Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Asian Tourism Abstract Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Asian Tourism Abstract - Essay Example n of exterior promotional and publicity activities; systematize and inculcate training and education; and endorse international tourism communication and corporation. In addition, CNTA is responsible for normalization of the tourism market order, and offer supervision and management of quality; and organize the survey, planning, growth and fortification tourist resources. The organization is part of China’s government and is a Chinese government authority obliged to tourism development, and a subordinate to the state council headquartered in Beijing. Although it is an institution affiliated to CNTA the government, CNTA does not have any authority to act as a full Chinese government department hence it has no authority for regulation enforcement although it acts as an independent ministry on some instances. The institution is funded by the central Chinese government and but uses promotional and marketing activities to get additional funds beyond what is provided by the government. Promotional budget for tourism by the Chinese government is limited and for years, this amount remains low compared to nations like Korea, Singapore, and Malysia. It is for limited budgeting that the Chinese government CNTA to depend on other income sources like local government that comprise of social investment and Tourism Development Fund. The financing of the Tourism development Fund is by the collection of an inbound airport construction fee of CNY 20 for each person. In order to monitor the spending of CNTA funds, the Ministry of Finance has founded a budget enforcement live monitoring system and a budget spending performance evaluation. In addition, CNTA and the finance ministry are exploring to develop Tourism Satellite Account and evaluate government revenue estimates obtained from tourism to evaluat e the largely contribution of tourism to Chinese social development and government national economy (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 292). According to Airey

Monday, October 28, 2019

Setting Up a Network at a New Office Essay Example for Free

Setting Up a Network at a New Office Essay 1.1 General Setting up a new network at a new office will require the purchase of new workstations, installing a new server, or implementing network security and virus protection systems network wide. LC Comm primary goal is to translate the technology needs of your building into an industry standard solution that produces clear, tangible results for the business. It is also my goal to educate and help you understand some of the more technical aspects of your network upgrade by putting it into a simple, easy to comprehend. Network planning and network upgrades performed will follow the accepted best practices of successful installations. This process and my exclusive 100+ point project checklist ensures consistent results with zero or minimal disruption to your office during the course of the network planning, network upgrade, server installation or new computer installation. Since I place my highest values on consistent, reliable solutions for the long-term happiness and productivity of your office, you can feel confident I will only recommend proven network planning and network upgrades that will accomplish these goals and not those that are the coolest or newest at the time. An IT project is an endeavor with a definitive timeline (start date and end date) during which specific goals and objectives are met. Projects occur in addition to the regular maintenance of your network and technology equipment, and often emerge as a result of issues discovered during regular maintenance. 1.2 General Scope of Work LC Comm. proposes to produce contract specifications and construction drawings for all building spaces as well as the communications cabling system. This will include the plan views of all equipment rooms, labs, MDF/IDFs and the elevation views of equipment racks and cabinets. In general, this includes the following: 1.2.1Participation in the design process. LC Comm will work with the Customer to validate space requirements and produce electrical and mechanical program requirements for all computer room and telecommunications facilities and equipment. This includes CAD plan drawings of computer room and telecommunications room equipment. It also includes CAD elevation drawings of the network and server cabinets. As a participant in the design team, these requirements and drawings will be  conveyed to the architects and engineers for inclusion into the schematic drawings, the design development drawings and finalized in the construction documents. 1.2.2 Assist Customer in designing the local and wide-area networking requirements. This includes any high-speed lines that will be required in the new main site and other locations. Full back up and redundancy is assumed. 1.2.3 Assist Customer in placing all computer and network equipment on the drawings. 1.2.4Production of the building communications cabling systems requirements as may be required. These include the data structured cabling system for the building, bus tag cable design should a large mainframe be involved and inter-cabinet cabling systems between the network and server cabinets. 2.0Specific Scope of Work 2.1Schematic Design 2.1.1Validate all space requirements for the technical areas associated with the data center complex. This includes but is not limited to the following: †¢Computer equipment area †¢Operations console area †¢Disk farm and tape robots †¢Network area †¢Server area †¢Printer and paper storage areas †¢Staging areas †¢Environmental systems on or under the raised floor area †¢Technical support areas outside of the raised floor area †¢Meeting rooms †¢Storage spaces 2.1.2Participate in the design and data gathering process to determine, produce or participate in the following: †¢Rough draft of computer and network equipment layouts †¢Discussion of adjacency requirements for the data center operating areas †¢Participate in discussions to determine facility design requirements †¢Participate in meetings to determine what computer and network equipment will be acquired for the new data center †¢Development of preliminary high-level project schedule with milestones. †¢Data gathering for communications and network cabling requirements †¢Data gathering of  environmental requirements for computer and network equipment that will be in the raised floor and telecommunications facilities. (Power and Cooling Profile) †¢Gather requirements for telecom grounding requirements †¢Identify MDF and cable entrance areas †¢Identify fiber and cable provider vaults on or near property †¢Begin early draft of communications cabling specification †¢Participate in discussions on redundancy of environmental systems and the elimination of any single point-of-failure †¢Participate in discussions on disaster recovery and business resumption 2.1.3 Participate in discussions to identify design requirements for the telecom fiber and copper entrance cables. 2.1.4 Participate in scheduled and ad hoc meetings as may be required to produce required deliverables. Meet with vendors as may be required. 2.1.5 Document technical meetings and discussions. Reproduce and distribute documentation. 2.2 Design Development 2.2.1 Finalize plan view of equipment layouts for MIS, IT, network, server, telecommunications and PBX systems 2.2.2 Finalize detailed environmental requirements for all MIS, IT, network, server, telecommunications and PBX systems 2.2.3 Produce final draft of the communications and network cabling specifications. This includes and custom specifications for cable runway, network cabinets, under floor fiber cable tray systems 2.2.4 Produce final draft of telecom grounding requirements 2.2.5 Produce final draft of project schedule with milestones 2.2.6Produce draft of network and server cabinet elevation drawings 2.2.7 Produce draft electrical panel breaker assignments for Electrical Engineer 2.2.8 Participate in scheduled and ad hoc meetings as may be required to produce required deliverables. Meet with vendors as may be required. 2.2.9 Document technical meetings and discussions. Reproduce and distribute documentation 2.3 Construction Documents 2.3.1Finalize all construction specifications for the following: †¢Structured communications cabling system. Includes RFQ †¢Telecommunications entrance facilities †¢Inter-connecting cabling system for the network and server cabinets †¢Cable runway for PBX (MDF) and IDF areas †¢Under floor cable tray for fiber cables 2.3.2 Finalize construction drawings for the following: †¢Structured communications cabling system. Includes elevations telecom racks in the MDF and IDF areas. Includes instructions for seismic bracing †¢Telecommunications entrance facilities. Includes fiber mux areas †¢Inter-connecting cabling system for the network and server cabinets. Includes elevation drawings showing connecting hardware and equipment in the network and server cabinets †¢Cable runway for PBX (MDF) and IDF areas †¢Under floor cable tray for fiber cables 2.3.3 Participate in scheduled and ad hoc meetings as may be required to produce required deliverables. Meet with vendors as may be required. 2.3.4 Document technical meetings and discussions. Reproduce and distribute documentation. 2.4 Bidding and Negotiation 2.4.1 Attend bid conferences and walkthroughs as may be required. 2.4.2 Respond to RFIs as may be necessary 2.4.3 Produce specification or drawing modifications as may be required 2.5 Construction Administration 2.5.1 Walk job site periodically. Observe and comment on construction of equipment and network facilities. Produce documentation where required 2.5.2 Participate in architectural and construction project meetings where required

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Jellyfish Dystopia Essay examples -- Animal Research Conservation

Earth’s environment is a complex construction with multiple parts that are all important to its success. Even creatures like jellyfish cannot be ignored when considering this delicate construction. Through both ecosystem modification and additions, human environmental manipulation humans are creating favorable conditions for jellyfish and their subsequent population explosions. The effects of these large populations have a myriad of negative physical and economic effects on humans. If we wish to avoid our eventual jellyfish dystopia, we must take preventative actions. The modification of the environment by humans is the first factor that has begun to promote the jellyfish dystopia. As humans change the environment, conditions are beginning to favor jellyfish. In an environment that largely favors them, a population explosion and accompanying jellyfish dystopia is inevitable. These population explosions are a great leap toward the jellyfish dystopia. Throughout the marine environment, humans have begun overfishing in multiple marine environments. This opens niches in the oceanic food webs. These niches, or spaces in the food webs, result from the removal of predators that would previously control the jellyfish population (Stone). In the absence of their predators, the jellyfish population is free to expand and forms blooms, or large jellyfish populations. The jellyfish themselves then prevent the native fish population from rebounding by feeding on the fish eggs (Stone). Humans proceed to fish in these areas again, and the jellyfish predation dec reases to a greater degree. Humans also improve conditions for jellyfish as we allow pollution levels to rise. Devices like cars are contributors to the carbon dioxide levels. As the CO2... ...s for them and degrading our own situation. If we do not strive to control these various lashing tentacles of the jellyfish dystopia, we will be killed in its powerful grasp. Works Cited Blomberg, Lindsey. "The Great Jellyfish Invasion." E: The Environmental Magazine 23.1 (2012): 16-17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 May 2012. Pauly, Daniel. "Aquacalypse Now." The New Republic. Mike Rancilio, 9 Sept. 2009. Web. 01 May 2012. Tucker, Abigail. "The New King Of The Sea." Smithsonian 41.4 (2010): 26-37. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 May 2012. Stone, Richard. "Massive Outbreak of Jellyfish Could Spell Trouble for Fisheries." Yale Environment 360. Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, 13 Jan. 2011. Web. 01 May 2012. Vince, Gaia. "Jellyfish Blooms Creating Oceans of Slime." BBC.com. British Broadcasting Company, 5 Apr. 2012. Web. 1 May 2012.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Ashford Week 1 Quiz Eng225: Intro Film Essay

