Current Trends in Business Communication Essay

Business Communication Trends In business today, communication is very important. Communication holds the business together. With technology increasing in today’s business environment businesses are losing that one on one relationship with their customers. Technology is taking over where years ago the businesses had a face-to-face interaction with businesses. What will happen if these trends keep evolving will no one in business have anymore face-to-face conversations. In my business environment we must communicate all the time without communication, we could have a disaster. Everyone in the business environment needs to be involved in the communication they need to know what is going on, what we are doing wrong, and what our customers’ needs and wants are of their products. Therefore, being a detail planner I need to keep all the supervisors updated on what products we will be running, and what products will be going on backorder. Most of the time if a product is going on backorder I am normally waiting on purchased parts to come in house. I need to keep in touch and communicate with the purchasing agent to find out when they will be available for me to pack. Our purchased parts come in and depending on the part, some of them may have to be tested and they go on test I need to make sure that these parts are available at the time I need to run the job. Therefore, I need communicate with incoming so they put the parts on test as soon as they come in the building. I also need to communicate with the engineer to make sure that all the blueprints for the product and all tools needed are ready and available to run. In my type of business, I am communicating all the time with many people of the business. When communicating I use E- mail a lot to give everyone one a heads up on what I need to run the lot. When needing answers right away I use same time, which is similar to instant messenger so if the person is at their desk we can get an answer right away. This means of communication comes in handy so you do not hold up the production lines. Trends in Current and Previous Workplaces Since I have been at my job for 27 years, I guess I will have to go with the trends in my workplace. Since I have started at B. Braun in 1983, we did not have much of any technology we did all inventory by hand and by using, excel sheets. As years went by, we now have all our inventory system in SAP. SAP generates our orders all the way down to sub assemblies. This way each Master Planner knows when to schedule their order so the full product will be ready to ship by the due date. This technology has increased production about 80%. We also all have E-mail our own computers and are able to access SAP anytime of the day. Our systems are also connected in all our other plants such as Malaysia, Germany, and the Dominican Republic so we can converse with our major companies. We do not actually use a video cam with these companies but we definitely have phone conferences with them. Our Sales representatives still go out to the hospitals to show our products and talk to the doctors on sight. We also have training personnel that go on sight to train the doctors and nurses on the right way to use are products. Since I started at B. Braun, we have come a long way with Technology. We do not do physical inventory anymore we do things called cycle counts all through the year to make sure that our inventory is accurate. The other thing is every process that we are doing is now becoming automated we are using more machines for our processes to eliminate the people needed for the manufacturing floor. We still have many processes that are not automated but they are telling us that down the road they are expecting everything to be automated. Message types from these Trends I figure that eventually technology will take over the business there will be fewer workers and more machines to do the job of humans. Many people will be out of a job with technology taking over. There will also be less human contact with customers and customers will feel that the company does not care about their business and go elsewhere for their products. In business even though technology is one of the biggest things, we still need that face-to-face interaction with our customers. Businesses need that one on one relationship to keep them as customers. However, technology is good but only to a extent keeping that interaction with your customers helps to generate more sales. Word a mouth is the best advertising that a business can have and helps to improve your sales.

James Baldwin “Language is a key political instrument”

Imagine this, you are from a small town in Alabama, but you have Just moved to New Jersey. You have a deep southern accent and you use words like â€Å"Yall. † People are going to automatically think that you're a redneck, which probably means that you live in a trailer, you hunt deer as a hobby, you live on a farm, and moonshine is your favorite drink. They will treat you according to the way that they think you are, only because they don't understand the way you speak.Because both of you are from a different part of the United States their way of speaking English is different from ours, which makes the way you speak unique to you and your identity. In Baldwin's essay, he is saying that the manner in which you speak, will determine how people treat you. I agree, people will make assumptions about you based on your choice of words, accent, or vocabulary.In order to conform to this harsh reality people evolve a new language in order to control their circumstances and/or environ ment. Black English originated during slavery, when the slaves were brought to America they were all from different tribes; therefore they did not speak the same language. In order to survive and to understand each other, they evolved a language of their own.In England people can tell what kind of person you are, where you're from, and if you're wealthy Just by listening to your diction. A person living in Paris cannot understand what a person from Quebec is saying even though they speak the same language (French. ) I do believe that language is the key to a person's identity. Your grammar, language, etc. will determine how you are treated and if you will be accepted in the society that you are in.

