A Construction of Test Bed for Spatially Integrated Online Surveying

The gathering of public opinion and spatially associated information is an important and critical task for city and local government agents, in order to assess human resources, regional development planning, decision-making process and public facility management.Most local government decision-making processes require spatial distribution patterns of population and the associated information, especially in disaster management and emergency preparedness. Collaboration between residents and the local government is a key factor for effective administration process and regional development planning.Current public surveying systems (either online or by regular mail or telephoning) merely collect information, and additionally skilled persons are required to convert these data into GIS (Geographical Information Systems), in order to visualize and analyze them for decision making processes.Here we are talking about implementing a Spatially Integrated Online Surveying System (SIOSS), which mak es it possible to collect, integrate and analyze public survey data with spatially associated attribute information for the city and local government in a timely and cost effective way, under the collaborative GIS discipline. Study tools like ASP.NET, MS SQL Server and WebGIS will also be used to collect, store and share the spatially distributed objects and attributes in a time-efficient and cost effective way, (with little or no human intervention) for decision making processes.Introduction.With the increasing number of Earth observation satellite launching, and advances in communication and networking everyday, spatial information is more mobile and more widely used at various user levels (ranging from desktop expert users to mobile public users). In additional to offering educational resources in schools, students have the opportunity to think, explore and analyze the world they live in.On the other hand, technological improvement in computing and networking (such as Google Eart h and Microsoft Virtual Earth) provides Internet home users with the opportunity to visualize the world either in a 2Dimensional or 3Dimensional view interactively. The growth of the Internet has been an explosive since inception, and this has lead to a great increase in the number of portable/mobile computing and communication devices such as notebook computers and mobile phones, in recent years.As manufacturers constantly improve on the features, and general capabilities of mobile devices, the Internet also continues to get bigger and to improve, even at a faster rate than these mobile devices. By utilizing all advances in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for city and local government decision making processes, a Spatially Integrated Online Surveying System (SIOSS) can be implemented, which makes it possible to collect, integrate and analyze public information for the city and local government in a cost-effective and time efficient way, under the collaborative GIS discipline .Classical database management systems, especially the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) can store, query and retrieve the information. However, RDBMSs are business-oriented applications, which manipulate large but simple data sets and are unable to manage geographical objects.Our identification with geography gives us a sense of place, so applying geographic concepts to public education and management is natural. Geography provides us with unique positions on the Earth's surface, which can help in the study of resources. For example, the modeling of a landscape can give us valuable information about the ecosystem or historical setting of the landscape and help to visualize its future appearance, under various management strategies.These RDBMS applications are normally used in libraries, stores, reservation and so on. There have been considerable efforts to extend and adapt DBMS technology to spatial information systems, known as Spatial Database Management System or Geo -database, naming by ESRI. The following table compares the answers from common spatial information users between the classical public surveying DBMS (either online or offline) and the SIOSS system.

Genetically modified foods: 6 thinking hats Essay

1. Genetically modified foods or GM foods is to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption/ intake. GM foods are foods produced from organisms inserted into their DNA altering, and allowing genetic changes to be made, affecting their natural balance to give the desired affect –enhancing desired traits an e. g. being to increase the resistance to herbicides or to increase or improve nutritional content-. With the use of modern technology it is also possible to allow selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism to another, it also works between non- related species. Modern biotechnology† or â€Å"gene technology†, sometimes also â€Å"recombinant DNA technology† or â€Å"genetic engineering† allows all this to happen an e. g. of being the growth and harvest of crop plants. 2. GM foods are everywhere in shops, supermarkets etc. In Australia, currently only two GM foods are produced with it being canola and cotton, but many GM foods such as soybeans, corn, rice, peas, sugarbeet, rice, sugarcane and dairy productsare imported from different countries all around the world. The label for the products are on the label at the back of it, showing all the ingredients including the GM substance an example being shown below but not all foods have the GM food labelling on them. 3. GM foods such as food made at bakeries, restaurants and takeaways, potatoes and tomatoes have no GM labelling on it, this due to the fact that if labelled it is to imply a warning about health effects causing the consumers to not want to buy the product and with some arguments of consumers deserving to know what’s in their foods the process is not as easy as it sounds having it to require many of several complex technical issues –the cost of paper and ink to print the label, having to go through a long process of having the approval from authorities and such- . Another reason is that The GM foods are not that significant and won’t really affect the person’s health so it is seen that it is not needed to label them for there would be a very large decrease of income if it were labelled. Nancy Ho 91 1 Genetically modified corn NEXT TO A NORMAL ONE ->

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 5

Strategic management - Essay Example f the most effective is with respect to performing a PESTEL analysis; weighing the unique threats and likely impacts of Political, Economic, Social, Technological, and Legal effects that the firm faces and could likely face in the future. Rather than laboring through a PESTEL analysis within the body of this strategic needs and future approach, the PESTEL analysis itself has been relegated to the appendix of this analysis; with only the responses to the way in which strategy can and should be formulated as a means of addressing the key weaknesses and opportunities that it denotes in the body of the analysis. Furthermore, whereas a PESTEL analysis is a perfect tool for measuring the external environment, a SWOT analysis has been engaged as a means of measuring the internal environment of ABB and delineating what Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats exist for it. Therefore, through an examination of both of these measurements and a discussion of their requisitve parts, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed understanding not only with respect to the operational realities and strategy that the firm should engage but also with regards to appreciating the dynamics of what has led ABB to experience such a level of success up until this point in time. As such, defining these issues and promoting a further discussion and analysis of operations and strategic management will hopefully engage a more full and complete understanding of the key steps that could be engaged to seek to promote ABB to a level of renewed vigor and dynamic business strength within the coming years. Ultimately, with regards to strategic analysis, there are two unique approaches that can be taken. Firstly, and external environmental approach can help to be definitive with regards to the way in which the firm itself operates within the environment of competition and other definitive compliments of the outside world. As such, Porter’s Five Forces and

Culturally Based Conflicts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Culturally Based Conflicts - Essay Example Christianity as a new religion with a fresh set of ideas was accepted by the huge population of Europe and the Americas. The colonization of the Western Countries in the East also caused several conversions of the people residing in that region to Christianity. The religion when spread across border to the Americas changed its colors due to the influence of the local religions preexistent in the continent. Christianity thus survived in different forms in different continents though the main ideal remained unaltered. There was a typical local form of this religion. The Christian missionaries however did not approve of this kind of transformation of Christianity. Islam on the other hand, came into existence much later when Muhammad who considered himself as the last prophet of God, spread his teachings among his countrymen. The main ideology of Islam was that God was unique and it was the duty of men to serve God and love his fellowmen. The religion spread very fast throughout the worl d and had a lot of acceptability. The Muslims or the followers of Islam considered Quran as their holy text and held that the views in the previous versions of the religion became transformed and improvised over time. The holy men who had taken the responsibility of the spreading the religion to the rest of the world were either preachers or scholars or traders who would move around the world and grow their community. This religion also blended with the local culture and took different shape in various countries while maintaining the central theme. However, this was not very acceptable for the Muslims who held the orthodox views of Islam. It appeared offensive and sacrilegious for them and it aroused a feeling of rebel among them. This led to many movements and agitations demanding the purity of the practice of the religion in its original form. This kind of movement was particularly seen in the eighteenth century. Scientific Revolution was commenced in the eighteenth century in Eur ope when a lot of research and development took place in various fields of study like astronomy, physics, mathematics, chemistry and biology along with the development of various new thoughts that would depart to change the modern world and would show a new light away from the dark medieval ages (Huff, 1993). It was a social movement when eminent scientists and scholars put forward their new thoughts and discoveries challenging the old faith that had existed. This change mostly took place in various parts of Europe and changed the way the world was looked at. Modern Science got a new place in people’s lives and it challenged the already existing old beliefs and faiths. This had led to a lot of opposition from the religious and political authorities and it led to a lot of conflict of interest among religious groups. The entire superstructure of scientific revolution rested on the base created by the Greek culture that had seen various stalwarts like Plato, Aristotle and Ptolem y contributing to social changes. These people had their impact on the modern scientific revolution and encouraged the people of the modern era to think beyond what is laid down in the religious scriptures. The rational minds of the people were awakened and they were encouraged to question any kind of blind superstitious belief. This had a positive effect on the literacy level of the population of the states. Most of the religious places of worship like monasteries were set up only for the spread