1. Question : How many acts does the most basic narrative structure in film consists of? Two CORRECT Three Five Seven 2. Question : Which setting seems most appropriate for a film about emotional isolation? A crowded city A small town CORRECT An abandoned outpost A college campus 3. Question : Which character in a movie is the audience meant to identify with? CORRECT The protagonist The antagonist The love interest The straight man 4. Question : What is the most likely reason that theatrical movies have survived competition from television and various home video formats? CORRECT They are communal experiences They are less expensive to distribute They are less expensive to attend They are easier to access 5. Question : Which film would qualify as a small-budget film? CORRECT Paranormal Activity Titanic Avatar 6. Question : Who is primarily responsible for the visual representation of a film’s story? CORRECT The cinematographer The editor The director 7. Question : A good film critic is likely to do which of the following? Student Answer: CORRECT Examine a film on many levels Rely on personal impressions Express opinions Make superficial observations 8. Question : Why are there fewer professional film critics in print media now than there once were? There are fewer movies being made Movies are becoming less popular with print audiences CORRECT Media outlets are increasingly hiring wire-service critics 9. Question : In a scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the title characters are holed up inside a building discussing their plans for future bank robberies while the audience is shown the entire Bolivian army gathering outside to kill them. The filmmakers are making use of what literary element in this scene? CORRECT Dramatic irony Metaphor Allegory 10. Question : Which of the following is a demonstration of media literacy? Knowing the names of the actors and director of a movie CORRECT Recognizing how a movie manipulates the audience’s reactions to it Enjoying a movie as simple entertainment

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Benefits of Program Evaluation to Decision

Program evaluation refers to the systematic process of gathering data and putting them all together in order to generate an overall assessment of a program, policy or project needed in decision-making. It provides a list of the strengths and weaknesses used in assessing the efficiency of a program. Both profit and non-profit organizations depend on program evaluation as a tool in gauging the performance of their projects. Often ignored in the process of program implementation, program evaluation is, in fact, necessary in providing constructive information for the improvement of an organization.In an evaluation, the data analyzed serve as guide for decision-makers on how well a program or project is operating. This answers questions regarding the effectiveness of the program to the implementer and beneficiaries, the attainment of the program goals and objectives, and the options for future improvement (McNamara, 2002). Evaluation of the internal and external factors affecting the oper ation of the program aims to provide credible, objective, and pertinent conclusions to decision-makers.Internal evaluation, covering all levels of an organization, requires the participation the program staff and stakeholders in the assessment of the program operation. External evaluation, on the other hand, takes account of the changing conditions outside of the organization that may have an influence to the performance of a program (Freeman, 2006). Findings of a program evaluation would serve as ground for the betterment of a project and the organization, as well.This would also serve as basis for the maintenance of existing program policies and construction of more cost and time-efficient operations. Moreover, evaluation can serve as basis for other organizations in carrying out analogous plans. References: Freeman, B. (2006). The Importance of Program Evaluation. from http://501cweb. wordpress. com/2006/12/30/the-importance-of-program-evaluation/ McNamara, C. (2002). A Basic Gui de to Program Evaluation [Electronic Version], from http://www. tgci. com/magazine/A%20Basic%20Guide%20to%20Program%20Evaluation. pdf

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass essays

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass essays Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass In his autobiography Frederick Douglass presents a vivid picture of a horrifying period of American history that far too few people understand. Douglasss personal narrative as a slave lets readers feel the fear of his past and allows us to experience the suffering and pain inflicted by underserved beatings and an unhealthy lifestyle with too much physical exertion. Douglass exhibits very personal and fervent feelings about his history and helps his readers understand the intense hatred and disgust the American slave had for his possessor, and the sickness of hate that allowed human beings to keep other human being as chattel. The typical American slave standard of living was worse than some of the most poverty stricken countries of today. Most slaves were not as privileged to be classified as fat and happy. Slave owners, often referred to as masters, simply did not have to provide adequate food and clothing because there was no enforcement of it by law or any other authority regulator. In general, consideration and generosity for slaves were at the discretion of their beholders. Within these tragic lifestyles, ties between biological family members within the slave community were very rare. Most slave children new little, if anything, about there parents. The slaveholders instructed the elderly to care for young children and often broke the bonds between parents and their children to keep unity suppressed and ignorance high. Although Douglass too had been separated from his mother he knew of her whereabouts and was able to make contact with her prior to her death relatively early in his adoles cence. We see that Douglass persistence to keep his first name shows us he still values his heritage and family. Education was another matter that Douglass deeply valued. He believed education was the pathway from slavery to free...

Monday, October 21, 2019

How to Write a Reflective Essay about Your Family

How to Write a Reflective Essay about Your Family Reflective Essay about Your Family How to start How to write the introduction How to compose body paragraphs How to finish the essay Tips on revision Outline sample Reflective essay about your family (Sample) The main purpose behind writing a reflective essay about one’s family is to acknowledge the efforts and help one has gained from their family members. In fact, such a paper is not a mere storytelling of events that have taken place in family contexts, neither is it a description of the personal attributes of each member. However, it should relate the significance of one’s relationship with their family and its positive impact on them, which could be illustrated through real examples from one’s own experience with family issues and situations. Such a paper reflects the role of family in life. So, below is a guide on how to write a perfect essay. How to start Jot down the immediate ideas that come to your mind about your family. Those notes will save you the effort of overthinking. Write down any significant event or situation that have fortified your ties with your family members. Yet, you could just write the ideas in the form of titles so that you expand upon them later on. While you are still mind-mapping your ideas about the topic, take note of the most important family members who you think have offered you a lot through your life. How to write introduction and thesis statement Once done with brainstorming, one could move on to the general introduction. Family falls under the umbrella of social relationships. So, it could be reasonable enough to start off with some lines about the importance of such relationships, mentioning neighborhood, friendship, until we get to family where we will land. The thesis statement is the immediate step that comes just after the general introduction. Here, I should decide about the characteristics I am going to shed light on for the reflection on my family. For example, financial help, moral support, and personal improvement. How to compose body paragraphs You should make a decision about the order of your ideas if you would like them to be distributed by order of importance. For example, if you would like to start with the financial support that your family has offered you, then you should put that element in the first body paragraph. Do not forget to illustrate your ideas with examples, which could draw on the events and names you have already thought about while brainstorming. Unless you have only one important family member, do not restrict your ideas only to the significance of one member, otherwise, you would fall into a mere description. Events where your family was there for you are important as a proof of how crucial one’s family is. But, the focus should not be solely on the events or you will be only recounting family events and adventures. Be at the center of attention in your reflective essay. That is to say, you should perceive the role of your family in making you who you are today. You should always refer to yourself to maintain the thread of ideas. How to finish the essay State the main elements of the body in a concise way without getting into details. All the main ideas of the body, which also make up the thesis statement, should be present briefly in the conclusion. Make sure that you do not expand too much upon the ideas you summarized in the conclusion. If your aim is to hold sway over the reader, then you could make a call to action, such as a proposition to keep strong ties with family members, especially with parents, and to take care of them because they are of great importance to one’s life. Tips on revision Grammatical revision is indispensable. It should be done with scrutinizing eyes so that you make sure that your essay is grammatically correct. Contextual revision is of equal importance, thus, it is advisable to make sure that the ideas about your family are all contextually relevant- mere recounting of events may create a descriptive context. Formatting should also be revised. It is something that you could do as you go, but a final touch is always necessary to avoid incongruity, especially if you are using a specific style such as the APA. Outline sample Introduction General background Thesis statement: specific elements Body Paragraph 1 (Financial assistance): importance of the role of parents Paragraph 2 (Moral support): the significance of my sister’s efforts Paragraph 3 (Personal development): the contribution of all family members Conclusion Brief summary of main ideas Call to action. Reflective essay about your family (Sample) No one can deny that having a family is a gift. It might not be the truth that all the people live with their family members or see them daily, yet it still has a positive impact to even hear their voice or meet them every now and then. My family is the source of my happiness and self-realization. Family has countless benefits in one’s life. If I am to talk about my family, I think that there is no getting away from acknowledging their financial support, moral help, and their efforts for my continuous personal improvement. My family members, mainly my parents, have always been there for me when I needed them. Actually, I always remember how they provided me with enough money to buy my necessary needs and to pay for my college fees. I have never felt that I am inferior to my friends; whenever we went out, I always had enough money to pay for what I ordered. It is something that I appreciated on the part of my parents. They always wanted me to look good, so my mother used to insist that I buy new clothes and accessories. Shopping with my parents is fun. They always brought me more than I really needed. My parents have always supported me financially even at their expense. I still remember when my mother refused to buy a new pair of shoes for her just to buy me a leather jacket that I liked so much. When I think about the moral support that I have got from my family, I feel indebted to my sister, in particular. She is only 2 years younger than me, but she is wise and intelligent. She has always shown me the right way when I am clueless. She gave me hugs when I felt down and advised me once I had no idea where I was heading to. The emotions and psychological comfort my sister gives me are amazingly special, as they motivate me to study and make the best out of any situation and opportunity.Years ago, we used to share the same room, so we spent great moments. Having a sister like her is the best gift I have ever had. When I feel lonely, I just call her, and she never hesitates to visit me and make me smile. She is so close to me; her presence in my life is indispensable. All of my family members have contributed to the continuous improvements in my life. I should admit that thanks to them, I have acquired the ability to use visualization. My mother has always talked to me about how she sees me in the future. She pictured me as a successful person in her mind, which is the image that I have adopted from her. It motivated me to work harder on my dreams and attain my educational and professional goals to realize that mental picture of success. Apart from that, my siblings have given me valuable pieces of advice that helped orient me when I was in two minds about something. I am proud to be part of such an amazingly fabulous family that provides me with wisdom, joy, and understanding. My father has always told me his opinion on my personal choices; I appreciate his valuable advice because it helped me shape my personality in a correct way. By and large, family is the backbone of one’s life, as far as I am concerned. When your family is there for you, you could get support at the financial, moral, and personal levels. Only through difficult moments of life one could come to terms with how important having a family is. Simply put, family is priceless; one should never cut ties with their parents and relatives.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

