Hum 111 Confucius and Aristotle Paper - 814 Words

HUM 111 CONFUCIUS AND ARISTOTLE PAPER Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwcampus.com/shop/hum-111-confucius-and-aristotle-paper/ Choose one (1) of the topics from the list of topic choices below. Read the topic carefully. Write a three to four (3-4) page paper (750-1,000 words) that follows instructions and covers each part of the topic. (The title page and References list do not get included in this word count). For the topic you choose: 1. Establish a clear thesis about your topic as part of the introductory paragraph (often the thesis is the last thing one determines after doing the basic research and outline; however it will be placed in the first paragraph of your paper). 2. This is a comparative essay. Comparison†¦show more content†¦Note: Wikipedia and other similar Websites do not qualify as academic resources. You are highly encouraged to use the Resource Center tab at the top of your Blackboard page. Topic of Choice: †¢ CONFUCIUS AND ARISTOTLE †¢ a) Compare the two (2) rulers in terms of their situation and ascent to power, their methods of rule, and their achievements and resourcefulness, noting similarities and differences. Use specific examples. b) Consider what your study suggests about the cultures over which they ruled, identifying any similarities and differences between the cultures. c) From this comparison, suggest lessons about different types of effective leadership by a female in the world of modern business and / or modern politics. The Project Paper will be graded on: 1. The level to which the instructions were followed for the paper generally and for the specific topic. 2. The establishment of a clear thesis about your topic. 3. The adequacy and relevance of information, examples, and details which support the general thesis. 4. Covering each part of the topic as instructed, including the comparisons, the consideration of ancient cultural differences, and the reflection on lessons for modern society or the modern workplace. 5. The quality of your research and your persuasiveness using critical reasoning. 6. The use and acknowledgement of a minimum of three (3) required references (the class textbook plus at least two (2) other

How the Writers Shape or Craft Each Text to Meet the Expectations Free Essays

Examine how the writers shape or craft each text to meet the expectations of their respective audience, purpose and context Excerpt from Weblog and extract from Vernon God Little by DCB Pierre Text B is in the form of a blog, which is an online diary updated regularly by its author. Text C is an extract from the novel Vernon God Little by DCB Pierre. Both authors target a young adult audience through use of a casual tone to engage the reader and gain empathetic response. We will write a custom essay sample on How the Writers Shape or Craft Each Text to Meet the Expectations or any similar topic only for you Order Now The weblog writer uses colloquialisms such as ‘gutted’, and elision; ‘Whatcha’ DCB Pierre engages a young audience through use of a teenage protagonist. The weblog starts in medea res with use of the discourse marker ‘So after another†¦ ’ creating an informal ambience. This also suggests that the audience are regular readers of this particular blog, as they are expected to understand what the conversation is referring back to. The writer uses contractions; ‘Isn’t’ which reassures the informal tone. A similar tone is used in Vernon God Little, as the protagonist directly addresses the reader throughout; ‘You’d remember Clarence somebody’. nd uses the present tense to further engage the reader; ‘I sit waiting†¦ ’ The weblog writer uses parenthesis to convey to the reader a further thought on the previous statement; ‘On the plus side (a very small plus size)’ This further engages the reader and makes them feel as though they are directly involved with the writer. The main purp ose of both texts is to entertain, however both also inform the reader of the protagonist’s current situation; the weblog writer has just received news informing them that they have not been successful in a job application. JCB Pierre’s protagonist is currently in prison; ‘I sit waiting between shafts of light from a row of doorways†¦ looks like I’m the only one they rounded up so far’ This suggests that perhaps the protagonist is innocent, or there were more people involved in the crime as he is evidently waiting for them to be arrested. The context of the weblog is that the writer has recently received a job rejection and is reaching out to his readers to gain perhaps sympathy and empathy from them. The writer uses language such as; ‘Back at square one’ Emphasising to the reader that they are disheartened by the rejection. The simile, ‘Like a punch in the stomach’ reiterates the sadness the writer is feeling and the intention was to possibly gain a sympathetic response from readers to help him feel better about himself. The context of the novel extract is that a fifteen year old Texan boy (the protagonist) has been arrested and is recalling a man who was previously arrested for a similar crime. It contains slight sarcasm or black humour, as the protagonist mentions the news coverage of the man mentioned previously, lacking any details of the crime he committed; ‘The news said how little he cares about the effects of his crimes. By ‘effects’ I think they meant axe-wounds. ’ This sarcastic humour entertains the reader whilst informing them of events prior to the arrest of the main voice in this story. The narrator’s final sentence is almost foreboding, as he states; ‘They sentenced him to death. ’ How to cite How the Writers Shape or Craft Each Text to Meet the Expectations, Essay examples

Painting Vincent Van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles Essay Example For Students

Painting: Vincent Van Gogh, Bedroom in Arles Essay The first one, kept at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is painted in October 1888. About a year after, Van Gogh made two copies: one of which is the same size and is preserved today at the Art Institute of Chicago. The third one is currently at De Young Museum in San Francisco (but originally belongs to the Muss ©e doorways in Paris) and is smaller than the others. This Oil painting on a linen canvas represents Van Sagos tidy bedroom. Nothing lets us think that this is the room of a painter. We do not know this because he does not display his painting equipment. Nothing lies around, not even a paint tube in a corner or a brush. This bedroom seems to be for relaxation and not for his work as a painter. Here, he could finally forget his fatigue, have some comfort, sleep in peace. The bed is thus the dominant subject of the painting, suggesting the importance of comfort and rest. Ay painting his bedroom where everything is in its place, the painter may also want to show that he is a very neat man who cares tort himself, and who organizes his elite in a reasonable manner, In addition to the prominent bed, this room exudes quietness and expresses, absolute rest by its various shades. Indeed, the room has beautiful shiny colors. In Holland, where the painter was born, the weather is not always nice and the sky is therefore often gray _ Here however, there are multiple vibrant colors that certainly illustrate the happy life he had in France. Perhaps he had come to Arles for the sun and for him, it was an immense joy to live in such bright bedroom, bursting with colors. What is also fascinating about this piece of art is how the painter highlights the simplicity Of his bedroom through the medium Of color: he pale lilac walls, the floor of an old brown, the chairs and bed chrome yellow, the blood red cover, the orange little table and the blue basin, as the painter describes it. Van Gogh asserted that he wanted to express a complete rest by handling all these different shades. The color black, Which could be evocation a certain form of anguish. Is almost nonexistent in this painting. Only the frame of the mirror and windows is black. We wonder if this could mean that Van Gogh was afraid of his future and afraid to face up to reality. This is a possibility. In fact, despite the evidence of his happiness, present in this painting, Van Gogh was not married and many clues here let us think that he wished to be. Although the bedroom is very sparsely furnished and only contains essential items (which shows, in addition to the choice Of colors, a great simplicity), we notice that many of these objects go together in pairs (two pillows, NON chairs, NON portraits on the wall, NON drawings, and even two doors). Thus, this painting on canvas was perhaps his way of expressing his wish to meet someone and that his bedroom was arranged so as to welcome her. But because it was just him in this bedroom, he certainly felt less lonely by doubling the objects. Van Sagos painting consists almost entirely of straight lines. This is reminiscent of a childrens coloring which would have been filled in with color pencils, because the edges of objects are holder and their filling up seem almost slapdash, neglected. This elaborate post-impressionist design may be compared to such work as Georges Usurers A Sunday on Grandee latte (book p,370). .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 , .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .postImageUrl , .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 , .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:hover , .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:visited , .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:active { border:0!important; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 { 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; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:active , .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .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; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5 .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u6b94f95f60e04e05ae58f4927c36aaa5:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: A Discussion on Georgia O'Keeffe's Paintings EssayBut whereas Van Gogh favored paintings composed of multiple thin brush strokes, Serrate preferred the use of the pointillism system, which consisted of applying color to the canvas in tiny dots. 3 In this painting of Serrate, the color also focuses on hues, There are numerous colors too, their contrast is intense, and the sun shine, like in the Van Sagos bedroom, tills the picture, suggesting happiness and tranquility. Like Van Gogh, Serrate played with repetitive forms (the parasols, people in profile, trees, and boats). People in this piece are rigid. In fact, they do not seem to move, but on the contrary, seem to be strangely paralyzed, paralleling the furniture of Van Sagos bedroom. Strangely, Van Sagos furniture seems to be even more alive than the people in the Caesuras painting. The two painters did not have the same approach when they decided which colors they wanted to illuminate their canvases; While Van Gogh was guided by his emotions and instant feelings, Serrate carefully analyzed the colors and meticulously calculated values. 3 But in both pieces, Van Gogh and Serrate express their sense of organization by making objects, forms, motifs and colors coherent.

