Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Norteno Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Norteno Music - Essay Example There are a lot of regional styles in Norteno music. Much regional Mexican music entertained by radio and many Norteno artists also get popularity from Mexican-American community. Local radio stations are the Proclamatorysource in popularizing Norteno music. While exploring rural areas their way of entertainment people found that Norteno is originated from rural areas and also popular in urban areas. Norteno started to assemble by music lovers around 1860s and become popular. (LAST FM) Mexico people listened music deliberately from all over the world, by listening all forms of music they produce their own forms which they called traditional Mexican music which are modern music becomes popular with people of all ages and these Mexican traditional music are full of variety, style, colorful, passionate and derive from origins of Mexican culture; rich country. (TRADITIONAL MEXICAN MUSIC) American accordionist introduces Norteno music in Texas. In Tamaulipas and Tijuana derives from the C aribbean Norteno music. Sexophone is also use by different bands like Chihuahua and Zacatecas. Tejano or â€Å"Tex-Mex† is a new form of popular music derived from Norteno and influenced by swing and American Rock. Tejano includes English poetry and sounds are like American Rock but Norteno came first and Ramon Ayala is based on basics of Norteno music.Today Norteno music is popular because of Grupo Pesado who is the leader of Norteno music. Musical instruments of different types with some new music styles introduce by Czech and Bohemian famous people like accordion. This music style combined with the present Norteno music style and this style played by local bands. This is the start of the transformation and evolution of Norteno in which still accordion theme is present in it. The main instrument accordion and Bajo sexto distinguish Norteno. Rhythm is like in a steady motion and the pace of this rhythm is middle (normal) or fasts tempo depending on song’s type. Double bass instruments and guitar is used in Norteno type music. Two famous bands Banda and duranguense have only bass instruments instead of an accordions and guitars.However Banda and duranguense introduces and plays the same songs as Norteno bands musicians playedthem have the same beat and music levels same as Norteno.Many of the bands named as Mexican states or a general description of geographical and they basically played â€Å"Regional Mexican Music†.(HISTORY OF MEXICAN MUSIC) Two major forms of Norteno music is Corridos and Narcocorridos. Corridos entered the â€Å"Golden Age† in 1910-1920s where Mexican people play these Corridos in border. Corridos are basically based on narrative songs in a poetry form and they depend on history, peasant’s daily life,socially important and legendary importance.Around in 1980s started Narcocorridos when Los Alegres de Teran who sang a song about a Narco.Narcocorridos are the same as Corridos but are based on drug smugglers and the cartels. Music critics also compared Narcocorridos to â€Å"Gangster rap†. There are two types of Norteno which are Classical Norteno and Modern Norteno. Classical Norteno music becomes famous by very recognizable bands in which Ramon Ayala, Los Tigeres Del Norte, Los Tucanes de Tijuana. Modern Norteno having advance features from original â€Å"oldie† Norteno this type of Norteno first played by Narciso Martinez and his groups related to Narciso before 1950s. Modern percussion and Electric bass guitars are the

Monday, October 28, 2019

Ragtime and Blues Essay Example for Free

Ragtime and Blues Essay Ragtime and Blues are the two music styles that give Jazz her name and life. Ragtime and blues, which are generated and rose into popularity at mostly the same time of period, are usually considered as closely connected because of Jazz and yet are very distinctive music styles. They affect Jazz in different perspectives, such as Ragtime in the usage of syncopation, the swing feeling, and Blues in the composition form, the improvisation, and the â€Å"Soul†. Similarity and difference: What both Ragtime and Blues share is their Black regions. They are both a classic and important component of early Black popular music. Almost all commentators expressed their view that the originators of Ragtime were black, and even some believe that it was imported from Africa; and yet Blues was believed to start in slavery which involved with large population of African Americans. As Scott Joplin, one of the most influential Ragtime musician, stated, â€Å" There has been ragtime music in America ever since the Negro race has been here. † and this poetic statement would perfectly apply to Blues as well. Historically, ragtime and blues started and rose into popularity at basically the same time. Ragtime’s huge popularity was abetted with the huge dimension of the print of â€Å"Maple Leaf Rag† by Scott Joplin in 1897. Almost the same time, classic blues like â€Å"St. Louis Blues† and â€Å"Memphis Blues† was composed by W. C. Handy. For a long period of time, specifically from 1890s to 1920s which was the time when Jazz becomes a dominant popular music style, ragtime was the typical popular music form in America. The popularity of Blues and Ragtime at early ages was strongly associated with the popular theater in late 19th and early 20th century. Even though ragtime and blues share the same origin and same historical path, they are indeed very different music styles, which determines their contribution to Jazz and make it a new and yet unique music. The definition of Ragtime is the music that signifying the broken rhythm, especially a sort of syncopation. Indeed, the word â€Å"rag† is a verb describing the syncopation process of the music. Syncopation is such a significant character of ragtime and it somehow defines the music style of ragtime. Part of the reason that helps determine the syncopation of ragtime is that ragtime is an instrumental based music genre. At early times, ragtime is dominated by piano, especially with great pianists like Scott Joplin and Ben Harney. And Blues, a more vocal based music, does not evidently engage with syncopation. Syncopation is the most important character that ragtime affects Jazz and some people believe that Jazz is a more complex form of syncopated music. Blues, often considered as a music that generated from slavery, was characterized with the improvisation. Improvisation is defined as creating music on the spot. Improvisation is not only a distinctive but also a great character because never has any music genre in the history before is based on improvisation. Even ragtime is based on pre-written music. Jazz took on this character and developed into a even more complicated, spicy music on the spot with different instrument arrangement. Jazz took improvisation to another level from this great tradition in blues. As far as the music style goes, ragtime is more affected by European style from the composition to instrument. Scott Joplin, the great ragtime musician mentioned earlier, was a classical trained piano player and the effect of classical music is obvious in his pieces. However, blues is more affected by its African origin. It is believed that one of the first blues was directly imported from African folk song. It is a very simultaneous music style and consists of a lot of elements of real life, such as the call-and-answer structure. It is also necessary to mention that the composition of blues like 12-bar blues and AABA structure greatly affect the composition of Jazz, especially at early ages. A lot of the early Jazz songs are in such structure, like the first Jazz recording ever, â€Å"livery stable blues† by Original Dixieland Jazz Band. Ragtime, characterized with syncopation and strong rhythm and beats, was created for the need of people to dance. However, Blues has very strong and evident emotions in the performance, especially with the great vocalists that convey those emotions through their great vocal performance. Bessie Smith, one of the best Blues vocalists of all time, combined the strong rhythm sense with an extremely sensitive feeling of pitch and thus convey them to the large audience. In a sense, Blues gives Soul to Jazz, with those emotions and tones of struggle. Evidently, ragtime and blues, the Black Music, struggle to make them merge into different classes, not only popular but also respected. From ragtime and blues, this kind of struggle carried on with Jazz and gives Jazz the identity, the structure, the tone and the â€Å"soul†.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe Essay examples -- essays research

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe By C.S. Lewis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My favorite character in this book would have to be Peter. He was a little bit of a tough guy yet timid, but wasn’t afraid to fight for his siblings lives. Peter was the oldest amongst his brother and two sisters and was most likely the brains and brawn of the bunch. In this story, Peter has to fight off a wolf to test his courage or, in Aslan’s words, win his spurs. He returns victorious and is knighted by the lion called Aslan. His brother Edmund, a very mischievous boy and a bother to his sisters Lucy and Susan, looks up to Him though he never admits to it. Peter was definitely the highlight of this book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Four children, two girls and two boys, are in for an adventure of a lifetime their names were, starting with the oldest, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. The story starts off with the children leaving London by train because of war. The place the children took refuge in was a mansion deep in the country where they would be out of harms way. In this mansion there were thousands of rooms, hideaways, secret passageways, many floors and much, much more. Of Course there was nothing more boring than to sit around all day when it did nothing but rain outside. So what do they do? They explore the house of course! And they did. In the process of doing so, they came to a room on the highest floor of the mansion, but all that was in there was a hand-carved wardrobe with not...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Charles River Jazz Festival

Decision tree for Friday pressing Mr. Ward is trying to decide on how many CDs to press on the first night of the festival. His intuition combined with his experience allowed him to make some predictions of demand. These take the form of probabilities. â€Å"The probabilities may be subjective estimates from managers or from experts in a particular field, or they may reflect historical frequencies. If they are reasonably correct, they provide a decision maker with additional information that can dramatically improve the decision-making process. Since the problem is limited to Ward’s expected demands for CDs, we can say that our recognizable states of nature are the following: ? Saturday Demand = 1000 and Sunday Demand = 1000 ?Saturday Demand = 1000 and Sunday Demand = 3000 ?Saturday Demand = 3000 and Sunday Demand = 1000 ?Saturday Demand = 3000 and Sunday Demand = 3000 The minimum total demand for both Saturday and Sunday would be 2000 CDs, whereas the maximum total demand fo r both Saturday and Sunday would be 6000 CDs.The intermediate total demand however is consistent at 4000 CDs. We can consolidate them to 3 states of nature: ? Saturday Demand + Sunday Demand = 2000 ?Saturday Demand + Sunday Demand = 4000 ?Saturday Demand + Sunday Demand = 6000 Let’s call these states of nature d2, d4 and d6. We use the TreePlan software to create the decision tree for Ward’s problem. We specified the initial costs of productions as $24,000, $33,000 and $42,000.Additionally, we make sure to deduct the royalties from the sales revenue, since they are considered as future expenses (after the sales occur). Please see below for the decision tree. 2. Maximization of Expected Monetary Value as a criterion The average or expected payoff of each alternative is a weighted average: the state of nature probabilities are used to weight the respective payoffs. ? Therefore the expected monetary value for each alternative is as follows: EMVp2 = $ 6,000EMVp4 = $ 12,000 EMVp6 = $ 10,500 According to the maximization of Expected Monetary Value criterion, we can say that the director of the festival should press 4000 CDs on Friday night, since the Expected Monetary Value of that decision is optimal at $12,000. 3. Paying for perfect information If Ward could obtain information about the demand for CDs prior to committing to the CD production, there will be an upper bound on the sum of money it would be reasonable to spend.The most Ward should pay for perfect information about the two-day demand for CDs can be calculated using the Expected Value of Perfect Information: EVPI = EPC – EMV, where EPC is the expected payoff under certainty, and EMV is expected monetary value with alternative p4. We calculate EPC as: EPC = 0. 5 * 6000 + 0. 25 * 27000 + 0. 25 * 48000 = $ 21,750 EMV = $ 12,000 Total value of perfect information: EVPI = $ 9750 It would be reasonable to pay $9,750 dollars to obtain perfect information. It is thus not worthwhile to spend more than that amount of money to obtain ‘perfect’ information.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