How to Write a Character Analysis

How to Write a Character Analysis Being mindful of subtle hints, like mood changes and reactions that might provide insight into your characters personality, can help you write a character analysis. Describe the Characters Personality We get to know the characters in our stories through the things they say, feel, and do. Its not as difficult as it may seem to figure out personality traits based on a characters thoughts and behaviors: Say cheese! the exasperated photographer shouted, as she pointed her camera toward the group of squirming children. Margot displayed her broadest, most convincing fake smile as she inched ever-closer to her younger cousin. Just as the photographers finger twitched over the shutter button, Margot leaned into her young cousins side and pinched hard. The boy let out a yelp, just as the camera clicked. You can probably make some assumptions about Margot from the brief segment above. If you had to name three character traits to describe her, what would they be? Is she a nice, innocent girl? Doesnt seem like it from this passage. From the brief paragraph, we can assume that shes apparently sneaky, mean, and deceptive. Determine the Character Type of Your Protagonist You will receive clues about personality through a characters words, actions, reactions, feelings, movements, thoughts, and mannerisms. Even a characters opinions can help you learn more about the individual, and you may discover that the person fits one of these stock character types: Flat character. A flat character has one or two personality traits that dont change. The flat character can play a major or a minor role.Round character. A round character has many complex traits; those traits develop and change in a story. A round character seems more real than a flat character because real people are complex.Stock or stereotype character. Stock characters are stereotypes, such as hot-tempered redheads, stingy businessmen, and absent-minded professors. They are often found in genre fiction (romance novels and mysteries, for example), and are usually flat characters. They are often used as a tool to move a plot forward.Static character. A static character never changes. A loud, obnoxious background character who remains the same throughout the story is static. A boring character who is never changed by events is also static.Dynamic character. Unlike a static character, a dynamic character does change and grow as the story unfolds. Dynamic characters respond to events and experience changes in attitude or outlook. The character might go through a transformation during the course of the storyline, and grow as a result of actions that took place. Define Your Characters Role in the Work Youre Analyzing When you write a character analysis, you must define that characters role. Identifying the character type and personality traits can help you better understand what the larger role of the character is within the story.  The character either plays a major role, as a central element to the story, or a minor role to support the major characters in the story. Protagonist. The protagonist of a story is another name for the main character. The plot revolves around the protagonist. There may even be more than one main character. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn is the protagonist.In Little Red Riding Hood, the little girl is the protagonist. Antagonist. The antagonist is the character who represents a challenge or an obstacle to the protagonist in a story. In some stories, the antagonist is not a person but rather a larger entity or force that must be dealt with. In Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf is the antagonist.In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, society is the antagonist. Society, with its unfair laws and rules, represents the obstacle to Hucks development as a person. Foil. A foil is a character who provides contrast to the main character (protagonist), in order to emphasize the main characters traits. In A Christmas Carol, the kind nephew, Fred, is the foil to nasty Ebenezer Scrooge. Show Your Characters Development (Growth and Change) When you are asked to write a character analysis, you will be expected to explain how a character changes and grows. Most major characters go through some kind of significant growth  as a story unfolds, often a direct result of dealing with some sort of conflict. Notice, as you read, which main characters grow stronger, fall apart, develop new relationships, or discover new aspects of themselves. Make note of scenes in which character changes become apparent or the characters opinions on a topic change. Clues include phrases such as she suddenly realized that... or for the first time, he... Understanding the journey of your character and how it relates to the story as a whole can help you better understand that characters motives and better represent the person in your overall analysis. Article edited  by  Stacy Jagodowski

Saturday, October 19, 2019

LIT 201 Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

LIT 201 Final - Essay Example The paper mainly seek to explore the literary works of both Oedipus Tyrannous and Don Quixote utilizes irony is a vital aspect of literary brilliance Irony as a theme is a vital tool in any literature or piece of work. It literally means using words in a way to give out a meaning that differs from what the same words are actually supposed to mean in any normal grammar set up. It provides a contrast between the form and truth in the meaning of the words used (Bandera, 89). In our set up for the classic works of Oedipus and Don Quixote it means the expression of a character’s self by employing a language that usually depicts the reverse, archetypally for either humorous or unequivocal impact. It is among many literature equipment used to make the plot more interesting and keep the devoted audience involved in the literature or piece of work. It is usually applicable in both social and personal aspects of a literature piece of work (Bandera, 77). In our two main classic works of Oedipus and Don Quixote irony is the predominant theme utilized throughout the plot of the piece of work. The two characters display innumerable ironies in both the personal and the social concepts. In Oedipus’ work there is a presentation of man’s futile attempt to act against God, a supernatural being. In Don Quixote’s case, irony is based on the literal set point of view where the character literally believed in the words from his book and even tries to live it with regard to its main ideas of heroism and gallantry. A close comparison of the literature works of Oedipus Tyrannous and Don Quixote gives the depiction of irony, dramatic and situational, depicted in two literally unique set ups to fully utilize irony as an aspect of literature brilliance. The two characters display dramatic and situational types of irony. Dramatic in the sense that the characters are unaware of the actual situation as implicated yet the audience that is

Friday, October 18, 2019

Financial and economic comparison between Qatar and the United kingdom Research Paper

Financial and economic comparison between Qatar and the United kingdom - Research Paper Example 97,583,513,617 2,183,862,761,501 128,738,144,613 2,155,836,882,035 2010 127,322,413,671 2,256,260,000,000 113,782,317,847 2,194,805,447,471 2011 172,981,588,421 2,445,408,064,516 151,207,682,186 2,383,438,659,372 Table 1 – Comparison of Real GDP and Nominal GDP between Qatar and the UK Table 1 represents a comparison of nominal and real GDP between Qatar and the UK for the years 2000 to 2011. The nominal GDP was used in the calculation of real GDP along with the GDP Deflator. (World Bank 2013a; World Bank 2013b). According to Kumaranayake (2000) as general price level increases price and cost information needs to be adjusted when making comparisons between different years. The formula used in the calculation of real GDP is stated as follows: Real GDP = (Nominal GDP/(GDP Deflator + 100)) * 100 The Nominal GDP represents the GDP at current market price. It does not take into consideration the fact that inflation has impacted purchasing power in the different countries. In order to account for that the Nominal GDP is divided by the (GDP deflator + 100) and then multiplied by 100. Therefore, if the annual GDP deflator is 3% and the Nominal GDP is US$1,000,000 then it simply means that the purchasing power in the economy has been reduced by 3% to 97%. By dividing the Nominal GDP by 103 and multiplying by 100, the Real GDP at base year prices are calculated for the period. Table 2 shows the GDP deflator for Qatar and the UK which were used in the calculation of Real GDP. GDP Deflator/Inflation rate Year Qatar UK 2000 Â   0.7 2001 -4.4 1.6 2002 3.1 2.3 2003 17.4 2.5 2004 11.4 2.6 2005 26.3 2.4 2006 18.5 2.9 2007 11.4 2.2 2008 22.8 3 2009 -24.2 1.3 2010 11.9 2.8 2011 14.4 2.6 Table 2 – GDP Deflator for Qatar and UK 2000 to 2011 The GDP deflator for Qatar is greater than that for the UK. While Qatar shows double digits for all years except 2001 and 2002 with 2001 being negative the UK had single digits for all the years. The GDP deflator for Qatar ranged from -24.2 for 2010 to 26.3 for 2005. The lowest rate was 3.1% in 2002. The UK on the other hand ranged from 0.7% for 2000 and 2.8 in 2010. The differences in their corresponding GDP deflators explain the differences between the Nominal and Real GDP for both countries with Qatar showing greater differences than the UK. Part (b) The graph in Figure 1 shows the trends in nominal and real GDP for Qatar and the UK for the period 2000 to 2011. Figure 1 – Graph of Trends in Real and Nominal GDP Figure 1 shows the trends in both Nominal and Real GDP for the years 2000 to 2011. The graph shows mainly moderate increases in both variables for Qatar except between 2008 and 2009 when there was a decline in the Nominal GDP and from 2009 to 2010 when there was a decline the real GDP. The reason is that in 2009 the GDP deflator was a negative 24% and so the Real GDP was higher. The UK experienced a slight decline in both variables between 2000 and 2001. However, there was a steep increase b etween 2001 and 2004. The increase was moderate between 2004 and 2006 with a steep rise between 2006 and 2007. However between 2007 and

Introduce and critique Post-Modernism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Introduce and critique Post-Modernism - Essay Example Most of the postmodernists assume that â€Å"reality is a social construct†. It means that right after communicating with one another; the members of a given society can somehow come up with their own collective ideas and convince more people to believe them until such point that it becomes part of their cultural beliefs. For this reason, the postmodernists assume that there is really â€Å"no absolute truth† about anything in this world and that the truth that most people believe in is actually â€Å"relative to the community† they live in . In other words, postmodernists simply believe that anything that people believe in this world can either be destroyed or broken down into pieces. The postmodernists are also known for their inability to accept the idea that the truth is an end-result of rational thinking nor is a creation or discovery made out of using scientific method. In fact, the phenomenon behind postmodernism accepts the idea that it is possible to fra cture or break down what people used to believe is real during the modernism era into something that is beyond what people during the modernism period would not even think of possible. For example, given that everything in this world is subject to change, one can easily notice that the songs we hear changes from the â€Å"classic rock† into a â€Å"modern rock†. In the case of postmodern architects, this group of professionals is after exploring the need to build buildings using different â€Å"styles, form, and texture†. One can actually say that postmodernism is all about liberating.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Reflective paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Reflective paper - Essay Example My view on organizational atmosphere of participation has also changed and I now see them as supportive and open to participate in community development. The concept of community has nurtured self determination and community mobilization in me. This has enabled me to gain influence and control and partners and a player in community action and decision making. By participating in community development, one can weigh on the costs involved and know if the activity is viable. With the knowledge of cost in mind, one can use it in the development of appropriate incentives. The community concept has sharpened my relation skills and I can now easily interact with members of the community which has made me have a broader knowledge of my environment. As a facilitator, I have been in a position to guide and model dialogue processes proving information when needed and intervene in case of breakdown in the process of communication. Besides, I have learnt not to be neutral and engage myself fully in processes of dialogue. Such facilitation catalyzes community participation and engagement (Butcher et.al, pp58) The community development and community practices have always been at the core of social work concept in towns. The reasons why community in social work is important are: community work aims at uniting people who were previously not organized into coalitions and effective groups that work as a group with an aim of pursuing a common social agenda, secondly, community work aims at strengthening traditional neighborhood, kinship and friendship ties and developing new structures in the society which are important for the daily operation of a society and lastly, community based activities provides the best structure that is efficient and cost effective for the service of the poor (Butcher et al, 1994) Community is very crucial in social work because the community is their objective. Social work

