Using technology within and across social encounters Essay

Using technology within and across social encounters - Essay Example Just like any other aspects of communication, mobile SMS is an evolving feature of the mobile phone technology where there is development of the wireless application protocol which is an open standard to all and it uses wireless communication. This creates the links between internets and it makes it possible to exchange text messages between internet applications and the mobile phones. Various mobile phones have also incorporated the use of the bleu tooth making it easier to interchange any electronic files of any kind between proximate mobile communication devices. With all these innovations SMS has still remained the most popular feature of the mobile phones that is frequently used by the mobile phone user but to some greater extent technological affordances have rendered the SMS massing very different from the environment from which the ordinary conversation was developed and used. In the social relation in which the SMS tend to be linked, research shows that SMS is focused on the issues that are specialized and restricted to a specific form of linguistic expression that is evolved in the context of the system affordances that most users have become costumed to. In essence text massages should be taken as a single entity when looking at the approaches from the perspective of their role in the social relationship. The study that is conducted by the Laursen is perhaps the only analysis that to date acknowledges that text messages are exchanged between the users of the technology and that some text massages tend to occasion responses in the form of the reply texts from their recipient even if the text does not make reply conditionally relevant. Text messages are made up of half-duplets units that do not operate the same way as the units of utterances in the communications meaning that SMS users engage in a synchronous communication which is

The content of the newspapers Essay Example for Free

The content of the newspapers Essay The content of the newspapers is not fact about the world, but in a very general sense ideas. Fowler (Roger Folwer Language in the News Routledge 1991 Pg.1) In todays society it would be naà ¯ve to assume that the news we receive is unbiased. It is safe to say the facts are reported if someone is murdered, the story maybe covered in the news, but the placement of the piece, emotive language used, duration or any other factors involved would immediately inform the audience to the merit of the story. In effect dictating to the viewer the version of reality they., the media/government want us, the audience to see. The factors that govern what is reported are news valves and as it is recognised that this code of conduct exists we can, I personally feel, say that the media can, and does, reflect the political agenda or climate. The question of the news being created has been a topic of discussion since the dawn of media studies. There are several different political theories or traditions of thought. The three I have chosen to concentrate on are the liberal, Marxist and pluralist theories. All to some extent see society as maintainable, they agree that the structure of society can be altered not by personal level events but by major structures, such as legalisation and reform. To understand each theory better we must first look at how each theory or idea is applied to our society and in this case the construction of the news, starting first with liberalism. This body of thought was established by the end of the eighteenth-century. Its economic theories favour the development of capitalism, seeing society as a group of rational individuals in pursuit of their self-interest. Direction from the state is not needed, its job is merely to provide external defence and internal order. James Curran wrote: A view of society as a system of class exploitation gave way to a new definition of reality in which different sections of the community were portrayed as being independent, with shared interest in common. The portrayal of labour as the source of wealth was replaced by the portrayal; of profit as the mainspring of the economy. ( Ed. James Curran Mass Communication as a social force, in the media: Context of Study Open University 1997 Pg.51) They believe that talent is rewarded in a society where people are free and equal, the state is merely there to regulate the individuals personal freedom. The mass media is seen as accurate and reliable, run by groups of talented entrepreneurs, it should not be state run, but if necessary, sensibly regulated. Pluralism takes a more simplistic approach it depicts the message of the media as a circuit from society as source to society as audience it doesnt believe news is created it accepts news values exist but hold them as a reflection of current public attitudes. The news is not constructed the media, having no power, being used only to confirm and uphold the preconceived beliefs of society. Sir Nick Lloyd, the then editor of The Daily Express, was interviewed in 1991 by Nina Arnott for a communication studies project entitled Political Bias in the Press, he was reported as saying: You can only get over to your own readers. The Express has four and a half million. Thats only a small percentage of the electorate and if people buy newspapers that reinforce their political view then you wont change much. (Stuart Price Media studies Longman 1996 Pg.374) This mode of thought sees the audience as educated and selective and understands, unlike some effect studies, for example the hypodermic syringe or magic bullet that the audience is not passive and the message not direct, that ideas cannot be simply injected into the consciousness of an audience. The Marxist theory is more complex and can be broken into many subsections. Marxism, unlike liberalism, doesnt support the idea that competition leads society onwards. Marx argued that workers co-operation would lead to a better future. He was concerned with the class system. Those who owned factories or shops, the bourgeoisie were comfortably supported by the labour of others. He wanted a society not controlled by the division between capital and labour. Marxism states that we live in a capitalist society divided into classes broadly speaking, working, middle and ruling classes. The power in society is found in the state, the mass media only exist to uphold the capitalist state in power. The Marxist manipulative model, as its name suggests, believes the news is constructed and in some cases invented to influence public opinion and change society for political gain. The hegemonic model was developed by Antonio Gramsci he believed that the media whether knowingly or not is used to promote beliefs and ideologies of the dominant class in society. The masses, working class, need to believe that the views they are being given support their existing beliefs. The media does create the news and reality is being constructed not to bring about change but to maintain the balance of the governing body. The ruling ideas become the ideas of the whole society to allow capitalism to survive. Chomsky extended the hegemonic model instead of the media reflecting the dominant views of the elite, he thought the media was the elite. A countering view that could destroy the hegemonic model is that technology will and is shaping societys views and beliefs. New technologies are allowing more people not just the elite to promote their ideas via the Internet or cheaper more accessible equipment. If this were the case the elite would no longer own the means of control and capitalism could fold if the masses were no longer spoon fed by the dominant class. The theories of the Frankfurt school are another take on Marxism. They see the news as created and reality as constructed but instead of seeing society as a sponge and the masses merely absorbing the message, it believes there are differing levels of attention. Resistance to the message is found against marginal groups believing the sub-groups such as the young, ethnic minorities or women are less susceptible to the message. Regardless of whether the media constructs the news the effect on the audience will differ. Over the years many theories have been developed and documented to help understand the effect of the message on the audience, these are known as the effects studies. There are two I have chosen to look at in brief, they are the two step flow theory by Katz and Lazarfeld, inoculation theory and the psychodynamic effects study as well as earlier mentioning the hyperdermic syringe or magic bullet theory. The two step flow theory by Lazarfeld Berelson and Gaudet studied the 19 40 US presidential election. It was based on the stimulus-response theory leaning on uses and gratifications. It proved inadequate so Katz and Lazarfeld published a new edition of the model. It highlighted the concept of opinion leaders who pass the message from the media, to the less active members of society. This theory sees the opinion leader as a go between from the elite/media to the opinion leader to the masses. The inoculation theory believes that continued exposure to a specific message can lea to desensitisation. When we are continually bombarded with pictures of starving children in the third world, they do stop existing in an emotive sense and we do, to a degree, become desensitised to the original message. The phychodynamic effect is an extension or modification of the original cause and effect thesis. It recognises the importance of the interpretation by the individual. The effect of the message depends on the internal psychological structure of the individual. The effect studies help us to understand if, and how, manipulated society can be. Even if the news is trying to convey a particular message to maintain balance, effects change or merely agree with existing beliefs, we have to understand that everyone will process the information differently. With this taken into account there is a code of conduct that allows journalists to pick stories on set valves, that will give the clearest message, so no matter how it is processed the end outcome of a piece is constant. The operation of the selection of news is known as news valves. These are ideas or assumptions that form the ideological background to the work of those involved in gathering the news. A number of writers have categorised the valves, none more concisely than Brain Dutton, who concludes that there are twelve main valves. These range from continuity, frequency and unexpectedness to unambiguity and reference to elite nations. They help to define whether a story is newsworthy; it would be if it had one or more of these elements. A story may have some or most of the news valves yet still not be newsworthy. Philip Jones- Griffiths a journalist during the Vietnamese conflict was interviewed by the photographic magazine 10/8 for a piece entitled Vietnam after the apocalypse No. 5/6 Spring 1981. He remarked: If I had gone back to Saigon and into one of the agencies and had said, Ive got a story about Americans killing Vietnamese civilians, they would have said, So whats new? it was horrible, but certainly not exceptional, and it just wasnt news. (Stuart P rice Media Studies Longman 1996 Pg.207) This statement clarifies and answers the question, in my opinion; yes the news is constructed. It is hard to pick just one political stance as I agree to some extent with all of them. The manipulation model and Marxist theory is closest to my view but it does not take into account the viewers understanding of the media. I feel, as I am aware there is a selection process to what is shown and an unbiased view cannot exist, as a viewer I am less susceptible to the message than others may be. I think we should question what we are told and consider carefully who will benefit. The more man evolves the quicker we are to manipulate the views of others for political, monetary or consumer gain. It has become such an art that we tend not to see it is happening. We should be vigilant and make sure that the control does not lie prominently in the hands of a few elite. The immense power of the media especially the news should be carefully welded. As long as we understand the greater implications and see there may be a hidden agenda or something more manipulative afoot. The London Correspondent for CNN, Richard Blystone once said: If you go to TV for your only news, then youre lazy. If you go to TV for the truth, then youre a loony. (Stuart Price Media Studies Longman 1996 Pg.78) BIBLOGRAPHY Ed. James Curran Mass Communication as a social force in history: in the Media Context of Study (Open University 1997) Stuart Price Media Studies (Longman, 1996) J. Hartley Understanding News (Methuen, 1982) Roger Folwer Language in the News *Routledge 1991) S. Hall The Manufacturing of News (Owen and Young, 1981)

Free Oedipus the King Essays: The Worst Enemy of Oedipus :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

The Worst Enemy in Oedipus the King In the Greek tragety Oedipus the King Tiresias speaks the truth when he tells Oedipus, "you are your own worst enemy." He is too determined to find out who he is, that shouldn't be so important to himself. He also, is too proud to listen to the gods. He thinks he can get out of following through on his fate. So, it is he that dooms himself. First of all, Oedipus is determined to discover who he is. He can not accept things as they are and by stubbornly investigating his past, he is his own worst enemy by destroying his relationships and himself. When he was a young man he heard gossip that his father was not his real birth father. He was bothered to learn the truth from the oracle. He truly believed that his adopted parents were his real parents so he moved to Thebes so he wouldn't fulfill the oracle. When he finally realized that he killed a man that was old enough to be his father, he considered the fact that it could have been his father that he killed. That means that he married his mother. Oedipus drives his mother to kill herself. "Storm, then, let it burst! Born from nothing though I be proved, let me find that nothing out...My fealty to that family makes me move true to myself. My family I shall prove" (Oedipus page 60). Oedipus was a very proud man. I believe that his pride was his biggest character flaw and because of his pride, the conclusion of the play was tragic. He feels that he has to take responsibility for his actions even though he had no control over them. He doesn't want to live anymore because he married his mother and killed his father and so the oracle had come true. "Lost! Ah lost! At last it's blazing clear. Light of my days, go dark. I want to gaze no more. My birth all sprung revealed from those it never should, myself entwined with those I never could. And I the killer of those I never would." (Oedipus page 67). Oedipus did not listen to the Gods. His circumstances determined his fate, but could have been broken if he had not killed anyone, researched his parents before leaving Corinth, or not been so anxious to punish himself or find the murderer.

