Amd Vs. Intel :: essays research papers

AMD versus Pentium      A couple of years back when Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) presented it’s K5 microchip, the expression “too little, past the point of no return'; was put over their name on many occasions. Around then, if anybody somehow happened to name a longshot to the Intel commanded chip showcase, Cyrix with their low priced 5x86 processor would have been the top choice.      Intel had been the main processor that could deal with everyday capacities at sensible velocities. Such straightforward assignments as word preparing and counts, afterwards gaming and instructive work, the processors couldn't perform. The Pentium processor was presented in 1994; no organization could contend with Intel now. It took until 1997, for AMD to try and be seen, and afterward in 1997 the AMD k6 arrangement was presented.      When AMD’s k6 was acquainted with rival the Pentium!! Processor, it missed the mark in all territories, with the exception of one-cost. It was the least expensive small scale handling (chip) available. The drawback to this chip is that it didn't follow a similar organization as Intel chips. It required an alternate motherboard, an attachment 7 motherboard. This hurt AMD’s chances toward the start, yet in mid 1998 they divulged their strong K6-2 processor. The K6-2 Processor was “bigger, better, and less expensive.'; The processor ran on a 100mhz transport, while Intel’s chips despite everything ran on a 66mhz transport, this made AMD’s chip quicker. It additionally was about 16% less expensive than any Intel based Pentium!! PC.      The gaming network acknowledged the k6-2 with mindful, yet open, arms. With their new SIMD-Enhanced (Single Instruction Multiple Data) 3Dnow! the designs this processor had the option to deliver were astonishing, for the time, because of the utilization of skimming point concentrated projects. With the new processor and their own structure they were staying aware of the mammoth Intel, yet they were advancing.      Intel replied back with its “SSE';, which was to be remembered for its Pentium!!! processors. This new upgrade was to push illustrations increasing speed twice as quick as AMD’s 3Dnow! could. When Intel rashly discharged the Pentium!!! processor it missed the mark. Numerous individuals got opportunities to take the new P3 for a run, and they were scarcely quicker than the correspondingly timed AMD K6-2’s. That, however they sold for more than multiple times the cost. At the point when updates on this arrived at the vendors and open, K6-2s deals had soar to 43.9 percent of the market, while Intel’s dropped to 40.

Essay TopicsFor Writing A Womens Rights Essay

Essay TopicsFor Writing A Womens Rights EssayWhen it comes to writing a women's rights essay, you can either choose to focus on specific women's issues, or they can be the topic of the entire essay. These days, women are becoming very visible in society, making their voices heard and even speaking out in public. Women are forming more important relationships than ever before, from the head of the household to the owner of a big corporation. There is a lot more that women are doing than women used to, and a womens rights essay could cover this movement more completely.A womens rights essay needs to contain strong opinions, but it must also be written from the writer's voice. When writing for a women's rights essay, women must write from the perspective of their own personal experiences. This could be a mother who has been discriminated against due to her child's gender, or it could be a girlfriend who wants a man to respect her opinions about certain issues. There are more stories tha n ever before, so it is up to the writer to use their own experience as well as the experiences of others to make their essay relevant and comprehensive. It must come from a true perspective, but at the same time, should reflect the direction that the women are currently taking.Many times a women's rights essay can focus on a specific issue or many issues, depending on the topics that are chosen. It can range from abortion to domestic violence to the wage gap. No matter what the topic is, it is important that the essay reflects the true voice of the women. They should express their opinions in a clear and concise manner, but they must still express them in a way that is unique to them.The other thing that will help a women's rights essay is that the writer should be able to write effectively without being overly wordy. They must be able to convey their ideas in a short and concise manner. When they speak more than is necessary, then they run the risk of boring their readers and losi ng the attention of their readers.An important aspect of a women's right's essay is that it must be able to engage the reader and hold their attention. It is not required that they become enlightened, but they must read a piece of writing that is so interesting that they want to continue reading it. Many times, the power of an essay comes from the ability to grab the reader's attention, and the ability to create a sense of suspense is an essential part of making this happen.One way to spice up a women's rights essay is to do an investigation into the issue that the writer is discussing. They could start with what they know and then look into their knowledge and begin to uncover all of the information that is needed to provide a fuller picture. Even if the information is only partially true, the reader should be able to find the inconsistencies and then move on to the next piece of information. However, this does not mean that they should just accept everything the writer has to say without questioning it.A womens rights essay should be able to reach its full potential, no matter what it is talking about. Sometimes the truths are right in front of you, but you may not be able to see them because of the topic. If this is the case, then a women's rights essay must be written by an individual who is knowledgeable about the topic in question. It should include the information that is in their opinion the most important, but it should also be able to address other issues as well.Writing a women's rights essay is very different than writing a traditional essay. With the many topics that are being discussed, the essays must be written from a different point of view, so that readers get a glimpse of the larger picture. In addition, it must be relevant and current, but not be too long.

