Change Management A Board Culture Of Corporate Governance

1.A brief introduction According to O’Donovan (2003), corporate governance is an internal system that includes policies, processes and people, which serves the requirements of shareholders and other stakeholders, by directing and controlling management activities with good business savvy, objectivity and integrity. O Donovan, G. (2003). Change Management-A Board Culture of Corporate Governance. Corporate Governance International, 6(3), 28-37. Over the first decade of the twenty-first century, a number of massive company scandals and collapses, such as the Healthsouth scandal in 2003, American Insurance Group scandal in 2005 and Lehman Brothers scandal in 2008 increased the attention to public, firms and governments about the importance of corporate governance and it showed that corporate governance is a critical element of the risk management. Executive compensation can motivate executive to work for the growth of business and it is expected to match the directors’ performance. However, the directors’ pay and their performance sometimes mismatch and it is unsustainable and harms the interest of shareholders. To encourage the stronger working relationships between company boards and shareholders, UK government published the ‘Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013’ on June 2013. By giving shareholders of UK quoted companies the power with binding vote on directors’ pay (hereafter referre d to as say on pay). At least 50 per cent of a firm s shareholders have toShow MoreRelatedIntroduction 2 Corporate governance Requirements†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦.3 The link betwwen1700 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction 2 Corporate governance Requirements†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦.3 The link betwwen Governance, Risk management, and Compliance (GRC) 4 The major procedures to apply the overview requirements 5 The importance of corporate governance practices 6 The benefits of corporate governance practices 7 Conculison†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..8 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 Introduction Recently the globalization of financial sector, and banking marketsRead MoreHow Corporate Governance And The Breakdown Of Each Sector ( Private Versus Public )1598 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Corporate Governance is the system of rules, practices and processes in which a company is controlled and directed. â€Å"It essentially involves balancing the interests of the many stakeholders in the company.† (Investopedia). These can include shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government and the community depending on the type of company. It provides the framework for attaining any company’s objectives. As western culture transitions into a more globalizedRead MoreHong Kong Establishing an Audit Committee for Companies799 Words   |  3 Pagesindependent non executive of director wit sufficientand appropriate financial experience. Shareholders should be provided with information about the composition, role and function of the audit committee in order to assess its effectiveness. Corporate Governance Disclosure Source Details of the composition of the audit committee, the work undertaken during the year and the number of times the audit committee met during the year. GR Details of the composition of the audit committee. HKSA recommendationRead MoreFinancial Management And Corporate Social Responsibility1216 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction With constant changes in the business world these days as well as the significant growth of organization, there are such key concerns on not only the issue of financial management or corporate social responsibility, but also the importance of ethics and governance, in which how an organization manages its business acting in the best interests of public and stakeholders. Indeed, there has been several of the failure of governance, fraud or bankrupt of large scale organizations in recentRead MoreCorporate Governance in Three Economies Germany, Japan and the United States1484 Words   |  6 Pages Corporate Governance in Three Economies: Germany, Japan and the United States 1. Strategy, Governance Concepts and Business Terminology: 1. Corporate governance 6. Legal structure 11. Crossholding 2. meeting of shareholders 7. Outstanding share 12. Limited liability companies 3. Long-term financing 8. Supervisory board 13. shareownership 4. Bond and equity market 9. Pension funds 14. Direct and Indirect households 5. Board of directors 10. Management board 15. InsideRead MoreExecutive Summary : Martha Stewart1706 Words   |  7 PagesMSO. Unfortunately for Stewart, there were some underlying issues that would eventually cause major problems for her and her company. Many of these problems sprouted from a lack of corporate governance, and it could be said that some of these issues could have been avoided if there had been better corporate governance policies in place. One of the biggest problems MSO faced was Stewart’s involvement in the company. Much of the success of her company relied on her image. She was very popular andRead MoreTransparency in Corporate Governance1507 Words   |  7 PagesCORPIRATE GOVERNANCE McBride Financial Services - Transparency in Corporate Governance University of Phoenix May 4, 2009 Transparency is imperative with respect to corporate governance due to the crucial nature of reporting financial information to maintaining investor and consumer confidence. The lack of devotion to corporate governance policies will send the message that the company is unbalanced and the leadership is not incorporating the highest level of integrity with change initiativesRead MoreCorporate Governance And Role Of Managers1698 Words   |  7 PagesContents INTRODUCTION 1 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND ROLE OF MANAGERS 1 STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR NEEDS 2 LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT PROCESS 3 DIFFERENT CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MODEL AND STRATEGIES 4 CONCLUSION 6 REFERENCES 6 INTRODUCTION This assignment is aiming to identify and critically evaluate the role of institutional investors in gaining better corporate governance. Institutional investors are those organizations, groups of people, families with large pool of money for investment and they systematicallyRead MoreTheories of Corporate Governance1320 Words   |  6 PagesTheories of Corporate Governance The philosophical foundations of corporate governance Edited by Thomas Clarke Contents Preface Acknowledgements ‘Introduction: Theories of Governance – Reconceptualizing Corporate Governance Theory After the Enron Experience’ Thomas Clarke PART 1 ECONOMIC FOUNDATIONS ix xi 1 31 34 45 ‘The Managerial Revolution in American Business’ Alfred D. Chandler Jr ‘The Impact of the Corporation on Classical Economic Theory’ Adolf A. Berle PART 2 AGENCY THEORY Read MoreStrategic Analysis Of Pfizers Strategic Analysis1257 Words   |  6 Pages Second, those concepts will be applied to the case of Pfizer in order to analyze its corporate governance, organizational structure and strategic leadership. The analysis of Pfizer will be followed by its evaluation to identify the major problem the company is facing and propose a solution. A short conclusion will close the report. 2. CONCEPTS All organizations have to establish management and governance arrangements that are appropriate for their businesses, and meet the requirements of their

The Treatment and Diagnosing of Traumatic Brain Injury Essay

Thesis Statement: Our veterans deserve for the procedures implicated in the treatment of all mild head injuries to have detailed diagnostic testing, in-depth evaluations, and follow up so there are not adverse future effects. I. The treatments of our veterans should be complete and timely. A. The procedures in treatment of mild head injuries need to be detailed. B. Rapid objective methods in diagnosing, evaluating, and follow up are imperative. II. Procedures may be implicated in the diagnosis of mild TBI. A. The types of headaches following a blast may determine severity of head injury. B. A simple blood test is a viable option. C. The combat medic is important in determining evidence of a†¦show more content†¦In the first place, diagnostic procedures can be implicated to determine the severity of the head injury. The headaches the soldiers may experience after a blast, which results in a mild traumatic brain injury, is now being evaluated. The immediate diagnosis of the soldier’s injuries could make a difference in the future problems the brain injury could cause. In civilian life, if a person suffers from a possible mild head injury from an accident, it is evaluated to the fullest to determine if any permanent damage has occurred. This should also be the case with our soldiers who are in the everyday situation of the mild brain injury. It is important for the medics to determine if the soldiers who suf fer with migraines after a blast are not suffering from a mild head injury. With attention to the severity of a headache and the symptoms that follow can be a standard that is used to decide the follow up action and treatment. â€Å"Ninety-two percent of soldiers experienced the onset of headache within one week. The average severity of the headache was moderate to severe with throbbing, aching, and sharp or burning pain. Blast did appear to associate with more complex headache types†. (Finkel et al. 957-965) After the headache evaluation a simple blood test could help in the diagnosis. A blood test should be a diagnostic standards for all the soldiers who have been inShow MoreRelatedDreaming and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Connection974 Words   |  4 PagesPsychCentral, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is defined as a â€Å"debilitating mental disorder that follows experiencing or witnessing an extremely traumatic, tragic, or terrifying event† (PTSD Info Treat ment, 2013). While this definition describes the general definition of PTSD, the DSM-IV states that the criteria for being diagnosed with PTSD varies between a person who â€Å"experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threatRead MoreVeterans Are Winning The War Of Afghanistan, Losing The Battle At Home1694 Words   |  7 PagesEven though Traumatic brain injury is not receiving enough funding, it has caused awareness that there are people that are volunteering to help the veterans the volunteers’ services. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has affected many people, but has hardly raised awareness; in fact according to Marcia Clemmitt â€Å"About 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year†¦Yet, while they affect so many people, TBI has received little medical-research funding until brain injuries from theRead MoreDiffuse Axonal Injury And Its Effects1076 Words   |  5 Pages2017 Diffuse Axonal Injury Diffuse axonal injury occurs in nearly half of all severe craniocerebral traumas. Lesions in the white matter over a wide area of the brain, often affecting the brainstem, corpus callosum, and cerebral hemispheres are caused by DAI. Studies show that DAI is a result of traumatic acceleration/deceleration, and ninety percent of patients with severe DAI never regain consciousness, while those who do survive often face significant impairs. This injury is extensive and isRead MoreTraumatic Brain Injury Essay1284 Words   |  6 Pages Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the result of an external force against the head that causes displacement of the cranial structures, either through impact with an object or through acceleration and deceleration. TBI is not isolated to a single ethnic group, socioeconomic class, or region (Berquist et al., 2009; Jang et al., 2013). In 2002, the United States had the highest incidence of reported TBI cases of any developed country. The incidence of hospital admissions due to closed head injuriesRead MoreEssay on Ethical Issues in End-of-Life Decisions1453 Words   |  6 Pagesvalue the lives of their love ones no matter how limited their lives are. So the medical, legal and moral questions arise; should PVS patients be denied nutrition and hydration until they die? Patients living in PVS’s should be given every medical treatment available to increase their chances for recovery but rather they recover or not they are human beings and the limited life they have should be pr eserved and treated with dignity. Terri Schiavo with her mother at the Woodside Hospice in PinellasRead MoreSafety First, Right?3083 Words   |  13 Pages 2015 Safety First, Right? Brain injuries are detrimental to the human psyche and if traumatic enough, then it can also be detrimental to daily function. As horrible as it seems â€Å"Approximately 75% of traumatic brain injuries seen in emergency departments are mild cases. Annually approximately 70,000 people who have TBI experience permanent damage† (Your Best Resource for Brain Injury). Brain injuries are common and can be permanent. People receive trauma to the brain quite often; there are a lotRead MoreAls Essay1015 Words   |  5 PagesChronic Traumatic Encetholpothy and concussions. The reason they can occur is because of brain trauma. ALS is a diseases in which certain nerves cells in the brain in the spinal cord slowly die, it is also responsible for controlling voluntary muscle movements. On the other hand CTE is a degenerative brain disease found in athletes, military veterans and others that have a history in repetitive brain trauma. In CTE, a protein called Tau forms clumps that slowly s preads throughout the brain cells,Read MoreThe Effects Of Concussion On Young Athletes1748 Words   |  7 PagesConcussion in Young Athletes Tennessee State University Kenji Anderson Introduction When youth participate in sports, they are at risk for multiple types of injuries. One of the most common and dangerous sports-related injuries is concussions. Although concussions are one of the most visible sports injuries, it is often hard to diagnose. Symptoms of a concussion can be vague and uncertain, which can inevitably lead to more harm to an athlete. Athletes who play with concussions canRead MoreEffects Of Depression On Individuals With An Acquired Brain Injury ( Abi )1458 Words   |  6 PagesDepression in individuals with an acquired brain injury (ABI) has resulted in a great deal of research. Much of the research done has been from a western bio-medical perspective, generally from neurological, neurobiological or neuropsychological viewpoints. Complementary and alternative interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) are two treatment modalities that can be utilized for depression in individuals with an ABI. In order to studyRead MoreAttention For Traumatic Brain Injury3021 Words   |  13 PagesTITLE Attention for traumatic brain injury has grown over the years and programs have been created to help try and prevent the injuries. As this is an injury to the brain the literature is vast with insight into what part of the brain injured resulted in what change in the individual. Children and athletics have been the main focus in recent years for studies as research have shown that undiagnosed injuries can have long lasting effects. The area of focus is that of inmates. It is a population

