Ancient Greek Theatre Essay

In this essay I’m going to be writing about Ancient Greek Theatre the origins of it and how effects the modern world Theatre. The question I’m going to answer in this essay is how did Greek Theatre represent Greek culture? I’m going to use a variety of sources in this essay to provide historic information about Ancient Greek Theatre. I’m also going to look into the culture’s practices of citizenship, philosophies, gender, faiths, or origin myths. To begin with I’m going to start with the origins of how theatre started. Western Theatre was born in Ancient Greece in between 600 and 200 BC. Ancient Greek Theatre was a mixture of myths, philosophies, social commentary, dance, music and etc. But it begins as a religious ceremony. The Ancient Athenians created a theatre culture whose form, technique and terminology have lasted two millennia, and they created plays that are still considered among the greatest works of world drama. Athenians plays fo cused on the God Dionysus, which was a God of many things including fertility, agriculture, and sexuality. Athenians plays were legendary and were known to be the greatest works of world drama. The Athenians created the world of tragedy’s in plays which is a common concept in plays in the modern day world. Tragedy derived from the word tragos which meant goat and ode which means songs it was meant to teach religious lessons. Tragedies were viewed as ritual purifications. It dictated how people should behave and it also inquired free thought, in Athens it brought radical ideas of democracy, philosophy, mathematics and arts. It boasted philosophers like Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Epicurus, and Democritus. The traditional tragedy in Aeschylus’ time (circa 475 BC) consisted of the following parts the prologue which described the situation and the set, and then there was parados an ode song that the chorus would sing when they made their entrance. Then there were the five dramatic scenes and lastly the exodus which is the climax and the conclusion. Around 484 BC there was a new playwright named Aeschylus which turned the dithyramb into drama. Aeschylus most prevalent work was The Oresteia. Aeschylus makes a point that has been used by Historians, Dramatists, Psychologists and Crime Writers; that the root of evil and suffering is usually human arrogance. In 468 BC Aeschylus was defeated and then there competition was Sophocles. Sophocles contributed the addition of a third actor and an emphasis on drama between humans rather than between humans and gods. Sophocles’ plays are about the folly of arrogance and the wisdom of accepting fate. Sophocles believed in the Greek gods, but his plays are covered with existential insights that have been pronounced many times since. Euripides was popularity surpassed Sophocles and Aeschylus. His plays were about real people he placed peasants alongside princes and gave their emotions equal weight. Tragedy’s wasn’t the only theatre in Athens there was also Comedy. Greek Comedy’s had two periods which was Old Comedy and New Comedy. In the comedies they used three actors a chorus who sang, danced and sometimes participated in the dialogue. The New Comedy was more aimed at the common people than the religious lessons. Menander was the creator of most of the popular comedy playwrights in that era. His characters wore classic models and the style he used created in emphasis on mistaken identity, romance and situational humor became the model for succeeding comedy, from the Romans to Shakespeare to Broadway. There were rules that they had to follow in theatre which was called the three unities. The three unities were time, place and action. The unity of time limits the duration of an action roughly, of a single day. The unit of place makes sure all actions were located in one place. The unit of subject represents every aspect of a play and how it relates to one topic. One must remember that Aristotle was providing these ground rules during the fourth century B.C.E. At the time, plays were performed outdoors and the use of multiple settings would be expensive and complicated to produce. The audience would likely get confused in the process of changing sets and props. Greek theatre had a major impact on the modern world because tragedies are used in most of the plays in the modern world. For example, The Death of a Salesman’s is a tragedy because the dad ends up dying at the end of the play. Tragedy’s gives modern day plays their edge; they are called dramas in the modern world. The definition of a Drama is A prose or verse composition, especially one telling a serious story, that is intended for representation by actors impersonating the characters and performing the dialogue and ac tion. This describes what the Greeks believed tragedy’s was. Then they helped the modern theatre world evolve into a greater aspect of life. The Greeks had men playing all the roles in the plays and had chorus was used to tell the stories and maintain a since of ceremony and ritual. It established the mood though rhythmic chanting and dancing. It connected the artist by making responses and asking questions. In modern theatre we used dancing and chanting and chorus for our musical plays and for the regular plays we use music to connect the audience with the mood of the play. Also instead of a chorus to narrate the play we just use a regular person to narrate the play. The answer to the question how did Greek Theatre represent Greek culture? Is Greek Theatre showed how the Athens was very religious and they used the tragedies of theatre to tell people how to ask and also give people a voice. Greek Theatre playwrights represented how the society behaved in that era. They used religious traditions as a main part of the plays which slowly disappeared later on the era and culture transformed into playwrights that dealt with common people instead of Gods and how you should worship them. Greek theatre was greatly influential in the modern world and the plays are still used today. Bibliography 1. Ceehorn, Ashley. What Are the Three Unities in Greek Theater? Read more: What Are the Three Unities in Greek Theater? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8187974_three-unities-greek-theater.html#ixzz1bh3UB4gq. N.p.: eHow Contributor, 2011. 2. Http://anarchon.tripod.com/indexGREEKTH.html. 2004. 3. Girard, Phyllis M. Greek Theatre: A Reflection of Ancient Greek Society (A Program Alternative for High School Gifted Students). Programs for Gifted Students. N.p.: Guides – Classroom – Teacher, 1978. 4. Phillips, K. Ancient Greek Theatre. 2000.

Discrimination Essay

The desire towards improvements and changes is stimulated by a particular event or scenario. It motivates and inspires us to persevere and change the outcome for the better. For my part, it started in August 2002 when two teenaged transgender teenagers were brutally murdered in the District of Columbia. The murders occurred in the Southeast section of DC – an area plagued by random violence, extreme poverty, and often defeated residents. This instigated my passion for service and creating ways to fight for these peoples’ rights.It is through this that I want to express my intention to pursue a degree in public interest law. As a DC native, to some extent, I’ve been desensitized to violence. Local news stations advertise violence almost hourly. I listen to â€Å"Breaking News† having to do with multiple killings and robberies daily as a marketing tool used to increase ratings, and ultimately ad revenues. However, this case was the one that strike me the mos t because of my encounter with the victims a few hours before the incident. I had acquainted with these people during a popular event.While I made it home safely, I didn’t know that the victims were being shot multiple times; a terrible massacre and execution at the dark streets of Southeast Washington. Realizing the gravity of the issue, I went to AU’s GLBTA Resource and convinced the director to conduct a campus candle vigil to commemorate the victims. The vigil was attended by over 500 AU students and residents of the DC Maryland and Virginia areas. The culmination of the event was a speech given by Brett Pearsons – DC Police Chief of the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.However, I felt that this action was inadequate to address the issue; I needed to be involved more. Also, my research showed that there is an alarming increase in the number of hate crimes happening in Washington D. C. This applies to individuals who identify themselves as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Transgender. Moreover, there is a shocking trend wherein majority of victims are people of color (black or latino), under 30, usually impoverished, and most of these crimes are not investigated as hate crimes. With these I made an important decision in my life; I wanted to take law and prosecute people who engage in such actions.With my Juris Doctorate degree I plan to practice law with the sole purpose of eradicating discrimination and violence such as this. Both inside institutions like the US Military who prescribe discrimination through legislative means and in larger society where discrimination and hate exist as a result of stereotypes, lack of education, and non-exposure. Similarly, I wish to create equal opportunities among workers in the institutional level while at the same time clamoring for the removal of societal standards that are prejudicial in nature. I can accomplish this by legal work and cases I work into.I believe attorneys can be the engineers of social chang e if each one is willing to meet the challenges; a fact I am determined to accept. In the future, I wish to participate and be associated with a federal or local government agency helping to prosecute criminals who engage in such crimes. Likewise, if possible, I wish to be contributing my efforts for a watchdog organization such the National gay & lesbian task force, Human Rights Campaign, or the ACLU I believe. These institutions are vital in the process of creating accountability and justice among these minorities within American society.Without these types of organizations, there won’t be a check and balance in the societal system which can help legitimize the actions of individuals to pursue violent acts of discrimination and prejudice. In the end, with your acceptance, I can be able to make a difference in society as well as these groups. I know that the incident in DC was no coincidence. It was my calling to be of service to these people. With this degree, I can be able to exercise the notion that â€Å"everyone is under the law†. I feel that this is my legacy; my own imprint in effecting social change.