Team dynamics and gender ( management and organizational behavior) Assignment

Team dynamics and gender ( management and organizational behavior) - Assignment Example Annotated Bibliography Emerald Group. (2003). Dealing With the Dynamics of Gender. How Men and Women Cope With Criticism. Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 11(3). Pp. 24-26. This article discusses the gender that is dominating more workplaces and how work teams are made. It also talks about how the teams can be made to perform more successfully, the function of each team player and the aspects that affect the performance of a team in a project. It goes further to explaining what makes the team players behave differently, given that they are of different sexual category. As explained, so many issues affect how the team works. One of them is how the results of a certain project are returned by the team, to influence the outcome of another one. Teams that take action to feedback are likely to be more successful that those that do not respond to feedback. However, the research made so far have not been able to identify which gender is likely to respond more to negative feedback. Likewise, the article explains the manners of both male and female are affected by how they were raised up since their childhood and these remain in-built even at their adult-hood. Where male children are normally taught to be social and determined to reach their ambitions while young females were encouraged to be passionate and introverts. Therefore, men tend to explore their skills, emphasize and communicate a lot more in teamwork than women. Women are used to be submissive and avoid being bold while men are used to be self-confident and challenging, and are easily manipulated. Hence, male is prompt to take part in, authorize and be developing leaders than women. Furthermore, investigations show that men tend to believe that reduction of the input energy is triggered off by resentment instead of surveyors’ actual inspiration to lend a hand. Therefore, a group led by women is more prone to respond to negative feedback than the one being controlled by men. In addit ion to that, the project that the team works on also affects the groups’ reaction to negative feedback. The article explains that individual confidence also contributes to the feedback one receives. That is, if a person has self-confidence when doing an assignment, then the individual is less expected to get a negative feedback. Therefore, teams made up of people who are experts on the assignment been done are unlikely to respond to negative feedback. Therefore, men being self-confident are prone to respond less to negative feedback than women are. Moreover, the response to decline of input energy is also determined by what the group members pick out to be the source. This view influences the change of the teams’ behavior because of the feedback. In those teams dominated by experts, external factors such as the uniqueness of the task and fate are accountable; therefore, the team does not blame itself for putting into practice the proposals they made in the feedback. Th erefore, when male work out on jobs that they are used to, they blame external sources like fate and nature of the job for negative feedback. Similarly, when women work on assignments they are used to doing, they are prone to respond to negative feedback. However, when males work on assignments that are female-oriented, they are likely to put the blame on issues rooted to the group hence respond to negati

Emotional Intelligence (Communication) Research Paper

Emotional Intelligence (Communication) - Research Paper Example An intelligent manager may analyse the things intelligently, but lack of control over his emotions may prevent him from taking wide decisions. On the other hand, a manager with emotional intelligence will never get agitated in any situations. He knows well that lack of emotional control may lead to wrong decisions. The EQ test which I took was not accurate enough to judge the emotional intelligence adequately. I don’t think the 21 objective questions and 2 descriptive questions needed to be answered in this test are sufficient enough to predict the emotional intelligence properly. In my opinion, a more comprehensive test with more descriptive items may be more successful to predict the emotional intelligence better. At the same time this test can give a rough picture about one’s ability to control their emotions. It is as simple as that a lay man can understand all the questions and answer it properly based on his perceptions. Nothing complicated in the questionnaires and hence anybody can have a rough idea about their emotional intelligence using this

Unit 41, unit 38 Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words - 1

Unit 41, unit 38 - Coursework Example With a web browser such as the ‘Internet Explorer’, can allow you to view web pages that contains text, images, videos, sounds and even multimedia that is in between the hyperlink. Just Eat is an online takeaway food delivery service, which enable customers to search their local area’s restaurant with all the different types of cuisines that are available in that certain area. This system operates when the customer assess their website, and search the post code of the area that they are in, and within seconds the restaurants that have registered with Just eat will appear on the web page showing all the different types of cuisines that are available at that certain time. The customer can now select their favorite restaurant, and select the food they wish to order that are available, and meanwhile placing the order, you will have to register with Just eat and becoming an existing member, this service is free of charge, and during the process of register, you will have to fill in your relevant information such as your name, address, email address and telephone number etc. And now the last step of placing the order is to choice paying by card or cash, and w hen the order is placed, a confirmation statement of your order will be delivered to your email with a list of food you ordered, and along with the order number and expected delivery time. When you have signed up as a member with Just Eat, they will automatically send you 1-2 email each week promoting new restaurants that have registered with Just Eat recently. And these emails generally include information of new dishes or new cuisines, which has been highly recommended by other members of Just Eat. Also being a member of Just Eat can help you redeem vouchers or discounts on particular items offered by the organization. Established in 2001, Just-Eat.com is an online portal where customers can order take-ways online from a variety of participating restaurants.

Theories on crimes Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theories on crimes - Case Study Example Harvey Robinson was a teenager serial killer who killed and raped Charlotte Schmoyer - another fellow teenager- in 1993, he also assaulted numerous women. According to Ramsland (2012), there was evidence of blood and abandoned shoes where it was later discovered that the girl had also been stabbed in the woods. In committing the crime of rape and murder, Harvey had gone back to the scene of a previous crime scene when he chanced upon Charlotte who was the ‘perfect’ victim in an isolated place. Serial killers who rape and kill are a rare kind as evidenced by the involvement of the FBI in most of the cases. This theory explains the prevalence of criminal behavior in that the criminal makes rational choices when committing crimes. The reasons behind committing crimes could be due to personal needs like anger, lust or greed. This theory basis its ideas on the classical school of thought in criminology, which posits that individuals have a free will to choose their actions both good and bad while threats of punishment and sanctions deter criminal acts (Siegel, 2009). Furthermore, the choice theory points out that there are three actors of criminal behavior; rational actor, predestined actor, and the victimized actor. For rational actors, there is a choice on whether to commit a criminal act which is manageable with an imposition of penalties. The predestined actor commits crime without any control over their desire and surroundings. These actors are stimulated before they commit crimes. In order to enhance deterrence, there is a need to change the psychological, social, and biological environment. The victimized actor appears since there are disparities in the society; this ought to be addressed through enacting laws. The choice theory is useful in explaining the crimes given that Robinson stalked other victims then he made rational

Kant, Mill and Socrates (Meno) on deontology and utilitarian scenario Essay

Kant, Mill and Socrates (Meno) on deontology and utilitarian scenario - Essay Example More important, the duty is based on doing to others what they would do unto you. From the deontological response, there would not be a response that is violent or which tries to cause harm to anyone in Al Qaeda. The first reason is because it is assumed that there are men, women and children that may be harmed with an attack or violent component to Al Qaeda, which would unnecessarily hurt others. The second is because the terrorists may seek destruction, but the attacks in recent times were not launched, making the attack only one of revenge. This doesn’t follow a moral obligation or right. The only fair way to act with the deontological morality as the basis is to find Al Qaeda and to take two approaches. The first would be to arrest him and hold trial for the past problems which have arisen. However, to do this, there would need to be consideration from the government where Al Qaeda is hiding. The second would be to find where the individuals are, make sure there are substantial evidence, then try to take the individuals without violent actions so they can be detained and questioned. This particular approach is one that is justified and is morally just according to the approach, specifically because it doesn’t harm others, it holds to human rights and universal truth and it doesn’t create any conflicting duties because it abides by because laws of justice. The one aspect of the deontological morality which can be used to justify the al Qaeda concepts and to take action is based on the ability to act for human rights and universal truth. There is the abil ity for the government to act within the means of offering a justification and trying to stop the attacks from happening. Since there is information on where the location of al Qaeda is, as well as alternatives that are known about the specific approach, there is also the ability to create a tactic and set of techniques that will stop any further attacks without harming the individuals which are surrounding the area and which may become victim to the attacks unnecessarily. The ideals of Kant with the deontological viewpoint would be opposed from the utilitarianist approach. In this instance, there is the focus on actions promoting the greatest good for the greatest number. In the scenario, the approach would be to attack al Qaeda and to use whatever means necessary to stop them from functioning. Violent outbreaks, the need to attack the space in which they are in and responding in terms of moral rights that are based on clear cut actions would be justified. If it is expected that al Qaeda is expecting to dispatch destruction on various targets worldwide, then the moral thing to do would be to stop them from acting and to ensure that they don’t harm the majority of the nations that would be involved in the attacks. Even though this would mean that some casualties would occur that held a sense of innocence, there would still be the ability to save the greatest number of people by blockading the attacks. Even though this specific approach would create a direct attack, there are also assumptions which are considered and which state that there are unknowns with stopping al

BHS 420 Quantitative Reasoning (Module 5-SLP) Essay

BHS 420 Quantitative Reasoning (Module 5-SLP) - Essay Example Introducing imagery has novel implications for bipolar treatment innovation - an area where CBT improvements are much-needed. Santosa, C.M., Strong, C.M, Nowakowska, C., Wang, P.W., Rennicke, C.M., & Ketter, T.A. (2007). Enhanced creativity in bipolar disorder patients: A controlled study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 100, (1-3), pp. 31-39. Research Procedure: Direct study of 49 BP, 25 MDD, 32 CC, and 47 HC (all euthymic) completed four creativity measures yielding six parameters: the Barron-Welsh Art Scale (BWAS-Total, and two subscales, BWAS-Dislike and BWAS-Like), the Adjective Check List Creative Personality Scale (ACL-CPS), and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking--Figural (TTCT-F) and Verbal (TTCT-V) versions. Mean scores on these instruments were compared across groups. Where and How Sample Obtained: Researchers assessed non-eminent creativity in euthymic bipolar (BP) and unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD) patients, creative discipline controls (CC), and healthy controls (HC). Description of Results: Researchers found BP and CC (but not MDD) had similarly enhanced creativity on the BWAS-Total (driven by an increase on the BWAS-Dislike) compared to HC. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms of enhanced creativity and how it relates to clinical (e.g. temperament, mood, and medication status) and preclinical (e.g. visual and affective processing substrates) parameters. Research Procedure: Researchers compared creativity in bipolar parents and their offspring with BD and bipolar offspring with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with healthy control adults and their children, using 40 adults with BD, 20 bipolar offspring with BD, 20 bipolar offspring with ADHD, and 18 healthy control parents and their healthy control children who completed the Barron-Welsh Art Scale (BWAS), an objective measure of creativity. Description of Results: The results of this study support an

