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Perceptions of Reading for Pleasure in Boys Methodology

View of Reading for Pleasure in Boys Methodology Procedure. Configuration approach To address the test of young men view of perusin...

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Terrorism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Terrorism - Assignment Example However, cases in which an individual causes harm to the society in some way because of personal psychological reasons are more recognized as violence instead of terrorism. In such cases, an individual or a group functions to serve its individualistic interests. The group does not form part of a network, and accordingly, the violence does not affect many members of the society. In the recent years, the term â€Å"terrorism† has been frequently employed to explain the use of force to violate human rights. Terrorists are largely connected through networks spread all over the world and the activities they involve in have long lasting impact not only on one nation but on several others that are directly or indirectly associated with the act of terrorism. Terrorists cause harm to individuals they do not even know, yet they do it because their act will be identified and cause upset in the society. A lot of examples have been available in the history to support this. For example, the Sep 11 attack on the twin towers in US was a well planned act of terrorism and had its influence on the relationships of many nations in addition to the immediate loss it caused. 3031 people lost their lives as a result of the attack and the direct and indirect costs incurred by the US were estimated to be $27.2 billion and $500 billion respectively (Looney, 2002 cited in Mora g, 2006). The initial response offered to the incident of September 11, 2001 was that it was expected to change the world forever apart from the instant horror and shock it caused. It was thought that â€Å"the world will never be the same again† (Kegley, 2003, p. 84). Because of those attacks, the security and defense concerns in US have been of prime importance (Zalman, 2010) and the US policies regarding immigration, visa policy and other every day matters have gone an altogether change. The incident of 21 Sep, 2001 has had huge sociological impacts both within

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Can Secular Leadership Be Useful in the Church Thesis

Can Secular Leadership Be Useful in the Church - Thesis Example These include differences in motivation as well as style and practicalities and also in response and relationships. There are aspects of leadership which only seem to fit into a secular pattern and others only into a church one. There are also some which require some adaptation to fit from one to the other. Thought leadership is mentioned, that is the idea that leadership does not necessarily come from a position held, but from ideas pursued until they come to have great influence, such influence bearing no relationship to the person’s official status or standing. The essay looks too at historical patterns of leadership within the church, including patterns described by Christ and his apostle Paul, as evidenced in the pages of the New Testament, the Gospels, the Book of Acts and the Epistles, as well as what happened during the first centuries of the church. It looks also at the role of women in the church, Biblically, historically and in current practice. It asks about the differences between secular and Christian leadership. It then considers which aspects of the former are not useful in church life, as well as considering those that are. The conclusion reached is that there are certain aspects of secular leadership which can be useful in a church setting, although perhaps carried out in a different way or with a different emphasis. There are however other aspects which the church could well do without and which should be avoided. The church is not the world and her standards are not worldly ones, but should be those of Christ

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Shafer-Landau Ethical Theory Summary and Analysis

Shafer-Landau Ethical Theory Summary and Analysis Brody Kent   In this section, Shafer-Landau seeks to draw attention to a major flaw which he finds to exist in subjectivism through its incompatibility with an individuals tendency to question his or her own moral values (p. 296). To begin his argument, Shafer-Landau states that if subjectivism is correct, whatever is right is what he, Schafer-Landau, approves of. According to Shafer-Landau, this is because, under the subjectivist model of ethics, a persons own values are the ultimate authority in determining what is morally right and what is morally wrong (p. 296). In Shafer-Landaus view, however, this use of personal values as the predominant ethical authority does not make sense, as it does not account for instances where a person may be undecided as to the value of their beliefs (p. 296). Arguing to this end, Shafer-Landau claims that he, himself, has personally experienced circumstances where he has been drawn to question his values and their supporting justifications (p. 296). According to Shafer-Landau, this tendency to for an individual to question their beliefs is incompatible with the use of these beliefs as the basis of moral truth (p. 296). Through close analysis of this argument as it is made by Shafer-Landau, it appears that he is thereby reaching this conclusion based on one of two premises: either it is wrong to question ones values because they represent moral fact, or it is impossible for our individual values to represent moral fact because they are founded in beliefs that may be influenced by internal debate and which may therefore change over time; in other words, these values cannot represent moral fact because they lack consistency and objectivity. To counter this argument, I will seek to show that both of these premises are false: the first, due to its inability to describe a legitimate threat to the status of individual values as moral truths, and the second due to its inability to accurately represent the nature of individual, subjective truth described by the subjectivist model. Regarding Shafer-Landaus first possible premise to this conclusion, it seems unsound to conclude that because a fact is questioned it cannot be a fact. Certainly, there are many ideals which we now consider to be fact that have been heavily scrutinized throughout history. As a notable example, the fact that the earth is spherical and not flat has been, and in some cases even continues to be, questioned extensively. Further, it does not seem that the act of questioning a potential fact plays any role in determining whether or not an idea is truly factual. Consider, as an example, the many conspiracies which assert that the Buzz Aldrin and the United States did not land on the moon. Despite this argument and those counterarguments which assert that the United States did, in fact, place a shuttle on the moon, the actual fact of the matter, whatever it may be, is a fact in and of itself and is not affected in any way by this questioning. In other words, the legitimacy of a fact is independent of and cannot be affected by any acts of questioning its value or legitimacy. Therefore, if it was Schafer-Landaus intent to argue that our tendency to question our values is incompatible with our values forming the basis of moral fact, this reasoning seems false, as it relies on a poor argument that our act of questioning a fact damages that facts legitimacy. Shafer-Landaus second possible premise for his conclusion appears to be equally flawed, as it seems to disregard some major components of the essence of subjectivist moral reasoning. According to Shafer Landau, the act of questioning the legitimacy of ones moral values cannot make sense, since [ones own] approvals and disapprovals are the ultimate test of right and wrong (p. 296). Assuming that, through this argument, Shafer-Landau intends to say that moral values are unfit to represent moral truth because they represent ideas that are subject to change under the influence of internal questioning, it appears that Shafer-Landau is overlooking a key aspect of the subjectivist ideal. According to Merriam-Webster, subjectivism is a moral doctrine which states that individual feeling or apprehension is the ultimate criterion of the good and the right (Subjectivism, n.d.).   From this definition, it is understood that under the subjectivist model, there are no objective moral truths ; rather, the subjectivist ideal champions that each individuals values represent subjective moral truths, which are the highest level of moral truth (Ethics Guide: Subjectivism). As a result, subjectivism does not give preference to any single moral value, but supports every individual value as ethically meaningful to that individual. And it seems that the essence of this idea can easily be expanded to the individual level used within Shafer-Landaus argument. If all ideas between individuals are morally valuable so long as they reflect the subjective moral beliefs of that individual, it seems to follow that all differing values within an individual are morally valuable so long as they reflect that individuals perspective, feeling, or belief at the given time. When considered in this light, it no longer appears that the susceptibility of our subjective moral truths to change truly conflicts with the subjectivist model of morality, as Shafer-Landau may be arguing. Rather, it seems that Shafer-Landaus argument rests on a misrepresentation of subjectivism, whereby he is arguing based on a false perception that subjectivism intends for subjective moral truths to possess the level of infallibility and rigidness held by objective moral truths. Because the kind of subjective moral truths championed by subjectivist theory are not expected to possess this level of infallibility, and are, in fact, often celebrated for their tendency to differ and change across people and cultures, Shafer-Landaus argument for the presence of a conflict in our tendency to question our own moral perceptions while using them to determine our moral beliefs appears false if it intends to argue that this conflict is derived from the resulting susceptibility of our moral va lues to our own questioning. Through his argument in this section, Shafer-Landau seeks to convey that subjectivism conflicts with the tendency of individuals to question their moral beliefs (p. 296). I have objected to this conclusion in two ways, each of which correspond to one of what I perceive to be the two most likely reasons for which Shafer-Landau believes this conflict to exist. First, I have identified that Shafer-Landaus conclusion is unsound if it is based on the false premise that this conflict exists because of our tendency to question factual moral truths. Second, I have found this conclusion to be unsound if it is based on the premise that subjective moral truths cannot be susceptible to adaptation or change due to our questioning our own moral values. References Ethics Guide: Subjectivism. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction /subjectivism.shtml Shafer-Landau, R. (2015). Ethical Relativism. In The Fundamentals of Ethics (pp. 296). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Subjectivism [Def. 2.b] (n.d). Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subjectivism

Friday, October 25, 2019

Violence in Christianity Essay -- Violence Christianity Religion War E

Violence in Christianity Violence, it has been a main tool in the Christian arsenal since the middle ages. From the Crusades to the Inquisitions of Spain, violence is ever prevalent. Even in this day and age, intolerance and violence continue to be preached. But is this violence an instrument of God or man? Is violence an inherent part of this religion? Some would say that it is indeed built in to the very fabric of its being. The Old Testament is full of the smiting of infidels and those who defy God. The Book of Revelations tells of the violent and fiery demise of this entire planet. There are instances of mass genocide, the killing of innocent children, holy wars, you name a violent act and God has called for it. The story of Noah recounts how God killed off everyone in the world save one family. This violence, some speculate, is a result of man?s own doing. Perhaps God?s word was miss-interpreted or those in power sought to legitimize their own violent acts through the involvement of religion. Regar dless of whether it was God or man that made religion violent, it is now deeply a part of it. The very involvement of religion into a dispute can cause the dispute to escalate exponentionally. ?Limited mundane conflict may escalate into violence when the issues at stake are imbued with religious ultimacy. (Klausner 268)? Violence not only plays a strong role in both commandment and practice, it is part of the very core of this belief system. From the zeal and fervor of conversion to the conquest in the name of a deity, violence is ingrained into religion?s very being. ?Religion? engenders an energy that may be experienced as despair or as enthusiasm? Despair can feed an urge to rid the world of pollution and sin (Klausner 268).? Violence in the religious realm may serve several purposes. It can be an end unto itself, a means to accomplish a religious or religious/economic/political goal. It can be done to invoke terror and awe, as in ?witness the power of our God and tremble before his might.? However it is enacted and whatever its reasons, violence is now an inescapable inevitability in religion?s ongoing battle between Good and Evil. In attempting to prove this, I will be drawing on a body of information collected from the Bible; The Encyclopedia of Religion: Articles on: Violence, Crusades, Inquis ition; Ethics: Violence; Dictionary of Middle Age... ... Roman gods certainly seem to be human projections onto the divine; perhaps we as Christians just projected a human father figure onto a beard in the sky as a means of protection and justification for the wickedness of man. After all, if it is in the name of God, how can we be wrong? Bibliography Candelaria, Michael R. Ethics. Ed. John K. Roth. ?Violence.? Salem Press Inc.: 1994. Finucane, R.C. Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. ?Inquisition, The.? Macmilian Publishing Co.: 1986. Johnson, James Turner. The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Ethics. Ed. James F. Childress & John Macquarrie. ?Just War?. The Westminster Press: 1986 Klausner, Samuel Z. Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. ?Violence.? Macmilian Publishing Co.: 1986. Little, Donald P. Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. ?Crusades.? Macmilian Publishing Co.: 1986. New American Standard Bible. Russell, Frederick H. Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Ed. Joseph R. Strayer. ?Crusade, Concept of.? American Council of Learned Societies: 1984. Wakefield, Walter L. Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Ed. Joseph R. Strayer. ?Inquisition.? American Council of Learned Societies: 1984.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Pe Paper

