Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Intercultural Aspect Of Culture Essay

Before evolving an intercultural model of conflict resolution it is important to understand and identify aspects of culture that lead to creation of the framework of conflict. The cultural spectrum holds different shades for a person, a society and a nation, accordingly helping each of them to assimilate and adapt to a common identity that is defined and shaped by culture (Holliday, Hyde and Kullman, 2004). In the process of evolving this collective identity, culture transcends its traditional role of providing an aggregate set of beliefs, customs, norms, values, ethics, traditions, moral, social and legal codes, perceptions, and philosophy, to become the overall physical framework for the society to function. Culture is strongly related with geographical setting of a place, religion, ethnicity, and race, explaining why different countries have different cultures, and also why places on seashore share common elements of culture that is quite different from culture of mountainous places. The imprinting of culture on ways a person thinks, acts, perceives the environment and models his/her reaction is very strong and virtually indelible, determining every aspect of human behavior and giving rise to cultural identity in addition to individual and national identity. Although the classic rational choice framework says that people are independent in choice of their behavior and approach towards events, its seen that at subtle levels the structural model provided by culture acts as final determinant in predicting a person, a society and a nation. Although culture is dynamic, evolving and continuously upgrading itself, in essence, these changes occur within the context of culture’s own timeframe. One of the most important contribution of culture to human civilization is the orientation provided towards other cultures, making the culture in question receptive, tolerant, indifferent or outright hostile towards different cultures. Societies are seldom mono-cultural, displaying a range of cultural traits, achieved through generations of trades, contact, and cross cultural mixing (Holliday, Hyde and Kullman, 2004). However, although for people belonging to a particular culture, their culture would hardly seem complex, the cultural realities are hidden beneath the surface, difficult to observe and discern from outside. These improper understanding and imperfect perceptions of culture often give rise to conflict when different cultures are required to meet or come across. In the workshops I have attended I have come across people from various cultural background and my first attempt is always to know as much possible as about them; not their individual preferences, but their cultural orientation and philosophy. My this approach has helped me immensely in not only developing an understanding of other cultures, but my own adaptability and flexibility in my relation towards them Conflict and Culture Conflict is an integral part of human culture. When a number of people of interact with their own individual perspectives, view points, ideologies, cultural and social backgrounds and intellectual development then differences and debates are bound to arise as a logical and inevitable consequence of the interaction (Killian and Pammer Jr. 2003, 3). These differences, acted upon by incompatible interests of attaining personal goals, change into conflict within groups, societies and nations. (Rahim, 2001,1) The greater the diversity and richer the profile of a society, the greater is the scope and range of its embedded conflict. Therefore it is essential to educate people on understanding and handling conflict and treat as an integral component of a democratic society that is important for developing a healthy social life (Killian and Pammer Jr. 2003, 3). In every conflict, whether it is individual or at social scale, culture has always an important role to play. Depending upon the actors involved and the context of conflict, the role of culture in conflict can be direct or subtle, but it is always present as the ultimate factor in deciding the scope of conflict, its direction or its outcome. Culture even decides the existence of conflict, for people who are embedded in the culture of seeing world as a harmonious entity, may not be aware of any conflict through their life. In all the major disputes, debates and disagreement taking place around world, differences in cultural identities and perceptions are fundamental causative factors. A further evidence of the role that culture plays is evinced by peace and harmony existing among societies that have same culture, such as observed between USA and Britain, sharing same historical and cultural roots. Every conflict, whether it is trans-generational, geographical, religious, organizational, or personal, has a cultural component involved. People enshrined in their own culture often react with hostility against any cultural identity that appears contrary to their thought process and ideas. It follows therefore that any effort of conflict resolution needs to incorporate cultural understanding and acknowledge the existence and necessity of diversity (ibid). Personally I have encountered cultural difference in perspective of style of communication. Some of my colleagues, belonging to different cultural background, initially took exception to the direct and frank method of communication that is followed in US, as this, according to them constitutes a mild level of effrontery. However, as they assimilated themselves with the general surrounding, they realized that the direct nature of communication is a norm, not an aberration. Communication and Conflict Communication is important, as it is the medium of conveying message, forming the first interface in method of conflict resolution. Communication is almost always within the context of culture, and culture determines the significance of words as well as gestures and non-verbal expressions, affording people with choices of high context or low context communication, depending upon their cultural maturity and ability to handle multi-culturalism and accommodate a range of opinions and ideas other than those familiar to them (Grosse, 2002). During the initial phase of cultural familiarity, communication takes place at low context, meaning that people rely more on direct verbal communication, which is more or less literal in nature. As the cultural relationship progresses, communication interaction moves ahead on continuum to become high context, and it becomes more interpersonal and contextual, minimizing chances of misunderstanding and confusion. Effective cross cultural communication is centered upon knowledge, empathy and intercultural sensitivity (ibid). The correct approach in such cases is be flexible, adaptable and receptive to all views, no matter how contrary or incongruous they appear.. A positive and patient listening attitude is also valuable as it allows people to fathom emotions of others and makes them perceptible to alternate view points. Finally, the most important attribute in cross cultural communication is recognition that every culture is correct in its own context and each has to yield some ground to reach a harmonious consensus (ibid). In my attempts to understand and know about other cultures, I have always relied on effective communication skills, that include both hearing and communicating. Personally I have felt that people from different cultures readily share their cultural background, their beliefs, customs and traditions as I myself do in a multi-cultural environment, as we all want to be well understood and appreciated. Active listening and frank communication skills have greatly helped me in establishing quick rapport in any multi-cultured environment. Discussion on mediation and skills in conflict resolution Effective communication strategies are keys to resolve conflict by providing channels that provide expression of grievances and bring conflicting parties together. In the field of conflict management, communication strategies help through the channels of 1. Negotiation: Negotiation has emerged as an important form of conflict management within organizational and social setups. As such research in communication theory in conflict management has started to pay close attention to communication behaviors, types and strategies towards successful negotiation. Negotiation, as a part of managing conflict, requires interested parties to trade proposals for settlement that include, out of court settlements, business contracts, collective bargaining contract etc (Womack, 1990, 32). As Womack further elaborates, generally the process of negotiation proceeds through motives that are both competitive and cooperative. The approach of communication in the entire process of negotiation is concerned with the messages that are transferred among negotiators and the concerned parties. Communication intervenes in the process of negotiation through its both verbal and nonverbal forms and constitutes the entire base on which the goals and terms of the bargain are negotiated. Communication plays the central role in not only developing the relationship among the parties in conflict, but also in determining its direction. It is also central in every form of bargaining process, whether the bargaining is done for organizational form of conflict management, involves conflict resolution, negotiation on legal agreements or for negotiation in inter-group an intra group conflict. The entire role of communication in negotiation processes and strategies is quite vast and it ranges from defining the conflict issues, selection and implementation of strategies to presenting and defending the viable alternatives and finally helping in reaching on a solution (Womack, 1990, 35). 2. Third party intervention: Third party intervention in conflict situation is a tricky and challenging situation. It is considered as one of those areas that offers real test to the communication skills of the intervening person. Although mediation requires a neutral and third party to bring the disputants on the resolving chairs and solve the conflict, the mediator per se, has no authority and commanding power to force the parties into acquiescing to an agreement. At the best, the mediator can use persuasive and convincing dialogues through which the involved parties voluntarily agree to reach at accord through advises, admonishments, ideas, and views of the mediator and break into meaningful dialogue with each other (Burrel, 1990, 54). Its easy to see that this entire procedure requires very high level of communication skills on the part of the mediator to successfully negotiate agreement among the conflicting parties. I have had the opportunity to mediate in certain cases of cultural misunderstanding in the workshop. I tried to resolve the dispute by completely understanding the issue of contention, and the respective approaches that each party had taken on the issue. Thereafter I clarified the entire situation to them, explaining in the process that their respective approaches where natural consequences of their cultural training and application of that training on the issue in hand. In the process I encouraged them to understand and appreciate each other’s cultural understanding and orientation, they were successful in settling the conflict. Designing a process of Intercultural aspects of conflict resolution In the course to evolve a systematic cultural response to conflict, the first step is to breed familiarity among cultures that adds plurality and multicultural dimension to broaden existing views. In the process of evolving cultural familiarity communication, approaches towards conflict, cultural interpretation of life and identities and roles are identified as essential parameters (Carbaugh, 1990). Out of these, role and range of communication has already been discussed. Now it is time to look at rest of three factors. Responses towards a conflict situation are largely culture dependent, guided by the ways each culture has systemized itself towards conflict. Direct and straightforward ways of approaching conflict, generally acceptable in western society, may seem threatening and offensive in eastern cultures accustomed to third party negotiations. Similarly, cultures that follow calm and reasonable response to conflict, may feel intimidated by emotional and passionate response to conflict situation (Carbaugh, 1990). Cultural interpretation of life sets the starting point for people that forms basis of their thinking, values and philosophy, eventually deciding the role they would play in every conflict and their outcome they come across. It is the cultural orientation that makes societies disciplined or diffused, generalized or specific, value oriented or bohemian, and cooperative or isolated (Carbaugh, 1990). Hence cultural conflict resolution ultimately depends on the depth of understanding attained through interaction. Intercultural differences are very real forces in an environment where multiple cultures are interacting and coordinating on day to day basis. From my learning and observation the nature intercultural differences and their consequences on organizational and group efficiency, these differences can be resolved by taking a more comprehensive, collective and adaptive view of situation, that includes our own cultural vulnerabilities when placed in an unfamiliar social structure. As the workshop trainings and experience has demonstrated, it is very important to know the cultural background of people with whom we interact, fully understand the points where our mutual cultural understanding differ and recognize where they converge. Finally we should also develop a mutual sense of regard and appreciation for our combined cultural diversity. One of the revealing experiences that I have undergone relates to issue of timeliness. While in western culture, schedules are strictly followed and meetings start exactly on designated time, it is normal in many cultures to digress in time by a limited margin. Thus, in a multi-cultured environment, cultural ignorance can lead to conflict on such simple issue of scheduled arrival, while cultural knowledge and understanding would help in ‘looking’ at from other person’s cultural lens. Given the range and depth of cultural impact on overall personal behavior and communication style of people, there are numerous situations where cultural ignorance can directly put people against each other. Hence we should always strive to learn as much about other cultures as possible and continue to update our knowledge. References Burrel, N. A, 1990. Theory and Research in Conflict Management. edit M. Afzalur Rahim – editor. Praeger Publishers. :New York Rahim, M. A (2001), Managing Conflict in Organizations. Contributors: M. Afzalur: Quorum Books. Westport, CT Handbook of Conflict Management. (2003) . Jerri Killian ,William J. Pammer Jr. (edits): Marcel Dekker. New York. Womack, D. F, 1990. Theory and Research in Conflict Management. edit M. Afzalur Rahim – editor. Praeger Publishers. :New York. Leborn, M. 2003. Culture and Conflict. Accessed online on 17. 11. 2007. http://www. beyondintractability. org/essay/culture_conflict/ Grosse, C. U. 2002. Managing Communication within Virtual Intercultural Teams Business Communication Quarterly, Vol. 65, 2002. Holliday, A. , Hyde, M. ,, Kullman, J. 2004. Intercultural Communication: An Advanced Resource Book; Routledge, Carbaugh, D. 1990 Cultural Communication and Intercultural Contact; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Irres