Controversial novels Essay Example for Free

Controversial novels Essay Argued to be one of Hardys most controversial novels, published in 1891 during an era when the underprivileged classes of society, were submissive to superstitious beliefs in particular those such as luck spiritual beings and ultimately fate which were the foundations of lower class civilisation, Tess of the DUrbervilles presents a story of Fate toying with the life of the Heroine Tess. Fate is an influential part of the plot because it is what dictates her life. Events in the beginning of the novel begin a domino effect that cannot be reverse, thus Her fate is already chosen and all she can do is live through the events that happen to her. Whilst Walkers Colour purple is written during an era of gender social and racial inequalities narrated through Celie whose life consisting of an abundance of obstacles refuses to give into the Fate which determined the lives of poor uneducated black females during the 1930s. What exactly is Fate, is it in our personalities, actions and character or are our lives controlled by a supposed force or power which predetermines events in our lifes, meaning regardless of what we do we are unable to change our destiny. This theme is explored thoroughly by Thomas Hardy through his heroine Tess who is portrayed as a victim of fate throughout the novel, chance and coincidence bring about disasters in the novel that we can claim occur due to fate, it appears the main characters are subject to forces beyond their control. The author employs a very fatalistic plot throughout the novel making Tess endure whatever is thrown at her . In the first chapter of the book the horse Prince dies, this is seen as Tess fault as she falls as sleep due to being exhausted, this happens at night when the weather is very depressed. Hardy uses pathetic fallacy by claiming the atmosphere was pale, this makes the reader feel tension and also an expectation of tragedy . This scene is similar to that of the one at the chase when Alec finds Tess unconscious and may have raped her which is ultimately up to speculation. It is clear that Hardy uses the death of prince to create a sense of foreboding as this episode and the one at the chase are extremely similar, on both occasions Tess has fallen asleep due to tiredness and also the weather is used as an indication for what is to follow. From this we can question whether these events are down to fate and also ask if Hardy pre-determines Tess fate and future through her early actions thus her future is unalterable so there is nothing she can do to change. This has lead to the critic The Irvine Howe has writing: May we see her purely as a victim, like the white horse, the pheasants, the animals who are killed at harvest time? Hers is a poor wounded name This supports The interpretation that Tess life was controlled by Fate the just like the events in the novel such as the horses death and the death of the pheasants which all acted as a sense of foreboding and events which pre determine Tess death. Towards the latter stages of the novel during chapter 46, Hardy again emphasises the significant role Fate has played in Tess life and misfortunes. Firstly at the bottom of page 320 Tess states How can I pray for you? When I am forbidden to believe that the great power who moves the world would alter his plans on my account? Tess is telling Alec that she has lost her belief in God as her prayers do not move him. Therefore she is indicating this is happening because God already has his plans made and what she wants makes no difference because she is not important enough for him to change them, thus empowering the element of Fate and its restrictions on her ability to change. Alice Walker, author of The Colour Purple approaches the theme of Fate and destiny in a similar way to Hardy to a certain extent, in The Colour Purple the character Celie goes through a series of events at the beginning of the novel, she is raped by her father on several occasions is forced to give away the children that she conceived through him then her sister Nettie is forced to leave the home in which Celie lives due to her Husband Mr , but later on in the novel we learn that Nettie is now living with the family that adopted her sisters children. This shows that Alice Walker purposely portrayed Celies life as a victim of Fate, but gives her character an opportunity to resist this fate which results in a positive outcome for Celie. Its possible to say that Walker highlights the fact that although we may be victims of Fate we are able to control this Fate and our, she does this by showing that Celie is in fact not a victim of fate and unlike Tess her own actions are what allow her to change her destiny. We can say this because Celie confides in God through her letters, giving her hope and belief and she restrains herself from killing the man who has brought her pain and suffering, Mr , unlike Tess . Celies ability to change and prevent Fate from controlling her life is ultimately down to the letters she writes to God, she tells her sister Nettie Long as I can spell G-o-d I got somebody along She believes she is never alone or hopeless as long as she has God in her life, writing to God gives her hope, this hope is what helps her overcome the negative aspects of her Fatalistic path that seemed as though her life would be controlled by abusive males that would drive her to murder her husband just like Tess did. On the other hand Tess Fate is once again predetermined by Hardy in chapter 41 when she stumbles upon dying pheasents and puts them out of their misery by bringing their inevitable deaths to an end prematurely Poor darlings-to suppose myself the most miserable being on earth in the sight o such misery as yours! she exclaimed, her tears running down as she killed the birds tenderly. This Fatalistic event represents Tess destiny as she to will die due to her neck breaking as she will later be hung, Hardy uses this sense of foreboding once again signifying the belief that her character is her Fate, she is unable to change this, nothing she does will alter it. Similarly but with a contrasting outcome, in Colour Purple Fate re-emerges as killin Mr begins to dawn on Celies mind. How Im gon keep from killing him Naw I think I feel better if I kill him, I say I feels sickish. Numb, now. Mr has abused Celie to the extent that she contemplates killing him, at this stage of the book readers are likely to speculate whether Fate has chosen this path for Tess, is this her destiny? Will she have to emulate Tess action to end her misfortunes? Or will she be able to alter her Fate through her hope in God and rational actions? Although she doesnt go on to murder Mr , through God and her companion Celie she finds the courage to speak up against Mr and leave him, ultimately changing her Fate which is something Tess was unable to do You a low down dog is whats wrong. Its time to leave you and enter into the creation. And your dead body just the welcome mat I need. Here Walker shows her strength and courage obtained through her hope in God. The authors use of foreboding throughout the novel can be seen as a representative of fate, Hardy believed that what happened to us was a product of our personality, class, status and the way in which we view life therefore Tess pride and her concern for Angels reputation after he leaves her prevents her from seeking help at an early stage of her troubles can be seen as her own actions but in Hardys view our own actions were down to fate , she ends up confiding in Alec which leads to disaster. From this we can question whether Tess actions lead to her downfall or was it Fate? This is demonstrated at the beginning of the final paragraph, hardy writes Justice was done, the president of immortals had ended his sport with Tess. Hardy is telling us Fate has finished playing with its victim, Tess. He may have done this to further draw attention to his beliefs that we are subject to a immoral force beyond our control that we are forced to endure and that religion does not have bearing on any events in our life. This is a viewpoint that was developed by critic Irving Howe who too believed Tess fate had already been predetermined, Proposing this is why Hardy named the final phase of the novel fulfilment. Furthermore, another way Hardy depicts Tess as a victim of Fate is through the language he uses, particularly in the last phase of the novel as he named it fulfilment thus this is a play on words as we are left to question what has been fulfilled. It is possible to say Hardy believed Fate had been fulfilled it had played its role in bringing Tess to her tragic downfall. Walker presents Celie as a victim of Fate like Hardy does Tess, however Walker stresses the point that we are able to change our Fate and destiny, this is significant as the colour purple which is the colour of the purple flowers represent spirituality hope. She is almost trying to convey the message that, Fate can be overcome as long as hope is present, where as Hardy purposely doesnt give Tess any chance of overcoming her Fate, he deliberately does this to assert his negative view on religion, Walker gives her character hope through God, this is what enables Celie to overcome her so called Fate or Destiny whilst Hardys pessimistic belief of religion deters him from doing this. Through his novels Hardy repeatedly articulated that chance and coincidence that bring about disaster are ultimately Fate, thus he empowers his belief through Tess that characters are subject to forces beyond their control. This is similar to another of his novels, The Return of the Native. Throughout The Return of the Native bad things happen to good people, this is a depiction of his atheist perception that God does not exist and if there is a God it is lacking in morals, because good people, such as Tess are the victims of bad events and tragedy in life due to Fate. Like Hardy himself said Once a victim, always a victim of fate.