What’s the International Phonetic Alphabet and What’s so Great About it

Consonants IPA will help you with English, but also for learning any language! Nope, it’s not the beer, though that’s pretty great too! The IPA stands for the International Phonetic Alphabet and is a standardized way to write down the sounds of any language. Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? But we’ll see how this system captures nuances of sounds in the world’s languages and why this is a great tool not only for understanding English, but also for learning any language. You might have seen transcriptions before that almost look like English, but not quite, like the following for the word ‘casing’: /ˈkÄ siNG/ Many dictionaries use this kind of transcription, which uses terms that might be used in elementary school grammar, like â€Å"long a† (the Ä  sound there), but this system is not quite IPA. In fact, it’s better to shed your intuitions about what a â€Å"long a† or a â€Å"short o† are, because they won’t help you when you’re dealing with other languages! So let’s get into the actual IPA! You can check out the full chart here. Consonants First let’s talk about consonants. Luckily, as a speaker and writer of English, you’ll be coming into the International Phonetic Alphabetknowing a lot of the symbols already! The following chart shows most of the consonants that are common in the world’s languages. So what do these rows and columns actually mean? Let’s start with the columns, which represent the place of articulation--or where the sound is actually being made in your mouth. What do these terms actually mean?! We don’t need to get into the nitty gritty of what each word means, but remember this--as you go from left to right, you’re moving from the front of your mouth to the back of your mouth. So let’s go in order from left to right. A good source to follow along with while reading this is this website.If you click on a sound on that link, it will play what it should sound like to you. Click each sound as I describe it. So let’s start from the front of the mouth to the back! Places of Articulation First, check out the diagram below to see all the places of articulation we’ll be talking about and try to feel them in your mouth as your pronouncing the words below! Bilabials are consonants made with the lips. Say pat and you’ll notice that your lips come together for the [p] sound. Now say mat and you’ll see that your lips are together for the [m] sound too. Labiodentals are consonants made with your teeth on your lips. Say fat and vat and you’ll feel your teeth on your lips for the [f] and [v] sounds. Dentals are consonants made with your teeth. Say that and notice that your tongue is between your teeth for what is written as [à °]. Now say tattoo and feel where your tongue touches your mouth. That hard part just behind the teeth is called the alveolar ridge, so sounds made there are called alveolars. Say lateral and you’ll see that [l] is made there too. Say shape and you’ll notice that the sh (transcribed as [ÊÆ']) postalveolar sound involves hitting your tongue a little further back than the alveolar ridge. Next are retroflex consonants, which don’t exist in English, but involve rolling your tongue back as far as possible and hitting the roof of your mouth. If you try saying the t’s in tattoo by rolling your tongue back to that position, you may notice that it sounds like an Indian English accent. The reason is that Indian languages have both dental and retroflex consonants (so they have both [t] and [ʈ]) and American and British English (for example) alveolar consonants are perceived as retroflex. The only palatal consonant that exists in English is [j], which represents the y in yes. If you pronounce yes, you’ll feel the middle of your tongue moving upward but not quite touching the mouth. Now try canyon, and you’ll feel that same part of the tongue moving up at the ny part (transcribed as [É ²]) to touch what’s called the palate (or hard palate). Moving further back, say cat. The first consonant is velar and is transcribed as [k]. If you feel where the back of your tongue hits, that part is called the velum (or soft palate). Uvular and pharyngeal sounds do not exist in English, but these sounds are produced at the very back of your mouth. The dangly thing at the back of your throat is called the uvula, and if you speak French, you’ll notice that the French r (transcribed as [Ê€]) as in rouge is produced by trilling your uvula against the back of your tongue. The pharynx is just above where your vocal cords lie and these sounds are common in Semitic languages like in the Arabic ayn (transcribed [Ê•ajn]). Finally, we reach the glottis, which is where the vocal cords lie. Say hat and you’ll notice that air just passes through the vocal cords for the [h] sound. Another important sound to remember is the glottal stop, which is produced by briefly closing the glottis and releasing, as in the word uh-oh, transcribed as [ʔəʔoÊŠ]. Okay, now let’s move on to the rows of the chart. These are known as manners of articulation, and refer to how you are producing the sounds, rather than where. As you move from up to down, your mouth opens wider. Rows on the Chart, or Manners of Articulation Stops (or Plosives) First are the plosives, also known as stops. These sounds are made by making a full closure at some point in your mouth and then releasing the closure. Say bat, dam, and gas, and you’ll notice that for the [b], [d], and [g], there is a full closure at your lips, alveolar ridge, and velum, respectively. At this point, let me make an aside to talk about two extra features that can apply on top of most of the manners of articulation: 1. Voicelessness Put your fingers on your throat where your vocal cords are and feel how it vibrates when you pronounce [b], [d], and [g] in the above words (bat, dam, and gas). These are known as voiced because the vocal cords vibrate. Now say pack, tap, and cast and you’ll notice your vocal cords do not vibrate when you pronounce the [p], [t], and [k] (the vocal cords start vibrating when you get to the vowel). These sounds are voiceless. 2. Aspiration Another feature that is relevant particularly to stops is called aspiration. Say pulpit and put your hand up to your mouth and you’ll feel a puff of air at the initial aspirated [p]. Now say it again with your hand up to your mouth and feel the second unaspirated [p], which does not cause a puff of air. I’ve been transcribing all these p’s as [p] for simplicity, but to be more exact, we need to use a superscript h to represent aspiration, so pulpit would be transcribed as [phÊŠlpÉ ªt]. If we were to pronounce the first p in pulpit as an unaspirated [p] it would sound very funny, and the same if we were to pronounce the second p as an aspirated [ph]. However, in Spanish, all p’s are unaspirated, so Spanish speakers would pronounce pulpit as [pÊŠlpÉ ªt], while Georgian speakers pronounce p’s as aspirated, so they would say [pÊ °ÃŠÅ lpÊ °Ã‰ ªt]. Sounds like these make these accents distinctive to us when these speakers speak English. If you look at the International Phonetic Alphabetchart of consonants, you’ll see that many of the cells have more than one consonant in them. The left counterpart is voiceless while the right one is voiced, and depending on the language, there may even be a three-way distinction, where you have aspiration as well, and you’ll see three counterparts: p ph b All three of these sounds are stops and are all bilabial so they would occupy the same cell on the chart and it’s good to remember these sounds as a group when you’re learning a language since they make minimal distinctions with each other. In Thai, for example, [pa] is â€Å"aunt†, [pÊ °a] is â€Å"cloth†, and [ba] is â€Å"crazy†, so these distinctions matter! Now back to the main manners: Nasals Next are the nasals, which are made with a full closure in your mouth, but with a release of air through your nose. Say â€Å"mmm† and put your finger horizontally in front of your nostrils and you’ll feel some air coming out. The [n] in new and [Å‹] in sing are also nasal. Note that [Å‹] is one sound in the IPA even though it is written as two letters in English (if you try pronouncing IPA [n] and [g] next to each other it will sound very different, as if you’re saying something like ‘sinig’). Also note that English doesn’t allow [Å‹] at the beginning of a word, but that many languages, like Cantonese, do: tooth in Cantonese, for example, is [Å‹a], and see, we’re transcribing other languages already! Trills Moving down, we see the trills. English doesn’t have trills, but many languages, like Spanish, have what is often called in colloquial speech a â€Å"rolled r†. This is an alveolar trill, because it involves the tip of the tongue flapping back and forth continuously against the alveolar ridge. If you can roll your r, try saying [ra] (or better, if you speak Spanish, say ropa, which means ‘clothing’) and you’ll feel the rapid flapping. As I mentioned in the uvular section, French [Ê€] is a trill that involves the uvula flapping rapidly back and forth. Taps (or Flaps) Next up are taps, which are like trills but involve a single flap. English has taps in the middle of words. Try saying latter and you’ll notice that the tt part isn’t actually a [t] sound, nor is it a [d] sound (the difference between that part and the d in dam, for example, might sound subtle to you, but would be noticeable to speakers of other languages). Rather, this is the alveolar tap [É ¾] as it involves tapping your tongue quickly against your alveolar ridge. Fricatives Now the fricatives. Fricatives involve creating a narrow passage in your mouth and so they are slightly more open than the above sounds. Try holding [s] for as long as possible (as if you’re hissing like a snake) and you’ll see that it lasts as long as you can hold your breath. Now try [b] and you’ll notice that you can only hold it for about a second. Because [b] is a stop, you can only hold it until the air held in your mouth runs out, but since [s] is a fricative, the narrow passage allows air to continuously flow out until you run out of breath. Fricatives are also a good way to practice the difference between voiceless and voiced stops. Hold [s] again and then change to [z] in the middle and back to [s] again and you’ll really feel the difference in your vocal cords vibrating. Fricatives can also be in different positions in the mouth, so you can try with holding [f] and changing to [v] and back for example, where you’ll notice the air is flowi ng between your teeth and lips. Approximants We’ll skip the lateral fricatives because they are relatively rare in the world’s languages, and talk instead about approximants. Approximants involve making the opening in your mouth a little wider than a fricative (and if you made it any wider, you would be making a vowel). Say red and you’ll notice that the r (transcribed as [É ¹]) is made at around the same position as [ÊÆ'] (like shed) but with a bigger opening). The other English approximants are [w] and [j]. [w] is made by making a slight closure at your lips and this is more subtle, but if you feel carefully, you’ll notice the back of your tongue also moves up towards your velum, so this is called a labiovelar approximant (or also a labiovelar glide). [j] involves moving your tongue up towards your palate, so it is called a palatal approximant (or also a palatal glide). Laterals Finally, the term lateral refers to the fact that these consonants involve air moving out either side of your tongue. Hold and [l] and put your hand in front of your mouth and you’ll feel some air coming out both sides. Great, we’ve gotten through the consonant categories that exist in English! Another useful tool is to look at mouth diagrams, to see where a certain sound is made. Some of these can be found at this website: http://idrani.perastar.com/ISMS_phonics.htm . The left chart below shows a [t] sound, made by putting the tip of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, while the right chart shows a [k] sound, made by bringing the back of the tongue up to the velum. These charts are especially useful when you’re learning a sound in a language you’re unfamiliar with (for example, there are many tongue diagrams that can be found for the alveopalatal fricatives of Mandarin). If you look at the full IPA chart, you’ll see that there are many more symbols involving other airstream mechanisms to transcribe sounds not in English (such as [!] for the alveolar clicks of Sub-Saharan African languages or [É“] for the implosives of Southeast Asia or [p’] for the ejectives of languages in the Caucasus mountains), which you can look into if you choose to learn these languages! Vowels Okay, let’s talk about the other big class of sounds, vowels, which involve full openings in your mouth. The IPA vowel chart is as follows: Characterizing a Vowel How do we make sense of the shape of the vowel chart? Try saying eat (transcribed as [it]) and notice that the [i] vowel is made at the front of your mouth and that it is also at the top of your mouth. Now try saying oops (transcribed as [ups]) and notice that the [u] vowel is also made at the top of your mouth but is in the back. Now say follow (transcribed as [faloÊŠ] or [fÉ‘loÊŠ] depending on your dialect). Either way, this vowel is low in your mouth. Finally, say cut [kÊÅ't] and court [kÉ”É ¹t]. Notice that your lips don’t round in the first vowel, but they do in the second one. So we can describe vowels in three ways: Height: Vowels can range from high (or close) to low (or open), with mid vowels in between, which can be further subdivided into high-mid (or close-mid) and low-mid (or open-mid) vowels. The height roughly correlates with how high in your mouth it feels. Frontness (or Backness): Vowels can range from front to central to back. The backness roughly correlates with how front or back in your mouth it feels. Roundness: Vowels can be unrounded (the left counterpart of each slot in the IPA) or rounded (the right counterpart of each slot in the IPA). Roundness roughly correlates with whether your lips are rounded or not. The Vowel Space Because I’m describing the positions of the vowels as â€Å"feelings† of where they are in your mouth, it might sound scientific or vague, but vowels have features known as formants can actually be quantitatively measured (in Hertz). The first formant (F1) corresponds to the height (low F1 = high, high F1 = low) and the second (F2) to the backness (low F2 = back, high F2 = front), while both the second and third formant (F3) correspond to the roundness. If we chart the F1 and F2 values of different vowels on a 2D plane where the origin (0, 0) is at the upper right corner and F1 increases as you move left and F2 increases as you move down (as in the following diagram), you will get a vowel space that looks like the IPA vowel chart above. Mapping the vowel space this way is helpful, because just as languages like to keep consonants as symmetric as possible, they also like to keep vowels symmetric and as dispersed as possible so that they are easily perceived to be different from each other. For this reason, languages often have many vowels at the edges of the space and very few in the center. 5 vowel languages (such as Spanish, Japanese, and Hawai’ian) are the most common systems with [i], [e], [a], [o], and [u] (notice how these form an almost-regular pentagon on the vowel space) and 3 vowel systems are also common (such as Arabic and Inuktitut), with [i], [a], and [u] (notice how these form an almost equilateral triangle). English Vowels and Stress English happens to have one of the richest vowel inventories in the world, with most dialects having over 20 vowels (not just the five that we learn in grammar school, the spellings of which are a relic of the fact that Latin did have five vowels)! We can see just a few examples of the richness of the English vowel system by inserting different vowels between [b] and [d] and moving from the upper left of the vowel chart down along the edge until we get to the upper right: Another important sound that shows up a lot in English is called the schwa and looks like this: É™ The schwa is the central vowel (look at the chart above again) and exists in a lot of unstressed environments. When I say â€Å"stressed†, I mean that the syllable is generally louder, higher in pitch, and or longer. Say â€Å"peruse† for example and you’ll notice the stress is on the second syllable, but now say â€Å"perish† and the stress is on the first syllable. Notice that the first vowel sounds different too. In IPA (the straight apostrophe Ê ½ is used before the stressed syllable), these are: Both words begin with the syllable written as â€Å"per†, but the first one becomes a schwa because it is unstressed. If you transcribe words in English, you’ll notice it’s everywhere! To hear even more vowels of English, check this out! The best way to learn transcription is to listen to the sounds on the IPA chart in the sound files on the website given at the beginning of this post and to check them with words in languages you know. With enough practice you’ll be transcribing in no time and be able to practice on foreign languages that you’re learning! Knowing the exact places of articulation, manners of articulation, and position on the vowel chart of consonants and vowels will go a long way in helping you master the phonetics of a foreign language and fool a native speaker! For more blog posts on language learning from our language tutors in Boston and NYC, check out these posts:How to Learn a Language From Your Living Room,Why Should I Study Latin, andTips and Tricks for the French SAT Subject Test.Looking to work with Tyler Lau? Feel free toget in touch! Cambridge Coaching offers private in-person tutoring in New York City and Boston, and online tutoring around the world. ;