In the story of Apollo and Daphne, Apollo mocks the god Cupid, underestimating love's power. Cupid's scorn is returned, and Apollo is shot with one of the love-god's arrows, finding himself completely obsessed with Daphne, who by Cupid's power then spurns all Of his advances. His unrequited love makes his desire for her that much stronger, to the point that he cannot stop pursuing her, and that pursuit only makes her further disgusted with him, pushing her to flee more strongly.Even after Daphne father Penne's transforms her into a tree in an effort to preserve her chastity, Apollo â€Å"[loved] her still† (1082) and adorned himself with bits of her new body. Even without any trace of her once beautiful body left, his crazed desire did not end, and in her new body, he saw what he wanted to see: her agreement and acceptance of him, when she â€Å"shook her branches and seemed to nod her summit in assent† (1082). Several books later, Ovid presents the stories of the love of Pygmalion and his descendents.Though Familial rejected love of women because of the â€Å"lives of sordid indecency' and â€Å"numerous defects of character' (1 1 04), he was unprepared for the necessity of love. Lacking this love, when he created his ivory statue, he â€Å"gazed in amazement, burning with love for what was in likeness a body' (1 104). After his statue was transformed by Venus into a woman, his family line continued, and his great granddaughter, Myrrh, would again demonstrate the irresistible nature of love.This time it would not be Cupid, but the Furies that would doom the characters, as Myrrh found herself tragically lusting after her father, Cinemas. Despite knowing that her culture condemned such a relationship, her struggle against this perversion was unsuccessful and she found herself so infatuated with her ether that she finally came to the point where â€Å"she had decided to die if she could not possess him,† (1108) and attempts suicide.Her nur se stops her from taking her own life, and after persuasion, aids in bringing Myrrh and Cinemas together while the father was in a drunken state. After her incest was discovered, she was forced to flee. Her desire was undeterred even then and in her sorrow and fear of retribution, she begged to be released from her struggle and like Daphne, was transformed into a tree. The tale of Venus and Adonis, however tragic, is perhaps the most beautiful f these three, as it explores the power of love to change even a goddess.After being struck accidentally by Cupid's arrow, Venus falls completely in love with Myrrh's son, Adonis. Just as with a human, the goddess is so swept away by her emotions that everything other than him becomes completely meaningless. Even her old lifestyle changes completely for her lover, as she ignores â€Å"her former mode of unstressed self-indulgence†¦ Now she goes roaming with him through woods and up mountains and over the scrubby rocks† (11 1 1). Ev en Venus, the goddess of love herself, is still subject to love's rower.When Adonis ultimately dies, she transforms what remains of his blood into a simple flower -? so unlike his original, virile form: for eternity rebooking and perishing, that she may forever mourn him. Although the situations presented are fanciful, their fundamental truths remain. Love is necessary to survival and because it's so irresistible, it is incredibly powerful – powerful enough to drive gods to madness and mortals to suicide. Though we may underestimate it, all can be subject to love's power, and all life and death are driven by it.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Hindu Religion And Women

Hindu goddesses are traditionally conceived to be strong figures,even indomitable ones. By comparing his female characters to these goddesses, Rushdie attributes them with a force of character. He perceives India as a matriarchy, where maternal power, energy, and love is the means to social cohesion. (Jennifer Takhar) Durga, the washerwoman who had nursed Saleems son in his sickness, is an important figure in Saleems life. As we understand from the description of her (pg:445), she is a powerful woman who is an opposite image of the docile Indian woman. She may be representing the power that is repressed in these women. Saleem fears her as she symbolizes the hope that he has lost. Her name, even before I met her, had the smell of new things; she represented novelty, beginnings, the advent of new stories, events, complexities, and I was no longer interested in anything new. (pg:445) She is again the one who foretold Saleem’s death. So, these kind of women as witches inspired fear in Saleem. Like Durga, Parvati-the-witch, who is Shivas wife, is another important figure. She causes in creating their child which is necessary for the continuation. Mother was seen as a nation. There is parallelism between continuity of nation through having children. Women have roles in productivity; that is why they are important. Parvati acts as somebody restoring order. She helps Saleem return to Delhi by using her magic basket, making him invisible. Parvati reminded Saleem of things he had tried to put out of his mind. (pg:389) So, we can say that she influenced Saleem as other women, as being representator of a nation. When we come to other women in Saleems life, for example Mary Pereira. She is the one who gives birth to Saleem; she creates him in both biological sense and metaphorical sense. She changes the babies and at the same time fates. Out of guilt, she attaches her whole destiny to Saleems life by becoming his caretaker. She also influences the class positions of the babies. (Saleem and Shiva) The pickling process which is a process of preservation, linked to preservation and continuity of traditions metaphorically, is significant. This food process is under control of females and it is an important source of authority and identity for the women. It is the preservation of the past. The womens way is practical, oral; it is a way of transmitting tradition we can say. Pickling process is only a symbol of this transmission. So, Mary P. , like the other women in Saleems life has great effect on Saleem. Reverend Mother, on the other hand, who is the bride behind perforated sheet turns out to be the head of the family. She is also very powerful. She becomes the head after the marriage. She preserves identity of the nation. She is like the other women; asserts her authority in cooking. Her food, for example, revives Ahmed Sinai after freeze. She uses food as battleground where she wages her battles against her husband. We see the monitoring of food, so simple and practical but can influence men. It is this simplicity of mothers, their affection influnces Saleem. To Saleem women, like India, is nothing without its past. no escape from past acquaintance. What you were is forever who you are. (pg:368) And this connection to past is through these women. They are the ones who create nation and preserve it like the pickles. Amina, Saleems mother, changes and influences his life also. He sees her naked in the bathroom and witnesses her unfaithfullness on the phone. All this causes him to have some kind of explosion in his head and that explosion causes him to hear voices in his head. It is the birth of Midnights Children.. He sees mother, motherland, the nation-India-,earth is not pure as he identifies women with the nation. Identification is between the country and the body of the woman, especially mother. He sees the body of woman as the country and he should protect country as well as honor of mother. But seeing her motheris not pure, the discovery of impurity in mother will bring crisis in his head- the multiplicity of nation-. The body is homogeneous as anything. Indivisible, a one-piece suit, a sacred temple, if you will. It is important to preserve this wholeness. (pg:237) Padma,whom Saleem exchanges opinions about how to tell a story is another significant figure. While he writes, his illiterate listener, Padma, sits beside him showing her emotional responses to his stories, questioning their credibility. When Padma shows interest on her face, Saleem speeds on telling his story. She keeps questioning what is next.. She encourages him to write which is the only gift Sallem has for continuity, preservation. Padma is important as a caretaker; providing warmth, food, human kindness to Saleem. She is India for him, connected to all country as a mother. She has earthly characteristic. She emerges as an earthly, stable, real, practical woman that ties her to the motherland. That is why, according to me, she is the most important character in this novel. But although she is a preserver for Saleem, she unwillingly poisons him by feeding him with things she thinks hell be ni love with her. It is a poison which is also a cure; both nourishing, reviving, perserving and also poisonous,destructive. She is like India creating him. And ceratinly Padma is leaking into me. As history pours out of my fissured body, my lotus is quietly dripping in, with her down-to-earthery, and her paradoxical superstition, her contradictory love of the fabulous (pg:38) In short, women had important role in Saleems life. They are the mothers, the creators of men. If they were not on earth, no continuity would take place; there would be no world. Saleem is afraid of them also because although they create him as nation creates men; they also prepare the fall of men. They both give significance and at the same time destroys. They can take away the identity as in Saleem. Saleem is the nation also as he creates; he writes. He tries to create meaning and form. And women help Saleem create himself, his identity like the nation does to all human beings. But it can also unmake people. The women try to hold on to past and keep it safe as past is a country from which we have all migrated; that its loss is part of our humanity. (Imaginary Homelands; Essays and Criticism 1981-1991. London: Granta Books, 1991) And this statement teaches the migrants that reality is an artifact and it doesnt exist until it is made and it can be made well or badly, and it can also be unmade, like women did to Saleem. When we come to the question of why White Castle didnt give place for women might be because the childhood theme ook great importance in the book. For example, the grandfathers looking for his childhood at homeThat is why it gives much space for the child king. There is the continuous looking for the simple, untouched ide before recognizing sexuality, leaving the mother, to have potency. There is again the fear to lose the pureness, wholeness of the childhood. And because of it there are the speeches in this novel that tells about the childhood naughtiness. It is like the fear of the child. And if we relate this to the women ,as we said women are the creators and they are connected to past, there is no escape from it and when it involves naughtiness and things like a child fears. So, as the Hodja did, there is both an escape from it and at the same time looking for the past innocence. That is why there is no sexuality with women in the book. As they are feared, they can unmake men. The dangerous influence of women is not given permission in the book; only limited and innocent ones are implicitly told. Consequently, women and sexuality are barred and not given much importance as in Midnights Children happened the contrast. According to me, it is because it is known how influential women are and can be dangerous in creating. And when you want something wholly new and create your own identity, as the characters in White Castle wanted, it is not a good idea to include women and sexuality. The women can bring fall of men while creating them.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Relativism and Objectivism as Two Different Moral Principles Theory Essay