Table Tennis

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as  ping-pong, is a  sport  in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using  table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net. Except for the initial serve, players must allow a ball played toward them only one bounce on their side of the table and must return it so that it bounces on the opposite side. Points are scored when a player fails to return the ball within the rules. Play is fast and demands quick reactions.A skilled player can impart several varieties of  spinto the ball, altering its trajectory and limiting an opponent's options to great advantage. Table tennis is governed by the worldwide organization  International Table Tennis Federation  (ITTF), founded in 1926. ITTF currently includes 217 member associations. The table tennis official rules are specified in the ITTF handbook. Since 1988, table tennis has been an  Olympic sport  with several event catego ries. In particular, from 1988 until 2004, these were: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles and women's doubles.Since 2008 a team event has been played instead of the doubles. In 2007, the governance for  table tennis for persons with a disability  was transferred from the  International Paralympic Committee  to the ITTF. History The game originated as a sport in England during the 1880s, where it was played among the upper-class as an after-dinner parlour game. It has been suggested that the game was first developed by British military officers in India or South Africa who brought it back with them.A row of books were stood up along the center of the table as a net, two more books served as rackets and were used to continuously hit a golf-ball from one end of the table to the other. Alternatively table tennis was played with paddles made of cigar box lids and balls made of champagne corks. The popularity of the game led game manufacturers to sell the equipment comm ercially. Early rackets were often pieces of parchment stretched upon a frame, and the sound generated in play gave the game its first nicknames of â€Å"wiff-waff† and â€Å"ping-pong†.A number of sources indicate that the game was first brought to the attention of Hamley's of Regent Street under the name â€Å"Gossima†. The name â€Å"ping-pong† was in wide use before British manufacturer J. Jaques & Son Ltd trademarked it in 1901. The name â€Å"ping-pong† then came to be used for the game played by the rather expensive Jaques's equipment, with other manufacturers calling it table tennis. A similar situation arose in the United States, where Jaques sold the rights to the â€Å"ping-pong† name to Parker Brothers.The next major innovation was by James W Gibb, a British enthusiast of table tennis, who discovered novelty celluloid balls on a trip to the US in 1901 and found them to be ideal for the game. This was followed by E. C. Goode who, in 1901, invented the modern version of the racket by fixing a sheet of pimpled, or stippled, rubber to the wooden blade. Table tennis was growing in popularity by 1901 to the extent that table tennis tournaments were being organized, books on table tennis were being written,[8] and an unofficial world championship was held in 1902.During the early 1900s, the game was banned in Russia because the rulers at the time believed that playing the game had an adverse effect on players' eyesight. In 1921, the Table Tennis Association was founded in Britain, and the International Table Tennis Federation followed in 1926. [5][10] London hosted the first official World Championships in 1926. In 1933, the United States Table Tennis Association, now called USA Table Tennis, was formed. In the 1950s, rackets that used a rubber sheet combined with an underlying sponge layer changed the game dramatically, introducing greater spin and speed.These were introduced to Britain by sports goods manufactur er S. W. Hancock Ltd. The use of speed glue increased the spin and speed even further, resulting in changes to the equipment to â€Å"slow the game down†. Table tennis was introduced as an Olympic sport at the Olympics in 1988. After the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the International Table Tennis Federation instituted several rules changes aimed at making table tennis more viable as a televised spectator sport. First, the older 38 mm balls were officially replaced by 40 mm balls in 2000.This increased the ball's air resistance and effectively slowed down the game. By that time, players had begun increasing the thickness of the fast sponge layer on their rackets, which made the game excessively fast and difficult to watch on television. Second, the ITTF changed from a 21-point to an 11-point scoring system in 2001. This was intended to make games more fast-paced and exciting. The ITTF also changed the rules on service to prevent a player from hiding the ball during service, in order to increase the average length of rallies and to reduce the server's advantage.Variants of the sport have recently emerged. â€Å"Large-ball† table tennis uses a 44 mm ball, which slows down the game significantly. This has seen some acceptance by players who have a hard time with the extreme spins and speeds of the 40 mm game. There is a move towards reviving the table tennis game that existed prior to the introduction of sponge rubber. â€Å"Hardbat† table tennis players reject the speed and spin of reversed sponge rubber, preferring the 1940–60s play style with no sponge and short-pimpled rubber. Defense is less difficult by decreasing the speed and eliminating any meaningful magnus effect of spin.Because hardbat killer shots are almost impossible to hit against a skilled player, hardbat matches focus on the strategic side of table tennis, requiring skillful maneuvering of the opponent before an attack can become successful. Equipment’s Ball The international rules specify that the game is played with a light 2. 7 gram, 40 mm diameter ball. [16] The rules say that the ball shall bounce up 24–26 cm when dropped from a height of 30. 5 cm on to a standard steel block thereby having a coefficient of restitution of 0. 89 to 0. 92. The 40 mm ball was introduced after the 2000 Olympic Games.However, this created some controversy as the Chinese National Team argued that this was merely to give non-Chinese players a better chance of winning since the new type of balls has a slower speed, while at that time most Chinese players were playing with fast attack and smashes. A 40 mm table tennis ball is slower and spins less than the original 38 mm (1. 5 inch) one. The ball is made of a high-bouncing air-filled celluloid or similar plastics material, colored white or orange, with a matte finish. The choice of ball color is made according to the table color and its surroundings.For example, a white ball is easier to see on a gre en or blue table than it is on a gray table. Stars on the ball indicate the quality of the ball. Three stars indicate that it is of the highest quality, and is used in official competition. Table The table is 2. 74 m (9 ft) long, 1. 52 m (5 ft) wide, and 76 cm (30 inch) high with a Masonite (a type of hardboard) or similarly manufactured timber, layered with a smooth, low-friction coating. The table or playing surface is divided into two halves by a 15. 25 cm (6 inch) high net.An ITTF approved table surface must be in a green or blue color. Concrete tables with a steel net are sometimes available in public parks. Racket Players are equipped with a laminated wooden racket covered with rubber on one or two sides depending on the grip of the player. The official ITTF term is â€Å"racket†, though â€Å"bat† is common in Britain, and â€Å"paddle† in the U. S. The wooden portion of the racket, often referred to as the â€Å"blade†, commonly features anywhere between one and seven plies of wood, though cork, glass fiber, carbon fiber, aluminum fiber, and Kevlar are sometimes used.According to the ITTF regulations, at least 85% of the blade by thickness shall be of natural wood. Common wood types include Balsa, Limba, and Cypress or â€Å"Hinoki,† which is popular in Japan. The average size of the blade is about 6. 5 inches (16. 5 cm) long and 6 inches (15 cm) wide. Although the official restrictions only focus on the flatness and rigidness of the blade itself, these dimensions are optimal for most play styles. Table tennis regulations allow different surfaces on each side of the racket.Various types of surfaces provide various levels of spin or speed, and in some cases they nullify spin. For example, a player may have a rubber that provides much spin on one side of his racket, and one that provides no spin on the other. By flipping the racket in play, different types of returns are possible. To help a player distinguish between th e rubber used by his opposing player, international rules specify that one side must be red while the other side must be black. The player has the right to inspect his opponent's racket before a match to see the type of rubber used and what color it is.Despite high speed play and rapid exchanges, a player can see clearly what side of the racket was used to hit the ball. Current rules state that, unless damaged in play, the racket cannot be exchanged for another racket at any time during a match. Rules Starting a game According to ITTF rule 2. 13. 1, the first service is decided by lot, normally a coin toss. It is also common for one player (or the umpire/scorer) to hide the ball in one or the other hand (usually hidden under the table), allowing the other player to guess which hand the ball is in.The correct or incorrect guess gives the â€Å"winner† the option to choose to serve, receive, or to choose which side of the table to use. (A common but non-sanctioned method is for the players to play the ball back and forth four times and then play out the point. This is commonly referred to as â€Å"play to serve† or â€Å"rally to serve†. ) Service and return In game play, the player serving the ball commences a play. The server first stands with the ball held on the open palm of the hand not carrying the racket, called the freehand, and tosses the ball directly upward without spin, at least 16 centimeters (approximately 6 inches) high.The server strikes the ball with the racket on the ball's descent so that it touches first his court and then touches directly the receiver's court without touching the net assembly. In casual games, many players do not toss the ball upward; however, this is technically illegal and can give the serving player an unfair advantage. The ball must remain behind the endline and above the upper surface of the table, known as the playing surface, at all times during the service. The server cannot use his body or cloth ing to obstruct sight of the ball; the opponent and the umpire must have a clear view of the ball at all times.If the umpire is doubtful of the legality of a service they may first interrupt play and give a warning to the server. If the serve is a clear failure or is doubted again by the umpire after the warning, receiver scores a point. If the service is â€Å"good†, then the receiver must make a â€Å"good† return by hitting the ball back before it bounces a second time on receiver's side of the table so that the ball passes the net and touches the opponent's court, either directly or after touching the net assembly.Thereafter, the server and receiver must alternately make a return until the rally is over. Returning the serve is one of the most difficult parts of the game, as the server's first move is often the least predictable and thus most advantageous shot due to the numerous spin and speed choices at his or her disposal. Let A let is a rally of which the result is not scored, and is called in the following circumstances: The ball touches the net in service, provided the service is otherwise correct or the ball is obstructed by the player on the receiving side.Obstruction means a player touches the ball when it is above or traveling towards the playing surface, not having touched the player's court since last being struck by the player. When the player on the receiving side is not ready and the service is delivered. Player's failure to make a service or a return or to comply with the Laws is due to a disturbance outside the control of the player. Play is interrupted by the umpire or assistant umpire. When time is an issue, some competitions only count a let if a player has over 10 points. If they have less, it counts as a fair shot. This can significantly increase the pace of game.Scoring A point is scored by the player for any of several results of the rally: Opponent fails to make a correct service or return. After making a service or a return, the ball touches anything other than the net assembly before being struck by the opponent. The ball passes over the player's court or beyond his end line without touching his court, after being struck by the opponent. The opponent obstructs the ball. The opponent strikes the ball twice successively. Note that the hand that is holding the racket counts as part of the racket and that making a good return off one's hand or fingers is allowed.It is not a fault if the ball accidentally hits one's hand or fingers and then subsequently hits the racket. The opponent strikes the ball with a side of the racket blade whose surface is not covered with rubber. The opponent moves the playing surface or touches the net assembly. The opponent's free hand touches the playing surface. As a receiver under the expedite system, completing 13 returns in a rally. The opponent has been warned by umpire commits a second offense in the same individual match or team match.If the third offence happens, 2 points will be given to the player. If the individual match or the team match has not ended, any unused penalty points can be transferred to the next game of that match. A game shall be won by the player first scoring 11 points unless both players score 10 points, when the game shall be won by the first player subsequently gaining a lead of 2 points. A match shall consist of the best of any odd number of games. In competition play, matches are typically best of five or seven games. Alternation of services and endsService alternates between opponents every two points (regardless of winner of the rally) until the end of the game, unless both players score 10 points or the expedite system is operated, when the sequences of serving and receiving stay the same but each player serves for only 1 point in turn. Player serving first in a game shall receive first in the next game of the match. After each game, players switch sides of the table. In the last possible game of a match, for exa mple the seventh game in a best of seven matches, players change ends when the first player scores 5 points, regardless of whose turn it is to serve.If the sequence of serving and receiving is out of turn or the ends is not changed, points scored in the wrong situation are still calculated and the game shall be resumed with the order at the score that has been reached. Doubles game Service zone in doubles game In addition to games between individual players, pairs may also play table tennis. In doubles, all the rules of single play are applied except for the following. A line painted along the long axis of the table to create doubles courts bisects the table.This line's only purpose is to facilitate the doubles service rule, which is that service, must originate from the right hand â€Å"box† in such a way that the first bounce of the serve bounces once in said right hand box and then must bounce at least once in the opponent side's right hand box (far left box for server), o r the receiving pair score a point. Players must alternate hitting the ball. For example, if A is paired with B, X is paired with Y, A is the server and X is the receiver. The order of play shall be A > X > B > Y. The rally proceeds this way until one side fails to make a legal return and the other side scores.At each change of service, the previous receiver shall become the server and the partner of the previous server shall become the receiver. For example, if the previous order of play is A > X > B > Y, the order becomes X > B > Y > A after the change of service. In each game of a doubles match, the pair having the right to serve first shall choose which of them will do so. The receiving pair, however, can only choose in the first game of the match. When the first server is chosen in the second or the latter games of the match, the first receiver of the game is the player who served to the first server of the game in the preceding game.For example, if the order of play is A > X > B > Y at beginning of the first game, the order begins with X > A > Y > B or Y > B > X > A in the second game depending on either X or Y being chosen as the first server of the game. When a pair reaches 5 points in the final game, the pairs must switch ends of the table and the team that receives the service must switch receiver. For example, when the last order of play before a pair score 5 points in the final game is A > X > B > Y, the order after change shall be A > Y > B > X if A still has the second serve.Otherwise, X is the next server and the order becomes X > A > Y > B. Singles and doubles are both played in international competition, including the Olympic Games since 1988 and the Commonwealth Games since 2002. In 2005, the ITTF announced that doubles table tennis only was featured as a part of team events in the 2008 Olympics. Expedite system If a game is unfinished after 10 minutes' play and fewer than 18 points have been scored, the expedite system is initiated. The umpi re interrupts the game, and the game resumes with players serving for 1 point in turn.If the expedite system is introduced while the ball is not in play, the previous receiver shall serve first. Under the expedite system, the server must win the point before the opponent makes 13 consecutive returns or the point goes to the opponent. The system can also be initiated at any time at the request of both players /or pairs. Once introduced, the expedite system remains in force until the end of the match. A rule to shorten the time of a match, it is mainly seen in defensive players' games.