Project Management for Operators

Question: Discuss about theProject Management for Operators. Answer: Introduction Disputes are emerging in a large way due to growing number of projects. One should be prepared for the disruptions in the infrastructure project from the beginning and solve conflicts before ending up in arbitration or litigation. Business case approach should be adopted to know the pros and cons, success and potential liability of the project. Contracts and tenders should know how to deal with these disruptions. Learning Summary Learning Outcome Learning from experience 1. Reasons behind the dispute during the projects Salet, W., Bertolini, L. and Giezen, M., 2013. Complexity and uncertainty: problem or asset in decision making of mega infrastructure projects?.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,37(6), pp.1984-2000. The disputes take place during the project when it goes beyond budget and run behind the schedule. A project tends to fail when it miss the deadline and gives estimations during project planning. A dispute arises when there is a difference in the opinion of people working for the project. A dispute may arise when there is a mistake in the judgment. One of the main causes of the dispute in a project is error or omission in the contract and proper administration of the contract. In UK, the main cause of dispute has not understood or adheres to the contract accountability by the sub-contractor or contractor or an employee. In Europe, the main cause of dispute is varied site conditions. The projects can end up in dispute due to political pressure of publicly announcing the project completion date (Salet, Bertolini and Giezen 2013). Learning Outcome Description of Experience including reading samples Learning from experience 2. Keeping documents to support claims Guo, F., Chang-Richards, Y., Wilkinson, S. and Li, T.C., 2014. Effects of project governance structures on the management of risks in major infrastructure projects: A comparative analysis.International Journal of Project Management,32(5), pp.815-826. One of the biggest challenges during a dispute is collecting proof for keeping a backup to claim during a dispute and get updated planning and construction process of the project. Documents are maintained for the welfare of quality, efficiency and good decision-making. The owners and contractors should maintain a document containing updated information about the construction and planning process and people working on the project. Information is the turning point of dispute and thus it is required to maintain documents. To explain why certain actions took place, documents have to be maintained. Documenting information can lead to the decision-making of winning or losing the dispute (Guo et al. 2014). Learning Outcome Description of Experience including reading samples Learning from experience 3. Risk associated with disputes Pai, S.K. and Bharath, J.R., 2013. Analysis of Critical Causes of Delays in Indian Infrastructure Projects.International Journal of Innovative Research and Development|| ISSN 22780211,2(3), pp.251-263. If there is a dispute mediation, conciliation, arbitration and litigation will take place. Mediation and conciliation is a speedy and cheap process than arbitration and litigation to solve disputes. If mediation does not work out in transnational disputes, then arbitration is more popular than litigation in the construction industry (Pai and Bharath 2013). Learning Outcome Description of Experience including reading samples Learning from experience 4. Identify and planning to remove risk Salet, W., Bertolini, L. and Giezen, M., 2013. Complexity and uncertainty: problem or asset in decision making of mega infrastructure projects?.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,37(6), pp.1984-2000. Identification The risk associated should be clearly identified. The company should solve the dispute as fast as possible to reduce cost and delays to the contractor or else contractor will try to figure out how to increase their own profit. Risk can be reduced by hiring an independent advisor and implement the assurance process. Planning When the projects get diverged, it results in a costly dispute Project managers need to monitor and control risk continuously Project managers have to ensure that the communication line is opened and through negotiation, the projects resumes. The companies should properly control and govern the projects to remain on track (Salet, Bertolini and Giezen 2013). References Guo, F., Chang-Richards, Y., Wilkinson, S. and Li, T.C., 2014. Effects of project governance structures on the management of risks in major infrastructure projects: A comparative analysis.International Journal of Project Management,32(5), pp.815-826. Pai, S.K. and Bharath, J.R., 2013. Analysis of Critical Causes of Delays in Indian Infrastructure Projects.International Journal of Innovative Research and Development|| ISSN 22780211,2(3), pp.251-263. Park, Y.I. and Papadopoulou, T.C., 2012. Causes of cost overruns in transport infrastructure projects in Asia: their significance and relationship with project size.Built Environment Project and Asset Management,2(2), pp.195-216. Salet, W., Bertolini, L. and Giezen, M., 2013. Complexity and uncertainty: problem or asset in decision making of mega infrastructure projects?.International Journal of Urban and Regional Research,37(6), pp.1984-2000.

Pragmatism in Government free essay sample

The character of politics makes consistency pretty close to impossible, partly because politicians are human and human nature is inconsistent, and partly because the voters dont really want consistency. As voters, we have the luxury of holding politicians to standards we would almost certainly be unable to meet if we were in their positions. And when they fail, we revile them for their hypocrisy, which is as pointless as reviling a dog for having a moist nose. Now, all of this may make Auntie sound awfully cynical. Should we have no moral standards at all for politicians? Should we throw principles by the wayside and let ome kind of shifty situational ethics fgleaf naked greed and power grabbing? Not at Just for illustration, take the issue of saving people from oppressive dictators, which is unquestionably a worthy concept, right up there with protecting children from pedophiles or saving animals from being abused and mistreated. We will write a custom essay sample on Pragmatism in Government or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But no matter how worthy an end is, its moral righteousness alone can never Justify evil means employed in achieving it. Its not wrong, cold, or cynical to carefully calculate the cost of achieving a noble end, its responsible, and responsibility is what we should be emanding from ourselves and the leaders we elect to represent us. Costs come in many forms. We may not always agree on the totals, or even what should be counted as cost in such an equation, but the greater the potential for harm from an action, the more stringently we should perform the analysis. If, for example, saving people from an oppressive dictator requires unpopular political decisions, economic pressure that involves some level of pain and suffering on both sides, diplomatic actions that require quids-pro-quo wed rather not give, possibly even strained relations with another party whose good will has value for us, etc. thats one calculation. If it requires military action, thats another cost accounting entirely. Military action, even for noble motives, has enormous potential for doing harm if something goes wrong, if errors are made, or the logistical or tactical situations change. And the intensity and impact of that harm is likely to be enormous as well. The consequences can be grave, long-lasting, and far-reaching, so the costs have to be calculated with extreme care and with maximum possible integrity. Those potential costs, and the likelihood of their being required, have to be factored into the equation. Lets take the other examples, protecting children from pedophiles and saving animals from abuse † each of these goals is indisputably good. What is required to achieve them, however, must be calculated, and each voter, and each elected official, will calculate differently. How effectively will any given measure reduce the risk of children being victimized? What are the costs of each measure, both short-term and long-term? . who bears those costs and n It, tor example, the measure under consideration involves restricting or denying civil rights and liberties granted under the Constitution, how do we choose whose rights will be curtailed? How much will that reduce the risk to children, and how much will it cost all of us to ensure that only those we are certain pose such a risk are denied their civil rights? I saw an amusing bumper sticker recently that said Liberals treat dogs like people, and conservatives treat people like dogs. Although I cant agree with such blanket characterizations (l have known liberals who mistreat dogs, and whose treatment of people wouldnt give dogs much to hope for, and conservatives who rescue dogs and exhibit deep compassion and care for people,) it provokes considerable thought. What are our priorities, and how do we choose to act on them? What should we expect our elected leaders to do with our priorities? First, it helps to remember that our elected officials are balancing my priorities against my neighbors priorities, not to mention the priorities of those who gave big money to their campaigns. And not only our priorities, but our beliefs about what means can and should be used to address them, will differ widely. What if the policy or legislative action that an elected leader truly believes is right also happens to address a priority of a donor who gave them a lot of money? On the other hand, what f the means of implementing that policy or action would go against the donors ideas of what is acceptable? What if those means address a priority of mine, but would require a sacrifice from my neighbor and seem a little doubtful to me? The reason so many people think of issues in black and white is that its easier. By establishing a rigid framework of right and wrong and tying everything to that framework and ignoring the complexities, they free themselves from having to do all those calculations. Its reprehensible enough in a voter, because after all, we have the ultimate responsibility for our government. But in an elected official, whose actions have immediate and far-ranging consequences, taking the black/white shortcut is deeply irresponsible. An elected leader cant be consistent and still be responsibly considering all the aspects of her actions. What she has to be, is thoughtful, cautious, and open-minded† willing to admit mistakes and work to correct them, but less likely to make them because she considers each action thoroughly. And we as voters need to stop reflexively chastising those we elect for inconsistency or hypocrisy, and start holding them accountable for how carefully and completely hey calculate the costs of their decisions, and their willingness to abide by those decisions. Thanks for bringing up such an interesting question, Jeniece, and for putting it to Auntie Pinko! It seems that the question is based on a false dichotomy. Ideology and pragmatism arent an either-or, its a case of apples and oranges. The liberal call tor a pragmatic response to Iraq is not necessarily a choice between idealism and the ends Justify the means, while Clintons support of NAFTA was both pragmatic AND ideological, no matter how misguided (Clinton is a neoliberal after all). The response seems to confuse ideology and values. Ideology is political theory, the basis of policy and, when misguided the lense through which problems and opportunities are viewed. Pragmatism (in the sense used in both the question and the response) is tantamount to realpolitik, which is the practice of politics without moral or ethical values. I myself have an issue with the American political system because it IS largely bereft of ideology outside the leitmotif of neoliberal economics and neoconservative foreign policy. The GOP and the DLC indeed propound the above ideologies and to a great extent base their world-view through ideologically-tinted glasses, but it is a alse ideology in more ways than one. What is worse is that neither group actually articulate their ideology in political discourse with the electorate it is hidden through rhetorical flourish and spin. Neoliberalism is a false ideology because it was created ex post facto in order to justify a pre-existing condition (laissez faire capitalism, free marketism, greed, abuse, etc. ). It was created in Mt. Pellegrin on the basis of the Austrian School of economic theory and it is wholly divorced from democratic principles (the common weal, etc). Neoconservatism is philosophically based on a serially mendacious ndividual (Leo Strauss) that Justifies manipulation and lies. Nevertheless, America NEEDS ideologies because, for too long our political discourse has been driven by relatively unimportant, short-term and specific issues such as abortion, gun control, immigration, and the like. Neither party has expressed a long- term goal and of course strategies to achieve said goals while both parties have gone their merry way maintaining a situation of corporate corruption and the tyranny of special interests. This makes American political discourse something of a bad Joke and party affilliation little different from being a fan of a sports team. cepting, of course, those earthshaking issues such as Terry Schiavos cerebral cortex. Politicis in a democracy is indeed the balancing and negotiation between sides, groups and individuals. The responses confusion between values and ideology clouds the issue in a democracy with ideologically-driven parties (that articulate said ideologies) the compromises take on a different meaning and scope. The absence of ideo logy turns our body politic into a trade show and keeps the electorate from fighting for a better future. Hear, Hear, from the OTHER District of Columbia, Washington State. The Columbia River restricts access, Just like the security forces in D. C. ) Here our politics has shitted over the years as well, even though, tortunately, we are rather progressive. Pragmatism is an important factor in the decisions politicians make, and sometimes utopians lose sight of the dangers and difficulties in making things turn out right. Even so, I agree with the utopians regarding their goals and commitment. The main questions involve what to do about the fact that not everybody agrees, at least in the short term, on the issues. I urge utopians to maintain their goodwill, while nderstanding reality as much as possible. Fighting for justice and a well-adjusted society requires patience and effort, which can often cause people to quit working for a better future. I urge steadfastness to principle here. Idealism is good, as long as you realize that not everybody is idealistic. Progress in human affairs is difficult and somewhat uncertain. But we do have evidence of its existence. Lets stick to our beliefs, through thick and thin. Remember to use your head to help your heartfelt beliefs come to realization, because finding the answers to problems takes thinking and effort.