The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe A critical analysis Essay Example

The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe: A critical analysis Paper Edgar Allan Poe is a master of the short story form. All the skill and craft required of a short story are evident in The Purloined Letter. This short detective fiction is about displaying the cleverness of the investigator (Auguste Dupin) in solving a case. As is the norm in this genre of fiction, â€Å"the criminal is caught and the victim suffers, but the investigator flourishes, acquiring pleasure from the hunt and both egotistical and financial gratification from the solution.† (Thoms 141) In The Purloined Letter, the detective fully exercises his powers of reasoning and deduction to arrive at the solution to the riddle. In his regard, one can equate this work by Poe to those numerous Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Conan Doyle. But there are certain features that distinguish the story from others in the genre. Firstly, Poe has crafted the plot in such a deliberate manner that there is symmetry of thought and action by the characters. Secondly, Poe applies psy chological analysis in attributing meaning to, and anticipating actions of, the characters in the story. Thirdly, Poe subtly raises questions of morality through the means of actions of the characters. The rest of this essay will elaborate these points. An obvious feature of The Purloined Letter is its lack of pronounced mystery or suspense, for the identity of the thief, the manner of the theft and the motivations behind it are all openly disclosed. The only question is the exact place where the letter is hidden. The gravity of this question lies in the fact that the letter is a crucial document, upon whose access the Royal Lady’s illicit affair could be exposed. Indeed, â€Å"in the Minister’s and Dupin’s struggle to possess this letter, this hidden story of transgression, brilliantly dramatizes the contest for narrative control that underpins detective fiction.† (Davidson 219) A key passage in the story where Poe applies psychological analysis is when Dupin explains to his friend how he went about calculating the intelligence of the Minister and consequently using this measure to speculate on his likely behaviour. Estimating the Minister’s intelligence to be very high, Dupin infers that the p ossible methods employed by him to hide the letter will also be clever. In this way, the Minister is a match to Dupin’s own high intelligence, allowing the latter to mirror and predict the former’s thought and behaviour. An illustration of the Minister’s intelligence is his first accidental encounter with the royal lady’s letter, where, We will write a custom essay sample on The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe: A critical analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe: A critical analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Purloined Letter by Edgar Allan Poe: A critical analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer â€Å"after discerning the hidden story through a brilliant act of reading in which his lynx eye immediately perceives the paper, recognises the handwriting of the address, observes the confusion of the personage addressed, and fathoms her secret, the Minister conceives the plan of pocketing the letter and then blackmailing the lady.† (Thoms 141) Another merit of the story is the remarkable symmetry in the plot. The Minister, being a cunning and clever man, scripts the scenario in which he gains possession of the scandalous letter. For example, he manufactures a letter that looks similar to the lady’s secret possession and opens it and pretends to read it. Without raising any suspicion, he places casually places it next to the lady’s letter. After finishing his conversation, as he gestures to part, he nonchalantly picks up the lady’s letter. Even if the lady notices that it is her letter which is being taken, she cannot object to it, for it would give away her secret. Dupin’s masterful counterplot to steal back the letter from the Minister is conceived on similar lines, lending symmetry to the plot. (Thoms 141) The symmetry extends further, for both Dupin and the Minister are poets and authorial figures, who â€Å"can read circumstances and script the action; they share the initial D; and they both purloin the letter, an action which promises profit and allows us to see more clearly how detection becomes a kind of thievery as the investigator assumes possession of the hidden story and of the characters contained within it.† (Thoms 141) Poe’s genius is also evident in how he criminalizes the solving of crime itself, thereby raising questions of morality. In other words, far from acting on noble intentions, Dupin undertakes to solve the crime only for personal benefit, namely a check for 50,000 francs. He hardly breaks a sweat for this hefty pay, for the prefect was the one made to pursue standard search and seizure protocols, which prove futile. Having thus eliminated the usual hiding places for the letter through the Prefect’s testimony, Dupin makes his master move like a seasoned chess player. Moreover, the method he employs is not ethically above that of the Minister, for Dupin too resorts to stealing. Here, Poe is highlighting the moral ambiguity of the whole enterprise. The moral ambiguity is further heightened when we take into account how the Royal Lady’s mission to get back the letter is not officially notified to authorities. Instead, she uses her position of power to use state ap paratus for personal purposes. So, her actions are ethically dubious as well. Hence, The Purloined Letter is more than a mere detective story, for the detective and his client are not decidedly the righteous lot. In other words, â€Å"Poe proceeds to destabilize what he has wrought by challenging the apparent opposition between good detective and bad criminal. The story critiques the authority of the detective, subverts his solutions, and thus resists closure. From the making of the facsimile and the act of re-stealing the three Dupin stories seem preoccupied with reflection, repetition, and the blurring of boundaries†¦we glimpse how the imaginative Dupin adopts the character and perspective of the ostensible criminal.† (Thoms 142) Through a careful reading of The Purloined Letter, one can decipher a broader psychological device that Poe applies to his short stories. The key factor behind Dupin’s successful resolution of the case is his anticipation. This is made possible by being able to understand and rely on the pattern of behaviour of his subject – the Minister. Poe refers to it as ‘simplicity’, the â€Å"unitary characteristic of both mind and world† that aids Dupin’s predictions. Here, Poe is trying to approximate human behaviour to a scientific law by setting up a formula by which the several modes of human thought and action could be understood. First, â€Å"there was the action of the commonplace, ordinary mind — the â€Å"real† side of man — which conformed to a calculus of probability simple to unmask merely by putting one’s own mind in logical reference and identification with it: Poe’s analogy was the boy who could easily outwit his fellows by guessing in which hand the marble was held. Next, the more complex, original mind was impelled toward simplicity, toward final and ultimate comprehension. It was the character of this mind to conceal itself, as did Minister D behind some other or inverted calculus of relevance.† (Davidson 219) Works Cited Davidson, Edward H. Poe: A Critical Study. Cambridge, MA: Belknap-Harvard UP, 1957. Hayes, Kevin J., ed. The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe. Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP, 2002.