Emerging Market Firms vs Multinational Corporations

Emerging Market Firms vs Multinational Corporations A fresh breed of determined MNC is intensifying on the world, presenting both opportunities and challenges for conventional and well established multinationals. These new competitors hail from apparently unlikely places, emerging countries such as China, Russia, Brazil, India and even Indonesia and South Africa. They are vibrating the entire industries, from automobile and electronics to information technology and telecom services, and altering the systems of global competition. (Business Week, 2006, p. 42). 21st century has carried away with several new opportunities and challenges due to the events and improvements in the recent past. The impact of these developments is felt more on the developing countries as these rapidly progress in terms of financial and market growth therefore getting closer to the emerging markets. Developing countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil play an important role in the world economy, entrepreneurs and corporate companies in these emerging markets are aiming to build a world class and internationalised firms. The main ambition of these Emerging Giants is to make the most of new opportunities and to be able to compete against international MNCs. So it is increasingly essential for the firms in emerging markets to get a clear understanding of these market opportunities and challenges to succeed in todays global economy. A clear picture of the current state affairs shows that though firms have been rigorously smacked by the economic crisis and t he drop in demand, the most of emerging firms have, so far, endured the test and prevented the collapse of their recently built international structures. However, there are a rising set of firms that appear to challenge these odds, and score stunning successes in their battles against MNCs. These firms, so called Emerging Giants, offer some imperative stuff in how emerging markets can craft endearing approaches. This report provides a general framework for developing world-class firms from emerging economies and the challenges and opportunities faced by these firms to become an Emerging Giants. Shock Opportunities faced by firms in emerging markets: Nowadays, many firms from emerging economies are making the world astonish and become very familiar. For the past two decades, waves of globalisation have removed protectionist hurdles in the emerging markets. A foreign competitive pressure started to flow through the world economy, from firms in emerging economies like India, China, Brazil and Russia. These firms are looking to become world class global players just as Tata Steel rose from India and Sony emerged from Japan in earlier stages of globalisation. Once these emerging economies entered themselves into the world economy, multinational enterprises from Europe, America, Korea, and Japan were assaulted. Many domestic firms lost the market share and forced to shed off their businesses. However, a few organisations battled hard and survived. They held their own businesses against the blitz, restructured their organisations, utilized new opportunities, and developed international companies that made their global rivals astonish and made them think. Challenges faced by emerging market firms: Whilst companies from the emerging economies continue with their expansion of international business, they are faced with an enduring issue are they capable to manage their accumulated assets economically on a global scale. Emerging firms are facing many challenges particularly due to inappropriate organizational structure, talent shortage, cultural differences, and lack experience in international business management. While facing specific challenges in various sectors and industries, emerging giants often come across common difficulties. One key issue about this dominance is that MNCs may use their supremacy and influence to interfere in the host governments finance, economic and political policies for their own growth (Harrison, Dalkiran, Elsey, 2000). The significant challenge for these emerging companies is to successfully compete with MNCs which have two fundamental advantages over emerging economy firms. First challenge is MNCs are well conventional, and hence have advantages of incumbency: Reputation, infrastructure, brand image, latest technology, organisational structure and access to vast resource funding, contacts, distribution network and supplier (Malchow Moller, N., Markusen, 2007). But firms from emerging markets do not have these advantages in order to compete against the multinationals. The worst part is that they come from economies that experience severe market breakdown. They lack the infrastructure and HRM that makes a multinational firm. With developed markets getting increasingly saturated, Multinational enterprises (MNEs) are trying to expand their business globally. Global businesses have enormously increasing due to fact that decreasing of barriers in the international trading. Because of this fact most of the multinational enterprises storming in to emerging economies in order take the advantage of the conditions and opportunities for future growth. Local consumers have a wider choice after the arrival of multinational corporations . As a result local firms from emerging markets are left with very fewer opportunities and the influx will restrict the emerging firms growth. When emerging economies open-up, local firms are forced to fight against MNCs with their poor economy and hence they cannot invest more in RD, advertising and marketing which are some of the essential aspects in order to compete with multinational enterprises. They are also in the back foot due to meagre infrastructure, supply and distribution network. Even while emerging companies are able to evade some of these obstacles and settle on a path of rapid development, they are hindered by the low domestic management talent group in their attempts t o develop a world class organisation. In theory, emerging firms can triumph over some of these barriers by accessing global markets for technology, finance and talent (Lipsey, 2002.). However, in prevailing conditions, different rigid and reputational obstacles often make this choice difficult to implement. Because of this reason, management in emerging economies are evidently worried about being thrown out in their domestic market by MNCs wh en their domestic markets provide space to global competition. Last 2 decades have seen a wave of countries opening up to the world economy; the challenge for potential emerging giants is more extreme than before. Competing against MNCs: Multinational firms from developed markets have an imperative advantage over emerging economies firms-access to the excellent organisational infrastructure. For example, U.K. MNCs have access to the British financial markets, which eases them to raise low-cost finance structures in great quantity. They have world-class talent available through a well-built white-collar labour market and also they could able to develop good quality products using Research development centres, marketing and advertising techniques. They are ahead of firms from developing countries with latest and advanced technologies developed by pioneering firms. Having all these advantages, wouldnt Firms from developed countries make use of business opportunities in emerging economies better than the emerging economy firms themselves? However, emerging market firms have a significant advantage over the firms from international companies. There are some reasons why firms from emerging economy can potentially turn the disadvantage of functioning in an emerging economy into an advantage, and may counteract the incumbency benefit of MNCs in terms of their technology, brand image and access to capital. First, sophisticated market MNCs looking to take advantage of business opportunities in developing markets are faced with some challenges that emerging market firms have to contend with. For example, firms from developed countries look to exploit professional talent in emerging market. However, the firm has to deal with the excellence uncertainty in the labour market, and learn ways to find skilled professional to serve global market needs. It also has to study to operate with poorly built infrastructure. Emerging economy manufacturers have a distinct advantage over foreign MNEs in dealing with local institutional voids for example-they have significant experience and cultural knowledge in dealing with these issues. In fact, MNCs managers, spent their years of experience with a well-built infrastructure, are often are unable to deal with institutional issues that make it difficult to access consistent market information, and/or configure business partnerships based on trustworthy con tracts. Emerging economies businesses, in contrast, have extensive knowledge of these institutional voids, and are able to manage them around through relaxed collective mechanisms and a deep knowledge with their environment. Second, MNCs are often hesitant to tailor their commodities and distribute them to each country that they function in. This is especially true for western MNCs with a very successful business in large sophisticated markets in Northern and Western Europe. For these firms, it is too expensive and big headache to alter their goods and services to suit distinctive behaviour just to make use of what they see as risky and small business prospects in emerging economies. Their cost structure is also an important factor because it will be difficult for them to manufacture goods at price which is optimal for emerging markets. Firms in emerging markets, in contrast, have advantage over these constraints.