Top 10 Online Tools for Writers

Top 10 Online Tools for Writers Top 10 Online Tools for Writers Top 10 Online Tools for Writers By Ali Hale All writers need a helping hand now and again – and having the best tools at your fingertips can make a huge difference. I’ve picked my favourite tools that will work for almost all writers – whether you’re a blogger, a novelist, a freelancer, or (like me) a bit of everything. We’ll take a look at: Four tools to help you focus when you’re writing – for many writers, this is the biggest challenge! Four tools to help you store your writing safely (and collaborate with others, too). Two nifty tools you’ve almost certainly not come across before. Of course, I’d love to hear about your favourite tools too – feel free to leave a comment below. Note: I’ve tried to avoid having much overlap with my list of tools to help you write the perfect essay, so you might want to take a look at that too (particularly for suggestions of tools that’ll help you edit). Tools to Help You Focus These four tools are all ones that’ll help you stay on task with your writing. In a world of distractions, it can be surprisingly difficult to just sit down and write. #1: Noisli (free), from Noisli While I generally like listening to Metallica while I write, sometimes I want a slightly more chilled-out vibe. Nosili is a great online tool that allows you to create your own combinations of background noise to help you focus. I like a combination of â€Å"wind† and â€Å"leaves† but you might prefer something else entirely. (Just don’t get so distracted experimenting that you forget to actually write!) Tip: If you’re really into the coffee shop sounds, try Coffitivity, an online tool that â€Å"recreates the ambient sounds of a cafe to boost your creativity and help you work better.† #2: Zen Pen (free), from Tim Holman Most writing apps come with lots of extra options, in menu bars or sidebars. There are plenty of online tools, though, that offer a â€Å"distraction-free† writing environment – and Zen Pen is one of the best options. In Zen Pen, you can do some minimal formatting (bold and italic text, and links) by highlighting text and clicking a button on the tiny menu that pops up. If you’re writing, say, a blog post, this is very handy but non-intrusive. You can save your work (in HTML, plain text, or Markdown), or you can simply copy and paste it into a wordprocessing program or your blog editor – the formatting should remain intact. Tip: If you prefer to write offline, try Dark Room (for Windows): I used it to draft the whole of my first novel. It’s a distraction-free plain text writing environment, and comes in a fetchingly retro green-on-black – you can change the colour scheme under Edit Preferences, though, if you prefer something different. #3: RescueTime (free), from RescueTime I’ve tried a bunch of different time-trackers over the years, and RescueTime is the one I keep coming back to. As well as the online interface, you’ll need to install the app on your computer (or other devices, if you want to track your time in multiple places). It’ll record exactly how long you spend on different activities – including tracking specific websites, so you can see where your time is going. If you’re a bit prone to getting distracted, or if you can’t quite figure out why you’re not getting more writing done when you’re at your desk, RescueTime is a great app to try out. You might be surprised or even a bit dismayed by how you’re actually using your time. (I’m tend to find that I spend less time writing in Word than I think and rather more time in my web browser than I’d have estimated!) Tip: The premium version of RescueTime gives you a lot more features – for instance, it allows you to track and label time you’ve spent away from the computer. For most writers, though, the free version is a great way to become more aware of your habits and how you’re spending your time. #4: Write or Die (free), Dr Horrible If you spend too much time staring at the screen, trying to come up with the perfect sentence, then Write or Die is for you! If you stop writing for too long, your screen turns red and it plays a horrible squeaking/screeching noise – a great incentive to start typing again. There a definite gamification vibe going on here, with a â€Å"Leaderboard† of top writers (each identified only by their auto-generated username). You can even set Write or Die to â€Å"Kamikaze† mode, where it’ll start deleting your words if you stop typing for more than a few seconds (don’t worry, it deletes them quite slowly and it stops as soon as you begin typing again). The homepage of the Write or Die website has a lot going on: all you need to do to get going with your writing, though, is to click the â€Å"Ready† button on the bottom left. Tip: If horrible noises and a bright red screen are more terrifying than motivating for you, you can also use Write or Die in â€Å"reward† mode, where you get regular pictures of kittens and encouraging purrs. Places to Keep Your Writing There are plenty of online tools that you can use to store your writing or even to publish it. These are a few of my favourites. #5: Google Docs (free), Google As a freelancer, I use Google Docs a lot: several of the blog editors I work with want my posts as a Google Doc. This allows them to work on the post as a team – often, one person will do edits, another will source images and format the post, and so on. Even if you won’t be working collaboratively with others, Google Docs can be a great tool. It means you can access your work from anywhere with an internet connection – very handy if you might sometimes be writing, say, during your lunch hour at work, or at a computer in your local library. Tip: Chances are, you already have a Google account (maybe you created it to use for Chrome or YouTube, or your Android phone). If you don’t, you can create one here. #6: Evernote (free), Evernote Corporation If you have a lot of different writing ideas, plans, checklists, and so on Evernote is a great place to store them. I use it for almost everything: my blogging content calendar, lists of blog post ideas, the next steps I need to take with marketing my novel, writing my short newsletter articles, and more! With Evernote, you can create multiple â€Å"notebooks† to hold your content (though the search feature is very helpful and I don’t tend to bother filing my notes very assiduously). Notes can include all the formatting you’re likely to want – and you can even include images or video. You can sign into Evernote from any device using the web interface, and you can install the Evernote app on your computer / tablet / phone so you can read and write notes offline. You can also share notes with other Evernote users – or email them to anybody, direct from Evernote. Tip: If you want to use the Evernote app on more than two devices, you’ll need to pay to upgrade to a premium account. However, if you’re happy using the web interface, you can login from as many extra devices as you want for free! #7: Dropbox (free), Dropbox, Inc. Dropbox lets you store your files on your computer and in the cloud, painlessly syncing them whenever you save anything into your Dropbox folder. It’s a really easy system to use – and you can share Dropbox folders with other people. It works with any type of file – I keep all sorts in my Dropbox folder, from baby photos (.jpgs) to blog posts (.docx) to Scrivener files (.scriv). Obviously, you’ll need the right software on your computer/device to actually open the files. You can access Dropbox from any computer by signing in on the web, so even if you’re travelling, you can still get all your files. Plus, if your computer suddenly dies on you – you won’t lose all your files. Tip: If you install the Dropbox app on your computer, saving your files to Dropbox is very simple: just save them as normal, into the Dropbox folder. (You can create as many subfolders as you want.) Dropbox is basically the equivalent of a â€Å"My Documents† folder for me. #8: WordPress (free), WordPress Foundation You’ve probably heard of WordPress and it’s a great tool for many different writers. You don’t necessarily have to be a blogger in order to use WordPress: you might want to use it to create a simple one-page website, for instance. I rarely write straight into WordPress – I prefer to draft in Word or Evernote – but there’s no reason not to. If you’re working from several different computers, you can easily login to WordPress and carry on with a draft post wherever you left off. There are plenty of other blogging platforms out there, of course – but having tried a few, I definitely feel that WordPress is the best. Tip: There are two types of WordPress: hosted (WordPress.com) and self-hosted (WordPress.org). If you don’t want to register a domain name and pay for your own hosting, WordPress.com will suit you best; if you want lots of features and full control, go with WordPress.org. Other Handy Tools Finally, I wanted to share two nifty little tools that you almost certainly won’t have heard of – but that you might find yourself growing to love. #9: Texthandler (free), Mykhailo Dovzhyk Texthandler is a simple tool that can help with some common and frustrating editing tasks, particularly if you’re preparing lengthy documents – like a book manuscript – for publication. Do you put two spaces after each period by habit (even though you know it’s not the accepted modern style)? If so, just write in the way that comes naturally, then use Texthandler to strip out all those double spaces and replace them with single spaces. It’s super-fast! (The main drawback here is that Texthandler uses plain text only, so if you copy and paste your beautifully formatted blog post, you’ll lose all your subheadings, bold text, and so on.) Texthandler can do a lot more, too, like removing line breaks that have appeared in the middle of paragraphs – a very common issue when you’re trying to copy and paste from a .pdf. Tip: Texthandler is a fairly bare-bones tool, and it may take you a few minutes to figure out the right options to use for what you’re trying to do. If you don’t get the results you expected the first time round, try selecting / checking different options beneath the box where you paste your text. #10:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Take Three Nouns† Writing Prompt (free), WritingExercises.co.uk I co-ordinate a (rather sporadic) writing group, and quite often, we use this tool for group writing exercises. It’s a fun way to come up with writing prompts, and it works easily on my phone, so I don’t need to prepare anything in advance. Simply click the button, and use the three nouns you get to write a story – or a poem, a blog post, or whatever else you want to work on. If the words you get don’t inspire you at all, click the button again to get fresh ones. Which of these tools do you need in your writing life? Give them a go today! If there’s a different tool you love, just let us know in the comments below. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:45 Synonyms for â€Å"Food†The Six Spellings of "Long E"Ebook, eBook, ebook or e-book?