Marketing Group Report (My part) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Group Report (My part) - Essay Example Serco also provides other services such as capital management, enterprise management and transportation. It is further characterized by function. Function of services offered by Serco belongs to being a leading provider of professional, technology and management services to the federal government. It has provided services to every branch of the US. military, numerous federal civilian agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community. (Serco) Marketing mix is also concerned with product appearance, and since Serco provides services, its appearance is the kind of service it provides to customers. By this, Serco’s appearance is through its services in managing people, processes, technology and assets. Another component of marketing mix is price. Serco competes in bidding process and prices are determined by bids. Generally, in a bidding process, awards are given to lowest bidder, meaning Serco has maintained a competitive price as it has maintained government contracts. Other options in pricing are partnership and joint ventures which Serco has entered into with government agencies and private clienteles. Marketing mix also considers the place or channels of distribution and market coverage. In this, Serco Inc. is an international organization providing services worldwide. It is listed as top 100 FTSE international service company. Promotion is another aspect of marketing mix that includes personal selling, advertising, public relations and media. There is very little information gathered about promotion except that it is publicly listed in the stock exchange. As a prominent figure in the exchange, its operation and financial performances are constantly being watched by stockholders who are always interested in investment returns. Marketing strategies of the company are first, to build a balanced portfolio by spreading across markets, to reduce the company’s exposure to risks

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Reflective paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Reflective paper - Essay Example My view on organizational atmosphere of participation has also changed and I now see them as supportive and open to participate in community development. The concept of community has nurtured self determination and community mobilization in me. This has enabled me to gain influence and control and partners and a player in community action and decision making. By participating in community development, one can weigh on the costs involved and know if the activity is viable. With the knowledge of cost in mind, one can use it in the development of appropriate incentives. The community concept has sharpened my relation skills and I can now easily interact with members of the community which has made me have a broader knowledge of my environment. As a facilitator, I have been in a position to guide and model dialogue processes proving information when needed and intervene in case of breakdown in the process of communication. Besides, I have learnt not to be neutral and engage myself fully in processes of dialogue. Such facilitation catalyzes community participation and engagement (Butcher et.al, pp58) The community development and community practices have always been at the core of social work concept in towns. The reasons why community in social work is important are: community work aims at uniting people who were previously not organized into coalitions and effective groups that work as a group with an aim of pursuing a common social agenda, secondly, community work aims at strengthening traditional neighborhood, kinship and friendship ties and developing new structures in the society which are important for the daily operation of a society and lastly, community based activities provides the best structure that is efficient and cost effective for the service of the poor (Butcher et al, 1994) Community is very crucial in social work because the community is their objective. Social work

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Justice - Essay Example Even though many people do not agree with how the government upholds justice, the government is still there to make sure that justice is kept. In his Civil Disobedience essay, Henry David Thoreau points out how pointless the government is. It is useless and the only reason that it has power is because it is treated strong, and not because they have the most legal point of view. Thoreau goes on to say that the government likes to do what is easiest instead of what is right; as such, Thoreau believes that if what the government is unjust, the people that should be doing the right thing should not follow the whims of the government. â€Å"A person is not obligated to devote his life to eliminating evils from the world, but he is obligated not to participate in such evils (Thoreau).† The purpose of this essay was to make it known that the government gets its power from us and that it does with that power whatever it decides to, even if it may not always be right. Thoreau made a fe w good points, but his actions in regard to how he felt about the government and its keeping of justice only showed why the government existed in the first place. In response to the approval of slavery, Thoreau protested by not paying his taxes and ended up spending a night in jail. While protesting may have seemed like a good idea at the time, all he proved was that the government was keeping justice as it should by punishing criminals refusing to obey the law. The government may not always be fair, and they may have their own agenda, but they still try to make sure that people are punished properly. On the other hand, Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, wrote about the purpose of his own protest against the government. Upset by the racial segregation in the United States, King led a nonviolent protest. However, he was arrested, being told that protesting against racial segregation should be saved for the courtroom and not for the streets. King states that â€Å"one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws (King).† In this way, the government did act in an unjust way, punishing somebody that was not doing anything bad or against the law. Legally, King was allowed to have a peaceful protest and the police did not have the right to arrest him. They wanted to put an end to something that was making them look bad, even if it was true. All the same, the government was acting in a way that they thought was proper to avoid causing more problems between King and his enemies. John Rawls took a different view on justice and civil disobedience. He believed that everybody should be allowed to â€Å"have an equal right to the most extensive scheme of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar scheme of liberties for others (Rawls).† Rawls felt that if everyone had the same liberties, there would be no need for injustice or civil disobedience. This could make things easier for the government, but it would not give people the chance to exercise their right to protest. Rawls’ views continued to state that everything should be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution would be the best for those least favored. These ideas would allow the government to completely avoid any trouble that might make them look bad by not letting people have all of their freedom. At the same time, the government is doing what it can to make sure that people do not act in ways that they should not. On the other side of the argument, Cicero, in The Defense

Monday, October 14, 2019

Strategy of Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example for Free

Strategy of Corporate Social Responsibility Essay We all know that profit an enterprise earns is not only made by itself, but also by a result of the interaction between consumers, politics and the society environment of the enterprise being at. If an enterprise wants to operate in the long run, it needs to be concerned about the problem of its surrounding environment. Also, only a corporation which can shoulder responsibilities of society and obey the rule of ethic deserves to obtain support from the society. In this essay, I am going to discuss about whether if the strategy of Corporate Social Responsibility is relevant. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), like ethics, is easy to understand: it means distinguish right from wrong, and doing right. It means being a good corporate citizen. The formal definition of social responsibility is management’s obligation to make choices and take actions that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society as well as the organization (Szwajkowski, 1986: Davis et al., 1979). CSR is a kind of philosophic conception, it does not have tangible executive criteria and rules. A lack of the spirit of CSR, we cannot find the meaning and reputation of why this enterprise exists. Companies and people need profounder meaning of exist. Nowadays, CSR strategy is overall acceptable by the managers of every enterprise. However, there are numerous of people have been arguing about their different beliefs, many of the experts debate about CSR. Milton Friedman and others have argued that a corporations purpose is to maximize returns to its shareholders, and that since (in their view), only people can have social responsibilities, corporations are only responsible to their shareholders and not to society as a whole. Milton Friedman have pointed out this in his book, Capitalism and Freedom: There is one and only one social responsibility of business to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud (Friedman, 1962). Most of the managers and laws supported this concept in the early days. â€Å"Only people can h ave responsibilities. A corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial responsibilities, but ‘business’ as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities, even in this vague sense†. (Friedman, 1970) In addition, in the 1996 speech of Roger Kerr, the argument that â€Å"the activities of private business are socially beneficial so long as they are  conducted under the rule of law and within a framework of open competition. When subjected to those disciplines, business by and large promotes its interests in a way that promotes the interests of the whole community, and, moreover, promotes the community interest more efficiently and reliably than any other economic arrangement.†(Kerr, 1996) If the corporate business take too much responsibility of society, then Basically, the function of an enterprise organisation is to create profit, and government should solve the problem of society by the taxes it imposes. I wonder if the more responsibility the enterprises take, then there are no much differences between an enterprise and government, moreover the enterprise will end up being a monopolizing organisation. On the other hand, R J Hubbard presents a different point of view from Milton Friedman and Roger Kerr. â€Å"shareholders aren’t the only group of people that have a stake in the success of a company and that other stakeholders are employees, customers, suppliers.†(Hubbard,1996) And â€Å"business owners and business managers should try and reconcile the interests of the various stakeholders.† (Hubbard,1996) â€Å"as shareholders in a company one gets certain privileges from society as delivered through government.† â€Å"limited liability, the ability to earn a dollar over and above that of the average wage or salary earner and a host of other benefits.† Thus, â€Å"one should not only receive these privileges but also give back to the society that has made them available.†(Hubbard, 1996) The social responsibility of business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given point in time. (Carroll, 1979) To sum up, I consider Corporate Social Responsibility to be a sensible strategy. But we should not solely put emphasis on CSR without considering business’s goal of maximizing profit. CSR will be desirable if corporate increase its profit though such conduct and society as a whole is the beneficiary. Nevertheless, how much responsibility should a corporate burden with? This is a constantly difficult problem to grasp. To a corporate, it should evaluate capacity itself and balance the benefits inner and outer before taking certain responsibilities. Word count : 769 Reference List Friedman, M. (2002) Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Hubbard, R J. (1996)The business of business is not just business Samson, D., Daft, R L. (2003)Management South Melbourne, Victoria

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Information Systems In Business Development