The Convergence of Business and Technology

The Convergence of Business and Technology While technological convergence is no longer a new idea, the fascination with the subject lies with the capabilities and applications of both hybrid and brand new technological platforms and the ways previous stand alone industries, have been reconfigured and thereby mobilised to provide enhanced service delivery. Such convergence pertains to the â€Å"digitisation of communications and the ways discrete media formats have become accessible to other media forms; have been further factors in this process† (Saltzis, 2007). In technical terms, Saltzis (2007) reminds us that â€Å"the new technologies convergence can be attributed to developments in digitization, bandwidth and compression; as well as interactivity. Moreover, the rapidity and pervasiveness of technological convergence has seized the entrepreneurial imagination and arrested the attention of economic rationalists, with respect to â€Å"the devices used by institutions within the communications and media industries, as well as the information they process, distribute, and exchange over and through these devices† (Mosco and McKercher 2008: 37). Such convergence also focuses upon the â€Å"integration of or interface between and among different media systems and organizations, made possible by the development of new technologies† (Mosco and McKercher 2008: 37). With this being said, a more fertile field to explore, derives from the recognition that while technology continues to converge, so does the corporate world. The nub of this issue is the nature and extent of the link between these two types of convergence, and the nuanced ways in which one shapes and is shaped by the other. Corporate convergence, according to Babe (1996:284-285) refers to the â€Å"mergers, amalgamations, and diversifications, whereby media organisations come to operate across previously distinct industry boundaries.† Babe extends this explanation stating that corporate convergence refers to the non-technical features of convergence, which also â€Å"contribute to the blurring of industry boundaries† (Babe 1996: 284-285). Examples he cites in the 1990’s from his Canadian context include â€Å" Time Warner combining book publishing, music recording, and movie making, not to mention cable television, (while) Rogers Communications, Inc. engage in n ewspaper and magazine publishing, long-distance and cellular telephony, cable television, and radio/television broadcasting† (Babe 1996: 284-285). While it is self evident that â€Å"corporate convergence promotes and is promoted by technological convergence† (Mosco and McKercher 2008: 37), closer attention is warranted to examine the nature of the promotion and the ways these two significant convergences influence each other. It is illuminating as we do this to itemise dimensions of technological convergence, to begin to pinpoint the areas of synergy between technology and corporate enterprise. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has been helpful in its examination of convergence, by singling out ‘device convergence,’ ‘network convergence,’ ‘service convergence’ and ‘regulatory convergence’ (ITU 2008). While the ITU cites examples of devices include mobile phone, camera and internet access device, network examples include fixed-mobile convergence and next-generation networks (ITU 2008). Moreover, service convergence is exemplified by voice services over th e internet; not to forget regulatory convergence for broadcasting and telecommunications, citing the example of the Office of Communication (Ofcom) in the United Kingdom (ITU 2008). The view of convergence from the corporate stakeholder, according to Andriole (2005:28), is ideally a â€Å"multi-disciplinary, anticipatory, adaptive and cautious† one, no longer about â€Å"early adoption of unproven technology,† but instead about questions of â€Å"business technology acquisition, deployment and management† (Andriole 2005: 28). The sense that the momentum has changed within the corporate sector, prompting corporate leaders to be ready to have ‘convergence conversations’ is clearly articulated by Andriole (2005). It is advocated that companies will benefit by thinking in terms of â€Å"business technology convergence plans† (Andriole 2005: 28). Instead of technology being a footnote or a discrete department within a corporation, through its own array of convergences, it now occupies a central position in underpinning corporate cultures. As a response to this generational shift in consciousness, business planning now closely consults with technological providers, shaping corporate decisions and goals. This change of thought led spawned a new series of business planning questions, which demonstrate some of the links between technological and corporate convergence. Questions which illustrate this include: â€Å"‘How does technology define and enable profitable transactions?’; ‘What business models and processes are underserved by technology?’; ‘Which are adequately or over-served by technology?’† (Andriole 2005: 29) Now when strategic planning is tabled as an agenda item within companies, the matter of technological capabilities is taken seriously, as corporations realise that sidelining technological innovation, is a stepping stone towards giving away market edge to one’s competitors. Indeed, Andriole (2005: 30) forewarns of the perils of business technology segmentation. Instead of a new business initiative being conceived then asking what technological capability exist to support it, Andriole (2005: 30) argues that technologists must be present as part of the materialisation process of a company’s development goals and strategies. One fundamental area a business model which values efficiency and effectiveness is the calibre of the internal and external communications systems and infrastructure. In the 21st century business context of global interfacing, communications which are â€Å"pervasive, secure and reliable† (Andriole 2005: 30), are a base line issue. The incentive to acquire such state of the art systems is one factor driving further technological convergence, as the market demand fosters technological innovation to bring market edge to communications. The airline industry is a practical case in point, with specific international airlines branding being fostered by the level of their onboard entertainment systems for travelling customers. Some international airlines have invested heavily in this component of their corporate identity to enhance their market niche, displaying convergence through the multi-media, multi-channel video and music on demand, personalised entertainment systems, which now permit replay and play back functions (Yu 2008). We are reminded us that a large area of compatibility and synchronicity between technological and corporate convergence relates to the classical knowledge networks, such as universities, corporations and investors, who derive great benefits from convergence, finding more penetrating ways to exchange information and knowledge, their primary resource Saltzis (2007:2). Additionally, since political, economic and financial power is derived from shared information, the value of corporate convergence to the stock markets and to companies is self evident. In relation to the priming of information flow via the synergy between corporate and technological convergence, some observers are beginning to draw attention to the sociological trend that knowledge, through these processes, has become less of a community resource and increasingly a commodity. As information is commodified, it is packaged to target specific interest groups and economic stakeholders, who prize specific knowledge for specif ic outcomes, in terms of client need and demand. This instance of the knowledge super highway shows that knowledge can be ‘positioned’ within the market with greater precision through convergence, yet , in so doing, may easily lose its original contextual underpinnings that imbued it with richer nuances of meaning in the first place. This phenomenon is perhaps no more evident than in cable television, where networks and individual channels are devoted to specific content delivery 24 hours a day. The downside of course, is that information must be assimilated rapidly on the take up side by the media corporation, just as it is foisted upon the consumer with a ‘forced- feed’ pretext, to make room for the next feed. Information, through such convergent capabilities, that permit ‘bites’ of knowledge to be digitally transferred globally and instantaneously, allows knowledge to be stripped of the framework in which it emerged, just as it is quickly, y et superficially digested by the global consumer. When information held the status of being a community resource, rather than a global commodity, it could be used at the will of the consumer, for their own determined purpose, rather than the commodified purpose preselected by the respective media conglomerates that perpetuate the promulgation of endless information. Further challenges to technological and corporate convergence trends, apart from dilution of meaning due to the multiplicity and potentially splintering of sources, according to ITU (2008) concerns, â€Å"content distribution and management, sustainability and scalability, innovation management, competitive dynamics, tariff policies, network security, regulatory coherence and consumer protection† (ITU 2008). While the broadening of avenues for content distribution has the allure of versatility, the revolutionary distribution of music in the past decade illustrates the potency of convergence, threatening to undermine the very industry it was seeking to promote. I-Tunes and other legal internet based distribution pathways for music radically altered the income and revenue streams derived from popular music providers globally. While the consumer was benefited through the open door of access to music, (just as the educational market was reconfigured once educational corporations b egan to exploit the potentialities of online delivery of educational content at school and university level), the demand for live music globally initially declined, yet has now been buoyed up by the benefits of enhanced global exposure, on account of the global penetration capacity of online music. Another aspect of this link that has pressurised corporations like never before has been how to safeguard the integrity of informational, entertainment or intellectually creative products, once they are so widely available via the world wide web. The proliferation of cloned products has the tendency to diminish the quality, reputation or demand for the original. Corporations have had to weigh the benefits of more universal distribution, against this tendency to have the integrity of a product compromised. This, in one sense has been as much about re-education of the consumer, who remains driven by the desire for quality in many instances, overlooking the detracting influence of You-Tube look alike musical bands renditions of hit singles by either reputable or promising new talent. Patently, issues of security remain paramount, in this race towards virally changing convergences, whether it is the protection of personal data by entertainment companies, the finance sector or an individual relying upon social networking websites to foster their new relationships. Banks reputation for safety once built at the store front only, to remain competitive amid their market rivals, has now shifted to the quality and integrity of their web presence. This same notion extends of course, to an ever growing margin of the retail sector, and the sporting sectors, who realise that within the 21st century era of the new media users, the ‘digital native’ populations will increasingly rely upon web based sources for their interfacing with the world. Ironically, even large scale media conglomerations recognize the technological convergence can allow the operator of a mobile phone with a camera component, to drive world changing conditions, in the event that anybody happen s to be at the right place at the right time, and films an international crisis on the telephone, then posts it on the web, embarrassingly before a major news corporation has the time or the infrastructure to outrun them. This realization has brought a new sense of recognition from major news broadcasters, to the power and penetration of websites like You-Tube, creating in journalists a scrutinizing eye for such alternate culture havens to assist the construction of mainstream breaking news stories. The future looks bright for the ongoing convergence of technologies and corporate agendas. We are reminded of the profound benefits of the digitization revolution, yielding â€Å"enormous gains in transmission speed and flexibility over earlier forms of electronic communication,† (Mosco McKercher 2008: 38) â€Å"extending the range of opportunities to measure and monitor, package and repackage entertainment and knowledge† (Mosco Mckercher 2008: 38). Nonetheless, the need to balance economic welfare and human welfare continues to be of concern, and one of the many implications of the increasing reciprocity, between technological and corporate convergence. In the field of media journalism news production convergence, Klinenburg reiterates that convergence facilitates a more rapid confluence of sources impinging upon an event or a story, yet it also intensifies the pressures upon the journalists time to â€Å"conduct interviews, go out into the field, research and write† (2007: 128). The processing time available at the human level continually diminishes, and when the technical speed is permitted to eclipse the human processes of digestion of knowledge and subsequent reflection, the result may ironically, in spite of a seemingly infinitely greater number of sources, be inferior, less news worthy and more insubstantial, than in would have been if the journalist had to rely upon more traditional methods of crafting a story to be broadcast or published. While we have such warnings of convergence being manifest as a â€Å"concentration of technological ownership, in the form of the global media conglomerates† (Saltzis 2007), occurring in tandem â€Å"at the three levels of networks, production and distribution† (Saltzis 2007), it is prudent to be cogniscent of the fact that such monopolization can create an hegemonic corporate empire, allowing such media outlets to in effect be massive funnels for particular ideological positions. Divergence of ownership, on the other hand, may be a way to democratise control and use of these powerful message delivery mechanisms, yet without inbuilt check and balance systems, the corporate stakeholder will rarely consider that their over- influence in the market place of ideas is detrimental to society. Since convergence researchers are ambivalent about the relative degree to which the â€Å"conglomeration of the global media has been the causal factor of technical convergence, or whether it is its by-product† (Saltzis 2007), there remains much to scrutinize, as we more globally to a yet more convergent means of conducting business; as well as producing, disseminating and consuming information, for diverse purposes. Saltzis’s observations seem pertinent in the final analysis. While the â€Å"benefits of these transitions include the merging of consumer bases; the creation of synergies with shared resources (utilising economies of scope and scale); as well as cross-promotion, the instability of the global media system, with its intense competition, advertising, peer-to-peer file sharing technologies, have established significant challenges for both the music and film industries† (Saltzis 2007). The matter of e-regulation is, as Saltzis asserts, â€Å"in its infa ncy† (2007), with many more competing political, economic and ethical questions to consider, as the global market place continues to converge. Bibliography Mosco, V. McKercher, C. (2008) The Laboring of Communication: Will Knowledge Workers of the World Unite? Rowman Littlefield Saltzis, K. (2007) Corporate and Technological Convergence (Lecture 8): New Media and the Wired World MS2007. International Telecommunications Union (2008) World Telecommunications Policy Forum 2009 ‘Convergence’, accessed December 13, 2008 from http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/wtpf/wtpf2009/convergence.html Yu, R (2008) Airlines Upgrade Entertainment in Economy Cabin USA Today retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-05-05-inflight-entertainment_N.htm December 13, 2008.