eMikiki Ellaine M. Bulanan 2011- 42642 Reaction Paper: Kinetics Festival 2012 (Thursday) For four nights (September 25-28), the Department of Human Kinetics held recital performances from different dancing classes of PE2. The entire show was conducted to demonstrate what the students have learned in their respective classes as well as for the entertainment of the whole student body. During the 4th night, a number of sections of line dance, modern dance, belly dance and street jazz danced their feet off flaunting their acquired knowledge of callisthenic techniques.And for a whole hour the entire show was filled with laughter, amazement, and pure entertainment. The performances consisted majority of street jazz and modern dances. Each group presented satisfactorily. Inevitably, some routines were less synchronized and their moves were not showcased well-enough. There were also moments when the movements and dance steps lack power and distinction. However, these mishaps were the source of comedy for the audience rousing them more. In addition, it can be suggested that the other groups should have chosen more appropriate song accompaniment and costumes to liven up their exhibition.There was also a set of performers which obviously did not incorporate more original steps and seemed to have gotten their moves from an existing performance found on the internet or a video somewhere. No matter what, the whole show was very much entertaining. The small cost of the ticket for that event was so much worth the spectacle. The students may have been busy since they also have academic works to attend to, still, they managed to take time to practice, choreograph and present their respective numbers. Mikki Ellaine M. Bulanan 2011-42642Reaction Paper: Kinetics Festival 2012 (Friday) The final night of a week-long celebration of the Kinetics Festival was comprised of various numbers from individual classes of Philippine Folk Dance, belly dance, line dance and tap dance. Following the previous nights, the whole show lasted for a little more than an hour but received a very high count of audience compared to the others. The whole Baker Hall stadium was filled with students who were expecting to be entertained as well as support their fellow students who were tasked to display the knowledge taught during their PE sessions.For a start multiple performances from line dance class perked up the crowd with their witty acts. Some members were really outstanding while there were a few who seemed to have forgotten their beats. One group of dancers chose a very matching set of costumes which enunciate their cowboy theme. Tap dance may not be the most popular here in the country yet the cluster which performed this specific routine did not fail to entertain everyone. Their funky moves and style were coordinated very well.The only belly dance number that night was very daring and bold in terms of their movements and poses. The young women performing were really seductive especially in their skimpy yet elegant sashes and â€Å"ringing belts. † Lastly, a count of Philippine folk dances wrapped up the night by exhibiting very solemn yet interesting moves which aroused the nationalistic views of the students. Their costumes were as colorful as the rich cultural heritage of the Filipinos. They were impressive that even though there were minor flaws on their in step, they still pull off the whole number.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Black&Decker Corporation Essay

Black & Decker was incorporated in 1910. Begun by Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker, Black & Decker’s first power tool was an electric drill in 1916. They went on to develop and offer the first portable screwdriver, electric hammer, as well as finishing sanders and jigsaws all the way up to the hugely successful dust buster in 1978. Over the next 70 years, the company established itself as dominant name in power tool and accessories, first in the United States and then accros a broad global front but particularly in europe. Growth was achieved by adding to its lineup of power tools and accessories and by increasing its penetration of more and more foreign markets Symptons, Issues and Problems Issues in this case is diversification strategy runned by Black & Decker corporation. As a diversified global manufacturer and marketer of household, commercial, and industrial product, Black & Decker need to develop and choose the right strategy for diversification. This case particularly discuss diversification of Black & Decker corporation during late 1980’s to early 1990’s, where Black & Decker which is established as dominant name in power tools and accessories, began to pursue diversification. It is because the continuing maturity of its core power tools business. During the 1980’s Black and Decker had established themselves as a leader in the power tool industry. However, they were feels that the market for such tools was maturing to the point where expansion within the industry would provide little or no additional revenues so they decided to diversify. Black and Decker began their expansion operation by acquiring General Electric’s housewares business, the leader in the industry, for $300 million in 1984. The success of the GE deal, and the reorganization efforts of their new CEO Nolan Archibald, led Black and Decker to continue on this path of acquisitions and diversification in other areas. Then, various acquisitions and acquisition attemp made by Black & Decker in their strategy to diversified. But the biggest and most noticed was the acquisition of Emrat Corporation, a diversified manufacturer of industrial product, for a $2.8 billion in March 1988. This steps is considered to be very bad decisions made by Black & Decker. Analysis Change in strategy In the mid 1980s, Black & Decker feels that the power tool market had matured to the point where there is no much room for further growth. Black & Decker then decided to change their corporate strategy from single business firm into diversified company. In 1984 they began to diversify. First they tried to get into the small household appliance market. Rather than create their own line, Black & Decker decided to acquire General Electric’s unit of household appliances for $300 million. Although it was a small part of GE’s company, it held more market share than other houseware distributors (25 percent of the market and the leadership position). That acquisition gives an additional $500 million a year in revenue for Black & Decker because it was able to offer products like irons, coffee makers and toasterswhich. This began a trend of acquisitions by Black and Decker expanding into various related and unrelated markets with varying levels of success. This various acquisitions allowed Black & Decker to offer even more new products such as portable woodworking tools and stronger drill bits. After all the new changes, Black & Decker Manufacturing Company also changed its name to Black & Decker Corporation to help market those changes The successful story of GE’s household appliance division acquisition in 1988, has triggered Black & Decker to tried again. Only this time the company of interest was American Standard Inc. American Standard had an impressive $127 million profit in 1987, which towered above the mere $70 million for Black & Decker. But then, the acquisition was unsuccessful. The Emhart acquisitions The failed attempts by Black & Decker in 1988 did not stop Black & Decker moves to acquiring other company. In 1989, Black & Decker acquiring Emhart for the price of $2.8 billion, a price that 33% premium over Emhart’s preannouncement value. This acquisition may not have been the best move for Black & Decker because its stock price dropped 15 points after the announcement of the acquisition. After difficult negotiation of exactly how the acquisition would occur, Black & Decker decided to pay for Emhart for the next 48 years. The deal put over $2 billion in goodwill on Black & Decker’s books and increased debt to over $4 billion just before the credit markets were about to contract severely. With the exception of a few businesses like Price Pfister faucets and Kwikset locks, which represented just $600 million in sales, Emhart made no sense for Black & Decker. Several of its subsidiaries were quickly placed on the block. But then suddenly the economy became sluggish and the market slowed down, Black & Decker stock slumped from a pre-acquisition $25 to $8 per share. Archibald (Black & Decker’s CEO at that time) had to scramble to keep the company solvent. Archibald’s plan was to sell off about $1.8 billion of Emhart assets to pay down debt while merging the company’s line of Kwikset locks and Price Pfister Inc. plumbing fixtures with Black & Decker’s offerings. According to Archibald, the plan would have been successful enough under normal economic conditions. However, he failed to sell the Emhart businesses for the set prices leaving a long term debt of a hefty $3 billon and annual interest payments of more than $300 million. Black & Decker initially sold $1 billion in Emhart assets to reduce the interest costs. It met this demand by selling whole divisions of Emhart and also by selling equipment and other assets. By 1991, Black & Decker reduced the debt acquired by more than 25%. From 1993 to 1996, Black & Decker sold off three segments of Emhart that did not prove to be strategic parts of the acquisition. By 1997, Black & Decker was able to meet its liquidity requirements and management chose to amortize the costs on a straight-line basis for the next 40 years. This shows that the acquisition of Emhart Corporation is a Black & Decker’s bad move. Black & Decker’s decision to acquire a company that was larger than $2.3 billion (revenues) Black & Decker itself, (the Emhart Corporation were $2.7 billion in revenues), was too risky and apparently Archibald didn’t too aware about it. The purchase and acquisition of Emhart had proven a lack in the synergy required to make such purchases profitable. Also the company had not been able to reduce its amount of debt (primarily from the purchase of Emhart) over the subsequent 10 years. Archibald made poor decisions in the Emhart acquisition, which impacted its profit margin, lowered its competitive advantage, and killed any chance of creating above-average returns. There are things that has to be done in order to ascertain whether the acquisition may create value for the shareholders, which is the CEO’s primary responsibility. Effort should have concentrated on three essential tests:  · The attractiveness test. The industries chosen for diversification must be structurally attractive or capable of being made attractive.  · The cost-of-entry test. The cost of entry must not capitalize all the future profits.  · The better-off test. Either the new unit must gain competitive advantage from its link with the corporation or vice-versa. Conceding the point that the purchase provided some benefits, such as increased market share and well-known consumer brands, the cost-ofentry and better-off tests provide evidence that the Emhart purchase was very risky. Black & Decker SWOT Analysis Strengths  · Brand recognition is a strong attribute for Black and Decker. Black and Decker has a reputation for producing electrical engines, power tools and appliances.  · Black and Decker produce a variety of products in its respected industry, and it is involved in constant research and development (e.g., developing cordless appliances and tools, rechargeable batteries that are compatible with both tools and small appliances).  · Black and Decker have penetrated the market causing it to dominate market share in the industry. Weaknesses  · Black and Decker’s reputation for quality tools and appliances has been decreasing. This was likely due to the fact that Black and Decker was busy dealing with its non-strategic businesses. Opportunities  · Opportunities to gain more market share by sponsoring home improvement shows.  · Gain more market share with industrial market, by offering quantity-based deals and advertising the quality of its products. Threats  · Sears is the strongest competitor in the power tools division with 13.4 percent of the US market share.  · Black and Decker needs to be aware of new items that the consumer can use and develop them before their competitors. Conclusion and Recommendation When an industry became mature and not offered enough room for further growth, it is important for a company to change their strategy to keep growing continuously. This is what Black & Decker did, although being a dominant player in power tools and accessories for many years, Black & Decker realized the industry is being mature, so they decided to change their strategy into a diversified company. To be successful, a diversified company should have a portfolio of product with different growth rates and different market shares. The portfolio composition is a function of the balance between cash flows. High-growth product, that important for company to keep growth in the future, need lot of cash inputs. Low-growth product, product that already in maturity growth, should generate cash. How to balance between this two is the most important things in managing multi-business (diversified) company. The Emhart acquisitions is an example of bad acquisitions from Black & Decker in their strategy to diversified. There can be many reasons that an acquisition strategy fails to earn its cost of capital. An acquirer may have no real strategy to begin with and thus pay an unjustified acquisition premium right from the beginning. Or there may be a complete failure in executing a fundamentally sound strategy. One major risk in acquisitions is the failure to close the gap that may exist between the strategic objectives and organizational design of the new organization and those of the old. Issues such as new information systems and channels, management succession, new decision rights, and incentive systems must be planned carefully in light of where competitive performance gains are expected to result. This case is also an example of the problems where mismanaged growth can bring diversification away from core businesses and core competencies rarely creates value for the shareholders. High leveraged acquisitions put the firm at higher financial risks, particularly when the firm’s products depend on business cycles. Shocks to the economy may result in insolvency and possible bankruptcy. The company may have to sell assets at low prices to meet debt obligations. As financial markets become more and more sophisticated, investors may diversify more easily, thereby making corporate diversification less attractive. Firms must continue to strengthen their core competencies and sustain their competitive advantages. In conclusion, the fundamental reason for the failed acquisition is due to lack of long term planning, forecasting and predicting of the return on investment relative to cost. The highly leveraged acquisition of Emhart placed Black & Decker at higher financial risks, primarily when the firm’s products depended on business cycles. As result of the inherited debt and the unanticipated market fluctuations and weak economy may result in collapse or possible bankruptcy of the corporation. Black & Decker Executives’ lack of strategic direction and poor application of funds may lead the corporation to sell of assets at low prices or lay off employee to meet debt obligations. Our recommendation for this case is, Black & Decker should stick with its original vision that includes the consolidation of their portfolio. The company should continue in investing in, and strengthening, its core products within its existing portfolio, so that these products will generate cash flow that will enable the company to embark upon expansion opportunities. In the future, Black & Decker should consider international companies with strong recognition in the countries that they plan on expanding into, considering either acquisition, merger, or creating a joint venture. The affiliation between Black & Decker and these companies must create synergy in order to justify such deliberate moves and expansions. These planned executive decisions and actions will help Black & Decker to obtain competitive advantages which will result in aboveaverage returns, leading to greater investor wealth and value to its employees.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