Assessment of the Future Financial Health of the Company Essay

An assessment of the long term financial health of the firm is an important task for outsiders like chartered accountants, creditors, borrowers, banks, financial institutions, public and shareholders considering the extension of credit and for insiders in their formulation of strategy. History abounds with examples of firms that embarked upon properly ambitious programs and subsequently discovered that their portfolio of programs could not be financed on acceptable terms. The outcome frequently was the abandonment of programs in mid stream at considerable financial and organizational cost to the company, its vendors, its employees, and/or its creditors. A necessary first step in the evaluation of a firm’s financial health is the development of a comprehensive series of questions. It is possible to calculate a multitude of ratios, but unless they relate to specific questions and concerns, their usefulness will be minimal. Furthermore, unless one starts with a clear understanding of the right questions, one’s analysis will inevitably be determined by whatever information readily available. The following represents some of the questions that seem important in assessing the future financial health of the company. The key issue is whether or not the company’s goals, strategy, investment requirements and financing capabilities are in balance. 1. Will the company need to raise additional finance over the next year/over the next three to five years to carry out strategically important programs? 2. What are the management’s goals of the company? How does it plans to reach these goals? What investments must be made in working capital and in plant and equipment to support the programs? 3. Will the company be a generator of excess cash, or will it be a consumer of cash? How important is its future access to finance from outsiders? 4. Does the company have a seasonal financing need? If so how large is it and what will be the perception of suppliers of finance at the time of the need? 5. Might the company have a cyclical financing need? If so, how large might it be and what will be the perception of suppliers of finance at the time of the need? 6. Does the company have a long term need for additional finance? If so, how large is it and what will be the perceptions of suppliers of finance at the time of the need? 7. Is the company profitable? (Future profitability is one of the keys to raise finance) 8. What is the underlying financial accounting practice? For example, are all subsidiaries consolidated? What lives have been assumed for depreciation purposes? 9. What is the trend in profitability? Is the improvement due to: i. Short lived supply shortages? ii. Opportunistic changes in financial accounting? iii. Cyclical factors iv. Curtailment of strategically important expenses? 10. Is the return on equity high/low/average due to: i. Its operating margins? ii. Its asset utilization? iii. Its financing mix? 11. Is the level of profitability sustainable, given the outlook for the market and for competitive and regulatory pressure? 12. Are the earnings available to corporate or are they blocked in other countries? Reference: http://classof1.com/homework-help/finance-homework-help/

Individuality in Sula

Individuality in Sula Free Online Research Papers Individuals are often living a routine-based life, living their lives day to day without showing their true color because society represses individuality. In Sula, by Toni Morrison, Nel is also repressed as an individual and is never allowed to show to the Bottom community who she really is. She became an individual only when she was with Sula, her best friend. Through events such as facing bullies, the need for individuality, and the sex scandals, Sula is viewed as a negative force in the community, but she becomes a positive force in Nel’s life by helping her realize who she is and what she can become. Sula became a positive force in Nel’s life at a very young age. When they both were twelve years old, Nel was bullied by three Irish boys on her way home from school and since then, had started taking a longer path to go home. Sula, unable to see her scared friend not stand up to the bullies, decided to take the situation upon her. One day, Sula suggested going home from the shortest route and they were once again confronted by the bullies. When the boys started harassing them, Sula pulled out a knife and slate and cut off the end of her own finger. She said, â€Å"If I can do that to myself, what you suppose I’ll do to you?† (55). Sula took it upon herself to help her friend Nel through the crisis she was facing. This made Sula a positive force not only because she gained courage to do what was right and helped her friend, she also gave Nel the courage to stand up for herself. Although self-harm is portrayed negatively, Sula displayed it in a positive way. When Sula realized her need for individuality and freedom, she tried to bring Nel to realize the same thing: life is not about doing what society expects you to do; it’s about doing what you want to do. When she came back after ten years, she fought with Eva about her individuality. Sula said, â€Å"I don’t want to make nobody else. I want to make myself†¦ Whatever’s burning in me is mine†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (92-93). From this statement, Sula makes it known that she is in fact her own individual, her own person. Nel realizes that after Sula’s return, every aspect of life is more valuable and enjoyable. She even states that Sula â€Å"never competed; she simply helped others define themselves† (95). From this statement, Nel regards Sula as a positive force in her life. Nel realized who she was and what she was to become with the help of her friend. Without her, Nel never would have found her true identity. Sex scandals are viewed negatively by the entire Bottom community, including Nel. Throughout the book, Sula is seen as a radical individual and this is evident when she sleeps with Nel’s husband, Jude. Although Nel realizes the deep bond she shares with Sula, she cannot bring herself to forgive the woman who slept with her husband. Nel sees that Sula only lives for herself, while Nel lives for her husband and children. She eventually broke away from Sula, saying that â€Å"greater than her friendship was this new feeling of being needed by someone who saw her singly† (84). Sula, hurt by this statement and trying one last time to rekindle individuality within Nel, had sex with Jude. Although Nel realized this many years after Sula had died, Sula was a positive force in her life when she slept with Jude because it opened her eyes to the fact that it was Nel that distanced herself from her friend. Even though what Sula did caused her much pain, it gave Nel the time to re alize what was most important in her life. How people see others is only a matter of their perspective. The residents of the Bottom saw Sula as a negative force in their lives because of the way she acted, such as committing adultery. But one person saw her as a positive force, her best friend Nel. In the end, even after she had lost her best friend, Sula continued to make a positive impact in Nel’s life. Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Plume, 1996. Print. Quote â€Å"Although it was she alone who saw this magic, she did not wonder at it. She knew it was all due to Sula’s return to the Bottom. It was like getting the use of an eye back, having a cataract removed. Her old friend had come home. Sula. Who made her laugh, who made her see old things with new eyes, in whose presence she felt clever, gentle a little raunchy. Sula, whose past she had lived through and with whom the present was a constant sharing of perceptions.† (Sula, 95) Research Papers on Individuality in SulaHip-Hop is ArtEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThe Spring and AutumnWhere Wild and West Meet19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraQuebec and CanadaRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andThree Concepts of PsychodynamicLifes What IfsAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

Become a TA in Graduate School

Become a TA in Graduate School If you are preparing to go to graduate school, you may want to consider becoming a teaching assistant, or TA. An assistantship is a form of financial assistance provided to graduate students. They provide part-time academic employment and the school provides a stipend to the student. Teaching assistants  receive  a paid stipend and/or receive tuition remission (free tuition) in exchange for tasks they perform for a faculty member, the department, or the college. This defrays the cost of their graduate education​ but also means they are working for the college or university and have responsibilities as both a teacher and student. What Does a TA Get? The duties that a TA performs can vary according to schools, departments or what an individual professor needs.  Teaching assistantships provide aid in exchange for teaching activities, such as assisting a professor by conducting lab or study groups, preparing lectures, and grading. Some TAs may teach an entire class. Others simply assist the teacher. Most TAs put in about 20 hours per week.   While the discount or coverage of tuition is nice, a TA is a student at the same time. This means that he or she will have to maintain their own coursework load while providing TA duties. It can be a tough challenge to balance being both a teacher and a student! It can be hard for many TAs to do this, and to remain professional among students that are probably close in age, but the rewards of being a TA can be valued long after graduation. In addition to the financial perks, a TA receives the ability to interact with professors (and students) extensively. Being involved in the academic circuit provides extensive networking opportunities especially if the TA wants to eventually become an academic professional. The TA will have a valuable in for job prospects as they network with other professors. How to Become a Teaching Assistant Because  of the steep tuition discount, or complete tuition reimbursement, TA positions are coveted. Competition can be fierce in order to secure a spot as a teaching assistant. Applicants likely have to go through an extensive selection and interview process. After getting accepted as a teaching assistant, they typically undergo TA training.   If you are hoping to snag a spot as a TA, make sure you know about the application process early. This will help you develop a strong platform and application bid, and meet deadlines necessary to apply on time.   Other Ways to Defray Grad School Costs Being a TA isnt the only that grad students can also earn a tuition stipend. If you are more interested in conducting research as opposed to teaching, your university or college may offer the opportunity to become a research assistant.  Research assistantships pay students to assist a professor with his or her research, similar to the way that TAs help professors with classwork.

Chemistry Nobel Prize Winners (1901 to Present)