Practical Psychology for Everyday Life

Practical Psychology for Everyday Life Question 1 I think one of the most important concepts I learnt from the lecture is the effect and influence of the non-verbal behaviors and language, but the people mostly lack of awareness on them and create misunderstanding even discontent among all of us. These non-verbal behaviors seem to be non-significant in our everyday life, but they do play a key role in daily communication. Even though non-verbal communication could only express simple thoughts and feelings, it indicates the true ideas and emotions.As verbal language sometime different from what we really think, for example, lying and overstating are typical models, these behaviors build up more barriers and obstacles between peoples. Thus, understanding of these non-verbal behaviors helps us express us more clearly and beneficial for our relationships. Non-verbal behaviors appear everywhere, every moment; even though they are common, but we did not pay much attention. And it leads to mismatch of verbal and non-verbal behavior creating ambiguity, the original idea could not be sent.In the past, when I was talking to others, I used to look at anywhere but not the one I was chatting with, no matter teachers or classmates. Because of this strange behavior, I was viewed as an ill-mannered student. It took me years to realize and solve it. In this situation, even though I thought I was talking with my teachers with the most polite language I knew, but my non-verbal behavior crumbled it. It is also a typical problem nowadays youth might have, as electronic gadgets become part of our life, most of us may focus on the smartphone in hand but not the friends around.Thus, the non-verbal behaviors reflect our manner, but lack of attention of these behaviors would be a worrying trend. Moreover, the non-verbal behaviors are indicators of our true feelings. In the past I wondered that how my sister could catch me when I was lying all the time. But later on, I discover that when I tell lies, I often shake my head. If we take a closer look to these minor behaviors, it would be easier to find others’ true feelings and what they try to hide. It is also eneficial for our daily communication. All in all, the non-verbal behavior should match with the verbal language, if we want to express ourselves to other, so other would get our ideas clearly, it avoids the unnecessary arguing and guessing and helps us contact with others more efficiently. Thus, non-verbal behavior should be taken a higher level of consideration. (Words for Q1: 420) Question 2 Self-discrepancy could be varies as three major self- perceptions: actual self, ideal self and ought self.This divergence defines us and shapes our personality as we seek unity of these three perceptions. The actual self represents the true qualities we acquired and what we really are. Despite this, some of us may omit it and pursue the ideal self, the ultimate qualities we desire. Besides that, ought self indicat es the qualities that we should grab. Inspired by my mum, a lady who strongly influenced by the traditional ideas. Once suffered in the mismatch of ought self and actual self. She married a man who did not love her, leading to another unfortunate marriage.This man gambled and lost my mum’s hard-earned money, he get drunk every night and creating more domestic-violence. In this circumstance, it is definitely that she should seek help and leave him. But in the struggle between her actual self – the desire to leave and ought self – the responsibility of a wife, her wavering brings more pain and sadness. In this case, the actual self of my mum falls short of her ought self, mixing the influence of the tradition ideas, she feels guilty when she tried to leave him.Besides that, the guilty remains even she left him for years, it lowers her self-esteem and makes her more fragile. From my mum’s experience, it reflects that the diversity between ought self and actu al self can be deeply affect and change one’s life. Apart from the ought self, the ideal self seems to be the ultimate goal of one’s actual self, but everyone has their own limit. In the past, I was forced to learn how to play piano because of my mum’s will. It was a difficult time for me as I found that I had no interest on piano or other instruments.In fact, I did try my best at the very beginning, but my fingers refused to dance on the piano keys but stomped on it. Later on, my mum started pushing me to play piano day by day, but the result just disappointing as usual. After several months, the monthly-long unsatisfactory outcome depressed me, at the same time, my academic results was declining as well. It illustrated the consequence caused by actual self fails to catch up with ideal self. Thankfully, my class teacher discovered it and discussed it with my mum, the piano measure was lifted and everything was back to normal.Thus, the objective we establish sho uld be achievable and relevant with our own abilities and our actual self. The draw-backs of forcing yourself to do impossible tasks could be unrecoverable. In conclude, understanding of self is the prerequisite for success, even though the desires and obligations may affect us. With the acknowledgement of ourselves, we erase our anxiety and take the duty. We find what our limits are and accept it and it pave the way to success. (Words for Q2: 488)

Psychology (humanistic counseling) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Psychology (humanistic counseling) - Essay Example Even the most advanced computers have trouble understanding the meaning of a simple story or conversation. Cognitive psychologists have found similar complexity in other mental processes. Developmental Psychology is the studyofchangesin human behavior and thought from infancy to old age. Developmental psychology is the study of how people change over time, but it also investigates how and why certain characteristics remain consistent over the life course. A child changes dramatically in size, physical coordination, and thinking capacity while maturing into an adult, for example, but may also maintain the same basic temperament while growing up. Traditionally,developmental psychologists have focused on child development, believing that most formative experiences of life occur during infancy and childhood. The early years are indeed a time of extremely rapid development, when children acquire motor skills, thinking abilities, social skills, capacities for feeling and regulating emotion, and other characteristics that will last a lifetime. But psychologists have more recently turned their attention to adolescence and adulthood, recognizing that development continues throughout the life span. The study of adult development focuses on the unique experiences of this stage of life and examines how adults maintain and refine their capabilities as they age. Thestudyofhumandevelopment requires an especially broad and integrative approach. Thus, developmental psychology incorporates ideas from almost every other area of psychology, including social psychology, cognitive psychology, biopsychology, clinical psychology, and educational psychology. It also draws from many other fields concerned with human behavior. These include sociology, biology (especially genetics and evolutionary biology), anthropology, and economics. The variety of fields relevant to developmental psychology reflects the complexity of human growth and change.(Microsoft Encarta 2007 1993-2006 ) 3. Biological Psychology Biopsychology, is thescientificstudy of the biology of behavior and mental processes. People also refer to this field as biological psychology, psychobiology, behavioral biology, or behavioral neuroscience. Thetermbiopsychology denotes a biological approach to psychology, rather than a psychological approach to biology. Most biopsychologists are trained experimental psychologists who have brought their knowledge of biology to the study of psychological phenomena. These phenomena include behavior and underlying psychological processes, such as learning, memory, perception, attention, motivation, emotion, and cognition. Biopsychologistswork in a variety of overlapping fields of study. Scientists in cognitive neuroscience primarily study the brain to understand the neural mechanisms of mental processes. Researchers in the field of psychopharmacology examine how drugs affect the psychological functions of the brain. Scientists in the field of

Critical Essay On The Book The Crusades through Arab Eyes

Critical On The Book The Crusades through Arab Eyes - Essay Example The book stands out among other books written on this subject, for it differs from other books in its focus. Majority of books have depicted the Crusades from the Western perspective. This book focuses on the Arab forces and their thoughts. The author begins the book by describing the fear that Franj troops created in the minds of Arab leaders. King Kilij Arslan was the first Arab King who was informed about the approach of Franj troops. â€Å"The King Kilij Arslan whom Ibn al-Qalanisi mentions here was not yet seventeen when their invader arrived. The first Muslim leader to be informed of their approach, but also the first to be routed by the formidable knights.  The news of the invasion was received with fear, as Arslan was aware that the Franj troops brought ruin and destruction. The attitude of Arab world towards Franj troops is depicted in the thoughts of Arslan. Although they were ignorant of their aims, they were sure that Franj troops were coming to harm them. Arslan repre sented the outlook of the Arab world towards Franj troops. â€Å"He immediately feared the worst. Naturally, he had no idea as to the real aims of these people, but in his view, nothing good could come of their arrival in the Orient.†. The Arab world viewed the Franj troops with distrust and fear.  The book also sheds light on the conduct of Arabs and Franj troops during the Crusades. The Franj troops claimed that they followed the teachings of Christian but their behaviour defied their claim.  Ã‚  

Consumers' Unethical Belief and Attitude toward Counterfeiting Essay

Consumers' Unethical Belief and Attitude toward Counterfeiting - Essay Example The main issue is the consumer has the benefit of choice. A product may be counterfeit. But it may be as good as or better than the original. The customer is in no position to ascertain the true value of the product unless he buys it. However, his unethical belief may be product-specific. He may or may not be willing to test counterfeits of each and every product. For instance, clothes. The fashion business is highly fluid in the matter of originals and counterfeits (Ha, Sejin & Lennon, Sharron, 2006). Depending on the government's strength and the rule of law prevalent in the region, the consumer's reliance on counterfeits may be rewarding or counterproductive and the question of ethics does not bother the consumer because he has paid for the goods even if it is counterfeit (Tatnall, Professor Arthur, 2008). Consumer's belief and attitude rotates around the single, dominant factor that he is paying for the product and hence it does not matter if the product is counterfeit. If the counterfeit provides him with as much or better services than the original, his purchase of such goods does not bother him at all on the matter of ethics. It is true that an informed society is more tolerant of unethical belief. It also has a higher anti-business attitude because there is greater awareness of what is going on in big business houses. Big business houses have problems with ethics (Friedman, Hershey H et al, 2008, p38). They make choices between the greater evil and the lesser evil in the regular course of their business. This does not get reflected in their balance sheets or profit and loss account. They have to gloss them over. With globalization and use of the information technology, large (and even small) business houses make no bones about dubious business practices. The original manufacture too deigns to resort to counterfeiting to realize cost and other benefits. The practice is too ingrained and enmeshed between the original and the counterfeit to separate one from another. Nothing is lost in the process except consumer's cynicism and respect for the original (Decker, Melissa A, 2004, p6). In the ultimate analysis, it is difficult to hold on to ethics and do business at the same time. By our view of ethics, we even blame the Almighty for committing many blunders. Also, the different shades of ethics do not have the same order of value in the eyes of different individuals. The world highly differs in ethical standards between individuals. Business must serve its own interests, setting the best examples in the process. Sometimes, their choice may not appear morally correct. Technically, however, business may not have committed any offence. Nonetheless, if the consumer is unhappy with a company's stance, it will result in anti-big business attitude (Sender, Katherine, 2002). Consumers with more tolerant of unethical belief will have lower social cost of counterfeit attitude If the consumer takes social cost into account, he will not be able to make use of his freedom of choice. The