Relativism and Objectivism as Two Different Moral Principles Theory - Essay Example The main purpose of the research is to present that both Relativism and Objectivism have a different perspective on the principles of morality. In essence, relativism is pretty tolerant of other ideologies because it insists that different individuals hold different views. The present research has identified that what one defines as absurd might be viewed differently by another individual. There are no true boundaries of ethics in relativism since people come from vat backgrounds. Consequently, objectivism holds a different approach to these issues. Objectivism philosophy is a methodology that propagates reason and egoism. It is derived from the philosophy of Ayn Rand. The author has rightly presented that objectivism is unique in its way that it’s the antidote to the society we live in. In essence, existence and one’s self-consciousness become the vital points that influence our perception. Without existence and consciousness, no foundation of knowledge can be built. A ccording to the research findings, objectivism bases judgment on the notion of education rather than celebrating on the issue of diversity. Without knowledge, one is not able to truly identify themselves. Thus, it is safe to say existence and every action is executed should be based on knowledge. Hence, it is clear that relativism acknowledges that what seems to be real and what seems to be true will differ from culture to culture.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Andy Warhol an American Artist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Andy Warhol an American Artist - Essay Example The essay "Andy Warhol an American Artist" discovers the art of Andy Warhol. â€Å"Warhol's works, deliberately impersonal, often were made using the commercial processes of stenciling and silk-screening. His large troupe of assistants, working in what Warhol called the Factory, were the actual producers. Such art was thus philosophically the opposite of the deeply personal and original Abstract Expressionist work that then dominated the art scene.† Through the mechanically reproduced images of mass consumer culture, Pop Art mostly conveyed the state of being an uninvolved viewer in a society overwhelmed with information and media-generated images, which are at the same time fascinating and affectless. Andy Warhol experimented with several media and he produced films that are produced continuously from a single vantage point. His multimedia events combining live music with projections of film and light attracted many fans. â€Å"By blurring the lines between ‘highâ€⠄¢ art and commercial imagery, Warhol had a profound effect on late twentieth-century art. While Abstract Expressionism had received critical acclaim, it did not, at first, sell. But Pop Art did sell, leading to an explosion in the number of galleries, a corresponding rise in art prices, and a reinforcement of New York’s position as the center of the art world.† Therefore, the works by Andy Warhol gained essential acclaim from all over the world and an understanding of the practices of looking such as representation, the myth of photographic truth., images and Ideology, how we negotiate the meaning of images, the value of images, and image icons helps one in comprehending the true merit of his works. The social realms of popular culture and art are mainly produced by the images that are encountered in daily life and they are produced and experienced through various media such as painting, printmaking, film, digital and photography. These media are essential imaging technologies which help artists represent the realities of images. Every form these graphic media including the most famous paintings of Western art history makes the best use of different imaging technologies and technology of images is central to the human experience of visual culture. No other artist of the modern era is as much celebrated as Andy Warhol for the representation of everyday experience of visual culture with the use of most effective imaging technologies. His paintings such as Green Coca Cola Bottles, the images of Hollywood celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Diptych etc illustrate his effective use of the technology of images. "As did other Pop artists, Warhol used a visual vocabulary and a p rinting technique that reinforced the image's connections to consumer culture... The silk-screen technique allowed Warhol to print the image endlessly (although he varied each bottle slightly)... Warhol often produced images of Hollywood celebrities, such as Marilyn Monroe. Like his other paintings, these works emphasize the commodity status of the subjects depicted." (Kleiner and Mamiya, 984) Thus, Andy Warhol was one of the best artists of representation or the use of language and images to meaning about the world around us. Andy Warhol was unlike the other artists who were working outside the contemporary art styles selecting elements from aesthetic traditions and reducing them to formulas. He, on the contrary, created new formulas using elements from popular culture. Thus, Warhol's themes, techniques, and often his materials, in the form of mass media photographs, were mostly taken from the popular culture. In other words, the subject

Saturday, July 27, 2019

McDonald's Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

McDonald's - Essay Example Ray Kroc saw early on what needed to be done. He changed what was at one time a product orientation, into a marketing orientation. Back in 1955, this was still a new type of management.( Kroc 185-217) From the beginning, Kroc was already in the forefront of marketing. Ray Kroc founded the McDonald's way back in 1954 that worked as a single restaurant till 1955 but soon Kroc thought upon the idea of franchise-system. By 1974 the Brand Mac has already become a name to reckon with from its first Woodwich High Street in South London. Each succeeding generation since then saw the McDonald's hype increase and permeate almost every body's life in a few decades. For such a great hype however the McDonald's cannot be held the sole responsible. The people enjoyed the freedom that the Mac provided with-a release from sheer labour of preparing the foods three-times a day. If the Mac rationalized the trend of serving, the people welcomed with even greater response. McDonald's uses a theory referred to as relationship marketing. Relationship marketing is defined as marketing to protect the customer base. The customer is viewed as an asset and the company's marketing goal is to attract, maintain, and enhance customer relationships. McDonald is facing a major attack on its brand from anti-globalisation and other pressure such as, United Poultry Concerns- (www.upc-online.org). They are going after McDonald's because they think it has deep pockets. So far the company has been able to use finical marshal to fend off attack. The litigation cases in the United States against McDonald so far has been settled out of courts and the courts have thrown out most of them. Kids represent an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents' buying decisions and they're the adult consumers of the future. With this in mind, McDonald, like many other manufacturers are using various marketing and communications strategies to encourage children and adults to buy their products. The McDonald's new mantra, other than the diet is 'Go Active', 'Eat Smart' and 'Be Active'. Now Dr. Cathy Kapica and Anita Bean are more concentrating on the Happy Meal with emphasis on to keep the customers healthier, free from risks of weight gaining. McDonald's is now an organization by itself. It is 'the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world' ( Greider 13-88). It's affected all walks of life-education, work, travel, the family and every other sector. In trying to connect the brand with the consumer, McDonald has teamed up with pop star Justin Timberlake to shed 'new breath of young and coolness t' to the brand. As part of McDonald's multi-dimensional global relationship with superstar Justin Timberlake, the company announced today its sponsorship of the "McDonald's Presents Justin Timberlake lovin' it live" concert tours. McDonalds implemented the latest technology into it's business to gain more market share. McDonald's implemented a new computerized logistic system which makes it possible to transport materials, components and products with far greater speed and at much lower cost as a result of developments in road, rail, sea and air transport. These improvements in transport have also increased the amount of new subsidiaries opened

Friday, July 26, 2019

TPP-Pacific Trade Partnership and International Business Research Paper - 1

TPP-Pacific Trade Partnership and International Business - Research Paper Example Trans-Pacific Partnership is also of great interest because of its ambition to extend well beyond the limits of trade and trade policy including other different issues that affects trade agreements. The common issues that are likely to affect TPP are linked to the ambition of TPP to go beyond the limits of trade and its policies including trade in services, intellectual property, and technical barriers to trade. Supply chain complication has been cited as a major challenge likely to face Trans-Pacific partnership especially in this era of global business and cross enterprise collaboration. As stated by Inkyo et al (145), the Supply chain conference held in 2003 had cited development in the digital economy such as cloud computing, green growth and inadequate approaches to ensuring competitive business environment as some of the major challenges that are likely to face TPP. However, according to Deardorff (5), TPP is creating a framework to deal with all concerns and that could be the reason for the long time negotiations. The areas of negations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership include services and investments and other barriers to trade include in services, goods and investments, capacity building, government procurement, custom rules, labor, phytosanitary standards, e-commerce, telecommunications, intellectual property and technical barriers to trade. Researchers and economists have cited a lot of implications of what has been described as â€Å"spaghetti or noodle bowl† problem of overlapping preferential trade agreements (PTA) at the beginning of the year 2012, the world trade organization had reported more than 319 agreements that were already on force. According to Inkyo et al (147), each agreement signed between two or more countries continue to complicate and increases the complexity of the global trading system. The new PTA, Trans-Pacific Partnership that is currently under

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Second Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Second Assignment - Essay Example cade at rates that were seemingly out of control, ushering in a completely new middles class within and throughout the most populous country in the world. This bought about the recent comments made by Li Keqiang, the Chinese Premier, at the recent opening of the National People’s Congress in China on March 5. Lowering the economic growth forecast to 7% speaks to a ‘new normal’ of more sustained, but slower, growth throughout China (Magnier, 2015). Given this, however, my opinion is that China is still growing at a rate that far exceeds most countries in the world and that they are well position on the economic front to continue its rise to possible world domination in the long term. To be honest, it is quite staggering to consider that the current growth rate of 7.4% is the lowest it has been in roughly 25 years. While the economy is strong, however, there are now concerns that unemployment and social unrest may begin to creep into an otherwise and generally peaceful Chinese society. This speaks to the reality that the global population boom is leading to a lack of resources, both natural and physical. Nations such as China simply have too many people to truly sustain meaningful and lasting employment options. Unemployment leads to less spending, which over time does slow down economic growth (Che, 2013). We saw the same thing occur in the United States following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. While China weathered that storm quite nicely, it now appears that they are poised for a downturn of their own, even though certain benchmark indicators are still showing as being largely positive. In essence, what the nations of the world need is long term growth opportunities that truly benefit the masses. In China, as elsewhere, the growing disparity between the wealthy and lower classes is staggering. While the world keeps adding many individuals every years whose net work is in excess of the 1 billion dollars, the number of poor among us

Practice Analysis with Whistlers Mother Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Practice Analysis with Whistlers Mother - Essay Example The painter used different colors in order to differentiate between the background and the image of a woman. The background also includes things which show the viewer that the woman was in the house like the curtain and a piece of picture at the wall. The painter has used good colors which can make and an individual to think that the painting is real. The color of the face is that of a white woman. He has used different colors in order to differentiate different parts of the body and cloths. For example, the head cover is white in color while the dress is black ((Margaret ‎and James 77). The image is well designed and of high quality. The painter used color to make the image more attractive to the viewers. Black and white colors are hot and attract individuals from fare. The painter also painted the women sited in order to bring up the aspect of relaxing (Margaret ‎and James

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Continental Philosophys Search for Balance Essay