Chemistry Nobel Prize Winners (1901 to Present) Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist and the inventor of dynamite. Nobel recognized the destructive power of dynamite, but hoped that such power would lead to an end to warfare. However, dynamite was quickly exploited to develop newer, more deadly weapons. Not wanting to be remembered as the merchant of death, an epitaph given him by a French newspaper in a mistaken obituary, Nobel wrote his will such that it would establish prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. A sixth category, economics, was added in 1969. It took some time to implement Nobels wishes. The first Nobel prize was awarded in 1901, which was five years after Alfred Nobels death. Note that the Nobel prize can only be won by individuals, there can be no more than three winners in a given year, and money is split equally between multiple winners. Each winner gets a gold medal, a sum of money, and a diploma. Here is the list of the Nobel laureates in Chemistry: Nobel Prize in Chemistry Year Laureate Country Research 1901 Jacobus H. vant Hoff Netherlands Discovered laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions 1902 Emil Hermann Fischer Germany Synthetic studies of sugar and purine groups 1903 Svante A. Arrhenius Sweden Theory of electrolytic dissociation 1904 Sir William Ramsay Great Britain Discovered the noble gases 1905 Adolf von Baeyer Germany Organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds 1906 Henri Moissan France Studied and isolated the element fluorine 1907 Eduard Buchner Germany Biochemical studies, discovered fermentation without cells 1908 Sir Ernest Rutherford Great Britain Decay of the elements, chemistry of radioactive substances 1909 Wilhelm Ostwald Germany Catalysis, chemical equilibria, and reaction rates 1910 Otto Wallach Germany Alicyclic compounds 1911 Marie Curie Poland-France Discovered radium and polonium 1912 Victor GrignardPaul Sabatier FranceFrance Grignards reagentHydrogenation of organic compounds in the presence of finely divided metals 1913 Alfred Werner Switzerland Bonding relations of atoms in molecules (inorganic chemistry) 1914 Theodore W. Richards United States Determined atomic weights 1915 Richard M. Willsttter Germany Investigated plant pigments, particularly chlorophyll 1916 The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section 1917 The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section 1918 Fritz Haber Germany Synthesized ammonia from its elements 1919 The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section 1920 Walther H. Nernst Germany Studies on thermodynamics 1921 Frederick Soddy Great Britain Chemistry of radioactive substances, occurrence and nature of the isotopes 1922 Francis William Aston Great Britain Discovered several isotopes, mass spectrograph 1923 Fritz Pregl Austria Microanalysis of organic compounds 1924 The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section 1925 Richard A. Zsigmondy Germany, Austria Colloid chemistry (ultramicroscope) 1926 Theodor Svedberg Sweden Disperse systems (ultracentrifuge) 1927 Heinrich O. Wieland Germany Constitution of bile acids 1928 Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus Germany Study of sterols and their relation with vitamins (vitamin D) 1929 Sir Arthur HardenHans von Euler-Chelpin Great BritainSweden, Germany Studied fermentation of sugars and enzymes 1930 Hans Fischer Germany Studied blood and plant pigments, synthesized hemin 1931 Friedrich BergiusKarl Bosch GermanyGermany Developed chemical high-pressure processes 1932 Irving Langmuir United States Surface chemistry 1933 The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. 1934 Harold Clayton Urey United States Discovery of heavy hydrogen (deuterium) 1935 Frederic Joliot-CurieIrne Joliot-Curie FranceFrance Syntheses of new radioactive elements (artificial radioactivity) 1936 Peter J. W. Debye Netherlands, Germany Studied dipole moments and the diffraction of X rays and electron beams by gases 1937 Walter N. HaworthPaul Karrer Great BritainSwitzerland Studied carbohydrates and vitamin CStudied carotenoids and flavins and vitamins A and B2 1938 Richard Kuhn Germany Studied carotenoids and vitamins 1939 Adolf F. J. ButenandtLavoslav Stjepan Ruika GermanySwitzerland Studies on sexual hormonesStudied polymethylenes and higher terpenes 1940 The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section 1941 The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. 1942 The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. 1943 Georg de Hevesy Hungary Application of isotopes as indicators in the investigation of chemical processes 1944 Otto Hahn Germany Discovered nuclear fission of atoms 1945 Artturi Ilmari Virtanen Finland Discoveries in the area of agricultural and food chemistry, method of preservation of fodder 1946 James B. Sumner John H. Northrop Wendell M. Stanley United StatesUnited StatesUnited States Prepared enzymes and virus proteins in pure formCrystallizability of enzymes 1947 Sir Robert Robinson Great Britain Studied alkaloids 1948 Arne W. K. Tiselius Sweden Analysis using electrophoresis and adsorption, discoveries concerning serum proteins 1949 William F. Giauque United States Contributions to chemical thermodynamics, properties at extremely low temperatures (adiabatic demagnetization) 1950 Kurt AlderOtto P. H. Diels GermanyGermany Developed diene synthesis 1951 Edwin M. McMillanGlenn T. Seaborg United StatesUnited States Discoveries in the chemistry of transuranium elements 1952 Archer J. P. MartinRichard L. M. Synge Great BritainGreat Britain Invented distribution chromatography 1953 Hermann Staudinger Germany Discoveries in the area of macromolecular chemistry 1954 Linus C. Pauling United States Studied the nature of the chemical bond (molecular structure of proteins) 1955 Vincent du Vigneaud United States Synthesized a polypeptide hormone 1956 Sir Cyril Norman HinshelwoodNikolai N. Semenov Great BritainSoviet Union Mechanisms of chemical reactions 1957 Sir Alexander R. Todd Great Britain Studied nucleotides and their coenzymes 1958 Frederick Sanger Great Britain Structure of proteins, especially insulin 1959 Jaroslav Heyrovsk Czech Republic Polarography 1960 Willard F. Libby United States Application of carbon 14 for age determinations (radiocarbon dating) 1961 Melvin Calvin United States Studied the assimilation of carbonic acid by plants (photosynthesis) 1962 John C. KendrewMax F. Perutz Great BritainGreat Britain, Austria Studied the structures of globulin proteins 1963 Giulio NattaKarl Ziegler ItalyGermany Chemistry and technology of high polymers 1964 Dorothy Mary Crowfoot Hodgkin Great Britain Structure determination of biologically important substances by means of X rays 1965 Robert B. Woodward United States Syntheses of natural products 1966 Robert S. Mulliken United States Studied chemical bonds and the electron structure of molecules using the orbital method 1967 Manfred EigenRonald G. W. NorrishGeorge Porter GermanyGreat BritainGreat Britain Investigated extremely fast chemical reactions 1968 Lars Onsager United States, Norway Studied the thermodynamics of irreversible processes 1969 Derek H. R. BartonOdd Hassel Great BritainNorway Development of the concept of conformation 1970 Luis F. Leloir Argentina Discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates 1971 Gerhard Herzberg Canada Electron structure and geometry of molecules, particularly of free radicals (molecular spectroscopy) 1972 Christian B. AnfinsenStanford MooreWilliam H. Stein United StatesUnited StatesUnited States Studied ribonuclease (Anfinsen)Studied the active center of ribonuclease (Moore Stein) 1973 Ernst Otto FischerGeoffrey Wilkinson GermanyGreat Britain Chemistry of metal-organic sandwich compounds 1974 Paul J. Flory United States Physical chemistry of macromolecules 1975 John CornforthVladimir Prelog Australia - Great BritainYugoslavia - Switzerland Stereochemistry of enzyme catalysis reactionsStudied the stereochemistry of organic molecules and reactions 1976 William N. Lipscomb United States Structure of boranes 1977 Ilya Prigogine Belgium Contributions to the thermodynamics of irreversible processes, particularly to the theory of dissipative structures 1978 Peter Mitchell Great Britain Studied biological energy transfer, development of the chemiosmotic theory 1979 Herbert C. BrownGeorg Wittig United StatesGermany Development of (organic) boron and phosphorous compounds 1980 Paul BergWalter GilbertFrederick Sanger United StatesUnited StatesGreat Britain Studied the biochemistry of nucleic acids, particularly hybrid DNA (technology of gene surgery) (Berg)Determined base sequences in nucleic acids (Gilbert Sanger) 1981 Kenichi FukuiRoald Hoffmann JapanUnited States Theories on the progress of chemical reactions (frontier orbital theory) 1982 Aaron Klug South Africa Developed crystallographic methods for the elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid protein complexes 1983 Henry Taube Canada Reaction mechanisms of electron transfer, especially with metal complexes 1984 Robert Bruce Merrifield United States Method for the preparation of peptides and proteins 1985 Herbert A. HauptmanJerome Karle United StatesUnited States Developed direct methods for the determination of crystal structures 1986 Dudley R. HerschbachYuan T. LeeJohn C. Polanyi United StatesUnited StatesCanada Dynamics of chemical elementary processes 1987 Donald James CramCharles J. PedersenJean-Marie Lehn United StatesUnited StatesFrance Development of molecules with structurally specific interaction of high selectivity 1988 Johann DeisenhoferRobert HuberHartmut Michel GermanyGermanyGermany Determined the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction center 1989 Thomas Robert CechSidney Altman United StatesUnited States Discovered the catalytic properties of ribonucleic acid (RNA) 1990 Elias James Corey United States Developed novel methods for the synthesis of complex natural compounds (retrosynthetic analysis) 1991 Richard R. Ernst Switzerland Developed high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) 1992 Rudolph A. Marcus Canada - United States Theories of electron transfer 1993 Kary B. MullisMichael Smith United StatesGreat Britain - Canada Invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)Development of site specific mutagenesis 1994 George A. Olah United States Carbocations 1995 Paul CrutzenMario MolinaF. Sherwood Rowland NetherlandsMexico - United StatesUnited States Work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone 1996 Harold W. KrotoRobert F. Curl, Jr.Richard E. Smalley Great BritainUnited StatesUnited States Discovered fullerenes 1997 Paul Delos BoyerJohn E. WalkerJens C. Skou United StatesGreat BritainDenmark Elucidated the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)first discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme, Na+, K+-ATPase 1998 Walter KohnJohn A. Pople United StatesGreat Britain Development of the density-functional theory (Kohn)Development of computational methods in quantum chemistry (GAUSSIAN computer programs) (Pope) 1999 Ahmed H. Zewail Egypt - United States Studied the transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy 2000 Alan J. HeegerAlan G. MacDiarmidHideki Shirakawa United StatesUnited StatesJapan Discovered and developed conductive polymers 2001 William S. KnowlesRyoji NoyoriKarl Barry Sharpless United StatesJapanUnited States Work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions (Knowles Noyori)Work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions (Sharpless) 2002 John Bennett FennJokichi TakamineKurt Wthrich United StatesJapanSwitzerland Developed soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules (Fenn Tanaka)Developed nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution (Wthrich) 2003 Peter AgreRoderick MacKinnon United StatesUnited States Discovered water channels for transport of water in cell membranesPerformed structural and mechanistic studies of ion channels in cells 2004 Aaron CiechanoverAvaram HershkoIrwin Rose IsraelIsraelUnited States Discovered and elucidated the process of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation 2005 Yves ChauvinRobert H. GrubbsRichard R. Schrock FranceUnited StatesUnited States Developed the metathesis method of organic synthesis, allowing for advances in green chemistry 2006 Roger D. Kornberg United States for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription 2007 Gerhard Ertl Germany for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces 2008 Shimomura OsamuMartin ChalfieRoger Y. Tsien United States for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP 2009 Venkatraman RamakrishnanThomas A. SteitzAda E. Yonath United KingdomUnited StatesIsreal for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome 2010 Ei-ichi NegishiAkira SuzukiRichard Heck JapanJapanUnited States for the development of palladium-catalyzed cross coupling 2011 Daniel Shechtman Israel for the discovery of quasi-crystals 2012 Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka United States for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors 2013 Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt, Arieh Warshel United States for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems 2014 Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell, William E. Moerner (USA) United States, Germany, United States for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy 2016 Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, Bernard L. Feringa France, United States, Netherlands for the design and synthesis of molecular machines 2017 Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, Richard Henderson Switzerland, United States, United Kingdom for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution

How Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a tragic Research Paper

How Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that Sophocles’ Oedipus The King, is basically a tragedy about the life of its protagonist, Oedipus, son of Laius and Jocasta. The paper at hand focuses on exploring how Oedipus The King incorporates Aristotle’s Definition of a tragic hero, thus, ultimately making the play a tragedy. It also discusses and gives a brief overview of Aristotle’s philosophies regarding tragedy, tragic hero as well as drama. Furthermore, the paper overviews the origins of Oedipus The King and explains the various devices used in the play, such as the style, imagery, tone, recognition, reversal etc. Upon analyzing the drama, it becomes clear that Sophocles indeed exemplifies Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero through the key elements of Oedipus’ hamartia (tragic flaw), peripeteia, anagnorisis, downfall, getting more than what is deserved etc and the plot epitomizes tragedy through imitation, arousal of pity and fear in the audience and finally the experience of catharsis. The ancient Greeks saw theatre not only as a means of entertainment but also as a way to celebrate their gods, thus they promoted various theatrical performances. These performances were basically in the form of plays or drama, the latter of which is defined by Aristotle as â€Å"poems representing action† in his work named ‘Poetics’. Aristotle also talks about the classification of drama into â€Å"Tragedy and Comedy,† and furthermore, defines tragedy as the â€Å"imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself.; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions† (University of Chicago Internet Project, n.d., p.1). According to this definition, on analysis of Oedipus the King, one can see imitation in the form that the performance i s a re-enactment of the whole story, and the main issue in the story is the conflict between fate and Oedipus’ choices or actions. This issue is serious as well as of great importance, and also, it is ‘complete in itself,’ that is, the theme or issue is followed throughout the story. The serious actions range from Oedipus killing his own father to him marrying his mother and in the end becoming a reason for her suicide as well. The point to be noted here is that all his actions, although resulting from fate, are still an outcome of his own decisions. The language used in the play is ‘appropriate and pleasurable’ in the sense that the comments of the chorus are different from that of others’ dialogs, as the former has different meters as well as rhythm and melody. The tone

