Economic Effects of Consumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic Effects of Consumerism - Essay Example The purpose of any economic system should be to meet the basic inescapable demands of its members in an affordable and sustainable manner. However, when the aspect of consumerism comes into effect with its emphasis on conspicuous consumption, the system gets thrown out of gear. The production-consumption cycle becomes a vicious spiral that is difficult to break. Some of the economic effects of consumerism are: Planned Obsolescence / Dissatisfaction. Rather than striving for a state of equilibrium, consumerism dictates that there must be an exponential increase in demand. Hence the advent of the 'disposable' culture which is aimed at increasing demand, as well as sustaining it. This is coupled with advertising which creates a felt need where none existed before by projecting existing products obsolete. This encourages the viewers to 'junk' his old model and buy a new one. These two factors combined serve to promote consumerism to unhealthy levels, but at the same time promote growth and competitiveness. Environmental Effects. ... overcome these limits, most inventions and discoveries have sought to promote consumption rather than trying to rein in consumption in order to bring consumption (demand) and production (supply) into a state of equilibrium. The economic costs of environmental degradation are never factored in as they would make products un-competitive. Promote Inequality. The most glaring drawback of consumerism, however, is that it promotes inequality, by widening the gap between the world's rich, confined to a few countries and the world's poor, spread out all over the globe. "Globally, 20% of the world's people in highest-income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditure - the poorest 20% a miniscule 1.3% " (UNDP). As demonstrated by these figures, consumption is a game of the rich. Increased production therefore does not in any way help to ameliorate the plight of the poor, but rather to satisfy the egos of the rich. In economic terms such a pattern is un-sustainable in the long term and will only result in a social revolution. Since the effects of consumption drive most economies world-wide its effects are also global in nature. The ill-effects of consumerism are well-known and documented; but economic imperatives often over-ride more pragmatic considerations in attempts to move towards a sustainable economic model. Consumerism though promoting growth is nevertheless, not only undermining the environmental resource base but it is also exacerbating inequalities. References Shah Anup, Behind Consumption and Consumerism. Retrieved from www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Consumption.asp United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development Report 1998 Overview Wikipedia, Consumerism. Retrieved from

Integumentary System Worksheet Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Integumentary System Worksheet - Coursework Example This is the most common skin cancer among people with fair skin. Patients with Basal cell Cancer have pink and waxy bumps that can bleed after a minor injury. This type of cancer originates in squamous cells. It is often in areas not in the sun such as feet and legs. However, for fair skin people, it appears in areas that have been in the sun. This is the most common type of skin cancer among dark skin people. Patients with this skin cancer have dull red, rough, and scaly skin lesions. The most common risk factor for skin cancer is exposure to sunlight, which is a source of UV radiation. The sun’s rays cause skin damages, which can lead to skin cancer. Individuals can protect themselves from skin cancer by avoiding outdoor activities when the sun’s rays are strong usually during the middle of the day. The rays can go through windows, clouds, windshields, and light clothing. We should also wear long pants, long sleeves, and particularly tightly woven fabrics. People should also wear sunglasses that absorb UV radiation to protect the skin area around the eyes. It is also advisable to wear wide brim hats that shade the neck and face. This is the least serious of the three types of burns. In a first-degree burn, the outer layer of the skin burns. The skin is usually swollen and red in color although the outer layer of skin is not burned through. There is often a swelling and there might be some pain. A skin injury is a second-degree burn if the first layer of the skin is burned through and the second layer is burned. Blisters develop and the appearance of the skin changes to a reddened, splotchy appearance. There is severe pain and swelling in the second degree burns. This is the most severe skin burn and it involves all layers of the skin. Third degree burn may affect muscle, fat and even bones. The burned areas may appear dry and white or may be charred black. Difficulties in exhaling or inhaling and carbon monoxide poisoning