“A Separate Peace” by John Knowles Essay

One of the major themes in A Separate Peace is the coming of age. The theme of maturity can be viewed as a growing realization of the war in the school (in which the students realize that they have to enlist into the war â€Å"as men†), or the private and interior crisis one goes through (such as Gene discovering his identity as the novel progresses). The training and the sudden labors that the Devon students engage in attempt to prepare the boys for their future at the war; this can be seen as the external view of maturity in the novel, whereas the â€Å"internal† view of maturity can be seen in Gene’s thoughts as he searches for his personal identity. Throughout the novel, both Gene and Finny experience important yet damaging issues in their life where they realize the need to face the reality of it or become lost forever. As Gene discovers in the end, true identity can only be reached through maturity. Gene and the students of Devon experience a sense of maturity through the sudden change in their once peaceful and war-shunning environment of the summer. In the beginning of the novel, we can see that Devon is like a â€Å"Garden of Eden†; it resembles a paradise in the center of all the wars and deaths that are happening outside Devon’s barriers. Devon is seen as a milieu within a larger milieu (the rest of America at war). It seems that the students have lived their summer in a peaceful bubble of â€Å"Eden† in contrast with the background of World War II in the rest of the world. The summer of 1942 at Devon can be symbolized as the time of freedom and the exposure of youth; this is a moment in the novel where the students can get away with breaking rules and skipping classes. Therefore, the carefree summer of 1942 represents a time of paradise, where everyone is at peace and simply enjoying life at its fullest. However, Finny’s symbolic â€Å"fall† seems to have brought an end to this delight at Devon and brings in the winter session, where there is labour, orders, discipline, darkness, and despair. This is the moment when the teachers of Devon realize that the students are just on their way of serving the army. The students begin to participate in drills and trips to the railroad and orchard to help out in every way they can. In contrast to the summer of Devon, the winter represents the burdens of maturity and adulthood, and a  time where preparation of the war replaces the joyful atmosphere that was present in the summer. The boys of Devon suddenly feel that they must be responsible and â€Å"established† in order to face whatever their future brings them in the war. They all realize that they must smarten up and become men, because it is time to face the reality of what is going on behind Devon’s peaceful barriers. The phrase â€Å"Innocence must be killed to give birth to experience† says a lot about this time in the novel. Though the teachers had given the students more freedom during the summer and allowed several rule-breakings to take place, they understand that in order for the students to be ready and prepared for the coming conflicts in the army they must stop acting like children and sacrifice their state of immaturity to gain knowledge as adults. They understand that children cannot survive in wars, but men can. Later, the students realize that they must enlist themselves to serve for the army within a short period of time. Most of them become excited about becoming a solider for army, but then the novel takes an ironic twist with the students’ beliefs of the war because they do not yet know the real dangers and certainties of the outside of the barriers of Devon (regarding the world war). An example of such â€Å"blind thinking† was Leper becoming the first to join the war, thinking that he will gain more time in the forest afterwards, but returns devastated and emotionally shattered. His confrontation with Gene proves that there is a war out there and it is horrible as well. Gene, after realizing that he may also suffer from the same mental state as Leper if he enlisted, runs away screaming, â€Å"Shut up; it has nothing to do with me so shut up!†. Here we can see that Gene realizes some truth about the war, and no matter how much he tries to deny the horrible details and evidences that Leper brings back from the outside of Devon he gains new insight and wisdom. It is in this sense as well that Gene matures through the pressures of the war in the background, and that he cannot run from it because it is reality and he has to face it when it is his turn to enlist. The presence of the war, in a sense, also serves as a background for the  emotional development of the students at Devon; the world war actually triggers the buried emotions of the boys. Gene, Finny, and Brinker (for example) become competitive in their own ways; Gene compares his academic standards with Finny’s natural talents for sports, Finny shows a â€Å"win-win† competitive nature towards Gene in the games that they have played together (though he is out of the â€Å"war† mentally)), and Brinker feels insecure about his popularity due to Finny. Each character feels unconfident and is therefore â€Å"at war† with himself. In this novel, the ability to fix these inner conflicts seems to sadly result in either death (like Finny), or insanity (like Leper). For Finny, since he is unable to face certain feelings, he ends up becoming upset at the mock trial and dies in the second accident. Leper, on the other hand, believed that by enlisting first would b ring him out from his loneliness, yet returns from the war in a far worse shape. Gene, however, goes through a more painful process by remaining in Devon to fight for salvation within himself. Because the view of maturity in an emotional development is mostly seen in Gene (as narrator, we could see his thought-process as the novel progresses), I will use his private conflicts as an example to further support my thesis. In the beginning of the book, Gene develops a close relationship with Finny, his roommate. However, Gene begins to feel a bit envious of Finny, and sees his way of thinking as the truth. This then lead to an inner conflict in Gene, in which he begins to compare himself with Finny in a â€Å"Win-Lose† way of thinking. As his thinking of â€Å"competition† continues, Gene begins to see certain â€Å"flaws† within himself that leads to his insecurity, though these â€Å"missing traits† are not really flaws. He does tend to â€Å"hold himself back† several times by repeatedly telling himself how lucky he is to have Finny as a best friend, but this excuse soon shatters because he remains selfish. This selfishness of him reveals itself in chapter three, where Finny practically saves Gene from falling, but Gene tries to protect his beliefs of â€Å"Finny being the enemy† by telling himself that it was Finny’s fault for getting him into the me ss in the first place. At the same time, Gene’s admiration for Finny’s personality prevents him from refusing to go out with  Finny; it is in this state that Gene is actually a confused young man, who does not know the true value of friendship, and cannot correct the jealousy that he feels for Finny. The jealousy continues to grow, and soon enough Gene jounces the limb in chapter five, resulting in Finny’s fall. As I have said before, Gene is then forced to review what he has done to Finny and take a good look at himself; his mind, feeling extremely guilty for his actions, pressures him so much about the accident that he is forced to grow up. We see the final stage of maturity in Gene when he realizes near the end of the novel that he needs to become a grown-up and confront his personal war face-to-face once and for all; he confesses to Finny about his part in the accident, and finally gains Finny’s forgiveness and a sense of salvation. It was in this confession that Gene is f orced to see his stupidity and selfishness behind some of his actions. His act of courage to go to Finny and confess is evidence that he has finally grown. The conflict that he feels inside (regarding his relationship with Finny) becomes the source of his final emotional development; because of the â€Å"accident† the he had committed against Finny’s fall, Gene is forced to examine his own feelings over and over again throughout the novel. This repeated painful examination of his feelings and guilt results in growth; by really looking in himself, Gene realizes that he has to be responsible for his actions. It is when Gene finally reaches his peak of maturity that he begins to see his true identity in the end of the novel. Gene has emerged from a sort of shyness into a more confident attitude; he was influenced by Finny to learn about people, events, and life in a way that he had never before. In short, Gene needed Finny in order to realize himself. And sadly, Finny’s death leads to the eulogy that Gene makes in the last chapter, where he remembers the lessons that he was taught during his personal war at Devon. The theme of maturity in A Separate Peace can be reflected from the pressures that Gene (and the others students) endures during the drills, labors, and strict rules at Devon; this can be categorized as the â€Å"external† features of the theme, as well as the background of the novel. However, the theme of coming to age can also be seen in Gene’s heart, as he participates in an emotional struggle within himself prior to Finny’s character. We can see that Gene becomes jealous and envious of Finny, but then there seems to be a development in his character as he slowly begins to realize the truth. In a sense, Gene reaches maturity and becomes an adult after Finny dies, as he realizes that his own enemy was not Finny but his ignorant heart. Both the external and internal features of maturity in this novel gives meaning to the phrase, â€Å"Innocence must be killed to give birth to experience†; the students had to leave their peaceful state in the summer of 1942 and began to get used to the rigors of war and labor to fully understand the realities of war; at the same time, if Finny had not suffered and eventually died in the end, Gene would not have reflected on himself and grow from his experiences in the past. As Gene discovered in the end, true identity can only be reached through a state of maturity. â€Å"A Separate Peace† By John Knowles Essay In â€Å"A Separate Peace† by John Knowles, it is evident that Finny and Leper undergo the most traumatic experiences from the Class of 1943. Through these experiences, both characters lose much of their innocence and naivety. Finny, upon learning of the existence of the war and Gene’s moment of hatred, learns to accept realities and perceive the world as it is, not as the perfect childlike image he wants it to be. However, when Leper enlists in the army, he quickly begins to have hallucinations because the reality is too much for him to handle. Nevertheless, he eventually overcomes his insanity and seems to be fairly mentally stable by the end of the novel. Although Finny and Leper’s traumas are the source of a major loss of purity and childhood, they are also the cause of post-tramautic growth and a necessary increase in maturity. Finny goes through several perception-changing events during the course of the novel, but the event that cements his departure from childhood is the acceptance that Gene deliberately shook Finny off the tree. This shock was caused by his own inability to accept the truth in the first place. Despite the ease of denying unwanted information and living in a dream world, it is mentally unhealthy for Finny because of the shock caused upon finally believing the truth. Immediately after Gene’s confession of jouncing the limb, Gene remarks that Finny looked â€Å"older than I had ever seen him† (62). Finny, however, does not yet comprehend feelings of jealousy and betrayal, as he has hardly had any himself and finds it difficult to think of another’s point of view; the information registers on his face, but before he has time to process it and mature he rejects the idea entirely. Gene states â€Å"it occurred to me that this could be an even deeper injury than what I ha d done before† (62). The reality of adult themes such as jealousy, betrayal, and hate is what hurts Finny most, not the crippling injury itself. Another reality that takes away from Finny’s nescience is the war (when he finally believes in its existence). The most dramatic and stunning war in recent history, World War II had a huge impact on millions of lives worldwide. Yet Phineas refused to believe in the war, and instead created a fantasy in which he was the one of the only people who knew that it was all a hoax. When Gene, in disbelief from Finny’s opinion, questions Finny on why he is the only person who is aware of the â€Å"stuffed shirts'† (107) plot to  suppress happiness, Finny emotionally bursts out it is because he has â€Å"suffered† (108). Apparently, Finny has visualized this hoax to shield himself from the disadvantages of his disability, such as enlisting. Nevertheless, Finny quickly accepts the truth of the war after seeing Leper in a mentally disturbed state of mind. The image of what the war did to someone who used to be close to him shook him out of his dream world and spurred his emotional growth. When Finny, at the end of the novel, learned to accept the realities and avoid using denial to cope with shock, he lost the last of his childhood innocence. Leper is easily one of the most naive and innocent characters during the Summer Session. His good-naturedness and passive fascination with nature is such an ideal image of innocence that it seems almost depressing to see him in the traumatized state of mind after enlisting. Even while everyone is volunteering to shovel snow to aid the war effort and discussing their plans for which division to enlist in, Leper is only concerned with the beauty of nature and skis to a beaver dam to watch the beavers develop and build their dam. He is moved to join the army not for vain images of glory and glamor like the other students, but rather for the beauty of skiing down a mountain. Obviously, he soon finds that the army is too much for him, and while absent from the ongoings at Devon he loses every shred of innocence and guilelessness that previously surrounded his character. When Gene meets him, his psyche is obviously changed to such a point that he has hallucinations and other symptoms of sc hizophrenia, caused by his rapid ascension into adult matters. He does not accept reality nearly as well as Finny does because his character was far more innocuous at the start of the novel. So many of his images of the world are shattered that it can be seen that he feels like he has little familiarity to hold onto. He grasps to every gleam of regularity and unchangeable function, which explains his preference for spending time in the dining room of his house simply because he knows that three daily meals will be served there on a consistent basis. However, his time at home seems to have given him time to cope with the images of adulthood. Upon his return to Devon, he seems mentally well and a much more decisive authority than ever before. He accurately and forcefully convicts Gene of jouncing the limb in â€Å"his new, confident†¦ voice† (166).  Gene describes Leper during the trial as â€Å"all energy† (165). Evidently, Leper has dealt with the loss of innocence caused by his abrupt initiation into adulthood and has becom e a more confident, self-assured person in spite of it. Knowles makes it apparent throughout A Separate Peace that while the loss of innocence may often seem to be a sad or tragic event, it is necessary to pave the way for maturation and a transition into adulthood. Had Finny never accepted the truth of the tragedy that occurred to him, he would have never matured beyond his carefree summer days. And had Leper kept living in his own world of vivid imaginations, he would have never developed into the sanguine individual he becomes at the end of the novel. While the loss of innocence is partly a lugubrious experience, John Knowles portrays it as a necessity – a part of maturation and growth that leads to adulthood and self-fulfillment.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Great Expectations Essay