Mind Your -eds

Mind Your -eds Mind Your -eds Mind Your -eds By Maeve Maddox The English verb ending -ed is a curious construction. Although always spelled -ed, it has three different pronunciations. Two of them can lead to misspellings: /ed/ as in faded /d/ as in turned /t/ as in wrecked The suffix -ed is the sign of the past tense. That is, most English verbs form their past tenses by adding -ed. For example, walk/walked, love/loved, sneeze/sneezed. The same ending marks the simple past tense and the perfect: Yesterday I walked. I have walked for hours. In earlier periods, English verbs presented more variety in the way they formed the simple past and the past participle. A few of the older forms survive in what the grammar books call irregular verbs. These verbs do not form their past tenses by adding -ed: sing sang (have) sung give gave (have) given write wrote (have) written These irregular verbs are sometimes called strong verbs. Once very numerous in English, only a few survivefewer than 70. Many of them, like help, became ed verbs long ago so we no longer say holp or holpen. Some of the survivors, like wake and dive, are in the process of changing and the old and new forms are both in use: He woke the baby. or He waked the baby. He dove from the top board. or He dived into the pool. One changing form that makes me sad is slayed for slew. The characters on Buffy the Vampire Slayer made the -ed form current. My view is that slay is an old-fashioned word that deserves old-fashioned past forms. If I ever slay a vampire, I will say that I have slain it, and I want the reporters to say that I slew it. And speaking of old-fashioned, dont commit the error of leaving off the -ed when it is called for. Dont write old-fashion girl for old-fashioned girl, or I was suppose to go home early for I was supposed to go home early. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Possessive ApostropheTrooper or Trouper?

Golf Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Golf - Article Example Aside from which, they are the ones who do not infrequently participate in golf tournaments, hoping to bag another trophy home on a warm & sunny Sunday. There are also what you call â€Å"recreational† golfers that are a bit competitive and at the same time plays the sport to meet new people, pass time or perhaps pave their own entrance to a certain kind of clique that being a golfer suggests. The last type would be the first-timer golfers who were probably tagged along by one of their friends who plays golf or perhaps those that tried the sport just so they can check another off of their bucket list. Indeed, golf is one many splendored thing and the best thing to do before one starts to play golf would be to know why you want to play golf and what is it that you expect from the sport. This is because getting into it does not only change the environment you are in but most importantly can change your life. This is because allowing something new in your life would mean being open to changes in your activities, mindset & attitude. Just like life, with golf, you can expect anything under the sun and with the right expectations comes a disappointment-free

Review of Accounting Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Review of Accounting Ethics - Research Paper Example This paper seeks to find out the codes of ethics governing a business, its implications and the measures that needs to be taken to control the cases of employees breaching ethical codes. The current business and regulatory ethics The current environments are fairly conducive for business especially the accounting sector. Fast and former most, there is much pressure from the management. The companies and organizations put very high expectations that are next not impossible to reach. Accountants work extra hard to create financial statements like the balance sheets, trial balance, income statements just to mention but a few (Brooks & Dunn, 2009). These statements require a lot of keenness and a slight mistake can lead to tragedy. On issues that concern assets, the accountants are to give the correct figures on the asset in question. If the accountants are unsatisfied and put under fire by the management, alterations on the figures may occur. They can give figures that please company ow ners but in the long run, the company will realize a downfall if they are not careful. Accountants are usually faced with complicated accounting systems that are difficult to follow and use. Some organizations use accounting systems that are too clumsy to use. The accountants are prone to errors like omissions and technical mistakes (Knapp, 2011). Business and accounting ethics require that the systems used must be familiar to the accountants so that they get an easy time in their operations (Manada, 2010). The management recommends systems that they cannot understand. If any accountant is well conversant with a complex stem, it makes possible to him or her as she can easily manipulate the organization. For any mishap to be detected, it will require extra efforts from the business (Miller, 2012). Accounting ethical breach and impacts In an organization known as Arthur Anderson, accountants were called upon to do the audit. Surprisingly, they did breach the accounting ethics they gav e a wrong publication about their findings on the business. Honesty was never observed by this group. For any organization, honesty is a virtue that must be adapted (Manada, 2010). These accountants never gave the public and the organization the exact figures concerning important financial documents. Inventories such as profit and loss accounts records of the company were doctored. Openness is another business ethic that the accountants violated in this organization. They took the advantage of being the professionals and hid the necessary information from the public and the organization. When carrying out auditing, transparency is needed. Accountants took advantage of the complexity of their profession to hide vital information from the organization and the public. Responsibility was never observed by the accountants in this organization. Auditing was being done and opposite results were given to the management. This process involves looking into the financial records of a company t o identify flaws that may be done by other employees in the organization. In the contrary, the auditors were trying to cover up their tracks. They never carried on their duties properly. After the fraud was realized, they refused to own up to their wrong doings. It had to take investigative measures by relevant authorities to make them answerable (Knapp, 2011). It is important to note that this profession involves confidentiality but when there is a matter that needs

Ethics - Argumentative Essay Example for Free

Ethics Argumentative Essay 1. What is an â€Å"argument† in philosophy? A set of claims one of which, called the conclusion, is said to be supported by the other claims, called the premises. 1. Premise 2. Premise 3. Conclusion 2. What do the terms â€Å"valid† and â€Å"sound† mean? Valid Argument If the premises are true, then it follows necessarily that the conclusion is true, or it is logically impossible for the conclusion to be false. Sound Argument A valid argument that contains only true premises. Soundness = Truth + Validity. 3. Sketch the â€Å"benefits arguments† in favor of harvesting Baby’s Theresa’s organs. Set out the premises and conclusion for Benefits Argument in the Baby Theresa case. The Benefits Argument 1. If we can benefit someone without harming anyone else, we ought to do so. 2. Transplanting the organs would benefit the other children without harming Baby Theresa. 3. Therefore, we ought to transplant her organs. The Argument That We should Not Use People As Means 1. If we use someone only as a means, we do something that is morally wrong. 2. Taking Theresas organs would be using her only as a meas to benefit other children. 3. There fore, it would be morally wrong to take Theresas organs. 4. Sketch the â€Å"we should not use people as means† argument against harvesting Baby Theresa’s organs. Set out the premises and conclusion for The Wrongfulness of Killing Argument in the Baby Theresa case. The Argument From the Wrongfulness of Killing 1. If we harvested Theresas organs, then we would be killing one innocent person to save another. 2. We should not kill one innocent person to save another. 3. Therefore, if we should not harvest Theresas organs. Rachels Assessment *The prohibition against killing is strong, but most people do not think it absolute. Baby Theresa is (1) going to die soon anyway, (2) not conscious, and (3) her organs could help save several other children. Rachels states that we might even regard Baby Theresa as born dead. 5. Sketch the â€Å"Slippery Slope Argument† against killing Tracy Latimer. If one bad thing happens then others will follow after. 1. If we permit any sort of mercy killing, we will have stepped onto a dangerous slippery slope down which we will inevitably slide. 2. The mercy killing of Tracy was permissible. 3. Hence, we have stepped onto a dangerous slippery slope (which will lead to the view that all life is cheap). Objection: Are the causal claims supported by any evidence? In general, it is easy to make dire predictions concerning the future. Consider an analogy: Would gay marriage lead to the disintegration of the family? 6. What does Rachels’s â€Å"minimum conception of morality† consist of? Morality is, at the very least, the effort to guide one’s conduct by reason-while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one’s decision. Reason and impartiality consist stuff 7. What are five common features of Cultural Relativism? 1. Different societies have different moral codes. 2. (a) The good is determined by society; (b) an act is right if it is allowed by the guiding ideals od the society in which it is performed, and wrong if it forbidden by those ideals. 3. There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one societys code as better than an others. 4. The moral code of our society has no special status. 5. We should adopt an attitude to tolerance. 8. What is the â€Å"Cultural Differences† argument for Cultural Relativism? Does Rachels think it is sound? he thinks it is unsound, 9. If Cultural Relativism is true, then some odd consequences for ethical theory follow. What are they? 10. Does Rachels hold that there are some moral rules that all societies have in common? 11. What are the three traditional divine attributes of monotheism? 12. What is the difference between â€Å"theism†, â€Å"atheism†, and â€Å"agnosticism†? 13. What is the â€Å"problem of evil†? 14. What is the Divine Command theory? 15. What is Socratess question in the Euthyphro? How does it bear on the Divine Command Theory? 16. What are some of the main elements of Natural Law Theory? 17. Raise some objections to Natural Law Theory. 18. What is Ethical Egoism and how does it differ from Psychological Egoism? 19. Define â€Å"altruism†. Why does the Psychological Egoist hold that altruism is not possible? 20. Some object that Ayn Rand’s argument for Ethical Egoism presents us with a â€Å"false dichotomy†. Explain. 21. Why doesn’t Rachels think Ethical Egoism is a fair reflection of common sense morality? 22. What is the Principle Equal Treatment? How does it relate to Ethical Egoism? *There will be some extra-credit questions pertaining to material discussed in lecture.