Money Factor In Voting Politics Essay

Money Factor In Voting Politics Essay The distribution or offering of money in elections by candidates and political parties during elections plays an important role in determining the voting-choice of the people. The predicament of irresponsible use of cash acknowledged by political parties and individual candidates from businessman and other sources from time-to-time for furtherance of their election prospects has already acquire upsetting aspect of our electoral system. It has also been pointed out that political parties and their candidates have spent money far in excess of limit imposed by the Representation of Peoples Act, 1954.  [1]  Indeed, the former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, R.K. Trivedi, himself was embarrassed to testimony of the role of money-power in our elections as L.P. Singh (1987), writes: This malady, I am afraid, during the last decade has assumed alarming proportions. The huge expenditure incurred by candidates and political parties has not relationship to the ceiling prescribed under the law. The candidates and their political parties look to big money-bags for their funds to contest elections, thereby adopting a formula which establishes the chances if winning in direct proportion to the money spent. That in course of time various decision-making levels, does not seem to bother them.  [2]   In extreme forms, unconventional modes of electoral practices are manifest in the explicit acts of vote buying  [3]  which seeks to refute the liberty to articulate citizens electoral preferences. Since, persuasion alone occasionally generates an adequate amount of support, candidates or parties, on the other, on a regular basis, try to pay for or convince votes through money. As indicated in table 4.1, the influence of money in elections shapes the voting behaviour of 15.83% of the respondent electorate in the constituency. The male voters are more influenced by money than the female counterpart. This is mainly because of two important reasons, i.e., due to conservative nature of women and the domination over females by male counterpart. Exchange of vote for money has turn out to be open-secret in every elections of the constituency. Generally speaking, the voters who accepted money are of two types: voters who did not claim but simply agreed while being paid; and those who clai m either from the candidate directly or from any sources that advance them during the campaign period. The table 4.6 indicates the response of the voters who accepted money from candidates in election.  [4]   Table 4.6 Voting Decision: Reasons for accepting money The acceptance of money in exchange for ballot is highest, as indicated in Table 4.2, among the mid-age group of 41-60 years than the older and younger voters. The younger voters, least influenced by money in deciding whom to vote for in an election, are more concerned with their prestige. However, reports suggest that, even young and enthusiastic voters either accepts or demands money for ballot in the constituency,  [5]  but are hesitant to disclosed the same to the researcher. Educationally, as Table 4.3 indicates, the illiterates voters of the sample electorate has the maximum impact of money on their vote-choice. Further, in the constituency, those who are well educated are least influenced by money as determinant of voting behaviour. That is, as educational qualifications of the people entitled to vote increases, the influence of money on voting behaviour decreases. As regards the economic status of the voters and voting decision, as Table 4.4 shows the low income voters ha s the highest influence than the those of average and high income voters. That is, with the increase in the economic status of the voters, the level of influence by money decreases. Moreover, the data in Table 4.6 shows that there are numerous reasons on the part of the voters who acknowledged money throughout election. The main justifying reason is the poverty of the people and they are easily induced by money in elections. As Robert G. Wirsing says: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦campaign period is the time when the market value of their support appears to rise and when the cleaver seller may turn the value of his vote or the votes of his followers to good advantage. The poor are wined and dined, wooed with gifts and bribed with cash à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ã‚  [6]   In the constituency, one of the most important reason for the acceptance of money is due to the fact that majority of the sample respondents considers that no developmental work has been done by the elected representative. And sees the payment of money for votes as compensation for public money that politicians are assumed to have stolen.  [7]  This particular view holds key in the minds of the voters as 22.73% of the total respondents agreed to it. On the other, a total of 18.18% voters consider that elected representative served the interest of his near and dear ones, not for the constituency as a whole. This is to some extent correct for the reason that 15.91% of the sample electorate views that they have nothing to ask to elected representative after the elections. It is also evident that even campaigner either insisted or offer money to voters as disclosed by 13.64% of the electorate. From the above discussion, one may infer that the influence of money throughout election period cannot be denied. Van de Walle has suggested that, in Nigeria, voters take vote buying offers as signals of their patrons wealth and capability of winning elections features of leader with which they wish to be associated.  [8]  But, more importantly, the underprivileged voters are expected to be ill-treated because of their restricted earnings, making them vulnerable to materials inducements, including the offers of basic commodities or meek amount of cash. For their part, citizens with little education may be unconscious of the political privileges they enjoy and as a result have a weak defense in opposition to such coercion. Moreover, money influence may have been more widespread than the figures cited. Experience from Argentina suggests that some people are understandably reluctant to admit that they had been approached with a forbidden offer, especially if they had subsequently en tered an agreement and complied with the terms.  [9]   In fine, the use of money power to win election by candidates and political parties alike makes the mockery of representative democracy and affects the basic philosophy of democracy and universal franchise. The views of the poor are subdued and the preferences of the rich are enlarged on key issues. Money for votes play as a means and the rich candidates distributed money among the poor voters; and done some instantaneous development work in the constituencies. This tricky design provides space for maneuvering for those who have either the official backing or have too much money to contest the election. However, voters conformity to the requests of money giver in elections may provide least resistance but it is morally and lawfully fraught. Above all, lopsided elections abridged the institutionalization of political responsibility. The influence of Elites: The word elites typically denotes the attributes or distinctiveness of certain individual that determine how far he will accomplish; thus, those with the suitable quality will in due course reach the top and find themselves in the place of power vis-a-vis others in the structure or in society at large. Although the definition of elite varies somewhat across the social science literature, we take a relatively broad view. Rather than taking into account the elite to be the rulers over the ruled,  [10]  we define them as those with the capacity to influence national political outcomes or policy.  [11]  As Eldersveld (1989) define elite largely to comprise those who hold important positions, who have influential roles and who exercise important functions in the polity  [12]  Such positions and status, along with wealth, education, and other advantages, provide the elite with political resources  [13]  and, thus, have the capacity to directly or indirectly influence the ac tivities of the state.  [14]   Although elites have an important role in highly developed democracies,  [15]  their political influence may be even greater where social inequality exists.  [16]  In liberal democratic countries, political leaders are entrenched in, and their efficiency appreciably depends upon elites insignificant groups of position holders in societies having the capability to affect political outcomes on a regular basis and to a large extent.  [17]   The local elites in the constituency like village money-lender, tall income government employees, intellectuals, and also entrepreneur play a big role in determining the voting choice of 12.95% sample voters as indicated by the statistics in Table 4.1. Those elites determined the vote-choice of 4.32% male and 8.63% female of the constituency. That is, female voters have an edge over male voters. There are scores of people who are straightforwardly or in some way reliant upon these groups of people for their everyday requirements and consequently they become their patrons. As a result, local elites pre-determined their clients vote-choice. Table 4.7 displays the different factors of influence to the electorate all through elections.  [18]   Table 4.7 Voting-Decision: Factors influencing by local elites The influence of elites in the constituency as evident from Table 4.2, gradually increases with the increase in the age-group and decline thereafter. It is highest in the age-group of 41-60 years and lowest in the above 61 years category. The female are more influenced than male. Educationally, its influence decreases, as apparent from Table 4.3, with the increase in the level of education of both the sex. It has the highest impact among the illiterates and least influenced to the above graduates respondents. Economically, as indicated in Table 4.4, its influence also decreases with the increase in the rise in its status. Researchers point to the growing income gap,  [19]  stating that the elite control the political process and those of lower socio-economic status have no role to play in electoral process. From the data in Table 4.7, it is absolutely clear that the most important influence to the voters is the distribution or offering of money by elites which accounted for 27.78% respondents. They even mislead people for the ulterior motives (19.44%) during election by making alluring promises or commitments (16.66%); and also creating the spirit of groupism (11.11%) among the electorate in the constituency. Moreover, they provide information of the candidates performance during his stay in office (13.89%) by educating the people on socio-political issues (5.56%) faced in the constituency. This is, perhaps, a good indication of their involvement in participatory democracy and will lead to the furtherance of the democratic politics. From the above analysis on may come to the point that the influence of local elites in the electoral politics of Oinam assembly constituency has its negative and positive aspects as well. Elites and leaders are essential elements of collective and individual life in any given socio-political structure. Many local dominant citizens take devoted attention and are directly involved in the elections taking part in the elections process. These trends, nevertheless, are not perpetual; the elites and privileged, like empires, may well rise up and fall down as well. Candidates Image in voting: Scholars have long acknowledged the significance of candidates personality in voting choice. The qualities of candidates are one factor which invokes the consideration of the electorate in every stages of the electioneering development. Charismatic leaders have a special magnetic quality that fills followers with awe and adoration.  [20]  McAllister argues the substance of influential showing that public perceptions of leaders, if not decisive, have a modest but significance influence on the vote.  [21]  As John L. Sullivan, John H. Aldrich, et. al., points out: Voters assessments of the candidates competencies and personal qualities affect how they feel about each candidate; whether, for instance they feel pride or shame when thinking about a particular candidate, or of more generalized feelings of liking or disliking.  [22]   In the constituency, the influence of candidates personality or charisma shapes the voting behaviour, as indicated in Table 4.1, of 10.32% of the sample electorate. The female voters put more emphasis on personality trait of the candidate in fray while voting than the male voters. Table 4.8 displays the various reasons for voting a particular candidate in elections of the constituency.  [23]   Table 4.8 Voting-Decision: Factors influencing candidates personality From Table 4.2 it is observed that candidates image in the election had the highest impact in the age group of 25-40 years and 18-24 years than other age-group. The female voters are more influenced than the male voters except the older voter, i.e., 61 years and above are equally to both the sex. Educationally, as Table 4.3 indicates the illiterate voters have an edge over those of literate voters on the candidates trait in exercising their political franchise. And, economically, as Table 4.4 suggests, the average income voters has highest influence than low and high income voters in the constituency. Those high income male voters are not even bothered about the candidates image in election of the constituency. From the statistics in Table 4.8, it is apparent that family insistence to vote for a particular candidate in elections has the impact of 35.48% respondent voters, in which the female (19.35%) had an edge over male (16.13%) voters. Educational and economic status of the candidates, in fray influenced the vote-choice of 16.13% and 9.68% of the sample voters. The contesting candidates contribution to the constituency; and his accessibility by the general electorate had an impact equally to 12.90% of the respondents voting decision. While 6.45% voters voted those candidate simply because of their locality supporting that candidate; and that 3.23% voters voted as candidate being from their locality. It is quite clear from the above analysis that the influence of candidates image in shaping the voting decision of the electorate cannot be overlooked. Voters definitely want a representative that they can trust, and convince the public that they believe in what they are saying and will deliver on their promises. As personality dominates in most areas of life, one cannot deny that candidate that appeals to us most based on personality characteristics may not be the candidate that best represents our interests. Therefore, one may argue that voters are not appropriately weighting performance-based information on candidates contesting the elections when undertaking one of democracys most important civic duties. Political party and voting decision: Political parties occupy a central place in democratic politics, as they, in the midst of other things, provide a link between the citizens and the state. It is through parties that citizens have opportunity to influence the effort of governmental elites. Voting for a political party in an election is seen as an important determinant of voting behaviour of the people entitled to vote. This is no exception to the constituency under study as 10.79% of the sample voters exercise their political franchise on the basis of partisanship as apparent in the data from Table 4.1. In the constituency, voting for political parties in elections are much higher of the males compared to female voters, as the former are more exposed to party identification which is a psychological attachment toward a political party that tends to influence a persons decisions on social, economic and political issues.  [24]  In elections between candidates of competing parties, one expects partisanship to influence ballot choice as many voters affirm their partisan identities by casting ballots for the candidates who share their party labels.  [25]  Therefore, elections are frequently identified in the public mind with the main issues discussed or the campaign strategies attempted by the parties.  [26]  Table 4.9 indicates the reasons for voting a particular political party in elections of the constituency.  [27]   Voting for a political party in the elections of the constituency gradually increases with the increased in the age group and decline thereafter. It is highest between the age-group of 41-60 years, however the male are more committed to than the female as indicated in figures of Table 4.2. The female voters are equally influenced as the male in the early stages of electioneering period, by parties, but as one grows older its commitment significantly declined. Table 4.9 Voting decision: Factors influencing political party Educationally, the more formal years of education mean the more allegiance to political party as the degree of consideration of party-voting increases with the rise in educational level of the electors. In the constituency, the below matriculation respondents voters are least influenced while the above graduates has the maximum influenced by political parties as the determinant of voting, as apparent from Table 4.3. On the basis of economic status of the sample electorate, as indicated in Table 4.4, voting pattern of the respondent electorate with reference to political party increases with the rise in the income level of the electorate of both the sex. Those high and average income earners are more unwavering, far more than the low or poor income groups, and hence, are able to choose whom to vote in an election. Moreover, in the constituency, voting-choice of 30.00% of the respondent voters is influenced by the basic ideology of political parties as evident from data in Table 4.9. This is perhaps because voting preferences may be affected by what Andrew Leigh term innate ideological attachment,  [28]  not linked to voters consideration on his family or locality. Also, stable and long term identification with a political party offers an information short cut or default value, a substitute for more complete information about parties and candidates.  [29]  The relationship between party identification and vote choice of the electorate remains one of the most robust and enduring findings in political science.  [30]  In the constituency, more than 23.33% (See Table 4.9) of the self identified partisan voters voted for their partys candidates. When asked whether they would vote for a candidate who is not anticipated to win an election, a respondent replied, whether good or bad, right o r wrong, I stand by my party! on no account in my life have I ever considered being linked with a party other than the Indian National Congress.  [31]  Further, 20.33% of the respondent voters voted to political party simply because their family members are traditional supporter of that party. Another 13.33% voted for party on the pretext that the party has good leadership. Some 6.67% respondents voters views that their decision to vote for a party because their desire candidates is contesting on that party ticket; and equally influenced to those respondents who says they are supporting the party as their locality supports that party. From the above discussion, it is observed that a political party does have a role to play in influencing the vote-choice of the electorate in the constituency. For individual voters, however, motives might differ considerably. They would normally support the candidate of their most ideal party if the contestant has a possibility to win the mandate of the people. Surprisingly enough, there is hardly any empirical research done on the different motives individual vote splitting. Citizens must be given the liberty without undue influence to cast their vote in favour of any political party as it is their independent opinion to decide which party they consider eligible for coming to power and taking that into account they have full right to exercise their political franchise. Election campaign: Political science research once characterized campaign as resonance and vehemence suggestive of nothing, but a resurgence of recent research has offer compelling evidence that campaign can shape voting behaviour of the electorate and election outcomes.  [32]  An election campaign must be understood to be a process that generates a product, the election outcome, and like any other process, one cannot expect to understand the process by analyzing only the product.  [33]  As such, it is a well thought-out effort which seeks to influence a range of issues and to create a long-lasting notion of the same with the electorate. In a campaign the issues are articulated by party leaders, and they are the stuff in terms of which a democratic political campaign is rationalized, in both senses.  [34]  The length and strenuousness of the campaign serves to involve the public, inform it on public issues, and increase its active participation in politics.  [35]   Election campaigning in the constituency determines the voting behaviour of 12.69% of the sample electorate as evident from Table 4.1. The males are greater than females in shaping their voting choice, as the former are more exposed to campaigning than the latter. Table 4.10 represents the various factor of influence to the respondent voters while campaigning.  [36]   In the constituency, the young and mid-age group voters paid more attention to election campaign in deciding for whom to vote during elections as Table 4.2 indicates. It is also evident that male voters exposures to election campaign decreases with the increase in the age-group while the female voters, however remain constant between of 18-24 and 25-40 years groups. Similarly, educational wise, as Table 4.3 shows the illiterates voters has the highest impact on their vote-choice, and decreases with the rise in the level of educational status of both the sex. The well educated voters in the constituency are least influenced by election campaign organized by candidates or parties or its supporters during electioneering process. Likewise, on economic status of the voters, as indicated in Table 4.4, the level of influence by election campaigns decreases with the rise in the level of economic status. That is economically well-off electorates, in the constituency, are undeterred by campai gning, as it influenced the low and average income groups. Table 4.10 Voting decision: Factors influencing election campaign The statistics in Table 4.10, it is known that among the various campaigns employed by candidates and parties, personal contact with the candidates in fray has the highest influences of 37.04% of the sample voters, while door-to-door canvassing influences 18.53% voters. Campaigning through publicity and organizing public meetings on elections had a modest influence of 14.81% and 11.11% respectively. In fine, electoral campaign is a podium to strike the main political issues as well as position and proposition of the different political parties to deal with these issues. In addition, the virtues of campaign effects can only be found in correlation with long-established socio-economic issues. As V.O. Key long ago documented, the perception of behavior of the electorate à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ condition, if they did not fix, the types of appeals politicians employ as they seek popular support.  [37]  However, key player of the campaign have to struggle with the lack of interest, trust and consideration from the citizens towards political life and institutions. Issues importance in voting: The highlighting on an issue based voting has, of late, assumed an important predicator of voting behaviour across liberal democracies. Voters are seen as moving in the direction of a more decisive posture, deciding issues on their merits and consequently acting more judiciously than formally. In their study of voting behaviour, Nie, Verba, and Petrocik (1972), found that following 1960, as V.D. Opfer, quotes, the role of party declined as a guide to the vote. And, as party has declined in importance, the role of issues appears to have risen.  [38]   Issues, local or national, in any election are an important predicator of voting behaviour of the electorate. Issues importance measures the extent to which attitudes manifest the qualities of durability and impactfulness.  [39]  Research has found that issues deemed important by respondents are more likely to be stable, resistant to change, and more likely to influence behaviour of voters.  [40]  Issues in election shapes the voting behaviour of 11.90% of the sample electorate in the constituency (Table 4.1). The female voters accounts for 5.03% of the sample voters saying the issues have its own importance in electoral behaviour thereby shaping the voting act, and are much higher than the male voters (3.60%) as indicated in Table 4.2. Now, Table 4.11 displays the main issues indicated by the respondent electorate.  [41]   Table 4.11 Voting decision: Main issues influencing the electorate From Table 4.2, it is known that issues in election has the highest impact in the age-group of 41-60 years and lowest in the age-group of 61-above. That is, the mid-age group voters are more influenced by issues in election than the younger and older voters. Also, in the constituency, as apparent from Table 4.3, voter with high educational qualifications are not bothered about issues in election while the below matriculations has has highest impact in deciding their voting-choice. The illiterates and below graduates of the constituency are equally influence to those issues in election. Further the data in Table 4.4 predicts that the average economic status voters are more determined by issues in election as their voting choice than those of high and low economic status voters. Now, among the issues cited by the sample respondents as their determining factor of influence, as Table 4.11 indicates, 29.17% of the respondents view that roads, safe drinking water, and better electricity as their main issues in elections. On the other, the state being affected by insurgency activities, 20.83% of the respondents opine that a political solution to such problem will at best serve the interest of the state and hence determining their voting choice. Educational development, better irrigational projects for agricultural activities, tackling unemployment and the repeal of Armed Forces Special Power Act, 1958 (AFSPA), have almost equal influence among the voters in the constituency. From the above analysis, it is apparent that no single issues were cited by the respondents as most important. That not only 11.90% of the respondent voters had issues concerns in elections in the Oinam assembly constituency and whether issues opinions are malicious or not is not easy to conclude. Voters are heterogeneous in their use of issues in the voting booth. Some voters may consider some issues more seriously than others in their voting decisions. Some issue