Continental Philosophys Search for Balance - Essay Example "Such absolutizing, he charged, lent itself to generalizations of broad critical scope with respect to the idealistic procedure of hypostatizing the Idea and brought about (as allegorical derivatives from it) certain concrete political and social determinations, such as family, classes, and the state powers...In Marx's view," Hegel's dialectic "was mystifying and alienated inasmuch as Hegel did nothing but sanction, by a method inverted with respect to real relationships, the alienation of all the concrete historical and human determinations" (Rossi). Existentialism with "Soren Kierkegaard in the first half of the 19th century. He was critical of Hegel's philosophical system which analyzed Being (or existence) in an abstract and impersonal way. Kierkegaard was concerned with the individual's subjective experience of what it is to exist as a human being. For Kierkegaard the individual constantly has to choose what s/he is to become without recourse to the findings of science and philosophy" (Jones). Existentialism would eventually come to its most potent expression in the writings of the Frenchman Jean-Paul Sartre.... ..Politically Sartre claimed he was a Marxist and thought that freedom had both political and individual dimensions." Sartre, who in contrast to Kierkegaard was an atheist, coined the Existentialist credo, "Existence precedes essence". "What Sartre meant by the phrase 'existence precedes essence' is this: If there is no cosmic designer, then there is no design or essence of human nature. Human existence or being differs from the being of objects in that human being is self-conscious. This self-consciousness also gives the human subject the opportunity to define itself. The individual creates [oneself] by making self-directed choices" (Jones). There remained echoes of Hegel to be heard within Sartre. "The first Sartrean thought which has been derived from Hegel is the view that if there is to be any Truth in man's understanding of himself, it must be a Truth which becomes. Truth is thus something which emerges." With this assertion we hear "an obvious trace both of Hegelian dialectics and the Marxist tenet of the knowability of man. The second thing in Sartre which can be traced back to Hegel is the claim that what Truth must become is a totalization. We find in Hegelian dialectics that the synthesis is a totalization of the truth found in both the thesis and the antithesis. In the same manner, we find in Sartre asserting that the Truth in man is a Truth not just about his existence but also about the situations surrounding his existence" (Decino). Twenty-first Century Continental philosophy has come to be "preoccupied with two alternative formulations" that seem to transmute the Hegelian dialectic: desire given kinetic energy as jouissance and desire given kinetic energy as power. "These two views oppose and complement each other. They form a frame within which

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 345

Assignment Example Ford’s financials for the fiscal year that ended December 2003 addressed foreign exchange risk management. The company first understands and measures its exposure to various risks. For example, Ford is exposed to foreign currency risks. The firm utilizes cash flow hedges to prevent and minimize the risks. However, Ford hedges only between 25% and 30% of its foreign exchange risks. The firm hedges various currencies including Swedish krone, Mexico pesos, British sterling pounds, Brazilian reals, and Japanese yen (Hyman 32). Ford uses various hedging techniques to minimize the risks. These methods include value-at-risk (VaR) analysis. VaR assists the organization to assess its exposure to variations in foreign currency exchange rates. The VaR model focuses on profit and losses. Therefore, the technique allows Ford to calculate the size of the deviation between the probable profit and a yearly planned profit with a 95% probability. The current currency volatility in Venezuela is Ford’s primary concern. In 2015, the company announced that, it took charge related to its operations in Venezuela that would reduce fourth-quarter net profit by about $700 millions (Reuters 1). Venezuelan bolivars value fluctuates due to the illegal market. Reuters reported that illegal traders exchange a dollar for more than 180 bolivars. Such exchange rate is high compared to the country’s three-tiered exchange rate system. Venezuela’s currency exchange rate ranges between 6.3 bolivars and 50 bolivars to the dollar (6). Overall, Ford has grown significantly since its establishment. Despite the fact that the company experiences many risks in its operations, the firm adopted sound hedging techniques. Similarly, any company operating either locally or internationally might experience different challenges. However, good management strategies would propel the

Monday, July 22, 2019

“Hedda Gabler” by Henrik Ibsen and the 19th Century Marriage Essay Example for Free

â€Å"Hedda Gabler† by Henrik Ibsen and the 19th Century Marriage Essay Marriage in the 19th century was a social and economic matter, rather than a matter of personal relationship. The morals of the era, including family morals, are often associated with the Victorian England, where they revealed themselves in the most ultimate and form, yet especially this kind of attitude towards marriage dominated throughout Europe. The hypocrisy of the 19th century marriage, which caused countless lives to be broken and countless people to be unhappy, inspired many prominent writers like Oscar Wild, Gustave Flaubert, Honore de Balzac, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky to refer to the motifs of protest against such state of things. Yet Henrik Ibsen is unique even in this society, he concentrates on the named subject in virtually every of his famous plays. One of those plays is â€Å"Hedda Gabler† first published in 1890. In this paper I will attempt to analyze Ibsen’s play in the context of the XIX century marriage, as well as the effect the play itself had on the social perception of family ties. I will argue that Ibsen managed to demonstrate how frustrating a hypocritical marriage can be and what a disastrous consequences it can cause not only for the married women, but for every person involved in the relation. I will further argue that the play can be viewed as Ibsen’s contribution to change of the entire social idea of the place of a woman in a family. Ibsen himself wrote that The title of the play is Hedda Gabler. I intended to indicate thereby that as a personality she is to be regarded rather as her fathers daughter than as her husbands wife. Here Ibsen refers to the key problem of marriage in the 19th century. A woman has not played any independent role in it. She has always been viewed as â€Å"belonging to some man†, whether it is her father, brother or husband. Correspondingly, she had no opportunity to develop her own life and turned out to be a toy in the hands of men, being entirely dependent on them in social and economic aspects . In Hedda’s case she is either a daughter of a general, or a wife of an academic. But what is worse, she is dependent not only socially, but even mentally. She does not seem to be very clever, yet this does not mean that she lacks character. At her first approach Ibsen stresses her â€Å"pale and opaque† face and that â€Å"her steel-grey eyes express a cold, unruffled repose† . She is no way a foolish maiden dreaming only of lavish and careless life, throughout the play she often acts as a person of firm will, yet of a bad, or rather undeveloped character. This personal underdevelopment includes both narrow outlook and lack of moral principles. Perhaps she has been taught everything possible about morals, but a person of her type would rather act in contrary to imposed principles. Hedda really â€Å"belongs† to her husband and she is constantly reminded of that. This makes her desire for power even stronger, as she demonstrates more and more masculine features as the play develops. Unwilling to accept the feminine stereotypes of behavior Hedda plays with her father’s pistols perhaps more to shock and confuse her family, because handling arms is surely not a proper thing for a young lady. Yet the play with the pistols is still comparatively innocent. It appears that Hedda plays her own game with the society. Her relatives treat her as an obedient toy, so Hedda starts using them as toys in turn. This is a game of arrogance and indifference. Hedda makes snobbish remarks to the surrounding people, insults Aunt Julie’s new hat. The game gradually becomes more and more dangerous, and ends with two suicides. It seems that in this game Hedda makes little difference between a hat and Lovborg’s life. What the world has given to Hedda that Hedda returns to the world, and in case her dreams of luxurious existence are ruined, she can ruin the world in turn. The dependent position of a woman in marriage is naturally followed by another aspect of 19th century marriage – restriction of a woman. Ibsen embodied this social barrier in the repeated image of a glass door. The barrier is easy to be removed or broken, which she â€Å"nervously† walks to, but which she never opens, dying inside the claustrophobic space of the house. A question might arise here why Hedda at all married Jorgen Tesman whom she never loved and whom she openly neglected? The most obvious answer is that Hedda was in need of money, since her fathers only heritage was a good name. Tesman was an acceptable choice to her. He is considerably prosperous, his scientific prospects look perfectly, his name is noble, and, what is most important, his character is not very strong, so Hedda can easily control him. What is less obvious is Hedda’s desire to revenge Lovborg who failed to meet her hopes. Whether consciously or not, Hedda is making her way towards actual murder and suicide from the very beginning of the play. Although even in the 19th century the declared ground of marriage was love, Hedda cries to the Judge not to â€Å"use this sickening word† . She has crossed out her dreams of love and she does not want even to remember them. However, Hedda at least has an idea of love and passions, while her husband has none. As Hedda married Tesman of convenience, so Tesman did to Hedda. He is attracted both by her origin and by her beauty, while her death impresses him in a strange way: â€Å"Shot herself! Shot herself in the temple! Fancy that! †. This last phrase shows his real attitude. He never loved Hedda, and his primary concern was his own social position which he hoped to improve with a good marriage and an image of a beautiful wife. In fact there are no good or bad characters in the play, no victims and no executioners. Hedda is often blamed as a â€Å"snobbish, mean-spirited, small-minded, conservative, cold, bored, vicious. Shes sexually eager but terrified of sex; ambitious to be bohemian but frightened of scandal; a desperate romantic fantasist but unable to sustain any loving relationship with anyone, including herself† . This all can be true, but other characters are not better. The basic defect of the situation is that men and women surrounding Hedda are completely unable to see her as a personality outside of her social position. To the last they believe that Hedda would act in the â€Å"accepted way†, whether it is Tesman who views his wife as a pretty doll or Judge Brack who blackmails Hedda to enter into the family and probably force Hedda to a love affair believing that Hedda would act as a women in hopelessness, in other words obey . Brack is surprised with Hedda’s rebelliousness against the rule and asks: â€Å"Are you so unlike the generality of women as to have no turn for duties? † . But what Hedda does not want to hear about are duties. In this company even Lovborg causes little compassion. An miserable alcoholic who almost ruined his talent saved not due to his own effort, but due to a woman, he is unable even to die in the way Hedda has determined, and his suicide looks ridiculous. Being finally cornered by the circumstances Hedda decides to commit suicide herself. All of her dreams are ruined, she is now convinced that nobody loves her, her dreams of freedom, luxury and passions appeared to be mirages. She is unable to dominate even in the situation she has herself created. Hedda realizes that she is not a romantic hero but a simple wife of an academic, she is imprisoned and powerless. Her possible motherhood can only aggravate her despair, for a child shall be born from a man she does not love, and childbirth will make her even more helpless and dependent. Thus suicide looks as a natural resort for her. There is an another strong social allusion in the play. Lovborg and Mrs. Elvsted use to label Loveborg’s manuscript as a child, so burning a manuscript is a similar to child murder. When Hedda kills herself she kills her prospective children, as well as ruins her husband’s reputation thus doing two things he is afraid of. She commits suicide out of escapist intents but it is also a revenge to her husband, Brack, relatives and the whole world where such hypocritical marriage is possible. â€Å"Hedda Gabler† caused an ambiguous reaction of the public ever since premiere. The responses differed from calling it â€Å"Ibsens greatest play and the most interesting woman that he has created† to the devastating characteristic by George Bernard Show who emotionally observed: â€Å"What a marvel of stupidity and nonsense the author did produce in this play! It is incredible to think that only a score of years ago the audience sat seriously before its precious dullness†. American newspapers added oil to the flame of critique. The Philadelphian Ledger wrote after the American premiere â€Å"What a hopeless specimen of degeneracy is Hedda Gabler! A vicious, heartless, cowardly, unmoral, mischief-making vixen†. Yet I would emphasize a characteristic that remains actual until now. It has been provided by Justin Huntly McCarthy who wrote of the â€Å"he most interesting woman that he has created she is compact with all the vices, she is instinct with all the virtues of womanhood† . The debate has not ceased over the years. Hedda became a favored character in the feminist movement, the play has been staged in numerous interpretations, including even lesbian one. However such public interest is the best proof of the fact that Ibsen hit the nail. â€Å"Hedda Gabler† is a play about fatal marriage. It starts with return of Hedda from her wedding journey and ends with the beginning of her final journey. However, Ibsen managed to generalize his subject and make his play a story of woman place in the society. 19th century marriage did left little space for female existence in the world dominated by males. That what the play is actually about. The motif of domination is revealed throughout the play and it is not always possible to say who, except for faulty customs dominates the situation. After all Tesman is unable to control even himself, and Hedda can not take the leading positions in the family due to social restrictions. Death is her protest. Perhaps it would not be too general to say that Ibsen wrote not only of physical death of his character but of a spiritual death of womanhood in the 19th century marriage. Works Cited: 1. Ibsen, Henrik. Hedda Gabler. Digireads. com, 2005. 2. Coontz, Stephanie. Marriage, a History: How Love Conquered Marriage. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. 3. Templeton, Joan. Ibsen’s Women. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 4. Eyre, Richard. â€Å"Femme fatale. Richard Eyre would like to apologise to Ibsen for doubting the greatness of Hedda Gabler†. The Guardian. 5 Mar. 2005. 21 April 2009 http://www. guardian. co. uk/stage/2005/mar/05/theatre 5. Sanders, Tracy. Lecture Notes: Hedda Gabler Fiend or Heroine. Australian Catholic University, 2006. 21 April 2009 http://dlibrary. acu. edu. au/staffhome/trsanders/units/modern_drama/hedda_gabler. html