buy custom Indias Economic Growth essay

buy custom India's Economic Growth essay As a result of recording economic growth for half a decade India needs to unlock its vast potential to become a soft power. They are termed as emerging power and to realize this India needs to tap into the ancient culture, expanding economy and vibrant democratic values, spirituality, diversity and widespread Diaspora which are Indias core attributes that attract the world to them. The important aspects are the world class education, the Information Technology Industry and its philanthropic efforts such as those in Afghanistan. India can utilize its weakness and turn them into their greatest assets by shaping a new vision for the world which will be dependant on their success (Singh, 2009). We are soon going to see the total decline of America as a result of insisting on hard power and rise of a democratic multilateral relationship between countries on the basis of Soft power. This is on the basis of the fact that countries with greatest soft power find that citizens of other nations admire and share in the values and institutions (Kurlantzick, 2005).Soft power is great, but its not always enough; more of a compliment to Hard Power than an alternative. This is so because soft power does not offer solutions to all problems. There are situations where soft power is applied but it cannot be put to use in other volatile circumstances. In the future, political relations may become more powerful through Soft Power because the U.S. has lost influence due to too much hard power and influence because it has relied more on the military strength and unilateral actions. This resulted to alienation of a majority of world opinion, case in study military intervention in Iraq. This was a break of democracy and was not welcomed by many. This led to loss of popularity of America. Thus soft power has taken shape to control most of the countries approach to influence (Korski, 2010). Around the globe we can cite evidences of soft power taking cause and influencing decisions. A study in Americas politics show the rating of their president high but the country is very unpopular. China is known to offer developing countries lucratiive trade and energy deals as well as large scale infrastructure investments with no demands in return. But it has offered millions to spread the Confucian ideas. This is teaching of Chinese language and it takes place in many universities. The concept of Soft power has been taken globally by many people differently and some embrace it without knowledge that it is soft power for example the popularity of coca cola products. These are examples and evidences that soft power is a global requirement in the emerging generation and practices of the 21st century. Soft Power can be under estimated but it surely will have more influence than hard power. Hard Power has gradually lost popularity and many world countries need to analyze the aspect of winning support through attraction and the stories they tell using their history, culture and music other than the money offered in Aid and military power the country yields. This has no significant benefit to the people than aspects of culture, food, fashion and entertainment which are the day to day interactions of communities and countries. Buy custom India's Economic Growth essay

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on Athletes and Wealth Management

Athletes and Financial Investment Firms The Growing Concern for Long-term Financial Stability I. Introduction The goal for a large majority of individuals in today’s society is to achieve maximum financial stability in the shortest period of time possible. However, most do not achieve this goal as expeditiously as they once had hoped. It is for this reason that a majority of individuals view their success in relation to what one obtains in the form of both material goods and financial acquisitions. Does the acquisition of material goods or financial gains insure financial stability? Is there peace of mind for an individual once these goals of procurement are achieved? Is there anyway to insure financial peace of mind? The simple answer would be to become a professional athlete, to win the lottery, or marry into Bill Gate’s family. However, these are all long shots for a majority of the world. But even these do not guarantee long-term financial stability. That is why it is becoming increasingly important to possess a high level of competency in the area of wealth manage ment. What exactly is wealth management? Wealth management is the proficient administration of one’s total assets through financial planning and accurately allocating wealth to achieve a financial goal. Financial planning integrates the execution of various financial services, which promote growth, and stability of an investor’s wealth. Planning is differentiated according to the specific needs and focus of individuals. A high-net-worth individual would bear distinct goals that differentiate from that of a small-time investor. Albeit that these investors may have unique objectives, the necessity for a competent provider of such financial services is evident. The world of finance is unpredictable and continuously shifting. Investors find themselves overwhelmed by intimidation caused by the perception that investment firms are bottom-line or... Free Essays on Athletes and Wealth Management Free Essays on Athletes and Wealth Management Athletes and Financial Investment Firms The Growing Concern for Long-term Financial Stability I. Introduction The goal for a large majority of individuals in today’s society is to achieve maximum financial stability in the shortest period of time possible. However, most do not achieve this goal as expeditiously as they once had hoped. It is for this reason that a majority of individuals view their success in relation to what one obtains in the form of both material goods and financial acquisitions. Does the acquisition of material goods or financial gains insure financial stability? Is there peace of mind for an individual once these goals of procurement are achieved? Is there anyway to insure financial peace of mind? The simple answer would be to become a professional athlete, to win the lottery, or marry into Bill Gate’s family. However, these are all long shots for a majority of the world. But even these do not guarantee long-term financial stability. That is why it is becoming increasingly important to possess a high level of competency in the area of wealth manage ment. What exactly is wealth management? Wealth management is the proficient administration of one’s total assets through financial planning and accurately allocating wealth to achieve a financial goal. Financial planning integrates the execution of various financial services, which promote growth, and stability of an investor’s wealth. Planning is differentiated according to the specific needs and focus of individuals. A high-net-worth individual would bear distinct goals that differentiate from that of a small-time investor. Albeit that these investors may have unique objectives, the necessity for a competent provider of such financial services is evident. The world of finance is unpredictable and continuously shifting. Investors find themselves overwhelmed by intimidation caused by the perception that investment firms are bottom-line or...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Definition and Examples of Copyediting in English