Principles of Dimensional Modeling

Principles of Dimensional Modeling Abstract: Dimensional modeling is the name of a logical design technique often used for data warehouses. DM is the only viable technique for databases that are designed to support end-user queries in a data warehouse. It is different from, and contrasts with, entity-relation modeling. ER is very useful for the transaction capture and the data administration phases of constructing a data warehouse, but it should be avoided for end-user delivery. This paper explains the dimensional modeling and how dimensional modeling technique varies/ contrasts with ER models. DM: Dimensional Modeling is a favorite modeling technique in data warehousing. DM is a logical design technique that seeks to present the data in a standard, intuitive framework that allows for high-performance access. It is inherently dimensional, and it adheres to a discipline that uses the relational model with some important restrictions. Every dimensional model is composed of one table with a multipart key, called the fact table, and a set of smaller tables called dimension tables. Each dimension table has a single-part primary key that corresponds exactly to one of the components of the multipart key in the fact table. This characteristic star-like structure is often called a star join. A fact table, because it has a multipart primary key made up of two or more foreign keys, always expresses a many-to-many relationship. The most useful fact tables also contain one or more numerical measures, or facts, that occur for the combination of keys that define each record. Dimension tables, by contrast, most often contain descriptive textual information. Dimension attributes are used as the source of most of the interesting constraints in data warehouse queries, and they are virtually always the source of the row headers in the SQL answer set. Dimension Attributes are the various columns in a dimension table. In the Location dimension, the attributes can be Location Code, State, Country, Zip code. Generally the Dimension Attributes are used in report labels, and query constraints such as where Country=UK. The dimension attributes also contain one or more hierarchical relationships. Before designing a data warehouse, one must decide upon the subjects. Contrast with E-R: In DM, a model of tables and relations is constituted with the purpose of optimizing decision support query performance in relational databases, relative to a measurement or set of measurements of the outcomes of the business process being modeled. In contrast, conventional E-R models are constituted to remove redundancy in the data model, to facilitate retrieval of individual records having certain critical identifiers, and therefore, optimize On-line Transaction Processing (OLTP) performance. In a DM, the grain of the fact table is usually a quantitative measurement of the outcome of the business process being analyzed. The dimension tables are generally composed of attributes measured on some discrete category scale that describe, qualify, locate, or constrain the fact table quantitative measurements. Ralph Kimball views that the data warehouse should always be modeled using a DM/star schema. Indeed Kimball has stated that while DM/star schemas have the advantages of greater understandability and superior performance relative to E-R models, their use involves no loss of information, because any E-R model can be represented as a set of DM/star schema models without loss of information. In E-R models, normalization through addition of attributive and sub-type entities destroys the clean dimensional structure of star schemas and creates snowflakes, which, in general, slow browsing performance. But in star schemas, browsing performance is protected by restricting the formal model to associative and fundamental entities, unless certain special conditions exist (Kimball, 19960. The key to understanding the relationship between DM and ER is that a single ER diagram breaks down into multiple DM diagrams. The ER diagram does itself a disservice by representing on one diagram multiple processes that never coexist in a single data set at a single consistent point in time. Its no wonder the ER diagram is overly complex. Thus the first step in converting an ER diagram to a set of DM diagrams is to separate the ER diagram into its discrete business processes and to model each one separately. The dimensional model has a number of important data warehouse advantages that the ER model lacks. The dimensional model is a predictable, standard framework. Report writers, query tools, and user interfaces can all make strong assumptions about the dimensional model to make the user interfaces more understandable and to make processing more efficient. The wild variability of the structure of ER models means that each data warehouse needs custom, handwritten and tuned SQL. It also means that each schema, once it is tuned, is very vulnerable to changes in the users querying habits, because such schemas are asymmetrical. By contrast, in a dimensional model all dimensions serve as equal entry points to the fact table. Changes in users querying habits dont change the structure of the SQL or the standard ways of measuring and controlling performance (Ramon Barquin and Herb Edelstein, 1996). Conclusion: It can be concluded that dimensional modeling is the only viable technique for designing end-user delivery databases. ER modeling defeats end-user delivery and should not be used for this purpose. ER modeling does not really model a business; rather, it models the micro relationships among data elements (Ramon Barquin and Herb Edelstein, 1996).

How to Use String Substitution in Ruby

How to Use String Substitution in Ruby Splitting a string is only one way to manipulate string data. You can also make substitutions to replace one part of a string with another string. For instance, in an example string (foo,bar,baz) replacing foo with boo in would yield boo,bar,baz. You can do this and many more things using the sub and gsub method in the string class. Many Options for Ruby Substitution The substitution methods come in two varieties. The sub method is the most basic of the two and comes with the least number of surprises. It simply replaces the first instance of the designated pattern with the replacement. Whereas sub only replaces the first instance, the gsub method replaces every instance of the pattern with the replacement. In addition, both sub and gsub have sub! and gsub! counterparts. Remember, methods in Ruby that end in an exclamation point alter the variable in place instead of returning a modified copy. Search and Replace The most basic usage of the substitution methods is to replace one static search string with one static replacement string. In the above example, foo was replaced with boo. This can be done for the first occurrence of foo in the string using the sub method or with all occurrences of foo using the gsub method. #!/usr/bin/env rubya foo,bar,bazb a.sub( foo, boo )puts b $ ./1.rbfoo,bar,bazgsub$ ./1.rbboo,bar,baz Flexible Searching Searching for static strings can only go so far. Eventually, youll run into cases where a subset of strings or strings with optional components will need to be matched. The substitution methods can, of course, match regular expressions instead of static strings. This allows them to be much more flexible and match virtually any text you can dream up. This example is a little more real world. Imagine a set of comma-separated values. These values are fed into a tabulation program over which you have no control (closed source). The program that generates these values is closed source as well, but its outputting some badly-formatted data. Some fields have spaces after the comma and this is causing the tabulator program to break. One possible solution is to write a Ruby program to act as glue, or a filter, between the two programs. This Ruby program will fix any problems in the data formatting so the tabulator can do its job. To do this, its quite simple: replace a comma followed by a number of spaces with just a comma. #!/usr/bin/env rubySTDIN.each do|l|l.gsub!( /, /, , )puts lend gsub$ cat data.txt10, 20, 3012.8, 10.4,11gsub$ cat data.txt | ./2.rb10,20,3012.8,10.4,11 Flexible Replacements Now imagine this situation. In addition to the minor formatting errors, the program that produces the data produces number data in scientific notation. The tabulator program doesnt understand this, so youre going to have to replace it. Obviously, a simple gsub wont do here because the replacement will be different every time the replacement is done. Luckily, the substitution methods can take a block for the substitution arguments. For each time the search string is found, the text that matched the search string (or regex) is passed to this block. The value yielded by the block is used as the substitution string. In this example, a floating point number in scientific notation form (such as 1.232e4) is converted to a normal number with a decimal point. The string is converted to a number with to_f, then the number is formatted using a format string. #!/usr/bin/env rubySTDIN.each do|l|l.gsub!( /-?\d\.\de-?\d/) do|n|%.3f % n.to_fendl.gsub!( /, /, , )puts lend gsub$ cat floatdata.txt2.215e-1, 54, 113.15668e6, 21, 7gsub$ cat floatdata.txt | ./3.rb0.222,54,113156680.000,21,7 Not Familiar With Regular Expressions? Lets take a step back and look at that regular expression. It looks cryptic and complicated, but its very simple. If youre not familiar with regular expressions, they can be quite cryptic. However, once you are familiar with them, theyre straightforward and natural methods of describing text. There are a number of elements, and several of the elements have quantifiers. The primary element here is the \d character class. This will match any digit, the characters 0 through 9. The quantifier is used with the digit character class to signify that one or more of these digits should be matched in a row. You have three groups of digits, two separated by a . and the other separated by the letter e (for exponent). The second element floating around is the minus character, which uses the ? quantifier. This means zero or one of these elements. So, in short, there may or may not be negative signs at the beginning of the number or exponent. The two other elements are the . (period) character and the e character. Combine all this, and you get a regular expression (or set of rules for matching text) that matches numbers in scientific form (such as 12.34e56).