Augustine’s Divided Line Essay -- Essays Papers

Augustine’s Divided Line Augustine’s contention that man cannot possibly come into truth by reason in his temporal life constitutes his initial departure from the ancients, and results in the need for an entirely new structuring of the relationship between man and the good. In differentiating between the nature of God and man, Augustine argues that man’s nature—unlike God’s—is corruptible, and is thus â€Å"deprived of the light of eternal truth† (XI, 22) . This stands the thought of Plato on its head, since now no amount of contemplation and argument will be capable of getting man closer to a truth that exists on a plane that â€Å"surpasses the reach of the human mind† (XXI, 5). If reason is an instrument as flawed as man himself, how, then, is man to know the supreme good if he is forced to grope blindly for it in a state of sin without any assistance from the powers of his own mind? It is this question which serves as the premise for Augustine’s di vision of existence into the City of Man and the City of God and articulation of a system of vice and struggle against vice that keeps man anchored to the City of Man and prevents him from entering the City of God in temporal life. In order to explain man’s path from the one to the other, he sets up a system of dichotomies that originate from Adam’s fall and are hinged upon the role of the will in earthly life. At the top, God is the source of the â€Å"supreme good,† and evil is its opposite (XII, 3). Up to this point, he is in agreement with the ancients, but he diverges again when he equates the good with nature, and evil with a defect of nature—an absence of the good (XII, 3). In this we have the first division of what â€Å"supremely is† between nature and vice, with nature arising ... ...ty† (XII, 22). This is ultimately what is so shockingly egalitarian about Augustine’s Christianity in contrast to the thought of the ancients. The Supreme Good—eternal life—is accessible to both the simple and the sophisticated. One may either contemplate the duality of the universe and figure out where each aspect of creation fits into the scheme, or one may bypass the attempt to understand the temporal world in relation to heaven, but so long as one finally accepts faith and, through it, becomes obedient to God while discarding self-will, the extent to which one used reason in his life is irrelevant. Reason, except insofar as it is necessary in a basic sense for man to use it to accept faith to and differentiate himself from beasts, is not necessary for eternal life. What is necessary is the choice to stop exercising the self-will—to stop making choices. Augustine’s Divided Line Essay -- Essays Papers Augustine’s Divided Line Augustine’s contention that man cannot possibly come into truth by reason in his temporal life constitutes his initial departure from the ancients, and results in the need for an entirely new structuring of the relationship between man and the good. In differentiating between the nature of God and man, Augustine argues that man’s nature—unlike God’s—is corruptible, and is thus â€Å"deprived of the light of eternal truth† (XI, 22) . This stands the thought of Plato on its head, since now no amount of contemplation and argument will be capable of getting man closer to a truth that exists on a plane that â€Å"surpasses the reach of the human mind† (XXI, 5). If reason is an instrument as flawed as man himself, how, then, is man to know the supreme good if he is forced to grope blindly for it in a state of sin without any assistance from the powers of his own mind? It is this question which serves as the premise for Augustine’s di vision of existence into the City of Man and the City of God and articulation of a system of vice and struggle against vice that keeps man anchored to the City of Man and prevents him from entering the City of God in temporal life. In order to explain man’s path from the one to the other, he sets up a system of dichotomies that originate from Adam’s fall and are hinged upon the role of the will in earthly life. At the top, God is the source of the â€Å"supreme good,† and evil is its opposite (XII, 3). Up to this point, he is in agreement with the ancients, but he diverges again when he equates the good with nature, and evil with a defect of nature—an absence of the good (XII, 3). In this we have the first division of what â€Å"supremely is† between nature and vice, with nature arising ... ...ty† (XII, 22). This is ultimately what is so shockingly egalitarian about Augustine’s Christianity in contrast to the thought of the ancients. The Supreme Good—eternal life—is accessible to both the simple and the sophisticated. One may either contemplate the duality of the universe and figure out where each aspect of creation fits into the scheme, or one may bypass the attempt to understand the temporal world in relation to heaven, but so long as one finally accepts faith and, through it, becomes obedient to God while discarding self-will, the extent to which one used reason in his life is irrelevant. Reason, except insofar as it is necessary in a basic sense for man to use it to accept faith to and differentiate himself from beasts, is not necessary for eternal life. What is necessary is the choice to stop exercising the self-will—to stop making choices.

Female Rebellion In Aurora Leigh and The Lady in the Looking-Glass Essa

Female Rebellion In Aurora Leigh and The Lady in the Looking-Glass   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Women of both the ages of Victorian and early Modernism were restricted from education at universities or the financial independence of professionalism. In both ages, women writers often rebelled against perceived female expectations as a result of their oppression. To lead a solitary life as a subservient wife and mother was not satisfactory for writers like Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Virginia Woolf. One of the most popular female poets of the Victorian era, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, illustrated "a woman's struggle to achieve artistic and economical independence in modern society" (Longman P.1858). Many Victorian critics were shocked by Barrett Browning's female rebellion, which was rare for the era. With her autobiographical epic poem, Aurora Leigh provoked critics who were "scandalized by its radical revision of Victorian ideals of femininity" (P.1859). In the age of Modernism, women were finally given the some rights to a higher education and p rofessionalism i n 1928 (p.2175). However, female poets of early Modernism, such as Virginia Woolf, were raised in the Victorian age. Rebellion toward "Victorian sexual norms and gender roles" (P.2175) are reflected in Woolf's modern literary piece, such as The Lady in the Looking-Glass: A Reflection. Also echoed in the piece, is how Woolf   "never lost the keen sense of anguish nor the self-doubt occasioned by the closed doors of the academy to women" (P.2445).      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Both of the female protagonists, Aurora of Aurora Leigh and Isabella of The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection, represent the rebellion and self-doubt of their female writers. Aurora rebels against the Vi... ...r letters, they were all bills" (P.2456). The rebellion ultimately led to emptiness, as Isabella chose not to have relations to preserve her freedom.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Both Aurora Leigh and The Lady in the Looking Glass: A Reflection help define female rebellion from Victorian and Modernism eras.   The portrayal of the nature of the rebellion differs between the eras. The Victorian protagonist was more innocent in her struggle to gain independence. When that independence was achieved, it was like discovering a new religion. On the other hand, the Protagonists if the modernism era no longer were innocent in her rebellion. Forced to live a solitary life to seal her independence, she was hardened by the memories of the Victorian ideals for women.    Longman. The Longman Anthology of British Literature, vol. B. Damrosch, D. NY, LA: Addison Wesley Longman.

Illusions and Reality in The Great Gatsby Essay -- The Great Gatsby F.

     Ã‚   According to Cynthia Wu, no matter how many critical opinions there are on The Great Gatsby, the book basically deals with Gatsby's dream and his illusions (39). We find out from the novel that Jay Gatsby is not even a real person but someone that James Gatz invented. Wu also tells us that Gatsby has illusions that deal with romance, love, beauty, and ideals (39). Wu also points out that Gatsby's illusions can be divided into four related categories: he came from a rich upper class family, a never ending love between him and Daisy, money as the answer to every problem, and reversible time. Through Nick's narrations we can really see who this Jay Gatsby is and the reality to his illusions, and from this we can make our own decision on who we think Jay Gatsby really is. The first memory upon which the narrator meditates on is the story behind Jay Gatsby's true identity:   James Gatz-that was really , or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career-when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior. It was James Gatz who had been loafing along the beach that afternoon in a torn green jersey and a pair of canvas pants, but it was already Jay Gatsby who borrowed a rowboat, pulled out to the Tuolomee, and informed Cody that a wind might catch him and break him up in half an hour. (qtd. in Dillon 53) I agree with Nick when he tells us that Jay probably had the name ready for a long time. Jay couldn't accept himself for who he really was and couldn't accept his history for what it really was. Then it stands to reason that Nick is correct on page 104 when he states: Jay's imagination never accepted h... ...cording to Dillon, even though Gatsby had so much missing he did have one greatness and that one greatness was his illusions (61).    Works Cited Dillon, Andrew. "The Great Gatsby: The Vitality of Illusion." The Arizona Quarterly 44 Spr. 1988: 49-61. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1992. Irwin, John T. "Compensating Visions: The Great Gatsby." Southwest Review 77 Autumn 1992: 536-545. Mitchell, Giles. "Gatsby Is a Pathological Narcissist." Readings On The Great Gatsby. Ed. Bruno Leone, et al. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1998. 61-67. Pauly, Thomas H. "Gatsby Is a Sinister Gangster." Readings On The Great Gatsby. Ed. Bruno Leone, et al. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1998. 41-51. Wu, Cynthia The Great Gatsby: Illusion and Reality for Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway. 17 (1984): 39-68   