Definition and Examples of Copyediting in English Copyediting is the process of correcting errors in a text and making it conform to an editorial style (also called house style), which includes spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. A person who prepares a text for publication by performing these tasks is called a copy editor (or in Britain, a sub editor). Alternate Spellings:  copy editing, copy-editing Aims and Kinds of Copyediting The main aims of copy-editing are to remove any obstacles between the reader and what the author wants to convey and to find and solve any problems before the book goes to the typesetter, so that production can go ahead without interruption or unnecessary expense. . . . There are various kinds of editing.   Substantive editing  aims to improve the overall coverage and presentation of a piece of writing, its content, scope,  level  and organization. . . .Detailed editing for sense  is concerned with whether each section expresses the authors meaning clearly, without gaps and contradictions.Checking for consistency  is a mechanical but important task. . . . It involves checking such things as spelling and the use of single or double quotes, either according to a house style or according to the authors own style. . . .Copy-editing usually consists of 2 and 3, plus 4 below.Clear presentation of the material for the typesetter  involves making sure that it is complete and that all the parts are clearly identified. (Judith Butcher, Caroline Drake, and Maureen Leach, Butchers Copy-editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders. Cambridge University Press, 2006) How Its Spelled Copyeditor and copyediting have a curious history. Random House is my authority for using the one-word form. But Websters agrees with Oxford on copy editor, although Websters favors copyedit as a verb. They both sanction copyreader and copywriter, with verbs to match. (Elsie Myers Stainton, The Fine Art of Copyediting. Columbia University Press, 2002) The Work of Copy Editors Copy editors are the final gatekeepers before an article reaches you, the reader. To start with, they want to be sure that the spelling and grammar are correct, following our [New York Times] stylebook, of course. . . . They have great instincts for sniffing out suspicious or incorrect facts or things that just dont make sense in context. They are also our final line of protection against libel, unfairness and imbalance in an article. If they stumble over anything, theyre going to work with the writer or the assigning editor (we call them backfield editors) to make adjustments so you dont stumble. That often involves intensive substantive work on an article. In addition, copy editors write the headlines, captions and other display elements for the articles, edit the article for the space available to it (that usually means trims, for the printed paper) and read the proofs of the printed pages in case something slipped by. (Merrill Perlman, Talk to the Newsroom. The New York Times, Ma r. 6, 2007) Julian Barnes on the Style Police For five years in the 1990s, British novelist and essayist  Julian Barnes  served as the London correspondent for  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹The New Yorker magazine. In the preface to  Letters From London, Barnes describes how his essays were meticulously clipped and styled by editors and fact-checkers at the magazine. Here he reports on the activities of the anonymous  copy editors, whom he calls  the style police. Writing for  The New Yorker  means, famously, being edited by  The New Yorker: an immensely civilized, attentive and beneficial process which tends to drive you crazy. It begins with the department known, not always affectionately, as the style police. These are the stern puritans who look at one of your sentences and instead of seeing, as you do, a joyful fusion of truth, beauty, rhythm, and wit, discover only a doltish wreckage of capsized grammar. Silently, they do their best to protect you from yourself. You emit muted gargles of protest and attempt to restore your original text. A new set of proofs arrives, and occasionally you will have been graciously permitted a single laxity; but if so, you will also find that a further grammatical delinquency has been corrected. The fact that you never get to talk to the style police, while they retain the power of intervention in your text at any time, makes them seem the more menacing. I used to imagine them sitting in their office with nightsticks and manacles dangling from the walls, swapping satirical and unforgiving opinions of  New Yorker  writers. Guess how many infinitives that Limeys split  this  time? Actually, they are less unbending than I make them sound, and even acknowledge how useful it may be to occasionally split an infinitive. My own particular weakness is a refusal to learn the difference between  which  and  that. I know theres some rule, to do with individuality versus category or something, but I have my ow n rule, which goes like this (or should it be that goes like this?dont ask me): if youve already got a  that  doing business in the vicinity, use  which  instead. I dont think I ever converted the style police to this working principle. (Julian Barnes, Letters From London. Vintage, 1995)   The Decline of Copyediting The brutal fact is that American newspapers, coping with drastically shrinking revenue, have drastically reduced the levels of editing, with a concomitant increase in errors, slipshod writing, and other defects. Copy editing, in particular, was seen at the corporate level as a cost center, an expensive frill, money wasted on people obsessing with commas. Copy desk staffs have been decimated, more than once, or eliminated outright with the work transferred to distant hubs, where, unlike Cheers, nobody knows your name. (John McIntyre, Gag Me With a Copy Editor. The Baltimore Sun, January 9, 2012)

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Compare the policies of Krushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev in regard to Essay

Compare the policies of Krushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev in regard to managing relationships with ruling communist parties on the Eurasian continent - Essay Example Khrushchev was optimistic about the industry. Stalin his predecessor had come up with strategies that Khrushchev thought had dragged down the progress of the industries and had an effect on the economy (Smith 23). He saw it wise to set new methods to cub this problem and boost the way of living of the Russians. He divided the civilians into groups and allocated them with fridges, vehicles, and even washing machines. He came up with a plan that would take 7 years, whose main goal was to improve the common mans’ standards. He gave the people consumer goods, recyclable plastics, and even chemicals. According to Khrushchev, Stalin had put up too many industries in Moscow and ignored the other parts of Russia. He (Khrushchev) wanted a decentralized system where industries were readily available in all parts of Russia (Smith 45). In 1957, Khrushchev closed down almost all the industries in Moscow and this provoked rivalry. He also made favorable the employees working conditions and increased their salary and ensured tax was lowered to favor the common person. He made sure goods were sold at a reasonable price, offered pension to the retirees and ensured children went to school even if they did not have tuition fees. Through his new techniques, the first man to go into space was from Russia. The journey to space however did not favor the less fortunate. Employees worked under minimal supervision, and local leaders were allowed to make decisions in regards to the industries without having to wait for instruction from their superiors. A council of leaders was formed in 1958 and they were allowed to make decisions on their own and decide what products they were to make. In 1977, Brezhnev gave the Russians a new constitution. The constitution gave the people several freedoms like freedom of speech and assembly (Ouimet 33). He wanted to undo the strategies set by Khrushchev and to bring back imprisonment, jail, and deportation. Due to shortage in

Friday, October 18, 2019

Hindu religion in yoga Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hindu religion in yoga - Essay Example yoga can hardly be called a religion; however, it is absolutely clear that it heavily relies on the spiritual tradition that was developed by the Hindu. In other words, yoga should be regarded a disguised religious practice and if it is really so, should not it be regulated by other rules and regulations that are different than those which are applicable at the moment? In addition to that, one of the biggest negative aspects of the influence of the above mentioned activities is that they eliminate the difference between ordinary citizens and believers: people who take up yoga classes end up operating a large array of terms that are used in Hindu tradition. It is quite obvious that the state should be concerned that a considerable part of the population is being converted into religious followers. Secondly, one would make no mistake arguing that yoga glasses have a negative impact on Christianity as a religion. Indeed, no matter how sorrowful it may be, but most people tend to go to church once a week – on Sundays. Contrary to that, yoga classes are at least twice or even three times a week. As a result, people tend to be in this religiously filled environment more often than they would be in the church that they associate themselves with. It is my strong belief that this distorts spiritual outlook of the people and does not allow them to be good Christians. In addition to that, it is quite obvious that the religious traditions that are being promoted in the course of yoga classes are quite different from the religious traditions that are preached in churches. There may be no doubt that if a believer spends one day in one religious environment and three days in a different one, the chances that his or her faith will become less strong are quite high. Finally, the great est threat lies in the fact that the views in yoga as well as in Christianity are incompatible. The latter is largely based on faith in Jesus Christ which is considered to be the cornerstone of

Homosexuality-theories compared and contrasted Research Paper

Homosexuality-theories compared and contrasted - Research Paper Example Two theories have been advanced to explain the origin of homosexuality; both are scientific theories though the social scientists have also contributed to the explanation by stating that it results from a social and environmental factor. In my view homosexuality is a human act that results from peer influence and the need to adventure and acquire knowledge of what is perceived to be against the norm (Lester,pp 123). 1.0 The Genetic theory This theory states that homosexuality as a human behavior is a culmination of the genetical constitution of a human body. It argues that’s there are genes that are responsible for the occurrence of homosexuality, these genes it states are homozygous in a recessive situation, and in the case of heterozygous case it will only be manifested if there is a diploid cell formation from another heterozygous situation (Bret,pp 243). This explains the reason as to why it is said to be hereditary and can be traced in a lineage. The genes are said to occupy the same locus in the genomic sequence (William,pp 229). This theory has been ignored for the obvious reasons that its assumes that only one gene is responsible for determination of sex in human beings, which is an obvious understatement 2.0 Theory of Neurohormonal His theory tend to explain the influence of hormones in homosexuality though different reports gives conflicting statements rendering the theory less efficacy on its explanations, its states that the prenatal hormones in association with the nervous system under a conducive environment during the gestation periods at the second to fifth month may results into a homosexual person, the theory proposes that when the nervous system comes into contact with hormones such as testosterone,estradial and some other sex hormones during neuro organization, then homosexuality results. The theory gives more weight to testosterone hormones as being critical during gestation period as being responsible for the development of homosexuality, this theory on the same principle explains the situation of monozygotic and that of dizygotic twins (Bruce,pp 198). Comparison of the two theories Its worth noting that the two theories have concurrence at some point, they all apprecia te that homosexuality is controlled by innate factors, the genetic one being that its controlled by the genes while that of the neurohormonal one is influenced by the hormones, in this way the theories tend to believe that the external environment actually do not plays any role in influencing the sexual orientation of an individual (Lester,pp 23). The theories also confirms that the status of homosexualism is hereditary and that it can be passaged from one generation to the next provided that the genitical materials of the homosexuals are constant, also for the neurohormonal theory, the presence of the hormones will dictate the occurrences of homosexuality, In addition to those both the theories also acknowledge the role of the environment in homosexuality, in this sense both accepts that for a homosexual individual to occur a enabling environment is necessary Which is correct? The question of which of the theories that explains homosexuality can be banked on has led to a ragging de bate as all have shortcomings: certainly all are not mutually

Operations management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Operations management - Essay Example It will be situated next to the road, railway and airport terminals. The design of the warehouse will also consider variability factor. This implies that it will be segmented into different sections such as shipping, reception, and stock and returned stock areas so as to store all the products (Kumar 174). The segmentation of the warehouse into different sectors will play as significant role in storing all types of tea brands, qualities supplied by the company. In conclusion, these Vs will help it to create a risk-free environment and safety storage for products, it will enable the staff to keep inventory of all the stock (Cannella and Ciancimino 175). Through this, the company will win the confidence of the clients and emerge as the best alternative regardless of the stiff competition from established companies like Nescafe, Lipton and Twinings, that enjoy a dominant share of this lucrative tea business. Cannella, S. and Ciancimino E. ‘Up-to-date Supply Chain Management: the Coordinated.’ In Dangelmaier, W. et al. Advanced Manufacturing and Sustainable Logistics. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany. 2009.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Spss statical analysis of my primary research of my report Essay

Spss statical analysis of my primary research of my report - Essay Example Primary data analysis revealed that good design of the product (62%), affordable price (60%), and reputation (57%) are the most important reasons for the customers to shop at Ted Baker. Less than 15% and less than 23% of the respondents also reported sales person’s information and store environment respectively are important. The number of individuals who described affordable price as the most important reason to buy from Ted Baker was approximately 58% of the total respondents. Moreover, 23% of the shoppers in the 31 to 40 age category reported affordable price as the most important reason for buying from Ted while none stated affordable price as ‘not important’. In the less than 21 and 21 to 30 age categories, the affordable price was also rated as the most important reason for most of the shoppers. The panel of Chart 02 illustrates the importance of affordable price for the customers in different age categories. The importance of other factors to the shoppers, such as quality, design, salespersons’ information, store environment and reputation of the brand, is illustrated in Tables 2–6 respectively in Appendix B. Approximately 58% of the respondents stated affordable price is more important compared to the services, store environment and brand reputation. Percentage proportions of the individual respondents who reported affordable price is more important compared to the other factors are illustrated in Appendix C and Graph 1 below. Satisfied and loyal customers have been repeatedly visiting Ted Baker for a longer duration compared to the others. Findings support the theory that satisfaction and loyalty are related, and it includes behavioural characteristics such as continuing to purchase products from the same supplier. The correlation coefficient between the degree of loyalty and the length of the