Information Systems In Business Development The implementation of the information system in the development of the business is most necessary now days. For most business, there are varieties of requirements for information. In every organization different level of management need different type of information for development of business. For example, senior management needs information to help with their business planning. Middle management needs more detailed information to monitor and control business activity. The employees at lower management need information to help them to perform their duties. In this global world information systems are playing important role in any organizations to meet their strategic goals. For the development of the business it very important to have good information system in each department of organization such as accounting, finance, marketing and human resource department to perform business operations. In addition, the technical terms of information system refers to the interaction between alg orithmic process and the technology(Brown, 1991). The meaning of the information system is not just the technology used by organization, but also it refers the way in which organization uses the technology for their business process. Information system is sets of interrelated component that collect process and store information to companys management in decision making. Companies that are using up to date information system to evaluate internal and external information are gaining advantage over the firm. For example, a sophisticated information system helps companies to monitor employees, to keep manager and employee to coordinates activities among divisions. Furthermore good information system provides the facilities of direct communication between firm and suppliers, manufacturers, dealers and marketers. Using Information system together, they can create a valuable chain in organization. An information system enables companies to store, retrieve and control valuable information. In upcoming years, the use of good information system in organization will be no longer an option. It will be compulsory in development and success of business. There are various kind of information are available, which can be implement in organization for the development of the business. The main kinds of information system use in businesses are Executive support system (ESS), Management Information system (MIS), Decision support system (DSS), Knowledge Management System (KMS), Transaction processing system (TPS) and Office Automations System (OAS). The different level of management in organization needs different level of information system. The following diagram shows the relation of the information system with the different level of the organization. The main kinds of information system, the implementation of that can be helpful in development of businesses are described as follow. Executive Support System (ESS) The Executive support system helps to senior management to decide business strategic plan and to make decision based on strategy. ESS helps to gather and analyses the internal and external information used in businesses. ESS is a like instrumental panel in air craft cockpit which is showing the status of all the key business activities to senior management team of organization (Brown, 1991). ESS typically involves lots of data analysis and modeling tools to help in strategic decision making. In addition, some ESS provides the analysis tool that predicts a series of performance outcomes overtime using input data. This type of ESS is useful to executive staff, it provides possible outcomes and quick reference to statistics and numbers needed for decision-making .Now days there are software wanders who offer pre design Executives support system packages suitable to one particular organization. They also provide the facilities to customize the Executive support system to meet needs of pa rticular organization. The solid example of the company which is using computer based ESS is Woolworths. Woolworths is second largest retailer of Australia. Company has spent $US11billion and select JDA softwares Arthurs enterprise suite which is including performance analysis tool and information manager databases to support its Big W department chain.(ARIZ ,2001). Management Information System (MIS) A management information system is a system or process that provides the information necessary to manage organization effectively. MIS is planned system of collecting; processing and storing Management information system is mainly concern with the internal source of information in organization. Management information system analyzes data captured from transaction processing system and creates reports based for decision making. The report generate by MIS will be used by middle management and operational supervisor.MIS is very useful to generate reports for example, financial statements , inventory status report, performance report for routine or non routine processes. It is very important to manage the flow of information in organization for the future development of the business. The Management information system helps to big organization to manage the information interchanging between different departments such as store and distribution center. For example Coles super market is one of the biggest retailers in Australia. Coles has recently implemented new version of the computer based information management system named LETTUS to provide significant inventory management benefit to store and suppliers. The Following Diagram illustrating how Coles manage information flow between organizations. Decision Support System (DIS) Decision Support Systems (DIS) are specifically design to help management for decision making in situation where there is uncertainty about possible outcomes of those decision. It is important to implement decision support system in business because it supports business and organizational decision making activities. The properly designed decision support system is an interactive software based system intended to help decision maker to compile useful information from raw data (smith, 2001). Decision support system helps to enhance the abilities of decision maker or group of decision maker to make decision in favor of companys development. Furthermore, Decision support systems are call of computerized information system that supports decision making activities. The decision support system can be classified in to five different types which are: Communication driven DSS Data driven DSS Document driven DSS Knowledge driven DSS Model driven DSS The above different types of decision support system are used to make decision based on different situation. The implementation of Decision support system in business helps to make effective decision in order to make business development. Knowledge Management System (KMS) Knowledge Management system helps businesses to create and share information. This types of system used in organization where employee creates knowledge and expertise which can then be shared by other people in organization to create commercial opportunities. The examples of the knowledge management systems are Firms of Lawyers associated with organization, Accountants and management consultants Knowledge system generally built around which allows efficient categorization and distributions of knowledge. Knowledge Management system enables employee to have ready access of organizations documents based of fact. Now days, it not an optional to use knowledge management System for an organization whether it is public or private big or small. Knowledge management system provides aid to organization to creating sharing and processing knowledge. Transaction Processing System (TPS) Transaction processing system used to process routine transaction efficiently and accurately. One organization may have more than one transaction processing systems for example billing system to print invoice for customer, payroll and text calculation system, raw material requirements calculations system, Stock control system, Transaction processing system helps to manage data that must be in consistent state. In addition, the daily transaction done by the Transaction processing system can help to upper level management to make decision for the future business. For example, by analyzing customer transaction data management can identify the customers purchasing behaviors. TPS also help to maintain relationship with customers based on transaction. There are many super markets which are using transaction processing system to maintain their daily transaction. Coles Supermarket is a very good example which is using fully computer base transaction processing system. TPS used by Coles store their day to day transaction in central data base. Higher level management determines this stored data to identify customer value and maintain relationship with customer to expand the business. Office Automation System (AOS) Office automation systems are systems that help to improve the productivity of employee who are responsible to process data and information. There are many office automation system exist in market which can be easily implement in organization to improve the productivities of employee. The examples of the well know office automation system are Microsoft office, Microsoft works and more.OAS helps in optimizing or automating existing office procedure. Most of companies are using office automation system to create data sheet, reports, and statements. The well known Office automation system used by most of organizations is Microsoft Package including (MS Office, PowerPoint, and Excel.) In nutshell, now days the revolutionary change in the area of information technology has changed the way of business in each industries. Complete computer based information systems provides the support to organization to maintain internal and external source of information. In addition, to over come cut throat competition to it very important for each organization either to implement computer based information system or to adopt existing computer based information system package. The use of information system gives advantage to each level of management in organization to plan strategy and decision making. The use of Computer based information system will not be optional anymore in future. It will be compulsory for organization to implement information system for business development

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Sci-fI Films Essay -- essays research papers

In this essay I am going to discuss about the topic: â€Å"Science fiction often plays off the real against the artificial, either in the form of humans versus non-human (androids, cyborgs, synthetics), or the world versus the non-world (cyberspace, inner-space, intentional space)†. I have chosen the films â€Å"The Matrix† and â€Å"Bicentennial Man† An explosion in information access and exchange is fueling the Information Superhighway that was created as a result of the computer revolution. If technology has truly become a god, then cyberspace is definitely its bible. Its scope is endless; its breadth enormous. Although the foundation of cyberspace, the computer, definitely serves to dehumanize culture, the Information Superhighway itself does not. If anything, cyberspace is re-humanizing the computer revolution. The World Wide Web, through pictures and graphics, has added personality and more personal contact to a technology that for years was ‘just the facts.’ Although the statement might be made that this is a pseudo-rehumanization that masks true human characteristics with digital ones, this is at least a step in the right direction. Something that removes the human qualities or attributes from culture can be said to dehumanize it. This technology destroys our view of truth and meaning. The basic presupposition of the Information Superhighway is that it contains information on any subject and can answer any question. It causes people to search places other than God for direction, truth, and meaning. Involvement with the technology serves to replace our involvement with reality. There is a tendency for people to start thinking of themselves and others in terms of their online personalities. Many people develop a whole other life on-line and some even end up being unable to separate their on-line identity from their real one. Recent movies such as The Matrix and Bicentennial Man serve to further blur this already fuzzy line. Bicentennial Man, directed by Chris Columbus (US, 1999), is based on a story Isaac Asimov wrote in 1975 and like many of his stories, it deals with the enigma of a machine with the intelligence of a man, but without the rights or the feelings. As we might expect the film presents Asimov's concept of the intelligent robot, a concept that, like Asimov himself, pre-dates the modern world of personal computers, video games, the Internet, 'e... ...housand years ago. If the portrayal of intelligent machines in films teaches us anything, it is that it is fortunate that such machines do not yet exist. It is fortunate that is, for the machines, because all the evidence would indicate that we are not yet ready to treat them as fellow persons. Fortunate too for us perhaps, because when they became smart enough to mount a successful rebellion they might make us pay for their oppression (Mitchell 2003). Reference: 1. Edwards, D A, ‘The Matrix’, The Matrix: An Ideological Analysis, viewed 5 June 2005, http://fiffdimension.tripod.com/matrix.htm1. 2. Menor F 2000, The Matrix(1999), viewed 7 June 2005, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/ 3. Mitchell, D 2003, What s it like to be a Robot?, viewed 7 June 2005, http://www.zenonic.demon.co.uk/zenorobot.htm 4. Setzer V W 2002, AI - Artificial Intelligence or Automated Imbecility, viewed 7 June 2005, http://www.transintelligence.org/articles/Artificial%20Intelligence.htm 5. The Matrix 1999, motion picture, Prod. Joel Silver. Dir. The Wachowski Brothers. Perf. Laurence Fishburne, and Keanu Reeves 6. www.duke.edu/~djs12/Lit%20Theory/ Lit%20Theory%20-%20The%20Matrix.doc