How can people best cope with technology overload Research Paper

How can people best cope with technology overload - Research Paper Example However, there are strategies that can be applied to cope with technological overload. According to Ring (n.d.), time connected has to be estimated. For example, one has to set time at which he or she can routinely check emails. Once the time is evaluated, one can determine why he or she is connected at that time. According to Ring (n.d.), evaluation of the main facets of life such as things that one enjoys or makes him happy reduces overload of technology. Significant amount of time spent on technological application gives one less time with family and friends. However, evaluation of some important aspects and focusing on it reduces technology overload. Technology is the best part of our lives if used within limits and for its intended purpose. For example, mobile phones can be accessed anywhere. This gives the user freedom of movement. However, one has to consider the main purpose of acquiring technology. Some gadgets such as cell phones are acquired for access in a suitable time, not as a burden that has to be accessed anytime. Time management reduces technology overload. One can schedule time access of emails or phone calls. Additionally, scheduling of other personal activities and adhering to it is

MNC Now and Then Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MNC Now and Then - Essay Example Contemporary MNCs are able to do tackle the challenges with the use of sophisticated technologies, advanced management models, and effective leadership, which will be continued to be put in use even after decades. Many management models and concepts consider human resources as the core elements of success. The resource-based view of the firm also emphasizes human resources as one of the most critical resources of any firm, which would include all employees (Armstrong, 2010). With the advent of virtual team working concept, many practices have been identified and are being implemented to effectively manage virtual teams in many multinational companies across the world (Caligiuri, Lepak & Bonache, 2010). Of these, one of the best practices that is being followed currently and can be continued even in future is the practice of enabling individual members of the virtual team to benefit from the team (Caligiuri et al, 2010; p.119). This practice is based on the principle that employees need to be motivated continuously in order to derive greater performance and productivity from time to time. Employee motivation concept has existed ever since the concept of management began, or, maybe, even before that. The need for motivation is a natural psychological and sociological phenomenon that will continue to exist in future too. Hence, it is important that employers put in all possible efforts to keep their employees motivated in all circumstances. This becomes even more important in virtual teams because of challenges such as lack of personal contact, differences in understanding owing to cultural differences, potential technological glitches, etc. In contemporary MNCs, practices that make virtual team members feel belonged to the organization are adopted in the form of rewards and recognition, team meetings through video conferencing, onshore and offshore learning and working opportunities etc. All these practices

Museum paper- analyze ,compare duccio-Madonna and child ,Filippino Research Paper