One of the most prominent themes in Great Expectations was that a person’s worth lies in the goodness of his heart or the, content of his character, rather than in his wealth or social status. Dickens clearly makes this true throughout each of Pip’s expectations. In Pip’s first great expectation, Dickens makes it evident that the young ignorant Pip was truly happy and was a great person. During Pip’s second expectation, it is easily deduced that even when Pip had money he was still a kind and caring person. Lastly, in Pip’s third expectation, he encounters a truly humbling experience and learns that others too can be kind or cruel regardless of social status. Henry David Thoreau once said, â€Å"Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.† This statement is very true in Great Expectations. In the beginning of the story, Pip was not wealthy. However, this young boy was happy (as well as naà ¯ve). He had a good heat and was caring. Being naà ¯ve was probably the source of his happiness and kindness though. Before Estella and wealth â€Å"brainwashed† Pip, he was a happy, carefree boy. Afterwards, he was miserable and cruel to his real â€Å"family†, Biddy and Joe. An allusion corresponding to this instance would be â€Å"Adam and Eve†. Before they partook of the fruit of knowledge, they were happy living in the Garden of Eden. After they lost their ignorance they became miserable and had to leave their paradise. Pip was truly happy and wealthy (in friends and family) before he had ever considered becoming a gentleman. Once Pip started to receive money and was considered wealthy, he was still a good person. However, Estella’s influence and his want to â€Å"fit-in† with the upper-class made him treat Joe and Biddy as Estella had treated him (like an incoherent moron who didn’t deserve respect). Pip was still sensitive though. He had remorse for how he treated Joe and often wanted to go visit him. Pip also was a very ... Free Essays on Great Expectations Essay Free Essays on Great Expectations Essay One of the most prominent themes in Great Expectations was that a person’s worth lies in the goodness of his heart or the, content of his character, rather than in his wealth or social status. Dickens clearly makes this true throughout each of Pip’s expectations. In Pip’s first great expectation, Dickens makes it evident that the young ignorant Pip was truly happy and was a great person. During Pip’s second expectation, it is easily deduced that even when Pip had money he was still a kind and caring person. Lastly, in Pip’s third expectation, he encounters a truly humbling experience and learns that others too can be kind or cruel regardless of social status. Henry David Thoreau once said, â€Å"Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.† This statement is very true in Great Expectations. In the beginning of the story, Pip was not wealthy. However, this young boy was happy (as well as naà ¯ve). He had a good heat and was caring. Being naà ¯ve was probably the source of his happiness and kindness though. Before Estella and wealth â€Å"brainwashed† Pip, he was a happy, carefree boy. Afterwards, he was miserable and cruel to his real â€Å"family†, Biddy and Joe. An allusion corresponding to this instance would be â€Å"Adam and Eve†. Before they partook of the fruit of knowledge, they were happy living in the Garden of Eden. After they lost their ignorance they became miserable and had to leave their paradise. Pip was truly happy and wealthy (in friends and family) before he had ever considered becoming a gentleman. Once Pip started to receive money and was considered wealthy, he was still a good person. However, Estella’s influence and his want to â€Å"fit-in† with the upper-class made him treat Joe and Biddy as Estella had treated him (like an incoherent moron who didn’t deserve respect). Pip was still sensitive though. He had remorse for how he treated Joe and often wanted to go visit him. Pip also was a very ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