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Impacts of Sun Damage and Benefits of Sunscreen

Impacts of Sun Damage and Benefits of Sunscreen Abstract Sun damage is a cumulative process, meaning that every moment of exposure has a long-term impact. Overexposure to the suns harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation can cause burns, diseases, and cancers-substantially contributing to mortality rates in fair-skinned populations. The severity of skin cancer is real; there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined figures for lung, breast, prostate, and colon cancers each year (Bell, 97). Helping to protect against sunburn and skin cancer, sunscreen is a topical product that absorbs or reflects the suns UV light. This article will address the global impact of sunscreens, while focusing on the scientific/engineering principles of the sun-care product and its effects. It will review some of the recent advances in photoprotection, including the development of broad-spectrum sunscreen and the sun protection factor. Although sunscreens have been around for over 70 years, its health applications are still being explored. Author Biography: Hieu Nguyen is a junior studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California. After receiving his B.S. degree, he hopes to continue his education in graduate school-in pursuit of a challenging engineering career. From Hawaii, he enjoys riding the oceans waves and basking in sunny, tropical climate. Keywords: sunscreen, sunblock, ultraviolet, radiation, sunburn Rubbing It In: Modern sun-protection Introduction Our sun-the most powerful entity in our corner of the universe-is dangerous. Just about everyone comes into contact with its rays every day. Whether youre outside walking your dog or in a sports arena watching a 3-hour college football game, your skin is at risk. It is well-known that solar radiation is harmful; youve probably taken a few precautions in the past to protect yourself from the suns intensity by wearing brimmed hats, polarized sunglasses, or high-SPF sunscreens (Figure 2). For many, lathering on sunscreen lotion may seem like a chore. But what exactly are you applying liberally to your body? How much protection does sunscreen really have to offer against sunburn and skin cancer, and how long will these safeguards last? The answers to these questions can be understood when you consider the scientific/engineering aspects behind the $1.9 billion industry skin-care product: Sunscreen. A Harmful Sun Natural sunlight contains, among other things, ultraviolet photon particles of light. These photons are shorter in wavelength and have a much higher energy than visible light, giving it the ability to directly cause DNA damage in skin cells. Ultraviolet radiation is broken down into the following three types of wavelengths: Ultraviolet, Type A (UVA) Ultraviolet, Type C (UVC) UVC (wavelength 100-280 nm) rays are completely absorbed by the atmosphere and never reach us on the Earths surface. The UV rays that we are exposed to consist of UVB (280-315 nm) and UVA (315-400 nm) photons. The shorter wavelength UVB rays cause significant damage to DNA and are the primary cause of sunburn and skin cancer. The longer wavelength UVA rays cause tanning and penetrate the deeper layers of skin. Because UV light falls outside of the visible spectrum (400-700 nm), the human eye cannot perceive them. Humans are also unable to feel UV radiation, and thus, your body has no mechanism to warn itself against overexposure. The Suns Effects on Our Skin Our skin is highly susceptible to critical damage from the suns ultraviolet rays. Any exposure to UVA or UVB light can alter or damage the skin. Without protection, long-term exposure to natural sunlight inflicts the skin cells, causing them to tan, burn, and peel. Although a suntan is often considered an emblem of good health, tanning for its own sake has no health benefit and is actually a health hazard (MacNeal). Tanning is your skins defense mechanism against the sun, and any change to your natural skin color is a sign of skin damage. When exposed to moderate levels of radiation, a chemical reaction in your skins cell system occurs. Your skin protects its complex structure of sensitive cells by producing a brownish pigment, melanin, which absorbs and reflects UV rays, dissipating the energy as harmless heat. This is one of the reasons you heat up in the sun. Special pigment-producing cells called melanocytes (depicted in Figure 3) manufacture color capsules and send them to the surface of your skin, thus acquiring a tanned color. Dark-skinned people tan quicker because they already have more melanin in their skin. Fair-skinned people burn easier because they have less melanin in their skin to protect against the burning rays of the sun (Kuhta, 6). Although tanning triggers your bodys manufacture of melanin, this process takes time-days to weeks-for your body to build up its supply, and if you are in the sun for an extended period of time, burning may occur. As anyone who has had sunburn knows, this localized skin injury leaves your skin red and extremely painful. When you get sunburn, what you are really getting is cellular damage caused by overexposure to the suns ultraviolet rays. When you stay out too long, you get burned and your skin gets damaged. To attempt to cool the heated skin area, your blood flow increases. The body sends blood to the surface of the skin so that it can be cooled by evaporation and returned to cool the organs-similar to the way a car radiator system works. Sometimes so much blood is pumped to the surface of the skin that it pushes right through the thin walls of your blood vessels to permeate the other tissues and your skin takes on a reddish color. Your skins immune system then releases chemicals like histamine and serotonin, which trigger inflammation and additional chemical production. And within twelve hours, skin cells begin to die, and inflammation turns the skin a darker red (Readers Digest). Peeling after sunburn is your bodys way of getting rid of damaged cells. This abrupt acceleration of the natural cycle of cell replacement causes gobs of dry skin to curl up and flake off (as shown in Figure 4). This process is necessary because the damaged skin cells are at risk of losing control and becoming cancerous. Due to this danger, all damaged cells are instructed to commit cell-suicide. This mass suicide of skin cells results in whole layers of damaged skin peeling off, to be replaced by other cells underneath those layers. Sometimes, the repair mechanisms themselves may be damaged by the UV rays, which prevent the cells from committing suicide in the future and allowing cancerous cells to replicate. Cancer Risks Skin cancer, the uncontrolled growth of skin cells, is the most common cancer in the world today, and the number of cases worldwide is growing each year. This year alone, over 1.3 million Americans will be diagnosed with skin cancer, and one of every five Americans will be afflicted with skin cancer at least once during their lifetime (Bell, 97). Repeated exposure to UV rays can cause cancerous mutations such as malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Some parent cells replicate through cell division repeatedly and the inordinate mass they produce is called a tumor. Once started, tumors keep growing in an irregular, shapeless way (Kuhta, 30). Melanoma is a skin tumor that develops in the melanocytes- pigment producing cells in the skin-and has a very high tendency to spread to other parts of the body. A study at the Anerson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas concluded that about one in 105 Americans will develop melanoma, and 20 percent of them will die from it (T. Adler). Interestingly, malignant melanoma has been found more frequently in sunscreen users than in non-users in some studies. This is because some sunscreens block the natural warnings and adaptations mediated by UVB, but allow damage from UVA to go unchecked. By preventing the pain and redness of sunburn, sunscreen may enable people to stay longer in skin-scorching sunlight, putting them at higher risk for developing melanoma. Prevention: How Sunscreen Works Sunscreens with broad-spectrum protection are most effective to protect against sunburn and skin cancer. Many of the sunscreens available in the U.S. today combine several different active chemical sunscreen ingredients in order to provide broad-spectrum protection, which block both UVA and UVB rays. Sunscreens work by absorbing the UV radiation in the chemical bonds of their ingredients. Different brands of sunscreen contain different combinations of active ingredients that work together to minimize the impact of harmful rays of light from the sun. Some of these ingredients will deflect the UV light while others will absorb it. Most sunscreens work by containing either an organic chemical compound that absorbs ultraviolet light (such as oxybenzone) or an opaque material that reflects light (such as zinc oxide), or a combination of both. This general structure of the principal ingredients allows the molecules to absorb high-energy ultraviolet rays and release the energy as lower-energy rays, thereby preventing the skin-damaging radiation from reaching the skin (Zenitech, 46). Like a screen door, sunscreen filters the light from the sun so that less of it reaches the deeper layers of your skin. The principal ingredients in sunscreens are usually aromatic molecules conjugated with carbonyl groups, which prevent significant chemical change and allow the ingredients to retain their UV-absorbing potency without significant photo-degradation (Zenitech, 48). As its ingredients absorb UV energy, sunscreens begin to deteriorate and lose effectiveness. Sunscreen must be applied early enough before sun exposure to bind to the skin. In order to be effective in preventing skin cancer and sunburn, sunscreen must be reapplied every two hours regardless of their assigned SPF (PrincetonOL). Sunblock, on the other hand, remains on the surface of the skin to reflect the UV radiation. Its sunblock agents-titanium oxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) -reflect the light away so that it doesnt reach the skin at all. Since they do not need time to bind to the skin, they are very effective in blocking all types of UV immediately upon application. However, because they remain on the surface, they are subject to removal by perspiration and friction from towels, clothing, or usual daily activities. The term SPF that appears on sunscreen labels stands for Sun Protection Factor, and is a worldwide standard for measuring the effectiveness of a sunscreens ability to prevent UVB radiation from damaging the skin. The higher the SPF, the more protection a sunscreen will provide against UVB radiation and sunburn. For example, if it takes 20 minutes for your unprotected skin to start turning red, using an SPF 15 sunscreen theoretically prevents reddening 15 times longer-about five hours. SPF 15 blocks 93% of all incoming UVB rays, SPF 30 blocks 97% and SPF 50 blocks 99% (The Skin Cancer Foundation). As you can see, no sunscreen can block all UV rays. Because the SPF only accounts for UVB rays, certain sunscreens may not protect against UVA rays which are known to cause photoaging, wrinkles, brownspots, and melanoma. This curtailed protection is why protecting against sunburn does not necessarily protect against skin cancer. To deliver true broad-spectrum protection, products must also protect against UVA radiation in addition to UVB radiation. Conclusion Despite its dangers to skin cells, the sun is an important ally when it comes to good health. Optimal physical and mental wellbeing requires some exposure to the sun. Ultraviolet light enables the body to produce Vitamin D, a vital substance that works against the formation of tumors and aids in the absorption of calcium. Some scientists have suggested that short periods of unprotected sun exposure are beneficial, as they will enhance the bodys Vitamin-D-production capabilities (Kuhta, 40). Not only does sunlight strengthen our physical defenses against disease, but it also enhances our mental/emotional defenses against depression and fatigue. Bell Labs, Inc. has demonstrated sunlight to be a significant factor in maintaining a healthy mood and energy level (Bell, 101). The scientific/engineering aspects of sunscreen illustrate an impactful solution on a global scale, prolonging the lives of many by rejuvenating dead skin cells to deter skin cancer development. Utilizing chemical properties, sunscreen protects the skin by absorbing harmful UV radiation, effectively screening out the suns rays. And with new, emerging sun-care technologies such as the Sun Pillà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, a convenient daily-dose tablet that has been developed to offer medicinal protection from the sun, we can minimize the suns harmful effects easily. By practicing routine skin protection, one can aim for a healthy level of sun exposure. Because like most things in life, sunlight is best enjoyed in moderation.