Accounting assignment ( memo to the manager ) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting ( memo to the manager ) - Assignment Example The market it covers expands from Middle East to North Africa and all the way up to North America. The company has its offices in a number of countries including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey,  China, USA, Canada and United Kingdom. Emaar has consistently maintained its financial position and stability. The numbers on the financial statement indicate a slight decline in revenue from 30th September 2007 to 30th September 2008 (1.62%). Although the revenue has declined slightly, the net profit has gone up by (0.4%). This indicates that the cost of revenues has gone down. From the company’s perspective, this shows that they have controlled on their costs. However, an interesting feature to note in the financial statements is that ‘selling, general and administrative expenses’ form a considerable portion of the overall expenditure both in 2007 and in 2008. Moreover, the ratio of selling and administrative expenses to the gross profit stands out to be (29.5%) and (29.1%) in 2007 and 2008 respectively. This indicates a very high proportion and is reducing the profitability considerably. In order to control these expenses, we first need to analyze the composition of these expenses. Selling, general and administrative is the sum of all direct and indirect selling expenses and all general and administrative expenses incurred by a company. Selling expenses are of two types, direct and indirect. Direct ones are those which can be linked with the sale of a specific unit. This would include warranty, advertisement or credit expenses. Indirect ones are those which cannot be allocated to a sale of a specific unit but is applied to all units in proportion. This would include telephone and postal charges. Whereas, general and administrative expenses include other expenses such as rent, heating, lighting and salaries of non-sales personnel (Investopedia). High SG&A expenses can be

Wage Inequality in the Airline Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Wage Inequality in the Airline Industry - Essay Example For example, in the trucking industry, after deregulation union wages fell, whereas nonunion wages did not change significantly. This contrasts to the situation in the airline industry, where the wages of nonunion workers after deregulation have "eroded" (Bratsberg et al, 2001). The entry of new "non-union, low-wage" companies into the market forced existing companies to "extract wage concessions" from their employees, if they wanted to remain competitive (Deller, 2002). In this way competition with other private airline companies and governmental airline suppliers, forced wages downward to contain costs increases. Still, because of high industry unionization (Bratsberg et al, 2001), the unions retained considerable bargaining power, hence they were more effective in preserving high wages, and the union wage advantage increased during the years after the deregulation. Literature review has not identified one single method for determining wage inequality for the airline industry. Instead, various research papers investigate into different aspects that explain wage levels and estimate wage inequality in the airline industry by making comparisons between different worker/employee groups in the industry. One such paper distinguishes between wage levels of union, and nonun... One such paper distinguishes between wage levels of union, and nonunion workers, by assessing "the effect of deregulation on union power" (Bratsberg et al, 2001). Eventually, union power influences the wage levels of similar categories of workers who differ in their employment relations (union versus nonunion workers). According to the article, after deregulation, union wages have been less responsive to this change, whereas non-union wages have decreased significantly (Bratsberg et al, 2001) due to competitive pressure on costs. This has increased "the union premium" and has created greater wage inequality in the industry. Another research project undertaken by Michael Reich (2003) assesses wage policies at the San Francisco International Airport - SFO - for eighty employers in security areas or who perform security functions. The paper distinguishes between different level service workers, defining "security screeners, baggage handlers, fuel agents, customer service agents []" as the "lowest paid [non-managerial level] airline service workers". The research ascertains wage inequality based on company of employment, whereas lower wages are concentrated among employees of airline service contractors, contrasted by (in-house) airline companies. Additionally, Reich (2003) determines a benchmark minimum wage level (similar to the relative poverty line) of $10.00 per hour and comments that the introduction of new policies that decrease wage inequality have created significant decline in jobs turnover. This has created the positive effect of reduced pay inequality on service levels, worker motivation and pro ductivity (Reich, 2003). References: 1. Bratsberg, B. & Ragan J. (2001) "Changes in the Union Wage Premium

The Athletic Trainer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Athletic Trainer - Research Paper Example An Athletic trainer is a medical expert concerned with various areas of an athletes care. The athletic trainer teaches and instructs the athletes on ways to avoid injury during competitions by use of exercise practices and warm-up schedules. In case an injury occurs to an athlete, it is the duty of the athletic trainer to examine the injured athlete and establish whether the athlete requires medical attention from a doctor. Athletic trainers are also involved in the management and administration of rehabilitation of athletes for instance through exercise and training. In addition, the athletic trainers engage in monitoring the progress and performance of athletes to avoid further injuries. They are also involved in applying and fixing supportive gadgets for instance support braces or tensor bandages. Generally, the work of athletic trainers involve ensuring that the athlete is fit and in god health. In this case, these trainers also work closely with other professionals involved in t he affairs of the athletes for instance the athletes’ doctors and coaches (Hand, 2011). It is evident that athletic trainers hired by sports teams concern themselves w primarily with preventing injury, examination of injuries as well as rehabilitation of the athletes. It is also evident that as the name suggests, the major function of the athletic trainer is not to train the athlete on the specifics of the competition but rather to ensure that the athlete is fit for the competition. Even though the athletic trainers mainly occur in professional sports, others occur in the public domain (Beach, 2011). Heron (2011) affirms that athletic trainers concern themselves with institution, amateur and professional athletes in addition to normal people injured while participating in various sports. Athletic trainers should undergo a system of education and training before they

Overpopulatio in the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Overpopulatio in the United States - Essay Example This makes the US one of the fastest growing nations in the line of industrialized nations in the world. This overpopulation has caused various problems in the country, such as scarcity of resources, environmental issues, and economic consequences. Moreover, the problem of overcrowding also presents lack of education, and other issues which might cause troubles for the humanity. It is anticipated that by the year 2050, the population of the nation will be increased by around 130 million people, which is nearly equivalent to the addition of four more states the size of California. This study presents a detailed research on the topic of overpopulation in the United States. It undertakes to consult various resources, publications and databases to obtain information regarding the subject at hand. The causes of overpopulation are considered along with an elaborated discussion on the effects and consequences of the issue. The concept of overpopulation in not new to the current world and has been debated upon much by the researchers and authors. The definition of the term â€Å"overpopulation† is generally given by the writers as a commonly adverse and detrimental context in which the number of organisms goes beyond carrying capacity of its environment (Ian, 2007). This terminology generally pertains to the association between the two variables: environment and human population. The environment can either refer to a small geographical area or entire earth. During the past few years, the population in the United States has increased by more than double. It is said that if the population of the world in the coming century is multiplied by the same amount, there shall be more than one billion people around the globe. This increasing population, in turn, affects many features which include the negative contribution to the beauty of land, forests, environment and the entire ecosystem. Then, the social problems such as increasing attention in schools and lack of teachers

Using the Writing Process Essay Example for Free

Using the Writing Process Essay In the article that researcher Deborah Tannen wrote entitled ‘How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently,’ she relates her experiences about linguistic research and then indicates that, in the different regional, ethnic, and class backgrounds, there is great difference with the way males and females use their own languages. This paper revolves around the article written by Deborah Tannen, which was originally published in the Chronicle of Higher Education in the year 1991. In the end, it proves how males and females differ in their use of language, and that males tend to speak more when in public, while females speak more when in private. Thus, open class discussions are more apt to the male gender, while small group discussions are more apt to the female gender. Females are more shy and withdrawn when drawn to the public. Main Body Summary In the article, Tannen (1991) distinguishes some of the apparent differences when it comes to males and females’ use of language. One of the differences is that, females who come from single-sex schools â€Å"do better in later life† (Tannen, 1991, p. 38). Apart from that, males usually talk more whenever they sit next to females in classrooms. Tannen (1991) also relates how sociologists J. Lever, M. H. Goodwin, and D. Eder proves that both males and females learn to use language differently in their peer groups. Tannen (1991) recalls, Typically, a girl has a best friend with whom she sits and talks, frequently telling secrets. It’s the telling of secrets, the fact and the way that they talk to each other†¦ For boys, activities are central: their best friends are the ones they do things with. Boys also tend to play in larger groups that are hierarchical. (Tannen, 1991, p. 38) Males have a lot of experiences being with larger crowds and this entails them to talk more. Tannen (1991) mentions how males and females around the world differ in linguistic styles, their verbal rituals usually engage males in a contest or war of words, while females usually engage in ritual laments through rhyming couplets that express their feelings (p. 39). In American conversation, however, Tannen (1991) relates her teaching experiences, and comes to the conclusion that male teachers do â€Å"verbal sparring† (p. 39); female teachers, however, usually do verbal touching that makes the discussion more hospitable to many students in the class. The latter, however, appear to be uninteresting and boring to the males. Tannen (1991) mentions three reasons on why males speak more in class than females: first is because the setting appears to be public, which males find more interesting; second is because the setting is more conducive to debate-like communication; third and final is because the setting reflects different attitudes toward speaking, which males have had more experiences with (p. 40). Females appear to be more shy or withdrawn, as compared to males. Response In relation to the main topic that is: there is a great difference with the way males and females use their own languages, I personally agree to this because I always experience what she just mentioned about male students speaking more in class. In most of the classes that I attended to, it is always the male side that opens up new topics to discuss, for example, and then the females are usually the ones that stretch the topic to new horizons or angles of discussion. This makes it more lively and entertaining. However, I do not agree about what Tannen (1991) mentioned about females that come from single-sex schools doing better in life. In fact, my experiences relate that females that come from single-sex schools appear to be more withdrawn and shy when mixed in classes that are composed of both males and females. It appears that they are more apt only in communicating with females, which is opposed to what they should have learned in school. Thus, what Tannen (1991) finds, that based on her experiment in class it is better to put males and females in smaller groups, females that come from single-sex schools are more apt to this type of discussion style. There are certain styles that this type of females find obscure and incomprehensible, since they are more comfortable only with their own gender. About male teachers doing verbal sparring, while female teachers do verbal touching, this is not always the case. I have had teachers that do the opposite thing: males that do verbal touching and females that do verbal sparring. It is always better to mix male and female teachers because it makes the class more rounded when talking of discussions. Females stretch out to new horizons, while males make the topic more interesting: one that would stick to the mind of the students. Yet, as a whole, I personally agree that more females are shy and withdrawn when compared to males that are more adventurous and daring. Lastly, in relation to the three reasons that Tannen (1991) mentioned that are the following: first is that male students speak more in class because they have had more experiences to public speaking. In relation to this, it is true that speaking in class is speaking in public, especially if the class is new and the students have not yet known one another. The second reason that Tannen (1991) mentioned, about male students speaking more in class because they are more conducive to debate-like communication, in general this may be true although a lot of females also tend to debate with other students, so this is not yet closed as it is. With the third reasons that Tannen (1991) mentioned, about males speaking more in class because they have had more experiences with dealing with different attitudes, this is also not closed as it is, since there are lots of males that do not have much experiences being with the public, such as one of my associates in class. He is a male; yet, he is shy and withdrawn. Conclusion In the different regional, ethnic, and class backgrounds, Tannen (1991) finds that there is great difference with the way males and females use their languages. Nevertheless, it is never good to put both genders in closed doors. There are always exceptions to the case. Reference Tannen, D. (1991). How male and female students use language differently. In Learning at school (pp. 38-43). Place: publisher.