Ancient Olmec Culture

Ancient Olmec Culture The Olmec culture thrived along Mexico’s Gulf Coast from approximately 1200-400 B.C. The first great Mesoamerican culture, it had been in decline for centuries before the arrival of the first Europeans, therefore, much information about the Olmecs has been lost. We know the Olmecs primarily through their art, sculpture, and architecture. Although many mysteries remain, ongoing work by archaeologists, anthropologists, and other researchers has given us something of a glimpse into what Olmec life might have been like. Olmec Food, Crops, and Diet The Olmecs practiced basic agriculture using the slash-and-burn technique, in which overgrown plots of land are burned: this clears them for planting and the ashes act as fertilizer. They planted many of the same crops seen in the region today, such as squash, beans, manioc, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes. Maize was a staple of the Olmec diet, although it is possible that it was introduced late in the development of their culture. Whenever it was introduced, it soon became very important: one of the Olmec Gods is associated with maize. The Olmecs avidly fished from nearby lakes and rivers. Clams, alligators, and various types of fish were an important part of their diet. The Olmecs preferred to make settlements near water, as the floodplains were good for agriculture and fish and shellfish could be had more easily. For meat, they had domestic dogs and the occasional deer. A vital part of the Olmec diet was nixtamal, a special sort of corn meal ground with seashells, lime or ashes, the addition of which greatly enhances the nutritional value of the cornmeal. Olmec Tools In spite of only having Stone Age technology, the Olmecs were able to make several sorts of tools which made their life easier. They used whatever was at hand, such as clay, stone, bone, wood or deer antlers. They were skilled at making ​pottery: vessels and plates used for storing and cooking food. Clay pots and vessels were extremely common among the Olmec: literally, millions of potsherds have been discovered in and around Olmec sites. Tools were mostly made of stone and include basic items such as hammers, wedges, mortar-and-pestles and mano-and-metate grinders used for mashing corn and other grains. Obsidian was not native to the Olmec lands, but when it could be had, it made excellent knives. Olmec Homes The Olmec culture is remembered today in part because it was the first Mesoamerican culture to produce small cities, most notably San Lorenzo and La Venta (their original names are unknown). These cities, which have been extensively investigated by archaeologists, were indeed impressive centers for politics, religion, and culture, but most ordinary Olmecs did not live in them. Most common Olmecs were simple farmers and fishermen who lived in family groups or small villages. Olmec homes were simple affairs: generally, one large building made of earth packed around poles, which served as a sleeping area, dining room, and shelter. Most homes probably had a small garden of herbs and basic foods. Because the Olmecs preferred to live in or near flood plains, they built their homes on small mounds or platforms. They dug holes in their floors to store food. Olmec Towns and Villages Excavations show that smaller villages consisted of a handful of homes, most likely inhabited by family groups. Fruit trees such as zapote or papaya were common in villages. Larger excavated villages often have a central mound of greater size: this would be where the home of a prominent family or local chieftain was built, or perhaps a small shrine to a god whose name is now long-forgotten. The status of the families that made up the village could be discerned by the how far they lived from this town center. In larger towns, more remains of animals such as dog, alligator, and deer have been found than in smaller villages, suggesting that these foods were reserved for local elites. Olmec Religion and Gods The Olmec people had a well-developed religion. According to archaeologist Richard Diehl, there are five aspects of Olmec religion, including a well-defined cosmos, a shaman class, sacred places and sites, identifiable gods and specific rituals and ceremonies. Peter Joralemon, who has studied the Olmecs for years, has identified no fewer than eight gods from surviving Olmec art. Common Olmecs who worked the fields and caught fish in the rivers probably only participated in religious practices as observers, because there was an active priest class and the rulers and ruling family most likely had specific and important religious duties. Many of the Olmec gods, such as the Rain God and Feathered Serpent, would go on to form part of the pantheon of later Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Aztec and Maya. The Olmec also played the ritualistic Mesoamerican ball game. Olmec Art Most of what we know about the Olmec today is due to surviving examples of Olmec art. The most easily recognizable pieces are the massive colossal heads, some of which are nearly ten feet tall. Other forms of Olmec art that have survived include statues, figurines, celts, thrones, wooden busts and cave paintings. The Olmec cities of San Lorenzo and La Venta most likely had an artisan class who worked on these sculptures. Common Olmecs likely produced only useful art such as pottery vessels. Thats not to say that the Olmec artistic output did not affect the common people, however: the boulders used to make the colossal heads and thrones were quarried many miles from the workshops, meaning that thousands of commoners would be pressed into service to move the stones on sledges, rafts, and rollers to where they were needed. Importance of Olmec Culture Understanding the Olmec culture is very important to modern-day researchers and archaeologists. First of all, the Olmec was the mother culture of Mesoamerica, and many aspects of Olmec culture, such as gods, glyphic writing, and artistic forms, became part of later civilizations such as the Maya and Aztecs. Even more importantly, the Olmec were one of only six primary or pristine civilizations in the world, the others being ancient China, Egypt, Sumeria, the Indus of India and the Chavin culture of Peru. Pristine civilizations are those that developed somewhere without any significant influence from previous civilizations. These primary civilizations were forced to develop on their own, and how they developed teaches us a lot about our distant ancestors. Not only are the Olmecs a pristine civilization, they were the only ones to develop in a humid forest environment, making them a special case indeed. The Olmec civilization had gone into decline by 400 B.C. and historians arent exactly sure why. Their decline probably had much to do with wars and climate change. After the Olmec, several clearly post-Olmec societies developed in the Veracruz region. There is much that is still unknown about the Olmecs, including some very important, basic things such as what they called themselves (Olmec is an Aztec word applied to sixteenth-century dwellers in the region). Dedicated researchers are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is known about this mysterious ancient culture, bringing new facts to light and correcting errors previously made. Sources Coe, Michael D. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. Ancient Peoples and Places, Rex Koontz, 7th Edition, Thames Hudson, June 14, 2013. Cyphers, Ann. Surgimiento y decadencia de San Lorenzo, Veracruz. Arqueologà ­a Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). P. 30-35. Diehl, Richard A. The Olmecs: Americas First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004. Grove, David C. Cerros Sagradas Olmecas. Trans. Elisa Ramirez. Arqueologà ­a Mexicana Vol XV - Num. 87 (Sept-Oct 2007). P. 30-35. Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of the Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. New York: Thames Hudson, 1993.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Quotes

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Quotes The Boy in the Striped Pajamas follows the lives (and friendship) of two young boysacross the Holocaust fence at the Auschwitz Camp. One boy is the son of a high-ranking SS officer, while the other is the son of a Polish Jew. Here are quotes from the novel. Quotes We dont have the luxury of thinking ... Some people make all the decisions for us.One day he was perfectly content, playing at home, sliding down banisters, trying to stand on his tiptoes to see right across Berlin, and now he was stuck here in this cold, nasty house with three whispering maids and a waiter who was both unhappy and angry, where no one looked as if they could ever be cheerful again.So were here at Out-With because someone said out with the people before us?We should never have let the Fury come to dinner.He suddenly became convinced that if he didnt do something sensible, something to put his mind to some use, then before he knew it he would be wondering round the streets having fights with himself and inviting domestic animals to social occasions too.The thing about exploring is that you have to know whether the thing youve found is worth finding. Some things are just sitting there, minding their own business, waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone. Like a dead mouse at the back of the cupboard. You wear the right outfit and you feel like the person youre pretending to be, she always told me.Bruno opened his eyes in wonder at the things he saw. In his imagination he had thought that all the huts were full of happy families, some of whom sat outside on rocking chairs in the evening and told stories about how things were so much better when they were children and theyd had respect for their elders, not like the children nowadays. He thought that all the boys and girls who lived there would be in different groups, playing tennis or football, skipping and drawing out squares for hopscotch on the ground... As it turned out, all the things he thought might be there - werent.Despite the chaos that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuels hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let go.A few months after that some other soldiers came to Out-With and Father was ordered to go with them, and he went without complaint and he was happy to do so because he didnt really mind what they did to him anymore. Resources Interview with Childrens Author John BoynePodcasts Downloads

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Monaco Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 16250 words

Monaco - Research Paper Example The political world is represented as contained by big nations, but there are a number of smaller states and territories (SSTs) with political and/or economic influence in the global political landscape (Paul: 1). Altogether there are 56 smaller nations and over 100 smaller territories that are controlled by larger states. A vast majority of SSTs are islands such as Fiji or Barbados. However, there are some states that are landlocked or surrounded by larger countries or located on the coastlines of larger states. These SSTs are countries such as Brunei or the Principality of Monaco (Paul:1) What separates Monaco from a majority of SSTs is that while many of these states recently enjoyed independence in the post-colonial era, Monaco has enjoyed seven centuries of independence (Paul: 1). Monaco also enjoys the distinction of having a forward economy and thus is an SST worthy of closer examination (Paul: 2). This case study is organized and presented in six main parts. The six main parts are: geography, history, political system, economics, culture and tourism and gastronomy. In discussing each of these areas of the Principality of Monaco, a detailed country profile is created that provides an understanding of how and why, the world’s second smallest independent county has managed to secure a place of prominence in the international order. Monaco is a sovereign nation located in the French Riviera (the south-eastern most portion of France, wherein the region is referred to as CÃ ´te dAzur in French and CÃ ²sta dAzur in Occitan, both of which translate into Azure Coast) at the foot of the Maritime Alps. Because of its location Monaco is bordered by France thrice over (to its north, south, and west), with what remains as its Mediterranean coastline, The city-state is notoriously small, being second only to The Vatican City at 1.9 km squared in surface area (King: 15). As a city-state, Monaco is

Friday, October 18, 2019

Globlasing world Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Globlasing world - Essay Example This movement that is limited to surrounding localities has increased significantly to a point that people have been able to cross borders and travel far and wide for business, educational or exploration purposes. This has led to imminent sharing of cultures, ideologies and interaction between different nations and continents. The processes involving all these activities are referred to as globalization. Extensively, it is described as the integrations of all the activities involved in globalization including transportation, information sharing and rise of new communities (Ritzer, 2005, 78). This has been accustomed to advances in technology, the internet, robust road network, reliable air travel and trusted transport system. Centuries ago human interaction over long distances was a daunting task but still feasible. This was made possible by the fact that people needed to trade the goods they had for what others had. They occasionally used animals such as donkeys, horses and camels t o travel over long distances. Globalization is not just about crossing borders and settling on the other side. It also involves close interaction and relationship building between people and systems already set in such places. Such systems include labor unions, immigration and education policies. People have been able to interact through other avenues like international events such as the Olympics, which has been able to unite people of different nationalities and cultures (Sua?rez 2004). For instance, soccer is clearly a global sport that unites and socializes nearly the entire world. It is understood as a re design of social topography marked by the growth of transnational and inter territorial interactions between people. There have been significant gains derived as a result of globalization. Economic Scholars and economists regard increasing capital accounts liberties and unregulated capital flows as a stumbling block to global financial stability. This is attributed to constant change in the market price of the popular goods and leading currency earners such as coffee. This has led to calls for capital controls and introduction of taxes on international Asset trade. Other scholars have argued that increased transparency in the market have brought about stability in countries that are already industrialized and brought an improvement in the upgrade of income of developing countries. This is as seen lower class to middle class. Finance in a globalizing world requires that countries and major economies make relevant economic policies in order to stay in the world economic platform. Many developing nations are still in their infancy stage of financial globalization and therefore look up to the already developed nations for financial opening. Developing countries do face numerous challenges in their quest to make a significant step towards improving their economy. A lot of decisions have to be made concerning the policies that need to be laid down for these co untries and the rate at which they are to be implemented. Financial globalization has more than often been blamed for the economic crisis that faced a number of developing countries. When decision on economic prosperity is made without considering the impact it may have on the global market may lead to major risks including large scale bankruptcies. For instance, the financial turmoil that rocked Latin