Dental Prosthetic Options

Dental Prosthetic Options S.N.: Introduction: Prosthetic options to replace a missing tooth fall into two main categories: Fixed prostheses and removable prostheses. When choosing the suitable treatment option to replace a missing upper incisor, multiple variables involving the patient wishes, expectations, dentist skills and training, cost of treatment, and clinical findings should be taken into consideration (Al-Quran et al., 2011). These factors will have a strong influence on the short and long terms success of the treatment selected. Based on the conservation of neighbouring teeth and annual failure rates, dental implants are the treatment of choice to replace a missing central maxillary incisor, followed by conventional bridges, and removal partial dentures (Pjetursson Lang, 2008). Facial growth in relation to age: Craniofacial development is a continuous process that starts intra-uterine and has shown different rates between males and females (Brahim, 2005) . Skeletal maturation in males is reported to be reached at the age of 20, while females reach the maturation phase earlier, at the age of 17-18 years (Heij et al., 2006). Therefore, it has been recommended, when selecting the prosthetic option to replace a missing tooth, to take the patient’s age into consideration. Dental Implants should be avoided until the cessation of jaw development mentioned earlier (Daftary et al., 2013) or after the end of the growth spurt (Heij et al., 2006). If dental implants are used before the vertical maturation is reached, it will not grow vertically with the alveolar bone and will be submerged at different levels depending at the patient’s age when the implants were inserted (Brahim, 2005). Dental trauma and the surrounding tissues: In most scenarios, it is rare that a single incisor will be traumatized with no damage on adjacent incisors, surrounding bone, or soft tissues. If any damage sustained to neighbouring teeth, the status and prognosis of these teeth should be assessed, as it will have a strong impact on the selection of the definitive treatment option. Traumatic avulsion of teeth, account for 0.5% 3% of all dentoalveolar trauma, and it is associated with damage to the alveolar bone, specially the buccal plate (Andreasen, 1970). After tooth extraction, reduction of the alveolar bone height and width can be as high as 50% in the first year (Schropp L, 2004) with the highest amount of bone loss within the first three months (Pietrokovski Massler, 1967). Bone loss is not even between the buccal and palatal bone plates, with more bone loss in the buccal plate (Pietrokovski Massler, 1967) and bone width than height (Van Der Weijden et al., 2009). There are several treatment options that could be used for replacing a lost maxillary central incisor: Removable Partial Denture (RPD): RPD have the advantages of minimal clinical skills required, minimal chair time, and preservation of neighbouring teeth. On the other hand, the patient satisfaction is low, with a sense of insecurity, high risk of accidental breakage, and loss. Still, RPD is the quickest, cheapest replacement option of a missing incisor, and usually used as a temporary treatment until healing is complete and bone remodelling is minimal. Resin Retained Fixed Bridges (RRB): Resin retained bridges share the advantage of removable dentures of having minimal effect on abutment teeth with no risk of pulpal injury and the reversible nature of the prostheses. It is also relatively of low cost and acceptable aesthetic result (metal frame could be masked by opaque cement on expense of translucency). The commonest failure associated with RRB is frequent debonding of 20% over 5 years (Pjetursson et al., 2008) which could cause social embarrassment to the patient. The patient could also be given an Essex Type retainer with a single tooth in the gap as an emergency prosthesis until recementation of the resin retained bridge is done. RRB could be used as a final prosthetic option but more often is used as an interim measure as it could be reversed at any time, with 87.7% 5 years prognosis (Pjetursson et al., 2008) If the prosthesis is planned to be a temporary option, Rochette type wings are made with holes to facilitate frequent removal. Conventional Bridge: This is an irreversible treatment, replacing the missing tooth with a 2 or 3 units’ conventional bridge. These offer superior retention and aesthetics over RRB by the mean of full coverage of the abutment teeth. The main drawback is the need to reduce the sound tooth structure of the abutments with 20% risk of nerve damage and higher caries risk. The reduction of tooth structure is more for porcelain fused to metal or full ceramic/Zirconia crowns than full crown which is a requirement in the anterior aesthetic zone. According to previous studies, â€Å"if the adjacent teeth are severed, or in need of being crowned, the conventional bridge is to be preferred (Annual failure rate: 1.14%)† (Pjetursson Lang, 2008). The success rate is reported to be 90 % for 10 years and 72% for 15 years (Pjetursson et al., 2008) and (Burke Lucarotti, 2012). Endosseous dental implants: When considering the success rate, dental implants are reported to have the highest documented survival rate of 94% for 5 years (Attard Zarb, 2003) and 89% over 15 years (Pjetursson et al., 2008). Dental Implants have numerous advantages over the previously mentioned treatment options. Comparing dental implants to other fixed treatment modalities, there is no danger of pulpable damage of adjacent teeth, as no abutment teeth preparation is involved. Implants also facilitate the patient’s daily oral hygiene routines around the prosthesis, since there are no connectors between the prostheses and abutment teeth, making flossing possible. Furthermore, the maintenance and regular follow ups by the dentist is easier for dental implants. Removing a conventional bridge is a challenging task compared to screw retained implant supported crowns which could be removed and re-inserted multiple times when required (not applicable to cemented crowns). For implant supported restorations in the anterior maxillary region, a detailed patient assessment, implant site assessment, and proper treatment planning is the key for a successful restoration. The planning should be derived from the restorative point of view not guided by the availability of bone. The following points should be carefully assessed: Lip position at rest and smile: The patient’s aesthetic expectations should be coupled with the upper lip position at rest and when smiling. In most cases, 2 mm of the incisal edge of the central incisors should show at rest, and it could be either 100% of all the incisors (high smile line), more than 75% visible (medium smile line), or (low smile line) showing less than 75% of the incisors. With low smile line lip position, the aesthetic challenges are lower, and the emphasis on soft tissue contouring and papilla regeneration is also lower (Tjan et al., 1984). If the patient’s expectations are high while having high smile line, patient education should take place prior to implant treatment as the implant treatment could be deemed a failure if did not meet the patient’s aesthetic requirements despite been successful in every other aspect. Attached gingiva and surrounding soft tissue: The attached gingiva could have thick, moderate, or thin architecture. Thick gingiva is more common than the thin biotype; it appears as a more stippled, flat fibrous band of attached mucosa, masking the underlying bony contours. It is associated with higher resistance to recession, better soft tissue contouring, and resistance to peri-implant disease. On the other hand, thin gingival biotypes are found in 15% of population (Tjan et al., 1984) and it is a thinner mucosal layer with the bony scalloping showing through it. This type is more prone to exposure of the implant and compromising the aesthetic result (Tjan et al., 1984). The thin biotype has been associated with long triangular teeth and more incisally positioned contact points, while the thick biotype is associated with shorter, square crowns with more apically positioned contact points (hence, more papillary regeneration). Implant size used: Implant size has a direct effect on the emergence profile of the coronal restoration and aesthetics. Natural existing teeth and available bone are helping factors when selecting the right implant diameter, while implant length should provide a safety distance to the surrounding anatomical structures. The implant diameter should allow 1.5 mm between implant and neighbouring teeth (and 3mm between adjacent implant fixtures) (Jivraj Chee, 2006). The gingival biotype also should not be overlooked when selecting the fixture diameter, for example; if wider implants are used with thin gingival biotype, the risk of recession is higher (Rodriguez Rosenstiel, 2012). Implant position: For the most aesthetic emergence profile, implants should be placed 1.5 mm – 2 mm from the adjacent tooth, 3mm – 4mm apical to CEJ (Jivraj Chee, 2006), and ideally should be placed under the proposed cingulum of the coronal restoration. A diagnostic wax up and a prefabricated surgical stent are of very important in deciding the crown and implant positions, and evaluating the amount of bony defect and the need for bone graft. Transfaring the surgical stent into the patient’s mouth will allow the visualization of the amount of incisor show and smile lines. The implant position and angulation will dictate the abutment type and the retention method used for the restoration (screw or cement retained). Available bone quality and quantity: Bone density has been classified by Lekholm and Zarb (1985) into 4 categories: Homogenous compact bone, Thick cortical bone around dense trabecular bone, Dense trabecular bone covered by thin cortical bone, Very thin cortex enclosing minimal density trabeculae. Types 3 and 4 are associated with more failure rates, and are more found in the maxilla. Therefore, under -preparation of the osteotomy site could be done to gain higher initial stability. Branemark et al 1977 defined ossteointegeration as â€Å"direct structural and functional connection between living bone and load carrying implant†. Implant fixture should be in direct contact with healthy bone in three dimensions. Therefore, the amount of available bone required around any dental implant is 1.5 mm buccally and palatally, 3 mm between adjacent implants and at least 1.5mm -2mm between implants and adjacent teeth (Misch, 2008) and (Rodriguez Rosenstiel, 2012). If buccal bone width is not sufficient, a smaller diameter implant that will be functionally and aesthetically sound could be selected. It will also allow slight palatal positioning (Rodriguez Rosenstiel, 2012). Bone grafting/augmentation procedure could be done to add the bone thickness (Esposito et al., 2009) and bone could be sourced from: Patient’s own bone (Autogenous graft): commonly could be harvested from calvarian bone, iliac crest, mandibular ramus or chin. This provides highest reported success rates (Esposito et al., 2009). Different human bone (Allograft): usually from cadaveric bone. Bone undergoes special treatment to be deproteinized and freezed (Esposito et al., 2009). Animal sources (Xenograft) usually cows or pigs. Synthetic materials (Alloplast): artificial graft material which could be used solely or in conjunction with autogenous grafts (Esposito et al., 2009). Bone regeneration membranes: these are used to act as a barrier between the superficial soft tissue and the grafted bone or material to prevent ingrowth of the fibrous tissue and allow pure bone development. These membranes could be either natural or synthetic, resorbable or non- resporbable. If block bone graft is used, it should be allowed to heal for minimum 3 months before implant placement, while bone augmentation with alloplastic materials and membranes could be done simultaneously (Esposito et al., 2009). It is worth mentioning that porcine- derived bone and membranes may not be acceptable by some patients based on their religious beliefs and a specific consent should be obtained. The bone height will also impact the papilla formation, together with the crown shape and level of contact points; the papilla regeneration is favourable is square crown, broad apical contact points, and when the distance is around 4-5 mm between bone crest and contact points (Rodriguez Rosenstiel, 2012) and (Tarnow et al., 2003). Vertical bone augmentation has been shown to be unpredictable (Esposito et al., 2009) and the patient should be aware of the black triangles (lack of papilla) if vertical bone is deficient (Tarnow et al., 2003). Conclusion: Based on the previously discussed factors and the evidence available, dental implant would be the treatment of choice if the neighbouring teeth are of good prognosis and the aesthetic results are realistic. It is safe to place an implant in 20 years old male, as the growth of the jaws is complete. A diagnostic wax up and stent could be made to evaluate the aesthetics, and available bone. A 4.5 mm buccal width is not enough to place a suitable size implant in a suitable bony envelope, so a block done graft for will be needed before the implant placement. If the source of the trauma was sports related and likely to occur again, a mouth guard should be worn to protect the implant and teeth during activity. Bibliography Abt, E.C.A.B.W.H.V., 2012. Interventions for replacing missing teeth: partially absent dentition. Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online), (2). Al-Quran, Firas F., A.-G.R. N, A.-Z.B., 2011. Single-tooth replacement: factors affecting different prosthetic treatment modalities. BMC Oral Health, 11(1), p.34. Andreasen, J.O., 1970. Etiology and pathogenesis of traumatic dental injuries A clinical study of 1,298 cases. European Journal of Oral Sciences, 78(1-4), pp.329-42. Andreasen, J.O., 2007. Textbook and Color Atlas of Traumatic Injuries to the Teeth. 4th ed. Copenhagen: Blackwell Munksgaard. Attard, N.J. Zarb, G.A., 2003. Implant prosthodontic management of partially edentulous patients missing posterior teeth: The Toronto experience. The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 89(4), pp.352-59. Brahim, J.S., 2005. Dental implants in children. Oral and maxillofacial surgery clinics of North America, 17(4), pp.375-81. Burke, F.J.T. Lucarotti, P.S.K., 2012. Ten year survival of bridges placed in the General Dental Services in England And Wales. Journal of Dentistry, 40(11), pp.886-95. Daftary, F., Mahallati, R., Bahat, O. Sullivan, R.M., 2013. Lifelong craniofacial growth and the implications for osseointegrated implants. he International journal of oral maxillofacial implants, 28(1), pp.163-9. Day, P. Duggal, M., 2010. Interventions for treating traumatized permanent front teeth: avulsed (knocked out) and replanted. The Cochrane Library, (1). Eghbali, A., De Rouck, T., De Bruyn, H. Cosyn, J., 2009. The gingival biotype assessed by experienced and inexperienced clinicians. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 36(11), pp.958-963. Esposito, M. et al., 2009. Interventions for replacing missing teeth: horizontal and vertical bone augmentation techniques for dental implant treatment (Review). The Cochrane Library, (4). Heij, D.G.O. et al., 2006. Facial development, continuous tooth eruption, and mesial drift as compromising factors for implant placement. The International journal of oral maxillofacial implants, 21(6), pp.867-78. Jivraj, S. Chee, W., 2006. Treatment planning of implants in the aesthetic zone. British Dental Journal, 201(2), p.77. Misch, C.E., 2008. Contemporary Implant Dentistry. 3rd ed. Mosby. Pietrokovski, J. Massler, M., 1967. Alveolar ridge resorption following tooth extraction. The Journal of prosthetic dentistry, 17(1), pp.21-7. Pjetursson, B.E. Lang, N.P., 2008. Prosthetic treatment planning on the basis of scientific evidence. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation, 35(1), pp.72-79. Pjetursson, B.E. et al., 2008. A systematic review of the survival and complication rates of resinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ bonded bridges after an observation period of at least 5 years. Clinical Oral Implants Research, 19(2), pp.131-41. Rodriguez, A.M. Rosenstiel, S.F., 2012. Esthetic considerations related to bone and soft tissue maintenance and development around dental implants: Report of the Committee on Research in Fixed Prosthodontics of the American Academy of Fixed Prosthodontics. The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 108(4), pp.259-67. S. Jivraj, W.C., 2006. Rationale for dental implants. BRITISH DENTAL JOURNAL, 200(12), pp.661-65. Schropp L, W.A.K.L.K.T., 2004. Bone healing and soft tissue contour changes following single-tooth extraction: A clinical and radiographic 12-month prospective study. The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 91(1), pp.92-92. Tarnow, D. et al., 2003. Vertical distance from the crest of bone to the height of the interproximal papilla between adjacent implants. Journal of periodontology, 74(12), pp.1785-8. Tjan, A.H.L., Miller, G.D. The, J.G.P., 1984. Some esthetic factors in a smile. The Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 51(1), pp.24-28. Van Der Weijden, F., Dell Acqua, F. Slot, D.E., 2009. Alveolar bone dimensional changes of postà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ extraction sockets in humans: a systematic review. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 36(12), pp.1048-58.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