Museum - analyze ,compare duccio-Madonna and child ,Filippino Lippi - Madonna and Child - Research Paper Example Also known as the Stoclet Madonna or Stroganoff Madonna, Duccio’s Madonna and Child is painted in tempera with decoration on wood panel and this work of art dates back to 1300. In this painting, similar to other Madonna paintings, Duccio portrays Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding the infant Jesus, and it covers a frame of 27.9 ? 21 centimeters. Filippino Lippi’s painting Madonna and Child, a.k.a. Tarquinia Madonna (ca. 1437) covers a frame of 32 x 23 1/2 in (81.3 x 59.7 cm) and is can be briefly described as tempera, oil, and gold on wood. Regarded as the earliest dated work by Lippi, Tarquinia Madonna reveals the enriched language of Lippi’s work as well as his influence of Flemish painting. â€Å"In the Tarquinia Madonna of 1437, the careful study of light and perspective, which confers movement on the Virgin’s drapery and illumines her marble throne, is evidence of a strong Flemish influence (motif of the windows putting the interior and exterior into communication, presence of the book and bed, phenomena of daily domestic life, typical of Flemish painting).† (Dobson, 814) This paper makes a profound analysis of Duccio’s Madonna and child and Filippino Lippi’s Madonna and Child in order to comprehend the similarity and difference between the themes, medium, composition, treatment of space, influence of the period in which they were created, etc. Duccio di Buoninsegna’s Madonna and Child (ca. 1300) is one of the greatest paintings belonging to the medieval Italian art history which is distinguished for its sublime beauty. Significantly, this painting is celebrated as the ground-breaking opening work of art in the most glorious career of Duccio’s art and the influence of the period is very much evident in this painting. At the time of its composition, Italy was divided into many city-states such as Florence, Siena, Milan, and Venice, and Duccio belonged to Siena. It is important to realize tha Duc cio is the founder of the Sienese style in painting which emphasized ornamental surfaces, winding lines, stretched-out figures and profound use of gold. The painting Madonna and Child is familiarly known as Ruccellai Madonna due to its subsequent placement in a chapel of Ruccellai family and it reveals Duccio’s style of composition. As Rachel Nicholls (2008) maintains, Duccio is generally recognized as the founder of the Sienese school of painting and â€Å"his work was so innovative and skillful that it now seen as a new departure rather than a continuation of tradition. His style did not appear in a vacuum and his approach to the painting of figures (particularly the Virgin) is a creative development of the techniques of Cimabue. His style also offers a backward look to Byzantine art with its highly stylized iconic figures against a glided background, and a forward look to a more naturalistic interpretation of human relationships.† (Nicholls, 157) Significantly, a pr ofound analysis of Madonna and Child is fundamental to an understanding of the development of Duccio’s style which is influenced by the period in which he composed his paintings. It is also important to maintain that this painting reveals a naturalistic impulse enriching the religious theme in Duccio’s art. In comparison, Filippino Lippi’s Madonna with Child (Tarquinia Madonna) is also a true representation of the period in which it was created, and it is regarded as one of the masterpieces of the Early Renaissance period. Significantly, Filippino Lippi

Relationship between Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Essay - 1

Relationship between Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development - Essay Example Considering the fact that the need to meeting once basic needs for existence can be jeopardized in the absence of economic development, not much can be said on the need to promote economic development of all people at all levels of life. The understanding that economic development brings about better living and improved lifestyle does not however guarantee economic development. This is because the achievement of economic development is a complex and systematic process that demands a lot of knowledge, professional requirements, ethical know-how among other factors to achieve (Koduah, 2009). Kasof et al (2007) describe the elements that need to be put in place to attain economic development as values. In academic circles, theorists and economists have associated entrepreneurship and innovation as two of the most important values needed in achieving economic development. Lumsdaine and Binks (2007) also reiterates the fact that creativity and problem solving has a lot of role to play in ensuring that entrepreneurship and innovation are well combined to bring about the economic development. ... Being rather more technical and theoretical, the Lester Centre for Entrepreneurship (2011) explains that â€Å"entrepreneurship has crossed border from the days it used to be all about â€Å"the pursuit of opportunity beyond the resources you currently control† to now include a rather broadened scope â€Å"with segmented interest across a wide variety of fields and topics, including new venture creation, venture capital, social ventures, business model innovation, open software, internet, corporate entrepreneurship, global business, and biotechnology.† Innovation Innovation in the economic sense can also be given a broader interpretation than the mere act of creating something new. Innovation is actually a compounded ability to be of use not just to one’s self but to society at large (Ampong, 2004). There are therefore several theories on innovation that guides the utilization of the phenomenon. Some of the theories can be mentioned as breakthrough, incremental and open source (Real Innovation, 2011). Fusing all these theories together, Peter Drucker explains that â€Å"innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship... the act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth† (Real Innovation, 2011). Economic development According to Economics for Development (2011), â€Å"economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants.† This confirms the point made earlier that economic development is directed towards the achievement of overall wellbeing of people. Theoretically, economic development is judged by certain indicators when the term is used by economic analysts. At the national level, there are indicators such as inflation rate, foreign exchange rate, interest rate and gross