The Scarlett Letter Review :: essays research papers

The Scarlet Letter is a movie that has changed many times and in this summary I will try to stick to this one movie, even though I may compare it to the novel. As you already know, The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne dealing with the times of the Salem witch trials and puritan life. It is said that Hawthorne was very focused on these times because he felt guilty because his ancestors sent many men and women through various trails including burning and drowning them. Hawthorne is a great writer and one of my personal favorites, he writes in such a way that a vision is formed in your mind and he shows the feelings of those in his stories, real or imagined.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For preset the movie is told from Pearl’s eyes as if looking back on the lover her mother and father shared and their trials to be together. It begins with Mistress Hester Prin coming to the colonies without her husband, which many viewed as odd anyway. Hester finds her a nice cottage on the coast and precedes to buy help and live fairly normal. Many look down on her because she is alone and they expect something terrible of her. There is a group of women that take her in because they too are shunned from society, this group includes Harriet, she is very helpful and friendly to Hester throughout the movie. One day while Hester is gardening she sees a red bird and follows it to where she sees a young man swimming in the nude. On the Sabbath on her way to church her carriage gets stuck in the mud, and the nude swimmer helps her and admits that he has been trespassing on her property. The two get to town and he disappears before she can get his name. Then she enters and sits and he enters the pulpit. After the service they are properly introduced and he finds out that she is married. You can see in his eyes that this truly hurts him especially since many, many women introduce her to him as Mrs. Roger Prin. The two a obviously very intrigued with each other and eventually their passion is freed on a chance meeting. Hester then realizes she is pregnant and one of the ladies that also joins her at Harriet’s told the elders, because she had saw Hester throw up in the morning hours. Hester refused to reveal the father and lie in prison until her child was born. Rev.

How the character of Lady Macbeth changes and develops throughout the course of the play Essay

When we are first introduced to Lady Macbeth in Act I, scene v, she is at once perceived as a rather hard, ambitious individual who will stop at nothing to get what she wants. However, throughout the play her character undergoes many changes and in the end she goes insane, because of her heightened sense of guilt, and kills herself. Lady Macbeth’s first 2 soliloquies in Act 1 reveal her character very well. The way she speaks of Macbeth’s character makes it quite clear that hers is very different. She does not feel that she has to achieve things respectably or honourably, and is quick to seize opportunities, unlike Macbeth, as is shown by how she immediately connects the prophecies with the king’s visiting her castle. ‘†¦The raven Himself is hoarse That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan Under my battlements’. (Act I, scene v, lines 36-8) As soon as the messenger leaves, Lady Macbeth calls upon the spirits of the Underworld to fill her with ‘direst cruelty’ and to let ‘no compunctious visitings of nature shake her fell purpose’. She thinks womanhood and femininity weak, and through this we see her hard, cold, remorseless side, that will do anything to fulfil her desires and ambitions. In Act I Lady Macbeth is only talking about and planning the murder- in Act II we see her spring into action. She is the one behind it all, pushing her weak and unwilling husband to do the deed. In this act it is seen even more clearly that Lady Macbeth has no conscience, or if she does it is lying dormant. Every time Macbeth begins to express his guilt and dismay, his wife cuts him off and says something like ‘These deeds must not be thought/ After these ways: so, it will make us mad.’ (Act II, scene ii, lines 33-4). She is also very much in control of herself and the situation, unlike the verbally incontinent Macbeth (see Act II, scene iii, lines 105-15). When she sees that Macbeth is about to give them away with his babbling, she prudently pretends to faint to draw attention away from him. The banquet and the murder of Banquo take place in Act III. Here we see Macbeth all but fall to pieces when he sees the ghost of the murdered Banquo sitting in his place at the table. Lady Macbeth however, had nothing to do with Banquo’s murder. Now it seems that Macbeth does not need his wife to push and chivvy him anymore- he thinks of and plans evil deeds without help. In this act Lady Macbeth only serves to cover up for her husband when he starts rambling and talking to the ghost. Her domineering character is not needed anymore and her role has dropped from that of the dominant wife, to a smiling one, concealing her husband’s evil deeds. Even at this early stage Lady Macbeth shows signs of growing weaker. In the first 2 acts, she was the one in charge, telling her husband what to do and laying all the plans. But now she seems to depend on him more, e.g. Act III, scene ii, line 45 ‘What’s to be done?’ Lady Macbeth is actually asking her husband what to do, but Macbeth tells her to ‘be innocent of the knowledge’. Macbeth is withholding information from her, and yet she is not upset. It is the beginning of the end for Lady Macbeth. She even regrets what they have done, because of the niggling doubts and insecurities she has about the safety of their position. ‘Nought’s had, all’s spent, Where our desire is got without content ‘T is safer to be that which we destroy, Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy.’ (Act III, scene ii, lines 4-7) Lady Macbeth is insecure and lives in ‘doubtful joy’ despite the eagerness with which she encouraged Macbeth to kill Duncan and seize the throne. She sees now the futility of merciless ambition, for she has obtained the power she desired, but cannot enjoy it because of the guilt that accompanies it. Lady Macbeth’s sanity seems to have propelled downward very fast, but as we see nothing of her in Act IV, and know nothing of the time span in which Act IV occurred; it is hard to say how quick it happened. In Act V however, ‘Since his majesty went into the field’, says the gentle woman, Lady Macbeth has been showing signs of erratic and insane behaviour- ‘I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her night gown upon her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon ‘t, read it, afterwards seal it, again return to bed, yet all this while in a most fast sleep.’ In Act V we can see how much Lady Macbeth has changed since the beginning of the play. For in Act I she fears the light as it might show what she was doing, e.g. ‘Come, thick night, And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell, That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark To cry, â€Å"Hold, hold!†Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ (Act I, scene v, lines 48-52) Compare that statement with this- ‘DOCTOR How came she by that light? GENTLEWOMAN Why, it stood by her: she has light by her continually; ‘t is her command’ (Act V, scene i lines 17- 19) The darkness which she asked for and rejoiced in Act I now worries her, and she must always have light by her. Light is symbolic of goodness, and darkness of evil. She also continually rubs her hands, as if to clean them. This is clarified in her speech- she keeps saying things like ‘Out, damned spot! Out I say!’ as if speaking to the mark of blood. ‘What will these hands never be clean?’ She is speaking of when her hands were coated with blood when she had to go back and smear Duncan’s on his guards. Then she said ‘a little water clears us of this deed’ Now she says ‘all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.’ In act V, scene v the queen dies. Whether she kills herself or dies of natural causes it is unknown. But as the doctor said in Act V, scene i ‘Yet I have known those which have walked in their sleep, who have died holily in their beds.’ The insane, guilty woman who died at the end of the play was a far cry from the strong, hard, ambitious woman in the beginning.

A computer a course or a blessing

Examination Malpractice is the process of student cheating during exams. Like in impersonation. That is copying from other students that maybe sitting next to him/ her, coming into the exam hall with textbooks/notebooks in order to copy answers from them or students bringing in phones in order to check Google or they may have camera some words either from notebook or textbook. Laziness, many students nowadays find it very difficult to sit down and read for about 30 minutes or at least 1 hour but they choose to waste their time on nothing.Government has tried all the could in order to stop those students from cheating but many many students has prove that they are expert in this act thereby making the government look like fools in their very eyes. Examination bodies are invigilators that are been sent to schools to go and examine students during exams. It dose not necessarily mean WAGE, NECK, JAMB But it could be a normal school exam like 1st term, 2nd term or promotional exams which is 3rd term.What this examiners do are searching students before they enter the exam hall, check their seats one after the other. When I say searching seats, it means checking their seats, bodies like pockets, undermine in the case of girls, socks and sandal. School authorities/Administrators also try their best because they join there head together In order to find a lasting solution but It seems It's not working at all, All the same these three bodies are doing well. Sometimes, It may seem as if these three bodies are not doing anything But are doing their best.The truth of the matter Is that there some bad eggs that are also In this bodies, during exams Instead of Invigilating, they will be busy telling answers to some students to some, particular questions thereby making this set of students lazy and believing that whether they read or not they will still get answers which Is not good. Only solution to this evil act Is that students should cultivate the habit of reading. If I am asked to give my final opinion to curb this evil acts, I will say that those caught In this act should be put In Jail at lest 7 (seven years.Either the coacher or student caught so that It will serve as lessons to others who are also planning to engage In this evil acts. Students read your books to avoid being tempted and landing yourself Into trouble.