The Indian Triumph of Dionysus Essay -- Art Analysis

While visiting the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, I came across The Indian Triumph of Dionysus. Originating in Rome, it was created by a wealthy follower of Dionysus’s mystery cult in the late second century A.D. This worshiper evidently wanted to construct a sarcophagus in tribute of Dionysus’s accomplishments. Furthermore, Dionysus is surrounded by characters that are within the mystery cult because the creator wants the viewers to know with whom he is associated. With these two things combined, the patron hoped to shed light on a piece of history that they believed to be prominent during his life. The layout of the museum makes it very easy to find works of art from different time periods. Since I have always been fascinated with ancient Greece and Rome, I knew exactly where to start my search. The Indian Triumph of Dionysus is on display directly at the top of the staircase leading up to the second floor. It is surrounded by many other artifacts from ancient Greece and Rome. As your eyes move across the room, catching a glint of gold here and pearly white marble there, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed for a moment. As I reached the top of the stairs, it was evident that the staging of this magnificent piece was carefully planned. The staff of the museum undoubtedly wants this piece seen by each and every visitor. The exhibit itself is well done. If you stand directly in front of The Indian Triumph of Dionysus, everything around you seems to fade away and tunnel vision sets in. As I stood in front of The Indian Triumph of Dionysus, diligently taking notes since phot os are not allowed, I experienced an extreme spiritual connection to the past. I tried to put myself into the shoes of the author. What was his purpose? What d... ...t is also important to notice that every character seems to have wide eyes and dark circles drawn under their eyes. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects because the eyes show the underlying theme of complete inebriation. This in turn, proves the impact that Dionysus had on his followers as well as those who he conquered. Wine brought great power to its creator, and made a lasting impact on history. With these devices of communication, we are able to see that the follower wanted to capture Dionysus’s legacy by creating a sarcophagus of remembrance in his honor. Works Cited â€Å"MFAH Top 100 Highlights #35 - The Indian Triumph of Dionysus† Museum of Fine Arts Houston Online. 06 Apr. 2012. http://www.mfah.org/art/detail/dionysus-indian-triumph/ Unknown. The Indian Triumph of Dionysus. 2nd Century A.D. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Dulce et Decorum Est :: English Literature

Dulce et Decorum Est Wilfred Owen Owen's poem Dulce et Decorum Est is a passionate expression of outrage at the horrors of war and of pity for the young soldiers sacrificed in it. From the title of this poem people back home would have expected an understanding poem, helping to overcome their grief at the loss of a loved one, instead what they got was a poem expressing outrage at the lies surrounding the ‘Great’ War. The quote by Horace translates as ‘It is sweet and right to die for ones’ country’, but the poem is about proving to people at home that this isn’t a sweet and honourable way to die (if there is any). It goes through the worst parts of the war and describes them in detail. The horrors in these descriptions contradict the glorification of the war The poem consists of four stanzas, the first describes the soldiers, the second a gas attack, the third Owen’s nightmares and last an accusation to the people back home. Owen’s poems are suffused with the horror of battle, and yet finely structured and innovative. The first stanza sets the scene as it describes the conditions the men fought in and their feelings. Owen immediately shocks the readers by describing the young soldiers as ‘bent double’ emphasising their exhaustion and the way they slump along, deformed by fatigue, I think this is an effective simile because no one back home will be expecting their proud soldiers described as beggars. The simile ‘coughing like hags’ was used because the men who went into battle were relatively young, yet after battle they looked old and ugly, hence hags. With this one sentence Owen implies health conditions that no one at home would ever dream of. Words like Hags, Cursed and Haunting are used as they all have connotations of evil to emphasise the misery and hardship of the front lines. Owen chooses his word carefully using ones the readers will understand to describe processes they can’t, ‘Drunk with fatigue’ (Line 7), comparing the effects of being drunk to being overly tired, for example the wavering walk, tripping and stumbling. This is effective because everyone reading would know what it’s like to be drunk. The ‘tired, outstripped Five-Nines’ being a type of gun, but also the soldiers being sent from the trenches for some rest and relaxation. He uses words like We, Our to show that he is part of this mayhem. He seems almost detached as if he has seen this so often, that to him it has lost the horror value that we feel. In the second stanza there is a dramatic change in pace to demonstrate

