, such as having acquired buzz. I said that since Ryan Air is expanding Eastwards at a steady pace this is a strength but a after some opinions from Maira Azzopardi and Nadine Grixti, I had come to realise that this is more of an opportunity. Maria Azzopardi also said that the fact that the website is available in more than 20 languages is also a strength.Nadine Grixti went over to say that booking flights over the internet is a strength , however after a discussion with Maria Azzopardi and Elenia Desira regarding how this is the only way to book flight she decided that this was if fact a weakness. Maria Azzopardi and I continued to discuss that Ryan Air avoid paying congestion fees and it will also remain the first low-cost airlines these were identified as strengths. Nadine Grixti continued by saying since Ryan Air does not have an office in Malta, this saved costs and is a strength for Ryan Air.I said that since passengers have to pay f or an extra services even for using the restroom this is a weakness for Ryan Air and also the fact that profits decreased could also prove to be a weakness as Ryan Air may have to cut down on certain services or products to make up for this loss. Nadine Grixti and Elenia Desira argued that since passengers must pay for their luggage this is also a sign of weakness, Nadine Grixti came up with the idea that Ryan Air should provide a package which includes luggage along with flights.Maria Azzopardi and Elenia Desira continued to say that this should not be obligatory since certain groups travel with only hand luggages. Maria Azzopardi said that since Ryan Air does not provide adequate Human Resources policies this may lead to an unmotivated workforce. Nadine Grixti said that the website is the only means of booking flights which is once again a weakness. I spoke about the fact that Ryan Air can expand into various other regions while still maintaining low costs, we all agreed that this was an opportunity.Moreover we all discussed other opportunities such as the new fleet of airplanes and the steady expansion of Ryan Air into the East. Finally we discussed that since Ryan Air collects a lot of data from passengers, they may use this data to target customers even better. Nadine Grixti started discussing threats namely that if the oil price continues to rise and reach $150 per barrel this could lead to a situation where Ryan Air does not make any profits. Another threat is the fact that other airlines may choose to enter low cost markets we all agreed on this.Maria Azzopardi came up with the idea that if other airlines acquire smaller one Ryan Air may face threats, we then discussed the effects that this may have on Ryan Air. Nadine Grixti spoke about the imminent threat that a change in CEO may have as it will take some getting used to for the whole organisation. Elenia Desira and I said that the global recession and past factors such as September 11th and Islandic Volcano ash is also a threat and this is a threat since some people may be less willing to travel and perhaps even scared to travel.Moreover an increase in snow storms or volcano ash may cause airports to shut down and this may cancel certain flights. In conclusion we discussed all the factors contributing to SWOT analysis. The meeting went well and we managed to disused all that we had planned within the agenda. On most factors we were all in agreement whilst other took some discussions. We all discussed that the factors that influence the Ryanair’s demography are age, occupation, average income, lifestyles, religion, race, culture, birth rate and death rate.Moreover, we all agreed that such factors have various implications for Ryanair, for example: Maria Azzopardi said that people with adventurous personalities and lifestyles are more likely to travel than others. I continued to say that people who fear travelling with an airplane will definitely discard the idea of trave lling around the world unless over land or by sea. This will therefore, decrease the revenue of Ryanair.Charmaine Berry continued to say that the demography will have an influence on the workforce, meaning the people available to work, and also the wealth of the workforce. A discussion arose on why the workforce and the wealth of the workforce itself will influence demography. I came up with the idea that the workforce will influence the demography of Ryanair because the culture of such organisation will not be the same of that of the personnel. This will ultimately influence the motivation and performance of employees.Elenia Desira stated that the occupation of customers will also affect the demography of Ryanair because business men or women will opt for a low-cost flights which will increase profits. However, the drawback is that the more the income the customers earn the more they will be able to afford more luxurious flights such as Airmalta and British Airways, and this will u ltimately decrease the profits of Ryanair. The discussion then shifted to product positioning.Maria Azzopardi began to say that product positioning is defined as how customers perceive the product or service Ryanair offers compared to other competitors. Elenia Desira continued by mentioning a marketing tool, the perceptual mapping, which identifies the perception of existing or potential customers on a specific product or service. Charmaine Berry stated that Ryanair would fall under a low price and budget standard airline and therefore. It can therefore, be said that one of the main competitors is EasyJet because they are also perceived as having a low price and budget standard.I concluded on product positioning by stating that it is of great importance for Ryanair to make use of perceptual mapping because it would help the organisation to identify in which position Ryanair stands in customers’ mind compared to other competitive airlines. In conclusion, in this meeting demogr aphic influences and product positioning were discussed. It was a very productive meeting as we managed to discuss the topics we had planned in the agenda. Demographic Influences And Product Positioning I spoke about the strengths that Ryan