The Meaning of Life Essay example -- essays research papers

The Meaning of Life The most difficult thing in life is finding something worth living for. The second most difficult thing is knowing when you've found it...... by Jamie Andreas Okay, let's be light hearted for once. Let's not talk about some heavy subject. Let's pick something more down to earth and fun. How about the meaning of life? Yes, the meaning of life, and the purpose of our lives. Teen-agers (that group of people who are most likely to begin to play the guitar) love to think about this. Since they are about to embark on that part of life called "being an adult", they like to question whether there is anything about it that makes it worth the bother. A 17 year old student once put it to me very poignantly. He said, â€Å"When I look at the world, and I see what most of the adults I know are doing with their lives, and how they feel about their jobs, it is not very inspiring. I listen to people tell me I should play the game, and work hard to get good grades, so I can get a good job and all that. It all seems to have about as much meaning as going in to the library and memorizing the entire card catalog! What for? What's the point?" And I said to him â€Å"You are exactly right. There is no point. There is no meaning to life." And I firmly believe that. I am going to make two points now. One, there is no meaning to life; you must create the meaning of life, and most especially, your life. And two, there most definitely is a purpose to life, and especially to your life, but you must discover it. These two ideas work together. Once you find your purpose, you will be able to see the "meaning" of your life. What does the word "meaning" mean? People are always asking what is the meaning of life, what is the meaning of death, what is the meaning of me losing my job, losing my hair, etc, etc. Well, you see the point is, there is no answer to the question because it is the wrong question. Only a person who doesn't know what the word meaning means will ask that question. Meaning means "to recognize a significance beyond the thing itself, or in other words, "to point to something beyond itself" And the recognition of that significance, seeing how anything you look at points to something beyond itself, is a creative act on the part of every individual, and it is also the responsibility of every individual. When ... ...ur purpose. Move toward what feels good. B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, all have used nothing but the five notes of a minor pentatonic scale their whole lives! It is all they need for what they want to say. Maybe you need to learn to read music, maybe you don't. Maybe you need to know many chord inversions and scales, maybe you don't. It depends on what you want to say with your music. And what you want to say depends on how you feel. How do you feel? Maybe you are frustrated and confused when you think about this. That is good. Frustration is a push on the back, to get you moving, so you will look around and make discoveries. Make sure you use it that way. Don't stay in one place, or the push on the back will knock you over! The rule for the artist, for the musician, must be "if it feels good, do it". Following your feeling is how that feeling becomes "solidified" into a piece of music, so that it can be communicated and felt by someone else. Bad music is made by people who don't actually feel their feelings. They may not know it, but their music has no meaning, and no purpose. Have you found something worth living for? Is it waiting to be recognized?