Friday, October 11, 2019

ASOS Case Study Essay

ADVERTISING & DIGITAL MARKETING 1. Describe how ASOS applies the marketing mix online? With the help of a marketing mix, the company can meet its marketing objectives. There are seven points which are popularly known as the 7P’s, they are product, place, price, promotion, people, process and physical evidence. Product- ASOS uses an online platform to sell fashion. ASOS has a wide range of clothing from shoes, coats, accessories, swimwear, nightwear and many more. Under ASOS wide range of famous brands are available like Nike, Adidas, Calvin Klein etc. except this ASOS sells brands at competitive rates with other online sites. It has about 50,000 products available and is widening its range everyday Price ASOS believes in reasonable pricing strategy, but many of their products are expensive especially the high end brands. Most of the products sold are those worn by celebrities that are sold at cheaper rates than other brands. The best thing about ASOS is that they have sales now and then, and most of the products go on 50% sale. ASOS doesn’t have free delivery service which could be one negative impact. Place ASOS only uses an online platform to sell their products, and operates totally via the internet. So customers don’t have to visit any stores, they just need to log in to the website- select the products- add them to basket- and pay. ASOS has a warehouse where they keep the stock and when ordered by customers, it delivers from there. They have a huge warehouse of 32,500 square meters. They have a head office which is located at: Greater London House Hampstead Road London NW1 7FB UK Promotion ASOS promotes itself by giving out discount codes. They are always active in emailing their registered customers about the updates fashion. Once the customer has purchased a product, they will start receiving the newsletter and booklets about the website. As they are on internet they promote it by posting videos of catwalks, fashion shows and more. They even promote themselves on social networking sites as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. People People are the employees that work for the business, without them it’s impossible to handle such a huge business. These employees are highly trained and professional in their work. In ASOS the customer service is bit different than what is provided in the retail stores. These people are highly skilled in the IT sector, so they are updated with the trends. Some of the BOD who are in charge of ASOS are Chairman-Lord Waheed Alli, Chief Executive- Nick Robertson, and Non- Executive Director- Karen Jones. Process Shopping experiences at ASOS are totally different from any other high street store. Customers are not able to try the product but they can only see it through images. The product they want to buy, will then be passed on into the basket and then it can be purchased through PayPal, credit card. The delivery will be expected in 4-5 working days. Physical Evidence As mentioned before ASOS operates totally from an online platform, so it does not have any physical evidence. The physical evidence is the receipt or the printouts of the products they have purchased. The official website of ASOS is http://www.asos.com/. At ASOS they regularly update their website with new products and promotions. 2. Summaries the integrated communications strategy used by ASOS? ASOS is now number two retailer in UK. They are among the hugest retail online fashion store. Their recent activity was to open an e-tailing shop inside Facebook, and it was launched on 27th January 2011. ASOS is always working hard to change the market trend. Customers can now track their deliveries. Customers  can shortlist their products, choose color. ASOS also included catwalk features for women wear. So repeatedly ASOS is trying its best to communicate with their customers on an integrated level ASOS used various communications methods. a. They have increased the pages of their magazine to 116. The first three issues of magazine generated more than 1.5 million pounds in sales and 9% was the average response rate. After that magazine on menswear was also launches in May 2008, which talked about style, trends, entertainment and good fashion sense. b. ASOS always is in contact with their 1.8 million customers. The newsletter helped in sales by 137% in 2001 c. In 2006, there was almost 2236 fashion editorial content about asos.com and its products , which also helped the sales go up by 59% d. ASOS acts as a best friend would to its customers. This means customers spread the word to other people. Most of its customers feel that they have a personal relationship with ASOS. This type of word of mouth has helped the sales go up and helped building loyalty. It was seen that 15% of customers visited the site on recommendation of friends. e. In the last survey by asos.com 73% of customers stated that they spread the word to th eir friends. ASOS has a team of 30 customer service advisors. This team responds to emails, newsletters and updates the social networking site and regularly communicates with its customers. To connect with customers ASOS is always active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and they even have their own magazine app for iPhones. To get more engaged, they launched the F-store in 2011. Now they have more than 1.7 million likes on Facebook, more than 325k followers on twitter and more than 440k followers on Google+. 3. What risks do you think managing as ASOS expands overseas? ASOS has to continuously change its market segment in such a changeable industry. People nowadays are unpredictable and their fashion sense changes regularly. Building brand loyalty in such changeable markets is very difficult, and building loyalty is the key to success for ASOS. The main question here is how ASOS will create a stronger connection with its customers in a difficult issues? Since ASOS doesn’t have any physical evidence, for e.g. A Store, a shopping bag etc. There are a number of risks that come hand in hand with  the benefits of expansion: 1. Personalized content will increase to keep in mind the different locations, their cultures, climates and buying habits 2. Things as trial and returns are also more complicated when businesses expand worldwide 3. Communicating with a personal effect to make each customer feel unique and appreciated takes a lot of effort and when a platform becomes worldwide there is a huge mix of customers that could become loyal, to deal with each one on its own level is also a challenge 4. Delivery channels also have to broaden, new ones also need to be created, new management for each part needs to be recruited etc. 5. Quality control needs to be maintained when a company goes into mass production If we talk about popularity ASOS is less well known outside Europe. GAP and ZARA are the main competitors of ASOS as they also have online shopping platform, and they are well recognized all over the world in compare to ASOS. So for ASOS to be popular all around the world, it has to target new segments and build the loyalty around the world. ASOS is starting to gain popularity in Australia and USA as they opened their new offices there. With further expansion of ASOS, they should start to consider making more warehouses around the world. Most of their stuff is made in China, Eastern Europe or many other low cost countries, and are then shipped to the UK. They could be more active on social networking sites, post videos on You-Tube in different languages, so people can get engaged to them. Social networking can be a problem at the start. Except this, CRM can be a major problem as well. ASOS can enhance Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for some promotional engines like interest graph. Customerâ€℠¢s interest can be measured through Business Intelligence Data collected online. As mentioned before the main problem would be to create loyalty to the customers, so another way to enhance CRM is to give the customers loyalty program. As ASOS target markets are same in UK and some other countries, if ASOS has to go worldwide, it has to change their target audience from youth to everyone, to attract all demographic segments. ASOS would face many competitors around the globe, there would be many fashion websites similar to ASOS. 4. Identify the key elements of ASOS’s strategic marketing plan? Situational Analysis- ASOS targets customers who are young and know the sense of fashion, the latest trend. And except this they enjoy shopping online more than going to the actual shop, standing in the queue. To shop online ASOS is providing user friendly interface on their mobile devices also. SWOT Analysis- Strength: ASOS has variety of products from shoe wear to accessories. People don’t need to go out and shop and waste their time, they can easily call for products online according to their choices. Weakness: This can be weakness too, if some people wants to go out to shop and see the products, feel them or try them, they can’t as they don’t have any physical evidence. ASOS should work hard to make their product recognized, by putting adverts or small articles in magazine about ASOS. Opportunity: To be more active on Facebook, as the people worldwide may not know ASOS that much, but through social networking to be in contact with them. Updating their fashion on Facebook page or group. Answering their problems and dealing with their complaints. Threat: ASOS has many rivalries, such as GAP, ZARA and H&M and many more who are also dealing online fashion store. As mentioned before there are no physical evidence on ASOS where people could go and try clothes, or exchange or take refunds. Competitor- ASOS has many competitors who want to become like it, but they can’t. The top most competitor of ASOS are GAP and ZARA, as they both also targets the same target markets and now they even started the online shopping platform. And they both are active on the social networking websites too. The strategy of ASOS covers a lot of area from designers, marketing to customer services. Customer loyalty is their main key element. They consider customer as their king. But this is not the end. By being active on social networking and internet will not help ASOS that much. ASOS always kept design in their mind as the priority. So their designer kept this in the mind as ASOS  targets young people and youth, so they want updated fashion and new trends every time. In order to meet this need ASOS became partners with London College of Fashion and promised to give internships to the 2nd year and 3rd year students. Even the corporate culture helped ASOS in many ways, as trading director said à ¢â‚¬Å"our approach is simple, we work hard and we do it†. Marketing and customer service are other point which as important as others. They believe in speedy, reliable and convenient deliveries. There is no minimum order amount, so in this way customer can start building trust. So customer can order and start building loyalty. ASOS emails their customers so that they can track their delivery. Return and refund policy is also there. In 2012 ASOS also started their international office in Sydney and New York to give better customer services. They even give 10% discount to students to promote their brand between youth. ASOS have tailored their website with different languages. They have even introduced cat-walks and ramp shows on the website to get engaged with the consumers. 300 videos are been uploaded every day. Many IT people are working hard to make ASOS #1 website. They are using many web-trends analytics and visitor data marketing, which helps them to analyze the best campaign. Beside this, the business intelligence data is also one important key element of ASOS. They use web based application to track and to sa ve the database of their customers. Except all this they even used warehouse management system to read the code. Apart from this, ASOS’s 2nd market strategy is that one can sell their old clothes, which will be bought by ASOS and they will pay you back and from that money you can shop at ASOS. If you see the best technology, ASOS is the best example. The high technologies used and IT people working under ASOS are highly skilled. Except this customer relationship is their key element and the most important part of ASOS. Bibliography College, E. (2011, December 18th). http://press.emerson.edu/imc/2011/12/18/asos-is-now-as-seen-on-facebook/#more-1407. Retrieved from http://press.emerson.edu/: http://press.emerson.edu/imc/2011/12/18/asos-is-now-as-seen-on-facebook/#more