Misconception of African Americans Essay Example for Free

Misconception of African Americans Essay Since the beginning of time African Americans have been viewed negatively. We have always been viewed as a threat to society and frowned upon by many races. There are many cliches displayed in the media of what African Americans are supposed to act like. These conclusions cause almost immediate negative feelings from other races and sometimes by our own race. African American females in television shows and movies are often shown as the loud â€Å"ghetto† acting, angry black girl who is always â€Å"telling someone off†. Actor Tyler Perry has been criticized for illustrating African American females as â€Å"big momma†, another negative portrayal of black women. Other times shapely video vixens cause other black females to be portrayed as â€Å"jump-offs† or gold diggers. African American males have even greater judgments to overcome. They are viewed as a menace to society. They are illustrated as wild, angry, dangerous â€Å"gang bangers†. Black men are viewed as absentee fathers or abusive husbands. Although, in some cases, African American males do possess some of these characteristics, there are just as many black men that are positive role models. These ignorant judgments are called stereotypes. A stereotype is defined as â€Å"a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing†. Stereotypes, in my own words, are judgments blindly made by people who use ignorance as an excuse to be biased against those who are different from them. There are many different types of stereotyping. Racial stereotyping, sexist stereotyping, stereotypes about cultures, and sexual orientation stereotypes are all judgments that can affect one’s life in many ways. Stereotypes are, sadly, made by everyone. Racial stereotyping, however, is the most common type of stereotyping, and can sometimes be dangerous. The Trayvon Martin story, for example, is a situation where stereotyping turned tragic. Trayvon Martin was a young African American boy who was walking from the store with nothing but Skittles and a drink in his pockets. Because of his race, and the stereotype of what black Males are capable of, he was targeted, and tragically killed. There have been many similar cases of dangerous stereotyping. People’s fear of what the media shows we are suited to do, has gotten out of control. Too many of us are dying because of this fear. While many stereotypes do seem to be believable, people like Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, my grandparents, and my mom allow me to realize that not all stereotypes are true.