Hoover Dam: Project Risk and Reward

The PMBOK Guide 4th ed. defines a project as: proj ·ect [n. proj-ekt, -ikt; v. pruh-jekt]- a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The construction of the Hoover Dam is an example of a project. It is considered a project because it was a temporary endeavor and it had to go through the five stages of a project. There was an initiation phase. This phase defines the needs and of the project. The Hoover Dam construction project was initiated due to the flooding of the salt mines in the area. By damming the Colorado River, flooding could be reduced while having electricity produced.There are many tools that can be used in this phase. Among those tools, the problem definition tool, the problem tree tool, and the IS-IS NOT tool are all examples that may have been used during this phase, because they help define what the project need is. Then the planning phase was conceptualized. This phase is responsible for establishing the scope of the project, d efining objectives and the course of action. It took place during 1920's to pacify the Colorado River because of the constant flooding of the Imperial Valley. The planning phase took over 15 years.Tools that may have been used in this phase might include the information gathering plan, the organizational structure tool, and the information matrix tool. â€Å"These tools provide information such as team member responsibilities, quality control tests, and other information that is crucial to the success of the project. † (Office Design Concepts, n. d. ) The third phase of the project is the execution phase. In this phase, the processes that were agreed upon in the planning phase are performed. The processes of building Boulder City up to the completion of the dam were included in this phase.Tools that would be useful in this phase would be the ghant chart tool, the project communication plan, and the project contract. These are all useful tools because they help lay out time li nes, communication expectations, and stakeholder expectations. The monitoring phase is the fourth phase of the project. This phase tracks, and reviews the progress of the project, to help regulate the standards of quality. This phase was actually done throughout the execution phase, by inspection of the setting concrete and the monitoring of tunneling standard of the period. One of the tools that would be useful in this project is the Pareto tool.The Pareto tool lists all the defects that occurred by frequency from most frequent to least frequent. This helps to identify where the greatest problem areas occurred. The final phase of the project is the closing phase. This phase takes place after all the other phases are completed. The phase is usually identified with change management, and the signing off by the stakeholders of the project. The tool that would be most useful in this phase is the stakeholder communication plan. This is useful because it allows the project team to get fe edback from the stakeholders.The feedback can be used for future use as a â€Å"lessons learned† tool, and can also help decide whether to undertake a similar project in the future. Overview Even with today's standards, the construction of the Hoover Dam is considered a mega project. When the dam was completed, it was the world’s largest project made with concrete. The construction project is also the largest public works project in US history. To this day it is still a great engineering feat. After fifteen years of planning, the project broke ground during the middle of the Great Depression in 1931. This made it easy to find to workers.The construction took five years to complete. The average crew had about 3500 men that worked daily. 21,000 individuals that worked on the dam worked over this period. The first job was to divert the river. (Hoover Dam Info, n. d. ) It was done in two stages. The first part was done by building two cofferdams to prevent flooding. The se cond part was to â€Å"divert the water around the construction site† (Hydraulic Ram Pumps Textbook, n. d. ) using diversion tunnels. While the diversion phase started, another phase to prepare the canyon walls to hold the new dam began by removing loose rocks with dynamite and bulldozers.The rocks that were removed were then used in the building of the cofferdams. The dam is a massive 725 feet high, and produces over 2000 megawatts of power. Besides being a dam that creates electrical power, it also provides a great recreational area for outdoorsmen, Lake Mead. The lake is named after the dam’s project manager, Elwood Mead who became a giant in the engineering industry for finishing this historic feat. The Problems As with any project, there are a number of issues that occurred during the construction.Things like having a construction site near the desert, concrete issues, and having little housing, food, or goods available for site workers. Before construction could get started certain concerns had to be met. The first concern was the housing shortage. The area was deserted, rough and hot, with an average temperature reaching 119 degrees in the summer and the thermometer dropping below freezing in the winter. With the Great Depression not showing an end in sight, every type of worker imaginable rushed to the dam project. It was then Boulder City was erected. The city development housed both government and contract employees.When Boulder City was completed in 1932 it had large dorms for single men to reside, and 1-3 room buildings for men with families. Once the city was completed, a highway was built from the city to the construction site. Along with the highway, a railroad that reached from Las Vegas, Nevada to Boulder City was created. The thick concrete has its own set of problems. As the dam height increased, a new mixing plant need to be constructed. Instead of pouring a single block of concrete, the dam was built in sections of individual columns. It resembled a trapezoidal in shape, and the columns were built in five foot sections.One of the problems that this created is that to produce the level of strength the concrete required, dry mixed concrete needed to be used. Using this type of concrete was difficult because it left very little time for it to be moved from the mixing plant to the dam. This meant that if took too much time for the concrete to reach where it needed to be poured; the concrete would initially set still in dump buckets, and would have to be removed by chipping it out by hand. The construction solved this problem by paying the crane operators higher wages and having them lead teams of seven, to make sure the buckets made it to the right place.The buckets would be lifted and lowered into place by overhead cranes. There were a total of nine cranes used to place the concrete. As each bucket reached its destination, it was then dumped, while seven puddles would use â€Å"shovels and rubber-booted f eet to distribute the concrete† (Bureau of Reclamation, n. d. ). The forms were also fitted with pneumatic vibrator to make sure the concrete had no voids. Another problem with using the dry mix is that he curing process created heat. This made it difficult for the large sections of concrete to cure evenly. If concrete is not cured its strength will become brittle and start cracking.The uneven curing issue also led to the problem of staying on schedule. If the concrete did not set fast enough, the next section would not be able to be started. To address these problems the concrete sections were embedded with cooling pipes, to run water through the concrete. This helped to cool the concrete evenly and quickly. There was more than 580 miles of one inch pipe that was embedded throughout the dam. When the concrete was first poured it was initially cooled with river water. Then the chilled water circulated through the pipes to finish the cooling.Once each block cooled, the pipes wo uld be cut off and pressure grouted. The final problem I will discuss is the rugged working conditions. The work was dangerous and hot. There were no official number about how many lives were lost from site accident, but it ranged for about 96 to 112 lives lost from accidents such as, heat stroke and heart failure, falling rocks, and blasting accidents. In the early phases of the construction there was a worker’s strike attempt that failed because of so many people willing to work during the depression, however the strike did bring attention to keeping workers hydrated more regularly.The Outcome At its completion, the Hoover Dam was the tallest dam in the world. It is a national land mark, and considered a modern marvel. â€Å"The Hoover Dam stands at a massive 725 feet high, 1244 feet wide, and measuring 660 feet thick at the base while tapering to 45 feet at the top† (Wilson, n. d. ). The dam had a total cost of $165 million to build and was completed two years ahead of schedule. The name of the dam has changed several times. The original name of the dam was Boulder Dam, because it was constructed at the base of Boulder Canyon. It later became known as Hoover Dam when Secretary of the Interior Ray L.Wilbur named it that during a strike diving ceremony, in honor of President Herbert Hoover. Then, in 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, changed it back to Boulder Dam. Fourteen years later, Congress changed the name back to Hoover Dam. References A Hoover Dam History – Aerospace Engineering Courses page. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://aeweb. tamu. edu/whit/Classes/214_WEB/C_7_heatTransfer/A%20Hoover%20Dam%20History%20-%20Concrete. htm Barber, P. (09/28/2010). Hoover Dam Construction. Online Nevada Encyclopedia.

Regeneration and Delusion

Explore how Pat Barker portrays the theme of escape in Regeneration and explain what this tells you about the effects of war. â€Å"In peace, children inter their parents; War violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children. † † Herodotus (484BC – 430BC) Regeneration is a novel that tells the story of soldiers of World War One sent to an asylum due to emotional tribulation. Regeneration connects as a â€Å"back door into the present†, particularly with the theme of escape; and Barker chooses to portray this through her faction novel.Inveterate indications of escape throughout the novel are masculation, sex, death and a sense of reality. It is genuinely hard to be sure what the majority of people in Britain knew about the war and battles like the Somme from the media of the day. The newspapers and their reporters offered a wide range of styles and opinions – as they still do – but often walked a difficult line between pa triotic support for the war and a desire to convey its terrible nature. An extensive atmosphere of patriotism was generated by insincere information such as the propaganda.The media were supercilious, dehumanising the Germans to attract more soldiers, promising them that they would gain rare pportunities such as travel. Men, as well as women, were disillusioned. The reality of war was distorted and no longer became a heroic affair. Sassoon may be disillusioned when he mentions that this war may have been Justified â€Å"†¦ when it started†¦ † (Pg. 13). The authenticity of world war one was erroneous to the world surrounding the war. What the world saw was a picture that was glorified by the continuous mendaciousness made by the government and the commanding officers themselves.In Regeneration the reader is presented with Sassoon's ‘Soldier's Declaration' (Pg. 3) written in July 1917 to declare that the war is futile. Sassoon's declaration, a â€Å"wilful defi ance of military authority', clearly and logically states his decision to stop fghting as a soldier in world war one and clearly paints a vision of escape in the readers minds. He believes that the purpose of war has changed; what was once a war of liberation and defence has become one of aggression. This is a historical document and is one that was not suppressed merely due to the fact that Sassoon was a commanding officer.Because he was a commanding officer his document truly revealed the ways his beliefs got him to escape the war but make a trong argument too.. In Regeneration mental escape is the only way to relieve yourself of the war for a second until the next gunfire, the next shell blows or the next person comes into your care. Burns is a character who seems to be incapable of escaping his mental trauma caused by the war. He would tell you that the images of dying men and being ‘inside the stomach of a half blown German soldier' (Pg. 19) with the stench of rotting inn ards devouring your nostrils would scar you mentally. eing wedged into a hole; and the heroic adventure was not nearly as heroic as the oldiers would have hoped for, Barker represented this through the struggle of men being sent to Craiglockhart and still never escaping the trenches as victims were immune to normal human life and trench life was still attached to their lives. The verisimilitudes of the characters of this novel conform to our sense of reality. Barker uses unadorned dialect and language which was not used at the time to maintain a sense of veracity. It seems as though every character has a need to escape and Barker presents us with this idea through her language.Barker changes her use of language by changing the tmosphere and stripping away the dialogue, to romantic and poetic. She does this to remind us that Sassoon is sensitive and has a poetic side to him and this makes the reader feel closer to him, particularly when Graves identifies him as â€Å"Sass.. † A technique in which Barker depicts escape is bird imagery. This could be linked with religion in a way that white doves were a major symbol in Christianity and were symbolic of freedom and peace. Just the idea of birds makes the reader wonder about how they fly so freely and Burns manages to grab hold of this by â€Å"drifting off to sleep† (Pg. ) He is entering a dreamful state in which â€Å"he could stay there forever†. His dream reminds the reader of the preciousness of escape â€Å"A shaft of sunlight filtered through the leaves (†¦ ) shone sapphire, emerald, and amethyst. † This is proof that he can in fact escape in his dream world. This shaft of light filtering through the leaves could be perceived as a motion of escape; Barker is hinting a glimmer of escape but not fully letting the light shine through representing the mental state of Burns. There is also a sense of escape though bird imagery again when Rivers is â€Å"under the spell of flickeri ng birds† (Pg. ) however this is in a different light. With Burns, his sense of escape was in a dreamful manner but with Prior's suffocation, the bird imagery sheds a new light, one of no escape. Even though Prior is out of war, his own problems still bother him and this shows that escape is Just an illusion. Another way Barker chooses to portray momentary escape is through the theme of sex and death. She chooses to depict her use of this type of escape through her creation of a character; Prior and her fairly new character, Sarah Lumb.Barker uses sensual language in the graveyard scene which is highly contrasting the general etting; sex in the midst of death. Generally, you are not meant to have this kind of interaction in such a holy place, this was a sign of disrespect. Barker could perhaps be commenting on how the war shook people's religious views. Living through the war and being surrounded by death must have changed people's views and no wonder attitudes towards sex cha nged as it was for some if only means of comfort and life affirmation. as Barker is subtly suggesting.However, the life ofa chick consists of living and dying in the hands of humans and this resembles the scene of the war; men were orn, sent to war, and slaughtered in the hands of human beings. It almost seems as though Barker is using allegory to describe the process of a hatching chick which ironically resemble the lives of the soldiers. (Pg. 1 52) â€Å"He remembered them struggling out of the eggs (†¦ ) curiously powerful (†¦ ) now the same chicks were scruffy, bedraggled things running in the coops. † Rivers escapes the environment of Craiglockhart however he doesn't escape his patients.He writes to â€Å"David Burns† which shows what a caring fgure he is. He also begins to address Burns as ‘David' and this shows how the relationship between hem is progressing. The perspective of escape changes when a female is finally given the opportunity to want to escape: Sarah Lumb. Barker being the omniscient narrator finally allows the reader to see how Sarah really feels. She needs to escape as she â€Å"began to feel distinctly green and hairy'. (Pg. 159) because the state of the men were too hard to handle.The irony of this is that men harmed man, but couldn't handle the sight of their destruction. Earlier Barker presented us with Sassoon's resentment towards the older generation for seeing the war as glory, and now Sarah Lumb also feels a sense of anger as â€Å"she trode on through the heat, not caring where she was going, furious with herself, the war†¦ everything†. She is angry at the country for sending all of these men to war as is Prior and this could represent a link between how men and women felt the same about war if you had been one of the very many to experience it.In a reader's perspective, this also shows and agreement between social class differences as Prior and Sarah are both of different class and shar e the same resentment which shows an escape of the social barrier and some sort of relief of the war. Herodotus' quote at the beginning sums up that in war there's no escape, you get hrown into a war torn asylum and spend the rest of your life, if any, trying to escape, through writing, through poetry, through art, Just like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.However there was a chance of escape if you were seriously injured, and even then you were seen as a shirker and a failure and never mentally escaped the torture of war. Propaganda lead to young boys wanting to go to the war to fght for their country, meaning the children did in fact inter their parents, and once theyd lived the reality and managed to get away and go home, their parents did inter their hildren. Older generations that didn't experience war saw it more as a playground of little toy soldiers they could fling around making it seem a lot more calm and fun than it actually was, but the reality was quite different.Men became so lonely in the trenches and at the hospitals that any kind of physical contact from women became precious and in Priors case, the feeling of war was â€Å"like sex† and euphoria. His escape was Sarah, and many other men would find sex through prostitutes and this shows through death; even then their souls would not be at peace and fully escaped as the ar would go on, but as one soldier departed the battle grounds, a new recruit would be put in his place allured by the propaganda and media.This displays a cycle of curtailed escape. There was no real escape in war as the pattern of death and new recruitment followed the cycle of life and even though this shows a great level of patriotism, futility is the only word to describe war. Bibliography Barker, Pat – Regeneration (England, 1991. Viking) Reusch, Wera – ‘A backdoor into the present' an interview with Pat Barker, Germany. Lolapress (Translated from German) Nixon, Rob – An Interview with Pat Barker (England, February, 1992)