Launching a new product Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Launching a new product - Essay Example The company currently operates in Singapore, but it is planning to extend its operations in the UK. The UK offers a vital market for the company bracelet due to the high rate of economic growth and high consumer disposable incomes of the population. More than 40 million people in the UK would be willing to buy the product and contribute towards charitable work due to the caring attitudes of the population and feminine culture that is replicated in the bracelet design. The number of wealthy and aged individuals is more than 10 percent of the total UK population (Oxford Business Group 222). The macro-environment is favorable since UK economy is currently experiencing a recovery after the recent financial crisis. UK also enjoys stable political environment and is a member of the EU thus making it easier for the organisation to expand to neighboring European countries. The UK population is highly educated and most of the citizens have access to the internet in their homes. UK citizens ha ve caring attitudes towards the environment and life thus it will be easy for the product to penetrate the market. The existing legal environment enables the citizens to contribute donations towards charitable organisations and adequate e-commerce laws have been enacted in order to facilitate online donations (Oxford Business Group 137). In addition, the level of technology is high thus the organisation can rely on the existing modern communication technologies and high internet penetration in order to reach the potential buyers in the remote villages and smaller towns (Oxford Business Group 189). SWOT Analysis Strengths Midomo bracelet enjoys several strengths that are essential in penetrating the targeted market and sustaining relationships with buyers. The product is made of high quality and wearable jewellery thus appealing to the purchasing behaviour of UK citizens. The product will enjoy high brand recognition and awareness in the market since it has been designed by an award winning designer who has a high reputation of quality and stylish designs. In addition, the bracelet is light in weight thus can be worn by the buyers when travelling thus spreading the word of the mouth on the existence of the charitable product in the market. Accordingly, the bracelet symbolizes abundance and water thus will resonate well with the attitudes of UK citizens towards combating environmental degradation. The product is also lowly priced compared to similar jewellery products in the market. Weaknesses Midomo bracelet suffers from several weaknesses since the designer has not offered a variety in terms of color or raw material. Not all potential buyers would be attracted towards silver products or products that depict a feminine style. Some of the potential donors may not be willing to wear the bracelet due to the stereotypes that associate certain health issues like stiff arms with wearing of bracelets around arms (Yeshin 316). Another challenge that will be involved in clude employment of additional staff to monitor the online transactions and answer to customer complaints (Yeshin 337). Opportunities There are numerous opportunities that Midomo Initiative can exploit in order to attain its mission and objectives in the UK market. The company should provide for a variety in terms of bracelet designs and color in order to appeal to the wider market in the UK. The

The Ontological and Economic Trinity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The Ontological and Economic Trinity - Essay Example The three persons are said to be equal in nature and in their attributes. By saying that the three persons are equal in attributes, it means that they are omniscience, they are omnipresent and they are holy. It is acceptable among all Christians across the world that the three persons do not change, they are holy and that they are divine. This state of the three persons having equal attributes and being equal in nature is referred to as the Ontological Trinity2.The word Ontology refers to the study of essence. As a result, the Ontological Trinity can also be referred to as the Essential Trinity or the Immanent Trinity. On the other hand, these three persons are said to differ in the manner with which they work and also the way they associate with the world and with each other. Each of them has varying roles in how they relate to the world. Their roles within the Godhead are also different. Each of them has their own activities and they perform them independently. This difference in h ow these persons relate to each other and to the world is referred to as the Economic Trinity. The name economic has been derived from the Greek word oikonomikos which means management of activities3. Therefore, the three persons manage their activities differently. The Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity are usually confusing among many Christians This makes it difficult for Christians to understand the exact nature of God Himself. It is not easy for a typical Christian to distinguish between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity. In addition, it is not easy for Christians to figure out the relationship between the two. This makes the understanding of God and how He works to become a mystery to many. Understanding these two issues can be of much importance to Christians in that they will understand how God works Project Summary The purpose of this project is to conduct a research that will help Christians understand the three persons in Trinity. They will be abl e to distinguish between the Economic Trinity and the Ontological Trinity. Having understood this, Christians will be in a better position to understand the Existence of God and also understand how God works in through the three persons in trinity (i.e.) the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In this project, I hope to bring out a clear distinction between Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity. I also hope to outline and evaluate how the three persons relate to each other and how they work together. Once I am able to achieve this, the project will have achieved its mission which is to enable Christians understand God in a better way. To accomplish this purpose, I will do extensive research from academic literature and compile a report at the end of the research that gives relevant answer to the research question. History of the Doctrine of the Trinity The root of the doctrine of the Trinity can be traced from as early as the first century. The doctrine has taken centuries t o develop leading to the modern definition that is the subject of this paper. The word "Trinity" is not seen in the New Testament and neither is the doctrine explicitly taught in the scriptures4. However, we can trace the foundations of the concept of the Trinity from the New Testament, particularly from the Gospel of John, which arguably is one of the latest and one of the most theologically developed books of the New Testament. Mentions of the Trinitarian beliefs also can be seen in the extra-biblical teachings of theological writers

Arguments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Arguments - Assignment Example Conclusion: Casey Anthony murdered her daughter. My argument is everyone deserves a fair trial. It would be better for murderers to go free than one innocent person is sentenced to death row or jail. My friend’s argument is murderers must be punished even if some innocent people are sent to jail or death row. I am just concerned if one person’s rights are violated, my rights could be violated. My friend takes the view it would never happen to her. We both walked away agreeing to disagree. 2. The Scope and Limits of Logic Logic can help individuals understand our arguments. By studying logic, individuals can understand how to look at both sides of an argument to make a decision. When an individual only looks at one side of the argument logic cannot take place. It is based on personal feelings and experiences instead of looking at different sides of the argument. No matter how obstinate or one sided a person can be, they still use logic in some circumstances. Everyday ind ividuals debate within themselves on actions. Whether it is to take the Interstate or a side road to work or school, people have to make decisions everyday. So everyone uses logic. By studying logic, an individual can understand the why and how they make decisions.

People on organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

People on organization - Essay Example Before the actual date of the meeting, participants have to be selected appropriately. A meeting within an organization should not contain all the members of the organization but only the members that are affected or required to impact the meeting. The selection of members of a meeting will depend on the type of meeting. For instance, a meeting to negotiate terms and conditions of work between employer and employees does not necessarily require attendance of all the employees. Instead, members can be drawn from the membership of employee unions. This selection will limit the possibility of waste of time from irrelevant input and lack of concern in the meeting. Setting the objectives of the meeting or the agenda is another preparatory process. Here, the person or group that calls the meeting will develop a set of concerns that the meeting will address. The main consideration here is given to the type of meeting. If the meeting is to address a dispute, then the objectives are limited to the scope of a dispute of resolution and the stakeholders are duly informed. The agenda is then distributed to the stakeholders before the meeting to allow time for the stakeholders to gather high-quality information on the subject matter. It also gives the participants time to make their schedules comply with the timeframe of the meeting (Gamage 2006). Giving each stakeholder time for preparation sets the time for each member to gather the relevant information on the subject of the issue. The importance of this subject is already discussed that it makes the subject limit the preparation of the issues at hand. For distributive negotiations, this point is a s pecial one. This is since it makes the preparing partners have a wide variety of their options. For integrated bargains, the process is not as useful as it engages the formal partners in a wit engagement that will engage in unproductive negotiations. A meeting should start at the stipulated time on and

Arguments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Arguments - Assignment Example Conclusion: Casey Anthony murdered her daughter. My argument is everyone deserves a fair trial. It would be better for murderers to go free than one innocent person is sentenced to death row or jail. My friend’s argument is murderers must be punished even if some innocent people are sent to jail or death row. I am just concerned if one person’s rights are violated, my rights could be violated. My friend takes the view it would never happen to her. We both walked away agreeing to disagree. 2. The Scope and Limits of Logic Logic can help individuals understand our arguments. By studying logic, individuals can understand how to look at both sides of an argument to make a decision. When an individual only looks at one side of the argument logic cannot take place. It is based on personal feelings and experiences instead of looking at different sides of the argument. No matter how obstinate or one sided a person can be, they still use logic in some circumstances. Everyday ind ividuals debate within themselves on actions. Whether it is to take the Interstate or a side road to work or school, people have to make decisions everyday. So everyone uses logic. By studying logic, an individual can understand the why and how they make decisions.

Questions to Answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Questions to Answer - Essay Example These laws are what are regarded to as common law. When there is incongruity between two parties in relation to the law, then a common law court is obligated to listen to the case and refer to analogous or similar cases that have occurred in the past and incorporate their resolutions in decision making (Pozgar, 2011). In other words, if a judgment had been issued in a similar case in the past, then the judge or arbitrator in this case is required to follow the same logical thinking as the previous case. If there has never been a similar case, then it is the obligation of the judge or arbitrator to form or create a standard model as an example that would be referred to by other judges and arbitrators in future. Pozgar (2011) further notes that having a case to refer to and use it in decision making introduces the concept of impartiality in judgments as issues not covered by other laws in a jurisdiction are awarded similar rulings or verdicts. These common laws are however not permanent as they can be changed depending on the current needs of the society (Pozgar, 2011). According to Pozgar (2011), foreseeability is "The reasonable anticipation that harm or injury is likely to result from a commission or omission of an act" (p. 41). An individual can prevent the occurrence of a damaging incident or event if he or she predicts that the incident will occur on the basis of available information or facts. Having a clear understanding of the facts can help an individual in making decisions that would avert or prevent the occurrence of any harmful incident. In a court of law, a defendant is investigated or questioned with an intention of finding out whether he or she could have prevented injury or harm to a petitioner through analyzing data and information at hand. As an example, take the case of a patient lying to a healthcare practitioner when he seeks a clarification of the patients medical history. If