The Transition Of Medieval Western Civilization - 970 Words

Thought Paper #1 The transition from medieval western civilization to the Modern Age placed Western Europe in a position of global, political, and technological dominance and most importantly gave rise to the core of western thought: humanism and individualism. This hallmark thought however, would be nonexistent without the arts. The arts and artists of the Renaissance period and the Enlightenment reflect the prevailing values of not only Western Europe but in fact the Western world as a whole. Prior to the Renaissance, Europe was lost in the Middle Ages, situating itself in a rut; no progress was made and this was heavily due to the fact that no artistic spirit was applied. The Middle Ages were a dark period for Europe where the church governed all and medieval/divine thought was the culture. Evidently this left no room for art or republican thought. Once the Renaissance came along however, it was a whole array of new reestablished thoughts that paved the road for modernity. During this period artis ts began to stress individual worth and insight into human nature affecting every place in and out of society: from an economic standpoint to political one and from religious to social one. The transition from medieval western civilization to the Modern Age placed Western Europe in a position of global, political, and technological dominance and most importantly gave rise to the core of western thought: humanism and individualism. This hallmark thought however, would beShow MoreRelatedHow Truth Was Defined By Medieval Europeans1696 Words   |  7 PagesEric Green Urban British Literature 1st 3 December 2015 How Truth Was Defined By Medieval Europeans In life majority of people believe telling the truth is the correct way of living. Truth has endured the world throughout time and is seemingly unanswerable to those who do not understand it because this subject appears in every culture. Truth goes along with universal questions such as what is beauty, justice, and power. And love but none have a direct answer because they are all dependent onRead MoreThe Great Warming By Brian Fagan1073 Words   |  5 Pagesominous warning of the impact that climate change may have on the human race in the future. Fagan references many civilizations in the book that were affected by the rise in surface temperatures. He goes in depth with them individually to show just how worldwide this climate change was, how each civilization adapted or failed to adapt, and who the winners and losers were during this medieval warming period. Fagan’s argument and analysis in The Great Warming can be simplified by saying climate changesRead MoreEssay on The Baroque Art Style713 Words   |  3 Pagestradition. Much of the art shows great energy and feeling, and a dramatic use of light, scale, and balance (Preble 302). Buildings were more elaborate and ornately decorated. These works of art created history and altered the progress of Western Civilization. Architecture such as the palace of Versailles, and artists like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Goya symbolize these ideas. The palace of Versailles is a grand building outside of Paris, which exhibits the characteristics of the Baroque styleRead MoreIn This Assignment, I Have The Opportunity To Write A One1835 Words   |  8 PagesIn this assignment, I have the opportunity to write a one major paper over the book called â€Å"Why you think the way you do† by Glenn S. Sunshine. It is indicated that this book attempts to help me to develop a Christian perspective on Western Civilization. The two major goals of this paper is the first is to clearly articulate the author’s main point in the book and in each chapter and then the second is to provide a lots of supporting evidence and details from the chapter. The goal is to demonstrateRead MoreThe Early Middle Ages And Early Medieval Period Essay1435 Words   |  6 PagesTaking a humanities course, specifically one with a focus on medieval to modern times can help you learn about what historians call the late antiquity, early middle ages, and the early modern period. These periods were all crucial in the formation of modern government, philosophy, culture as well as many other aspects and qualities of society today. The late antiquity, the early middle ages and the early modern period were all named by historians to mark significant changes in politics, cultureRead MoreThe Expansion Of The Jewish Population868 Words   |  4 PagesBefore World War II there had been Jews living in Eastern Europe since before the Medieval Ages. It seems as if the Jewish population had grown accustom to their ever changing role in society, based off of who was in power and in what area they lived. There had always been persecution towards Jews based off of their religious practices, which seemed foreign to their neighbors all across Eastern Europe. Despite the consistent religious persecution Jews found ways to assimilate into their new surroundingsRead MoreRenaissance Humanism : The Renaissance1209 Words   |  5 PagesRenaissance Human ism The renaissance is by its definition a rebirth of the classical methods of the ancients (Dictionary.) Through the study of the text and the artwork that defined this period we are able to see the transition from a dark, apocalyptic world, to a reinvigorated and bright new era which was dominated by titan of artistry such as Donatello. Because Italy was so well situated in a land that was formally the Roman Empire, and its economic links to lands of heavy Greek influence RenaissanceRead MoreMedieval Italy, By Ian Hughes, Jacob Burckhardt, And David Lines2167 Words   |  9 PagesJansen Katherine, Ian Hughes, Jacob Burckhardt, and David Lines who expound on the history of Italy in the medieval ages. Review of the Literatures A critical analysis of Jansen’s work entitled â€Å"Medieval Italy: Texts in Translation† will provide a paraphrased document of the author’s arguments. In her book, Jansen begins by noting that over the past five decades, the history of Italy in the medieval ages has been a vibrant scholarly research area with new discoveries of documents, methodologies, andRead MoreThe Reign Of The Byzantine Empire1347 Words   |  6 Pages1) The Byzantine emperors were more powerful than previous Roman emperors because the Byzantine emperors inherited imperial law, which were only provincial forms of Roman law that survived in the west. Also, the emperors were able to transition smoothly into the role of all powerful Christian monarchs. 2) The Byzantine Empire post 600 CE can be categorized as a beleaguered empire because they only had a single ruler who endowed with supreme legal and religious authority was able to prevent theRead MoreDifference between Economic Growth and Economic Development1187 Words   |  5 Pages5. Explain how the Neolithic revolution ultimately led to the formation of civilizations (list the steps in this evolutionary process). Provide 3 characteristics of civilizations (different from just settlement). What was the hierarchical social structure of the early civilizations? (Who was at the top, in the middle, and on the bottom layers these societies?) 6. List 4 contributions of the earliest civilizations (those that eventually formed the Babylonian Empire) and explain how each was

The Key Aspects Of Operation Management Essay - 1618 Words

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Binod Bhujel Bn160273 BUS 349 Operations Management King’s College, Affiliated to Westcliff University Prof. Mitchell 8th Feb, 2016 Abstract I have illustrate the key aspects of operation management, along with the life cycle assessment and the strategies taken by an organization to maintain quality of products and services as well as increasing capacity without sacrificing the quality in this report. As operation management is the management process that creates goods and services. It has major function like financing, marketing, and operating. The organization maintain the ethic standard to sustain in the market place. They try their best to reduce the scrape products and impact cause by the scrape product to the environment and the consumers. It improve different factors to remain competitive and productive among the competitors. According to, â€Å"(Jacobs Chase, 2008), â€Å"Operations Management is the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s primary products and services†. It is a key element in the improvement in productivity in an organization. To establish a competitive advantage the operation management should contribute to productivity growth. It is the management of the system that produce goods and deliver a services. Operation management is important to a sound business model because it is used in every part of working function of an organization. For instance, for designing of product,Show MoreRelatedKey Aspects Of Operations ( Possibilities, Facilities, Production Process, Equipment, And Management1841 Words   |  8 PagesOperations Plan †¢ Key aspects of operations (possibilities include facilities, production process, equipment, labor force utilization). My Parlor will have a store where products will be served with the capacity to serve 90 customers per day based on information that is available for on frozen yogurt industry. The intention is to have three employees for a start, one manager, and two associates. Every organization utilizes diverse human resources to accomplish company goals and objectives. ToRead MoreKey Features Of A Help Desk Essay1244 Words   |  5 Pagesbusiness. The help desk is the lifeline of the organization as it handles the entire business from one section. The helpdesk streamlines the business operation by providing the much needed information all across the business that helps in making effective decisions. It is important to mention that Help desk has number of key roles to play in the daily operations of business. Especially in the hospitality sector the help desk works as the lifeline for the organisation as it represents the entire businessRead MoreDepartment Business Targets Into Our Daily Rout ines866 Words   |  4 Pagesdepartment business targets into our daily routines. Using the MBO methodology of collaborative planning GTPLS Gippsland operation has developed an activity-based strategic plan that focuses on our efforts towards the delivery of specific outcomes. These outcomes will in turn, lead to the achievement of our goals and reaching the company’s vision. The success of this plan / strategy relies on a commitment to implementation and regular monitoring of our progress no matter what we strive to achieveRead MoreThe Top Management Of Waste Management Essay1410 Words   |  6 PagesFor any organization, waste management is one of the top priorities for environmental sustainability strategy. Waste management entails a responsible operation toward the environment and thus ISO certification. The ISO 14001 Environment Management System (EMS) standard is geared to the management of the immediate and long term environmental impacts of an organization’s processes, services, and products. Under the ISO 14001 framework for environmental management best practice, organizations improveRead MoreHistory And Meaning Of Corporate Governance1450 Words   |  6 PagesCorporate governance is a key term to understand and it is increasingly important part of running a successful company. The system has evolved over the years, guided by the challe nges and misjudgements of the corporate world. The following guide will help you look into the history and meaning of corporate governance and find out about the core principles of it. You can also read about the key models and guidelines that help companies implement strong corporate governance in the demanding and competitiveRead MoreOperation Managenent1504 Words   |  7 Pagesto Operations Management After completing this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define the term operations management. 2. Identify the three major functional areas of organizations and describe how they interrelate. 3. Identify similarities and differences between production and service operations. 4. Describe the operations function and the nature of the operations managers job. 5. Summarize the two major aspects of process management. 6. Explain the key aspects of operations management decisionRead MoreBusiness Studies Influences on Operations Function1356 Words   |  6 PagesBusiness Studies Essay; Explain how the influences on operations can affect the management of the operations function. A business has many influences that provide a duel effect on its operations. Not only can they cause the business to undergo change and continually adjust to the external factors in the business environment, but they also provide threats and opportunities in the operations process. The first of the nine influences is Globalisation. This is the increased economic integrationRead MoreEvolution And Development Of Operation Management1218 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction People can say that operations management has existed since man start to produced goods and services to meet their needs and necessities. Although, the origin of operations may be come from ancient civilizations, their major evolution in history is practically refers to the last 250 years. Therefore, the story is presented in accordance with the most important contributions or primitive impulses and not strictly chronological terms. There are several important areas that have contributedRead MoreOperations Management Report . . Module Title: Operations900 Words   |  4 Pages Operations Management Report Module Title: Operations Management Module Number: BS2108 Module Coordinator: Peter Atorough Word Count: Student Name: Ipek Budak Student Number: 1404100 â€Æ' Executive Summary This report will examine the â€Æ' Contents 1. Introduction 2. Analysis and Discussion of Strategic Business Focus 2.1. Input – Transformation – Output Model 2.2. Five Operations Performance Objectives 3. Identification and Discussion of Operation Processes 3.1. Inputs 3Read MoreKnowledge Management Process The Organization1561 Words   |  7 Pagesalso known as knowledge management. In this, the organization is enabled to grow, adapt to changes and meet customer demands. The information age has a most certain influence on how the organization manages knowledge. This is true of whether that knowledge is unique to the organization, or shared to external organizations. Today there are various ways to collect and compile data and turn that data into useful information; however, without the use of knowledge management, then data, information