Love, Sex, and Lies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Love, Sex, and Lies - Essay Example However his selfish thrive towards the riches and the comfort gets him arrested and finally his tragic end. The second movie, An Affair to Remember narrates the story of Nickie Ferrant (played by Cary Grant) and Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) who fall in love on a ship despite their individual engagements. It is a remake of the 1939’s movie Love Affair by McCarey. The movie was remade more than once. The story is about the union of the lovers despite Terry becoming disabled from an accident. Love, sex and lies play their role in both the movies and help in giving them a shape. In the melodramatic film A Place in the Sun, romance has a strong place especially while depicting the relationship between George and Angela. Initially he dates Al (Shelley Winters), a poor girl who works at the factory of his uncle, against the norms of the company. She is mesmerized by George and being inexperienced, falls in love with him. It is hard to determine who George actually loves because he is more drawn to the light promised by the wealth and luxury he traces in the life of his uncle and the hope of which he finds in his life with Angela, a socialite whom he meets during his outing with Al. However despite his actual intentions, some of the most intense scenes are shot between Angela and George. In one of the cases George says: â€Å"I love you. Ive loved you since the first moment I saw you. I guess maybe Ive even loved you before I saw you†. However it is Al who has fallen in love with George and when she gets pregnant forces him to marry her. Despite his sugg estion for abortion she is poised on her decision and threatens to reveal everything if he does not marry her. It is difficult to gauge whose love is for real because while one runs after money the other is even ready to inflict harm on her lover if he betrays. Angela is perhaps the one who loves George truly and manages to convince her father about their marriage. As the movie unravels one

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Spss statical analysis of my primary research of my report Essay

Spss statical analysis of my primary research of my report - Essay Example Primary data analysis revealed that good design of the product (62%), affordable price (60%), and reputation (57%) are the most important reasons for the customers to shop at Ted Baker. Less than 15% and less than 23% of the respondents also reported sales person’s information and store environment respectively are important. The number of individuals who described affordable price as the most important reason to buy from Ted Baker was approximately 58% of the total respondents. Moreover, 23% of the shoppers in the 31 to 40 age category reported affordable price as the most important reason for buying from Ted while none stated affordable price as ‘not important’. In the less than 21 and 21 to 30 age categories, the affordable price was also rated as the most important reason for most of the shoppers. The panel of Chart 02 illustrates the importance of affordable price for the customers in different age categories. The importance of other factors to the shoppers, such as quality, design, salespersons’ information, store environment and reputation of the brand, is illustrated in Tables 2–6 respectively in Appendix B. Approximately 58% of the respondents stated affordable price is more important compared to the services, store environment and brand reputation. Percentage proportions of the individual respondents who reported affordable price is more important compared to the other factors are illustrated in Appendix C and Graph 1 below. Satisfied and loyal customers have been repeatedly visiting Ted Baker for a longer duration compared to the others. Findings support the theory that satisfaction and loyalty are related, and it includes behavioural characteristics such as continuing to purchase products from the same supplier. The correlation coefficient between the degree of loyalty and the length of the

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Privacy in the Workplace Essay Example for Free

Privacy in the Workplace Essay There are specific laws that protect consumers as well as employees in the workplace. Many of these laws relate to others. Laws, such as, FERPA, SOX, CIPA, and COPPA also grant rights to individuals under the First Amendment. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects a child’s student records from being viewed without parental consent. It gives parents access to their childs education records, an opportunity to seek to have the records amended, and some control over the disclosure of information from the records. When the child becomes 18 years old, the parents are no longer obligated to have rights to access the child’s personal records. Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is also engineered to the protection of children. Children are to be protected physically and mentally while in the care of school professionals. Schools must have policies in place protecting children from accessing harmful or obscene content over the internet. This law requires that K-12 schools and libraries in the United States use Internet filters and implement other measures to protect children from harmful online content as a condition for federal funding. The Child Online Protection Act (COPPA) applies to the online collection of personal information by persons or entities under U.S. jurisdiction from children under 13 years of age. It details what a website operator must include in a privacy policy, when and how to seek verifiable consent from a parent or guardian, and what responsibilities an operator has to protect childrens privacy and safety online including restrictions on the marketing to those under 13. While children under 13 can legally give out personal information with their parents permission, many websites disallow underage  children from using their services altogether due to the amount of cash and work involved in the law compliance. Sarbanes–Oxley (SOX) set new or enhanced standards for all U.S. public company boards, management and public accounting firms. The sections of the bill cover responsibilities of a public corporations board of directors, adds criminal penalties for certain misconduct, and required the Securities and Exchange Commission to create regulations to define how public corporations are to comply with the law.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Importance of the Great Exhibition of 1851

Importance of the Great Exhibition of 1851 Provide some details of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and say why it was so important. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was the world’s first world exposition. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London. The 1851 was means the years and The Great Exhibition of 1851 was from 1 May to 11 October 1851. The Great Exhibition of 1851 was mainly focus on the worlds cultural and industrial technology. In The Great Exhibition 1851, Britain wanted to tell all of the public, the success of the achievement after The Industrial Revolution, and that were to become a prevalent 19th-century feature. The Great Exhibition was enormously influential on the development of many aspects of society including art and design education, international trade and relations, and even tourism. The Great Exhibition 1851 was organized by Henry Cole and Prince Albert, husband of the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria. The aim of this activities was to celebrate the new trend of modern industrial technology and design. Maybe due to the Prince and the Queens aides very enthusiastic to promote this fair can be profitable, finally persuaded the British government on January 3, 1850 Royal Commission was set up to organized the Expo 1851, Accordingly greatly enhance the feasibility of the plan, and this committee Britain was included most prestigious engineers Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The Crystal Palace was very important for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Joseph Paxtons design is inspired by the Amazon water lily Victoria, found the water lily can support huge leaves, when Joseph Paxton checking underneath, there are radiation-like elongated blade support ribs hard to obtain a design inspired, and application in architecture. Joseph Paxtons plan for the garden, fountains, terraces, small waterfalls and other skills was very good, in this Crystal Palace have many elm was planted, acreage approximately nine acres. The Crystal Palace also has a lot of small fountains and waterfalls, the highest up to 250 feet height, initial water tower construction as load-bearing problems and collapse, after deliberations , the two powerful towers, is divided into three reservoirs, namely the north and the south end of the place, as well as the central part of the garden, to spread the weight. The main idea is to find the power structure, durability, simplicity and speed. Firstly, The Crystal Palace was a famous building in the Great Exhibition of 1851, The Crystal Palace was made by iron and glass. The building used the area of nine hundred thousand square feet, the equivalent of eighty-four thousand square meters of glass or eight half-standard football field. Included the iron prop have three thousand three hundred, Iron beams two thousand three hundred and covers seventy-four thousand square meters, width and length are about 408 feet, 1851 feet equivalent to 125 meters, 564 meters, has around 3-story building. This is a very extensive building in 19th-century. Secondly, This design and building were very fashionable and originality on 19th-century. Since It is an important symbol of the Industrial Revolution, it was originally pavilion for the first time in 1851 World Expo held in London, the official name of this World’s Fair Exposition of Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. In five months, from May to October 1851, six million visitors throng the gigantic trade show, marveling over the latest technology as well as displays of artifacts from around the world. Until to 1936, the Great Exhibition had previously attracted numerous various social classes of tourists come to visit. Thirdly, World Expo visit year only six months, the building was supposed to be disposed. But but the final decision was made to subvert by parliament, Within two years, meet again by Queen Victoria opening ceremony this was long-term exhibition, for London, especially the addition of the two railway stations. this is one of the still running Crystal Palace railway station now, another station is the gateway to the parade area, today all of the passengers can still see its Italian style mosaic roof. Finally, Among the exhibits, almost every Victorian’s generation left are surprising for the visitors, there are included pottery, porcelain field, iron factories, steam hammer, hydraulic, perfume, pianos, houses, diving gear, guns, barometers, Textiles and fireworks etc. On the other hand, The Crystal Palace was have a lot other problems to affect contemporary design and develop the building. Firstly, in the items of the materials, the traditional earth, wood, brick, stone was replaced by iron and glass. Although is not of the first to used iron as a building material, however, used the iron prefabricated frame was unprecedented. Its effects open to suspicion since it is a unprecedented case, they can not have a successful case to support they when they are develop the building. Secondly, in terms of construction, traditional brick and stone stack technology is rivet, sleeve and screw fittings, fasteners replaced as the house as a machine to install. It is an unsafe practice as the Crystal Palace has around 3-story building and mainly items of the materials were a iron and glass, the Crystal Palace have a lot of visitors to visit, so the structure of the building must be very safety. Finally, In November 1936 the Crystal Palace was tragically destroyed in a spectacular fire. the Crystal Palace was made by iron and glass which are building materials. When the light from the sun is direct exposure on the Crystal Palace, it will initiate a fire and the iron is not to receive a high temperature, it is easy to become deformed. The result is the fire will spread so fast. However, Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Australia Expo again inherited the London Crystal Palace style. The difference is mainly due to Crystal Palace is not a permanent building, the main materials were iron and glass, all set up was for the convenience and short-term used, was not a long-term used and was not a one of the Exhibition Building. World Expo and a number of cities in Europe after several decades of years, many of the pavilion type buildings are modeled on glass frame structure by Crystal Palace. Royal Exhibition Building is a permanent building with solid walls and roof. Until today, the Royal Exhibition Building is still standing in the Riccarton Park Melbourne. A hundred years ago, making it increasingly fascinating Victorian’s elegance. In all of the buildings in Melbourne, its influence comparable to stabilizer. In June 2004, Royal Exhibition Building was included in the World Heritage List of the United Nations, Australia has become the only ranked as the worlds cultural heritage buildings. The Crystal Palace in London had only provided a venue for the Expo exhibits show, but has become the first World Expo of the most successful works and exhibits, it not only witnessed to the infinite glory of the Victorian era has also become a symbol of the world exposition. Today, the modern city building is very fast, however, if we can careful to inquiry, we can observe many of todays building materials and methods are within from the impact of the Crystal Palace, Although The Crystal Palace was a historical buildings, yet in a different form changing Joseph Paxtons creative ideas. In this sense, the Crystal Palace is still alive in our side, and will long continue.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Marcuses Account of the Features and Significance of True and False N E