Ecconomic globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ecconomic globalization - Essay Example tion has led to economic growth by increasing the aggregate demand which increases exports as well as increasing aggregate supply through higher levels of investments that are associated with globalization. Globalization has led to destruction of jobs in the manufacturing sector and increase of jobs in the service sector. In addition to that, globalization has led to the increased demand of skilled labour and reduced demand of unskilled labour. This is because firms have shifted their some of their productions stages to countries with cheap labour only leaving the ones that required highly skilled man power within the USA. This has led to widening income gap in the United States of America (Hanson, 2006). Globalization has impacted positively on export and import trade in the USA. This increased trade has led to increase in the GDP of the country. However the effect of globalization on balance of payment is uncertain and it hugely depends on the relative growth rates, exchange rates and

Enterprise Risk Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Enterprise Risk Management - Assignment Example The collapse of the Lehman Brothers in the year 2008 due to bankruptcy there was a grave financial crisis not only in the US but across the entire world. In the 21st century the different economies of the world are closely connected with economic and bilateral ties which make one dependent and linked to the other. As a result, an event or incident taking place at distant corner of the world would invariable have an impact on the rest of the nations of the world, because they are connected to each other in one or more ways. In this paper, the researcher takes up crisis as the event of discussion in this paper. For convenience of study the entire paper is divided into a number of sections and discussed. Firstly, the researcher defines crisis, states the different types of crisis, makes a discussion on the impacts of crisis, talks about crisis management, the importance of crisis management and finally does a case study of the Lehman Brothers. Lastly, the researcher draws the conclusion based on the entire discussion throughout the paper. The conclusion again verifies and validates the belief held by the researcher about the corporate crisis and its impact on the entire economy of the world. The organisation or a company is a single body comprising of a number of departments, the departments are again formed by a number of employees designated with particular job responsibilities. The structure and its entire range of its functioning make it a complex structure which needs efficient and strategic planning. The smooth functioning of a company is essential for the commercial success of the company and even for a strong foundation for the entire economic structure of the country. Countries with a number of successful companies are the ones with affluent economic condition. The close connection between successful companies and economic condition of a country can also be made out from the fact that with the crippling of a significant company can break the