Strategic International Business And Competitive Strategy Of IKEA

Question: Discuss about the Competitive Strategy Practices of IKEA. Answer: Introduction: This paper is mainly relying on examination of the theoretical concepts related to international business as well as various competitive strategies and on the basis of observing the best practices of the industry on international competitive strategy it will be suggested which strategy would be best for IKEA , so deductive approach would be the best one for this study. The deductive approach is mainly based on testing the processes that start with a generalised concept or an established theory (Hyde, 2000) . In this case also the study will use deductive method as a theoretical framework will be used for collecting the relevant data so that an accurate analysis as well as conclusion can be drawn. Since qualitative approach is mainly created on the basis of comprehending or exploration of the meaning that the individuals or the groups can easily contribute towards any social issue and this research also covers a diverse range of questions , while focussing on the individual meanings (Creswell, 2014) . This paper will be using qualitative research approach because the subject that has been chosen for study is quite critical thus needs in depth investigation. Quantitative research approach has been eliminated because the main focus of the study is to collect relevant data in relation to international business as well as competitive strategies adopted by organizations to be successful in international markets. After the consideration of various research designs, descriptive research design has been chosen for this study because it will be based on finding that which would be the best practices for the industry in relation to international competitive strategy. Descriptive design for research has been chosen because it is common in relation to various business aspects and mainly aims at describing varied groups of entities or people (Bryman Bell, 2003) . Causal research design has been discarded because this kind of model is mainly used for finding out whether one variable is capable of determining the value of another variables or not (Ghauri Grnhaug, 2005). This research study will rely on just the secondary data as Case Study of IKEA will be done on the basis of previous data and studies that have been conducted on IKEA and what international market strategies has it adopted in past. The information will be collected from the past researches that have been complied as journal articles, annual reports of IKEA; this will help in gaining much holistic view about IKEA. Secondary data will be used because to will save both cost and time and will also provide an opportunity for longitudinal analysis as well (Bryman Bell, 2011 ; Krishnaswamy Satyaprasad, 2010). Case Study has been used as research strategy for this study because this will help the researcher to develop an in-depth analysis of the case and moreover in case study the data collected is mainly processed within a continuous timeframe (Hultman et al. , 2008 ; Creswell, 2014) . Case studies are moreover used mainly in the cases where a complex social phenomenon needs to be understood and it is very effective in showing the significant as well as holistic features of the real life matters (Yin, 2009). Case Organization Description IKEA is one of worlds well known furnishing companies that hold reputation for selling Scandinavian style furniture as well as other home based goods. Currently the company has worldwide 230 stores and the company is operation across the globe in 42 nations with more than 70,000 employees. The capacity of store itself is to host 410 shoppers in a year. The Swedish based organization has been built on the basis of the idea to offer a wide range of functional , and well designed home furnishing products at much lower rates , so that majority of the people can easily afford them. The INGKA Foundation currently solely owns the IKEA Group with the help of a holding company. Background of IKEA The company called IKEA was being founded by Ingvar Kamprad who was a Swedish native, at young age of 17 years in 1943 when he was being rewarded by father in the form of money for doing well in studies. He used this money for a start-up which initially sold basic items like pens, wallets, jewellery at much lower price (IKEA, 2012). In 1948 furniture was also included in its product range and since he got quite positive response, the product line was expanded. Customers were also allowed to view as well as touch the various range of furniture that was just viewable through catalogue. To gain competitive advantage IKEA also opened a showroom and later on flat packs and self-assembly concepts were introduced. In 1963 it opened a store in Norway and since then IKEA has been expanding to various countries like Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Canada, Netherlands, Australia and Austria. Then 1980 onwards with its new concepts it started expanding further to new markets through franchising. And a new ownership structure was developed in the organization. Context of IKEA The vision of IKEA as an organization is to: Create a better everyday life for many people (IKEA, 2012). The entire business of IKEA strongly supports this vision by both manufacturing as well as selling wide range of home furnishing products that too at much affordable price. Current Strategic International Business and Competitive Strategy of IKEA In a comparative study regarding standardised marketing strategies internationally in retail sector when the international strategies of IKEA were compared in three entirely different markets , China, Sweden and The United States , it was found it adopts standardization approach worldwide with very minimal amount of adaptations that too depending upon the prevailing local cultural values (Burt et al. , 2011) . Therefore as per IKEAs standardised approach for doing business overseas, it suggests that following a standardized approach really works well for the big retailers, although there are quite notable cultural differences. IKEA is quite often used and quoted as an example for the successful centralized organization that implements standardisation strategy. It is a global retailer also that adopts the similar kind of approach in each and every market wherever it operates (Maktoba Porter, 2011) . Standardisation has been considered as the strength of the company and due to global sourcing decisions and selling modern furniture it has been able to reduce the price of its products by at least forty percent (Edvardsson Enquist, 2012). As per Porters Five Generic Competitive Strategies , IKEA has focussed on minimising the production cost and being a modern furniture manufacturing company it has created low cost efficient supply chains with the help of outsourcing. It has approximately 1400 suppliers that have manufactured various products for the organization that too at very low and affordable price, thus decreasing the cost of production. That is why IKEA is capable of providing highly unique as well as quality products, that too at much reasonable cost to the target demographics thus delivering competitive advantage to the firm(Chung, 2008) . To gain competitive advantage it has also adopted transnational strategy as well, where IKEA has created extraordinary tactics for every different nation. For example in case of Chinese markets it has developed compact stores as there are several locations that needs to be accessed and just for the stores in China balcony facilities along with other different layouts have been introduced (Nachum, 2012) . For home delivery services they have added rare-car ownership facility in its list of Chinese counterparts and by adopting transnational strategy IKAE has been able to get attention of customers towards its stores. Teams Perception of IKEAs International Business and Competitive Strategy Challenges and Opportunities As per the teams perception the goal of sustainability as well as environmental design will be the main points to be focussed in its business strategy .SWOT analysis acts as a strategic tool to achieve its objectives in case of IKEA. Any business can counter the threats by capitalising on its strengths and thus create opportunities for itself (Mintel Oxygen, 2010). Like in case of IKEA its major strength is its strategic objective of using not more martial than needed in the manufacturing of each and every item and it also creates its product plans so that it can use more of recycled or waste materials in its products. Strengths: It is a strong global brand that is capable of attracting major consumer groups while promising as well as delivering similar range and quality all across the globe. Focuses on a democratic design that helps in creating a balance between design, price, functionality as well as quality. Cost Consciousness feature of IKEA indicates that lower price is being taken into account whenever each product is being designed from very starting. Works on a strong concept that is entirely based on offering a wide range of functional as well as well designed products that too at lower price (Mintel Oxygen, 2010) . It uses Key performance Indicators (KPIs) for assessing its progress in terms of its vision and long term goals. Strengths in its production process like more use of renewable materials, smart use of raw materials, economies of scale, reducing transportation cost by sourcing materials very closer to supply chain, using latest technologies and volume commitments. Weaknesses: Size as well as scale of business might make it difficult for IKEA to control the quality and standards (Johansson et al., 2008). Need for lower price products is tough to be balanced with good quality products. It is difficult task to maintain good communication with the consumers as well as stakeholders due to large scale of business. Opportunities: Rising demand for greener products that are low priced. More demand for products that have lower water usage as well as lower carbon footprints (The Times, 2014). IKEA offers its customers solutions through which they can live a sustainable life at their home by giving online tips and ideas. Makes use of resources in sustainable manner for example IKEAs main aim is to create zero waste for landfills, methods for lesser water usage and wastewater treatment. IKEA also focuses on reducing carbon footprints by decreasing the use of energy and using more of renewable energy, cutting down its use of air transport as well as reduced packaging. It has developed social responsibilities through IKEA policies where it supports charities like UNICEF, Save the Children etc.(The Times, 2014) Threats: Some of the ongoing social trends like slowdown in the first-time buyers that are entering the housing sector and this are the core target market segment in case of IKEA (Tarnovskaya, 2012). Economic factors like recession might also decrease the consumer spending as well as result in declining disposable income. Since more competitor are making entry in the sector of lower priced household and furnishings so IKEA will have to reinforce its unique qualities to deal with its competitors (Johansson, Hansson, Hanssson, Thelander, 2008). Other Observations and Conclusion The above analysis suggests that IKEA has been a successful retailer in household and furnishings market and expanding into the international markets has provided it with great opportunities as well in these markets. It has achieved increased market size through its market development strategy by selling its existing products into the new markets. IKEA has been able to gain higher returns as well on its major initial capital investments from various other nations except for its home country. That is why they have started exploring new markets. It has been able to exploit its economies of scale by merely expanding in the markets that already consist of homogeneous consumer tastes that does not need much adaptation, by simply using the standardised products all over the globe (Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson, 2012). The main focus of IKEA is to create and manufacture highly elegant products that are of good quality and low price. By expanding its market base it has also expanded its scope fo r internationalisation as well as has expanded its learning by expanding its knowledge base also. These new markets are also source of innovation in the specific sector of home furnishings and furniture. It also gains competitive advantage from location as every new location has different culture , while the economic factors are specific and it also makes use of geography as well as administration. Through internationalisation it has extended its product life cycle as Swedish market was saturated so IKEA decided to expand its business in other markets. Sweden not being a large market, there seems to be limited growth, so IKEA thought of expanding to various other international markets like Russia, China, European countries and US. IKEA tried to gain competitive advantage by adopting product differentiation by adapting to various markets. IKEA tries to increase its profitability by adopting cost reductions. Initially IKEA was also using global strategy where production along with marketing as well as various other activities that are concentrated in few locations, while there is no customization, to maintain economies of scale. IKEA basically follows standardisation strategy successfully as international strategy however at few places it does have to follow adaptation as per market needs. About ninety percent of its product line is same across the countries but adapting is needed whenever required. IKEA has thus managed to gain cost leadership while ensuring that it caters to local demands through product differentiation thus adopti ng transnational strategy. Bibliography Bryman, A., Bell, E. (2011). Business Research methods. Oxford University Press. Bryman, B., Bell. (2003). Business Reserach Methods. Sage. Burt, S., Johansson, U., Thelander, A. (2011). Standardized Marketing Strategies in Retailing? IKEAs Marketing Strategies in Sweden, the UK and China. Journal of Retailing and Customer Services , 183-193. Chung, H. (2008). The Impact of a Centralised Organisational Structure on Marketing Standardisation Strategy and Performance: The Experience of Price, Place and Management Processes. Journal Of Global Marketing , 83-107. Creswell, J. (2014). Research Design. Sage Pub. Edvardsson, B., Enquist, B. (2012). 'The IKEA Saga': How Service Culture Drives Service Strategy. The Service Industries Journal , 153-186. Ghauri, P., Grnhaug, K. (2005). Research Methods in Business Studies. Essex: Great Britain: Pearson Education Limited. Hitt, M., Ireland, R., Hoskisson, R. (2012). Strategic management: Concepts and cases. Cengage Learning. Hultman, M., Opoku, R. A., Oghazi, P., Bui, Q. T. (2008). Private label competition: the perspective of Swedish branded goods manufacturers. Management Research News , 125-141. Hyde, K. (2000). Recognizing deductive process in qualitative research. Internationa;l Journal , 83. IKEA. (2012). Welcome Inside: IKEA Group Yearly Summary FY12. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from IKEA website: https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_CN/pdf/yearly_summary/ys_welcome_inside_2012.pdf Johansson, U., Hansson, C., Hanssson, F., Thelander, A. (2008). Newspapers- Image formation agents for retailers? Medien im Marketing, Gabler. Krishnaswamy, O. R., Satyaprasad, B. G. (2010). Business research methods. Mumbai: Himalaya Publishing House. Maktoba, O., Porter, M. (2011). Reducing risk in foreign market entry strategies: standardization versus modification. Journal Article, Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal , 382-396. Mintel Oxygen. (2010). Furniture Retailing - UK. Mintel Oxygen. Nachum, L. (2012). Global comparative strategy. Global Strategy Journal , 92-95. Tarnovskaya. (2012). Activating Stakeholders : An Approach by MNCs in Emerging markets . Emerald Group Publishing Limited. The Times. (2014). IKEA: SWOT analysis and sustainable business planning. Retrieved September 12, 2016, from The Times 100.UK: https://www.circleinternational.co.uk/circle/strategy_files/ikea%20mrktswot.pdf Yin, R. (2009). Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage.