WMP 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

WMP 4 - Essay Example The result of the appeal such argument present endows the writer with authority in his presentation. From the book, it is easy to point a few steps that the author has identified as the paramount process of ensuring effective arguments. First, the author suggests that there is a need to identify the weaknesses and the strengths of the argument. This should be further narrowed to specific weaknesses and strengths that are much more relevant to the argument. The writer is expected to take time to think of ideas that may support the position that they had identified. In the book, the author has tried to explain in details what narrative argument is and what entails the development of such argument. The author point that; a narrative argument is the argument which is developed through telling a story or a narrative. Narrative argument has been misconstrued to mean the same as a conventional argument. However this is not usually the case. Conventional arguments usually lack enough fact and figures that would work towards validating their position. This is in contrast with the narrative argument that always rely on the story itself it to justify and validate the position that one takes. The main objective of narrative argument according to the author is to ensure that the writer exploits the characterization of the story as presented by the writer so as to develop a justification that can be used as a support to the argument they are fronting. The same acumen by the writer of identifying the quality of the characters may be extended to the plot of the story. A plot of a story has certain sequence through which a story progress. Usually, arguments are always presented in a certain sequence. It is this attribute of arguments that may allow the writer to borrow a flow of a plot to ensure that they use such story to justify

Research Question Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Question - Coursework Example Lastly, the study of supply chain management is important at the society level. In this respect, a well-managed supply chain within the society creates employment and improves the standard of living. The functions of purchasing and logistics tend to contribute positively to the supply chain performance in a number of ways. The purchasing and logistics influence the efficiency of the supply chain by increasing the competitiveness of the organizations (Yang, 2012). Notably, the functions of the logistics and purchasing facilitate supply chain to achieve customer satisfaction, timely processing clients’ orders, and efficient delivery the ordered good and services (Schroeder, 2010). In this respect, timely purchase and delivery of goods and services ensures that companies attract and retain new and existing clients. In essence, purchasing and logistics optimize supply chain. In turn, the effective and well-organized supply chain maximizes operational performance, as well as, profit margins. Moreover, functions of purchasing and logistics augment supply chain to realize sustainable competitive

The relationship between environmental regulation and companies' Essay

The relationship between environmental regulation and companies' commercial competitiveness regarding the Porter Hypothesis - Essay Example This idea was stated twenty years ago and appeared to be disproving for all the previous opinions, which came to the same conclusion: environmental regulation are not beneficial for organizations as they have to spend much for innovations that decreases their profit. Hypothesis by Porter disproves such opinion stating that the strict policy stimulates â€Å"innovation offset†. If resources are used efficiently, the economy will only benefit. Since the hypothesis was stated there has been much controversy around it, many disproving theories have appeared notwithstanding that some of Porter’s words were simply misunderstood (Ambec et al, 2011). Certainly, such a supposition can’t be considered as correct without case study. The given paper will try to define if the Porter hypothesis is correct by analyzing the corresponding literature. The main questions â€Å"Over the past 20 years, much has been written about what has since become known simply as the Porter Hypo thesis (PH). Yet even today, we find conflicting evidence and alternative theories that might explain the PH, and oftentimes a misunderstanding of what the PH does and does not say† (Ambec et al, 2011). Actually, for now experts hesitate to answer the question what influence environment innovations have on organizations. The issue remains unclear. It is obvious that environmental innovations are not provided for free and they become a reason for additional expenses that at first sight can’t bring any advantage to firms. At the same time such regulation create good environment for eco-innovators’ activity (Ambec et al, 2011). To prove or disprove Porter’s hypothesis it is necessary to determine if environmental innovation determined by regulation is as successful as innovation determined by new technical and market opportunities. It is not less important to answer the question if regulatory-based environmental innovation is beneficial for organizations and their activity. The Porter hypothesis is correct The review of literature shows that despite numerous hesitations, controversies and disproving opinions â€Å"Porter spirit† appeared to be contagious that would never happen it the argument were wrong and useless. According to Alex Krauer, "Financial performance and environmental performance can go hand in hand. Eco-efficiency is the key to sustainability, in both economic and ecological terms. The key to eco-efficiency is innovation and productivity improvement" (cited in Bernauer et al). This argument serves as the proof of Porter hypothesis’ popularity, moreover many developed countries try to bring this idea to life. Such approach was given a definition of a â€Å"win-win† opportunity, when both the wolves have eaten much and the sheep have not been touched. Porter states: â€Å"†¦properly designed environmental standards can trigger innovation that may partially or more than offset the costs of complyi ng with them† (cited in Bernauer et al). It means that the environmental regulation does not bring any problems, on the contrary it brings new opportunities. Innovation survey that has been held in Germany revealed that the outcome depends on the field regulation is applied in. The field of company’s activity plays the decisive role. â€Å"Regulations in favor of sustainable mobility contribute to higher sales with market novelties while regulations in the field of water management lower this type of innovation success†