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Mid Term Paper

All these outcomes are from â€Å"Suture† as Kaka Silverman mentioned in her chapter â€Å"Suture is the name even to the procedures by means of which cinematic text confer subjectivity upon their viewers†(Silverman) . There are three important tools that Kaka Silverman writing said we will need enable Suture to function are shot relationships, narrative progression and sexual difference, picked to focus on the sexual difference from those three tools . 1 am going to use two examples to explain more and how I see the suture works.They are the episode four from The Dick Van Dyke Show Bank book 6565696 and The Honeymooner season one episode one-TV or not TV the references show in this essay. These two shows are from the sass and the asses. We can easily find out social differences between the two time period, even thou they are only about 10 years apart from each other. First, the story line for The honeymooner is talks about the daily family life of a pair of couple Ralp h and Lisa. In this episode , Lisa want to buy a set of television.Ralph finally get one, but its sharing with his friend also neighbor,De. Even thou Ralph is the one who do not want to get it at first, he starts being the one who always watching the television set. Then De and Ralph start fighting against each other for the time using the television after he they bought the set of the television back. Then, the story that the episode of The Dick Van Dyke show is about Rob the husband accidentally found his wife Laura keep a private bankbook that have 378 dollars.In the 1 sass , 378 is a huge amount of money-That is the reason why Rob talks to his co-worker and discuss about the situation he is going through, and Rob thought Laura going to use those money to get a new projector as his birthday present . Turns out ,Laura only got Rob a sport shirt-Rob become really frustrated and want to know why Laura keep such a big secret from him. Rob asked and found out Laura wants to give him a egger surprise, she is saving to get Rob his dream car. Base on these two shows , I defined that Silverman argument works.Inside the shows , the female characters act as a object that displace negative values on to all the events happened to them. We can see that both Lisa and Laura , the female characters in side the shows are the person or the main reason cause the entire story happen or linked all the events together. Laura keep her own private money for getting Rob his dream car and Lisa wanted to get a new television set at home, but they are not the one that can made the decision. But can see a huge difference in two of the female character's personality.Lisa is the traditional wife that listen to his husband and Laura still depends on his husband but she can make her own decisions.. Women's position in the family have been a lot as the society also change when the time goes by. For example in the Honeymooner, Lisa was fixing the sink and do everything in the house and Rob is the one that can go bowling ,have fun with friends. In the other hand , Laura in The Dick Van Dyke Show is able to go out of the house and do shopping and Rob was the one who fixing the toaster and projector .We can easily notice that there is a change in a female character's role. According to Silverman in her chapter on â€Å"Suture†, the female character signifies the absence of the power ,privilege and they are not in control of their life. The women characters usually provide the mean for representing the deprivation, they also represents castration and attracts the sense of the viewer. (Silverman) We can easily find Out what Silverman mentioned in her chapter. The two female characters are housewife that have no income on their own , they need their husband to pay with most of the stuff they want to buy.For example, Laura need Rob to give her money to buy grocery, and Lisa can not buy herself a television set without Rally's permission. This can also prove what we have said as the time move on , the role and power of the female character have been change. Not only like we mentioned , here we can see that the phallus that Laura have is a lot more than Lisa , we can notice that from how Rob and Ralph treat their wife. Ralph in the show is still the boss of the house ,he is in charge of all the money, but Rob is letting her wife to decide how she use the money.Suture operate often more in masculine, it create an exchange of lenses hat the male viewers and the male audiences. In the videos that we talk about here, audiences will easily sharing the same feeling and point of views with the male characters. As we see that we are going through the stories as the male characters are the narrator of the stories. Especially in the episode of The Honeymooner. Lisa was the one who wants to buy a television set at home in the very beginning but after they got the television ,we barely sees her using the television.Ralph and De were the people that fighting to use the sets through out the entire episode. It shows us a point that Silverman minted out , the female is used as an object that attract viewers senses inside the show. Silverman define suture is a process of sinking in and being pull into the screen. Through our eyes to negotiate to the world, be relax and absent absent to yourself. She mentioned about three important tools to enable suture to function. In the shows if there is anyone of the tool is missing , the suture will not function well because they are all neck to neck rely on each other .Suture is not only about sharing what the character sees , is also sharing the character's feeling, emotions and what they hear by transferring he television screen into your space. If the shot and reverse shot is missing , viewers will never see things from the character's eyes . They can only get the view from the third person, then the viewer can never be stand in a particular point of view that the character define what they see. The s ame result will come out if the narrative is missing. Let represent a big portion of the indispensable part of the system of suture† Silverman said. A production without narrative progression is like a person who walk around normally but without their brain function. Narration connected the entire tortellini as they have the energy to make the character more real, because it can made the viewer understand what the character wants and help them go through all the scenes. We can understand why people always get lost and confused in some shows that the narration is not fixed on one character.The audiences that both of the shows are geared toward are the house wife in the middle class family. As we know that in the 1 sass to the 1 9605, televisions started to become one Of a new breaking technology that spread among the people. Numbers of middle class family that have a television set increased in those years. Shows like The Honeymooner and The Dick Van Dyke Show are targeted to t hose middle class housewife that have nothing to do like the Lisa and Laura, the characters in those shows.The shows want them to be relax and absent of being themselves from their busy housework. In my opinion , I think both of the shows successfully utilize Suture. There are some shots in The Honeymooner make me recall what I normally did when I was watching television. For example, how Ralph and De fight for picking a television show to watch. Also, how we set all the food and drinks in a reachable distances, so that they do not have to walk around during itching the program. Mid term paper This opened up a whole new opportunity for the Europeans as the demands and the trade grew, Ships were departing from towns in Italy and Asia. Christopher Columbus discovered North American in 1492. Columbus sailed east from Europe trying to find a route to the east. He failed to Sal east because of the landmass that was In his way. Columbus believe he sailed to India because of the landmass and called the land the â€Å"West Indies† and the people he found there as â€Å"Indians†. This led to the exploration and overseas expansion to North America from Europe. The expansion grew as the growth of expanding trade grew out of Europe.The discovery of the New World took a rise as the transfer of plants, animal's food demanded the human population to expand. All these things that took place from 1000-1492 changed Europe forever. The demands in trade gave Europeans the opportunity for new forms of employment and ability to travel out of Europe for work. What were the major pr oblems facing American leaders during the asses? What were the main weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation? How did those weaknesses prevent the new government from dealing with the new nation's major problems?How did the Constitution of 1 787 alter the structure and operation of the national government to more effectively deal with those problems? This period was called the â€Å"Critical Periods†, it was a time right after the American Revolution war that took place in 1783. George Washington became the president of this time in 1789. After the war the economic problems just grew. The British navy destroyed most of the American ships and also taking over there flow of trade. The farmers suffered tremendously due to the army steeling from their farms in order to eat.Once the war was over in 781 the exports to Brittany was restricted, British created a law that prohibited trade with the remaining sugar colonies that were in the Caribbean. The articles of confederation wa s a document signed by all 13 original colonies that put together the united States of America. The confederation left most of the power to the state governments. The weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation was that the states could not be forced by the government to obey Its laws. Also It did not have the power to enforce any type of laws.The congress lacked the strong leadership and here was no system of national courts. In order for a change to be made to the with no army to protect the nation. Compare and contrast the northern, middle, and southern colonies by 1760. What experiences were unifying the colonies? How were the British colonies different from Spain's colonies? All three colonies had major differences in there economic activity and their culture. The resentment of the British held them together as they were suffering hard times as Brittany kept on restraining trade, shipping and manufacturing.The Northern Colonies was largely religious. Even though religion was pr acticed more in the Southern Colonies, a lot of people from the north were still very religious. Instead, there main focus was never on gaining wealth. The South was mostly agricultural and a big part of the workers were African American slaves. Tobacco was the main export of the Southern economy. In the Northern Colonies farming was usually Just done to provide Just for the family. The economy of New England, Northern, and colonies was based on the rivers and forests for the most part and the southern colonies were more focused on farming.There are only a people of similarities and differences in the colonies. People beginning a new life for themselves was a similarity both regions had. These regions were founded for many different reason including political freedom, religion, conquest and economy. The British colonies were recruited from farmers, artisans and tradesmen. Immigrants from other countries were welcomed. In the Spanish colonies it contained more soldiers, conquistadore s and mission Aries were the primary source of people. The farmers and traders come at a later date.The government for the English colonies allowed colonist to set up local governments and representative assemblies and to make sure to tax themselves as long as they did not take up arms against the crown. In the Spanish colonies they were governed by the crown appointed governors. The settlers had to obey the laws the king set since the settlers could make laws on their own. The religion for the English was mostly non-Catholics. The puritans in Massachusetts established an autocratic and restrictive religious leadership. For the Spanish colonies the settlers were restricted to Catholics.The people that protested ere persecuted and driven out. The economy on the British colony was rice, tobacco, timber and fish. The economic activities were farming, trading and also fishing. In the Spaniard colonies it was a more largely trading economy. It was controlled by the Spaniards and the boar d of trade. What major challenges did Americans face during the War for Independence, and how did they overcome those challenges and defeat Great Britain? The British always seemed unbeatable. During the previous 100 years, the British had enjoyed victory after victory from countries that were powerful like Spain and France.The odds never looked good for the Americans on this war. Brittany had the best military in the world, their soldiers were well fed, paid good money and also well disciplined. The British military was also very well equipped unlike the American. Funds were so much easily raised by the empire then by the continental congress. A lot of those funds were used to hire Hessian Mercenaries to fight of the Americans. The Americans always had a difficult time being able to raise enough funds to purchase the basic supplies most Indians sided with Brittany who promised them protection over their land.The downfall for the Brittany was that they were fighting a war that was f ar from home. Their supplies that they needed sometimes took months to reach their destination. The British objective for this war to persuade the American to give up their claims for independence. Americans were fighting for their rights, independence and liberty. The soldiers and the leaders were inexperienced but always seemed competent. This war was very expensive, this war gave Americans courage which gave Americans a favor. Describe and explain the roles played by loyalists, African Americans, women, andAmerican Indians during the Revolutionary War. How did the outcome of the war affect them? The principle is this was freedom which motivated the black slaves to join the Patriot or the British army. Proximally 5 percent of the American soldiers in the battle of Bunker Hill were black. They received the same pas as whites although they never held a high rank. The blacks in the war served in integrated units. An estimated 100, 00 African Americans died or were killed during the w ar. They thought the concept of using slaves in the army would mean that the economy would collapse without slavery.Women in the revolutionary war took many different roles. They were nurses, cooks and maids and sometimes even secret soldiers and spies. Many of the women nurses were camp followers, wives, daughters and even mothers of the soldiers. The most common role the women played were cooks, maids, laundresses and water bearers for the army. This was the first time women took a role in the war since these duties were reserved for male soldiers. Women were not allowed to serve in the military but they still served as secret soldiers. They would disguise themselves by cutting their hair and using masculine names to blend in.A lot of the motivation for Joining the army is unknown but most of these women were poor and needed to earn money for their families. They also worked as spies, most of the female spies worked as maids or cooks for the British and had a lot of insight about the movements, military plans and supply shortages and the deliveries. The loyalist supported the British. They were mostly older, educated and wealthier than most Americans. The life for the loyalist was difficult during the war. Loyalist who lived in the area that was being controlled by the patriots lost their businesses and moms.