Willy Russells Our Day Out Essay Example For Students

Willy Russells Our Day Out Essay In the book Our Day Out, Willy Russell interests us in the characters of Carol and Briggs by showing us the contrast of personalities and the difference in lifestyle between the two. The main differences between Carol and Briggs are that Carol is from a deprived background, while the teacher Briggs, probably doesnt understand what kind of life Carol has out of school hours. In scene One, the introduction describes Carol. It says that she is rushing along the street wearing a school uniform which doubles as a street outfit and her Sunday best. This tells us already that she is poor and cant afford new clothes, so she has to wear her school uniform most of the time. When Carol is talking to Les, the lollipop man, she tells him that they are going on a trip. She tells him that only the kids who go to the Progress Class are going, and explains that children go there if they are backward. This shows us that Carol doesnt have a very high opinion of herself and she has a low self-esteem. We will write a custom essay on Willy Russells Our Day Out specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now On the bus, Carol sits by Mrs Kay, the Progress Class teacher. As she looks out at the passing Liverpool, she says to her teacher: Isnt it horrible, eh, miss. She goes on to explain that she doesnt like living in Liverpool, with the dirt. She explains that she likes the nice places, with the trees and gardens. She asks Mrs Kay whether she would be able to live in a nice place when shes older. Theres a pause, while Mrs Kay looks for an appropriate answer, because she probably knows that Carol will end up living in poverty, like her parents, unable to afford many luxuries. Well you could try, couldnt you, love, eh? When Mrs Kay treats the kids to an hour or two at the zoo, the kids decide to steal some of the animals! From what we have seen earlier on in the play, Carol has shown herself to be a girl who doesnt break the rules, but she shows a different side to her when in the zoo. When the kids steal the animals, she also decides to join in with the antics as well! After the kids return all the animals, they set out for Conwy Castle. When they reach the castle, Carol immediately sticks with Mrs Kay, following her to the tables by the sea. Then Andrews, another kid, says to them: Wouldnt it be great if we had something like this round ours. Carol replies to him that they couldnt have anything near where they live because theyd just wreck it, like they wreck everything that is given to them. Carols answer to Andrews shows that she would like something near her area to play in, but it is probably impossible because the people of the town would smash it up, like they chopped the trees down for Bonfire Night to burn them all, as she mentioned on the bus to Mrs Kay. It also suggests to us how she longs for something different, something better in her life than living in poverty with no money to buy luxuries for herself or her family. When the kids are at the beach, Carol follows Mrs Kay around, asking her when they will have to go home. Mrs Kay thinks that Carol actually wants to go home, but in fact, she is enjoying herself so much she wants to stay there; she doesnt want to go home. When the kids are playing football, Mrs Kay is in goal and then says that Carol can take her place. Carol isnt there. Mrs Kay, Colin, Susan (the young teachers) and Mr Briggs all go and look for her. Mr Briggs finds Carol standing on the edge of a cliff. Briggs tries to persuade her to come away from the sheer drop, but she refuses, and tells him to tell Mrs Kay that she is stoppin herein Wales. Briggs tells Carol not to be so silly and he moves towards her but she moves back, nearer to the edge of the cliff. She tells Mr Briggs that she will jump off the cliff, if he doesnt move away from her. Mr Briggs becomes very aware of how close Carol is to the edge of the cliff. Carol. Carol, please come away from there. Please. .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 , .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .postImageUrl , .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 , .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:hover , .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:visited , .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:active { border:0!important; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:active , .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718 .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ubc6d058615f767e44d0c0f110014c718:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Hide and Seek EssayDuring the play we can see that Carol is a girl who doesnt have a very high opinion of herself, and we can see this when she describes what kind of kids go to the Progress Class. She doesnt have a very high self-esteem. We can see that she longs for a new and different life in the play she tells Briggs that shes staying in Wales, and also on the coach, she asks Mrs Kay whether she would be able to live in one of them nice places when she grows up. Carol is the classic image of an underprivileged, vulnerable girl from the slums of Liverpool with no prospects and no chance of gaining a good job when she grows up. Mr Briggs character is a complete contrast to Carol; he is a teacher who believes that things should be taught strictly; he also believes that you shouldnt form a relationship with any pupils. We can see this when Briggs decides to come along with Mrs Kay and the other kids, he whispers to Mrs Kay: Youve got some real bright sparks here, Mrs Kay. A right bunch. Mr Briggs relationship with the children is more or less non-existent he doesnt really understand what kind of background the kids come from. He just thinks that they cant be bothered to learn to read or write, but in fact, they come from deprived backgrounds and probably havent had the opportunities that the children who arent in the Progress Class have. Briggs attitude towards the children is shown throughout the play, but we can see this more when he addresses the kids on the coach, when Russell uses words to describe his current mood: suddenly barks sighing, shaking his head and accusing. Briggs thinks that Mrs Kay is more like a mother hen rather than a teacher. The children dont really behave when Briggs is around, and when he confronts Linda Croxley about not wearing the correct school uniform; she doesnt really take any notice of him, and is cheeky towards him. He tells her if she carries on with her attitude shell be spending her time inside the coach: I dont care. I dont wanna see no crappy castle anyway. Briggs is appalled at this, and the fact that she swore indicates that the kids dont have much respect for him. When the Briggs and Mrs Kay are in the zoo cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, Briggs tells Mrs Kay he didnt realise that the kids are actually interested in the animals, and he is enthusiastic at his own suggestion of bringing some slides in for the kids to see. When he finds out that the kids have stolen all the animals, he feels betrayed because he trusted the kids to behave themselves and act responsibly; but they dont, and he is angry. When Briggs finds Carol on the edge of the cliff, he starts to lecture her, asking her who gave her permission to come up here. When Carol tells him that shes staying in Wales, he dismisses it and tells her not to be so silly. He takes a step towards her but she takes a step towards the edge, the sea looming below her. Briggs is astounded. When Carol tells him that he hates everyone, all the kids, he realises that he is strict and possibly people my feel uncomfortable when he is around, and in the end he has to beg Carol to come away from the edge. She does, but she slips Briggs catches her and then wraps his arms around her. After they come back to the beach and get on the bus, the driver asks Briggs if its time to go back to school. Briggs suggests they take the children to the fair. When they get to the fair, Mr Briggs is like a different man. Mrs Kay takes a photo of him and Carol climbing out of a waltzer car, wearing a cowboy hat and handing a goldfish to Carol, and basically having a good time. On the coach on the way home, Briggs sits on the back seat, singing with the kids. The kids actually now enjoy being in his presence, unlike before when he came to sit at the back, they were stifled and bored by his presence. Mrs Kay takes a photo of him with the kids on the back seat, wearing the cowboy hat, with his tie loosened. .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 , .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .postImageUrl , .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 , .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:hover , .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:visited , .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:active { border:0!important; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:active , .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084 .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u40e98a6d6f6edc11cb7d152a18cc4084:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Bell Jar Essay ThesisAs he sees the familiar surroundings coming into view, he slips back into his former personality, tightening his tie and straightens his hair. Briggs takes the photo film off Mrs Kay, and says that he will develop the pictures in the lab in school. When the kids and teachers have all left, he exposes the film to the light, destroying the photos. I think he does this because he is embarrassed he has let his hair down, in front of the children and the teachers, because usually he is strict and has old-fashioned ways of teaching. He doesnt form any kind of relationship with the kids, maybe even the teachers, because he refuses Mrs Kays offer of a drin k after the kids all go home. In the play, Russell keeps us interested in the characters of Carol and Briggs by Briggs transformation during the trip; before the trip he is strict, and orders the kids around. He doesnt really understand what background they come from he just thinks that they cant be bothered to help themselves when it comes to education. After the trip, on the way home, he is almost a completely different person! He started to relax, and be friendlier after the incident with Carol. I think that really opened his eyes; he saw that someone, a young girl, someone who has her whole life ahead of her, actually wanted to take her own life because of the life she has now. It made him realise that not all people have an easy life and he realised what kind of background people have. Willy Russell uses comedy to a good effect in the play when the children decide to steal the animals, the stealing of the sweets, and the kind of language that they use. When the coach stops at a roadside shop, the kids are robbing sweets and chocolate left, right and centre, behind the backs of the two men. The fact that it says that it is a usual trick, implies that it has been used before the kids point up to jars on the shelves, and as soon as the mens backs are turned, racks of chocolate bars disappear into eager pockets. In the next scene (scene 16), it simply says: the kids are weighed down with sweets. This shows us that they stole lots and lots of sweets, around à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½60, and they didnt spend nearly that amount! When the kids stop at the zoo, they decide to steal some animals! When they return the animals, they all walk out rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, even a young goat! The animals are all put into small cages, and then after the zoo-keeper leaves, Mr Briggs lays into the kids. The kind of language that the kids use reflect on the kind of home life they have. They dont really think about what they are saying, they just use the words talking normally. The kids use words such as crappy, dickhead, bastards, and bloody. The swearwords that they use are humorous because they talk like that towards their friends and even the teachers. Will Russell uses tragedy to good effect, in particular on two occasions during the play. When Carol is on the edge of the cliff, when she asks Mr Briggs if she would have been alright if he was her father, she means if she would have been alright as in gaining the right opportunities in life. She is thinking of ending her life so young because she knows, she knows that she wont be given the opportunities that other people will be given. When Andrews is caught smoking at the back of the bus, Briggs sends him to sit at the front, then later he joins him. Briggs asks him how long he has been smoking and he asks him what his parents think of him smoking. Andrews replies that his father belts him when he refuses to give him a cigarette. During the play, we are given little insights into the lives of the children, and we can see that it is a very deprived background. They will probably never have the opportunities that other children are given, and as Mrs Kay said, they are made for the factories, but the factories have closed down, so they have even less opportunities now.