What is Cultural Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What is Cultural Diversity - Essay Example Globalization and culture diversity are two different phenomena, but these are closely interlinked with each other in terms of popularity and influences on different societies of the world. Various scholars and intellectuals have given their views about notion of cultural diversity. In this paper, we shall analyze what cultural diversity is about, how it is practiced along with the thoughts of Professor Sarat Maharaj, who has highlighted the concept of culture diversity with respect to his personal perceptions. The phenomenon of cultural diversity is not simple to understand because it involves contribution of a lot of people, their territorial boundaries, power, and racial, religious, and ethnical practices (Diller, 2010). Emergence of mixed beliefs, trends, fashions, practices, thoughts, legal or illegal immigration and overpopulation are some important factors behind the concept of culture diversity. However, it is an era of technology in which globalization is the strongest force that works behind every notion in today`s century (Maharaj, 2007). Sarat Maharaj is a visual art professor of Lund University, who has critically explained notion of cultural diversity mainly in terms of its relation with art culture and history. Sarat Maharaj`s lecture on cultural diversity is based on the emergence of different practices and notions that eventually became important part of diverse culture with the passage of time. Additionally, he has highlighted critical aspects of the phenomena and practices associated with the global diversity (Maharaj, 2007). He has focused that cultural diversity has now become an important term for the governmental bodies in order to run and maintain state system efficiently with the upgrading demands of time and individuals living in diverse cultural era (Maharaj, 2007). His lecture is important as it includes insight regarding the concept of cultural diversity through wider-spectrum. He has used various important terms to interlink with t he notion of cultural diversity such as origin of the diversity, revisionary concepts, modernity, colonial power and different racial and ethnic groups other than white people (Maharaj, 2007). Further, his lecture is considered important because he has motivated listeners to understand a revolutionary turn in the history of diversity and has compelled people to think about backdrops of the practices that emerged through diverse culture notions. Multiculturalism is another term that is used to define cultural diversity. Fundamentally, it is believed that culture is a set of values, norms, customs and traditions, which is practiced by the groups of people (Baer, 2004). When people belonging to different cultures come closer to each other while living in a specific region, they start sharing their thoughts and practices both. This trend gives rise to multiculturalism. The word multiculturalism has been associated with cultural diversity because globalization and technology have brought various regions and different individuals closer to each other (Baer, 2004). Global distances have been shortened and communication has transformed into its fastest possible form. Cultural diversity is about ethical standards of social interactions with members of other societies. Today, cultural diversity is practiced everywhere most specifically in large and strong states of the world (Diller, 2010). For instance, countries like the US and UK, these are two powerful nations of the world with strong economy and well-structured state system. People across the globe tend to migrate in these countries in