How Belief Systems Effect Politics Essays - IslamicJewish Relations

How Belief Systems Effect Politics Essays - IslamicJewish Relations How Belief Systems Effect Politics The belief systems of the modern world have helped determine the policies and politics of nations around the world. For centuries before, and almost definitely for decades after now, there will be disputed between people and countries on account of their faith. Religions have started wars, ended them, impacted, and persuaded people. Needless to say, beliefs are very influential on the world today. People of different faiths dont only fight over their basic beliefs and land but they end conflicts. Making amends between religious groups greatly helps relieve the constant strain of division that we are all too aware of these days. The Lutheran religion began 482 years ago when monk, Martin Luther, attacked the practices of the Catholic Church. These who followed his ideas eventually into what we call Lutherans today. For those 482 years, Lutherans and Catholics have stayed divided on uneasy terms. Now the leaders of the modern Lutheran and Catholic churches both signed a document that laid to rest those many years of differences under the explanation that it was all a misunderstanding. Sometimes different faiths just dont seem like they want to even try to compromise on a conflict. The Jordanian Muslims and the Israeli Jews fighting over which side of the Jordan River Jesus was baptized on is a perfect example of this. The Muslims have invested over one million dollars t fix up the site. The site will bring in expectantly millions of tourists and with them billions of dollars that will be spent locally to boost the economy. Looking past the irony of the Jews and Muslims disputing over a Christian site, the focal point of the quarreling is that such a site will bring. The Pope and Prince Charles have already scheduled a visit, but as of now, no resolve has come about. These days its not always conflicts between two specific regions, but between regions occupied by faiths who disagree on certain topics. The two groups being the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the compromise on the rift in the settler movement conflict arising in those countries. To the Jews the West Bank is part of the greater Land of Israel, given by God to the Jews. To cement their control over the land, the Jews built forty-two hilltop encampments on the West Bank. They did this to prevent it from becoming a Palestinian state. The Palestinian government claimed that some of the outposts didnt have the necessary building papers and twelve of those sites were dismantled. This disagreement is, for the time being, settled peacefully despite the denounced accord from the Palestinians. In the future more outposts are likely to be taken down. Whatever the rhyme or reason, religions and belief systems have tremendous effects on the way things work in this world. Hopefully nations are learning from their past mistakes what not to do if such an occasion arise again. Whether the Lutherans and Catholics are putting years of disagreement behind them, the Jews and Muslims are settling their dispute, or Jewish outposts are being taken down, we are moving forward into a new and brighter future, and gaining information as we go along. Maybe in the future, more of the religious spats will be settled as the Lutheran/Catholic dispute was...peacefully.

Nietzsche essays

Nietzsche essays Nietzsche: The Man and His Philosophy The book I read on Friedrich Nietzsche was essentially broken down into four separate parts. Part one of the book consisted of Nietzsche as a child, schoolboy, and a student. The second part of the novel discussed Nietzsche and his life as a professor. The third and fourth parts of the book contained the turning point of his life and then his Many says that Nietzsches philosophy is very ironic because of the background from which he was brought up. His father, grandfather, and great grandfathers had all been Lutherans dating back to the beginning of the 17th century. Friedrich Nietzsche was born on October 15th, 1844 in Rocken. Pastor Nietzsche had named his son after the new ruler of Prussia, Friedrich Nietzsche. Friedrich spent his first five years of living in a patronage located on the countryside. After his father died at age 36, he left the nationalistic roots of his family and became a rootless cosmopolitan. This proved to be a huge event in Friedrichs life, and he recorded it in a sentimental piece known as Aus Friedrichs intellectual and artistic abilities had been evident ever since he was a little child, so when he received a full scholarship to the famous Pforta school, it was no surprise. He was finally exposed to Wagner by his boyhood friend Krug, but after leaving Pforta for Bonn and Leipzig, he never spoke with Krug again. In school Nietzsche became very interested in ancient Greek and Latin, as well as mathematics and the sciences. He was considered the best student in the school, but he failed the mathematics portion of the exam. Because of his excellence in classical studies, the examiners asked Gentleman, are we really going to fail the best pupil Pforta has ever had? So Friedrich passed. Nietzsche also studied Shakespeare and Lord Byron in school with a German ...

Meaning of Interpreted or Compiled in JavaScript

Meaning of Interpreted or Compiled in JavaScript Computers cannot actually run the code that you write in JavaScript (or any other language for that matter). Computers can only run machine code. The machine code that a particular computer can run is defined within the processor that is going to run those commands and can be different for different processors. Obviously, writing machine code was difficult for people to do (is 125 an add command or is it 126 or perhaps 27). To get around that problem what are known as assembly  languages were created. These languages used more obvious names for the commands (such as ADD for adding) and thus did away with the need to remember the exact machine codes. Assembly languages still have a one to one relationship with the particular processor and machine code that the computer converts those commands into. Assembly Languages Must Be Compiled or Interpreted Very early on it was realized that easier to write languages were needed and that the computer itself could be used to translate those into the machine code instructions that the computer can actually understand. There were two approaches that could be taken with this translation and both alternatives were chosen (either one or the other will be used depending on the language being used and where it is being run). A compiled language is one where once the program has been written you feed the code through a program called a compiler and that produces a machine code version of the program. When you want to then run the program you just call the machine code version. If you make changes to the program you need to recompile it before being able to test the changed code. An interpreted language is one where the instructions are converted from what you have written into machine code as the program is being run. An interpreted language basically gets an instruction from the program source, converts it to machine code, runs that machine code and then grabs the next instruction from the source to repeat the process. Two Variants on Compiling and Interpreting One variant uses a two-stage process. With this variant, the source of your program is compiled not directly into the machine code but instead is converted to an assembly-like language that is still independent of the particular processor. When you want to run the code it then processes that compiled code through an interpreter specific to the processor so as to get the machine code appropriate to that processor. This approach has many of the benefits of compiling while maintaining processor independence since the same compiled code can be interpreted by many different processors. Java is one language that often uses this variant. The other variant is called a Just in Time compiler (or JIT). With this approach, you dont actually run the compiler after you have written your code. Instead, that happens automatically when you run the code. Using a Just in Time compiler the code isnt interpreted statement by statement, it is compiled all in one go each time when it is called to be run and then the compiled version that it just created is what gets run. This approach makes it look a lot like the code is being interpreted except that instead of errors only being found when the statement with the error is reached, any errors detected by the compiler result in none of the code being run instead of all of the code up to that point being run. PHP is an example of a language that usually uses just in time compilation. Is JavaScript Compiled or Interpreted? So now we know what interpreted  code  and compiled code  mean, the question we next need to answer is what does all of this have to do with JavaScript? Depending on exactly where you run your JavaScript the code may be compiled or interpreted or use either of the other two variants mentioned. Most of the time you are ​running your JavaScript in a web browser and there the JavaScript is usually interpreted. Interpreted languages are usually slower than compiled languages. There are two reasons for this. Firstly the code to be interpreted actually has to be interpreted before it can be run and  secondly, that has to happen every time that the statement is to be run (not only every time you run the JavaScript but if it is in a loop then it needs to be done every time around the loop). This means that code written in JavaScript will run slower than code written in many other languages. How does knowing this help us where JavaScript is the only language available for us to run across all web browsers? The JavaScript interpreter itself that is built into the web browser is not written in JavaScript.  Instead, it is written in some other language that was then compiled. What this means is that you can make your JavaScript run faster if you can take advantage of any commands that JavaScript provides that allow you to offload the task to the JavaScript engine itself. Examples for Getting JavaScript to Run Faster An example of this is that some but not all browsers have implemented a document.getElementsByClassName() method within the JavaScript engine while others have yet to do so. When we need this particular functionality we can make out code run faster in those browsers where the JavaScript engine provides it by using feature sensing to see if the method already exists and only creating our own version of that code in JavaScript when the JavaScript engine doesnt provide it for us. Where the JavaScript engine does provide that functionality it should run faster if we use that rather than running our own version written in JavaScript. The same applies to any processing that the JavaScript engine makes available for us to call directly. There will also be instances where JavaScript provides multiple ways of making the same request. In those  instances, one of the ways of accessing the information may be more specific than the other. For example document.getElementsByTagName(table)[0].tBodies and document.getElementsByTagName(table)[0].getElementsByTagName(tbody) both retrieve the same  nodelist  of the  tbody  tags in the first table in the web page however the first of these is a specific command for retrieving the  tbody  tags where the second identifies that we are retrieving  tbody  tags in a parameter and other values can be substituted to retrieve other tags. In most  browsers, the shorter and more specific variant of the code will run faster (in some instances much faster) than the second variant and so it makes sense to use the shorter and more specific version. It also makes the code easier to read and maintain. Now in many of these  cases, the actual difference in the processing time will be very small and it will only be when you add many such code choices together that you will get any noticeable difference in the time your code takes to run. It is fairly rare though that changing your code to make it run faster is going to make the code significantly longer or harder to maintain, and often the reverse will be true.There is also the added benefit that future versions of JavaScript engines may be created that speed up the more specific variant even further so that using the specific variant may mean that your code will run faster in the future without you having to change anything.