Marriage, the Motherhood Penalty and the Gender Wage Gap

Marriage, the Motherhood Penalty and the Gender Wage Gap The gender wage  gap is well-established in societies around the world. Social scientists have documented through research spanning decades that the gender wage  gap- wherein women, all else being equal, earn less than men for the same work- cannot be explained away by differences in education, type of job or role within an organization, or by the number of hours worked in a week or weeks worked in a year. Pew Research Center reports that in 2015- the year for which most recent data are available- the gender wage  gap in the United States as measured by median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers was 17 percent. This means that women earned roughly 83 cents to the mans dollar. This is actually good news, in terms of historical trends, because it means that the  gap has shrunk considerably over time. Back in 1979, women earned just 61 cents to the mans dollar in terms of median weekly earnings, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics  (BLS) reported by sociologist Michelle J. Budig. Yet, social scientists are cautious about this overall improvement because the rate at which the gap is shrinking has declined significantly in recent years. The encouraging nature of the overall shrinking gender wage  gap also eclipses the continuing harmful effect of racism on a persons earnings. When Pew Research Center looked at historical trends by race and gender, they found that, in 2015, while white women earned 82 cents to the white mans dollar, Black women earned just 65 cents relative to white men, and Hispanic women, just 58. These data also show that the increase in earnings of Black and Hispanic women relative to white men has been far less than that for white women. Between 1980 and 2015, the gap for Black women shrunk by just 9 percentage points and that for Hispanic women by just 5. Meanwhile, the gap for white women shrunk by 22 points. This means that the closing of the gender wage gap over recent decades has primarily benefitted white women. There are other hidden but important aspects of the gender wage  gap. Research shows that the gap is tiny to non-existent when people start their working careers around age 25 but it widens quickly and steeply during the next five to ten years. Social scientists argue that research proves that much of the widening of the gap is attributable to the wage penalty suffered by married women and by those who have children- what they call the motherhood penalty. The Lifecycle Effect and the Gender Wage  Gap Many social scientists have documented that the gender wage  gap widens with age. Budig, taking a sociological view on the problem, has demonstrated using BLS data that the wage  gap in 2012 as measured by median weekly earnings was just 10 percent for those aged 25 to 34 but was more than double that for those aged 35 to 44. Economists, using different data, have found the same result. Analyzing a combination of quantitative data from the  Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database and the 2000 Census  long-form survey, a team of economists led by Claudia Goldin, a professor of economics at Harvard University, found that the gender wage gap widens considerably during the first decade and a half after schooling ends. In conducting their analysis, Goldins team used statistical methods to rule out the possibility that the gap widens over time due to an increase in discrimination. They found, conclusively, that the gender wage gap increases with age- especially among the college educated who work in higher-earning jobs than those not requiring a college degree. In fact, among the college educated, the economists found that 80 percent of the increase in the gap occurs between the ages of 26 and 32. Put differently, the wage gap between college-educated men and women is just 10 percent when they are 25 years old but has widened massively to 55 percent by the time they reach the age of 45. This means that college-educated women lose out on the most earnings, relative to men with the same degrees and qualifications. Budig argues that the widening of the gender wage gap as people age is due to what sociologists call the lifecycle effect. Within sociology, life cycle is used to refer to the different stages of development that a person moves through during their life, which includes reproduction, and are normatively synced with key social institutions of  family and education. Per Budig, the lifecycle effect on the gender wage gap is the effect that certain events and processes that are part of the life cycle have on a persons earnings: namely, marriage and childbirth. Research Shows that Marriage Hurts the Earnings of Women Budig and other social scientists see a link between marriage, motherhood and the gender wage gap because there is clear evidence that both life events correspond to a greater gap. Using BLS data for 2012, Budig shows that women who have never been married experience the smallest gender wage gap relative to never-married men- they earn 96 cents to the mans dollar. Married women, on the other hand, earn just 77 cents to the married mans dollar, which represents a gap that is nearly six times greater than that among never-married people. The effect of marriage on a womans earnings is made even more clear when looking at the gender wage gap for formerly married men and women. Women in this category earn just 83 percent of what formerly married men earn. So, even when a woman isnt currently married, if she has been, she will see her earnings reduced by 17 percent as compared with men in the same situation. The same team of economists cited above used the same pairing of LEHD data with long-form Census data to show exactly how marriage impacts the earnings of women in a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economics Research  (with Erling Barth, prolific Norwegian economist and a fellow at Harvard Law School,  as the first author, and without Claudia Goldin). First, they establish that much of the gender wage gap, or what they call the earnings gap, is created within organizations. Between 25 and 45 years of age, mens earnings within an organization climb more sharply than do those of women. This is true among both the college-educated and non-college educated populations, however, the effect is much more extreme among those with a college degree. Men with a college degree enjoy vast earnings growth within organizations while women with college degrees enjoy far less. In fact, their rate of earnings growth is less than that for men  without  college degrees, and by age 45 is slightly less than that of women without college degrees too. (Keep in mind that were talking about a rate of earnings growth here, not earnings themselves. College-educated women earn far more than women who do not have college degrees, but the rate at which earnings grow over the course of ones career is about the same for each group, regardless of education.) Because women earn less than men within organizations, when they change jobs and move to another organization, they do not see the same degree of salary bump- what Barth and his colleagues call an earnings premium- when taking the new job. This is especially true for married women and serves to further exacerbate the gender wage gap among this population. As it turns out, the rate of growth in the earnings premium is about the same for both married and never-married men as well as never-married women through the first five years of a persons career (The rate of growth for never-married women slows after that point.). However, compared to these groups, married women see very little growth in earnings premium over the span of two decades. In fact, it is not until married women are 45 years old that the rate of growth for their earnings premium matches what it was for all others between the ages of 27 and 28. This means that married women have to wait nearly two decades to see the same kind of earnings premium growth that other workers enjoy throughout their working career. Because of this, married women lose out on a significant amount of earnings relative to other workers. The Motherhood Penalty is the Real Driver of the Gender Wage Gap While marriage is bad for a womans earnings, research shows that it is childbirth that really exacerbates the gender wage gap and puts a significant dent in womens lifetime earnings relative to other workers. Married women who are also mothers are hardest hit by the gender wage gap, earning just 76 percent of what married fathers earn, according to Budig. Single mothers earn 86 to the single (custodial) fathers dollar; a fact which is in keeping with what Barth and his research team revealed about the negative impact of marriage on a womans earnings. In her research, Budig found that women on average suffer a wage penalty of four percent per childbirth during their careers. Budig found this after controlling for the effect on wages of differences in human capital, family structure, and family-friendly job characteristics. Troublingly, Budig also found that low-income women suffer a greater motherhood penalty of six percent per child. Backing up the sociological findings, Barth and his colleagues, because they were able to match long-form Census data to earnings data, concluded that most of the loss in earnings growth for married women (relative to married men) occurs concurrently with the arrival of children.† Yet, while women, especially married and low-income women suffer a motherhood penalty, most men who become fathers receive a fatherhood bonus. Budig, with her colleague Melissa Hodges, that men on average receive a six percent pay bump after becoming fathers. (They found this by analyzing data from the 1979-2006 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.) They also found that, just as the motherhood penalty disproportionately impact low-income women (therefore negatively targeting racial minorities), the fatherhood bonus disproportionately benefits white men- especially those with college degrees. Not only do these dual phenomena- the motherhood penalty and the fatherhood bonus- maintain and for many, widen the gender wage gap, they also work together to reproduce and worsen already existing structural inequalities that function on the basis of gender,  race, and level of education.