Glaucoma Image Processing Technique

Glaucoma Image Processing Technique Team 19 Members 40102434 Andrew Collins 40134357 Connor Cox 40056301 William Craig 40133157 Aaron Devine We have been tasked to develop a system that through image processing techniques would be able to detect glaucoma. This required us to enhance our knowledge in how to apply pre-processing, segmentation, feature extraction and post-processing on a set of given images to be able to produce a classification. Glaucoma is an eye condition where the optic nerve, which is the connector from your brain to your eye becomes damaged.   This can lead to a complete loss of vision if it is not detected and treated early on.   This is caused by when fluid in the eye cannot be drained effectively which builds pressure and then applies excessive pressure on the optic nerve. Detecting glaucoma normally is a very time consuming and expensive process because it requires a trained professional to carry out the research.   The advantages of automating this process is that it frees up that professionals time to carry out other duties. The system is going to be tested methodologically during the creation of the assignment, to help us decide what would be the best parameters to use to help increase the detection rate of glaucoma. System The way we tackled this assignment is we made a system that takes image sets and converts them into data sets which trains and tests them through our classification process.   The system assigns the data set to either being healthy or having glaucoma detected.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Training goes through the following stages in this order: Pre-processing. Segmentation Post-Processing. Feature Extraction Classification. Methodology For us to decide what would be the best choice of techniques for each stage of the system we are going to be using the a set methodology to standardize our selection process.   The aim is to maximise the system to try and get it to yield the maximum correctness it can achieve at each stage so when it reaches the classification stage it would provide the most accurate result. The best way we are going to measure the correctness of the system is running a testing/training cycle for each parameter being changed and put into a table and comparing them to select the best result. Brightness Enhancement In our system, I have implemented Automated Brightness Enhancement (ABE). ABE is used to normalise an image so the images mean gray value is equal to 127 or (255/2). The image below illustrates what the results look like. As you can see in the table above, the accuracy or our system significantly decreases when ABE is enabled. Therefore, for the good of the systems accuracy, we will disable ABE in the system. As for why ABE damages the accuracy, it likely destroys some data within the images that have a more dynamic range than the one shown above. This would result in some gray levels being 0 or 255. Accuracy significantly falls here. The reason for this is that ABE is causing the classifier to return positive for glaucoma for more images than it should, in turn, improving accuracy due to class ratio imbalance. Contrast Enhancement Our system implements three types of contrast enhancement, histogram equalisation, Automated Linear Stretch (ALS) and the Power Law. These three topics are covered extensively in the lecture slides, so in the interest of keeping the report concise, I wont discuss them in depth here. Ultimately, only one of these techniques will be picked. Automated Linear Stretch Histogram Equalisation Power Law This example shows an error. The system doesnt contain an automated way to find the value for (gamma) in each image. So well test every value of gamma from 0.0-2.0 in increments of 0.1 to see if any of our results provide a higher accuracy than when it isnt enabled at all. 0.6, highlighted in green, shows that the accuracy is 88%,the image below shows power law being applied when there is an error. In the image above, the original image is the one on the left, and the processed image is on the right, and their corresponding histograms are underneath each, respectively. It would appear that the power law has actually made the dynamic range of our image worse. Examining the segmented binary image below could explain why the accuracy has risen to 88%. From this image, we can see that reducing contrast at the higher end, which seems to be what the error is doing, is allowing the segmenter, which is set at its default of edge extraction with a = 1 and no post processing, to detect the veins and optic nerve ring within the eye within the image with a higher level of success. But why is this the case? it is due to the images background becoming more uniformed because of the reduction in contrast in the white end while not altering the veins much at all as they are darker/greyer. The reason values of y Summary From my tests, I have come to the conclusion that the best technique of the three is the Power Law. It was the only technique that improved our systems accuracy. My tests also suggest that high levels of accuracy are dependent on the successful extraction of data about the veins, which, as I discussed above, the Power Law is highly effective at. This theory makes even more sense when you consider that the other two methods, which significantly increased the dynamic range, did very poorly in comparison. Our system will benefit from using the Power Law, so from this point on it will be enabled. Noise Reduction Our system incorporates two kinds of noise reduction, those two being, Low Pass Filter and Median Filter. From examining our images, one would conclude that salt pepper and CCD noise is not present. To demonstrate this however, well need to see if the system gains accuracy when each technique is enabled. Low Pass Filter (LPF) As we can see in the table above, accuracy has significantly decreased. To illustrate this, here is what the original and processed histograms look like when the contrast enhancement is applied without the low pass filter. From the histograms, it would appear that low pass filter is actually removing some of the contrast enhancement. Low contrast seems to be mistaken for actual background noise, and when that happens, more distinct light and dark patches are created which in turn increases the dynamic range. Median Filter Similar to the low pass filter, the median filter is also removing some of the improvements made by contrast enhancement. Although it does appear that median pass filter is doing this to a lesser degree, as the accuracy is slightly higher here. Summary From our tests, we can conclude that both low pass filter and median pass filter only damage the accuracy of our system. LPF more so than MPF. It appears that the two actually undo some of the work done in contrast enhancement. As well as that, there isnt actually enough noise in the image used here to warrant the use of a noise reduction filter at all. After performing these tests, I decided to test my hypothesis, I tried applying the noise reduction filters before contrast enhancement to examine the results. The results were actually identical to the results from the earlier test. So what could that mean? Well, it would seem that noise reduction is actually removing some information/data from the images, which then limits the effectiveness of the segmenter. From this point on, noise reduction filters will not be used. Segmentation This is used to separate the image into a foreground and a background with key areas in the foreground being turned white and the rest black.   Our segmentation process involved using edge extraction and then automatic thresholding.   The first thing we do is apply the Sobel mask to the pre-processed image Its very important to use edge extraction because it helps show the boundaries of the eye and make the veins much more defined.   Right after that we apply automatic thresholding on the gradient magnitude image to get a binary segmented image. The class that we use to test which value to use is called SegmenterTest which will test the value of n within a range of -2.0 to 2.0 and increases the increments by 0.1 to see if the improved value increases the compared to a default value of n = 1.   From this we got the following values: The default system where the value of n=1 it produces a good accuracy of 88% so this is the value that we pass into our segmenter. This will allow more generic segmentation than what is possible with setting a manual threshold.   The thresholds that are going to be   in use are derived from the mean brightness of the pixels in the image raster and then adjusted by a standard deviation providing the best optional threshold for each image. To check if Sobels Mask is the best for using to do edge extraction we will now compare the results from using Prewitt mask edge extraction. What we found that using the prewitt mask edge extraction as part of our segmentation process is that it is more effective using the default value on the Sobel Mask n = 1.   The best accuracy that we got using the prewitt mask happens when we have n = 1 just like when we were using the sobel mask.   This allows us to reduce that the sobel mask is the best option for us to use the edge extraction during the segmentation process. Post-processing Through this image processing technique, the image is enhanced and is filtered by a mask. The process uses erosion and dilation to remove isolated noise pixels, fills holes and smooth boundaries. Using brightness based segmentation, post processing is used to clean up the thresholded binary image. However, this can make objects appear smaller or larger than the original size. We added the post processing techniques of closing and opening for our methods of erosion and dilation.   To test which value that we are going to use we tried a variety of combinations and got the following results. From what we gathered is that the best accuracy drops heavily when using any of the other post processing techniques were used. The image above has closing only enabled which produced the best accuracy from the post processing techniques however as you can tell by the image below which has post processing disabled it has much more detail.   It is for this reason we will have post processing disabled because we are then able to receive better accuracy from the images.   Post-processing did not have a positive result in the classification accuracy.   It does make it visually easier to see how the application was processing the images. Feature Extraction The purpose of feature extraction is to gather useful features and details out of segmented images by extracting the feature vectors using a technique called moments. Implementing the use of moments correctly is the foundation for the essential calculations performed during the analysis of an object. In our feature extraction class within our program we have decided that the following features of an object will be taken into consideration- Compactness, Perimeter, Position of Centroid and finally the Area of the object. Before we perform the calculations for these features of said Object we first had to implement the moments formula in Java. Once we have created the moment method in our class we will then be able to use this to calculate the feature vectors needed. Compactness The reason we want to get the area and the perimeter is so that we can use the values to calculate what is needed, that being Compactness, as it is a more uself shape description for our vision system to use.. Compactness can be calculated by squaring the perimeter and then dividing it by the area. private double compactness(BufferedImage image)   {   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   return Math.pow(getPerimeter(image), 2) / getArea(image);   } Above I have included the method that is called to calculate the compactness of the object, as you can see the calculation that was mentioned above is performed within this method. Perimeter We can get the object in questions perimeter is first calculated by first eroding the object and then we perform a calculation to receive the new objects area after erosion, after this we go onto calculating the difference between the new objects area and the initial objects area like so Perimeter = Original Area Eroded Area After this calculation is performed we are left with the perimeter of our object. private double getPerimeter(BufferedImage image)   { return getArea(image) -  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   getArea(PostProcessor.erode(image));   } I have placed the method used to get the perimeter of the object above, as you can see the method is performing the calculation required for the perimeter, Original Area Eroded Area resulting in our perimeter. Centroid Position We can get the X Y coordinates of the centroid in the object by performing the calculation of M01 M10 private double [] position(BufferedImage image)   {   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   //calculate Centroid at M01   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   double i = Math.round((moment(image, 0, 1))/ moment(image, 0, 0));   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   //calculate Centroid at M10   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   double j = Math.round((moment(image, 1, 0))/ moment(image, 0, 0));   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   double [] Cij = {i, j};   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   return Cij;   } Above is the method we have developed to find the position of the centroid for our Object. As you can see in the code above this method is using the moment method to perform the calculations needed to find the centroid position of the object.   Area We must also find the area vector, to do this we must calculate M00, this can be performed using the moment method which was developed earlier. private double getArea(BufferedImage image)   {   Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   return Math.round(moment(image, 0, 0));   } Above is a screenshot of the getArea method, this method calls upon the moment method and Math.round function to find the Area of our object. Classification Within our system which we have developed, we included the Nearest Neighbour function that is used to identify and recognise the training images we have supplied our system with. When we implement this feature in our system we get a variation of results depending on the value we set K to, we have included the results outputted by this function below for analysis Nearest Neighbour Function:  ·Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   K = 1: o  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Accuracy: 62.50%  ·Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   K = 3: o  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Accuracy: 87.50%  ·Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   K =5: o  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Accuracy: 56.25% As you can see in the above results from testing this function, the Nearest Neighbour Function provides us with the highest accuracy rate when using the value 3 for the K variable. This is due to the fact it can recognise the training images features. A disadvantage to this approach is that when changing the value of the K variable then this can alter the accuracy of the output as we can see when changing the value of K from 1 to 3, the accuracy increases greatly but once we change the value from 3 to 5 then the accuracy suffers and drops 30 points of accuracy. Summary: For this current group of images, the Nearest Neighbour function with the value K set to 3 is the best method used for classifying the object, this is because it returns the highest possible accuracy rate compared with other values of K such as 1 or 5, the accuracy rates for these values can be seen above.

Characters of Jackson’s The Lottery and Frosts Once By The Pacific :: Shirley Jackson Lottery Essays

The Characters of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Robert Frost's Once By The Pacific There are many devices within the craft of writing that writers use to help them convey their messages. Among these include what characters they use and how they act, what setting they put their characters in, what types of symbols are use, and many others. They can go even farther into each section with how much information they give us, or how much they make us fill in with our own interpretation or imagination. The writer's choice of characters is a main part of the story, for it is these people that "tell" the story and which we relate it to. The characters' descriptions and their actions are what we picture in our minds. Although they need the other devices to complete the story, the authors use of characters can be what makes or breaks the story. There are many different types of characters that writers can use to help them distribute their message. Robert Frost uses nature as a character in his poem "Once By The Pacific," while Shirley Jackson uses the members of a small town to tell her story in The Lottery. While each is different, they both serve their intended purpose - to tell us a story. In Robert Frost's poem, "Once By The Pacific," he uses nature as his character. He uses the sea, the beach, skies, the cliffs, and the continent and then gives them human characteristics. I feel that he uses these items because the story he is trying to tell is bigger than life, bigger than what could be described with any mere human or animal. By using the seas, the skies, the shore, the cliffs, and the continent as his characters, Robert Frost gives us an image of God's last words having immense power to control the largest forces in the world. He also gives me the image of the clouds being the angry face of God with the two lines, "The clouds were low and hairy in the skies, / Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes" (Frost 903 lines 5-6). Along with his choice and use of characters, Robert Frost also uses rhyme and rhythm to add to the intensity of his poem. Shirley Jackson takes a different approach with her use of characters in her short story, "The Lottery." While Frost uses nature as his characters to portray immense power, Shirley Jackson uses normal people that you could find in any small town to show us how anyone can be taken in by the power of peer pressure.

Personal Narrative- Defining Self Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay a

Who am I? Such a simple question: such a profoundly difficult one to answer. I could tell you that my name is Rob Jones, but that would only be my name. I could tell you that I would like to become a professional author and that I have strong linguistic skills and an artistic flair. But these are merely reflections of who I am: gifts I possess and talents I have perfected. I suppose I must start by telling you what I am. I am a human being. As such, I have several distinctive and inseparable parts. There is my physical side: namely my body with all its many tangible parts. This is not really me, though on this side of the great veil I couldn't survive without it. You may as well say that this body is merely a suit that houses the real me. But who is the real me? I have a second side to my being, a mental side that consists of intangible things such as my thoughts, feelings, emotions, knowledge, and wisdom-in short all the things that I have ever thought, experienced, known, or felt. Yes, this side relies on my physical side, my outer shell, to interface with the outer world. ...