Conflicting perspectives Essay Example for Free

Conflicting perspectives Essay Before initial reading: The comments to the right are my thoughts and questions on phrases I have placed in the essay and how appropriate they would be. Analyse the ways conflicting perspectives generate diverse and provocative insights. All texts composed convey an agenda which is based on the composer’s context. William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Jason Reitman’s satirical film Thank You For Smoking (2005) and George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) all use conflicting perspectives to convey their agenda by generating diverse and provocative insights. Conflicting perspectives are generated through the use and potential abuse of power, manipulation and the contrast between public and private personas and thus the responder is positioned to accept the perspective the composer has deemed to be valid. The use and abuse of power, the use of manipulation to gain power and the contrast between public and private personas are explored through the portrayal of conflicting perspectives. It can be seen that the responder is positioned to †¦.. the point you’re trying to make is that the use of conflicting perspectives allows for some ambiguity in the portrayal of these themes but you might then say that ‘ultimately we are positioned to accept that†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ and then you could specify exactly what. Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar demonstrates conflicting perspectives on the nature of power. Shakespeare utilised this play as a commentary on the political situation of the time regarding the monarch of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth had gradually increased her power at the expense of the aristocracy and House of Commons, giving rise to political disputes. Likewise, Caesar has been granted dictatorial powers in the Roman Republic but he is not presented to have misused his power. Instead, Caesar’s hubris is more prevalent this which is seen to be the catalyst for the potential misuse of power. Brutus is aware of this and his idealism for a Roman Republic leads him to join the conspirators, shown in his soliloquy in Act Two Scene One. Brutus uses extended metaphors of a ladder and serpents in order to question Caesar’s ambition in conjunction with power. Brutus states  that ‘young ambition’s ladder [cause him to] look into the clouds, [leading him to] scorn the base degrees by which he did ascend’. Brutus also considers Caesar ‘a serpent’s egg, which would grow mischievous, and kill him in the shell’. The imagery of killing before birth reveals that Brutus is willing to remove Caesar before any tyrannical tendencies take place, suggesting that the assassination was unjust. Brutus would later attempt to justify the assassination that ‘because [Caesar] was ambitious, I slew him’. The conditional language and use of logos in demonstrating a clear cause and effect convinces the audience at Caesar’s funeral oration that the assassination was just, based on the declarative mood in their reaction that ‘Caesar was a tyrant’. However an alternative perspective is displayed through Antony. Even with Caesar’s dictatorial powers he has not seen any way in which he has abused his position, forming the basis of his defence of Caesar in his funeral oration. He uses conditional language by questioning ‘if Caesar was ambitious’ and he uses logos in presenting Caesar’s lack of ambition. Antony draws on examples such as ‘he thrice refused [the crown]’ and when coupled with the rhetorical question ‘did this in Caesar seem ambitious?’ he questions the view of the responders by providing a logical response to Brutus’ ill-based accusations. Antony is able to demonstrate Caesar’s lack of ambition and hence Caesar’s just use of power for the good of Rome. As a result Shakespeare presents two conflicting perspectives on power which generates diverse and provocative insights into his context. George Orwell’s Animal Farm also evokes similar ideas but its context as an allegory for the Stalinist rule of Soviet Russia must also be considered. George Orwell explores the notion of the corrupting nature of power in his allegorical novel (or political satire) ‘Animal Farm’. The allegory is a criticism of Soviet Communism tracks the rise of Napoleon, representing Stalin after the overthrow of Mr Jones, representing the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. and how his power is seen to slowly corrupt prompting in its abuse. At the beginning of the allegory/fable the animals are seen to be harbouring discontent against their autocratic ruler of Mr Jones through their plotting to overthrow humans out of their farm. Major states with a declarative mood that they should ‘remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished forever’. This connotes that Mr  Jones has abused his powers in allowing the poor conditions for his working animals. After the animals have revolted against Mr Jones the original commandments of Animalism are created, calling for the equal distribution of power as ‘all animals are equal’. However Napoleon’s use of intimidation through brute force upsets the equality and with the exile of Snowball Napoleon is left in a position of absolute power. Napoleon’s guard dogs are used as a motif to symbolise his power as even after his initial deployment of his dogs against Snowball ‘the dogs growled so threateningly that they accepted his explanation without any further questions’. Napoleon’s power is also seen to corrupt him and he is ironically presented as to be simply a replacement for Mr Jones. Through reverting the name of the farm back to ‘Manor Farm’ Orwell perceives that the situation the animals are in do not differ from the reality of life under Mr Jones. Napoleon’s ‘transformation’ into a man is seen to represent this as the animals ‘look from pig to man, from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to determine which was which’. The repetition and inversion of the order of ‘pig’ and ‘man’ highlight the confusion the animals have over their present reality. This illustrates the corruption of power in Napoleon and with this Orwell is suggesting that life under Stalin was no different than from Russia’s previous autocratic ruler of Tsar Nicholas II. Consequently Orwell’s use of conflicting perspectives over the issue of power in an allegory is able to provide a commentary of Orwell’s perspective of the nature of Stalinist Russia. Good – you clearly analyse and show the changed perspective of Napoleon but revise and consider how to clearly identify the conflicting perspectives. Julius Caesar demonstrates how a conflict between public and private personas can result in conflicting perspectives of characters. Act One Scene One introduces the idea of conflicting perspectives within personas with the Senators Flavius and Murellius and their perception of the commoners. The Senators clearly see the commoners as inferior with their descriptions as of them as ‘vulgar’ and ‘the basest metal’. This juxtaposes the positive diction used by them to describe the commoners as ‘good countrymen’ when they are in the public sphere, suggesting that the patronising tone used had the sole purpose of gaining support from the commoners. However Antony is  the character that conceals the deepest division between public and private personas, demonstrating his Machiavellian nature. His public persona is presented toas supportive of the assassination by being supportive of the conspirators as he states that ‘it would become me better than to close in terms of friendship with thine enemies’. Give a bit more info of context. Who does he say this to? However his antithesis is indicated through his ‘hope that you shall give me reasons why and wherein Caesar was dangerous’. How? This is implied to be a signal of support from Antony towards the conspiratorshow? but it hid his inner motives of his desire offor conflict against the conspirators. His private persona is presented to be heavily opposed to the assassination and he calls for ‘havoc’ and ‘let slip the dogs of war’, with the violent imagery clearly stating his intention and perspective of the assassination. Mention that this is in a soliloquy before the oration and what we learn. His private persona is reflected in his funeral orations where he repeatedly implies his disagreement with the assassination but never explicitly stating his stance. Initially he states that he ‘comes to bury Caesar, not to praise him’, but this is juxtaposed with his questioning tone and use of rhetorical questions that serve the purpose of suggesting the lack of justice in the assassination. Eg? His private persona comes into full view by the conclusion of his oration where through pathos he calls the ‘stones of Rome to rise up and mutiny’. Link to the dogs of war comments.This perspective of encouraging mutiny is therefore in direct contrast with his interactions with the other conspirators. Explain where. As a result conflicting perspectives are shown also within the characters in order to generate diverse and provocative insights. Similarly, Jason Reitman’s satirical film Thank You For Smoking also projects similar ideas regarding public and private personas. The film is a satire onof the perception of cigarettes and tobacco but not to the extent in which it is condoned, due to the fact that no character in the film is seen smoking. Conflicts in private and personal personas are seen through the protagonist of Nick Naylor with his public support of cigarettes and questioning of its associated health issues, juxtaposed with his private persona where he openly admits to smoking-related health issues. This issue is displayed through Naylor’s criteria for winning an argument, that ‘I  proved that you’re wrong. And if you’re wrong, I’m right’extend this quote with film techniques used at this point. His public persona has a distinct lack of integrity as he provides false promises on the nature of his employer, the Academy of Tobacco Studies. This is shown at the beg inning of the film where on a talk show he promises ‘50 million dollars to encourage kids not to smoke’. This is done despite it being completely contradictory to the perspectives of his employer who asks him ’50 million dollars? Are you out of your mind?’ The anger of his boss on promising the sum of money is seen through the closeup of his face as well as his questioning tone. However Naylor’s private persona admits to the health issues associated with smoking. In a meeting with the MOD group (Merchants of Death, constituting people from America’s firearms, alcohol and tobacco industries) in the film they discuss deaths directly attributed to their industry in order to gauge America’s most hated industry. Naylor boasts that ‘my product puts away 475 000 a year’ and he gloats that the level of alcohol related deaths is miniscule in context ‘100 000 in a year? Wowee a tragedy. Excuse me if I don’t exactly see terrorists getting excited kidnapping anyone from the alcohol industry’. The unconcerned facial expression coupled with the mid-close up shots of Naylor displaying no emotion and the comparison of deaths to terrorism demonstrates the complete disregard of human life. You need to comment on the use of satire as a way to highlight the conflict between what is said on screen and the purpose of the film maker. This is exemplified by the fast transition of shots in the conversation indicating the competitiveness of the argument. This scene is a satire ?on the perceived lack of moral concern demonstrated by tobacco industry through its use of absurdist behaviour, mainly instigated by Naylor. Therefore Naylor’s contradiction between his public and private personas is also another medium used by Reitman in order to convey conflicting perspectives on his satire of the tobacco industry. Manipulation is one central concern in Julius Caesar which generates conflicting perspectives. Cassius is able to manipulate Brutus into firstly believing the idealism of his cause and thus joining the conspirators and enacting Caesar’s death. Brutus is presented to be an idealistic character as he ‘loves the name of honour more than I fear death’. The antithetical  language of ‘honour’ and ‘death’ demonstrates that he has cast himself as the honourable idealist, and when coupled with Brutus’ fear that Rome ‘chooses Caesar as their king’ Cassius is free to manipulate him into joining the conspirators. He uses hyperbole to exaggerate Caesar’s status and he juxtaposes images of him being both a ‘Colossus’ and a ‘sick girl’ in order to prove his weakness to Brutus. Cassius also appeals to his idealistic nature. His monologue contains the epistrophy epistrophe ‘one man’ that reveals Caesar’s true power, that only ‘one man is Rome’. This position is different to the democratic Roman Republic that Brutus represents and admires and he is slowly manipulated to join the conspirators. Manipulation is also seen to demonstrate the power of language, seen through the differing funeral orations of Brutus and Antony. Initially the commoners are irate onabout Caesar’s assassination and the declarative mood presented through ‘we will be satisfied’ highlights their anger but it also serves as a point of juxtaposition. Brutus’ use of logos convinces the crowd that he ‘loved Rome more’ than Caesar through posing rhetorical statements that question the loyalty of the commoners and Caesar’s supposedly true nature. Immediately following his oration the commoners immediately affirm that ‘Caesar was a tyrant’, with this declarative statement juxtaposing heavily with the sentiment displayed in the first line of the scene. However the crowd are manipulated again by Antony to subscribe to his point of view. He adopts a questioning tone throughout his oration in inquiring onabout the validity of Brutus’ statements in order to not directly oppose Brutus but let his audience question their own perspectives. He repeats the phrase ‘Brutus says he was ambitious, and Brutus is an honourable man’ but the repetition of the phrase combined with the logos in his argument in proving Caesar’s lack of ambition therefore hint at the invalidity of Brutus’ argument. Further on in his oration Antony also uses metaphor to describe Brutus, that he was ‘Caesar’s angel’. This image is contrasted with the assassination, the ‘most unkindest cut of all’ and this contributes to the sentiment of betrayal with Brutus that assists in manipulating the audience. By the conclusion of the speech the commoners are united with one common purpose, shown in the stage direction in that all the commoners state ‘We’ll mutiny [against Brutus]. Anto ny’s rapid manipulation of the crowd demonstrates the power of language  and how it can be used to shape perspective. The manipulation of the animals in Animal Farm also conveys similar sentiment. Orwell utilises a cyclical structure of the allegory in order to demonstrate the power of manipulation instigated mainly by the antagonist of Napoleon and his spokesperson of Squealer. Orwell’s use of the text as an allegory of Soviet Russia creates a chilling context for the reader due to the fact that manipulation was repeated in Stalin’s rule of Russia, leading to the subjugation of the citizens of the Soviet Union. The pigs of Napoleon and Snowball quickly establish themselves as the superior class in the new ‘classless’ society of Animalism. Their superior intellect immediately allows them to create a simplified maxim for Animalism, which was to be ‘four legs good, two legs bad’. The sheep, representing the uneducated class, immediately begin to circulate this simplified form of Animalism and their attitude is reflected in the sheep ‘bleating this onfor ho urs on end’. The onomatopoeia exemplifies the repetitive nature and submissiveness in accepting this maxim and thus of the commands set by Napoleon throughout the allegory. Motif as well? The commandments of Animalism is used as a vehicle to demonstrate the manipulation of the animals. The commandments are changed repeatedly throughout the allegory to manipulate the common animals and their ‘poor memory’ as well as their naivety contributes to their ultimate acceptance of the new norm. The first notion of this manipulation is done when the pigs move and reside in the farmhouse. The new commandment reads ‘no animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets’, with the ‘sheets’ clause added. The character of Clover demonstrates the naivety of the animals in general as she ‘had not remembered if it mentioned sheets, but as it was there on the wall, it must have done so’. The high modality of ‘it must have done so’ contrasts her failure to rememb er the commandment. Squealer’s immediate entry in justifying the change in the commandment is another example of manipulation as he uses his intellectual superiority and logos in order to influence his listeners. He states that a bed ‘is simply a place to sleep in’ and not a physical construct and his argument juxtaposes the affirmation at the establishment of Animalism that the commandments were ‘unalterable laws’. The death of the character of Boxer also reveals the extent of Napoleon’s manipulation. Boxer is a follower of Napoleon throughthe adoption of the motto ‘Napoleon is always right’ which, when combined with his hardworking nature, should warrant great care and respect from the pigs. However when Boxer falls ill he is taken to the ‘horse slaughterer’ to be killed in exchange for money. This reality, witnessed by the animals, contrasts the explanation of Squealer in that ‘the van had previously been the property of the knacker, and had been bought by the veterinary surgeon’. By the conclusion of the allegory Napoleon’s power has become increased to such an extent that even the commandments of Animalism are shown to reflect the changes in that ‘all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’. The paradoxical nature of this statement juxtaposes the original idealistic thinking based behind the creation of Animalism and demonstrates the extent of the manipulation of the animals. The animals are not aware that they are living in conditions very similar to life under Jones which forms the basis of Orwell’s cyclical structure of the allegory. The bending of the truth by the pigs as well as the willingness of the animals to accept this reality highlights the vast extent and impact of manipulation. Thus manipulation is another medium in which conflicting perspectives can be revealed. Composers of texts use conflicting perspectives in order to generate diverse and provocative insights into their context. These perspectives are shown to favour one side and they can provide an insight into the opinion of the composer on issues affecting their context. This is seen in Julius Caesar, Thank You For Smoking and Animal Farm where the composers, through their portrayal of power, public and private personas and manipulation that form the basis of conflicting perspectives. This is excellent overall. However, there are things you can do to improve. The analysis of AF is almost longer than Caesar. You must mention the end of Caesar in your analysis. There doesn’t seem to be at least one quote from Acts 4 or 5. Find a couple and use them. In the first body paragraph on power, use quotes for Antony from elsewhere in the play, not just the oration. Eg comment on the deification of Caesar at the start and how stage directions are used by Shakespeare to contrast the views of the commoners/Antony/ and Cassius/Brutus and others. Give an example of where we  see Caesar’s hubris ‘northern star’†¦ and contrast that with his humility elsewhere. Shakespeare is always offering contrasting views and creating ambiguity. However, comment also on how we are finally positioned at the end of the play. If discussing Brutus’s hubris, mention the tragic structure. Contrast the way this character is presented at the beginning, middle and then the end when we see the consequences of both his idealism and hubris when he fights with Cassius and dies and then the final comments by Antony. When writing about Antony, consider the way he is presented as loyal, then angry and vengeful about the murder of Caesar, then pitiful, then scheming and manipulative. Take quotes from a range of places throughout the whole play to give the reader a better understanding of the narrative arc of this character. The final paragraph on AF could be edited. It is very long and veers away from the idea of conflicting perspectives in the middle and becomes an analysis of the novel. Throughout the discussion, you could make links between it and Caesar to remind the reader of your point. Email if you have questions.