Migration phenomenon Essay Example for Free

Migration phenomenon Essay MIGRATION: Migration is a world wide phenomenon that can be viewed in either a modern or historical perspective. Historically speaking, migration has been happening for hundreds of years for various reasons such as racism, war invasions, search for a better life, famine, and poor weather conditions. Modernly speaking, in a great majority of cases, people have poor and developing countries that cant provide good conditions for living and raising a family causing them to migrate to another location to in search of a better life style. Sometimes, in search of better education, one would migrate to another location to fulfill their destiny. Some even migrate in need to find unknown relatives that share the same bloodline as them due to fact there was a disconnection in where the family split through migration. But there are plenty of reasons for migration in where a person just wants to relocate for their specific reasons. Migrations even plays a role in population, and even bringing in a new culture. Today, I will enlighten you about this topic by discussing the migration that occurred through out Barack Obamas and his families life. Also, I will speak upon the Dust Storm that played a role in migration. To add on, I will inform you about he migration that occurred through out my relatives lives. And finally, I will speak upon the migration that occurred through out the movie Scarface that starred Al Pacino that played Tony Montanas role. My parents werent born in the United States, but they were looking for better lives and opportunities, so they migrated from Haiti to the United States. My parents growing up in such a poor country that didnt provide much opportunity for them to be able to live a decent lifestyle forced them to migrate. In search of education, jobs, money, and opportunity, they decided to start a new life in the united States. When waking up not knowing when you or your family are going to have the next meal, are you going to find the money to pay the landlord, can you pay your childrens education, afford medicine for when someone in your family that is severely sick, or any specific cause that revolves around unobtainable cash, can drive a person a stress level very high. In desperate need to escape hardship, hearing about the United States and what it had to offer such as opportunities, free education, and work, it was a done deal, they moved on forward. It was a every day struggle in Haiti for my parents, and they thought leaving Haiti coming to America was the only solution to end the struggle and give them a better life to live. Due to difficult times and hard measures, sometimes it is inevitable to stop yourself from migrating to another location hoping for the better. And also, in search of better education, giving you chances to better opportunities in life, will persuade you to migrate to another location that is willing to provide that. There are various reasons in which someone can migrate and through out reading Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, Ive consumed particular reasons. In this book, Barack Obama explains his life and the life of his parents. Through out the reading, he elaborates on all the various migrations he has done along with his parents. In Dreams from My Father, President Obama informs us on plenty of migration that occurred through out his family. Barack Obama, the son of Barack Obama Sr. who is from Kenya, and Ann Dunham who is from Kansas, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father and mother had divorced and his mother met Lolo Soetoro, a javanese surveyor from Indonesia. Both Lolo and Baracks mother attended the same university. His mother and Lolo ended up getting married together and his new stepfather moved to jakarta, Indonesia shortly after graduating from the University of Hawaii. Obamas mother graduated from the university as well and decided to move also to go join her new husband. Obama moved to Indonesia leaving Hawaii to live with his mother and he spent ages six to ten there attending school. As years went by, he moved back to hawaii to live with his maternal grandparents. He had earned a scholarship which enabled him to attend a college preparatory school from fifth grade till he graduated high school. His mother got a chance to stay with him for three years along with his sister but he wanted to return to Indonesia to do her anthropology field work, but Obama decided to stay in Hawaii with his grandparents for high school. After graduating high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental college. During that period of time, he decided to visit his mother in Indonesia, and then after travel to Pakistan and India to visit college classmate families. Later, Obama decided to transfer to Colombia University in New York City where he majored in political science. he graduated from there with a bachelor and received two jobs in New York while he stayed there for a year. he later received a job in Chicago where he moved there and was a director of the Developing Com munities Project. Obama wanted to connect with the black community more due to him being confused growing up half white and black. After, Obama travelled to Europe for the first time for a period of three weeks and then decided to travel to Kenya for five weeks to meet unknown relatives from his fathers side to bond. Later, Obama then decided to attend Harvard Law School moving to Massachusetts. After graduating, he left and went back to Chicago. He later got a job again in Chicago where he got a book deal with the University of Chicago Law School. He later ended up becoming a teacher at the University. With him being a civil rights attorney and all the extracurricular activities he was involved in, that lead him to being state senator. Obama travelled back one to Kenya to trace his fathers foot steps. Through out reading chapter 11: Dust Bowl Odyssey from the book called After the Fact: the Art of Historical Detection written by James West Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle, this chapter enlightened me a lot about the topic of migration showing me how poor weather conditions can play a big role in causing people to migrate. The dust storms caused people to migrate because of the fact that it brought in famine and unemployment. The poor weather conditions in that area were so horrible, it just caused poor living conditions, which made people have to leave their current location in search of a better life. The Dust storm began May 9, 1934, and by May 11, the dust shifted down to South Atlanta and Boston. Every year on, the storms blew in worst. There were 22 dust storms in total in 1934 and it grew to 72 storms by 1937. The storms were so intense, people thought it was the wrath of god in where when the rain failed them, the crops withered, and the winds hurdled the loose soil across the nation. The crops kept falling, the farmers debts kept growing, and soon the banks repossessed the farmers farms. Several farming states felt the wrath of the storms coming in. After watching the storms effects, statistics showed how California gained more than a million new residents in the 1930s. Mostly affected by the bad weather and the Great Depression was the south west plains. Unemployment in the region hit one-third of all workers. People started assuming moving to California was the answer to everything at the moment guessing that the state could be helpful at the crisis moment. 43% of California which is nearly half of California, were now farmers and laborers. Families walked to California in search of a better life. 95% of all southwestern migrants to California were white. The population in California was growing fast and California didnt know how to control this migration, so billboards started to come up saying things such as no jobs in California, 6 men for every job, no state relief available for non residents, and keep out. Although Californias economy suffered and unemployment,remained serious, the state of california was much better off than most of the nation. The economy of California actually grew during the 1930s. Good Highways, bus routes, and railroads linked the southwestern plains to California. Because the trip was was so manageable, most families did not necessarily see their move as permanent. By 1940, 83% of all men in the city were eligible to wok had found jobs. Only 28% of the dust bowls refugees found their way. Migration was causing farmers to make deficit in profit. This migration caused regular farmers from California to complain about farmer migrators and made foul remarks towards them. The United States has been transformed by a civil rights revolution ever sine the dust storms swept across the south western plains. It has been reminded of its diversity by the renewed tide of immigration in the wake of the Immigration Reform Act of 1964. For example, in the 1983 film called Scarface directed by Brian DePalma which starred famous actor Al Pacino who played the lead role character of Tony Montana in the movie, migration played a major factor in why Tony Montana reached the success he did in he film. Tony Montana was from Cuba and after departing from there in search of his American Dream , he tried to migrate to the United States but was denied by INS officials who seemed to believe he was involved in political criminal activities . So, they detained him and sent him to a camp called Freedomtown under a expressway with other fellow Cubans while the government reviewed their visa petitions. While incarcerated in that camp, Montana was offered a deal to kill a former aide of Fidel Castro called Rebanga for a visa by Frank Lopez (a wealthy, political astute man who dealt cars and was involved in the drug trade) for the simple fact Rebanga tortured Franks brother to death. But in desperate need of that visa, to escape the poor life in Cuba, he murdered Rebanga, and then departed to come to Florida. In Florida, he got involved into the drug trade and got into certain situations which lead him to meeting a drug lord called Sosa. By Tony Montana migrating to Bolivia for Franks personal business purposes, Montana and Sosa make friendship, which leads to Tony taking over the cocaine business in Florida. Even though the story ends very brutal with the death of Tony, migration was the cause of why Tony reached his success illegally due to the fact of him trying to escape poverty and search for his American Dream. As you can see, migration plays a big role in the world that we live. Migration is the cause of population increase and decrease. People migrate in cause of chasing a better life style in which they are trying to escape the bad living. People migrate in search of education, jobs, family, opportunities, escaping poverty, famine, and poor living. Migration is the key to success in some cases, in where finding another location to live can branch them off into great possibilities. Migration can cause reduction in money that used to be obtained regularly due to increase in venture. Migration basically has its ups and downs, should be controlled due to population increase which may have its consequences. But, migration has its pros and cons where it could be beneficial for the migrator or not be beneficial for the people of origin in the location the migrator moved. Work Cited: DePalma, Brian Stone, Oliver. Scarface Obama, Barack. Dreams From My Father 1995 West, James Mark Hamilton. After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection : chapter 11

My Personal Goals Essay -- essays research papers

As a child and even as a teenager one tends to make dreams and set goals for life. On occasion these goals are far stretched and sometimes even fairy-tale like, we tend to see life through a rose-colored glass, not taking into account the many sidetracks life throws our way. At that stage in life our goals tend to be less focused and somewhat unreachable. However, the process of growing up, or maturing, tends organized and center our goals, we learn to make compromises and set goals for our goals. There are different types of goals, short term and long term. I have learned to separate the many goals I have into three main categories: family, professional and personal. First, my family goals include how I see myself and how I see my family and the paths that life takes us. Being a mother and a wife to me has been the most important goal which I have set in the past, and now that the wonderful role of motherhood has taken me in full speed I have learned to adjust my goals. The most important aspect of being a mother, and the long term that I have set for myself, is to be able to raise happy and healthy children that are able to face the world in a positive manner. In order to achieve my long term goal for my family I have set a few short term goals that I believe will help in the process. One of my short term goal as a mother is to be able to be a constant parent for my two sons, ages nineteen months and three months, especially in their first five years of life. So that I m...