Do the media ‘construct’ social reality, or does it simply report on it

It is often suggested by scholars that the world and in all its content is ambiguous, there is no universal meaning, nothing can be interpreted the same way. Opinions are constantly clashing and facts somehow constructed, or tempered during the processes of news production. News becomes the fictions of reality; it becomes a way of story telling, made to the taste of the viewer, depending on the society of course. The same stories carry different values depending where when and how the stories are broadcasted, I will be talking about this in this essay. There are two approaches to report a piece of news; the realist, purely factual no interpretations given and very clear in usage of language. This method differs to that of the constructionist, in which events or situations are carefully analysed, and I will be talking about the implication of media â€Å"constructed† social reality. â€Å"Leaders who disillusion their followers live shorter politician lives than who learn to represent situations to their best political advantage†; (Bennett, 2007: p.111) here Bennett is almost suggesting that audience prefer to consume politically incorrectness over the truth, which could be troubling. It is true in terms of politics that politician are not always completely faithful to their promises Scheufele sited Entman’s definition of framing as ‘a scatter of conceptualization’ (1999), Conceptualization is the process of â€Å"inventing or contriving an idea or explanation and formulating it mentally† or â€Å"an elaborated concept† â€Å"framing is an extension of agenda setting† it set up a specific idea for an audience to believe in, audience is somewhat fooled into accepting one side of the story, and usually, they are unable or find it difficult to accept... ... Television in British Politics: Media, Money and mediated Democracy. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Glasser, T.L. (ed.) The Idea of Public Journalism. Chapter one. New York: Guilford Press. Luhmann, N. (2000) The Reality of the Mass Media. Cambridge: Polity Press. Richardson, J.E. (2007) Analysing Newspapers: an Approach from Critical Discourse Analysis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Journal articles: Barnhurst, K.G. and Mutz, D. (1997) ‘American journalism and the decline in event-centred reporting’, Journal of Communication. 47 (4): 27-53 Scheufele, D.A. (1990) ‘Framing as a theory of media effects ’, Journal of communications. 49 (1): 103-122 Links: AlJazeera English (2010) ‘China ban on dog meat draw angry outcry’ February 08 available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZLLhd_0p_c http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conceptualization

God’s kingdom Essay

John Ortberg’s The Life You’ve Always Wanted book talks of how one can be transformed and live with Jesus inside their life. One should lead a deep spiritual life wherever they are and in all aspects of their life. A proper relationship with one’s God can transform one so that they lead a spiritual life which is very important to a Christian. When one lives with Jesus in their hearts, there are fruits of Holy spirit that they can acquire which include peace, kindness, and joy. When one leads a spiritual life, they cannot have disappointments in their life because disappointments come when they ignore to live the way God wants them to live. One should thus not disappoint the God who created them and Who guides them in everything they do every day. One should understand that they were created by God. Rather, man was made by God to subdue the earth and fill it and also to have dominion on other creatures on the earth. There is a need to know that death is not the end of our lives but that there is another life which will be eternal in heaven. One should understand that the gospel is true and is not like any other tales which are being told here in the world. Consequently, God’s kingdom is open to anyone who can accept Jesus to be their savior and lead his life as the Jesus did by not following and fulfilling earthly needs. One should understand that Jesus came in the world and died for our sins in order to have eternal or everlasting splendor. One should understand that God can transform them at any time regardless of their age. This happened to Moses at a time that he was thinking he had become a person who had been forgotten. God however transformed him and made him the person who rescued the Israelites from the powerful Pharaoh. One should also understand that God hears prayers and answers them as He did to the Israelites in the hands of pharaoh. God heard their groans and sent Moses to bring them out of Pharaoh’s slavery. One should also understand that the desire to be transformed lies in everyone’s heart. Moreover, once they are transformed, they acquire hope in their life and are assured of eternal life in the next world. One needs to understand that Christians should not conform to the world around them. Paul advocated for transformation by renewal of minds. People should also understand that we are on a morphing time and that any ordinary person can receive power anytime and have extraordinary changes. Above everything, one should not forget that Jesus died for mankind’s sins and that Christ brought joy to humanity and that we should follow His teachings. One should have patience and endurance whenever they are suffering, be attending prayer fellowships, and have solitude and meditation on the Scriptures (Ortberg, 2002). I remember one day asking myself many questions after my expectations had failed to come true. I had finished my secondary level education. Moreover, since I thought that I had done my examinations well, I was thus sure that I had excelled and that I will be able to join a higher learning institution to do my bachelors degree. When the results were announced and after hearing that in our school, around five students had passed to join university level, I knew I must have passed because I used to be number one in our class since I was in form one. When I went to pick my results, I was surprised to find that my name did not appear among the first top ten students. I was shocked to an extent that I could not even talk to anybody whom I came across as I was going home. I went home and I did not even talk to any of my family members. I could not even participate in doing any household chores no matter how easy it was. I could not even talk to my friends who used to come visiting me. I stayed indoors for more than two weeks enduring a lot of stress asking myself why God had done that for me. I used to ask myself whether it was because I was not attending morning prayers and church devotions that God had decided to discipline me. My parents, having seen how I was depressed, organized that I go to another school where I would redo my exams. When the results were out, I had passed very well. What surprises me in Ortberg’s book is how and why one gets disappointed with themselves. Another question I would like to ask is what made Moses to ask God who He (God) was as Moses was being sent to pharaoh. Further, is human transformation genuinely possible? Another question which I may ask is how people understand or view this issue of transforming or morphing? Is it that people turn to God or remember the Lord when they are faced with problems? Do people understand that there is life after this one we are living in and that Jesus died so that we can have eternal majesty? Moreover, Ortberg should have asked the old woman how she knew Jesus and how her life was in Jesus. He could also have asked her how she knew about Jesus Christ; was it because she was blind and old or did she know Him when she was still young. What steps can one take to make sure that he or she has transformed as many people as possible? Can Ortberg – the author of this book, be associated with any influence in transforming the faith of many pagan people and bring them to Christianity? At what age or state can one be transformed and accept Jesus as their personal savior? From Ortberg’ book, I have learnt that transforming people is a very important thing since one can change the life of a person completely from a bad one to a good one. I have also learnt that mankind’s wish is not the wish of God. I have also known that when one leads a spiritual life, they can always much happiness and be joyous. Another lesson I have learnt is that material things are not important for they are earthly things. Rather, what is important is God’s kingdom since in it, there is eternal splendor. I have also learnt that the life one wants to live is not always easy to live because God has plans for everyone and that we are not the determinants of our lives. Instead, God created humanity and has the plans for everybody. Another lesson I have learnt from this book is that God is the giver of life and can change one’s lifestyle at any stage or at any age. I have also learnt that God hears the prayers and cries of His children and answers them. Time is not significant in this case since God has explicit plans for everyone. References Ortberg, John. (2002). The life you’ve always wanted. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan.