Modern capitalist society is the target of severe criticism in Herbert Marcuse's book, One-Dimensional Man. As one would hope, Marcuse's intent is not merely to point out the shortcomings of the present system. He further hopes to encourage change in the most basic features of society, and with the intent to effect change arises the question of what goals the proposed change is directed towards. Primary among his goals is the "development and satisfaction of human needs and faculties" (xliii). Which of the wide range of human faculties are worthy of development? This question obviously requires value judgments to be made; any answer will be highly subjective or very complex, and probably both subjective and complex. Instead, this paper will focus on the second problem raised by Marcuse's goal: the identification of human needs to be satisfied. In particular, we will examine his own standards for determining what human needs must be satisfied by a rational society. Marcuse assumes that not all of what have been called "needs" at one time or another are real necessities that a rational society need consider. Certain "vital needs" are beyond doubt, however. Those are the needs of human biology without which life cannot continue, and such needs seem clearly to be objectively determined by biological factors. The sheer misery that infects human life when adequate food, water, and protection from the elements are not available in itself would seem to give sufficient reason for a rational society to concern itself first with providing everyone with those bare necessities. It is generally taken for granted that human beings have needs beyond the mere sustenance of biological life. Some of those proposed needs border on the biological, such as "the need for health care." At the other extreme are needs with no physical component at all, such as "the needs for spiritual sustenance." How does Marcuse propose we evaluate these less objectively evident contenders? Overall, he takes an attitude of skepticism towards them. Marcuse writes that "human needs, beyond the biological level, have always been preconditioned" (4). The key concept in this sentence is "conditioned"; the conception of needs of this type are th... ...would rather eliminate upon reflection. For example, one can easily imagine someone realizing that her desire for Gap pants originated in advertisements, and deciding that she did not want this need impressed on her by the advertising industry. This incremental elimination of false needs would go at least partway towards Marcuse's ideal of liberation through the consciousness of one's own servitude. The resources freed up by individuals' abandonment of unwanted false needs could then be used towards satisfying the vital needs of others. This result is less complete of an improvement than Marcuse is arguing for; however, it is probably the greatest shift in individuals' conception of their own needs that can be accomplished given the inherently social nature of non-physical needs. Even with its ambitions diminished in this way, Marcuse's consideration of true and false needs shows how there is room for movement toward "the optimal development†¦of all individuals, under t he optimal utilization of the material and intellectual resources available to man" (6). All citations from: Marcuse, Herbert. One-Dimensional Man. Boston: Beacon Press, 1964.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

How did Brecht make use of character and audience in order to successfu

Bertolt Brecht was a renowned German theatre practitioner and dramatist whose works are credited as having been at the leading edge of 20th century theatre. Being a socialist-Marxist, Brecht he was deeply concerned with the society in which he lived, and so desired to change the way people both thought and acted towards their fellow man. His concept of the Epic Theatre sought to dramatically change the way in which theatre is to be performed, opposing many of the 19th century dramatic conventions outlined for the ‘well-made play’. Dramatic Theatre is generally thought to be constructed of a number of things; including the use of detailed characters, containing a robust plot, having evolutionary determinism, and progressing with linear development. On the other hand, Brecht’s Epic Theatre focuses on narrative, episodic scenes, curved storylines, and creates a broader picture of the world for the spectator. The primary intention of a ‘well-made play’ is to simply entertain, and as Brecht stated, ‘from the first it has been the theatre’s business to entertain people’ (Brecht, 1964, pg. 180). However, Brecht personally believed that theatre should primarily be a place for learning and social correction – using the stage as a political platform to both inform and inspire its audience members. Although this is not to say that Brecht completely dismissed the notion of having theatrical entertainment, since his plays were also filled with music, comedy and lighting. Thus, theatre should not merely try to represent society – it should attempt to shape it too. The main area that I wish to address is how Brecht made use of both character and audience in an attempt to push forward his own political and moral interests. To do this, I will be l... ...23-31, JSTOR [Online]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/392365 (Accessed 19/04/2012). Ernst, R. (2005) The Spectator and Not the Actor is the central focus of Brecht’s Stagecraft. Munich: GRIN Publishing GmbH. Kolbe, J. (1954) Portrà ¤t Bertolt Brecht. [electronic print] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bertolt-Brecht.jpg (Accessed 22/04/2012). Morley, M. (1977) Brecht: A Study. New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. Needle, J. (1981) Brecht / Jan Needle and Peter Thomson. Oxford: Blackwell. Styan, J. L. (1981) Modern Drama in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tatlow, A. and Wong, T. (1982) Brecht and East Asian Theatre: The Proceedings of a Conference on Brecht in East Asian Theatre. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Willett, J. (1959) The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht, A Study from Eight Aspects. London: Methuen. How did Brecht make use of character and audience in order to successfu Bertolt Brecht was a renowned German theatre practitioner and dramatist whose works are credited as having been at the leading edge of 20th century theatre. Being a socialist-Marxist, Brecht he was deeply concerned with the society in which he lived, and so desired to change the way people both thought and acted towards their fellow man. His concept of the Epic Theatre sought to dramatically change the way in which theatre is to be performed, opposing many of the 19th century dramatic conventions outlined for the ‘well-made play’. Dramatic Theatre is generally thought to be constructed of a number of things; including the use of detailed characters, containing a robust plot, having evolutionary determinism, and progressing with linear development. On the other hand, Brecht’s Epic Theatre focuses on narrative, episodic scenes, curved storylines, and creates a broader picture of the world for the spectator. The primary intention of a ‘well-made play’ is to simply entertain, and as Brecht stated, ‘from the first it has been the theatre’s business to entertain people’ (Brecht, 1964, pg. 180). However, Brecht personally believed that theatre should primarily be a place for learning and social correction – using the stage as a political platform to both inform and inspire its audience members. Although this is not to say that Brecht completely dismissed the notion of having theatrical entertainment, since his plays were also filled with music, comedy and lighting. Thus, theatre should not merely try to represent society – it should attempt to shape it too. The main area that I wish to address is how Brecht made use of both character and audience in an attempt to push forward his own political and moral interests. To do this, I will be l... ...23-31, JSTOR [Online]. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/392365 (Accessed 19/04/2012). Ernst, R. (2005) The Spectator and Not the Actor is the central focus of Brecht’s Stagecraft. Munich: GRIN Publishing GmbH. Kolbe, J. (1954) Portrà ¤t Bertolt Brecht. [electronic print] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bertolt-Brecht.jpg (Accessed 22/04/2012). Morley, M. (1977) Brecht: A Study. New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. Needle, J. (1981) Brecht / Jan Needle and Peter Thomson. Oxford: Blackwell. Styan, J. L. (1981) Modern Drama in Theory and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tatlow, A. and Wong, T. (1982) Brecht and East Asian Theatre: The Proceedings of a Conference on Brecht in East Asian Theatre. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Willett, J. (1959) The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht, A Study from Eight Aspects. London: Methuen.

Friday, October 11, 2019

When Consultants and Clients Clash

When consultants and client clash: Problem Essay Statlers have failed to get their clients to acknowledge the differences in thinking about the merger. The rationale behind every merger is that the sum is greater than the parts. Typically, clients identify synergies for the merger and from then on consultants suggest the decisions necessary for attaining them. The synergy cited in this case, economies of scale, is only possible if the two firms worked together as a single unit.Susan Barlow ¶s lack of experience in conducting with clients and failure to understand the need for merger coupled with Kellogg ¶s ineptness in handling sticky situations has led to the current state. Susan, in her initial briefing with Mr. Kellogg, started off on a wrong note. First, she patronized the entrepreneur-turned-CEO, accepted his list of interviewees and even agreed to his deadlines. If she was any experienced, she would have been more pro-active, played the role of a devil ¶s advocate to expl ore other views about merger and understand its need.More importantly, as John Rau suggests, she would have done independent fact finding which would give her an idea about who to talk to. Another important task she missed out was talking to Mr. Carpenter and exploring his views about the merger. If she had any knowledge about mergers she would have replied to Mr. Kellogg ¶s remarks on mergers and explained to him that acquisitions have far higher success rates than  µmergers of equals ¶. All these point to her lack of expertise in mergers and inexperience with conducting with clients. Royce Kellogg acknowledges how he always relied on Mort Meyer to deal with people problems.Further, his naive view of the merger, which is so far only an agreement between two heads, reinforces his skewed understanding of the problem. In response to numerous calls from employees, who had already been given heads-up, Kellogg was quick in drawing conclusion that consultants are stirring up trouble rather than understand the underlying causes. Mr. Kellogg ¶s belief that derivatives are harder than the assignment Susan is currently dealing with shows how little interest he has in organizational issues and understanding their importance.With only Mort ¶s death triggering the merger, it was pretty thin to start with. For two firms with almost equal share operating on similar lines of business, the only value that could be derived out of merger is to cut the costs through staff reductions and higher scale of operations. To realize this, one of the firms needed to be an underdog and everybody, including the consultants missed this entirely. Kellogg spoke about mergers of equals without realizing how dangerous it was. This evidence strongly suggests the desperate need for mergers and acquisitions expert.Hence, any corrective measure should start with bringing in an expert on mergers into the team. Statler should start with a fresh slate by bringing in a new team to work on the project and let go of the costs for the initial two weeks. This will also greatly alleviate Kellogg ¶s anger and frustration with the consultants. The new policies that should govern the Kellogg Champion should be centered on cutting costs and achieving a merit-based organization structure rather than keeping a set of policies and disregarding the other.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Tensile Hair Strengh