BUSCOM wk1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BUSCOM wk1 - Essay Example Workplaces are not the only places that such type of communication can occur. They can also occur in schools, at home with family or even with the most trusted of friends. What communication all comes down to is how it is being done at that particular moment. In the above chart, the sender of the message was ME, while the receiver of the message was the MANAGER. The channel that was used to send the message was verbal communication and it was done while the two were physically present at a given location; which in this case is the office. The misunderstanding that occurred was due to the fact that a firm employee, who happens to be ME, made the mistake of trying to reason with the MANAGER about how his current behavior might lead to the bankruptcy of the firm. This misunderstanding would have been avoided had I not confronted the MANAGER (Ellis, 2009).   From the result of the above conversation, it is safe to say that communication is a key process and a very important aspect in the everyday life of people. Without communication, then there would be the existence of a world where people know nothing about each other. From the above communication, I would say that the message did not get through in the same way that it should have. The main causes of misunderstanding when it comes to communication results from; the type of message that is being passed along: the sender depending on how they are doing the passing on of the message and thirdly the receiver, depending on how they take the message (Ellis,

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Considering Why Young People Begin Using Illicit Substances and How to Assignment

Considering Why Young People Begin Using Illicit Substances and How to Reduce Drug Taking Activity - Assignment Example There are two types of illicit substances, commonly known as soft drugs and hard drugs. Soft drugs include barbiturates, amphetamines and cannabis while heroin and cocaine are highly addictive and are called hard drugs (Keene 2002, p. 78). The soft drugs are not highly addictive while the hard drugs are highly addictive. Although all substances are harmful as they affect a person’s mental and physical health cocaine is particularly dangerous in fact it is lethal if taken in large amounts. Youth today is quite well-informed about the harmful effects of drugs and even though they are aware of the potential dangers of using illicit drugs that do not stop them from experimenting. There are various reasons which pull the young people towards drugs; some teenagers try drugs simply out of curiosity. The experimentation which starts with soft drugs often leads the use of hard drugs and consequently criminal activities (Pudney 2003). Studies show that cannabis is the most commonly used drug in the United Kingdom with 42% of the users being teenagers between the ages of 15 and 16 (Keene 2002, p. 76) whereas cocaine is the most commonly used hard drug. Boredom was cited as a reason for taking illicit drugs by young people belonging to middle-class families. In such cases, illicit drugs were a means of recreation and a way to enjoy and explore life from a different angle. It added excitement to their lives making it interesting. Some teenagers take drugs for enjoyment and may stop once the novelty is over but this can only happen if they are using soft drugs. The desire to appear cool or be accepted as popular is the reason which gets high school students hooked to drugs. Drugs can have a strong effect on a person’s mind and thinking.  

Enzymology Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Enzymology - Lab Report Example Substrate concentration is directly proportional to activity rate up to a point beyond which the reaction rate slows down and settles at a constant level because of the enzyme’s limiting factor (Yada, 2004; Whitehurst & Oort, 2009). Temperature and pH, however, increase the activity rate up to optimum levels beyond which the activity rate reduces. The optimum temperature and pH level for most enzymatic activity is room temperature and the pH level of seven (Rastogi, 2010). Enzyme inhibitors are another set of factors that reduce enzymes’ activity rate (Seager & Slabaugh, 2010). This report investigates the effects of substrate concentration, pH level, temperature and inhibitor hydrogen peroxide on bovine liver’s activity rate. It seeks to answer the question ‘how does the factors affect activity rate of Bovine liver?’ Care was taken to ensure that the oxygen gas sensor was plugged into the USB interface to launch the PAS portal window. This was followed by a click on the DataStudio icon to launch the program. The ‘create experiment’ button was then clicked to generate a ‘Digit’ box. A click on the setup button and a change of oxygen’s measurement unit to ppm then followed before calibration of the sensor. Amounts of liver extract were then incubated at given temperatures for five minutes before addition of substrate and push on the oxygen sensor stopper. With the stopper firmly held, the substrate was mixed and incubated while noting the amount of released oxygen. The experiment was repeated for different temperatures. With the set ups at the room temperature, tests were conducted at the pH levels of two, four, six, seven, eight, ten, and twelve respectively. In each set up and for every pH level, 6 ml of buffer, 3 ml of liver extract and 4 percent of H2O2 were mixed in that consecutive order. This was followed by measurement of the level of generated oxygen for calculating reaction rates at each pH level. With the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Considering Why Young People Begin Using Illicit Substances and How to Assignment

Considering Why Young People Begin Using Illicit Substances and How to Reduce Drug Taking Activity - Assignment Example There are two types of illicit substances, commonly known as soft drugs and hard drugs. Soft drugs include barbiturates, amphetamines and cannabis while heroin and cocaine are highly addictive and are called hard drugs (Keene 2002, p. 78). The soft drugs are not highly addictive while the hard drugs are highly addictive. Although all substances are harmful as they affect a person’s mental and physical health cocaine is particularly dangerous in fact it is lethal if taken in large amounts. Youth today is quite well-informed about the harmful effects of drugs and even though they are aware of the potential dangers of using illicit drugs that do not stop them from experimenting. There are various reasons which pull the young people towards drugs; some teenagers try drugs simply out of curiosity. The experimentation which starts with soft drugs often leads the use of hard drugs and consequently criminal activities (Pudney 2003). Studies show that cannabis is the most commonly used drug in the United Kingdom with 42% of the users being teenagers between the ages of 15 and 16 (Keene 2002, p. 76) whereas cocaine is the most commonly used hard drug. Boredom was cited as a reason for taking illicit drugs by young people belonging to middle-class families. In such cases, illicit drugs were a means of recreation and a way to enjoy and explore life from a different angle. It added excitement to their lives making it interesting. Some teenagers take drugs for enjoyment and may stop once the novelty is over but this can only happen if they are using soft drugs. The desire to appear cool or be accepted as popular is the reason which gets high school students hooked to drugs. Drugs can have a strong effect on a person’s mind and thinking.  

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Solving the Medicare Crisis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Solving the Medicare Crisis - Case Study Example It is worth mentioning that the largest portion of the American economy dumps into health care programs for the citizens of the country. Medicare comprises the largest portion of the health care budget of the US. Due to the sensitivity of issues surrounding US Medicare program, this paper will identify the contemporary challenges, discuss the challenges, other specific issues surrounding the crisis within the Medicare of US. Solving the Medicare Crisis With the growing population of aged people in America, Medicare is gaining much popularity due its structure of saving and providing health care to the old age members of the society. The importance bestowed on Medicare cannot be overlooked at the expense of any other crisis that could be facing the scheme. Worthy to note is that Medicare started experiencing circumstantial crisis in the year 2007 at the verge of global financial crisis. Being among the influential sectors of the economy, US government increased its budget margins exte nded to the health care and Medicare in particular. However, the problems and crisis facing Medicare in US are persistent and unresponsive to the government huge budget allocation to support the program and improve general quality of health care in the US. Currently the government has set a Congress panel to analyze the contemporary crisis and make viable decisions. Why Medicare is in a Crisis and Why Radical Reforms are Necessary The American Medicare is in dire situation of liquidation and termination as the number of consumers faces an upward tilt resulted by the predictable growing number of aged people. Eure (2005) reports that crisis facing health care could increase and become worse than in the future years. In order to preserve and ensure sustainability of the program, certain radical measures are essential and of great need in such a situation. How is Medicare funded now? Why do the elderly feel that Medicare is an insurance program, not a welfare program? Is this perceptio n accurate? According to Robinson (2011), Medicare program gets fund in different ways depending on the divisions. Robinson (2011) mentions that Part A of Medicare program that covers in-patient hospital bills is catered for by Hospital insurance Fund (HI Fund). Part A division of Medicare gets finance from the 1.45% government’s deductions made on the pay slips of workers and employers in general. Part B of the Medicare run by Supplemental Medical Insurance (SMI Fund) covers the appointments of doctors. SMI Funds obtains finances from the premiums and the general national budget. Robinson (2011) exemplifies that premiums and taxes channeled into the SMI Funds undergoes yearly adjustments and therefore can never be overdrawn. Robinson (2011) reveals that the Congressional Budget Office through the reflection of the HI Funds usually determines the stability of Medicare. According to Robinson (2011), in spite of the great contribution of taxes and premiums to the Medicare, the vast cost of Medicare gets financial support from the government. The funding of Medicare program is usually sourced from the taxation of individual employees working in the US economy (Emmanuel, 2011). In addition, individual employees organize for payment of monthly premium that is deducted from the salary of the stakeholders. Eure (2005) unveils that in 2004, individual participants in the Medicare program paid a total of $66. 60 per month.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Historical Materialism Essay Example for Free