Russian Economy Before And After Vladimir Putin Essay

Russian Economy Before And After Vladimir Putin - Essay Example The country has implemented multifaceted foreign policy as is also recognized as the successor state of the former USSR. Till 2009, the country maintained diplomatic relations with around 190 countries as well as with around 140 embassies. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has emerged as one of the powerhouse in the scenario of global trade. The country adopted a democratic form of government and the regime of free market. The country got its inclusion in BRIC constitution along with India, Brazil and China. The BRIC group leads the developing world in terms of growth and economic transformation. To talk about the market access, most of the goods can be freely imported to the country. The country focused intensely on joining the World Trade Organization after the presidential election of 1999. The accession of the country to the WTO is now complete. Significant amount of progress was made in the last year which paved the way for the accession. The country will benefit from t he accession in the long run on several fronts, one of the most important being the discriminatory measures held by the 30 countries against the exports of steel of Russia. It is also anticipated that the accession to the WTO drives in more foreign investments. The country follows the system of harmonized Customs. The Russian history faced difficult times in the first 20 years of the last century. The civil war ruined the country, the people starved because of the economic embargo of the governments. The government was not able to gather pace on the imports as well as exports which was the need of the time. To deal with the situation, the Russian government decided to send a trade mission to UK. The Economy of Russia The economy of the country is ranked ninth in the world in terms of nominal value while the economy is ranked sixth in terms of purchasing power parity. The economy has transformed to a market based economy from a centrally planned one after the collapse of the Soviet U nion. The reforms of the 1990 privatized many sectors while the sectors like energy and defence being the exceptions. Macroeconomic stabilization as well as restructuring of the economy can be regarded as the indicators for transition from centrally planned to an economy that is based on the market. Macroeconomic stabilization entails implementation of monetary and fiscal policies. The aim of implementation is promotion of economic growth that will pave the path for stable prices and exchange rates. Restructuring of the economy require establishment of entities like commercial or institutional. These entities will allow the operation of the economy in an efficient fashion. One of the footsteps to achieve this goal is to open up the domestic market to foreign trade. The economy thus gets linked with the rest of the world. The bid of the country to join WTO faced a hurdle on the issues of low rate of domestic energy consumption and the closeness of the market for the foreign competito rs. The member countries of WTO expressed the view that the country should charge equal prices for oil and gas even domestically. The accession process was boosted as Russia worked out the disagreements on prices of energy as well as agricultural subsidies with European Union. In the year 2003, WTO estimated that the country is positioned 17th in the rank of largest exporters of the world. The minister of trade announced that the country has the potential to gain thousands of dollars once it has access to the regime and the world markets. As the pressure to resort to

Justification of Political Authority Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

Justification of Political Authority - Essay Example However, some thinkers do not perceive the attitude of subjects toward such authority as the decisive factor. Thus, Thomas Hobbes and John Austin argue that political authority in the de facto sense simply amounts to the capacity of an individual or community to maintain public order as well as secure the obedience of most people by issuing commands backed by sanctions. Consequently, the legitimacy of authority as perceived by subjects is not important and any entity that is de facto performs the function of authority is always justified (Hobbes 1668). Another essential aspect of the authority debate is its distinction from political power. In politics it is a common practice to use the terms power and authority interchangeably though the meaning of these terms is different. The difference lies mainly in the fact that 'authority' involves a claim of justification and legitimate right to exercise power over the subjects while 'power' implies a mere ability to achieve certain goals and does not necessarily involve a claim of justification and/or legitimacy (Arendt, 1968). Thus, political power relates to the state's ability to get citizens to act in a certain manner even despite their reluctance. Furthermore, political power does not require a positive attitude from the subjects and does not depend on its actual success at securing public order. Threats and offers are the key elements of political power: "Evidently, for the state to have de facto authority or legitimate authority requires that the state have the power to compel those subjects who do not wish to go along. This is necessary for the state's ability to maintain public order and to assure those who do see it as an authority that it will be able to do what it is supposed to do" (Zalta, 2004). Therefore, the term 'authority' in the meaning of political authority is more applicable for the purposes of this paper. There are a number of different discourses on the nature, legitimacy and justification of political authority. Normally, three fundamental types of conceptions about legitimacy of political authority: political authority as justified coercion, political authority as the capacity to impose duties, and political authority as the right to rule (Zalta, 2004). The first conception relies on the moral aspect in justifying a political authority which coerces the subjects. The essence of this conception is that a political authority might have the justifiable moral right to coerce its subjects. For example, a group of people may be morally justified in engaging in just a few actions of coercing others. Or a group may be morally justified in engaging in coercion more generally as in the case of a morally justified military occupation. This notion of authority does not necessarily involve duties on the part of the coerced people: on the contrary, avoiding or escaping coercion may be justified. One example of such situation could the situation of a military occupation of a state justified under the pretext of using such occupation as a tool to prevent a third power from engaging in morally unjustified aggression. Although this conception relies on moral justification of coercion used by political authority, the authority in this case is not able to either issue commands or make laws: it is justified on

Third paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Third paper - Essay Example This is followed by a request, which shows that the speaker is down and ready to prostrate to her girlfriend as he asks â€Å"Shall I go down and bow, baby?† As a romantic song, the speaker goes on to praise his loved one, using romantic terms, descriptions and repetitions. This is a blues song, which doubles the traditional three lines to six lines in every stanza. The last line is a form of a question and the response is provided at the end of the song in a series of derivative three lines answer. The question repeated is ‘Shall I go down and bow, baby?† and at the end of the song, the speaker appears to have reached the end and resolves to answer his question because the referred and revered ‘baby’ seems to have answered in her acceptance and he derives; Shall I go down and bow, baby? I shall go down and bow, baby I am down and bowing baby Oh baby baby make you stay Baby ah baby oh baby I’m done! The pattern of this song is AbcdeB, AfghiBâ₠¬ ¦ and so on, with the first line and the last lines repeated. This pattern is regular and the blues lyrics have concentrated on the theme of love as the speaker tries to show his affection to his goddess, the valentine. The description of the ‘baby’ by the speaker is marked by repetitions. These repetitions are regular, and they make the rhythm of the song regular. In most of the stanzas, the first line and the last lines are repeated in a regular manner. This harmonizes the regular rhythm of the song. The last two stanzas are the conclusion of the song and the speaker consummates his dream of being granted a favour by his girlfriend as thus: Oh ah oh ah baby baby Baby oh baby stay baby My goddess baby, leave not baby oh baby baby Shall I go down and bow, baby? †¦ Shall I go down and bow, baby? I shall go down and bow, baby I am down and bowing baby Oh baby baby make you stay Baby ah baby oh baby I’m done! In this case, the song is conclusive and the clima x is reached when the instruments adopt the rhythm of the song in a unified manner. At the same time, the speaker is able to express his last passions and emotions for his girlfriend who has accepted his request. This song has a regular sound considering its regular rhythm. Being a romantic blues song, it will require soft beats and a mix of melodies. Therefore, the studio producing the song must refine and produce a soft symphony for the song at the start and at the end. The singer or the lead vocalist must be a man and should have a romantic, soft or mildly broken voice so as to exploit the overall theme of the song. This song should be started by a combination of a violin and a keyboard string tunes. Immediately the lead vocalist picks the first line, other instruments should pick and harmonize but should pause whenever the vocalist is picking the first line in every stanza. Moreover, instrumentation should also be toned down whenever the speaker is picking on the descriptive par ts so that the lead vocalist is above all the instruments. This will ensure the message is passed and the song is entertaining and moving as well. When the song is read in the lyrics, the reader is able to pick musical elements such as the tone of the song, the rhythm of the song and possible beat and meter of the lyrics. For example, the lyrics of this song requires a quadruple beat and regular dynamics in the loudness, volume and softness. On the other hand, if one listens to the song, he or she will notice by hearing, not