Once the hair had been rated or not it was then carefully placed in a sticky note to be wrapped up, making sure not to twist or bend the hair. Weights were then hung of the hair to test the strength of each, once snapped the amount they could hold was recorded. Null hypothesis: Hypothesis: There is a significant positive correlation between the strength of hair that has been heated and the strength of hair once it has been conditioned. Research: Human hair is a natural fiber that is made up largely of a protein called keratin, 80% of hair is formed by this protein.Keratin contains a high concentration of sulfur which is produced from the amino acid Sistine. Rationale: Many women and some men are obsessed with hair care routines and mirroring sleek shiny hair styles like celebrities. The fixation with malignantly shiny hair and being able to alternate between styles has had a massive effect on the cosmetic Industry. With a number of people using straightness, curling Irons or hairdrye rs dally many cosmetic companies such as Tiresome and Pentane have benefited from creating products that help create this look and malting healthy hair.Although the companies claim that these products work this Investigation will look Into whether or to the products actually help maintain strong healthy hair or if once the hair has Variables: Independent variables: * If the hair is treated with conditioner or not – controlled by making sure to separate the treated group from the untreated group and not containment. Dependent variables: * The size of weight – controlled by using the same size weights each time (each weight was log) and making leg weights to make it more precise. To make the leg weights they were measured on a scale that was accurate to 0. 1 g Control variables: * Amount of time in oven – controlled by using a stopwatch to be sure that the hair as heated for a precise amount of time * Amount of time in conditioner – controlled by using a ti mer, didn't want one strand of hair receiving longer time in treatment than others as may cause an anomaly if one hair was stronger than the other * The person who's hair was used – controlled by using the hair from the same person, also making sure the hair hadn't come to any previous damage from dying the hair or daily usage of heat appliances.Preliminary work: For the preliminary investigation I started by gathering my samples of hair from the bottom of the scalp at the very back of the hair. The hair had been washed the night before to ensure that any dirt or hair oil had been washed out, however conditioner had not been used. Once the hair had been removed I measured each length along a ruler to make sure each was the same length, each piece of hair was then cut to CACM long. To make sure my results were more reliable the hair was also cut from the bottom of the strand so that all the hair was the same and because the bottom of the hair was already weak this was cut off. In total I had 20 pieces of hair each cut to CACM. Once this process was complete I divided the hair into two groups . Hair that would be heated – this was marked by a section of the paper it was laid out on having an orange mark. Paper it was laid out on having a red mark. After being divided into the two different groups I heated both groups with hair straightness (GAD). The ceramic plates heat up to 204. 4 degrees Celsius, although the straightness get extremely hot I realized there was room for human error.The length of time that the straightness spent on the strand of hair could differ between each length and on each section of the hair due to the time that the straightened was pulled along. Due to there being a high percentage of human error I used a different technique to heat up the hair to eradicate it. Instead of heating the hair with straightness I decided the best way to get the same heat across the whole length of hair and all the strands of hair was to heat them in the oven.I set the oven temperature to 205 degrees Just slightly higher than the God's, once the oven was heated to the temperature set I quickly put the strands of hair into the oven trying to decrease the time the oven door was open and so decreasing the amount of heat that the oven lost. After timing the hair in the oven for 2 minutes I took the hair out and started to test the strength of the hair against results I had taken previously from hair that hadn't been heated to make sure that there was some change when heated. The results hadn't changed much and so I decided to heat the hair for five minutes.Once the hair was heated for five minutes I divided the two groups. Once separated into two groups the hair was laid on separate pieces of paper each color coded to ensure I didn't mix the ones that would be treated and the ones that wouldn't. I then kook all the strands from group two and using my fingers coated them in conditioner. Improvements: The advantage of doing a prel iminary test enabled me to assess any errors that could implement the final results and also to check if the methodology I was using would be suitable for this investigation.The hair had originally been heated by using hair straightens however there was considerable room for human error due to how long each strand of hair was in contact with the irons. The improvements made on heating the hair was to heat them collectively in the oven, the time they were kept in he oven was also tested during the preliminary to ensure they received the same amount of heat as a strand of hair would when being treated with a heat appliance.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Black Masculinity Essay