Historical Materialism Essay Social structures fall and crumble, and new ones take their place. This is a fact of civilization that has been with humanity since before the beginning of recorded history. Marxist theory takes this concept of change and asks an important question of it. Why do societies revolutionize themselves? Marxist theory, in this particular vein of thought, concerns itself with society’s motivations for change. In answer to this question Marxists use two distinct yet related forms of Materialism, Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism. They seek to use these concepts to apply logic to a seemingly random event, and there are indicators in history that this interpretation works. The important question to ask afterwards is do these interpretations still apply in a modern context. First, though, it is important to understand the Marxist concept of how revolution occurs. The Marxist interpretation of Materialism can be roughly broken up into two groupings, Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism. The aims of both of these concepts are the same though. Based on Marxist ideals these two concepts aim to explain the development of human history and give concrete motivation as to significant changes in human history. By considering both concepts in tandem one gains a full understanding of the Marxist interpretation of Materialism. Dialectical Materialism is based in two separate concepts, Dialectics and Materialism. Dialectics is one of the three original liberal arts, first developed in the classical world by the Ancient Greeks. (Saksena p543) Together with Rhetoric and Grammar, these liberal arts were developed as a means to fully understand the art of persuasion. Dialectic itself refers to the logic behind the argument, having a sound backing for your points. As such it is heavily grounded in logic. By combining this with materialism, the monist concept that everything in existence is made up of matter, you get a unique understanding of the basic makeup of Marxism. (Saksena p544) This is the lens through which the Marxist views the world, analytical and logical, with all things made up of a base product. When considering this with history, Historical Materialism is formed and Marxist understanding is applied to historical developments. Historical Materialism concerns itself with asking why and how Social progress is driven. The basic idea of this theory is that Human Society is based around how humans work to produce the means to live, and that all actions present in history are intrinsically tied to this. (Sober p310) There is also, in tandem with this, the concept that labour is divided into social classes, and that class division is dependant on the means of production. Finally, in terms of social movements, this theory states that these actions only occur when the dominant class is displaced by a newly emerging one. Eckstein p912) There are a series of ideas that go along with this concept of Historical Materialism. First and foremost is the concept that social progress is directly related to material progress, without some advancement in the process of production, social change will not occur. (Crimmins p523) Innate to this, it should be mentioned, is the concept that humans are involved with production. By tying societal progress intrinsically into manufacturing process, it ties the development of humanity, at its base level, to the worker. The worker then, becomes the means through which social progression is achieved, and also has some power over how humanity develops as a society. This power is not to be ignored, as this power is the central means to change in the Marxist view of history. By giving the workers this power it puts the means to change directly into their hands and makes them responsible for the future, and also for the past. But there is still the question of how this sect of society is motivated to action. Two distinct and yet related forces act in the concept of Historical Materialism, Production Relations and Productive Forces. Production Relations, here, can be understood to refer to the interaction between those producing the product and those paying the labourers to produce the product. (Manicas p241) Productive Forces refer to the actual labour pool that powers the productions. (Manicas p241) Understanding those two distinct terms, there is another sequence of required concepts in Historical Materialism that go along with those two concepts. Production Relations, it should be noted, develop relative to the development of productive forces. Manicas p244) An emphasis on production determines the speed of production force development. In other words, social progression is inversely relative to the way workers are treated. The change, for Marxist theorists, comes from dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs. If the workers are happy they will have no desire to change the situation. If the current state is not in their favor, however, they will be motivated to action. This of course will result, op timally, in a change in society. That is what is central about this concept, the impact it has on society. The theory believes that the structure of a society is intrinsically tied to the mode of production, or in other words the structure of a society is an expression of the mode of production. (Manicas p245) For example, a society built around a production structure heavily dependant on mechanical production will find an increase in the repair and maintenance industry, whereas a society based around manual labour will require a large number of individuals working to achieve its product. Stating that the product developed by a society has an impact on its structure can essentially sum up this whole concept. Moving beyond simply the types of jobs that would be desired, this speaks towards what the educational system of that society would be like, what the pay scale would be, what the living conditions would be at. This is all relative to the skill of the labour and the amount of education necessary to do the job. If the market is based around specialized jobs that require immense amounts of schooling, then the pay scale and standard of living for that society will be higher than a manual labour society which requires little to no education for the job. To put it simply, the more difficult the standard job for the society, the better off that society will be. But what of the problems that would arise form this formation. Critical Marxist theory believes that these concepts are tied in to some of the problems present in societies. Every state, they believe, is an institution of the ruling class. (Mayer p143) As such the laws and values of that state would seek to reinforce the means to profit. They would be utilizing everything down to the structure of the state to optimize the goal of the collective. In a capitalist structure, for example, the value structure is built around profit. As such, according to the Marxist theory, the values and systems inherent to this state would reinforce this ideal. Taking into account modern corporate practices of exporting service and manual labour to other countries where it is cheaper to attain, one sees the profit-based value structure of the capitalist system affecting their policy. The second important factor in this consideration is that State power is usually only transferred through upheaval. Sober p323) This is an extremely destructive means to achieve change, and this should be noted. It does not make it untrue, however. This violent upheaval, combined with the obliteration of the previous system, combine to show the means to change. As upsetting as it may be to think that our system is based on a wholly violent means to achieving its end, every indication through history shows this factor working time and again. Finally, this particular mode of production has to give out at some point as new technologies discover more efficient means of production. Thus the final belief of the Marxist Historical Materialist perspective is that when current production relations no longer function, progress is either stalled, or there is revolution. (Stiermotte p112) So the final catalyst, the straw that will break societies back, will be the death of production. This idea makes perfect sense when taken in terms of the whole of the argument. If motivation for change were present in the means to production and the relations between producer and employer, then the death of production would mean the end of that society producing. That is a perfect catalyst for setting off change. If there is no profit then the system, inherently built on it, fails and must be replaced. This is the full circle of Marxists Historical Materialism, the concept that when production fails, revolution will occur to re-imagine production systems to increase profit and thus advance that society. The hard question, however, is to what extent does this view of Historical Materialism apply today? Is it still a prescient means to understand societal development? If it is then perhaps it can be applied to see the future of society, maybe as a means to ensure we are not heading down a path we would not agree with. The system that comes afterwards is based in the values of those who are generally in opposition to the ruling class they have just ousted. As such they, logically, would seek to be as contrary to the original as possible. Before revolution occurs, one must contemplate what the most likely scenario would be and whether it is favorable. But before that can even occur, the question of whether this theory does indeed apply or not must be answered. As such there are four basic questions that must be answered in the affirmative for this to be the case. Is the motivation still present? Is there still a need for change? To this the answer would be affirmative. Present still in this world are primary causes for change; poverty, social inequality. These motivators are still present as a means to have the â€Å"poor† class desire change. The best example would be the rising unemployment rate in the UK. As is stated in the article, the rate of employment in the UK has descended from a â€Å"low unemployment economy to the high unemployment reality of the present era. (Leslie p371) So not only is there the sort of motivator to initiate change, the situation is actually getting progressively worse. Are there current social classes? Is there immense inequality between the classes? Yes, there are rich and poor classes in our current time and there is a distinct difference between them. Moreover the capability to move between classes is but a faint hope and it is not often that this occurs. Are these classes developed based on the mode of production? If one observes the poorer classes and their particular jobs, then one must see that their poverty is indeed tied in to the mode of production. Most often the only means of employment is to work for the rich class in a company owned by them. (Mayer p144) The ruling class here is utilizing the labour forces as a means to production. Is the state an institution of the ruling class? Does it enforce their values? In a capitalist society the values are based around profit. The values inherent to the state thus reinforce the values of the ruling class, the desire for profit before any other considerations. This is seen through the mutually declining state of employment and also health care in the UK. Through putting profit before the welfare of the employee, considerations that should normally be considered mandatory are lost by the wayside. Healthcare, in particular neonatal health care, declines as suicide and para-suicide rates increase. (Cook p73) All together this forms the impression of the powers in charge of production being unmoved by the plight of the labour force they are using. The factors for change, as outlined through Historical Materialism, are still present in current culture. Action, however, is not present. But this action, according to Historical Materialism, will only be sparked when production fails. This failure will either stall production or bring about revolution. Production, at this time, has not stopped so the final motivation for revolution is not present. But Marx never did suppose that any progress would be instantaneous, rather he stated quite the opposite. His logic was grounded in the development of the world from a proto-communist/tribal society, through ancient civilization, to feudalism, to capitalism, and finally to the ideal communist state. Marx’s worldview is that humanity is slowly progressing towards a communist state of peace, yet by his own admission; the world actually began in a proto-communist state, and then progressed away from this. Is the end state of Communism actually a step back, or is it a cyclical view of the world wherein, upon reaching the communist state at the end, the cycle begins anew and humanity goes back to ancient civilization. Progression does not necessarily entail constant forward movement in the Marxist view, only that a new class will replace the ruling elite, and society will be accordingly supplanted with a new structure. Nowhere does it emphasize this progress as a positive development. What we must really ask ourselves is, is this the future we want for our society? Do we want to go back to where we began? Do we want to develop the same way we have for years or have the myriad of problems that have arisen accordingly shown us that perhaps searching for a better means to development is the best option? Do we want history to repeat itself, or do we want to shape it?