Marketing Myopia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Myopia - Essay Example Petroleum industry was never been continuously a growth industry. When so ever products innovation took place industry has to face challenges. Customer Orientation: Most of the industries are still product oriented than customer oriented. They are preoccupied with their specific products and do not want to change their products or vary their products according to the wishes and need of the customers. Even best companies like Detriot or Ford who have adopted best practices in the industry are not customer oriented. Some of the companies like nylon and glass industry specifically E.I. du pont de nemours and Corning Glass Work are successful not due to technical competence and product orientation but due to throughout customer oriented policies. It is constant watchfulness for opportunities to apply their technical know - how to creation of customer satisfying uses that accounts for their prodigious output of successful new product. Myopic Vision: Industry failure attributed to their faulty, narrow, short term and temporary vision. Due to poor conceptualization companies may not be able to offer more value to their customers and become ineffective. Improperly defined purposes as in the case of railroads and Hollywood films prove fatal for the industry. This narrow vision always results in the stagnation of industries. Most of the industries that define its vision so narrowly, lack of imagination, lacking the will to survive, do not satisfy public inventiveness and skill results in premature demise. Product Innovation: industries which are pretty content with their growth moves into comfort zone and never been able to think imaginatively. They have never been able to develop new products and vary their product according to their customer needs. At times industries not bother to think about product innovation. Petroleum industry is the distressing example of how complacency and wrong headedness can stubbornly convert opportunities into disaster. Most of their product improvement came from outside of the industry. Research & Development: Industries, which are heavily dependent on research and development process and mass production, could not be able to pay more attention on customers need. The top management of the company is wholly transfixed by the profit possibilities of technical research and development. Company's top management heavy with scientist, researchers and technical people seldom knows the exact situation of the market and customer requirements. They are product oriented rather than customer oriented. Part-2 Now in the present situation where information flows across the globe and people are aware and connected with almost all parts of the World marketing management has taken newer dimensions. Marketing can simply be defined, as "meeting needs profitably". (Kotler). Management theorist Peter defined marketing, as "The aim of marketing is to make selling super flows. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or services fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy." (Drucker). "Marketing management is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and

Enron subverted within the structure of the rational business Essay

Enron subverted within the structure of the rational business organisation - Essay Example The book by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin (2005), talks of the way 'the hypothetical future value' of their investments were booked and profits shown for the shareholders to consume. Enron started with Oil pipelines and made it to the broadband and to a host of other services including electric distribution and power supply. While the core competency of the company lies in pipelines, they went into energy trading and broadband systems. They did not work out and build over their core competencies which are advocated by most of the management theorists (C K Prahlad & Gary Hamel, 1990). Enron was bankrupt on January 25th, 2002. Though there were number of fraudulent practices that the company and its executives practiced, it is also true that the society had a leading role to play in the making of the company and its debacle. Supporting an untrue situation arises when the people involved are greedy and tempt a crowd to be greedy as well. Enron became ambitious with the change in leadership and when the mantle was taken over by Jeff Skilling. Enron was ambitious even prior to that under the stewardship of Ken Lay. The growth was steady and the finances proved strong. But with Skilling taking over the leadership of the company, there was a subtle but a sure change in the approach of the management towards making money. ... It was just that Enron did not have time to reorient itself and plan for a classic change and none of the theories of change management seem to have been adopted (Kotter & Schlesinger, 1979). The company's executives were paid using the company shares which were traded freely in the market. The company maintained a high price for their shares and this resulted in their own staff having a larger value added to the share prices of the company. The company started benefiting by insider trading and ensuring that the company continued to have a high share price and the rate of growth of the company was well over 30 to 50% every year. This was too good to believe but then the share holders and the company employees too continued to believe in this performance. The company hid a number of facts about the debt status of the company and failed to show the right numbers on their reports. Hidden in numerous shell companies across the world were all these losses that was used by the senior execu tives of the company to hide and mislead the public and the share holders by giving them wrong information during critical times (Bethany McLean & Peter Elkin, 2005). This has also resulted in a gross violation of law by the company and its board. These hidden facts were so high that the company could not rectify these problems and come out of it unscathed. This in itself led the company to file for its bankruptcy. The senior executives were held for taking the country and its people for a ride and having misled them. The employees of the company and the share holders of the company felt cheated at the end of the game. This debacle led not only the company to bankruptcy but also took most of the senior people into the jail. Organisation Culture Organisation culture of any organisation

Functional Foods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Functional Foods - Essay Example The most important issue about the functional foods is the disturbance they cause in the natural mineral balance of the food products. Nature has created the consumable food products in a balanced form and no single mineral or vitamin exists in the excessive form in ordinary food materials. However, when certain vitamins and minerals are added to these food products, the natural balance is disturbed which consequently changes the nutrition value of the food. As the nutrition value of the food product is changed the intake of such foods must also be varied accordingly. Unfortunately, FDA does not put any restriction regarding the addition of nutrients to food materials. Functional foods are not treated with drugs and they can be marketed as foods without any prior permission from FDA. The only restriction that FDA puts on the manufacturers of these functional foods is regarding their advertisement and labeling; the manufacturers are required to provide all the nutrients labeled on the packing in correct proportions. Since the consumers are not aware of the use of multivitamins and additional minerals in their diet, the increasing trend of using functional foods can be harmful to the health of consumers. Some of the physicians, trainers, and physiotherapists are also unaware of the use of dietary supplements and they recommend these products to athletes and other consumers for enhancing body performance and energy levels; no such effect of these products has been observed in healthy adults. Each supplementary mineral and vitamin has specific application in human body and additional amount of these products are required in specific scenarios. Therefore the unchecked and random use of functional foods can deteriorate human health and greater amounts of these minerals could result in toxic depositions in human body. Unfortunately mineral supplements and multi vitamins are added in ordinary and everyday use foods and consumers are forced to buy and use them, thus a check and regulatory mechanism is r equired in order to ensure safe use of functional foods and dietary supplements (Thompson and Manore 187). The United States Pharmacopeial Convention is a nonprofit organization

Research task case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research task - Case Study Example This also affects the people around them especially children who sometimes, end up being psychologically tortured. Critically thinking, the UAE is not the solution to these maids’ financial problems as it only inflicts pain on them Foreign maids from impoverished countries account for about 23% of the United Arabs Emirates population, all of them desperate to at least to make a better living. The fact that the UAE is a country with adverse resources due to their huge oil reservoirs plays a major part in attracting these foreign maids (Mallinder, n.d). Some of these maids leave their native countries having in mind that they will help their families back home fight poverty. However, on reaching the UAE, their expectations end up being flushed in the drains as working conditions end up being so terrible. It is quite evident from the above information that foreign maids operate under very poor working conditions in the UAE. Foreign maids face a number of problems that psychologically affect them (Sabban, 2012). The major problem is torture and harassment, leading to physical pain and even deformities. The second problem emanates from the long hours of work with poor pay and lack of better food. Some of these female maids get sexually abused by their employers in front of the children, affecting these children psychologically and even leading to some of these maids committing suicide. Some maids end up committing crimes like beating up and even burning the employers’ children or worse of killing the employer. As a matter of fact, most of these foreign maids come from unprivileged backgrounds and hence need more psychological help and support than psychiatric evaluation before employment to adjust to cases of unsympathetic employers (Beasley and Thomas, 1992). Moreover, it reduces cases of crimes committed by the maids by a wider margin. Moreover, the Human Rights Watch, has called on the UAE

International commercial arbitration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International commercial arbitration - Essay Example ‘(Murray, 2011)’3. In other words, litigation means the filing of charge against another person and bringing the case in the court of law. It is also sometimes called legal process. In litigation, it is quite often that the lawyers are hired by both the parties. However, the right of resolution rests with the court. However, litigation relates to the legal processes which usually involve civil cases. Criminal proceedings are not covered under this term. In litigation, there are two parties involved in the legal proceedings being conducted. One party is called the plaintiff. Plaintiff is the party which brings the charge in the court of law. The other party is called defendant. It is the party against which the charge is taken in the court. This party defends the case and tries to prove the charge to be falsie and void. The plaintiff and defendant may be individuals, organization or states which have brought the lawsuit before the court for resolution. ‘(Business di ctionary,)’4. When the plaintiff brings a civil charge in the court of law, both the parties, that is plaintiff and defendant, are entered into the process of litigation. In courts governing civil procedures, the process of litigation consists of a number of systematic steps. These steps lead to the trial conducted by the court and ultimately, the matter is resolved by the court. However, all the disputes are not taken to the courts at once. Initially, whenever a dispute arises, the parties may try to settle the case between them. This is due to the reason that litigation may involve a number of trial proceedings which may extend to a considerable length of time. It may also be costly and time consuming. Thus, it seems better for the parties to resolve the matter without referring to a court. The case is settled if the person who is alleged to cause the injury fulfills the demands and requirements of the party who is suffered with the injury. However, if the requirements of t he injured party are not fulfilled, that party may proceed to bring the lawsuit in the court of law. The litigation may be brought by serving to the defendant the copies of complaint and summons and then filing the objection and complaint in the civil court. The complaint being served to the court must contain full facts regarding the injuries being caused and then requesting monetary damages or other relief being equitable and justified. ‘(Harris, 1994)’5 In the modern world, it is considered as an art of an active litigator to know the case completely and act both proactively and reactively in order to produce logical arguments with the help of correct evidences. The use of automated techniques also helps the lawyers in winning the case. Litigation support has also been changed with the invention and development of Information technology. These technologies have helped lawyers in handling large number of cases of their clients as day to day complexity of businesses ha s also increased the number of litigation claims in the courts. ARBITRATION: In litigation, the case is taken to the court of law. But the process is time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, in many cases, both the parties do not reach upon a conclusion. However, they also do not prefer to refer to the court of law for the resolution of the case. For such a condition, an alternative for the litigation is introduced. It is known as ‘arbitration’. Thus, arbitration is defined as a technique which involves