Consumers Markets and Culture Essay

Compare and contrast the changing experiences of consumers from the year 1900 until present day. How do the theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber help to explain the changing consumer experience and the emergence of contemporary consumer society? â€Å"Until the eighteenth century the word consumption meant waste†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Williams, 1976) As consumers our experience of consumption today is exponentially different from that at the turn of the twentieth century in the recently urbanised and industrialised modern nation. Consumer culture is traditionally described in terms of the arrival of mass consumption as a counterpart to mass production as a result of the Fordist system (Miles, S). Choice is one of the biggest factors of the changing experience for consumers, during the 1950’s after the austerity years the now aging baby boomers were part of large scale changes to consumption patterns. For example as women began to enter the work place leaving less time to run the home, products were being developed to ease the burden of housework, washing machines, fridges and vacuum cleaners were among these products; the ever-growing use of hire purchase to enable consumers to afford these luxury products, combined with Fordist methods of mass production reducing the manufacturing cost of the products allowed the economy to grow strong once again. As television grew in popularity advertising was increasingly utilised by businesses to sell their products creating a far more impersonal environment while shopping for products. From this time the standard of living has been increasing up until present day (The Economist, 2008) with the aspirations of society increasing further still. Marx presents his theories as a materialist understanding of society, explaining capitalism as an unequal system based on the exploitation of the lower class (Abercrombie N et al, 2006), a system based on surplus value being extracted, the capitalist’s entire aim is to maximise the gap between value produced and value paid for (Slater D, 1997). Which a hundred years  ago meant using Fordist methods of production to bring down costs and reducing the skill required of workers which in turn reduced the compensation needed for workers. The Fordist method of production first seen around 1911 (Cohen and Kennedy, 2007), Alienated workers from the act of production. In his theory of Alienation Marx describes human essence as being realised through labour (Abercrombie et al, 2006) and working as an alien activity that offers no intrinsic satisfaction as the worker has no control over what is produced; this loss of ownership and loss of control over the workers own life due to managem ent organising and enforcing the labour. Where during the early twentieth our working classes were exploited and Alienated, now capitalists in the quest towards decreasing wages and widening the gap between value produced and value paid for are increasing looking to less economically developed countries where costs of production, epically workers are much lower. The counties known as BRIC economic group (Brazil, Russia, India and China). By indiscriminately consuming as a society, this encourages the expansion of exploitation of foreign working classes. Bauman proposes post-industrial societies are governed by ‘aesthetics of consumption’ rather than ‘ethics of production’ (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007). Organisations such as Apple, Nike and similarly Primark are guilty of this system, the former two retailing premium priced products produced at the lowest cost possible cost, by attaching symbolic meaning to the products. Primark produces clothes at the lowest cost possible which are retailed for the lowest cost possible; consumers buy into this system with no feelings of guilt, as these products allow consumers to display possessions acting as social glue possibly due in part to the increasing Alienation of workers as society is increasingly detached from production with the service based economy we ‘enjoy’ today. Durkheim’s concept of Anomie is similar to Alienation, discussing Anomic suicide due to people no knowing how they fit in with society where possessions are used as social glue allowing consumers to display their beliefs and social groups. It is harder to relate Marx’s definitions of the class system as the proximity to production is becoming increasingly distant for most of society. â€Å"Every capitalist is trying to decrease the wages and consumption of their own workers and entice everyone else’s workers to consume to their limit and  beyond.† (Slater, D 1997) Marxism, as other modern economic theories believe, that the production and consumption of products is intrinsically connected, in the sense that incomes from production and consumer buying power are two sides of the same coin.’ (Slater, D 1997). This theory is particularly relevant now due to the current economic climate. As the recession began in 2008 many workers lost their jobs or suffered significant cuts in wages this resulted in a widespread reduction in consumer spending as a result society ended up a cycle of ever decreasing demand where the government had to intervene to stimulate spending. Of the stimulus the VAT reduction had an impact by reducing the cost of products, to reduce ever growing back up of cars as they still needed to be produced to keep the workers in employment the car scrapage scheme was introduced temporarily (Lloyds, 2009). In this scheme two thousand pounds was offered if a old car was scrapped in exchange for a new car. Capitalists driven to mass production, not by greed but conditions of capitalism (Edwards T, 2000), if not competing, competitors will capture markets through lower prices. This practice discussed by Marx leads to situations like the above were supply far exceeds demand. A good example of over production can be found by searching for any random product on a supplier listings website, Alibaba.com have over 64,979 different belt buckles available. Durkheim predicted that modern industrial societies would over-emphasise the importance of individuality which would erode social stability and solidarity (Schmidt, R 2010), consumers are sold their own individuality through advertising campaigns a few examples are: Dell’s ‘Yours is here’, My Yahoo. Products are increasingly customisable, mobile phone cases are a hugely popular consumer item. ‘Durkheim argues that people can only be happy when their wants are proportionate to their means. Left to themselves, human desires are boundless†¦ together with necessarily limited recourses, creates great unhappiness or ultimately suicide’ (Abercrombie et al 2006). Society controls the problem of unattainable goals by restricting desires through values aimed at permitting only goals which have some chance of attainment. The X-Factor is currently the most popular television program (Plunkett, J 2010) as dreams of mostly unattainable goals are being realised for a lucky number of consumers. This  is a stark contrast to the 1940’s where society was based around family values, working together to repair Britain where jobs were expected for life. Anomie describes the situation when this framework breaks down, goals again outrun means and suicide rate rises (Abercrombie et al 2006). Weber predicted that society would experience unprecedented inner loneliness of the single individual (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007), this is a very accurate description of the contemporary experience, more than ever consumers are looking to the symbolic meaning of products to identify with their desired social groups and status. Social media is an interesting way to examine the inner loneliness experienced, taking facebook where consumers might have several hundred ‘friends’ who are merely acquaintances, with few solid friendships, while there is pressure to appear to have acquired huge numbers of ‘friends’ on social networks. To explore further into the loneliness of individuals, one in three households now have just one member compared with one in five in the 1970’s (BBC, 2004) this is known as the ‘meal for one’ society, more than half the meals eaten in the UK are now eaten alone. Traditional family unit is also becoming less common, with predictions indicating that in 2011 more than sixty percent of marriages will end in divorce (BBC, 2004). Weber discuses formal rationalisation of society as it becomes more industrialised and that this rationality is inevitable, the greater calculability required for rationalisation has affected greatly the consumer experie nce (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007), consumers – save for the wealthy classes, have an impersonal consumption experience. Self service check outs are a perfect example of this, once a shop keeper in the local store, would ring through and bag up your products now in the national and often multinational store, consumers ring through and bag up their own shopping. The systematic measured approach to contemporary life has created a predictable almost emotionless society, the consumption of university is a relevant example to the author, students are recognised by their identification number only, few if any university staff will know student’s names, no individuality between the students leaving students to display their personality and attachments through the conspicuous consumption of goods with symbolic meaning. Whereas the baby boomers will remember university involving debates with friendly tutors, with little care about appearances. This system creates greater efficiency, economic growth and  control of nature, the ‘iron cage’ describes this situation. However it does lead society towards the theories of Anomie and Alienation by Durkheim and Marx respectively. Calculability becomes an organising principle in the overall personality where ever more of our behaviour is informed by consistent logical expectations of human beings and of the environment. Spontaneity and surprise are experienced less and less in society, with calculability everything becomes increasingly predictable, unexpected events are planned for and avoided through policies and rules. The commoditisation of adventure is a good example of the disenchantment of society, Disneyland and all it represents takes the excitement out of spontaneity due to the ‘iron cage’ of functionalism and rationality. Weber sees class defined by income, (Cohen & Kennedy, 2007) explaining that classes form around market positions, amongst people who share similar life chances which is relevant to the differences seen in society today from that at 1900, social mobility much more fluid with government actively perusing policies pulling people up the class system. The theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber are relevant to society today; Weber the youngest of the theorists has accurate concepts relating to the bureaucracy experienced in the post-industrial age which explain well the changing experiences of consumers. Durkheim’s theories on Anomie in relation to individualism and the breakdown of society while religions stability isn’t the answer are partially interesting in explaining how society consumes conspicuously, using products as social glue to find a place in society. Marx’s idea on Alienation of workers, as Anomie explains aspects of the consumer mindset today. The globalisation of business taking the class struggle Marx discuses around the world. The current economic climate demonstrates that capitalism has failings even if the least of these is disconnecting individuals from a more intrinsic and meaningful existences within society. â€Å"Capitalism simultaneously produces more goods and less effective demand to pay for them.† (Slater, D 1997) References Abercrombie, N (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 235| Abercrombie, N (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 360| Abercrombie, N et al (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 14| Abercrombie, N et al (2006) Penguin Reference: Dictionary of Sociology. 5th Ed Pengin, London. P 18| Alibaba.com (2010) Search for Belt Buckles [Accessed on 19/11/2010] Available at: http://www.alibaba.com/Belt-Buckles_pid3391301| BBC News (2004) Portrait of the ‘meal for one’ society [Accessed on: 25/11/10] Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3445091.stm| Buttler, C (2007) The Industrial Revolution. Flow of History.com [Accessed on: 22/11/10] Available at: http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/17/FC0121| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. P 300| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmill an, Hampshire. P 81| Cohen, R and Kennedy, P (2007) Global Sociology 2nd Ed. Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. P 94| Desmond, J (2003) Consuming Behaviour. Palgrave, Hampshire| Edwards, T (2000) Contradictions of Consumption: Concepts, practices and politics in consumer society. Open University Press, Buckingham| Lloyds.com (2009) Unsold cars face storage exposures [Accessed on: s19/11/2010] Available at: http://www.lloyds.com/News-and-Insight/News-and-Features/Market-news/Specialist-2009/Unsold_cars_face_storage_exposures| Miles, S (1998) Consumerism – as a way of life. London, Sage.| Plunkett, J (2010) Gardian.co.uk: X Factor steals the show with 13.6m viewers. [Accessed on 29/11/2010] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/nov/29/x-factor-tv-ratings| Schmidt, R (2010) Functionalism and Consumption Lecture Notes. I know sorry, I just really liked the sentence.| Sekora, J (1977) Luxuary: The concept in western though. Eden to Smollet, Balimore. As quoted by Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 176| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 175| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 176| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge, Polity Press. P 181| Slater, D (1997) Consumer Culture and Modernity. Cambridge,