India & Mexico: the two stories Essay

By the end of 20th century, the world had realized that the next century is going to be driven by developing nations from South America, Central America and Asia on economic ground. The role of the economically developed nation will get reduced to that of investor and consumer while the developing nations will be converted into producers with foreign direct investment will bring capital and technology for that production. Looking into Asia, the nations which is supporting the above mentioned view are neither Japan nor the South East Asian tigers comprising ASEAN; but the world’s two most populated nations namely China and India. Many economists called this advent of the two nations as the arrival of Chindia. The China has now become the factory of the world while India is a service sector giant while leading in the sectors like software development and BPO industry (Perkovich, 2003). And in case of Central America and South America, the countries which are expected to match the growth of other developing nations are Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. These nations have a very different past if things like political stability and economic policies are taken into consideration. India and its late rise   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Though both China and India have now become a very successful case of FDI channeled development model but the structure of economy of these two nations are at the two ends of any of the economic theory. In China, being a one party communist state and very strong central government economic decisions are taken irrespective of what is actually the people at ground wish while in India, being a secular democratic nation with multi-party political system decisions related to economy are often taken while considering the compulsions like electoral promises and is very much populist in nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The governments which includes both central and states are always under pressure from both opposition parties and popular public demand and many a times the decisions get affected due to this factor. At the same time, India’s economic stand for more than forty years of its independence had been protective and least connected with the world (Bromley, Mackintosh, Brown &   Wuyts, 2004, p. 196). Its neutral stand during the cold war and strategic military relationship with USSR caused very less interaction with western world led by USA. The country continued to pursue its independent political stand and entered 21st century, its economic structure saw extreme changes and the country now boasts of having the USA as its largest trading partner and at the same time, US has also found great interest in world’s largest democracy and the recently signed nuclear treaty between the US president George Bush and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh clearly underlines the growing interest between the two.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   So the new India or better to say the liberalized India post reforms presents a beautiful case where Kenneth Waltz’s theory of International Relations which states that the action of a state can often get affected due to pressures being exerted by international forces and thereby limiting the options available to them(1979). The neorealist or structured model has been developed with the aim to explain the repeating patterns of state behavior and power and its extent which is the combination of its capacity to resist external influence while influencing others to behave according to its wishes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The liberalization process in India began in early 1990s in the tenure of the Prime Minister P. V. Narashimha Rao under the leadership of then Finance Minister Dr. Manamohan Singh. The reform process and India’s integration into world economy was widely appreciated with International Monetary Fund or the IMF calling it a long term corrective measure. The reform process which began with India signing GATT and becoming a part of WTO was widely appreciated by almost all economic quarters (Bromley et. al, 2004, p. 173). The Narashimha Rao govt. continued with his reforms though slowly despite stiff resistance from major opposition parties by destroying the opposition unity (Bromley et. al, 2004, p. 167).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After entering into a new economic fold, the Indian State’s decision showed the signs of getting influenced through external international forces which includes IMF, World Bank and other trade partners including US and EU. On economic issues, the Indian government for obtaining loans from IMF and World Bank had to observe their demands. Some of the demands that IMF made were import liberalization, tariff reduction, decontrolling the food grains market, decreasing subsidies in food and agricultural sector, PSU privatizations, enabling law for attracting FDI in manufacturing and infrastructure projects and opening the domestic banking and insurance sector i.e., financial liberalization (Bromley et. al, 2004, p. 199).. The Indian government reacted cautiously but in a considerably long period, opened some of the sectors with foreign players holding majority stakes while in most of the sectors FDI was promoted to some percentage that may be 26 percent or up to 49 percent (Govt. of India, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The economic reforms of Indian economy went into super fast mode during the regime of new political party. The BJP government was found to be pro-reformist with measures taken by continued to follow the path initiated by the Narashimha Rao Government. This stand of BJP was in sharp contrast to what it had observed during the beginning of the reform movement (Bromley et. al., 2004, p. 168). Under the BJP government, India tested five nuclear weapons and was widely criticized by most of the countries (Perkovich, 2003). The US government imposed a series of economic sanctions and the relationship between the two nations started showing down turn. But the Indian economy showed resilience and even the US congress and other western nations realized this fact and the sanctions were removed in a number of phases. The terrorist attack of September 11 2001 changed the scenario and the world under US leadership started considering terrorism as an international threat and India being a victim of Pakistan sponsored terrorism gave unequivocal support to US led war against terror (Perkovich, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But the real success of India has been observed in form of the success of software giants like Infosys, TCS, Wipro and many smaller ones (Bromley et. al., 2004, p. 209). These companies opened new era of business through outsourcing of jobs from US and this led to the advent of many of the US based MNCs like Accenture, IBM, GE and others investing a lot in India. The condition has become so different that the growth of Indian firms is dependent on US. Now the other sectors like retail, automobile, telecommunication etc. are getting large input through FDI channel (Perkovich, 2003).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Now this US supported growth of economy has made the government to follow foreign policies with extra care so that the interests of US must be taken into account and the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries should remain intact. These things are clearly showing that the country’s stand on different international issues have started getting affected by economic policies of developed nations especially USA (Kapila, 2006). Mexico & Economic Liberalization   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Now when we think of the continent of North America, we normally have the picture two economically very developed countries namely United States of America and Canada. But Mexico is another major economy of the region but with a different structure and status. Basically a developing country with a very unusual past when compared with other major countries of the region mentioned above, the country’s economic policy in the major part of 20th century had been without any vision. The political establishment has always supported various ideologies at the same time. The left centered administration and economic policy of Cuba and other left economies of the world got support from most of the Mexican government over the past 50 years but the same governments had reacted sharply against any move to any communist movement in the nation. Before 1970, the economy policy of Mexico was that of Private Public supported and investment by foreign companies had been given high priority. But after the massacre in the Plaza of the Three Cultures, the newly elected government started following an economic policy leaned more towards left philosophy of collective ownership. And despite flagging economic condition of the nation, populist policies for earning political mileage became a national policy. With every new government the country followed comparatively different policies creating more economic and monetary instability instead of any straight forward economic growth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The year 1994 saw the beginning of a new era in trade relations among three major countries of North America. With the launch of North America Free Trade Agreement i.e., NAFTA, comprising of world’s two most powerful economies USA and Canada and Mexico, the whole economic situation of the region has become a matter of close observation. If the case of Canada and USA is looked upon, there already exist a number of bilateral agreements on issues from defense, border security to trade and commerce. But from Mexican point of view, NAFTA has been much more than a simple regional trade agreement. Despite being a platform for boosting trade, participation of Mexico in NAFTA has been seen as the most effective tool to achieve two important missions. The first one has been for the purpose of directing the Mexican economy to an export-led growth path on a non-inflationary note. With USA as the major economic partner, NAFTA has been seen by the Mexican government as a platform to initiate large scale export to its much superior economic partner. Internal structure of the Mexican economy has also been made available on a platter to get a change with new set policies ensuring free trade initiative and drastic reduction in terms of tariff and quota issues to promote intra-regional trade (Moreno-Brid, Validiva & Santamaria, 2005). The second objective of the above mentioned reform process was to make the nature of this process very much irreversible. Though NAFTA accord has made sufficient provision so that any attempt to be made by the governments of future would cause the imposition of international legal and extra-legal constraints thereby deterring any attempt of returning back to the days of trade protectionism but the Salinas administration along with other supporters blunted all attack by its opponents to ensure the path of reform unruffled. The whole purpose of this treaty for Mexico was to make the nation a very lucrative region for the manufacture of products that can easily be exported to USA (Moreno-Brid et. al., 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Now it’s been more than a decade that NAFTA came into existence and if the economic condition of Mexico is viewed then the expectations that was raised by the Salinas govt. has actually been partially satisfied. The country has made considerable economic advancements and these things are visible through the era of small budget deficit, low inflation that followed the treaty. Also the export of non-oil products has reached a very high level with surge in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). But euphoria associated with the treaty loses its charm when the number of jobs being created in the liberated economy is taken into account. The rate of growth of the GDP is still below the level which the economy had attained in days much prior to liberalization (Moreno-Brid et. al., 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   So, for Mexico, the outcome of being a part of NAFTA has been very limited. If the limited gains are compared with what had been expected before, the NAFTA will appear more as a failure than a success. In 1994 only, the possibility of this sort of result was predicted by eminent US political scientist Stephan Krasner. While depending on realist model Krasnar had clearly stated that though NAFTA is an excellent attempt to have a very beneficial regional agreement but from Mexico point of view it’s not going to yield any golden egg (Bromley, Mackintosh, Brown &   Wuyts, 2004, p. 264). The extreme differences in the business culture and size of the economies of US and Mexico will be a very important reason behind the limited success of the agreement and expecting a broad result of something like the one between US and Canada can never be achieved (Extra Material, p. 10). The economic policy of US has been more of imperialistic in nature. This very US policy gives rise to anti-Americanism. The actually reduces the extent up to which both US and Mexico could have cooperated. This is very much in agreement to Waltz theory, which has clearly mentioned that the international condition is very much anarchic due to the lack of any common controlling authority giving rise to the issues like national threat and rise of conflicts of both military and economic nature (1979). As a result the apprehensions with rich nations fearing the rise of issues of illegal migration and human trafficking, the extent of cooperation between the two states will be very limited (Hollifield, 2006). The states would be found more concerned towards maintaining their relative power in relation one another and at the same time will avoid any permanent loss to existing relationship (Bromley et. al, 2004, p. 278).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The much analyzed theory of Waltz on International Relations valid in almost every case can be successfully used in understanding the case of NAFTA and Mexico. The history is full of differences and conflicts between the US and Mexico with Mexico in constant fear of losing its sovereignty. This fear and the bitterness of past has always been a very important reason the success of any pact between Mexico and US. Even the economic policy of US has widely been considered as imperialistic and Mexico had become a part of NAFTA for increasing its exports especially to US, hence the Mexican establishment will always be under the influence of US economic policies and decisions and may have to modify its international economic and business policies to suit US and the economic benefits Mexico is having with the trade with such a large neighbor (Bromley et. al, 2004, p 264).    So the fear of the past was the invasion over geographical boundary with Mexico preferring Latin culture rather the pro-US North American trend. Now becoming a very important part of North American economic group, Mexico is under continuous fear of losing is control over its economy and currency and might have to face economic colonialism.   References Hollifield, J. F. (2006). Trade, Migration and Economic Development: The Risks and   Ã‚  Ã‚   Rewards of Openness. Retrieved June 01, 2007, from the World Wide Web:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.dallasfed.org/news/research/2006/06migr/hollifield.pdf Moreno-Brid, J. Validiva, J. C. R. & Santamaria, J. (2005). Mexico: Economic growth    exports and industrial performance after NAFTA, Economic Development Unit.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retrieved June 01, 2007, from the World Wide Web:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.wilsoncenter.org/news/docs/Mexico_after_NAFTA_ECLAC.pdf Bromley, M. Mackintosh, W. Brown & M. Wuyts (2004).  Making the International: Economic Interdependence and political Order. Pluto Press Waltz, K. N. (1979).Realist Thought and Neorealist Thesis 1979. Journal of International   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Affairs.   Retrieved June 01, 2007, from the World Wide Web:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://classes.maxwell.syr.edu/PSC783/Waltz44.pdf Govt. of India (2005). Investing in India Foreign Direct Investment -Policy & Procedures   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Government of India, New Delhi Retrieved June 01, 2007, from the World Wide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Web:  Ã‚   http://dipp.nic.in/manual/manual_03_05.pdf Kapila, S. (2006). Iran’s nuclear issue: India well advised to be objective. South Asia   Ã‚  Ã‚   Analysis Group  Retrieved June 01, 2007, from the World Wide   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Web:http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers17%5Cpaper1694.html Perkovich, G. (2003).The measure of India: what makes greatness? 2003 Annual   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fellows’ Lecture, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved June 01, 2007, from the   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   World Wide Web:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   www.sas.upenn.edu/casi/publications/Papers/Perkovich_2003.pdf   