Personal Life and Success Essay Example for Free

Personal Life and Success Essay At what point do you stop when you have achieved successfulness? This is a million dollar question that has pondered through the minds of humans for ages. Success is perceived differently in every individual. But what opinion is correct? What is the perfect formula for a successful life? Does success consist of the amount of money you earn or power or is success based on happiness? To achieve ultimate success, is contentment vital? These are the questions that make the word â€Å"success† so subjective. What is the correct definition of success? In the dictionary it states that it is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Depending on your personal purpose in life, success is achieved at different levels. Everyone has a different purpose in life that they would like to achieve. Thus, who determines what success means is based on their goals in life. Money or popularity may be someone’s purpose so they would define that as success. On the contrary, does living your life everyday with no regrets or not worrying about money make you a successful person? When do we know when to stop when success is finally achieved? Do you stop working for success when you have all the money in the world or do you stop when you are comfortable with your lifestyle? Particular people believe success is when you are content with the life you live, not worrying about money or the everyday struggles of life. Others may conclude success is based on your income or how nice of an automobile you drive. It depends what you view as a satisfied lifestyle. Unfortunately our society revolves and relies on money. Though that sounds contradicting, money plays a great role in everyone’s lives. In order to support a family and own a house, currency is vital. We live in a society where money controls all. Without a decent job and a steady income, happiness seems so distant in the modern American life. We believe getting an education and earning a salary will bring happiness and joy. I am not saying money is the key to success but it’s a foundation in our modern society. My father is a great example of how success is viewed differently in each person. He was a man who never went to college but was determine to be successful. He worked hard since he was in high school and now works for Boat and Motors Superstore where he manages his own boat parts department. My father loves working with boats and loves his family. If you were to ask him, his life has been successful. My father measures success with how much joy is brought to his life on a regular basis. A secure job and a loving family fulfill his goal which ultimately makes him a successful person in his eyes. He does not focus on whether he has a higher income than others, my father’s man concern is security and happiness of himself and his family which is a quality that I cherish as well. The way I interpret success may be unique but I believe joyfulness will be present. My perspective of being successful resembles my father’s goals in life. I may not be wealthy or famous by any means but if I can maintain a stable job and a healthy family I would consider myself the most successful person in the world. Since the word success is more of an opinion based definition, the only way to measure success is if you are happy with the purpose you set in life that you would love to achieve. In other words, if you are happy with the person and life that is bestowed upon you today, then you have found success. What is success is a question from the past and will continue to be the question of the future. I believe there will never be one accepted answer. If that answer is ever found, please feel free to inform me. But when looking back on your life that you lived, ask yourself if you were happy. If you were, I honestly believe you will feel successful. I think success does not always mean happiness, but happiness always means success. I may be erroneous towards the classification of the word success, but an opinion is neither right nor wrong. I hope one day we can call ourselves successful and find out if happiness trails along with it.