Air has, such as having acquired buzz. I said that since Ryan Air is expanding Eastwards at a steady pace this is a strength but a after some opinions from Maira Azzopardi and Nadine Grixti, I had come to realise that this is more of an opportunity. Maria Azzopardi also said that the fact that the website is available in more than 20 languages is also a strength.Nadine Grixti went over to say that booking flights over the internet is a strength , however after a discussion with Maria Azzopardi and Elenia Desira regarding how this is the only way to book flight she decided that this was if fact a weakness. Maria Azzopardi and I continued to discuss that Ryan Air avoid paying congestion fees and it will also remain the first low-cost airlines these were identified as strengths. Nadine Grixti continued by saying since Ryan Air does not have an office in Malta, this saved costs and is a strength for Ryan Air.I said that since passengers have to pay f or an extra services even for using the restroom this is a weakness for Ryan Air and also the fact that profits decreased could also prove to be a weakness as Ryan Air may have to cut down on certain services or products to make up for this loss. Nadine Grixti and Elenia Desira argued that since passengers must pay for their luggage this is also a sign of weakness, Nadine Grixti came up with the idea that Ryan Air should provide a package which includes luggage along with flights.Maria Azzopardi and Elenia Desira continued to say that this should not be obligatory since certain groups travel with only hand luggages. Maria Azzopardi said that since Ryan Air does not provide adequate Human Resources policies this may lead to an unmotivated workforce. Nadine Grixti said that the website is the only means of booking flights which is once again a weakness. I spoke about the fact that Ryan Air can expand into various other regions while still maintaining low costs, we all agreed that this was an opportunity.Moreover we all discussed other opportunities such as the new fleet of airplanes and the steady expansion of Ryan Air into the East. Finally we discussed that since Ryan Air collects a lot of data from passengers, they may use this data to target customers even better. Nadine Grixti started discussing threats namely that if the oil price continues to rise and reach $150 per barrel this could lead to a situation where Ryan Air does not make any profits.Another threat is the fact that other airlines may choose to enter low cost markets we all agreed on this. Maria Azzopardi came up with the idea that if other airlines acquire smaller one Ryan Air may face threats, we then discussed the effects that this may have on Ryan Air. Nadine Grixti spoke about the imminent threat that a change in CEO may have as it will take some getting used to for the whole organisation.Elenia Desira and I said that the global recession and past factors such as September 11th and Islandic Volcano ash is also a threat and this is a threat since some people may be less willing to travel and perhaps even scared to travel. Moreover an increase in snow storms or volcano ash may cause airports to shut down and this may cancel certain flights. In conclusion we discussed all the factors contributing to SWOT analysis. The meeting went well and we managed to disused all that we had planned within the agenda. On most factors we were all in agreement whilst other took some discussions.Minutes for Meeting 2Subject: Demographic influences and Product positioningWe all discussed that the factors that influence the Ryanair’s demography are age, occupation, average income, lifestyles, religion, race, culture, birth rate and death rate. Moreover, we all agreed that such factors have various implications for Ryanair, for example: Maria Azzopardi said that people with adventurous personalities and lifestyles are more likely to travel than others. I continued to say that people wh o fear travelling with an airplane will definitely discard the idea of travelling around the world unless over land or by sea.This will therefore, decrease the revenue of Ryanair. Charmaine Berry continued to say that the demography will have an influence on the workforce, meaning the people available to work, and also the wealth of the workforce. A discussion arose on why the workforce and the wealth of the workforce itself will influence demography. I came up with the idea that the workforce will influence the demography of Ryanair because the culture of such organisation will not be the same of that of the personnel.This will ultimately influence the motivation and performance of employees. Elenia Desira stated that the occupation of customers will also affect the demography of Ryanair because business men or women will opt for a low-cost flights which will increase profits. However, the drawback is that the more the income the customers earn the more they will be able to afford more luxurious flights such as Airmalta and British Airways, and this will ultimately decrease the profits of Ryanair.The discussion then shifted to product positioning. Maria Azzopardi began to say that product positioning is defined as how customers perceive the product or service Ryanair offers compared to other competitors. Elenia Desira continued by mentioning a marketing tool, the perceptual mapping, which identifies the perception of existing or potential customers on a specific product or service. Charmaine Berry stated that Ryanair would fall under a low price and budget standard airline and therefore.It can therefore, be said that one of the main competitors is EasyJet because they are also perceived as having a low price and budget standard. I concluded on product positioning by stating that it is of great importance for Ryanair to make use of perceptual mapping because it would help the organisation to identify in which position Ryanair stands in customers’ mind c ompared to other competitive airlines. In conclusion, in this meeting demographic influences and product positioning were discussed. It was a very productive meeting as we managed to discuss the topics we had planned in the agenda.