Christopher Nolan and the Philosophy of Neo-Noir Case Study

Christopher Nolan and the Philosophy of Neo-Noir - Case Study Example In the neo-noir sense, the product of the narrative can be invented. What looks like facts in narratives may be viewed as pieces of the puzzle and can be reassembled to bring out various end products. Nolan brings out a moral ambivalence brought about by the inversion of traditional values. He also brings out themes on social criticism by preventing crime and violence, and different feelings like paranoia and alienation brought about by various situations and different moods of dislocation. Nolan also brings out disorientation as a theme on the viewers part. These themes focus on key areas that make up the plot (Conard, 46). Christopher Nolan also uses stylistic devices that include the constant opposition of light and shadow, the use of non-classical narrative patterns, the relation between camera angles and scenes and incoherent plot lines. He also uses the characters of various positions within shots, their unmotivated actions that cannot be understood and incoherent plot lines. There is also the use of flashbacks that portrays the non-chronological order of events. Nolan uses all these devices to portray the anti-hero protagonist who is a good person but has to make questionable decisions due to circumstances (Conard, 58). The function of a master narrative is that it is constructed and designed to bring out an affirmative and an off-putting in every situation. Nolan’s story concludes with Leonard Shelby the anti-hero protagonist, as someone who goes through the good and the bad and still manages to rearrange the clues in order to come out on top. This brings out the neo-noir sense that we can either see good or evil in a situation or person depending on how we rearrange the pieces of the puzzle. Leonard distorts this syntactically to be either on top or towards the bottom.

International commercial arbitration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International commercial arbitration - Essay Example ‘(Murray, 2011)’3. In other words, litigation means the filing of charge against another person and bringing the case in the court of law. It is also sometimes called legal process. In litigation, it is quite often that the lawyers are hired by both the parties. However, the right of resolution rests with the court. However, litigation relates to the legal processes which usually involve civil cases. Criminal proceedings are not covered under this term. In litigation, there are two parties involved in the legal proceedings being conducted. One party is called the plaintiff. Plaintiff is the party which brings the charge in the court of law. The other party is called defendant. It is the party against which the charge is taken in the court. This party defends the case and tries to prove the charge to be falsie and void. The plaintiff and defendant may be individuals, organization or states which have brought the lawsuit before the court for resolution. ‘(Business di ctionary,)’4. When the plaintiff brings a civil charge in the court of law, both the parties, that is plaintiff and defendant, are entered into the process of litigation. In courts governing civil procedures, the process of litigation consists of a number of systematic steps. These steps lead to the trial conducted by the court and ultimately, the matter is resolved by the court. However, all the disputes are not taken to the courts at once. Initially, whenever a dispute arises, the parties may try to settle the case between them. This is due to the reason that litigation may involve a number of trial proceedings which may extend to a considerable length of time. It may also be costly and time consuming. Thus, it seems better for the parties to resolve the matter without referring to a court. The case is settled if the person who is alleged to cause the injury fulfills the demands and requirements of the party who is suffered with the injury. However, if the requirements of t he injured party are not fulfilled, that party may proceed to bring the lawsuit in the court of law. The litigation may be brought by serving to the defendant the copies of complaint and summons and then filing the objection and complaint in the civil court. The complaint being served to the court must contain full facts regarding the injuries being caused and then requesting monetary damages or other relief being equitable and justified. ‘(Harris, 1994)’5 In the modern world, it is considered as an art of an active litigator to know the case completely and act both proactively and reactively in order to produce logical arguments with the help of correct evidences. The use of automated techniques also helps the lawyers in winning the case. Litigation support has also been changed with the invention and development of Information technology. These technologies have helped lawyers in handling large number of cases of their clients as day to day complexity of businesses ha s also increased the number of litigation claims in the courts. ARBITRATION: In litigation, the case is taken to the court of law. But the process is time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, in many cases, both the parties do not reach upon a conclusion. However, they also do not prefer to refer to the court of law for the resolution of the case. For such a condition, an alternative for the litigation is introduced. It is known as ‘arbitration’. Thus, arbitration is defined as a technique which involves

Home-Style Cookies Essay Example for Free

Home-Style Cookies Essay In this case study, the focus revolves around the Lew Mark Baking Company. The Lew-Mark Baking Company according to the case study is from a small town in western New York. Lew-mark Baking company operates in New York and New Jersey. It employs around 200 workers in a mainly blue collar, informal atmosphere. In my paper, I will answer several questions about operations for this company The Cookie Production Process When describing the cookie production process for Lew-mark baking, it is best described as using the batch processing system. The batch processing system can best be described as the execution of a series of programs (jobs) on a computer without human interaction. â€Å"Batch Processing is used when a moderate value of goods or services is desired, and it can handle a moderate variety of products and services† (Stevenson 2009, P 239). This method helps with quantity management because Lew mark only makes cookies according to demand. What are two ways that the company has increased productivity? Why did increasing the length of the ovens result in a faster output? One obvious way the company is increasing productivity is that it only makes cookies according to the demand. What ever order it receives from its distributor is what is made in the factory. This ensures that productivity is centered on the demand and time is not wasted baking products that might or might not sell. This is return, makes productivity quicker and more efficient. As mentioned above, the Batch processing system is a huge contributor to increasing productivity. Having two ovens also helps in speeding up productivity. Lengthen the ovens by 25 feet, increased the rate of production by allowing more cookies to be baked at the same time. Automating the Packing Although automating the packing of the cookies in normally a quicker and more efficient way of doing business, it is my opinion the Lew-mark baking Company is doing the right thing by employing local workers to do this job. It is vitally important to create good relationship within the community. This allows a company to have a stake in the community and thus foster good relationships with the local government, political officials and members of the community. Fostering these types of relationships can also be beneficial when it comes to future plans or expansions. Plus, the company has an obligation to the workers once they are employed with the company. As longs as profits and the bottom line are healthy, it should keep its commitment to the community. This would hold true in a small or large community. It is the obligation of industry to keep workforce engagement in tact. As long as industry is alive, some sort of human engagement is needed. What factors cause Lew-mark to carry minimal amounts of certain inventories? What benefits results from this policy? Obviously, the shelf life of perishables (cookies) keeps companies like Lew-Mark from storing big quantities of cookies in the warehouse. The longer these cookies stay in the warehouse, the lower the possibility of being sold. In reading the text, Stevenson’s goes into great detail about the Single Period Model of Inventory Management. This Model is used for ordering perishables and other items with limited useful life. It is interesting how Lew mark keeps a smaller inventory of labels. Their rationale is that the FDA label requirements change frequently and they do not wan to get stuck with labels they cannot use. Most of their inventory is ordered in small silos two or three times a week to save on ordering cost. This type of inventory control favors smaller businesses as long as they can forecast their production with accuracy. This allows Lew-mark to only buy what they use and use what they buy. If production decreases, they buy less. If production increases, they buy more. In the case of Lew-Mark Baking Company, this type of inventory control makes sense. Quality There are advantageous and disadvantages in using a non additive and non preservative approach to selling products. The advantage is that you can target a more health conscious audience to your product. With all the health disparities facing the country, you can carve out a specific audience for these types of products. On the flip side, you have to race against the clock because these non additives and non preservative shorten the life of these perishable items. In other words, your selling approach needs to be more progressive in its nature Conclusion In conclusion, the Lew-Mark Baking Company has an excellent product available to its consumers. Its pitch to sell non additive non preservative cookies targets and audience that is looking for this type of product. Because of its size, Lew-mark capitalizes in efficiency by using very tight inventory controls and production processes that keeps the company financially conscious and fiscally responsible. Its sensitivity to the community also brings morale responsibility that is noted by many members of the community and abroad. The Companies Strategy is to create a product that is desirable to the consumer and delivering that product in a way that makes the best business sense to its owners. As a consumer, I prefer quality in the form of a soft cookie. Understanding that the cookie has non and non preservatives is a plus.