International tourism Essay

Every year, hundreds of millions of people move around to see a different part of the world. It is natural to assume that tourists who have seen other countries have a better knowledge of the people. That assumption also leads to the conclusion that international tourism promotes understanding between nations. How true is this? Let us examine what tourists do in a different country. First, before going abroad, tourists are often told by their travel agents of the possible hazards which sometimes include local people. They are given example of extreme cases where victims are always the travelers. Then, when they arrive, they are immediately taken to their hotels in big coaches. They flood places where local people don’t go. Their shopping, meals, entertainment all take place in secluded areas. They wear a bubble all the way. Apart from speaking to the guide and a few shop assistants, tourists rarely talk to the local people. To make it even worse, they meet pickpockets, they are ripped off by dishonest traders. Furthermore, very few local people bother to talk to them out of a genuine interest in the guests’ country, people and culture. Therefore, when asked how much they know about the local people, their answer is â€Å"very little†. If someone really wants to understand a different culture, he has to learn its language, stay there for at least a few month without wearing a bubble, learn how to curse and swear, bargain with a vegetable vendor and then he can say that he understands the people.

Why you should follow nutrition

  IntroductionOf the many things one can do to enhance one’s state of health, none is more important than maintaining proper nutrition. The mind and body cannot function optimally without the proper supply of nutrients and energy obtained from food.A key tenet of the holistic approach to health is that each person must take responsibility for his or her own health. Making intelligent decisions about nutrition—about what and how much to eat—is an important part of this responsibility, because the diet one chooses and follows can keep one healthy. In the words of Philip Lee (1977) professor of social medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine:As a nation we have come to believe that our medicine and medical technology can solve all our major health problems†¦ But the problems can never be solved merely by more and more medical care. The health of individuals and the health of the population is determined by a variety of biolo gical (host), behavioral, sociocultural, environmental factors. None of these is more important than the food we eat (Burkitt et al. 1974).Good nutrition: Striking the Right BalanceWhat is the best argument for following a good nutrition in one’s life instead of eating all the junk food one can consume. Every person’s body has a unique chemical and physical composition that corresponds to a state of optimal wellness, because the human body is constructed of atoms and molecules that are arranged in particular combinations and proportions that are unique to each person. One’s body contains few of the same atoms and molecules it had even a few weeks ago, because its chemical constituents are continually replaced by different atoms and molecules acquired from the food one eats.There are about forty known essential nutrients and perhaps others are not yet identified, that must be continually resupplied to the body (Ricciuto). Failure to obtain enough of one or more o f the essential nutrients can result in a nutritional deficiency disease, such as goiter (enlarged thyroid gland), which may be caused by too little iodine, beri-beri, a disease characterized by weakness and wasting away that is caused by too little thiamine (vitamin B1), anemia (too few red blood cells) from insufficient iron; and blindness from vitamin A deficiency, the most common cause of blindness in children, world-wide. Since all nutrients act in concert, a deficiency of one may impair the utilization of others even if the others are acquired in adequate amounts. Thus, a proper nutritional state is a matter of maintaining a complex balance of the essential nutrients.One can argue that one eats a little of everything in the proper amounts just to keep fit. But still it does not work that way. This is because poor health can result in eating too much of certain kinds of food, or from eating too much in general. For example, overeating is the principal cause of obesity, which co ntributes to the development of such serious diseases as high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and some forms of cancer. Cancer of the colon may be related to eating too much meat and processed foods and not getting enough fiber or roughage that may be essential to maintain a healthy colon. High salt intake is related to high blood pressure and high sugar intake is related to tooth decay (the most prevalent disease in the industrialized world). Much of the tooth decay could be prevented if people followed very simple nutrition rules (Breslow & Enstrom 1980).Physiological Benefits of Body WorkOur industrial society depends on an enormous variety of machines that free people from an equally enormous number of physical tasks. Some of these tasks, such as heavy construction work of large-scale farming, would be well-nigh impossible without the help of machines. Others, such as traveling to work or school, getting to the seventh floor of a building, or washing clothes, could be accomplis hed without the aid of machines (and some people argue they ought to be), but few of us are likely to give up the use of cars, elevators, and washers. They simply make the task of daily living easier. As a result, few people do much moving around under their own muscular power. That is, many of us get little exercise.According to William B. Kannel and Paul Sorlie (1979) who have studied the effects of lifestyle on the occurrence of heart disease:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Over the past quarter of a century, there has evolved a growing suspicion that the transformation of man by modern technology from a physically active agrarian creature to a sedentary industrial one has exacted a toll in ill health. The evidence on which this is based comes from epidemiological studies, clinical observations, and the work physiologist. Most of the attention has been focused on the possible contribution of physical indolence to the development of cardiovascular disease, the chief health hazard of affluent societies and their leading cause of death.†In addition to the physiological benefits, regular physical activity has psychological and spiritual benefits as well. Fr example, a study of middle-aged university professors found that regular exercise made them more self-sufficient, more persevering, less likely to experience mood swings, and more imaginative (Ismail and Trachtman, 1973). In another study, both men and women university students who engaged in regular physical activity were found to have greater self-control, to have increased self-awareness, and to be more self-directed. They also demonstrated a positive self-image (Jeffers, 1977).One of the principal psychological benefits that can come from regular body work is experiencing periods of relaxed concentration, characterized by reduction in physical and psychic tensions, regular breathing rhythms, and increased self-awareness. This experience is often compared to meditation. Tennis instructor Tim Gallwey (1976) describes fou r stages for obtaining a state of relaxed concentration through body work. The first stage, â€Å"paying attention,† occurs at the beginning of a body work session and involves riveting your concentration on your body work and excluding all other thoughts. The stage of paying attention requires a certain degree of self-discipline—the desire and ability to say â€Å"no† to other demands on your time and energies and to say â€Å"yes† to yourself.WORKS CITEDBurkitt, D. P. Walker, R.P. and Painter , N.S.   â€Å"Dietary Fiber and Disease.† Journal of theAmerican   Medical Association, 229 (1974), 1068-1074.Breslow, L. and Enstrom, J.E. â€Å"Persistence of Health Habits and Their Relationship toMortality.† Preventive Medicine, 9 (1980). 469-483.Ismail, A.H. and Trachtman, I.E. â€Å"Jogging the Imagination.† Psychology Today. 6(1973), 78-82Jeffers, J. M. â€Å"The Effects of Physical Conditions on Locus of Control, Body Image andInt erpersonal Relationship Orientations. University Males and Females.Dissertation Abstracts, 37 (1977) 3289.Kannel, W.B. and Sorlie, P. â€Å"Some Health Benefits of Physical Activity.† Archives ofInternal Medicine, 139 (1979) 857-861.Ricciuto, Anthony. What Power Nutrition can do for you. Retrieved April 19, 2007 at:http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/anthony26.htm