Increasing the hardware Essay

Abstract As any business grows, they are always looking to expand all aspects of  their business. With this expansion, the cost of increasing the hardware and software needed for the expansion is also increasing. Many companies are looking for ways to keep or even streamline the hardware they currently have yet expand. They want a way to have their customers log into their site and go to a central server but want all the necessary files for the customers to be stored elsewhere which will increase the speed of the server. To be successful in today’s market, many businesses are realizing the necessity of using technology. As more and more companies use more technology, their IT infrastructure cannot handle all the traffic due to the lack of available server/storage space needed to meet the increasing demands of the customers. Whether the business is small or a large corporation, finding the needed available server/storage space is becoming an ever increasing problem. Trying to solve th is problem, many businesses have begun to look for an alternative solution to store many of their business files away from their own main computers, this is called cloud storage. Think about how you have an external hard drive that you use to store files away from the hard drive of your computer, the cloud storage works in the same way. The only exception is that you do not own the external storage, you rent the storage space from someone who takes care of all the maintenance and updating of the site. JPCexpress has been operating for many years with their own internal storage capabilities and now are in the market to expand their business. The current server space that the company owns is being bogged down by the amounts of data it needs to use daily so they need a newer solution to their storage problems so that they can continue to offer their production facilities and customers the best possible service. Next day service sets this company apart from other online businesses and I will show what needs to be done to help then continue to accomplish this with a simple server space solution. Company Background JPCexpress is an innovator in the online printing industry. They use advanced technology that allows the customer to place an order and have it printed and delivered the next day. There are many online printing organizations, but JPCexpress was one of the first that offered next day delivery if you place your order by a certain time the day before. The  company was founded in 2001 that offered printing as a service so that the customer has access to all the company printing business solutions allowing them to place their orders right on the company website. The customer does not have to invest any monies into their own printing infrastructure and the staff that would be needed to maintain it. JPCexpress offers its services to many different organizations of all sizes that do not want to hassle with having internal printing capabilities. Due to the customer being able to upload all their information to help us perform the needed services, this takes up a lot of storage space. JPCexpress operates three huge warehouses that are strategically placed across the country. Within each facility, they house all the hardware and software needed to conduct the printing business along with all the hardware and software needed for the IT side of the business. The customers are able to use our site as their own so they know they will get exactly the product they want. Our teams of engineers are always introducing new services and solutions for the customers and they have them integrate the new technologies into our platform monthly. The reason we have the fastest turnaround time for online printing companies is due to the fact that our customers are able to use our site as their own to make and order their printing needs. We have become a leader in the online printing world because of our customer service, ease and speed of our online services and the fact that we guarantee you will have your order the next day if you meet the daily cut off time. Discussion of Business Problem During times of peak use, the amount of data used is overwhelming. JPCexpress is a top of the line printing business but due to our storage capabilities, we do have issues that will slow the service to our customers. This is an issue because the timing of the slowness (can prevent customers from making the cut off time for next day service) which directly relates to customer service and customer satisfaction. The main issue is that when there are many users on the system, it slows down and prevents ease of use. I think that JPCexpress could benefit from emerging technology as cloud computing or could storage. Increasing our storage capacity would prevent the system from slowing down and loss of data. Any IT department within any business always needs new ways to increase the capabilities of their current infrastructure without investing in new hardware, new licensing requirements  or having to spend the time and monies to train and hire new personnel. Due to the increasing amounts of data needed by our existing customers and the addition of new customers, members of our IT department has to manually go into the system and get rid of old files and clear any redundant data. This happens when our system becomes slow which slows the use of our production tools and this all adds up to a loss in the amount of work that can be performed. If the organization was to use cloud computing, the problem of overwhelming the system could be avoided. Cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends its existing capabilities (Gruman, 2012). Use of the cloud could begin at our centrally located facility for trial purposes until we see if using it would be beneficial to both the customers and to our stockholders. High Level Solution For many businesses, having enough storage space to hold all the information they have acquired from their customers and the working of internal business practices is a real challenge that becoming increasingly harder. Many organizations have turned to deleting huge amounts of data to open up room for the new data they need to stay updated and to continue to provide their customers with excellent customer service. Many businesses have turned to cloud storage to help relieve this problem. Cloud storage acts as a centrally located server whose main purpose is for storage only. Using cloud storage, each of the three facilities can store and retrieve files as they are needed without investing in more infrastructure. When deciding to move to cloud storage, a few concerns will be raised. Some people think that cloud storage is less secure than local data centers and this is not true. . When the cloud host that IT manager work together the cloud host will encrypt the data and the business w ill store the keys to that encryption on it local network (Marsh, 2013). Many cloud providers offer dashboards to the client so they can log and manage the company’s data center. They can add more storage if they need and all this is completed without adding any equipment to increase storage. I have checked two of the major providers of cloud storage for pricing and flexibility. Amazon S3 is 99.9 percent reliable and it is scalable to fit your current business needs and also can be changed to fit your future needs as well (Amazon Web  Services, 2013). All data going into this cloud storage is encrypted for data security and you can decide what region you want to have your data stored in. Another excellent benefit is that once the data is entered into the cloud, it is automatically backed up in case one system fails you will lose your data. All data uploaded is for free but they do charge for each GB of data that is transferred or downloaded from the cloud. This seems pretty reasonable since we will maintain a central server with only our servers logging into the cloud to retrieve the customer information. Google cloud storage offers secure and safe cloud storage. It has configurable security controls and the cloud is flexible so that you can get what you need now and later on if you need more storage you can always add more (Google Cloud Storage, 2013). Looking between the Amazon and Google sites, they both offer the same types of features but I could not find any data that says how reliable the Google cloud is. Also, checking the pricing from the two sites, it appears that Amazon is slightly cheaper than Google is. Moving to cloud storage is a viable option to help solve latency issues and website lag due to the enormous amounts of data being transmitted over our site. Benefits of Solving the Problem Solving this problem using cloud storage will increase the speed of the servers the customers use to conduct their business. The increased speed of the server will also take the customers’ orders quickly and get them to the desired printing facility to ensure they make the cut off time for next day delivery. Implementing the cloud storage solution at only one facility will allow the business time to see if the cloud is a viable option to investing countless monies in upgrading our current facilities. Using the cloud will save us money because of the increased speed at which the customers can use the system, the speed in processing the orders and also save us money because we will not have to hire additional personnel to maintain additional hardware or pay for licensing for additional software. In an article written by Joe McKendrick for Forbes magazine, he talks about the benefits of cloud computing for a business. Cost reduction – using cloud as storage lowers transaction costs, minimizes the investment in hardware and software and also reduces the need for a huge IT staff or for adding additional personnel to manage you IT infrastructure. Cloud as storage is scalable so  you can take as much or as little as you need and then increase as your needs increases. You only pay for what you use; most uploads are free so you pay when you download data from the cloud. Businesses of all sizes will have access to more up to date technology while using the cloud. Letting someone else manage your IT for you reduces the need for expensive licenses or buying software or hardware. Business/Technical Approach Conducting thorough research before deciding which provider of the cloud services we will go with. When a cloud provider has been chosen, our CIO and his team will work with the provider to ensure we get what storage we need and also to ensure the security of the files we will move to the cloud for storage. Only have one facility use the cloud as a test case to see if it will improve the speed of our system and also to see how reliable the cloud services are. Conducting technical inspections using our IT department will ensure that we are keeping control on what goes into the cloud storage and also to help us determine if the cloud is useful. When we move older files from our servers into the cloud, we should see an immediate improvement in the speed of our system and also improvements in order processing and order filling. The IT department must ensure what files are being put in the cloud and that they are being encrypted for increased security. Also inspecting the files in storage routinely to ensure the data is not being corrupted. To ensure we do not lose any of our major customers, we will move only the older files to cloud storage to increase space on our servers. When we have determined (Senior management/CIO approval) that the cloud is a viable option to investing in hardware/software, we will move more files to the cloud in an effort to free up more space which should increase the speed even more. Also, once the one facility has proven more efficient and profitable, we will migrate another facility to cloud storage. There is no set timeframe for this to happen, we just want to ensure the cloud is meeting our needs in the ways we want it to. Using the current IT staff at the first facility to check usage and speed of the system will help us in our decision whether to stay with the cloud or invest in our own infrastructure. Business Process changes Implementing cloud storage will allow the company to store more files  without causing the system to run slow which increase productivity. This is going to be a big move for JPCexpress in the way they do business at each of their facilities. We will use the current IT department at each facility to maintain the data stored in the cloud and to ensure that only the less used files have been migrated to the cloud until its reliability has been proven. There will be one central location for all the internal storage of customer information. When the customer logs onto the site with his credentials, they will log onto our central server who will access the cloud and pull their information off for the customer to use. When the order is placed, the server will then send that order to the printing facility closet to the customer location for fast, reliable completion of the order. When the cloud is implemented for use by all facilities, the IT departments at those facilities will be reduced . Setting up a team to continually monitor the cloud for reliability and security will also be accomplished. Senior management with the CIO will have to make a decision on implementing other facilities and how that will be accomplished. Technology or business practices used to augment the solution After thorough research I have decided that implementing cloud storage is the best solution to help fix the problems at JPCexpress. Moving the files to the cloud will free up valuable space which will increase the processing speed of our current servers. The IT department will maintain our current servers and monitor how effectively the cloud is to the company. The IT department will also routinely perform inspections on our equipment to see how well it is working and also to ensure what files are being moved to the cloud. Having someone compile quarterly reports on how well the cloud implementation has helped the speed of the system and to see if it truly has increased the speed at which orders are shipped. We will not have to hire additional personnel to accomplish any of these tasks; we will use the current staff at each facility. This alone will save the company huge amounts of money. Conclusions and overall recommendations The current system that JPCexpress has, it is not capable of handling the enormous amounts of data that goes through it during peak operating times. JPCexpress will have to upgrade their current hardware/software or find other alternatives. Cloud storage is just that alternative solution.  Moving files to cloud storage will free up much needed space that will allow the system to run faster during peak operating times. Using the cloud offers different ways that it can be beneficial to the company. Using cloud instead of investing in new hardware/software to upgrade our current system will save on ongoing support, maintenance and upgrades and having to hire additional IT staff to work the new system. When switching to the cloud we will replace all the up-front expense of investing in a new system and replace that cost with a manageable monthly subscription cost. David Linthicum discusses why companies should invest in the cloud. All the upgrades and maintenance are handled by the cloud host. The software will always be current without the company having to pay for expensive licensing. The fear of cloud storage’s security being an issue is being proven invalid. Cloud providers have been working hard to prove how secure their storage is. Cloud based companies offer the highest level of customer service because they cannot afford to lose customers because they are unsatisfied with the service and with all the blogs out there, a bad review could mean countless lost customers. Every data storage center or data processing center has some downtime at some point but many cloud providers offer higher than a 99 percent reliability rate. High level implementation plan * Conduct thorough research to ensure the right cloud provider is selected * Work with provider to ensure we get the security we need and also the plan that fits the amounts of storage needed * Schedule when to transition to the cloud storage * Determine what files will initially be moved to cloud storage * Reroute all traffic from one facility to the other two * Shut down one facility and transition to the cloud * Once all files are transferred to the cloud activate the cloud * Bring the shutdown facility back on line * Test the new configuration for speed and user ability * Monitor the cloud for potential problems * Produce monthly reports as to the speed of the facility and improvements in the processing of orders Summary of Project JPCexpress’ system runs slow because each facility has access to all the files that are stored on the server. The storage problem can be handled either by investing countless monies into a new upgraded data system or to use cloud storage to alleviate this problem. Business processes are slow due to the servers being bogged down during peak hours resulting in delays in processing and delivery of orders placed by the customers. When we transition to the cloud storage we can increase the processing speed which will increase the speed of the orders being printed and then shipped to the customer. This will save on time and money because we will not have to pay additional shipping costs when we can’t meet the next day delivery. This is not meant to be a permanent solution but will benefit the company until we can determine if this is the best solution. References Amazon Web Services. (2013, Oct 1). Retrieved from Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3): http://aws.amazon.com/s3/ Google Cloud Storage. (2013, Aug 1). Retrieved from Google Cloud Platform: https://cloud.google.com/products/cloud-storage/ Gruman, G. K. (2012, Feb 2). What cloud computing really means. Retrieved from InfoWorld: http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means Linthicum, D. (2013, June 25). Cloud adoption’s tipping has arrived. Retrieved from InfoWorld – Cloud Computing: http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/cloud-adoptions-tipping-point-has-arrived-221335 Marsh, J. (2013, Oct 3). The Top 5 Myths about Cloud Storage. Retrieved from Formstack: http://blog.formstack.com/2013/top-5-myths-cloud-storage/ McKendrick, J. (2013, July 21). 5 Benefits of Cloud Computing you aren’t likely to see in a sales brochure. Retrieved from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2013/07/21/5-benefits-of-cloud-computing-you- arent-likely-to-see-in-a-sales-brochure/