Viable But Non Culturable Bacteria Biology Essay

Viable But Non Culturable Bacteria Biology Essay Viable but Non-Culturable state is a unique survival strategy of many bacteria in environment in response to adverse environmental conditions. VBNC bacteria cant be cultured on routine microbiological media but they remain viable and retain their virulent capacity too. VBNC bacteria can be resuscitated when provided with appropriate conditions. A good number of bacteria including many human pathogens have been reported to enter VBNC state. Though, there was disputes on the existence of VBNC in past, extensive molecular studies have resolved most of them and VBNC has been accepted as distinct survival state by all. VBNC bacteria are considered as threats to public health and food safety due to their non-detectability and virulence as food and water have been reported to be contaminated with pathogens at VBNC state though conventional methods declared them as safe and clean. A number of outbreaks have also been reported where VBNC bacteria has been implicated as causative agent. Furthe r molecular and combinatorial research in conjunction with predictive modeling are needed to elucidate the mechanisms and to identify the critical points to tackle the threat posed by VBNC bacteria with regard to public health and food safety. Key words: VBNC, Pathogen, public health, Food safety, Detection Introduction The cells that form colony in specific media are the culturable cells. Viable means metabolically or physiologically active. So the cells those are metabolically or physiologically active but cant be cultured on specific media are the viable but non-culturable cells (VBNC) (Bogosian Bourneuf, 2001). Most microorganisms growing in nature have yet to be cultured in the laboratory. In fact less than 1% of the microorganisms in natural water and soil samples are cultured in viable count procedures (Barcian Arana, 2009). In 1982, Prof. Rita Colwell and co-workers introduced the term Viable But Non-Culturable Bacterial Cells (VBNC) to distinguish particular cells that could not form colonies on solid media but obtained metabolic activity and the ability to elongate after the administration of nutrients (Xu et al., 1982). According to Oliver (1995), VBNC can be defined as a metabolically active bacterial cell that crossed a threshold in this way, for known or unknown reasons and become unable to multiply in or on a medium normally supporting its growth. Most of the bacteria that enter VBNC state are gram negative species belonging to the gamma subclass of the Proteobacteria branch, except for Rhizobium, Agrobacterium and Helicobacter-Campylobacter species (Oliver, 2000). History Debra Bashford and colleagues announced that they had recovered Vibrio cholerae from streams and drainage ditches, including sites with negligible chance of sewage contamination. Around the same lime, Rita Colwell was also finding Vibrio cholerae in Maryland. She and her coworkers showed that both this bacterium and E. coli, incubated in artificial sea water remained viable but lost the capacity to form colonies on culture media (Colwell Grimes, 2000). Soon Salmonella enteritidis, Shigella sonnie and Legionella pneumophila joined the list of organisms known to be capable of entering a state in which they failed to show up on nutrient agar yet took up substrates and signaled in other ways that they were certainly not dead. The use of laboratory media to recover and enumerate bacteria and lo link them with or absolve them from pathological and other activities became obsolete by the new discoveries and a term VBNC (viable but non-culturable) came (McDougald et al., 1998). VBNC Microorganisms that do not grow in culture methods, but which are still metabolically active and capable of causing infections in animals and plants are said to be in VBNC state. The conditions for these organisms to resume growth are not being met using the normal laboratory culture conditions (Yamamoto, 2000). Bacteria that have been semi-starved will immediately resume growth when provided with the appropriate nutrients and conditions. Viable but non-culturable cells will not resume growth even when nutrients are provided (NystrÃÆ'-m, 2001). VBNC cells exhibit active metabolism in the form of respiration or fermentation, incorporate radioactive substrates, and have active protein synthesis but cannot be cultured or grown on conventional laboratory media. They have been detected by observing discrepancies between plate count enumeration of bacterial population and direct staining and microscopic counts (Sachidanandham Gin, 2009). These cells may be of particular problems in the e nvironment if they are pathogens, for example, viable but non-culturable cells of Vibrio cholerae, Enteropathogenic E. coli, Legionella pneumophila and various other bacteria have been shown to regain culturability after they have entered the intestinal tracts of animals (Colwell et al., 1996). The VBNC state is defined as a state of dormancy triggered by environmental harsh conditions, such as nutrient starvation (Cook Bolster, 2007), temperature (Besnard et al., 2002), osmotic stress (Asakura et al., 2008), oxygen availability (Kana et al., 2008), several food preservatives (Quirà ³s et al., 2009), heavy metals (Ghezzi Steck, 1999), exposure to white light (Gourmelon et al., 1994) and decontaminating processes, as pasteurization of milk (Gunasekera et al., 2002) and chlorination of wastewater (Oliver, 2005). VBNC state is believed to be a unique survival strategy of bacteria in response to environmental stresses (Oliver, 2010). It is also considered as an important reservoir of many human pathogens in the environment (Lleo et al., 2007). VBNC state has been a matter of dispute for ling since its inception, due to the difficulty of differentiation of VBNC cells dormant cells through resuscitation phenotypic studies, recent molecular studies, data of which supported the existence of VBNC state, the dispute has mostly been put to rest (Barer and Harwood, 1999). VBNC Pathogens Following list includes but not limited to pathogenic bacteria that can enter VBNC state (Oliver, 2010)- Aeromonas hydrophila, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Burkholderia cepacia, Campylobacter jejuni, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli (including EHEC), Helicobacter pylori, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Legionella pneumophila, Listeria monocytogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Streptococcus faecalis, Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificus (types 1 and 2) Characteristics of Bacteria in VBNC state 1. Maintain apparent cell integrity; 2. possession of some form of measurable cellular activity (Lai et al., 2009); 3. possess apparent capacity to regain culturability (Anuchin et al., 2009); 4. respond to external stimulus by specific gene expression (kell et al., 1998); 5. low metabolic activity (oliver, 2005); 6. Exhibit dwarfing (Costa et al., 1999); 7. reduced nutrient transport; 8. High ATP level and high membrane potential (Signoretto et al., 2000); 9. extensive modifications in cytoplasmic membrane fatty acid compositions (Day Oliver, 2004); 10. Changes in cell wall peptidoglycan such as increasing cross linking, increasing muropeptides bearing covalently bound lipoprotein shortening of average length of glycan strands (signoretto et al., 2002); 11. Higher autolytic capability than exponentially growing cells; 12. Plasmids are retained; 13. changed antibiotic sensitivity as metabolic activity is lower, most bacteria at VBNC state demonstrate high antibiotic resistance (Ol iver, 2010); 14. Changes in outer-membrane protein profile (Muela et al., 2008); 15. Continuous gene expression (Maalej et al., 2004) etc. Conditions stimulating VBNC state In the environment, bacterial cells can enter VBNC state may be due to- 1. Lack of nutrients; 2. Lack of temperatures; 3. High pressure; 4. Sharp changes in pH or salinity (Cunningham et al., 2009); 5.damage to or lack of an essential cellular component; 6. DNA damage; 7. activation of lysogenic phages or suicide genes such as sok/hak or autolysins (Aizenman et al., 1996); 8. Nutrient starvation; 9. incubation outside the normal temperature range of growth; 10. elevated or lower osmotic concentrations; 11. oxygen concentrations (Mascher et al., 2000); 12. food preservatives; 13. Heavy metals (Del Campo et al., 2009); 14. exposure to white light; 15. pasteurization of milk (Gunasekara et al., 2002); 16. chlorination of wastewater (Oliver, 2005) etc. Public health significance of VBNC Though virulence of bacteria in VBNC state is still not very clear, many believed that pathogens in VBNC state are unable to induce infection/disease but still retain their virulent properties has potential to cause disease infection following resuscitation and resume of active metabolic state, which occurs when they pass through host animal (Baffone et al., 2003). The VBNC state appears to be the common to many bacteria especially those which have aquatic habitats, and may represent a mechanism to survive adverse environmental factors as temperature, salinity etc. or have a means of inducing cross protection against other adverse factors (Du et al., 2007). Among these bacteria entering this state are many significant human pathogens and indicator bacteria of these pathogens; such cells may represent a public health hazard and may be a factor in human health and/or disease (Rivers Steck, 2001). Even today, it is still not possible to cultivate most bacterial species directly from the environmental samples or after exposure of previously culturable cells to environmental conditions unfavorable for growth and multiplication in vitro. The passage of VBNC through an appropriate animal host will induce return of culturability. Even these VBNC bacteria retain their pathogenicity and may trigger life in vivo and thus cause severe disease (Sardessai, 2005). Under normal condition it is not possible to culture or detect VBNC. Many diagnostic laboratory set up does not have sufficient molecular facilities to detect VBNC. In case of food and water quality control test, such VBNC may not be detected. Even some indicator of some pathogenic bacteria undergoes VBNC state and may remain undetected (Signoretto et al., 2004). Upon consuming such food or after drinking such water, one may be infected by those VBNC that can trigger life as well as pathogenicity (Adams et al., 2003). Thus, environmental and clinical samples no longer can be considered free from pathogens if culturing yields negative results. For the general public, the presence of VBNC in water and food may be related to low-grade infections or so called aseptic infection. For example, Vibrio cholerae O1 in the surface water remain as non-culturable state. These water sources are used for domestic purpose regularly and posed a risk of infection (Edwards, 2000). When conditions are not favorable for growth then it transforms to the non-culturable state in association with crustacean copepods. Persistence of Vibrio cholerae in water in the VBNC state is an important public health factor, since detection will not be successful if only conventional cultural methods are used (Barer et al., 1993). Similarly, Shigella can undergo VBNC state in water but become a threat when enter in human body. Thus it is important to recognize that non-culturable bacteria are capable of producing diseases. The first evidence of pathogenicity of non-culturable cells was the demonstration of fluid accumulation in rabbit ileal loop assay (RICA) by VBNC Vibrio cholerae O1, followed by human volunteer experiments (Amel et al., 2008). VBNC E. coli non-culturable cells were re-isolated after passage through rabbit ileal loops 4 