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Analysis Of Multidimensional Data Using Various Methods

Analysis Of Multidimensional Data Using Various Methods Nikhil Deshmukh Abstract Data is exponentially increasing every year, business wants to analyze data more accurately and efficiently. Analyzing huge amounts of data is tedious tasks that involve considerable challenges, commitments and organizational expense. This paper provides an overview of different methods and tools to analyze data in the data warehouse. We will analyze the six dimensional data using both relational database and multidimensional method and compare the performance by calculation using actual data. Keywords- Data Warehouse; Analysis; OLAP; Relational; Multidimensional. Data warehouses contain data consolidated from several databases and are large in magnitude (sometimes in terabytes). Data warehouses are used mainly for decision ssupport applications and provide the summarized data than detailed, individual records for analyzing purpose. Some organizations are using data marts because data warehouse construction is a complicated process. Data marts contain information in the form of subsets for any specific department. On data warehouse and data marts, different data analytical methods can be used. In section II, two methods of data analysis is explained first is conventional query method or using simple SQL and second method is Multidimensional analysis and its different types. In the next section we have shown the incapability of conventional query method by taking the real world example and by comparing the performance of both on the basis of time taken to execute the operation and disk space used. A. Query and Reporting These are data query tools, this type of tool formulate stand alone query and after analyzing statically it gives result in the form of graphs. Such type of tools does not support multidimensional analysis and can execute only simple queries, they do not offer aggregation and consolidation concepts. These tools are optimum to generate request like How many number of articles do we have in the stock [1]. That is why these types of tools are called soft analysis tools. B. Multidimensional analysis In multidimensional database data is stored in the form of array table which allows fast visual representation of accumulated data. Sometimes it is necessary to model data multidimensional for complex analysis and visualization, especially in decision support system. Multidimensional view or structure can be considered as cubes, we can also call it cubes within cubes where each side of the cube is a dimension as shown in the fig (A) [4] To analyze multidimensional data OLAP (On-line analytical processing) is used. Types of OLAP are Multidimensional OLAP (MOLAP), Relational OLAP (ROLAP), Hybrid OLAP (HOLAP) and Spatial OLAP (SOLAP). 1) OLAP: This type of server enables analysts to deep dive into performance through variety of view of the data. It shows multidimensional phase of the business data through different views. OLAP operations include Pivot (change of orientation of the multidimensional view), slice and dice (selection and projection), rollup (increasing or decreasing the aggregation level) along one or more dimensions. Conceptual model of OLAP stress on aggregation as one of the key operation e.g., computing the total production by each state (or by each month) and give the ranking accordingly. Some important characteristics of OLAP is summarization, projected data, fast interactive analysis, multidimensional view, Frequently changing business model and medium to large data sets. [2] 2) MOLAP: Multidimensional OLAP directly supports the multidimensional view of the data through storage engine. This provides very good indexing properties and speed but bad utilization of space, especially in case of sparse data; example is ESSBASE (ARBOR). [4][7] 3) ROLAP: Relational OLAP are the intermediate server sits between backend server and client. It supports multidimensional OLAP query on-the-fly. It utilizes transaction and scalability feature of relational system but mismatch between both queries can create performance issue. [4][6] 4) HOLAP: Combination of MOLAP and ROLAP is HOLAP. ROLAP server gives better performance when data is not very dense and performance of MOLAP improves when data is dense. Many vendors such as Speedware and Microsoft are thus using HOLAP, storing dense regions of the cube using MOLAP and storing the rest using a ROLAP approach [3]. 5) SOLAP: This is the category of OLAP which explores the data related to space (spatial data).SOLAP integrates concept from Geographic information system (GIS) and OLAP. It is a visual platform built especially to support fast and convenient temporal analysis and analysis of data following a multidimensional approach consist of different aggregations levels available in the form of graph and tabular display. [5] To illustrate we will take 6 dimensional business model of Beverage Company. The relational schema consists of a Fact table and one table per dimension. It contains one row for each Channel (6 members), Product (1500), Market (100), Time (17), Scenario (8) and Measures (50). A simple OLAP scenario in which we need to get the actual profit and compare with the budget.[8] A. Relational Approach The number of rows in fact table is = product of dimensions =122 million, with 80 % sparsity no of rows is 24 million. If we assume 4k block size total size id 17 GB including joins. To retrieve variance between actual and budget 6 ways joins and 17 I/O will be used which will take approximate 237 hours of I/O time. This process should be repeated for all the values, It is clearly impractical to do this with relational approach.[8] B. Multidimensional Approach We will use the same model with Multidimensional database such as ESSBASE. In the Beverage company example a block will consist of time*scenario*measure*8 bytes per cell = 55k with 80% sparsity block size will be 10 GB. 55k with 80% sparsity block size will be 10 GB.s C. Comparison Table -1: Performance comparison between relational and multidimensional approach [8] Relational approach Multidimensional approach Improvement in performance Disk Space (GB) 17 10.2 1.7 The calculation of variance (Hours) 237 2 110 After calculation on 6 dimensional business model using both the approaches it can be concluded that conventional relational data base approach takes more time and disk space than multidimensional approach. It is not feasible for relational approach where requirement is complex and many dimensions have been used because of the high operating cost of processing different joins and restriction across huge number of tables. In such cases multidimensional approach should be used, Query tools can only be used in case of simple database requirements. In this paper we also looked up at the different types of multidimensional analysis methods. References       M.-P. Nachouki, V. Lambert, R. Lehn, Data warehousing tools architecture: from multidimensional analysis to data mining, vol. 00, no. , pp. 636, 1997 Surajit Chaudhuri, Umeshwar Dayal, An overview of data warehousing and OLAP technology ACM SIGMOD Record: Volume 26 Issue 1, March 1997 Kaser, Owen, Lemire, Daniel, Attribute value recording for efficient Hybrid OLAP, Information Sciences, 2006, Volume 176, Issue 16 S. Chaudhuri; U. Dayal; V. Ganti, Database technology for decision support systems IEEE Year: 2001, Volume: 34, Issue: 12 Rosa Matias; Joao Moura-Pires Spatial On-Line Analytical Processing (SOLAP): A Tool the to Analyze the Emission of Pollutants in Industrial Installations portuguese conference on artificial intelligence 2005 Agrawal S. et.al. On the Computation of Multidimensional Aggregates Proc. of VLDB Conf., 1996. S. Sarawagi, User Adaptive Exploration of OLAP Data Cubes, Proc. VLDB Conf., Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco, 2000, pp. 307-316. George Colliat, OLAP, relational, and multidimensional database systems,ACM SIGMOD Record: Volume 25 Issue 3, Sept. 1996

Saturday, October 12, 2019

How To Make Tobacco Bongs :: essays research papers

How To Make Tobacco Bongs   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A tobacco bong is another way for someone to smoke tobacco instead of just rolling a cigarette you can just stuff the tobacco in a bowl and smoke it. It is much quicker and easier to do than rolling it in papers. There are many types of tobacco bongs but I'm only going to explain how to make two different types because I dont have enough time to explain how to make all of them. That would take forever. The first type im going to explain how to make is a gravity bong. The other type is a water bong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A gravity bong is probably one of the easiest and cheapest ones to make. All you have to have is a 2-liter bottle, 5 gallon bucket filled with water, alluminum foil, a sharp knife, tobacco, and a lighter. The first thing you do is take the lid off of the 2-liter bottle and then cut the bottom off with the sharp kinife. Then put the alluminum foil over the top of it and push it down inside of it a little to make a little bowl for the tobacco. Poke about six or seven little holes in the aluminum foil. And that is how you make the gravity bong. To use it all you have to do is put the 2-liter bottle in the water and push it all the way down, but dont push it to far down just push it to where the water is almost up to the aluminum foil and then put the tobacco in it and hold the lighter close to the tobacco and pull up on the bottle. The suction pulls the smoke inside the bottle and when you get the bottle almost out of the water, pull the aluminum foil off and put you r mouth over the hole and push the bottle back into the water. The pushes the smoke down your throat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A honey bear bong is pretty easy to make also. All you have to have is an empty honey bear bottle, a bowl, which costs about a dollar at any smoke shop, 1 foot of 3/4 inch rubber hose, tobacco and a lighter. First you need to be sure most of the honey is out of the bottle but leave about a half inch of it in the bottom. Then you get the