Cultural Meaning Essay

The meaning humans give to actions, concepts and behaviours is dependent on the cultural milieu and is conditioned to a great extent by the underlying meaning systems, values and frames of meaning he/she inherites from the society in general. Socialization plays a direct role in that process. Education, effects of peers and the intellectual atmosphere all contribute to what is called cultural meaning or systems of meaning. Cultural meaning conditions our perception and determines the way we process external perceptions. In this sense, what Gregory Bateson calls â€Å"an ecology of mind† is at work here. The mind acts in an ecology of preceding concepts, comments and semantic networks operating in a particular field and in society as well. Through these networks meaning is produced within a particular person, system, or culture. This meaning then frames and motivates the actions of individuals and groups. â€Å"Events are not just there and happen, but they have a meaning and happen because of that meaning,† wrote Clifford Geertz. Meaning is also historically formed. For example; body image varies across cultures and is shaped by the specific meaning given to it by a culture. There is a time dimension involved in this same process, too. Western societies tend to value slim and fit bodies in terms of representation in popular culture. Whereas, body images of other cultures are very different in most cases. Some Pacific island people prefer fatness both as a sign of wealth and of esthetic superiority. But with the advent of globalization and the expansion of western cultural codes through TV and other media, these same people have come to question their body images. Western culture’s meaning system expanded its sphere of influence in that case. In fact, a mild fatness was accepted as a desirable physical trait in western history, too. Much of what is classified under popular culture is subject to meaning systems and the accompanying perceptions about them. A society’s selective perceptions and evaluations favor a certain behavior, a mode of thought and even such ephemeral things as fashion fads. Famous anthropologist Clifford Geertz suggests that an analysis of culture must also cope with the category of meaning. â€Å"The culture concept to which I adhere . denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited concepts expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life. † As is understod from this definition, meaning is an inseparable component of culture and it directly shapes our perceptions and understanding. Alternative meaning systems combine to give a culture its core values. As a cultural phenomenon, gift giving may be evaluated from that pespective looking at different cultures and their subjective meaning systems attributed to this practice. As can be deduced from David R. Counts’ article , some cultures see the act of gift giving in a radically different way. Reciprocity brings about a gift giving approach that is essentially different from ours. The people of New Guinea think gift giving must include a symmetry in that you also have to respond to the act of gift giving by giving something in return for the one you received. It is a kind of implied bargain, or shopping through barter more to say. In the lack of formal rules and practices of trade, the natives created their own concept of reciprocal gift giving as a means of doing trade. From a western point of view, the meanings ascribed to gift giving are very different, though. But New Guineans have refined this form of gift giving through centuries and created this particular meaning system. Western culture sees gift giving as away from commercial thoughts. Though reciprocity is emphasized again, the hints of mutual give-and-take are shunned carefully lest monetary concerns come between. Western culture’s refusal of this kind of gift giving and its derisory look at the issue are witnessed through some sayings and idioms. The term â€Å"Indian giver† is one such example. A network of meanings developed through centuries of experience emerges as cultural meaning. It becomes a culture’s core over time and forms the basis also of other attitudes. Western culture makes one think there are indeed too many bananas, whereas in New Guinea there can not be too many bananas at all. Another cultural phenomenon seen through the different lenses of various cultures is leadership. Leadership is also loaded with cultural meanings and values. In general, eastern cultures are said to put much emphasis on social harmony and collective action. Respect to elders, family ties are given importance in these cultures. Leaders in these cultures are expected to be humble, caring and considerate thinking about the well-being of their followers. In this sense, they are seen as somewhat paternalistic figures. They are required to show mercy and understanding towards inferiors, to care for the problems of those they lead. Whereas, in western culture a competitive society is preferred and leaders are thought to be assertive, highly competitive and efficient decision makers. Humane considerations do not seem to play great role in this scheme. Efficiency and beneficial results matter more than paternalistic protection of subordinates. So, one who is accepted in the West as a good leader may be perceived as a ruthless go-getter obsessed with his egotistic views in the East. Cultural meaning acquired through immediate experience and classified into an unwritten code of ethics, appears as the determinant of perceptions about power and leadership. In contrast, a western look may detect an apathetic, lethargic society in the East viewing the style of leadership there as suffocating innovation and development. These two seemingly irreconcilable views about the same concept result from the respective meaning systems of the two cultures. Leaving aside the theoretical concerns over the validity of the broad-based concept culture, it is possible to derive conclusions after comparing differences between meaning systems of societies. Culture as a web of meaning systems is observed best in such comparisons. I would like to quote here a passage from Clifford Geertz who is among those attributing great singificance to culture as a system of meanings. † The concept of culture I espouse . . . is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experiential science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning. . . . Meaning, that elusive and ill-defined pseudoentity we were once more than content to leave philosophers and literary critics to fumble with, has now come back into the heart of our discipline. † New Guineans asserted their view on gift giving and that’s what struck westerners most as strange. In the other case of Fiji girls experiencing problems with their body image, western culture’s meaning system can be said to intrude upon the culture-and hence meaning system- of Fiji through the images brought by mass media. Culture is an ambient, all encompassing structure composed of interrelated and interdependent meaning systems. There are both implied and overt systems of meaning in a culture and they can be grasped through socialization. As I tried to show with respect to the phenomena of gift giving and leadership, specific meaning systems forming a culture condition our perceptions and how we evaluate certain phenomena. If I am not mistaken, Italian writer Umberto Eco penned a short story protagonist of which is a â€Å"savage† from a distant land who visits a â€Å"developed and civilized† country to observe the mores, customs and habits of the people living there. Of course the apparent irony points to the reversal of the usual relationship between â€Å"savages and the civilized†; it has always been the civilized who observed and analyzed savages but that time roles were exchanged. The savage travels across the lands of the civilized people and, as can be expected in this case, gets surprised much. For the first time, the usually observed, passive one turns a critical gaze toward the usually active observer. It is such a striking idea that the story caught me surprised. I think the irony here explains once again the essence of culture as a web of meanings. The savage walks through streets of cities, analyzes people and their unintelligibly strange habits, behaviors and customs. He is faced with a maze of meanings totally out of reach of his understanding because he is the product of another set of meanings. He has difficulty with interpreting certain behaviors; some of them look funny and others as grotesquely irrational. I think Eco’s wonderful story has many implications for understanding culture and cultural phenomena. When faced with a different culture, all of us become as helpless and stricken as the savage. Devoid of cultural cues to interpret the events taking place around us, we try in these circumstances to find a usual meaning that enables us to grasp the world anew and have a sense of familiarity. We all live out our pesonal narratives in this search for meaning in a maze of seemingly opaque networks of meaning.