Life and Works of Gregory Crewdson Essay

Gregory Crewdson was born in Park Slope, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. As a teenager, he was a member of a punk rock group called â€Å"The Speedies† that hit the New York scene and sold out shows all over town. Their hit song â€Å"Let Me Take Your Foto† is a signal of what Crewdson’s true calling would be later in life. The same song was used by Hewlett Packard to advertise its digital cameras. In 1985, Crewdson studied photography at SUNY Purchase, New York. He proceeded to get his Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University and taught at Sarah Lawrence, Cooper Union, Vassar College and Yale University where he has been on the faculty since 1993. Crewdson is represented in New York at the Luhring Augustine Gallery and in London by the White Cube Gallery. His listings of selected exhibits of his works alone cover more than two pages. Crewdson also has three photography books entitled â€Å"Hover† published in 1995; â€Å"Twilight† published in 2003; and â€Å"Gregory Crewdson† published in 2005. The last was a collection of his works from 1983 to 2005. Today, Gregory Crewdson continues to work on his craft and he continues to teach because â€Å"teaching is ideal for an artist because he gets to learn what the next generation are doing, what they’re reading, what they’re listening to, and to talk about form and composition†¦. We end up talking about everything else -galleries, the market. Everything but the art itself. † There wasn’t a lot of material on Gregory Crewdson’s transition from being a member of the band to being a serious and celebrated contemporary photographer. However, in an interview conducted by Ana Finel Honigman for Kultureflash, the photographer-artist revealed that his photographic themes and influences came from varied sources such as his father’s work as a psychoanalyst to his fascination with films especially those made by Alfred Hitchcock. He also stated that he is influenced by Orson Welles and Cronenberg. Furthermore, Crewdson revealed during the interview that he is fascinated by all films irregardless of genre, but that his fascination seems to be more with the lighting and â€Å"ambience† of the theatre as a controlled environment and outlet for the film as a work of art. Looking at his works of photography, Crewdson have the same â€Å"cinematic† feel and a pervasive feeling of gloom or foreboding. Gregory Crewdson also mentioned that â€Å"You can never get away from your self as an artist or as a person. Invariably themes and issues always resurface and make themselves evident in some form or another†. In stating this, Crewdson have confirmed some of his audiences and reviewers’ comments that his photography seems to reflect portions or aspects of his life – which he actually denied in the interview despite the statement. He insists that he feels protective about his work while still in progress often showing it to only a handful of people but once an exhibit has been decided on this body of work, then he totally disengages or makes himself â€Å"unattached† from his photography. Looking at some of Gregory Crewdson’s work, you can find series of photographs with the same theme or even title that has continuity and differences in light and perspective. Like his work entitled â€Å"Brightview†, â€Å"Long Clumps of Beetles†, â€Å"Maple St. †, â€Å"Man in Woods† and many others. His work â€Å"Brightview† has a woman whose back is turned to the audience but she seems to be holding a light towards the road. This is a two series photograph and has two light perspectives to it. The same goes for â€Å"Long Clumps of Beetles† and â€Å"Maple St. . With â€Å"Man in Woods†, I saw four photographs of the same title but again, it has the same subject but photographed in different lighting staged for the effect and perspective or angle. Gregory Crewdson has retained the â€Å"cinematic† feel of his photography from his first published work in 1995 through 2005. He makes use of elaborate and â€Å"pre-fixed† sets that reminds his audience of Hollywood type productions – only instead of film, the image and moment is captured in still photographs. In another interview with The Guardian, he said that all his photographs were shot during twilight; he revealed that â€Å"My photographs are about the moment of transition between before and after†¦ Twilight is evocative of that. There’s something magical about the condition. † The effect of his twilight shots amidst the backdrop of a set that blends in the dark hues of the night with semblances of dark purple, and dark blue, the effect is almost eerie and oftentimes, surreal. The emotion is always embedded with tension and the message one gets from looking or trying to make sense of his photographed images is one of an unfinished moment. It is the same feeling you get when you are watching a cliffhanger movie and then suddenly the movie stops a few seconds before the resolution of the conflict or tension. Gregory Crewdson’s photographed images also leaves a lot to