What is an ethnic group? An ethnic group is a human population whose members identify with each other, usually on the basis of a presumed common genealogy or ancestry . These ethnic groups are usually united by shared cultural values, common fields of communication, or religious practices. So perhaps the theory of Black masculinity can be considered an ethnic group. There is the obvious factors of being ‘Black’ and ‘male’ that connects these members in this group; they have skin color and gender in common. Perhaps this cultural group has come together to be more then just a group who have race and gender in common. It goes beyond that and Black masculinity has members who are not ‘Black’. Perhaps this questions if history, ancestry, and genealogy are factored in when becoming a members of a group. But will these members be truly accepted in the cult of Black masculinity. Within the dominant culture African American men have developed their own sense of identity. These men have integrated themselves into American society creating a culture of their own. They have established a language, a sense of dress, and behaviors. These protocols help this group of men emphasize their ethnicity and gender. Members of this group who follow these traits are considered to be part of the cult of Black masculinity. What is happening is that white men, because of the influence of pop culture, are permeating the boundaries of the Black masculine cult. This is an experience of somewhat reverse assimilation. At first it was the assimilation of the Black man into the white man’s world and now it is as if roles are reversed. How the white men see the Black masculinity portrayed through the media and want to be part of it. Anthropologist Fredrik Barth specifies three conditions under which ethnic groups develop and define themselves: (a) a dominant culture is present with the power to maintain conditions whereby other groups of people, (b) are stereotyped, and (c) are constrained to certain roles that function complementarily in the general culture. Barth argues that ethnic distinctions are born out of conflict . The above conditions are necessary for the maintenance of ethnic distinctions. So, the maintenance of ethnic diversity requires domination by one group of the rest. Using Barth’s definition of what an ethnic group is and which boundaries are defined by these rules this paper will prove how Black masculinity conforms to these guidelines establishing them as an ethnic group within the dominant culture. This paper will also explore the difference that is expressed by black males in American culture through the use of language, dress and behavior. The cult of Black masculinity will prove that ethnic groups can create something of their own while inventing a new culture in which they can partake in and be control of. Black Masculinity â€Å"A particular type of black masculinity–one defined mainly by an urban aesthetic, a nihilistic attitude, and an aggressive posturing–has made its way into the cultural mainstream in the last two decades. † There are many contributing factors but the image of Black masculinity has come about due to the popularization of hip-hop culture and the prominence of rap music and the â€Å"videomercials† that sell it. More specifically, it is the result of the popularity of the urban â€Å"gangsta† and his embodiment in the â€Å"gangsta† rap of artists such as Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Tupak Shakur. Black masculinity is the attempt for black males to incorporate what the dominant culture believes to be masculine. Most studies have, however regarded Black Masculinity as an alternative to social status, rather than as an extension of it. ‘Black Macho’ has been portrayed, therefore, as differing in kind rather than degree from the wider gendered power relations within Society at large†¦ It is however; only within the context of wider power relations — and as an extension of them –that Black masculinity can be fully understood†¦ Black masculinity is then perhaps best understood as an articulated response to structural inequality, enacting and subverting dominant definitions of power and control, rather then substituting for them. Rather than a hostile and withdrawn entity [black masculinity] can be seen as a base for interaction and negotiation with wider society . These men have taken an idea which already exists according to society and incorporated what they believe is their definition of masculinity. This expression of masculinity, according to Mercer and Julien: â€Å"subjectively incorporates attributes associated with dominant definitions of manhood – such as being tough, in control, independent – in order to recuperate some degree of power or active influence over objective conditions of powerlessness created by racism. † Black masculinity embraces the stereotypical role of what a Black man typically resembles. What the dominant culture portrays: the tough guy, more body then mind. This is received as negative because they are not achieving what the ideal is, what â€Å"Whiteness† is. So would this group of men be considered an ethnic group within the American society? According to Barth an ethnic group embodies the following: â€Å"Largely biologically self-perpetuating, shares fundamental cultural values, realized in overt unity in cultural forms, makes up a field of communication and interaction, has a membership which identifies itself, and is identified by others, as constituting a category distinguishable from other categories of the same order. † Those who choose to conform to these norms of this group will reject or discriminate against others and this leads to the inclusion of this specific group. Behavior How one behaves will determine what group they will fit into. These behaviors include how one dresses, acts and talks. Black masculinity has their own sense of dress, actions and even language. Depicted through the media the Black masculine male will dress â€Å"gangster†. There stereotyped baggie jeans and big t-shirts with the jewelry and baseball caps. This reinforces the hyper-sexualized stereotyped male in society. Recently, Richard G. Major’s concept of the â€Å"cool pose† has proved an insightful term for understanding the dynamics of black masculinity as it has developed in response to unequal conditions in the modern urban environment. In a series of closely related works (listed at the end of this essay), Majors argues that black males have accepted the traditional values of masculinity but are so restricted by social and political factors that many of them have been deeply frustrated by their inability to enact these traditional masculine roles. â€Å"In brief,† Majors explains, â€Å"cool pose originated as a coping mechanism for the ‘invisibility,’ frustration, discrimination, and educational and employment inequities faced by Black males. In response to these obstacles, many of these individuals have channeled their creative talents and energies into the construction of masculine symbols and into the use of conspicuous nonverbal behaviors (e. g. , demeanors, gestures, clothing, hairstyles, walks, stances and handshakes)† . Majors includes in his examples of the cool pose such diverse behaviors as the use of humor, feigned emotional detachment, and specific stylistic expressions like the black athlete’s inventive basketball dunking, football spiking, and end zone dancing, as well as black musical performers’ aggressive posing and graceful yet strenuous dancing styles. A prime ingredient of the cool pose as a compensatory form of masculinity is an exaggerated style of toughness: â€Å"Symbolic displays of toughness defend his identity and gain him respect; they can also promote camaraderie and solidarity among black males† . Unfortunately, as Majors is careful to point out, the ritualized hyper masculinity performed by many black men as a cool pose, particularly the preoccupation with enacting a tough persona is rife with the negative potential to promote dangerous lifestyles (e. g. , gang bangers, tough guys, drug dealers, street hustlers, and pimps) and to reinforce harmful stereotypes. These images illuminate the figure of the menacing Black male. He embodies images of the black heterosexual rapper, athlete, and movie star which challenge the racist depictions of black masculinity as incompetent, oversexed and uncivil, in the end a threat to middle class notions of womanhood, family and nation . Perhaps with these embodiments this is why Black masculinity is its own ethnic group. They were unable to assimilate into the dominant culture because they were seen as a hyper sexualized threat to white women. This left these men to create something of their own, through dress, language and action. This group uses language as another expression of social difference. African American Vernacular English is the language that is used to communicate, it is also known as Black English, Black Vernacular, or Black English Vernacular. Black English is also known as Ebonics, a combination of â€Å"ebony† and â€Å"phonics†, this language is spoken by many Blacks in the United States and around the world. Black masculinity has accepted Ebonics as their language because it is something that is unique to the African American culture. The problem with this form of communication is that it is not widely accepted within the dominant society. The children who are raised by men who are part of this cult of Black masculinity are told to speak differently because the form of communication that they have learned is not acceptable. This is a miscommunication and some parties tried to get Ebonics recognized as a language and to be taught in the school systems. This law was not passed but it was interpreted and they are now teaching the children how to translate African American Vernacular English into American Standard English. Jackson sees language as â€Å"badges and emblems of identity can be seen as a kind of message, the successful transmission, reception, and decoding of which necessary to the interaction is taking place. † This is why Black masculinity is as strong as it is because it embraces their own language and through this they are able to maintain relationships with others in this group of men. Such as the word â€Å"Nigga†, if this word were used by someone outside of this cultural group then they would be considered racist but through music and use within the group it is considered to be a term used to identify each other. It would be seen as odd if someone who did not embody Black masculinity started speaking in African American Vernacular English because they may not have the ancestry which allows them to embody Black Masculinity and their language. Boundaries To form a cultural boundary it is presumed that the borders would be between different homelands, ethnicities, religions or language groups. In the case of Black masculinity the majority are situated all over North America and the rest of the world. With such a diverse spread it would be hard to place physical borders on this group. â€Å"Ethnic groups are not merely or necessarily based on the occupation of exclusive territories; and the different ways in which they are maintained, not only by once-and-for-all recruitment but by continual expression and validation†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In saying this, those who partake in the cult of Black masculinity erect borders through communication such as language and body language. Those who do not respond to these actions are not considered to be part Black male society. There is certain protocol which will be followed within the group and if this is not followed then there is the identification of an outsider who is trying to break through the borders. The problem with Black masculinity and the exclusivity of this culture is that it is widely available in pop culture. It would be easy for someone who is not part of this ethnic group to study the mass media and learn the traits which define Black masculinity. Black masculinity is based on ascription how people identify their culture and how they identify themselves within this culture. Their boundaries are socially constructed. Ethnic groups share common culture which includes shared religion, language, style of dress, housing, shared customs; attitudes, beliefs and most have the same perception of a common past. As discussed earlier this group embraces a shared common culture which separates them from the dominant culture. They have created themselves due to a particular historical circumstance and in this case it is colonization and the invasion of the White man. The identity of Black masculinity is reliant on how individuals embrace it, constrained by it; act on it and through this Black masculinity will have a separate identity as an ethnic group. To separate themselves they have must be able to distinguish them from the dominant culture by â€Å"creating appearance of cultural discontinuity†. Black masculinity has done this by assuming roles such as the gangster rapper, the black athlete or movie star. By creating these identities they are constructing a boundary between â€Å"us† and â€Å"them†. Overtime groups tend to become culturally more homogenous. This endangers the boundary and makes it harder to maintain but in order to preserve its distinct identity these boundaries need to be maintained by the group. Boundary maintenance serves to isolate the group from alternative value systems (according to which its members may find themselves ranked differently), preserves the group’s existing internal power structure, and provides a potential source of political power for the group through solidarity and numbers . Black masculinity is a strong force in the media and to follow what their cultural beliefs are would be easy. They have familiarized their culture with the dominant culture allowing anyone to be able to participate in their beliefs. This weakens their borders and makes it harder to maintain a stronghold at their borders. The only thing that would not be broken within Black masculinity is in the name. To be a true part of this ethnic group one would have to be a Black male. This is the only thing that will hold true to maintain the borders of Black masculinity. Biologically Self Perpetuating Black masculinity has become such a widely known phenomenon and even those who do not share the same ancestry seem to be able to embody traits of this group. Traditionally an ethnic group would share a common background and kin. Through the use of mass media the cult of the Black male has become highly sexualized and those who see this machismo want to be part of it. Ethnic groups are primarily endogamous and this new assimilation into their group will cause problems with this. This is a problem because it takes away from the power of what this group stands for and what they embody as the macho man. â€Å"In a social order where white beliefs form fundamental explanations of how individuals should enact their color-sex positions and associated role expectations, black males do not, regardless of their economic status or intellectual capabilities, have the cultural prerogative to take the initiative. † This quote redefines that there is a dominant culture and allowing assimilation this group is allowing the power to be taken away. As these men are portrayed as hyper sexualized in the media it introduces them to something that the dominant culture views as the ideal, this goes back to colonization and the want of what the White man has, the unattainable. â€Å"A major reason for the initial encounter was the mystique attached to the hitherto unavailable ‘the white goddess’ † . This â€Å"white goddess†, the unavailable, is the difference between the dominant culture and the Black Masculinity. Black men move between majority and minority cultures and must negotiate the racism and discrimination that accompany caste-like minority status. Frazier suggests that Black masculinity and male role identity must be viewed in these varying social and cultural contexts . Specifically, Black men are expected to conform to dominant gender role expectations (e. g. , to be successful, competitive, aggressive), as well as meeting culturally specific requirements (e. g. , cooperation, promotion of group, and survival of group) of the Black community. â€Å"certain patriarchal values such as physical strength, sexual prowess and being in control as a means of survival against the repressive and violent system of subordination to which they were subjected† . The dehumanizing aspect of this myth, a myth that Mercer claims many black men do not want demystified because it in some ways (e. g. , strength, sexual prowess) raises them above the status of white men, is that, while an emphasis on the body as brute force is a marker of the difference between male and female, it is also a key symbol in the division between nature and culture. Perhaps this is why Black masculinity came to be. It is argued that the members of the Black Power movement defined the politics of race within â€Å"metaphoric of phallic power,† which developed out of male activists’ desires to counter cultural articulations of black male inferiority , and that this is readily seen in the writings of influential figures such as Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Eldridge Clever, and Amiri Baraka. Wiegman further claims that the phallocentric perspective was also articulated through the macho, hyper masculine characters appearing in the blaxploitation films of the early 1970s. It is through Wiegman’s phallic theories about Black males that this ethnic group created the term and culture of Black masculinity. Conclusion Through Barth this paper has been able to discuss the boundaries which the ethnic group Black masculinity was able to control. They were able to create their own ethnic group in response to the dominant culture. They defined themselves through being Black males. They embodied what it meant to be. They did this by dress and action. This is recently obvious through the media and ‘gangta’ rap and perhaps with this embodiment they are able to prove that they are able to exist as a powerful force within the dominant culture. Black masculinity members are able to have their own sense of language whether it be verbal, Ebonics, of physical, â€Å"cool pose†. This is how they established members of the group and were able to communicate with each other by these means. They reinforced that the â€Å"cool pose† displays toughness and it gains him respect and from this it promotes solidarity within the group of Black males. The â€Å"cool pose† is not always a good thing. In the media the dominant society does not see the athlete but the gangster and the stereotype which is created by the dominant culture. They are seen as a threat and to keep them safe Black masculinity was created in an attempt to create values and rules of their own in order to obtain status in a dominant culture. To keep this group exclusive these Black men created a language of their own and through this they communicate and they are able to maintain a strong bond through these means of communication. Through the use of language they create borders. The borders which they created allow them to maintain who they are without being assimilated into the dominant culture. They have embraced and emphasized who they are and what they stand for. To protect this they erected borders such as similar dress/style, language, sense of history and shared customs. These aspects are unique to them but as popular culture embraced these aspects such as language and dress the borders began to break. One thing that the dominant culture could not break is their gender and race. They were African American men and no matter what the dominant culture did to try and assimilate them they had this to celebrate. This is important to maintain the strength of your borders. Black masculinity is a group of Black males who have been able to preserve that they are part of an ethnic group and they have history which needs to be respected. They are trying to sustain a culture that is slowly being integrated into the dominant culture. If this group follows what Barth has laid out in order to maintain boundaries then Black masculinity will be able to be whomever they want within the dominant culture. REFERENCES Alexander, C. The Art of Being Black. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Barths, F. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Oslo: Universitesforlaget, 1969. Frazier, E. Franklin. The Negro Family in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939. Gray, H. â€Å"He Is a â€Å"Bad Mother*S%@! #†: Shaft and Contemporary Black Masculinity. American Quarterly. Vol. 50, No. 2, 1998. Gray, H. Cultural Politics. A Special Section:Black Masculinity and Visual Culture. Callaloo, Vol. 18, No. 2. (Spring, 1995). Jackson, J. Language Identity of The Colombian Vaupes Indians. In Baumand, R. ,Sherzer, J. , Exploration in the Ethnography of Speaking: Studies in the Socialand Cultural Foundations of Language. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Majors, R. , & Bilson, J. M. Cool Pose. New York: Lexington, 1989. Mercer, K. Welcome to the Jungle: New Positions in Black Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge, 1994. Mercer, K. & Julien, I. Race, Sexual Politics and Black Masculinity: A Dossier. London: Lawerence & Wishart, 1998. Smith, A. D. The Ethnic Origins of Nations. Oxford: Blackwell, 1987. Staples, R. Black Masculinity: The Black Male’s Role in American Society. San Francisco: The Black Scholar Press, 1982. Wiegman, R. Feminism, ‘The Boyz’ and Other Matters Regarding the Male: Screening the Male: Exploring Masculinities in Hollywood Cinema. London: Routledge,1993. Wilikinson, D. Y. Expectations and Salience in White Female – African Male Self-Other Role Definitions. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1977.