days post inoculation and chick embryos died when injected with non-culturable cells of Legionella pneumophila, led to the conclusion that VBNC pathogens remain potentially pathogenic. So, VBNC has a huge significance in public health care (Cappelier et al., 2007). Reports indicate that many potentially harmful bacteria survive treatment and persist in processed food, pasteurized milk, potable water and in the environment (Colwell et al., 2000). Many evidences suggested that recurrent urinary tract infections in many individuals are caused by uropathogenic E. coli cells which remain in VBNC state (Anderson et al., 2004) thus resistant to antibiotic treatment cause reinfection when resuscitate back to active metabolic state (Steck, 2001; Mulvey et al., 2001). Studies also showed that uropathogenic E. coli retain enteropathogenicity at VBNC state through continued production of enterotoxin (Pommepuy et al., 1996). Nilsson et al. (2002) showed that VBNC Helicobacter pylori cells can express virulence factors such as cagA, vacA and vreA. All these above evidence proved that many deathly pathogenic strains not only enter but also persist survive in VBNC state in environment most of them remain infectious as well. VBNC state of foodborne bacteria- a challenge in food safety Many evidences suggested presence of VBNC bacteria in food (Ordax et al., 2009). For example, in stored wine, acetic acid and lactic acid bacteria entered VBNC state as consequence of lack of oxygen and presence of sulphites, respectfully (Millet and Lonvaud-Funel, 2000). Food and its surrounding environment is a complex system, in which physic-chemical characterisitcs (pH, aw, chemical composition) and environmental factors (storage temperature and time, decontamination treatments, packaging under modified atmosphere) act simultaneously on contaminating bacteria (Sun et al., 2008). For example, it has been demonstrated that refrigerated pasteurized grapefruit juice induced VBNC state in E. coli O157:H7 and S. typhimurium within 24 hours of incubation (Nicolo et al., 2011). Again, Gunasekera et al. (2002) reported that in pasteurized milk which have undergone thermal treatment, contaminating bacteria such as E. coli and Pseudomonas putida enter into VBNC state but retained transcription and translation machineries. Several foodborne outbreaks has been reported in Japan, where pathogen such as Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica (Asakura et al., 2002) and E. coli O157 (Makino et al., 2000) in food in VBNC state were responsible for the outbreak. Therefore, the role of food and treatment for food preservation in induction of VBNC state has to be elucidated. Predicitve models offered by biomathematics and bioinformatics would be very helpful tools, in order to evaluate the possibility that, under certain conditions, pathogen bacteria contaminating a tipology of food may enter the VBNC state (Fakruddin et al., 2012). Methods of detection of VBNC bacteria 1. Bright Field Microscopy with Nalidixic acid For detection of Bright-field or light microscopic is usually used. Cell division inhibitor such as nalidixic acid (20-40 mg/L) is used to stop cell division. After such treatment the viable cells, which actively growing, will be appeared as lengthen and the non-viable/ metabolically inactive cell will remain as it is. The cells are then observed under microscope. Viable cells will be seen as elongated whereas VBNC/ dormant cells will be seen as oval and large. 2. Fluorescent Microscopy Various fluorescent staining procedures are used in combination with other procedure to determine VBNC organisms. Frequently used stains are Acridine orange, 4,6- Diamino-2-phenyl indole (DAPI), Fluorescein isothiocyanante (FITC), Indophenyl-nitrophenyl-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT), 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) etc (Villarino et al., 2000). Table: Fluorescent dyes used for detection of VBNC bacteria Dye Mechanism Reaction Acridine orange Acridine orange stain cells depending on the ratio of DNA to protein in the cells Actively reproducing cells appear green but slow-grower or non-reproducing cells at time of staining appear orange Di-amino-phenyl-indole (DAPI) Living cells look green under fluorescent microscope Indophenyl-nitrophenyl-phenyl tetrazolium chloride (INT) INT deposit red dye in cells that have active dehydrogenase and thus determine which of the observed cells are metabolically active INT react with dehydrogenase enzyme to produce formazone and red color, thus living cells appear red. Nalidixic acid (NA) Lengthen metabolically active cells, VBNC cells remain as it is Cells that are dividing appear to be longer in size than VBNC Fluorescein isothiocyanante (FITC) Enzyme activity in living cell FITC stain living cells violet or blue In recent years, a new differential staining assay, the BacLight ® Live/Dead assay, has been developed. The assay allows to simultaneously count total and viable (metabolically active) cells, by using two nucleic acid stains, that is green-fluorescent SYTO ® 9 stain and red-fluorescent propidium iodide stain. These stains differ in their ability to penetrate intact cell membranes. When used alone, SYTO ® 9 stain labels both live and dead bacteria. In contrast, propidium iodide penetrates only bacteria with damaged membranes, reducing SYTO ® 9 fluorescence when both dyes are present. Thus, live bacteria with intact membranes fluoresce green, while dead bacteria with damaged membranes fluoresce red (Rowan, 2011). 3. Gene probe / oligonucleotide probe / hybridization: Molecular analysis can also be used to study non-culturable microorganisms in nature. Oligonucleotide probes of l8-20 nucleotides are proving most useful because they hybridize rapidly to specific DNA sequences of target organisms. These gene probes can reveal closely related organisms or organisms with similar functional capabilities. Especially useful for the analyses of rRNA that demonstrate the presence of diverse microbial populations whose phylogenetic relationships can be ascertained by comparison with rRNA sequences from previously described microorganisms (Josephson et al., 1993). Blotting: There are different types of blotting such as colony blot, slot blot, dot blot and southern blot. The principle of blotting is the use of radio- or non-radioactive or fluorescence labeled probe (DNA/RNA/Antibody) to detect VBNC cells directly from the environmental samples. Fluorescent in situ Hybridization (FISH): In situ hybridization is an alternative format for hybridization probes in which fluorescence labeled DNA or RNA probes are hybridized with target nucleic acids in whole, permeabilized cells. The application of this method to the detection of single microbial cells by using rRNA-targeted probes in combination with epifluorescent microscopy has been developed. This is done through selective targeting of regions of rRNA, which consist of conserved and variable nucleotide regions. By choosing the appropriate rRNA probe sequence, FISH can be used to detect all bacterial cells (a universal probe) or a single population of cells (a strain specific probe) of VBNC. It has lower sensitivity and cannot distinguish live and dead cells. 4. Molecular techniques: Hybridization probes and DNA/RNA amplification: Hybridization probes are nucleic acids (DNA/RNA) which have been (a) chemically or radioactively labeled and are used to detect complementary target DNA/RNA. Hybridization assay DNA/ RNA probes form a stable double stranded structure with target nucleic acid via H-bonding between complementary bases. Amplification of targets: DNA Based methods: Specific amplification of DNA targets in bulk DNA extracts from environmental and clinical samples permits detection of specific organisms or groups of related organisms without the need to cultivate them. DNA recovery procedures do not discriminate between culturable and non-culturable forms of the target organisms- all cells with intact amplification targets will be detected. Confocal laser microscopy in combination with fluorescence-based hybridization assays, also provide a more sensitive method for detecting and identifying VBNC organisms. RNA based methods: Due to the failure of distinguishing between dead or live cells by DNA-based methods, the mRNA level may be a valuable estimate of gene expression and/or cell viability under different conditions (Lleo et al., 2000). RT-PCR: RT-PCR (Reverse Transcriptase PCR) can distinguish between Live and dead cell. This is possible because this is an mRNA based method and mRNA is short lived (half-life less than 1 minute), mRNA is only present in metabolically active cells, not found in nature after the cell death. By this method we can study community relationship and can also detect non-culturable but active or live cells. DNase enzyme is used during the isolation of RNA from environmental samples. Reverse transcriptase and random primers are added to the reaction mixture and the RNA in the sample (both RNA and rRNA) is transcribed into DNA. PCR is then use to amplify the specific sequence of interest (Pai et al., 2000). Is the concept of VBNC is a misnomer? By extending the concept of bacterial self-suicide scientists tried to explain what happens when cells are exposed to chemical and physical injury (Forsman et al., 2000). Thus VBNC organisms came alongside with those, which do not grow in ordinary media but which do grow when offered selective or enrichment media. They said, Such cells are not un-culturable they wrote We are simply failing to provide appropriate conditions to support culture (Sinton, 2006). The reasons, which made the term, VBNC a misnomer are as follow: 1. Bacteria that have been semi-starved will immediately resume growth when provided with the appropriate nutrients and conditions. But viable but non-culturable bacteria do not resume growth when nutrients are provided. Evidence suggests that these cells have become too starved to be able to grow on rich medium initially; this phenomenon was observed over three decades ago and was known then as substrate accelerated death (Heim et al., 2002). It was found that substrate that normally supported growth of certain Gram-negative bacteria hastened their death when introduced into starved populations of these bacteria. These substrates were considered lethal substrates. These starved cells require an adjustment period to allow phenotypic adaptation back to the normal growth state (Epstein, 2009). A sudden shift to nutrient rich agar creates a metabolic imbalance that results in the formation of super-oxide and free radicals, causing DNA damage that can result in cell death (Barer Harwood , 1997). 2. There is yet no complete and perfect media to isolate arid culture all the organisms from environment. 3. Cells are usually-injured or stressed or starved condition in natural environment. So complete system has been devised to enrich or resuscitated the VBNC cells. Culture condition that can be applied in laboratory is not sufficient to recover all microorganisms i.e. yet it is not possible to provide or stimulate exact environmental conditions in the laboratory. Conclusion Regardless of the role that the VBNC state plays, it is clear that a large number of non-spore-forming bacteria, most notably a large number of human pathogens, are capable of entering this state, maintaining cellular structure and biology and continuing significant gene expression while otherwise non-culturable by standard laboratory methods. That they can exit from this state, and become culturable again, is also undeniable. Finally, it can no longer be questioned that the VBNC state plays a critical role in the survival of important human (and other) pathogens, and possibly in their ability to produce disease.