what is philosophy :: essays research papers

Very briefly, philosophy might be regarded as a conceptual enquiry dealing with fundamental issues relating to life, knowledge and values. By conceptual enquiry we mean an enquiry that relies primarily on critical reasoning. This includes : Analysing the meaning of concepts Identifying logical connections between theories Evaluating arguments and exposing fallacies Here is a Chinese newspaper article from MingPao on how philosophy improves critical thinking. Philosophy and other subjects According to such a conception of philosophy, philosophy is distinctive in both its method and subject matter. Art or literature might also deal with fundamental issues in life, but the use of critical reasoning is not a necessary part of artistic expression. Critical reasoning of course plays an important role in science, but science is an empirical enquiry into the nature of the world, relying on observations and experiments. In such respects philosophy is more like mathematics and logic. However, the subject matter of philosophy is more general in that it deals with all sorts of different areas outside mathematics and logic, such as religion and morality. Although philosophy is different from science, it would be a mistake to conclude that philosophy cannot contribute to the development of science. Philosophers can help scientists clarify the basic concepts in scientific theories, and use their skills in logic to evaluate the strength of evidence supporting or criticizing particular theories. Many sciences (e.g. psychology) originally developed out of philosophy. What philosophy can do Why should you study philosophy? If you are busy and don't have the patience or interest to reflect on fundamental issues, then perhaps philosophy is not for you. But for people who are interested in critical reflection, philosophy can be an enjoyable activity. There are other reasons for doing philosophy apart from pleasure. First, philosophical skills in thinking and writing and help us in describing and understanding theories and ideologies. Here philosophers take up the task of a cartographer, mapping out conceptual terrain and logical structure. Second, as mentioned earlier, philosophy can be an important tool in helping us acquire knowledge. Logic and critical reasoning are necessary to achieve consistency and in determining the right conclusions to be drawn given our observations and experiences. Finally, philosophy can also play a transformative role in our lives and social institutions. Through critical reflection on the justification and coherence of the values in social practices and our own actions, we do not just acquire a deeper understanding of our culture and of who we are.

In Westminster Abbey Analysis

Essay: â€Å"In Westminster Abbey†Ã¢â‚¬Å"In Westminster Abbey† by John Betjeman is a poem that tells the story of a woman in a famous church in London and her prayer to the Lord. Each stanza in the poem contains something that the speaker wants from the Lord. And as one reads through the poem, a more keen understanding of the woman praying is formed, and it is likely drastically different from the original perception gained in the first two stanzas. In â€Å"In Westminster Abbey,† John Betjeman uses the speaker’s prayer and flaws in Christianity to illustrate to the reader that an individual is not always how they appear. Considering the length of the poem, there is quite a bit of information told about the speaker’s identity and personality. Firstly, the speaker is likely a female. She states that she will â€Å"Join the Women’s Army Corps,† which footnote number six on pg. 122 of The Norton Introduction To Poetry says was the old World War One name for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, a primarily female organization specializing in domestic defense. The usage of the WWI name for the organization would suggest that the speaker would be at least in her mid to upper thirties. The footnotes note as well that the address she tells the Lord to â€Å"put beneath Thy special care† (24) belongs to a â€Å"fashionable† part of London, which indeed implies wealth. Another bit of personality that shows up quite frequently within the poem is the speaker’s demanding tone. She doesn’t ever ask the lord for the favors listed, she simply demands them. Lines like â€Å"[l]isten to a lady’s cry† (6), â€Å"[d]on’t let anyone bomb me† (12), and of course the last two lines where she demands the Lord answer her right then because she has other plans, â€Å"And now, dear Lord, I cannot wait/Because I have a luncheon date†(41 – 42). One of the more prominent details about the speaker that really shapes the latter half of the poem is that the speaker is not a true Christian. She provides incentives to the Lord by telling him â€Å"Now I’ll come to Evening Service/Whensoever I have the time† (27 – 28). All of this, of course, in hopes to prompt an immediate response. Claiming to â€Å"feel a little better† (37); she tells the Lord just how great it was to have had him talk with her (38). Betjeman, however, does not include any dialogue from the Lord back to the speaker. Although we would not expect the Lord to speak out loud directly to her, there are no other examples within the poem that suggest the Lord answers her prayers or even acknowledges her dismal attempt at prayer. I inferred that this is completely intentional on the author’s part. It creates a sense of ambiguity about the speaker’s standing with God. Now, through the descriptors of the speaker within the poem, we see her as a roughly middle aged, wealthy, and demanding woman who fails to comply with an ideal Christian life because of her egocentric personality. Set in a famous London gothic church, where monarchs have been crowned and many famous individuals were buried, the poem depicts a middle aged woman praying. This is an image that readers can relate to. Everyone can conjure up a memory from a time when they’ve seen a Christian woman praying, whether it is in person or through media. It is also the first image that the reader acquires of the speaker. The second and third stanzas don’t seem to contain anything unbecoming of a true Christian, given the situation of London in 1940 with the bombardment of their city from Germany. It is reasonable to assume that a woman who is living in London at the time and who might know or know of people that have died would be slightly emotional during her prayer and say â€Å"oh bomb the Germans. /Spare their women for Thy Sake,/And if that is not too easy/We will pardon Thy Mistake†(7 – 10). The egocentricity and naivety of the speaker really reveals itself starting in the fourth stanza. She tells the lord to â€Å"[t]hink of what our nation stands for† (19), and yet proceeds to name off completely irrational things. Most residents in London would probably disagree with their Nation standing for books bought from a local pharmacy, class distinction and proper drains. Although these things could be considered nice, they aren’t representative of the population. In a matter of one stanza, the image of the speaker the reader receives completely changes from the innocent wholesome churchgoer, to a self-interested pseudo-Christian who in times of trouble goes to the Lord in prayer expecting and demanding her safety, harm for the Germans, and a slew of other tasks. A person’s initial appearance is not always representative of their true nature. This is precisely the message intended to be received by the reader. John Betjeman is clearly separated from the speaker in the story. A main determining factor is that he is a male, and the speaker of the poem is female. The author seems to be expressing his personal beliefs and Christian ideals by creating the character in the poem who embodies almost the complete opposite ideology of the author. Even still, the poem appears a dramatic monologue. Writing in this style of lyric poetry allows John Betjeman to be completely removed from the poem and thus he gets his point across much more effectively. Had he done something like make the speaker a male, readers could falsely associate some of the elements of the poem with the author as opposed to considering them as an independent entity. The tone that is established by the time the conclusion of the poem reaches the forefront makes the reader want to analyze and judge the speaker, rather than identify with and feel sympathetic towards her. Words that help establish this tone come at the end of many of the lines. Words like â€Å"[m]istake†(10) and â€Å"fights†(17) create a negative connotation which the reader associates with the speaker. These words also help with the transformation from the â€Å"good image† of the speaker to the â€Å"egotistical image† that comes later. In the first stanza there is â€Å"lie†(5) and â€Å"cry†(6) at the end of lines. By the fifth stanza, when the perception of the speaker has changed there are the words â€Å"sinner†(25) and â€Å"crime†(26). These words in correlation with the setting of the poem and the time period that it takes place encompass the negative, condescending tone quite adequately. It is a time in London where people would want to be true to their faith and really take consolation in the Lord for protection, especially considering the role religion played in lives around 1940. Yet it appears that the only reason the speaker had to go to church in the first place was minute one. She could have simply been passing by the church on her way to a lunch date, and found it convenient to make her plea to the Lord. The organization of the stanzas by Betjeman into their specific order contributes to the reader’s perception of the speaker. As stated above, the view of the speaker from the reader’s perspective delineates from an average churchgoer in a time of crisis, to something much less respected at the time: an untrue Christian. If the stanzas of the poem were arranged in another order the perception of the female speaker would likely change with it. For example starting the poem with the second stanza could show the speaker in a cynical light, or if Betjeman decided to start with one of the latter stanzas such as stanza five, then the reader is informed of the shallow nature of the speaker much earlier causing for a lesser effect on the reader at poems end. It is because of the order in which the stanzas exist that allows the reader to really take away the message: people are not always as they first seem. This particular poem possesses a meter of trochaic tetrameter and a rhyme scheme of ABCBDD. Both of these particular elements contribute to the overall feel and tone of the poem. Unlike iambic meter, which generally provides an uplifting flowing feel, the use of trochaic meter does quite the opposite. As the poem is read the use of the troche makes the poem seem to drag along and makes the tone more dismal, which is appropriate when considering Betjeman’s view of the speaker. The rhyme scheme of ABCBDD contributes in a similar sense. The B rhyming words and the pair of D’s at the end of their respective lines tend to be the more important words from the stanza. In stanza 2 those rhyming words are sake, mistake, be, and me. When each of these words is taken individually in relation to the poem itself, it becomes clear as to why they were chosen. â€Å"Be† and â€Å"me† could help display the speakers demanding nature, and egocentricity. â€Å"Sake† and â€Å"mistake† could be words that hint at how the author is viewing the speaker’s prayer. They invoke feelings of apathy when read in the context of the poem. Individuals are not always as they first appear, much as the speaker of â€Å"In Westminster Abbey† appears to be an average Christian praying at the Gothic church while her Nation is in a time of peril. But in fact she is quite concerned with the opposite. It is not for the wellbeing of her associates and neighbors that she is worried, but herself instead. Egocentric ideals and naivety cloud the speaker’s judgment, and it is through this that John Betjeman is able to so clearly express his ideas. It is safe to say that he does this quite clearly throughout the entirety of the poem, but there are still some things readers can ponder. What event did John Betjeman experience or witness that made him feel so strongly as to compose this poem? Or is it simply a tribute to those true Christians and a criticism of those not on the righteous path? Nonetheless, Betjeman effectively expresses a message that is easily portrayed to readers of â€Å"In Westminster Abbey† regardless of which side of the fence of Christianity they reside on.