Toyota Competitive Strategies Essays

Toyota Competitive Strategies Essays Toyota Competitive Strategies Paper Toyota Competitive Strategies Paper Competitive  Strategy Asia-Pacific Marketing Federation Certified Professional Marketer Copyright Marketing Institute of Singapore Outline * Introduction * Sustainable  competitive  advantage (SCA) * Sources of SCA * Strategies for * Market Leaders * Challengers * Followers, and * Nichers Introduction Having a  competitive  advantage  is necessary for a firm to compete in the market * But what is more important is whether the  competitiveadvantage is sustainable * A firm must identify its position relative to the competition in the market * By knowing if it is a leader, challenger, follower or nicher, it can adopt appropriate strategies to compete Sustainable  Competitive  Advantage * A good strategist seeks not only to â€Å"win the hill, but hold on to it. †Ã‚  Ã‚  Subash Jain * Sustaining  competitive  advantage requires erecting barriers against the competition * Aakers suggested looking at the following: How you compete * Basis of competition * Where you compete * Whom you are competing against Examples of SCA * For many years, Singapore Airlines were riding on its SCA of having the best in-flight service * As more airlines improved their service and   narrowed the gap, SIA sought othercompetitive  advantages among which are * The most modern fleet * Outstanding Service on the Ground * A super entertainment system in its cabins * Comfort in its First Class cabins at an unparallel level * Discuss whether the later initiatives had been sustainable Sun Tze’s defensive  strategy â€Å"Do not assume the enemy will not come but be prepared for his coming†¦ Do not presume he will not attack, but instead make your own position unassailable. † Sun Tze’s Offensive Strategies * Overt-offensive  strategy * To knock out a business rival so as to take over his company * To knock out a competing product so as to take over its market share * Covert-offensive  strategy * Keep as low a profile as possible while making offensive moves Strategies for Market Leaders Market Leader’s objectives: * Expand the total market by * Finding new users Creating new uses, and * Encouraging more usage * Protect its current market share by * Adopting defense strategies (see following slides) * Increase its market share * Note the relationship between market share and profitability Which  strategy  to use? Depends on your answer to the following: * Is it worth fighting? * Are you strong enough to fight? * How strong i s your defense? * Do you have any choice but to fight? Defense  Strategy * A market leader should generally adopt a defense  strategy * Six commonly used defense strategies * Position Defense * Mobile Defense Flanking Defense * Contraction Defense * Pre-emptive Defense * Counter-Offensive Defense Defense  Strategy  (cont’d) Position Defense * Least successful of the defense strategies * â€Å"A company attempting a fortress defense will find itself retreating from line after line of fortification into shrinking product markets. †Ã‚   Saunders (1987) * e. g. Mercedes was using a position defense  strategy  untilToyota  launched a frontal attack with its Lexus. Defense  Strategy  (cont’d) Mobile Defense * By market broadening and diversification * For marketing broadening, there is a need to Redefine the business (principle of objective), and * Focus efforts on the competition (the principle of mass) * e. g. Legend Holdings, the top China PC maker Legend has announced a joint venture with AOL to broaden its business to provide Internet services in the mainland Defense  Strategy  (cont’d) Flanking Defense: * Secondary markets (flanks) are the weaker areas and prone to being attacked * P ay attention to the flanks * e. g. San Miguel introduced a flanking brand in the Philippines, Gold Eagle, as a defense against APB’s Beerhausen Defense  Strategy  (cont’d) Contraction Defense * Withdraw from the most vulnerable segments and redirect resources to those that are more defendable * By planned contraction or strategic withdrawal * e. g. India’s TATA Group sold its soaps and detergents business units to Unilever in 1993 Defense  Strategy  (cont’d) Pre-emptive Defense * Detect potential attacks and attack the enemies first * Let it be known how it will retaliate * Product or brand proliferation is a form of pre-emptive defense e. g. Seiko has over 2,000 models Defense  Strategy  (cont’d) Counter-Offensive Defense Responding to competitors’ head-on attack by identifying the attacker’s weakness and then launch a counter attack * e. g. Toyota  launched the Lexus to respond to Mercedes attack Market Challenger Strategies The market challengers’ strategic objective is to gain market share and to become the leader eventually How? * By attacking the market leader * By attacking other firms of the same size * By attacking smaller firms Market Challenger Strategies (cont’d) Types of Attack Strategies * Frontal attack * Flank attack * Encirclement attack * Bypass attack * Guerrilla attack Frontal Attack * Seldom work  unless The challenger has sufficient fire-power (a 3:1 advantage) and staying power, and * The challenger has clear distinctive advantage(s) * e. g. Japanese and Korean firms launched frontal attacks in various ASPAC countries through quality, price and low cost Flank attack * Attack the enemy at its weak points or blind spots i. e. its flanks * Ideal for challenger who does not have sufficient resources * e. g. In the 1990s, Yaohan attacked Mitsukoshi and Seibu’s flanks by opening numerous stores in overseas markets Encirclement attack * Attack the enemy at many fronts at the same time Ideal for challenger having superior resources * e. g. Seiko attacked on fashion, features, user preferences and anything that might interest the consumer Bypass attack * By diversifying into unrelated products or markets neglected by the leader * Could overtake the leader by using new technologies * e. g. Pepsi use a bypass attack  strategy  against Coke in China by locating its bottling plants in the interior provinces Guerrilla attack * By launching small, intermittent hit-and-run attacks to harass and destabilize the leader * Usually use to precede a stronger attack e. g. airlines use short promotions to attack the national carriers especially when passenger loads in certain routes are low Which Attack  Strategy  should a Challenger Choose? Use a combination of several strategies to improve market share over time Market-Follower Strategies * Theodore Levitt in his article,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Innovative Imitation†Ã‚  argued that a product imitation  strategy  might be just as profitable as a product innovation  strategy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  e. g. Product innovationSony Product-imitationPanasonic Market-Follower Strategies (cont’d) Each follower tries to bring distinctive advantages to its target marketlocation, services, financing * Four broad follower strategies: * Counterfeiter (which is illegal) * Cloner e. g. the IBM PC clones * Imitator e. g. car manufacturers imitate the style of one another * Adapter e. g. many Japanese firms are excellent adapters initially before developing into challengers and eventually leaders Market-Nicher Strategies * Smaller firms can avoid larger firms by targeting smaller markets or niches that are of little or no interest to the larger firms   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  e. g. Logitechmice Microbrewersspecial beers Market-Nicher Strategies (cont’d) * Nichers must create niches, expand the niches and protect them * e. g. Nike constantly created new nichescycling, walking, hiking, cheerleading, etc * What is the major risk faced by nichers? * Market niche may be attacked by larger firms once they notice the niches are successful Multiple Niching â€Å"[A] firm should `stick to its niching’ but not necessarily to its niche. That is why multiple niching is preferable to single niching. By developing strength in two or more niches the company increases its chances for survival. † Philip Kotler

Answers to Questions About Usage

Answers to Questions About Usage Answers to Questions About Usage Answers to Questions About Usage By Mark Nichol Many writers native English speakers and nonnative speakers alike are confounded by uncertainty or confusion about usage, the complicated issue of what, exactly, a given word means regardless of its practical or official definition. Here are some questions and comments Daily Writing Tips readers have sent me about definitions and connotations, along with my responses. 1. One of the words I hear all the time, which I believe is improperly used, is hopefully, as in â€Å"Hopefully, we’ll be successful.† I’d love to hear your thoughts about using this word hopefully, you’ll agree with me. For better or worse, in the usage you abhor, hopefully is firmly established, and employment in its original sense (â€Å"in a hopeful manner,† as in â€Å"I waited hopefully for her response†) has all but disappeared. The only thing one can do to curtail its use is avoid using it oneself, but this is a case in which the people have spoken: The new sense will prevail. 2. For the past few years, I’ve been noticing the use of â€Å"only ever,† as in â€Å"I only ever stay on the weekends.† Isn’t ever unnecessary and perhaps incorrect? Yes, ever is an extraneous intensifier. It’s not incorrect, but it should be avoided in formal writing. 3. May â€Å"Thank you for correcting me† sound ironic in Modern English? I once used it and got negative feedback. And I think it has pejorative connotation in English, though in my mother tongue it’s just a way to express gratitude or thanks. Yes, â€Å"Thank you for correcting me† looks perfectly neutral, but it’s not: In English, the notion of correcting someone has a negative connotation, like being criticized or scolded, and someone who receives that comment from you may assume that you’re resentful for the assistance. Depending on the situation, it would be better to say or write, â€Å"Thank you for providing me with the correct information† (less concise, but neutral in tone) or â€Å"Thank you for clarifying that for me.† In American English, at least, an informal, friendly way to acknowledge correction is â€Å"Thanks for setting me straight.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Types of LanguageOne Fell SwoopWood vs. Wooden

Executive Function Performance Test Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Executive Function Performance Test - Essay Example Reliability is the degree to which an instrument measures the same way each time it is used; it may be estimated by the agreement between examiners and its internal consistency. In the study, interrater reliability was measured using intraclass correlation coefficients and Cronbach’s alpha for each of the tasks, and to correlate each of the test domains with the total score. Validity is related to how close the results, based on the measurement, are related to the truth. In the present study, validity was measured by comparing the performance across the three groups, founded in the results of measurements. In addition, the scale was compared and correlated with other neuropsychological measures which are known to assess executive functions. According to the results, shown in table No 1 of the original document, the demographic characteristics were similar in the study groups. The control individuals were younger, but there was no statistical significance. Patients with moderat e stroke had higher scores in the EFPT tasks, followed by patients with mild stroke, and control individuals. Both the EFPT total score and each of the executive functions showed a similar trend. These results confirm the hypotheses of the study. The study has the strength of evaluating a scale that measures instrumental tasks and the level of assistance affected individuals need in these tasks. As with other scales, researchers are measuring important characteristics of this instrument: validity and reliability.

Answer the questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Answer the questions - Essay Example Operations managers make use of appropriate operations strategies to deal with the overall business strategy designed by the top management of a company. â€Å"Operational strategy begins with defining your business in terms of the present opportunity in relation to the customer and product of the business† (Wasmund 2006). The management of operational activities, which accepts inputs in order to delivers usable outputs, is called operations management (Sankaranrayanan 2011). Operations management incorporates the use of both operational efficiency and operational strategy to manage the business operations. Operational efficiency is related to the completion of tasks in an appropriate manner whereas operational strategy is the set of plans, which are developed to achieve competitive advantage in the market. A key point regarding operations strategy is that it is developed after development of the business strategy to establish a right path, which includes a sequence of decisio ns that makes a business achieve all goals and objectives effectively and efficiently. The operational activities included in the operations strategy play role of the competitive weapons, which can be used to achieve competitive advantage in the market. ... Workplace analysis refers to the evaluation of business operations and the physical environment of a workplace. Managers can analyze the workplace by identifying all sorts of risks and hazards associated with the overall workplace environment of a company. Workplace analysis provide many benefits to a company, such as, prevention of workplace accidents and employee injuries, identification of risks and steps for the elimination of those risks, creation of a safe workplace environment, and installation of safety mechanisms in the workplace. Workplace analysis is a step-based procedure, which involves four different stages. In the first stage, the management reviews the previous injury and hazard records related to the workplace. The review makes the management know the basic aspects of the workplace related accidents, which include nature of the injuries, workplace equipment, and the time at which the accidents took place. Next step is to use the reviews to identify all possible hazar ds and risks. After identification of hazards, the management evaluates the workplace equipment, employee behaviors, and workstations to know the causes of the accidents. In the last step, the management identifies all possible ways to eliminate, contain, or reduce the occurrence of workplace hazards. Devil is in the detail refers to the concept of identifying hidden elements which can cause some specific incident. â€Å"In one sense, one might say â€Å"the devil's in the details† to refer to very small but ultimately important components of a larger task† (Smith 2011). This phrase is used to explain small details of a large incident. In workplace settings, this concept is used to identify the reasons behind any specific workplace incident. Explain How Demands