Clarifying the basic principles of freuds theories

Clarifying the basic principles of freuds theories it is important to be clear about the meanings of certain terms that you may come across and throughout the handout you will find footnotes clarifying certain terms. Firstly though, a word about the terms psychoanalysis and psychodynamics. Psychoanalysis refers to both Freuds original attempt at providing a comprehensive theory of the mind and also to the associated treatment. The term encompasses both Freudian theory and therapy. You will also come across the term psychodynamics. This term is used to denote the approach which began with psychoanalysis but which has now broadened into a much more diverse collection of theories and models developed by other psychologists, all of which nevertheless retain some of the main ideas of Freuds original theory. Sigmund Freud was born in 1856 in Moravia, which was then part of the Austrian Empire and is now in the Czech Republic. He spent most of his life in Vienna, from where he fled, in 1937, when the Nazis invaded. Neither Freud (being Jewish) or his theories were very popular with the Nazis and he escaped to London where he died in 1939. He had wanted to be a research scientist but anti-Semitism forced him to choose a medical career instead and he worked in Vienna as a doctor, specialising in neurological disorders (disorders of the nervous system). He constantly revised and modified his theories right up until his death but much of his psychoanalytic theory was produced between 1900 and 1930. Freud originally attempted to explain the workings of the mind in terms of physiology and neurology (but) quite early on in his treatment of patients with neurological disorders, Freud realised that symptoms which had no organic or bodily basis could imitate the real thing and that they were as real for the patient as if they had been neurologically caused. So he began to search for psychological explanations of these symptoms and ways of treating them. In 1885 he spent a year in Paris learning hypnosis from the neurologist Charcot; he then started using hypnosis with his patients in Vienna. However, he found its effects to be only temporary at best and it did not usually get to the root of the problem; nor was everybody capable of being hypnotised. Meanwhile Breuer, another Viennese doctor, was developing another method of therapy which he called the cathartic method, where patients would talk out their problems. Freud adopted Breuers method and called it free association which became one of the three fundamental tools of psychoanalysis. Freud began his self-analysis during the 1890s and in 1900 published The Interpretation of Dreams, in which he outlined his theory of the mind, followed by The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (1904), A Case of Hysteria and Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905). Two of Freuds closest colleagues, Carl Jung and Alfred Adler, helped him form the psychoanalytic movement and the first International Psychoanalytic Congress was held in Salzburg in 1908. The Journal of Psychoanalysis was first published in 1909 and, in that year, Freud and Jung made a lecture tour of the USA. (From Gross, R (1996) Psychology, The Science of Mind and Behaviour, page 508) 1.8.2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  FREUDS STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY Freud compared the human personality to an iceberg. The small part that shows above the surface of the water represents conscious experience ; the much larger mass below the water level represents the unconscious a storehouse of impulses, passions, and inaccessible memories that affect our thoughts and behaviour. It is this portion of the mind that Freud sought to explore with the use of free association. Freud also believed that personality was composed of three major systems: the id, the ego and the superego. Each system has its own functions but the three interact to govern behaviour. (a)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The id The id is the most primitive part of the personality and the first to develop. It is present in the newborn infant. It is located in the unconscious and it is from the id that the ego and the superego later develop. The id consists of the basic biological impulses (or drives): the need to eat, drink, eliminate wastes, avoid pain and gain sexual pleasure. Freud also believed that aggression was a basic biological drive. The id seeks immediate gratification of these impulses. Like a young child, the id operates on the pleasure principle : it endeavours to avoid pain and obtain pleasure regardless of the external circumstances. (b)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The ego As the child develops it learns that their impulses cannot always be immediately gratified. Some must be delayed (for example, hunger must wait until someone provides food) and some (for example, hitting someone) may be punished. A new part of the personality, the ego, develops as the young child learns to consider the demands of reality. The ego constitutes our conscious self and obeys the reality principle : It is essentially the part of personality that decides what actions are appropriate and which id impulses will be satisfied in what manner. The ego mediates among the demands of the id, the realities of the world and the demands of the superego. (c)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The superego The superego, is the internalised representation of the values and morals of society as taught to the child by the parents and others. It is essentially the individuals conscience. The superego decides whether an action is right or wrong. Initially, parents control a childs behaviour directly by reward and punishment. Through the incorporation of parental standards into the superego, behaviour is brought under self-control. The superego develops in response to parental rewards and punishments. In summary, the id seeks pleasure, the ego tests reality and mediates, the superego constrains and strives for perfection. Not surprisingly, the three components of personality are in constant conflict: the ego postpones the gratification the id wants immediately and the superego battles with both because behaviour often falls short of the moral code it represents. 1.8.3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MANAGING THE CONFLICT In order to deal with this conflict, the ego develops a series of defence mechanisms which allow it to protect itself from the pressures of the id, the real world and the superego. Examples are: Repression burying a memory so thoroughly that it is not recalled at all it never happened. Projection attributing own unwanted bad feelings or ideas to another person. Rationalisation making up a reasonable excuse for unacceptable behaviour and really believing it. Suppression forgetting a shocking event on purpose: (consciously in this case) putting it out of ones mind. Denial refusing to acknowledge something because it is so distressing. Displacement transferring feelings from one person or object to another. Identification imitating someone who is admired and modelling oneself on them. Reaction-Formation consciously substituting the opposite emotion for true feelings about someone/something. Freud believed that conflict is inevitable and all behaviour is a compromise. Conflict is the primary cause of human anxiety and unhappiness. Defence mechanisms are one way we have of dealing with our inner conflict; neurotic symptoms and dreaming are the other major forms of compromise. 1.8.4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY Freud believed that the individual, during the first five years of life, progresses through several developmental stages that affect personality. Applying a broad definition of sexuality, he called these periods psychosexual stages. During each stage, the pleasure-seeking impulses of the id focus on, and derive pleasure from, a particular area of the body and on activities connected with that area. Freud called the first year of life the oral stage of psychosexual development. During this period, infants derive pleasure from nursing and sucking; in fact, they will put anything they can reach into their mouth. During the second year of life, the anal stage, as children have their first experience with imposed control in the form of their toilet training. In the phallic stage, from about age 3 to age 6, children focus on their genitals. They observe the differences between males and females and may direct their awakening sexual impulses toward the parent of the opposite sex. It is at this stage that children have to resolve the Oedipus and Electra complexes. A latency period follows the end of the phallic stage, during which children become less concerned with their bodies and turn their attention to the skills needed for coping with the environment. The last stage, the genital stage, occurs during adolescence, during which young people begin to turn their sexual interests toward others and to love in a more mature way. Freud felt that special problems at any stage could arrest (or fixate) development and have a lasting effect on the individuals personality. The libido would remain attached to the activities appropriate for that stage. Thus a person who was weaned very early and did not have enough sucking pleasure might become fixated at the oral stage. As an adult, this person may be excessively dependent on others and overly fond of such oral pleasures as eating, drinking and smoking. Such a person is called an oral personality. The person fixated at the anal stage of psychosexual development may be abnormally concerned with cleanliness, orderliness, and saving. 1.8.5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  MODIFICATIONS OF FREUDS THEORIES Later psychoanalysts felt that Freud placed too much emphasis on the instinctive and biological aspects of personality and failed to recognise that people are products of the society in which they live. The neo-Freudians including Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, Karen Horney, Carl Jung and Harry Stack Sullivan, considered personality to be shaped more by the people, society, and culture surrounding the individual than by biological needs. They placed less emphasis on the controlling power of the unconscious, believing that people are more rational in their planing and decisions than Freud thought. 1.8.6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY The aim of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring about a fundamental change in the patients personality so that he is released from his neurotic disorders. Freud believed that neurosis was caused by the repression of disturbing feelings and emotions associated with conflicts established in early childhood. These conflicts result from the impulses of the id or the strictures of an over demanding superego. He assumed that the patients ego was too weak to cope with such conflicts and defended itself by repressing them into the unconscious. However, conflicts do not go away; they find expression through the symptoms and neurotic behaviour of the patients. The aims of psychoanalysis are to remove the infantile conflict from the unconscious and help the patient deal with it at a conscious level. Psychoanalytic therapy normally has two stages: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the release of repression, thereby allowing the conflict to enter consciousness, and, 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  the redirection of the emotional energy (libido) associated with the repression thereby allowing the patients ego to gain control of the conflict. Freud developed various techniques for getting round the controlling forces of the defence mechanisms to reveal the unconscious material which is trying to gain expression. One of the original methods employed by Freud was hypnosis, but as has already been mentioned, he found this technique unsatisfactory and soon began using free association. Later Carl Jung, one of Freuds students developed a similar technique known as word association , and both methods are still widely used in present-day psychoanalysis. Another technique for getting at unconscious material is the interpretation of dreams . Another route into the unconscious is via the errors of everyday life, so-called Freudian slips. Present day psychoanalysts also regard certain physiological cues such as posture, blushing or pallor and changes in the timbre of the patients voice as important expressions of unconscious motives and feelings. 1.8.7  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  AN EVALUATION OF THE PSYCHOANALYTIC   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  APPROACH Psychoanalytic theory has had an enormous impact on psychological and philosophical conceptions of human nature. Freuds major contributions are his recognition that unconscious needs and conflicts motivate much of out behaviour and his emphasis on the importance of early childhood experiences in personality development. His emphasis on sexual factors led to an awareness of their role in adjustment problems. But Freud made his observations during the Victorian period when sexual standards were very strict; so it is understandable that many of his patients conflicts centred on their sexual desires. Today, feelings of guilt about sex are much less frequent, yet the incidence of mental illness remains about the same. Sexual conflicts are not the only cause of personality disturbances and may not even be a major cause. Some critics also point out that Freuds theory of personality is based almost entirely on his observations of emotionally disturbed patients and may not be an appropriate of the normal, healthy personality. In addition, many of Freuds ideas were decidedly sexist. For example, his theory that female psychosexual development is shaped by penis envy and feelings of unworthiness due to the lack of such equipment is certainly inadequate in view of our current awareness of the role that social factors play in gender identification. It was probably not her brothers penis that a little girl during the Victorian era envied but his greater independence power and social status. Although psychoanalysis has exerted a powerful influence on our thinking about human nature, it has been seriously questioned as a scientific theory. Freuds constructs are ambiguous and difficult to define. He does not specify, for example, what behaviours indicate that a child is fixated at the anal stage of psychosexual development and what behaviours indicate that he or she is not fixated. For any body of theory to be accepted as a valid scientific perspective, its consequences must be statable. The hypothesis that fixation at the anal stage can lead to stinginess (or to the opposite, generosity) is evidently not refutable; whatever the outcome, the theory can account for it. To that extent the psychoanalytic approach fails to meet the criteria of a scientific theory. Because some important aspects of psychoanalytic theory cannot be proven experimentally, some psychologists claim that it has no value either as psychology or as science (Eysenck 1972). However, many others claim that experimental validity is an inappropriate yardstick for evaluating psychodynamic theory and that the theory is verified in practice in the analyst-patient interview.