Thursday, July 18, 2019

The Setting of The Cask of Amontillado Essay -- Papers Poe Essays

The Setting of The Cask of Amontillado An important element in any story is setting. Authors use setting to convey certain feelings brought on by the character’s surroundings. It also subliminally serves to illustrate the character’s intentions. In â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† Edgar Allen Poe uses the dark, imposing setting to do just that, communicate the underlying theme of the story, being death, revenge and deception. Poe begins setting the tone of the story by describing the gloomy and threatening vaults beneath Montressor’s home. The first description of the Montressor home, as well as the reader’s first hint that something is amiss, is the description of the time off Montressor had required his employees to take. This alone lets us know that some of his intentions are less than virtuous. He describes the vaults as extensive, having many rooms, and being insufferably damp. This description of Montressor’s vaults strikes a feeling of uneasiness and fear in the reader, as well as a fear of malevolent things to come. References to the bodies laid to rest in the ca...

Behaviorism Time Line and Today’s World

Introduction Behaviorism, as a theory evolved from around 1930 and fell out of favor around 1960. Here the topic will look at the linear existence of behaviorism in reference to the discipline of psychology, as well as the main influential persons that raised the theory from its infancy to its heights as to the contributions each made. In conclusion, relevance to what is still in use to day as residual as well as what differences have happened: what has changed and what has stayed the same. This investigation of the actual time line in comparison with the various groupings of the base theory as it evolved into various sub-groupings will be looked at particularly. Behaviorism Time Line and Today's World To have an idea of the theories involving behaviorism, it becomes crucial to know and understand the vocabulary and background of the terms and theories of the topic being discussed. This is a brief introduction of the theory of behaviorism, as it will be discussed and dissected here in. The evolution of this theory as well as contributions by its various champions will be looked at in a sort of time line to see what has been retained and what has been discarded over time. Behaviorism is the idea of all learned behaviors find genesis in specific conditioning; and that this conditioning occurs with interaction with the environment (Cherry, 2009). Behaviorism also purports systematic and observable study with little or no consideration of internal mental states (Cherry, 2009). Behaviorism can be broken into two distinct areas, being: classical and operant conditioning (Cherry, 2009). Classical conditioning consists of pairing a naturally occurring stimulus with a response, followed by the transference of the relationship to a formerly neutral stimulus, thus causing the reaction to the newly transferred stimulus relationship (Goodwin, 2008). Operant conditioning on the other hand consists of the relationship of either a reward or consequence regarding certain behaviors (Goodwin, 2008). This is also referred to as instrumental conditioning and revolves around the consequences of actions taken. Behaviorism can trace its roots to the empiricism idea of classical association pioneered by John Locke and David Hume as an idea loosely tossed about shortly before the 20th century in consideration of learning in animals and humans linking mental states and perceptual influences (O'Donell, 1986). The earliest reference to behaviorism as an idea in consideration though comes from 1863 when Ivan Sechenov published a paper titled Reflexes of the Brain, where a concept of the mind's responses being inhibited in the central nervous system instead of the brain itself occurs (Cherry, 2009). Even with this evidenced, the solidification of behaviorism would occur with the publication of the behavioral manifesto by John Watson in 1913 ushered in the realm of behaviorism that flourished from around 1930 until 1960, when it fell out of favor (O'Donell, 1986). The time line genesis is associated with Watson's manifesto, but other prominent scientists had pending works in place before, such as Pavlov with his classical conditioning research, officially starting around 1910 (Babkin, 1949). This researcher worked with canines in reference to classical conditioning and behavior modification in Russia, and then the Soviet Union as it fell to socialism, which seemed the lesser of two evils: the other being Nazi Germany (Babkin, 1949). His work was bolstered by the bolshevik regime at this time, who thought it would be a good tool for controlling their massive population to keep them in order and so funded Pavlov's research lavishly (Babkin, 1949). Edward Thorndike published his work Animal Intelligence, which lead to the theory of operant conditioning later in the realm of behaviorism (O'Donell, 1986). Thorndike also went on to carry out the first major scientific study of the adult learner and the learning process used by adults in 1928, and so formulating his theory of learning (Odonell, 1986). Kurt Lewin developed his theories on group behavior in 1946, working with T-groups in research with mob behavior and how it occurs, forming experimental theories still in use today by most counts (Lewin, 1964). Lewin worked with prejudicial situations spurred by social normality and group behavior in terms of group-think and mob behavior (Lewin, 1964). The ways groups interact and process as individual entities were the specialty he followed in his theories and assumptions, and became a pivotal expert in the situations of the 1960s with Negro aggression, warfare revolts, and the rights movements to name a few of the situational events of the time (Lewin, 1964). Later, Skinner worked on the theory of operant behavior, with its schedules of reinforcement: fixed ratio schedule; variable ratio schedule; fixed interval schedule; and variable interval schedule (Cherry, 2009). Skinner was best known for his idea that the consequences of a behavior determine the probability of its recurrence (O'Donell, 1986). In 1948, he published Walden 2, in which he described a behaviorist principally based utopian society, and in 1971, he published again, arguing that free will is an illusion in his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity (Cherry, 2009). It becomes clear, the radicalism of Skinner in statements such as that the ultimate goals of behavioral psychology should be to predict and control behavior (Goodwin, 2008). Operant conditioning was his realm of work, separating conditioning into S and R types, where S is Pavlovian conditioning and R is where a behavior is emitted and a reactive consequence it given as a reward or punishment (Goodwin, 2008). With a stricter methodology his schedules of reinforcement would be repeatable and so fall more into the scientific methods, which was a new way to proceed in psychology research to that time in eliminating explanatory fiction (Goodwin, 2008). Edward Tolman was a cross of the empirical research and the logical positivism, using theory to form predictions to be vetted out in research (Goodwin, 2008). Being goal-directed in his research, Tolman ideally thought of his methods as paralleling the subject's ultimate goals so he was able to follow in same (Goodwin, 2008). In this pursuit though, things happen to influence these goals, and Tolman labeled these as intervening variables (Goodwin, 2008). Cognitive mapping was a contribution of Tolman; as was the downplay of latent learning (Goodwin, 2008). He argued with the ideas of Clark Hull on nearly every point possible, believing in cognitive maps for children to influence their abilities to learn both academically as well as in the real world in terms of tools they could take and keep in their lives (Goodwin, 2008). A lot of these people can not really be placed on a linear time line because they contributed several points to the evolution of behaviorism. The contributions come from a standpoint of little background followed by research and data compilation in a collective knowledge base. Behaviorism has been declining in popularity for several years, or even decades as the philosophy of the cognitive theory changes through experimentation and hypothetical ideas rendered based on observations and speculations alike. Behaviorism started as a method to understand the way actions are taken and why they are done so. Behaviorist psychologists tended to â€Å"mechanize† the process, taking out of the scope the free will affect as well as that of decision on the part of the participant or subject of studies (Kassin, 2008). This can be seen in terms of either over-simplification of the mental processes or simplification of the tests for plausibility (Kassin, 2008). To this end, it can be seen how the testing apparatus put in place for conducting such experimentation holds true in its function and viability, so the actions and testing results are still affective, although interpreted differently as to data extracted from such experimentation (O'donell, 1986). The tests and ideas found and exemplified by these pioneers of behaviorism still ring true, and can be used today, but in different context. The mechanistic procedures held strenuously at the time though are both outdated as the more complex background information is discovered as well as methodologies used in light of the neo-behaviorism that followed referencing some animal to human references (Roediger, 2010). The principles have stayed the same, but the application and reliance has changed due in part to diversity and the simple will to differentiate the various peoples of the world. Today, reflecting back on the age of behaviorism, we can still use some of the principles of behaviorism in terms of treatment of bad behavior as well as understanding why this occurs. In the time of the behaviorists though, thoughts of utopian societies with everyone acting in unison, predicted and anticipated was just too mechanized for society to swallow, and guarantee freedom at the same time(Roediger, 2010). Today, behavior analysis is often used in various therapeutic techniques for all kinds of situations of behavioral situations such as to help children with autism with developmental delays to acquire new skills needed in the world for example. Advances in medical science research tools as well as cognitive theories and treatment overshadow behaviorism as it has starting in the 1950's from that of strictly observational to that of scientifically tested and verified facts in modern cognitive behavioral theories: simplistic boxes and pointers in references to thought processes of the day seem simplistic and abstract compared to today's brain scans for mapping cognizant processes in the advance of science in the roles of psychology research (Roediger, 2010). Behaviorism was never really proven wrong or accused of this, but rather drifted away due to its inability to modernize in relation to today's research tools and abilities of examining what is really happening (Roediger, 2010). the learning history associated with behaviorism simply is not relevant to today's cognizant theorists, and is either compartmentalized, or ignored all together as unimportant (Roediger, 2010). Babkin, B. P. (1949). Pavlov: a biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Cherry, K. , (2009). What is behaviorism? Retrieved May 15, 2010 from http://psychology. bout. com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/behaviorism. htm Goodwin, C. J. (2008). A history of modern psychology (3rd ed. ). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kassin, S. (2008). Psychology in Modules-ORG 5002, Survey of Psychology II. Pearson Custom Publishing. Boston, MA. Lewin, K. (1964). T-group theory and laboratory method. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. O'Donell, J. (1986). Origins of behaviorism. New York Univ ersity Press. Roediger, R. (2010). What happened to Behaviorism? Retrieved May 15, 2010 from http://www. psychologicalscience. org/observer/getArticle. cfm? id=1540