Intro to Philosophy Essay

The word philosophy itself means â€Å"the love of wisdom. † Philosophy stands for doing the right thing or being a â€Å"just† person. Philosophy also means to see things for what they truly are and not what they may seem to be. A philosopher’s life is a lifelong quest to find the meaning of things beyond their physical appearance. The Ring of Gyges is a ring that a man puts on and becomes invisible. When he does wrong he is not blamed, he gets away with it. Once a man puts this ring on he can be unjust without punishment. In the second book of The Republic Adimantus argued that the unjust life is happier than the unjust. His argument was that a just man can go without now and enjoy heaven in the afterlife while an unjust man will go without nothing and still enjoy the benefits of the after life. Through the eyes of a philosopher there are two worlds, the visible world and the intelligible world. In the visible you can see things and judge them from what you actually see. If a person sees a flower one could judge that it is a beautiful flower. However, the person is judging this flowers beauty on its physical appearance and their claim is merely an opinion rather than true knowledge. In â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave† men are chained inside of a cave. All they can see is the shadows that are formed on the wall in front of them. The people inside of the cave believe that the shadows that are being cast on the wall is reality. When one of the men is unchained and brought to the outside world at first he is blinded by the sun and cannot see clearly. The man can only see the shadows of the objects in front of him, this can be perceived as the images of physical objects. When his eyes adjust he can see more than the shadows, he can see the physical objects themselves. When the man goes back inside of the cave to tell the others what he has seen he again cannot see clearly because his eyes have not adjusted. The others in the cave laugh claiming that the sun has ruined his eyes. For a period of time he cannot decipher what the shadows on the wall are imitating. They don’t believe what the man is telling them. In Plato’s Analogy of the Divided Line the four stages of cognition, which represent the levels of existence, are explained. The first two stages, the good and the sun, represent the visible world. The third and fourth stages, knowledge and opinion, represent the intelligible world. These stages are represented in â€Å"The Allegory of the Cave. † Without the sun’s light we would not be able to see anything at all. The sun allows us to see the flower that we perceived as beautiful. Without the suns light we would not be able to see or perceive any of the physical objects that exist. The sun is perceived as the things that we see. The sun also allows for all living life on earth. Without the sun all life on Earth would diminish. Without the sun we could not perceive anything at all. 1. A person can only understand something once they have reached the highest level of cognitive activity. One must acquire the Form of Good before they can truly understand something. Images and assumptions are not enough support to truly understand the meaning of something. The images the prisoners in the cave saw and the assumptions they made about what they thought they could be are only their opinions. Although they were able to identify the shadows on the wall as what they thought they were it is not enough to truly know what they are, the identities given to the shadows by the prisoners is merely their opinion. In â€Å"Phaedo† Socrates claims that our soul is attached to our body. Our body acts as a vessel only operating because of the soul inside. According to Socrates our body holds us back from perceiving things for what they truly are and therefore a philosopher should desire death because it enables them to continue their quest of reality. 2. Socrates viewed death as a purification of the body that allows us find pure wisdom. Socrates explained how our souls are glued to our bodies and only when they are unfastened by death is a person able to experience wisdom in its purest state. The body distracts us from finding the truth because it requires maintenance. The body allows us to feel pain and emotions like love, fear and hunger. Socrates admits that philosophers are more or less practicing for death and should embrace it when it comes for them. â€Å"And will he who is a true lover of wisdom, and is persuaded in like manner that only in the world below he can worthily enjoy her, still repine death? Will he not depart with joy? Surely, he will, my friend, if he be a true philosopher. For he will have a firm conviction that there only, and nowhere else, he can find wisdom in her purity. † (Phaedo pg. 65) Socrates believes that philosophy is good because it enlightens us to what things actually are rather than what they’re perceived to be. Philosophy is what brings the unchained man outside of the cave. It pushes us to go into the unknown, which we at one point we thought we knew. Once we realize what things actually are we also realize that we had no idea what they really were before. The man in the cave that once thought that the only reality was the shadows on the wall now realizes that the shadows weren’t reality at all. Socrates was formally charged because he didn’t worship the gods recognized by the states and for corrupting the youth of Athens. The informal charges against Socrates was asking questions that were unusual, or outside of the box. â€Å"Socrates is an evil-doer, and a curious person, who searches into things under the earth and in heaven, and he makes the worse appear the better cause; and he teaches the aforesaid doctrines to others† p. 21 Apology The oracle of Delphi told Socrates that he was the wisest man. Socrates refused to accept this statement and went searching for a wiser man than himself. In search of a wiser man than himself, Socrates talked with many people including politicians, poets and craftsmen who claimed to be wise. Socrates found them to not be wise because they thought they knew things that they did not. Socrates proclaimed himself as wise because he knew that he did not know. Socrates exposed the false wisdom of the men who were thought to be wise. Naturally these men held much resistance and hostility towards Socrates. These negative feelings contributed to Socrates’ trial. Socrates refutes Meletus’ statement that he doesn’t believe in any god, that he is an atheist. Socrates does this by confirming that he does in fact believe in supernatural activities, such as his inner voice that told him he was the wisest man, and therefore is not an atheist. Socrates states that wealthy young men, enjoy following him around and listening to him question people. It’s entertaining for them. These men, who think they are wise but aren’t, then go out and try to do this on their own. When the people they question get angry instead of being angry with themselves, become angry with Socrates. They accuse Socrates of filling the young men’s head with nonsense. When asked about what Socrates teaches they don’t know and then use claims already made against philosophers against Socrates. Socrates then asks Meletus who he thinks an improver of the youth is. Meletus claims that the law is an improver of the youth, such as judges and senators. Socrates then proclaims that everyone in the state is an improver of the youth except himself. Meletus agrees to this statement. Socrates states that he must either not corrupt the youth or unintentionally corrupt the youth because good do their neighbors good, and evil do them evil. If he had corrupted someone, in theory, they should have harmed him by now. In Socrates’ last defense he says, â€Å"For if you kill me you will not easily find another like me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by God; and the state is like a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has given the state, and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. † (31-32) Socrates is attempting to demonstrate to the people of the city that there is more to their life than what meets the eye. Without philosophers such as himself they will continue to live the life they’re living with no desire to search for more. They will continue to accept the shadows on the wall as their reality. There are three parts to the soul. These three parts consist of the rational, high spirit and the appetitive. The rational portion of the soul is the part of us that seeks knowledge of wisdom. According to Plato the rational should rule the soul. The high spirit consists of the angry and prideful part of the soul that defends and aids the rational. The high spirit avoids shame. The final part of the soul, the appetitive, is the part of the soul that desires. While some desires are necessary, others are not. If not restrained by the rational, the appetitive portion of the soul can over rule all other parts. In addition to the three parts of the soul there are also three parts of the city. These three parts are the gold, silver and the bronze. The golds are the guardians, the silvers are the enforcers of the laws (helpers), and the bronzes are the merchants and tradesmen. The city virtue of wisdom resides within the gold’s, the guardians. In order to posses civic wisdom one must know how the city operates and how all parts of the city are connected. The knowledge of how the city runs and operates allows the city to operate at the highest level. The city virtue of bravery and justice resides with the silvers, the enforcers of laws. Civic bravery is the defined as the Silvers upholding their education about what things are and are not to be feared and in what order as ordered to them by the Golds. Civic justice refers to sticking to your own work whether you are a moneymaker, helper, or guardian. It’s considered unjust to work outside of your boundaries. The city virtue of temperance exists within the bronze citizens, the merchants and tradesmen, of the city. The civic temperance is the agreement (harmony) between the three sections (gold, silver and bronze) as to who should rule and who should obey. The personal virtue of wisdom is housed by ones rational portion of the soul. Personal wisdom consists of knowing all parts of the soul and how they are connected to one another. The ultimate goal of personal wisdom is keeping the soul as healthy and as balanced as possible. Personal bravery and justice is contained within the high-spirit part of the soul. The High-Spirit of the soul is to preserve the education of what is and is not to be feared. The Rational tells the High-Spirit in which order things are to be feared or not feared. The personal virtue of justice minds it’s own within each part of the soul. The appetitive portion of the soul houses the personal temperance virtue. The personal temperance works in agreement between the three portions of the soul as to who should rule and who should obey. The advantage of philosophy with respect to the state is the efficiency. Everyone has jobs that relate well to their attributes. You cannot be a gold (guardian) without first experiencing being a bronze and then a silver. In order to be a gold one must possess knowledge of all three parts of the city. This ultimately leaves the best most knowledgeable citizens in charge of the city. The advantage of philosophy in regards to the individual is the balance between all parts of the soul. All parts of the soul are important to understand and the rational helps us inherit the wisdom needed to understand these aspects of the soul. One who constantly indulges in the appetitive portion of the soul will be overcome by it. When a person posses wisdom they know when a desire is necessary rather than unnecessary. Students and states that pursue philosophy are better off than the ones who don’t because of the level of intelligence they hold. When a student or state has the knowledge of all the levels of either the civic or individual level they’re more likely to excel in their job. Without philosophy there would be no need to extend one’s boundaries and explore the unkown. Socrates was the man in the cave who managed to break free from his chains and see the world beyond the cave. His accusers, the men still chained inside of the cave, refused to accept what Socrates was trying to show them. If they accepted what Socrates was trying to prove it would be a harsh reality for all they ever knew would diminish. Life outside of the cave is unknown. It’s far less scary to continue their life believing that the shadows on the wall are all that there is. Works Cited Plato, and Benjamin Jowett. The Trial and Death of Socrates: Four Dialogues. New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print. Plato, H. D. P. Lee, and M. S. Lane. The Republic. London: Penguin, 2007. Print.