Argument Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Argument Analysis - Essay Example The analysis of the advertisement shows that the messages in the video are crucially important to be understood by drivers and people who are going to drive and these points are presented effectively in the advertisement. The video describes a situation when two drivers are about to make a crash situation on a road, but suddenly time stops and the drivers go out of their cars. The driver who made the mistake asks the one who drives too fast to slow down, but he can’t because he drives too fast and there is so little time and distance between their cars that there’s nothing anybody can do to prevent the crash. The one who made the mistake shows that there is his little son on the back seat, but the fast driver realizes that the alarm conditions were his fault because if he hadn’t driven too fast they could have avoided the crash and there would be enough time for the father and son to skip on the road before him. So finally the drivers get back to their cars and the piece of the crash is shown for a moment. The advertisement finishes with a black screen and the message of the video appears â€Å"Other people make mistakes. Slow down†. The advertisement isn’t designed to sell anything, it is socially important: its ethos aims to evoke people’s responsibility and capability of thinking about others while driving, because we all live in the world where there are other people around us and it is a part of ethics to include other people’s human factor in our decision making. The ethos sends the important moral message that it is crucial to follow your civil duty, that’s why the advertisement was made based on touching and strong drivers’ feelings of grief and regret. As far as the advertisement is sponsored by New Zealand Transport Agency it becomes clear that it aims to decrease the amount of car accidents on roads and the agency is also responsible for this. The target audience for this

Gym Cultures Prominence In Society Cultural Studies Essay

Gym Cultures Prominence In Society Cultural Studies Essay Gym culture holds a prominent place in contemporary society. Studies1 focused on the physical dimensions of self-concept document the significance placed on physical appearance in evaluations of self-worth. The inconsistency between the real and ideal self is an important trigger within gym culture and this relationship is comprehensively and covertly exploited through media narratives and advertising images. Roland Barthes asserts that an imitated object makes something appear which remained invisible, or if one prefers, unintelligible in the natural object. Structural man takes the real, decomposes it, then recomposes it.2 Unravelling the means by which texts and images recomposed the original is at the centre of structuralist analysis. Concepts of semiology developed by Ferdinand de Saussure form the basis for structuralist methodology. Saussure rejected the conventional view of the linguistic sign as a name attached to an object in favour of the notion of the linguistic sign as a two-sided psychological entity.3 The word sign is used to describe the whole created through the combination of the signified (signifie) and the signifier (signifiant). The signifier is the materially perceptible component such as a sound, picture or written mark whilst the signified is the conceptual meaning. The relationship between the two, according to Saussure is arbitrary, founded entirely on social convention. Signs employed in the discourse of gym culture habitually focus on bodies. Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all contain images of young, slim, and attractive 1 Maguire, J. and L. Mansfield, No-bodys perfect: women, aerobics, and the body beautiful Sociology of Sport Journal 5, 2 (1998): 109-137. 2 Critical Terms for Literary Study. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1995. 3 The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Chris Baldick. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press bodies. The relationship between the photographic images, the signifier, and the concept of youth, health and attractiveness, the signified, combine to create the sign. Roland Barthes however noted that this model focuses extensively on denotation to the detriment of connotation. In his initial investigations Barthes distinguishes between two forms of reference: denotation and connotation. Conventionally denotation is referred to as the literal, primary sense or straightforward dictionary meaning, whilst connotation refers to the range of further associations that a word evokes in addition to its denotation. The connotations of a particular word are a formulated sequence of qualities, contexts, and emotional responses commonly associated with that to which it refers. The context in which the word or phrase is used and the individual inclinations of the audience determine which connotations will be initiated. Initially Barthes suggested that analytically connotation can be distinguished from denotation4 in the same way that a photographic image represents the denotation of what is photographed, the connotation is exposed through how it is photographed. Barthes however later concluded that: denotation is not the first meaning, but pretends to be so; under this illusion, it is ultimately no more than the last of the connotations (the one which seems both to establish and close the reading), the superior myth by which the text pretends to return to the nature of language, to language as nature. The two women in Figure 1 and the woman in Figure 3 are all pictured wearing long pants. The same particular item of clothing is denoted in both advertisements, namely pants. However in Figure 1 the 4 Chandler, Daniel:  Semiotics for Beginners  (1994) pants are cargo pants whilst in Figure 3 the model wears jeans. Cargo pants connote youth, hip-hop and dance culture whilst jeans are associated with the everyday down-to-earth, girl-next-door. The style of pants selected reflect a range of connotations, the denoted image is inherently connotative. Barthes perspective exposes denotation as being no more natural than connotation but rather as stemming from a process of naturalization. Denotation is thus proved to be a product of ideology. Images prevalent in gym culture discourse documents this well. Note the similarity between the models selected in Figures 4, 5 and 6. They are all slim, tanned and tall with long blond hair and have been selected to portray a specific image of femininity influenced by historical attitudes and social convention, which conforms to contemporary westernized ideology. Similar images are presented to both male and female consumers. Fitness magazine (Figure 5) features an image of American television host K elly Ripa, with a byline suggesting that the magazine contains the secrets to how she got this buff, whilst the cover of Mens Fitness (Figure 6) has a byline suggesting that the magazine contains the secrets of how to gain hard abs, strong enough for a night with the featured Carmen Electra, glamour model and actress. Connotatively men should be fit and muscular to attract their ideal woman, and women should strive to be that ideal- attractive, slim, tanned and blond. The selection of celebrities this physical represented ideal suggests that fame, success and wealth accompany the ideal. These associations formed by groups of signs create a cultural paradigm. In the same way the Zumba advertisement in figure 1 is designed to immediately invoke connotations of a gym culture paradigm. The images are of one male and two female bodies. Little of their faces, apart from smiles suggesting fun and happiness, can be seen reinforcing a focus on moving bodies and physicality. Naked midriffs whilst emphasize muscled, slim bodies also invokes sexual connotations. Through metonymy the graphic representation of a speaker emphasizes the role of music and its associations with parties, social interaction. Strong colours are used and orange, the adverts predominant colour believed to be invigorating as it increases oxygen supply to the brain is used to reflect joy, enthusiasm, creativity, attraction, success and stimulation. It is also used to attract attention as it is high visibility. The line Ditch the workout, join the party! aligns working out with having a party. The word join is repeated four times reinforcing the idea of belonging, identifying wit h and being part of a particular group. The language choice is deliberately relaxed and informal, to emphasize fun. The paradigm created is one of youth, music, party, fun, sexual attraction, dancing and fitness, with a focus on belonging. Figure 2 is an advertisement for a Sony water resistant walk-man. Sony employ an approach common to brand-name product advertising, one whereby their product is aligned with culturally desirable paradigms, in this case fitness and health, thus advancing a connotative association between their product and other values their audience might hold. A young man is pictured, dressed in a vest he appears to have been running. The aim is to establish paradigmatic relationships between exercise and fitness and Sonys brand. In so doing Sony hope to include their product in a fitness paradigm and through this inclusion their brand comes to connote all that characterizes gym culture. Whilst Paradigmatic relations rely on familiar cultural associations to create meaning, syntagmatic relations create meaning through the sequence in which the signs are displayed. In Figure 1 the line Ditch the workout, join the party! aligns working out with having a party. In figures 3 and 4 both advertisements rely on an alternative semiotic structure in addition to paradigmatic relations to communicate their message. Both advertisements offer promises of transformation, figure one blatantly telling us before and after. A syntagmatic relation can be represented by the connotative narrative, a sequence of associated events: She joined the gym, exercised regularly, ate the right food, lost weight, and was thereby transformed. Because this is such a familiar narrative to us, the advertisement can invoke it and all its associations by just showing us a single image, the mirrored but subtly altered image of the women that represents the start and finish of the narrative. Our understand ing of figure 4 relies on previously learnt and accepted conventions. Barthes identified these previously learnt and recognised conventions as cultural codes which could be utilized in structural analysis of texts. 5 In contrast to the conventional definition of myth as a traditional or customary story Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes shifted the emphasis of myth as a plot to myth as a way of thinking akin to a kind of ideology. Roland Barthes 1957 Mythologies brought to light how myths are part of everyday modern life. Barthes demonstrates an idea of myth as a further sign, its foundations in language, but to which further implication is added. To make a myth, the sign itself is used as a signifier, and a new meaning is added, which is the signified. This additional meaning is not arbitrarily, even if the reader is not aware of it. Historically determined circumstances are presented as natural. Predominantly media driven modern myths are created to disseminate an impression of society that is 5 Leak, Andrew N. Barthes, Mythologies. London: Grant Cutler, 1994. compliant with current ideologies. The earlier discussion of the models chosen in figures 4, 5 and 6 is an example of how pervasive myth can be. Barthes characterizes myth as ubiguitous6 being or seeming to be everywhere at once. The tall, slim, blond woman is unanimously presented to male and female consumers alike as the ideal women. In addition myth is axiomatic operating as a sort of fusion of fact and value, it is assertive. Axiological language presenting a theory as a fact is frequently found in advertising narratives. Figure 4 contains a good example: inside everybody is a better body. Myths are not just narratives, but narratives mixed with other signs: Figure 3 suggests, through a combination of images, graphic representation and narrative, that joining their gym will make you younger. Gym culture serves as a good example of how myth permeates consumer driven society. According to Barthes uncovering of the Ideological abuse hidden in the display of what goes without saying lies at the centre of structuralist analysis and serves to warn that since the theft of language perpetrated by myth is so subtle that nothing appears to have been taken8 consumers are affected by it without even recognising its existence. 6 Leak, Andrew N. Barthes, Mythologies. London: Grant Cutler, 1994. 7 Ibid., 8 Ibid., p57

Mrs. Dalloway :: essays research papers

Mrs. Dalloway (1998) presents a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, an upper-class English woman. Clarissa Dalloway is the wife of Richard Dalloway, a Conservative Member of Parliament. The story takes place in London on a day in June 1923, a day when Clarissa is giving a dinner party. She walks to the florist shop to buy flowers for the party. Admittedly, it's no easy task to make a silly woman's foolish choices an engrossing cinematic experience. For that reason alone the people who tried to make a film of Virginia Woolf's novel, "Mrs. Dalloway" get an "E" for effort. It has a sumptuous look, excellent supporting performances, and I wish I could have liked it more. The title character, Clarissa Dalloway, is played by Vanessa Redgrave while she plans a party at her impressive home. As she does, she begins to recall the choice she made years ago when pursued by two suitors who could not have been more different. Rather than reckless passion, her choice, born of cowardice, was for the security of a quiet life full of privilege. Peter Walsh, an old and close friend of Clarissa’s, has returned to England after five years in India, and comes to visit her. Peter Walsh once loved Clarissa, but she had refused to marry him. Clarissa introduces Peter to her daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth is 17 years old, and has an older friend and tutor named Doris Kilman. Elizabeth goes to lunch with Miss Kilman. Miss Kilman is poor and physically unattractive, and resents the upper-class Mrs. Dalloway. Miss Kilman is a desperate and fanatically religious woman, who wants to take Elizabeth away from her mother, but conceals her feeling under the guise of religiosity and strident charity. Septimus Warren Smith and his wife Lucrezia happen to be walking on the street. Septimus Warren Smith never meets Mrs. Dalloway, but their lives are connected by external events, such as the sight of an airplane overhead, and by the fact that they are both sensitive people who feel empty. Septimus Warren Smith commits suicide the same day that Mrs. Dalloway is giving her dinner party. Clarissa Dalloway as a character in the novel is upper-class and conventional. She knows her life is shallow; her former lover Peter Walsh had called her the perfect hostess. She feels that her only gift in life is in knowing a person through instinct.