Friday, October 11, 2019

Bentham and Kant Essay

Jeremy Bentham was an English philosopher and political radical. He is highly known and respected today for his moral philosophy, primarily his principle of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism evaluates actions based upon their consequences. Bentham is most famously known for his pursuit of motivation and value. Bentham was a strong believer in individual and economic freedom, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce and the decriminalizing of homosexual acts. During his time he helped with the abolition of slavery, the abolition of the death penalty and the abolition of physical punishment, including children. Bentham was born in Houndsditch, London in 1748 to a very wealthy family who supported the Tory party. He was very intelligent and bright minded. When he was a toddler he was found behind his father’s desk reading the history of England and at age three he began studying Latin. He obtained his masters degree from Oxford College in 1766, where there after he trained as a lawyer but never practiced. Instead, Bentham decided to write about the law. One of Bentham’s major influences was Joseph Priestley. Bentham read Priestley’s work and had quickly changed his mind about the conservative political views that he had grown up in. One statement in particular from The First Principles of Government and the Nature of Political, Civil and Religious Liberty had a major impact on Bentham; â€Å"The good and happiness of the members, that is the majority of the members of the state, is the great standard by which every thing relating to that state must finally be determined. † Bentham was also heavily influenced by the philosopher David Hume. In 1798 Bentham wrote Principles of International Law where he argued that universal peace could only be obtained by first achieving European Unity. He hoped that some for of European Parliament would be able to enforce the liberty of the press, free trade, the abandonment of all colonies and a reduction in the money being spent on armaments. One of Bentham’s most famous works was Constitutional Code in 1830. Here Bentham shares many of his ideas and beliefs on political democracy. Bentham argues that political reform should be dictated by the principal that the new system will promote the happiness of the majority of the people affected by it. He also argues about universal suffrage, annual parliaments and vote by ballot. Bentham believed that there should be no king, no House of Lords and no established church. In Constitutional Code Bentham also includes his view that men and women should be able to vote. Bentham also addressed the problem of how government should be organized and suggests the continual inspection of the work of politicians and government officials. Perhaps Bentham’s most famously noted for his work with Utilitarianism and is noted as the founder of modern utilitarianism. His work can be found in his book The Principles of Morals and Legislation. Utilitarianism is defined as â€Å"a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, specifically defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering. † Bentham examined the concept of punishment and when it should be used as far as whether a punishment will create more pleasure or pain for society. He believed that the legislation of a society is vital to maintain the maximum pleasure and the minimum degree of pain for the greatest amount of people. Jeremy Bentham passed away on June 6th 1832 at the age of 84. Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was born, lived and passed away in his home town of Konigsberg. He lived from 1724 to 1804. He studied at the local university and later returned to tutor and lecture students. It wasn’t until he met an English merchant by the name of Joseph Green that Kant learned of David Hume and began to develop his ideas of morals and values. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (1781) is believed to many to be his greatest work. Kant’s was known mainly, however, for his moral code The Categorical Imperative. Immanuel Kant was a follower of Deontology, or duty ethics. Deontology is a theory holding that decisions should be made solely or primarily by considering one’s duties and the rights of others. One of the most important implications of deontology is that a person’s behaviour can be wrong even if it results in the best possible outcome. And, an act can be right even if it results in a bad outcome. In contrast to consequentialism, a philosophy infamous for its claim that the ends justify the means, deontology insists that how people accomplish their goals is usually, or always, more important than what people accomplish. Kant’s moral philosophy is based on the categorical imperative, good will, and duty. According to the categorical imperative, it is an absolute necessity, a command that humans should accord with universalizable maxims to treat people as ends in themselves and exercise their will without any concerns about the consequences or conditions of their actions. This concept can also be expressed in systematic terms by the two following formulations. The first form of the categorical imperative prescribes that we must act only according to that maxim whereby we can at the same time will that it should become a universal law. The second one states that we ought to treat humanity, whether in our own person or in the person of another, always at the same time as an end and never simply as a means. In order to obey the categorical imperative, people have to act on a maxim that can be universalized. For instance, Kant argues that a lying promise is bad since it does not pass the universality test. Whenever a person makes a promise knowing that he will have to break it, he violates the first formulation of the categorical imperative. He intends to make use of another man merely as a means to an end which the latter does not likewise hold. In other words, Kant does not believe that lying promises are bad due to the fact that they generate bad consequences but because they result in a practical contradiction. According to him, people can’t lie since they can’t act for the results. Considering the second formulation of the categorical imperative, we have the need to have others working for us limited to some morality principles without treating them merely as a means. Kant believes that even though we have the ability to create our own ends, we can’t use people for our own devise. If we interfere with others to pursue their end while pursuing our own end, we violate their autonomy. We can’t have double standards for ourselves and for others. It is morally obligatory for us to respect others since people are rational agents. We must respect everyone in the exact same way and treat them as autonomous. As rational beings, humans are systematically united through common laws within the Kingdom of Ends. We belong to this kingdom as a member when we legislate in it universal laws while also being ourselves subject to these laws. According to Kant, everyone, no matter who they are, should be both the legislator and the follower of moral laws. Overall, Kant’s theory emphasizes that no one is an exception to moral laws, that people must act on strongly held beliefs or duties that are not in their own interest, and that we should never use people.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

General Categories of Sexual Harassment

As more and more women have entered the workforce in the last several decades, there has been a heightened awareness of the problem of sexual harassment. The recent spate of successful employee litigation in this area, combined with tan extension of an employer†s liability for acts of its supervisors and often its rank-and-file employees, has created an area of serious concern to employers. This is particularly so given the heightened awareness to the issue inherent in the U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Justice Clarence Thomas. It is important for supervisor and manager to be familiar with the laws of sexual harassment. Their knowledge and actions will not only legally bind the company, but may also make themselves personally liable for violation the law. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces federal prohibition against sexual harassment, defines sexual harassment as â€Å"unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.† The California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC), which enforces state law, further defines sexual harassment to include: Verbal harassment, such as epithets, derogatory comments or slurs; Physical harassment, such as assault or physical interference with movement or work; and Visual harassment, such as derogatory cartoons, drawings or posters. Two General Categories of Sexual Harassment Over the years, the courts have separated sexual harassment into tow main categories: 1. â€Å"Quid pro quo† occurs when a supervisor or manager conditions an employment benefit or continuing employment on the employees acquiescence in the form of sexual behavior. 2. â€Å"Hostile† or â€Å"offensive† work environment sexual harassment. No employment benefits need be lost or gained, and this type of harassment may be engaged in not only by management, but also by coworkers or persons who are not even employed by the employer. An offensive work environment occurs where sexual jokes, suggestive remarks, cartoons, physical interference with movement such as blocking or following, and sexually derogatory comments create an offensive working environment. In determining when conduct is unwelcome, it†s important to determine is whether the victim indicated by his/her conduct that the sexual advance or conduct were unwelcome, not whether any participation was voluntary. The victim†s conduct may be totally passive, such as not laughing at sexual jokes. In determining whether a work environment is hostile, the conduct must be sufficiently severe and pervasive so as to alter the condition of the employee†s employment. Trivial or merely annoying conduct is not enough. A pattern of offensive conduct is generally required also. Unless severe, a single incident or isolated incident of sexual conduct or remarks will not be sufficient to show environmental harassment. Finally, the conduct will be evaluated from the objective viewpoint of a reasonable person facing the same conditions. The victim†s perspective will be used, not community standards or stereotypes of acceptable behavior. In California, an employer is strictly liable for the sexual harassing conduct of managers and supervisors in both the â€Å"quid pro quo† and â€Å"hostile environment† situation on the common law theory that holds an employer liable for injuries committed by employees during the course of their employment. The assumption is made that if the manager/supervisor did it, then the manager/supervisor knew about it, and therefore the company knew about it. The employer is liable for harassment of an employee by a co-worker and possibly even of non-employees, if the employer knew, or should have known, of such conduct and failed to take immediate and appropriate action. Sexual harassment also may occur where employment benefits are granted because of one employee†s submission to a supervisor†s request for sexual favors, but where other employees equally or better qualified to receive the benefits are denied them. If the employer did not know of the conduct, the FEHC will consider that the employer had notice unless the employer can establish that it took reasonable steps to prevent the harassment from occurring. Such reasonable steps may include having a sexual harassment policy in place, as well as providing sexual harassment training to supervisors and managers. Supervisors, managers, and employees must know and follow the company†s policy against sexual harassment. If a violation of company policy is found, a prompt and effective remedy should be provided to the complaining employee and disciplinary action taken against the harasser. The company can only determine whether company policy was violated. Supervisors and mangers should avoid making any statements or conclusions that illegal sexual harassment has taken place.

Investment and Japan Essay

1. Why, historically, has the level of FDI in Japan been so low? 2. What are the potential benefits to the Japanese economy of greater FDI? 3. How did the entry if Walmart into the Japanese retail sector benefit that sector? Who lost as a result of Walmart’s entry? 4. Why has it been so hard for Walmart to make a profit in Japan? What might the company have done differently? Japan, an island nation on the Pacific ocean, has none of the natural advantages that have facilitated cross-border trade and investment in other parts of the world. Also, Japan was badly defeated in World War II and occupied by Allied forces at the end of the war. Japan was totally closed to foreign investment during that period. The Japanese government sets up important barriers to reduce the foreign direct investment into Japan to develop the country by avoiding other countries’ financial shocks. Additional, the high rental and labor cost impact the Foreign Direct Investment level too. Japan as a host country, a greater FDI can result from the resource-transfer effect, employment effects, balance-of-payments effects on competition and economic growth. Walmart entered the Japanese market by purchasing large stakes in similar retailer Seiyu. Walmart helped Seiyu reorganized the structure, implemented point-of -sale and SMART inventory tracking systems, supply-chain and distribution management systems,etc. Walmart gave a free American strategy lesson to the Japanese retail industry. Walmart also increased the the level of competition in Japan, it resulted in stimulating the developing retail industry and lowering the price of products to improve economic growth in Japan. But Walmart as a foreign investor in Japan did not make profits from 2000-2010. During the years of losses in Japan, Walmart still believed the American style retail store can grow anywhere in the world. They have made similar mistakes just like in Germany. Walmart failed to grasp the fact that the consumer and retail environment in Japan has a different culture. In Japan, people puts loyalty on a highest value. It’s difficult to pursue the consumers from local â€Å"7-eleven† to foreign â€Å"Walmart†. â€Å"Every day lower price† strategy is not enough power to change Japanese consumers buying  behavior. Japanese consumers tendency to buy smaller quantities and good packaging or appearance of goods. The quality of product also play a huge role in their purchasing decisions. For Walmart, better understanding of Japan’s culture and improving relationship with supplier may help them move forward to success in Japan.