the audience’ own personal imagination and interpretation. He iterated that he purposely leaves his images â€Å"unresolved† because these are moments that he sees and remembered from days past. These are â€Å"captured memories† that was kept hidden in his memories somewhere but that he could only remember flashes and specific instances – but not the entire picture, hence, the â€Å"unresolved† feeling of these images. The artist-photographer wants to keep it that way. In his photograph series entitled â€Å"Maple St. †, there is a car in the photograph that always seems to be in the middle of the street with a door wide open and lights are emanating from both within the cab and floodlights from the electric posts. In â€Å"Maple St. 1†, the car seems to be semi-parked in the road curving to the right. There seems to be a figure in the car and one of the doors is wide open. The tires on the back seems to be flat, and as always, darkness is creeping in and the glow of the light coming from the electric posts gives a creepy, foreboding feeling. There is a house nearby but there is no road ahead – the image looks likes a dead end street and huge trees dwarfs the car. It is actually remindful of scenes from serial killer movies when somebody is about to be killed – the â€Å"just before† moment. The tension is pervasive and the mood, â€Å"hanging†. The same tension appears in the 2nd installment of the â€Å"Maple St. series† of photographs. The angle and perspective is more from the right angle and the glow or flood of lights seems to be coming from above – like in Steven Spielberg’s movie, â€Å"The Close Encounter of the Third Kind† when the alien spacecraft was hovering about and lights flooded the side of the house. The same light effects were used and the feeling is surreal and anticipating of what is about to happen – again, the â€Å"just before† moment is captured in the image. Another photograph series that can be compared to the â€Å"Maple St. † series is that of â€Å"Man in the Woods† series. I saw series numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. The 1st photograph of the series comprise of what appears to be the middle of the forest with a round white light emanating from the upper half of the woods glowing like a bright moon and its bright rays covering the entire image through the tall tress and foliage. There is a structure on the right side of the picture that appears to be aluminum or piece of reflective metal and it reflects back light from it. A figure is perched on the third step of a ladder facing the square aluminum or piece of metal. The figure is situated at the right hand corner of the picture. There is also one tall fallen tree that cuts across the image. Meanwhile, the 2nd of the series shows a different angle of the figure – still perched in the 3rd step of the ladder, but now the perspective is from the left side or middle left of the image, the square piece of aluminum or metal is still there. What is absent here is the moon like glow from the bright light in picture #1. The fallen tree is also present and the angle of the entire image is a bit further away from picture #1. There is a fog-like atmosphere in the entire image. The 3rd installment photograph has a perspective further away from the bright lights and the whole scene. Nowhere can you see the figure anymore or the square aluminum or the ladder. Not even the broken tree is present. It appears to be taken much further away from the 1st and 2nd images but it seems to be approaching these images. The 4th image consists of a car with its headlights on (bright) and the it illuminates what lies ahead of the car – which are mostly abandoned boxes surrounding a dug portion of the earth in the middle of the woods. The wood clearing which was illuminated (somewhat) by the headlights appear to an area that has been dug – it resembles a would be grave. The car is surrounded by tall tress and the thick foliage barely permits any other light to come through. The same creepy feeling is there and sense of foreboding that something is about to happen. All four installments of the series appear to be flashes of a movie scene. One take or scene after the other in the case of scene 1 to 3. But the fourth image seems to be a totally different scenario – although still in the woods, and the same â€Å"unfinished† or unconcluded† feeling is left with the viewer. Gregory Crewdson, like the personalities that have influenced him – Steven Spielberg and Cronenberg, Alfred Hitchcock and Twilight Zone, David Lynch and his psychoanalyst-father, all have left their indelible mark in the world of art and their specific or chosen realm. Gregory Crewdson refuses to be categorized into any particular genre. Lastly, his influence can also be continuously reappear as seen in his former students who have now created their own brand of thematic photography. But his mark and specific signature of â€Å"twilight themed† photographs have already made an indelible and distinct mark in the contemporary world of photography throughout the world.