The use of advertising strategy on men

Since the time communication process came into being, role of both electronic and print media has increased where they communicate all sorts of information to people across the globe. In the nineteenth and the twentieth century media has gone to unattainable heights and now in our times it is accessible to almost all parts of the globe. It introduces new trends, brings changes in the present culture of a society and tells about happenings around the world and this is how it also shapes opinions of people. Thus we can say that media plays a vital role in our lives and keeps us informed.But sometimes media takes a negative turn and shows such stuff which has a negative effect in different parts of societies. In ads, they portray women as thin, beautiful, sophisticated human beings and men as wealthy robots which have led to a reduction in self-acceptance of people. Beautiful bodies shown in those ads have increased the desire of common women to go on severe diet plans, go for the lates t whitening products and to go to such extremes which has also led to such disorders as anorexia, bulimia along with emotional disorders.Think of a beautiful woman and think about the definition of a beautiful woman for a second or two; we will realize that the only words that come to our mind, even if we are females, are big eyes, good height, perfect physique, beautiful hair etc instead of a good friend or colleague, perfect mother and a perfect wife etc. Even unconsciously we refer to women by the former words instead of the latter ones. Women are always appreciated by how they appear instead of who they really are, and the society has accepted it. Many factors are responsible for this wrong image projection which includes media as well as the gender discrimination.There are some aspects as to why females are facing such problems and are always cast in those roles that undermine their status and affect the entire female population negatively. One of books written on this subject is â€Å"Beauty Myth† by Naomi Wolf. This book was published in 1991. It focuses on female beauty, how it is used to project the wrong side of a â€Å"real woman† and how this beauty is creating problems for the modern women who want to be perfect by having cosmetic surgeries, or want to be size zero and are developing eating disorders and how this beauty contest is responsible for their jobs etc.Naomi wolf, in her book basically emphasizes that women in their culture are mostly projected as beauty symbols; the more lovely and delicate a woman more appreciation she gets from the members of society. In 1990s many women rose to prestigious positions, they expanded themselves in terms of education, careers along with managing their families but they also became self-conscious and their youthfulness and focused more on ways of retaining it. Our communication and print media has spread a lot in the past two decades and this has lead to an increase in the advertisements.The women of modern times; are constantly bombarded with the images of a perfect girl; who is flawless, she is not a day over 25 years, elegant and smart. Women now judge themselves according to these standards set by the people who undermine women and who are responsible for low self-esteem and low self-confidence in women. They have started to spend more money on surgeries, on diet food and medicines that they think can give them a good body. In the past women were not allowed to educate themselves, they were thought not suitable partners if they read too much.Most of the female population doesn’t need to face this problem now instead they are faced with a more gruesome problem of being pretty and perfect as portrayed in many advertisements that are shown on media. There are many advertisements that portray this beautiful and perfect woman image while undermining rest of the female population. One of the ads is of a skin whitening cream â€Å"Fair and Lovely† which has c aused severe racial problems in South Asia especially in India.Over there majority of the population has a dark complexion and they are always trying to lighten it by going for the latest whitening products launched in their markets or for bleaching their skins. The ad of this beauty product that is on air nowadays in South Asian countries is of a young girl wanting to be an anchor on television. The ad is not in English but one can understand the meaning instantly by watching it. The auditions are in one month and her only hurdle is her dark skin.The ad not only claims skin lightening in one month but also mentions that the girl’s dreams are fulfilled as she secures the job once she uses the product. A similar kind of ad was on air in India some time ago. In this ad they were showing that a girl wanted to be an air-hostess and the same theme was repeated that she became one by using those specific products. All these products project the same thing; fair complexion can help you to do anything and that with fair skin all the dreams are going to be fulfilled.Now if we look into these advertisements closely what they are actually trying to portray is that women are nothing without a fair complexion. They can’t achieve their goals and think high. Beauty is what is needed in today’s world; most of all a light complexion is what is really needed to take a female to higher positions and get her employed in her desired area. In South Asian regions such ads are very common and are watched by thousands. So they are continually affecting the mentality of girls and women. A white complexioned girl thinks that she has all what is needed in a practical world which is actually totally opposite.Then such ads are also constantly making these women self-conscious in a wrong way. These are crushing the confidence of girls. They think that to succeed in life they need to have a fair complexion and have to be the image of a â€Å"perfect woman†. The ot her advertisement that I will take up are the advertisements that show women smokers. These ads are mostly Western but the trend of smoking is also coming to other regions causing a negative image. These ads basically try to show that women who smoke are more powerful, affluent and are considered a threat to men.They also mention that if you want to finish this hushed discrimination and become equivalent to men you have to smoke. That is how they are going to add you up in their circle. The other negative affect of such ads is that if a prominent and popular person of a group smokes maybe her peers will follow suit. They find it fashionable and think that they are desired to do this to be accepted by that person. Such ads can also become favorites of teenagers and they are more likely to start using such just by being impressed by these ads.Naomi Wolf ; the writer of the book; â€Å"Beauty Myth† has not only mentioned the negative effects of beauty and how it is used to under mine women and the role of media in it but she has also written about how media plays a role in making men conscious of the things they lack. Media can’t portray men as beautiful because men who are mostly successful can be short or of dark complexion. So they give the image of a very successful man, living in a luxurious apartment, surrounded by the most expensive items and mostly beautiful women as well; meaning that all his desires are fulfilled.So in a way men have gotten away rather easily than women. They don’t have to have a beautiful bone structure or a pretty face or a good height. The only thing that they really need is bank balance to be attractive, a house in an elite area, most prestigious golf club membership and there you have the most eligible and perfect man. There are also many ads which have a negative image on men. Men are mostly faced with the big problem of baldness. No doubt that this is a serious problem faced by men of both the West and the Eas t but not to an extent to cause depression for the male population.Hair loss is one of the main worries of male population after aging and memory loss. Those who are suffering from hair loss are more likely to feel unattractive and aged as hair loss is directly related to aging. For some men hair is given more priority. They also think that they become less noticeable and are made fun of. Hair loss is a worry for men of all ages but it causes serious concern in young men. Media takes advantage of the above mentioned problem of men and creates a negative effect on them.Nowadays it has become customary of the electronic as well as the print media to show ads of men losing their hair and then getting hair transplants. Advertisement may start off with a before and an after scene. Before: bald man goes somewhere and women don’t give him any attention. After: he goes to that place again after having a hair transplant and he is accepted as a young person. These ad’s cause a v ery depressing and negative image for the men since not all are born with great hairs. These ads are somewhat similar to the whitening cream ads made for women.As they tell us the same thing that men are not eligible, successful and liked by the females and their own colleagues if they are bald, now how many of us think that there is some truth in this sentence because life isn’t about looking great all the time. Hair transplants may be necessary for men working in electronic media and have to be attractive to get more roles and to have a younger look but common people don’t need to have hair transplants. The other category of advertisement which effect men negatively are the ads of energy drinks.They usually say that a person will become super active and will perform all the tasks that he had not been able to do in the past. Some of the other ads are of steroids; which tell men that they can become more competent by using them. Most athletes/sports men tend to use ste roids against the law for winning the specific game and to make world records. The thing that they don’t know is that the steroids also have many side effects which can be mild or severe. Men who use steroids have hormonal imbalances. If they are more aggressive than their growth is also affected.There were some of the ads which affect both men and women negatively making both of these genders extra conscious of their outlook. These advertisements have awakened the human primitive instincts of being likened and cherished by everyone. Now instead of being happy in their lives, success and fortune, both the genders are focusing on how to improve themselves in order to look like the TV models. And if they fail to accomplish this goal, they become depressed and feel that they aren’t worth anything. Other such advertisement includes the ads of new technologies and the new fashions in clothing, accessories etc.are being introduced which is increasing extravagance among peopl e. Looking good is everyone’s right as it also leads to a boost in self-confidence. Maintaining oneself comes in the same category and using products which aid that maintenance program is appreciated and is good. But we should remember to use them within the tolerable limits and not overuse them. Unless and until something is done to stop such kind of advertisements both the genders along with many other parts of society are going to suffer.Men and women may find it easier to relate to ads that show normal people with their normal problems. God has made people beautiful because He also likes beauty which we can see in this world and have a proof. But to use beauty to portray negative images is wrongly done by media. I totally agree with the way ‘Naomi Wolf† has described the way women are used in ads to undermine their personalities. As long as advertisements of such products continue to appear on print and electronic media we will constantly watch pretty faces ma king our lives miserable and increasing our personal suffering.Bibliography Etcoff, N. L. (1999) Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty. Doubleday Weiss, S. I. (2002) Coping with the Beauty Myth: A Guide for Real Girls. The Rosen Publishing Group Lakoff, R. T. , Scherr, R. L. (1984) Face Value, the Politics of Beauty: The Politics of Beauty. Routledge Bell, E. , Haas, L. , Sells. (n. d. ) From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture. Indiana University Press Freedman, R. J. (1986) Beauty Bound. Lexington Books