Channels of Distribution: McDonald’s Essay

Introduction. The core of this presentation is to discuss the theory of distribution strategy with the underlying real life examples of McDonald’s fast-food restaurants. The aim is to discuss McDonald’s distribution channel and the way in which this fast-food restaurant chain gets its products to the market. In the theory of the Marketing Mix, place (distribution) determines where the product will be sold and how it will get there. In fact, as noted on www.mcdonalds.com, McDonald’s is the leading global foodservice retailer, with more than 30,000 local restaurants serving nearly 46 million people each day in 121 different countries. Approximately 80 percent of all McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent franchisers. Furthermore, at the essence of place decisions, Kotler (et al., 2001, p. 513) claims that, â€Å"retailers, particularly fast foods chains, often state their seven P’s of marketing to be, that is location, location, location, location, location, location and location.† Hence, a retailer’s location is the key to attracting customers. The costs of the building or leasing facilities are a major factor on the retailer’s profits. Thus, site location decisions are among the most important the retailer make† (Kotler, et al., 2001, p. 513). Intensive Distribution. Distribution arrangements tend to be long term in nature. Because of this time horizon, channel decisions are usually classed as strategic, rather than tactical or operational ones. Many of McDonalds restaurants are open 24 hours per day which satisfies the customers needs and wants, especially for exists their hunger. This kind of distribution strategy is called â€Å"intensive distribution†, means marking the product available for sale through all possible channels of distribution. As defined by Kotler (et al., 2001, p. 487), â€Å"intensive distribution is stocking the product in as many outlets as possible.† In addition, this strategy must be designed to reach the consumer wants at anytime and anywhere. Vertical Marketing Network (VMN). A franchise organization, to quote Kotler (et al., 2001, p. 482), is â€Å"a contractual vertical marketing network in which a channel member called a franchiser links several stages in production-distribution process†. McDonald’s has adopted the service-firm-sponsored retailer franchise network, in which a service firm licenses a network of retailers to bring its service to consumers (Kotler, et al., 2001, p. 482). Nevertheless, McDonald’s caters to a large consumer market with varying tastes and thus cannot afford to introduce products without familiarizing itself with provincial preferences in food. For this reason, McDonald’s distributes its products in foreign and domestic locations with the help of franchisers who are well aware of what works in their country. Moreover, these franchisers also provide insight to the company on its diverse customers, and helps McDonald’s achieve its vision of â€Å"being the world’s best quick service restaurant experience.† In brief, this is an extremely intelligent distribution method since it helps in providing people with the kind of products they desire, maintaining the franchise reputation worldwide. To encourage repeat customer visits, McDonald’s is intensifying the efforts to ensure the restaurant interiors and exteriors are clean and welcoming. Moreover, McDonald’s intends to regain the status as the gold standard for clean restaurants. Furthermore, McDonald’s is giving the business a fresh edge in many places by rebuilding, renovating and re-imaging the restaurants. The McDonalds experience abroad demonstrates that doing such can result in improved sales and profitability as stated on www.mcdonalds.com. McDonald’s ensures consistent products by controlling every stage of the distribution. In addition, regional distribution centers purchase products and distribute them to individual restaurants. On the other hand, when designing its channels, a company needs to consider competitors’ channels. Yet, it may want to compete in or close to the same outlets that carry competitors’ products (Kotler, et al., 2001, p. 486). Thus, food companies want their brands to be displayed next to competing brands. Meanwhile, McDonald’s adopted this setting channel objective as a view and therefore wants to be located near its competition. On the other hand, McDonald’s uses essentially the same competitive strategy in every  country, the company wants to be the first in the market and establish the brand as rapidly as possible by advertising very heavily. This effective distribution strategy (place) has helped McDonald’s develop a strong market share in the fast-food market around the world. Moreover, according to Kotler (et al., 2001, p. 513) stores must have a planned atmosphere that suits the target market and moves customers to buy. In addition, McDonald’s has pre-determined the locations for many of its stores to help reach a variety and diverse popul ation. Conclusion. In conclusion, McDonald’s has an intensive distribution process which is a credit to their Marketing department. As businesses and other organizations move forward, the challenge of making their products and services readily available to customers around the world will become much more difficult and complex. Marketers responsible for developing and managing the marketing channels needed to meet these customer demands in the global market will need all the help they can get. McDonald’s has implemented a successful distribution strategy in which other companies should follow. Adopting a marketing strategy that openly focuses on distribution (place) on location of stores, has helped make McDonald’s the successful business it has become is a definite success story. References: Kotler, P., Brown, K., Adam, S., Armstrong, G., 2001. Marketing, 5th Edition, The McGraw-Hill Companies, New York. http://www.mcdonalds.com/

Management of My Community Service Project Essay

Planning is the first and the most important function of management of a community service event. It defines the goals and objectives of the group and assigns specific duties to the individual members for completing the event within stipulated deadline (Even Education, n. d. ). For my community caring project, planning was given the topmost priority, and the team leader had called all the individual members for a meeting to prepare a strategic plan for completing the project within 3 days. The various activities were prioritized and assigned according to the timings available for each one of the three days. On day 1, the leader of our Fun Activities Unit divided the work into 4 divisions. For each division, a coordinator was assigned the responsibility to oversee the working of the team members. So there were 4 coordinators- 3 game coordinators, and 1 decoration-cum-refreshment coordinator. I was one of the game coordinators. Each game coordinator was assisted by 2 members, while the decoration-cum-refreshment coordinator was assisted by 3 members. The leader had clearly stated the goal of the project was to cultivate an interactive learning environment among the students of the orphanage through playing games. Every coordinator and member was assigned duties and told to communicate effectively with one another to prevent misunderstanding. Besides, all of us were told to work with a positive attitude and ask questions from the leader in case of any ambiguous situation. The leader also mentioned that children often learn by observing the seniors, and hence, we must behave professionally and work with collective responsibility. We had spent almost half of the first day in careful planning our activities for the 3-day event. All the necessary paraphernalia, such as the games equipment were assigned to the 3 game coordinators. We were reminded that among the four functions of management, planning shall occur throughout the event to help us achieve the goals and prevent any unexpected casualty. The activities were planned for the latter half of the 1st day and for the 2nd day as well. The task of distribution of munchies was kept for the 3rd day since it involved loading the munchies and chocolates into the truck for carrying to a rural area that had rough roads and adverse climate. Since everything was clear to us, the team leader gave the green signal to carry on with our assigned duties. The team leader also mentioned that we should keep the premises clean at all times. Besides, all the games equipments should be put back into their respective bags, while the leftover food should be thrown into the garbage bins. We were encouraged to retain high energy levels and serve the children with a smile as successful personal management yields to effective organizational management. However, in case of difference of opinions, we were told to immediately meet the leader to avoid the possibility of any conflict. Controlling To achieve the goals and objectives of the project, the task has to be effectively controlled while adhering to the other three functions of management i. e. planning, organizing, and leading. According to Management Study Guide (n. d. ), â€Å"Controlling consists of verifying whether everything occurs in conformities with the plans adopted, instructions issued and principles established. † For our community service project of inculcating a positive and fun-filled learning environment in the school for orphans, the team leader had managed an effective control over the 3 game coordinators, 1 decoration-cum-refreshment coordinator, and 9 members. The leader was a great communicator who patiently listened to the problems of the crew and suggested efficient solutions to overcome the anticipated obstacles. The leader interacted with the coordinators and members, which also provided enthusiasm to each one of us. Since it was my first volunteering experience, the leader helped me to develop the confidence and problem solving skills. The leader was not a dictator-type of manager but a real team leader who approached the crew members individually to take the progress report and ensure that all of us were carrying out the assigned duties according to the plan. At the end of each day, the leader called us for a short meeting to openly discuss the progress of every crew member. Besides, on the second day, the leader called for a short meeting of 5 minutes after every 2 hours for suggesting the necessary changes in the initial plan. The leader ensured that all of us were enjoying the event and were not stressed due to a different kind of experience, which many of us had never faced earlier. I noticed that our team leader had a great sense of humor, which also helped to ease out the tension that built on few occasions. Controlling is a continuous process that ensures delivery of quality and achievement of the goals within the deadline, and I must assert that the first two days of the community care project were highly successful. I must also reiterate that a leader is also a human who is unaware of a natural disaster, which had posed problems for us on the 3rd day. However, by effective control of the entire operation, we were able to bring the children to safety. It was quite a difficult time for us, but the leader had nerves of steel and a cool temperament. I and my associates saw the efficient management style of our leader, and we also joined hands to face all the hardships for saving the lives of children from a flood-like situation. By keeping control over anger and maintaining cool, our leader had shown exemplary skills in controlling an adverse situation. I need to assert that the control function of management enables the successful execution of a well-organized and carefully led plan as was appropriately demonstrated in our 3-day community care project. References Event Education. (n. d. ). Event Planning Tips. Retrieved June 6, 2010, from http://www. eventeducation. com/event-planning. php Management Study Guide. (n. d. ). Controlling Function of Management. Retrieved June 6, 2010, from http://www. managementstudyguide. com/controlling_function. htm