Vocabulary Describing Physical Characteristics

Vocabulary Describing Physical Characteristics These words are used when describing people and their physical characteristics, including nouns and adjectives. Each word is placed into a related category and example sentences are used to provide context.   Age baby - Everyone goes through a lot of diapers when they are a baby.toddler - Toddlers take their first steps around the age of two.child - Having a child is one of the great joys in life.teenager - Many teenagers have to deal with a lot of stress because of testing.teens - I played a lot of sports in my teens.thirties/forties/ fifties - Most people have settled down by their forties.young man/woman - That young man was very kind and gave me directions.youth - We need to develop some more sports programs for the youth. middle-aged (man/woman) - That middle-aged man asked me for directions.elderly (man/woman) - Take time to listen to an elderly woman. Shell teach you a lot.early  /mid/late - He looks like hes in his mid-twenties.about - Shes about thirty years old.thirtysomething - She told me that shes thirtysomething. Describing How People Look / Seem good-looking - Hes a good-looking doctor with a wife and two kids.beautiful - The beautiful actress turned to the cameras with a glowing smile.pretty - He fell in a love with a pretty girl from Las Vegas.cute - That guy is really cute! Whats his name?handsome - The handsome actor was famous for his love of riding horses.glamourous - The glamorous couple climbed onto their private jet and flew to Paris.elegant - Shes an elegant woman with lots of poise.sophisticated - He was a sophisticated man who enjoyed many different hobbies.ugly  - I look so ugly today! Why dont these pimples go away!hideous - I havent slept in three days. I must look hideous.unsightly - Hes worried that the scar is unsightly.   Build fat - Unfortunately, Peter has become rather fat in his old age.overweight - Many Americans are overweight these days.slim - Hes that slim guy standing next to Peter over there.thin - Angela is tall, thin and very beautiful.skinny - Many people might say that models are skinny these days. Thats very different from being slim.plump - If you drink a lot of beer, youll certainly become plump.stocky - Hes a tall, stocky guy that looks like a lumberjack.well built - Todd is very well built and looks great in a suit.   Complexion pale - If you spend too much time indoors, you might become very pale.tan - After two weeks on the beach, he was very tan.clear - I was happy that I finally had a clear complexion when I become twenty.good - He has good skin. I think hed make a great model.spotty - Older people often have spotty skin on their hands.pimpled - I walked through the crowd of pimpled teenagers and knew I was in the wrong place!freckles - The freckles on your cheeks make you so cute!spots - I cant get rid of these spots on my hands.pimples - I had so many pimples when I was a teenager. It drove me crazy! Facial Features on Men mustache - Curly mustaches are coming back into fashion in places like Portland.clean-shaven - Most men in this city prefer a clean-shaven look these days.beard - Some men wear a beard because theyre lazy and dont want to shave. Hair long - Alice has long blonde hair.short - I like to wear my hair short during the summer.shoulder length - She has beautiful black shoulder-length hair. She looks like a movie star.black / red / brown / grey / silver - Tom has thick black hair.blonde - Hollywood tends to prefer blonde women for certain types of roles.brunette - I have brunette, shoulder-length hair.white - Hes gone complete white in his old age.curly - She likes to wear her hair curly.spiky - Some punks like to wear spiky hair.

Tear Gas - What to Do If You Are Exposed

Tear Gas - What to Do If You Are Exposed Tear gas (e.g., CS, CR, Mace, pepper spray) is used to control riots, disperse crowds, and subdue individuals. It is intended to cause pain, so exposure to it is not fun. However, the effects of the gas usually are temporary. You can expect relief from most of the symptoms within a couple of hours of exposure. This is a look at how to prepare for a potential encounter with tear gas, with tips on how to respond. Symptoms of Tear Gas Exposure stinging and burning of the eyes, nose, mouth, and skinexcessive tearingblurred visionrunny nosesalivation (drooling)exposed tissue may develop a rash and a chemical burncoughing and difficulty breathing, including a feeling of chokingdisorientation and confusion, which may lead to panicintense anger The disorientation and confusion may not be totally psychological. In some cases, the solvent used to prepare the tear gas may contribute to the reaction and may be more toxic than the lachrymatory agent. What to Do Tear gas usually is delivered in the form of a grenade, which is fitted onto the end of a gas gun and fired with a blank shotgun cartridge. Therefore, you may hear shots being fired when tear gas is used. Dont assume you are being shot at. Do not panic. Look up when you hear the shot and avoid being in the path of the grenade. Tear gas grenades often explode in the air, delivering a metal container which will spew gas. This container will be hot, so do not touch it. Do not pick up an unexploded tear gas canister, since it could explode and cause injury. The best defense against tear gas is a gas mask, but if you dont have a mask there are still steps you can take to minimize damage from tear gas. If you think you might encounter tear gas you can soak a bandana or paper towel in lemon juice or cider vinegar and store it in a plastic baggie. You can breathe through the acidified cloth for several minutes, which should give you sufficient time to get upwind or reach higher ground. Goggles are a great thing to have. You can use tight-fitting swim goggles if chemical safety goggles arent available. Dont wear contacts anywhere you might encounter tear gas. If you are wearing contact lenses, immediately remove them. Your contacts are a loss as is anything else you cant wash. You can wear your clothes again after you wash them  but wash them separately that first time. If you dont have goggles or any sort of mask, you can breathe the air inside your shirt, since there is less air circulation and therefore a lower concentration of the gas, but that is counterproductive once the fabric becomes saturated. First Aid First aid for eyes is to flush them with sterile saline or water until the stinging starts to abate. Exposed skin should be washed with soap and water. Breathing difficulties are treated by administering oxygen and in some cases using medication that are used to treat asthma. Medicated bandages can be used on burns.

Killing vs. Letting Die Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Killing vs. Letting Die - Essay Example Death is inevitable and every man is mortal. However, killing a man at a point shows crudity and shall not be supported at length because there are many reasons for which people die. The reason of death can vary from natural disaster to epidemics. Nonetheless, killing someone might evoke a sense of guilt or a feeling of being a murderer which is more crucial at times. Letting someone die is more inherent and complying with the law of natural order than forcibly taking away someone’s life. It might happen as well in cases of certain patients that they suddenly start reacting positively to a medical treatment or a medicine which requires a certain time span. In fact, there are even cases recorded in medical science where patients have revived from comma after many years. Lastly and most importantly, the duty of a doctor or a nurse or anyone associated with the medical profession is to save the life of a dying. Therefore, under such circumstances, if a person practicing medicine takes away the life of a dying patient, it somewhere indicates the defeat of medical science and methodologies (Rachels,