Used In Researching Audiences Media Essay

Used In Researching Audiences Media Essay Methods concentrate on counting and statistics and focus on in-depth analysis of information dissemination. According to Hartley (2002, p. 11), The audience is a construction motivated by the paradigm in which it is imagined, that is to say the different paradigms may cause the location of the audiences role to be disparate. To research on this, various methods are needed. Referring to cultural studies, quantitative and qualitative are two of the most widely used methodologies in the field of audience research; in which, moreover, qualitative methods have been regarded as generally preferable because they place emphasis on cultural meaning (Barker, 2012). Specifically, ethnography and interview are two of the most popular methods which belong to qualitative methods and have been widely used in audience research during 1980s-1990s. This paper will focus on ethnography method and interview method and then critically analyze them by reviewing relevant studies. It will construct by three parts. The first and the second part will lay out the theoretical dimensions separately of these two methods with looking at the advantages and limitations of them by using the leading research projects from 1980s-1990s; for example: Dorothy Hobsons research on housewives with radio and television ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºJanice Radways research on women reading the romance ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ºDavid Morley focuses on the Nationwide audience. In part three, these two methods will be compared and contrasted. Ethnography used to be taken in anthropology study primordially, which is a branch of science describing a kind of culture or ethnic groups. Essentially, the ethnography method is a holistic description of cultural membership (Lindlof and Taylor, 2002). Specifically, according to Fetterman (1989), it is a process begin with in-depth and rich investigating, followed by interview, record review, perspectives assessing, exploring the organizational connections, and finally write a report to be published. The characteristics of ethnography can be divided into three aspects: Firstly, it uses the holistic research viewpoint. The ethnographer attempts to describe the culture or the social group through the research of history, religion, politics, economy, and environment; therefore, it emphasizes the contextualization of data (ibid). Similarly, Geertz (1973, p.16) highlights that ethnography is thick description, ethnographers grasp the complexity of social community and culture by using th is thick description and restore audiences interpretation from a small range of text  structure to social and historical environment. Secondly, in this process, ethnographers should keep an open mind, trying not to leave out any information. They do not mind spending several hours even only chatting with interviewees; they do a great deal of observation so that they can truly understand the real lives of audiences via equal communications. With discourse analysis, researchers can trace the social power factors behind the words which interviewees have said. However, this does not mean that researchers can conduct the interview with no explicit objectives; a framework reflects their own intention is still needed to carry on an open style interview, seeking information as much as possible. This issue was pointed out as with an open mind not an empty head by Fetterman (1989, p. 1). Thirdly, fieldwork is the most important factor in designing ethnographic method. Ruddock (2001) states that ethnography is attractive because it is based on naturally occurring data rather than artificial materials. This method requires researchers conduct the fieldwork in a natural environment: entering into the community of audiences instead of sitting in their offices and doing research in written form. It usually involves in-depth observation and investigation of a specific audience group or some cases. As Hammersley and Atkinson(1983cited in Barker, 2000) highlight that, researchers often immerse in the context, they participate in peoples daily life for a long period of time, observing what happens, watching the audiences, listening to their opinions, asking questions, analyzing what people do with media, and how they make sense of it. Above all, using ethnography in audience research compensates for the inadequacies of past studies. Ethnographic audience research had become a trend in the 1980s, and there were several studies becoming classic works afterwards because they have adopted the ethnographic method. In the multiple cases of ethnography studies, Radways research which focuses on women reading the romantic fictions is recognized classic work. She  connected the pleasure women felt in reading romantic fiction with the subordinate status of women in the patriarchal family and then investigated them; and she found that the reason why women read romantic fictions was related to evading the pressure of onerous housework. Radway (1984) demonstrates that the women treat reading the romance as a kind of independent declaration; they seek to rebuild their gender subjectivity in utopian fantasy in order to resist patriarchal culture. In early stage, her focus of attention was text analysis, later changed to reception research. At that moment, the content of text was no longer important, but reading itself is the process which establish the meaning and pleasure between text and reader, and the results cannot be predicted by the text itself (Curran, 1991). It seems to be undoubted that Reading the Roman plays a vital role in culture studies, largely due to the important ethnographic finding of cultural consumption it provides. However, some debates challenge this view: methodologist queries about empirical research and epistemology; feminists argue the relationship between feminists and real women; populist question its critical project. Modleski (1986, cited in Wood, 2004, à ©Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ µÃƒ §Ã‚  Ã‚ ) accuses Reading the Romance has over liberated the pleasures the women get from reading fictions. Ang (1988, cited in Wood, 2004, à ©Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ µÃƒ §Ã‚  Ã‚ ) states that the book does not take the possibilities of pleasure and fantasy seriously enough. Lauren Berlant (1987, cited in Wood, 2004) argues that Radway placed too much emphasis on describing the female identity. Although there are many critics about her study, undeniably, the concept stressing the interacting between diverse disciplines which advocate by Reading the Romance lays a f oundation in cultural studies and is regarded as a leading project for over twenty years, until now it has still been used as a compulsory reading for students to learn. In addition to print media, Dorothy Hobsons research on housewives and the mass media cannot be overlooked. The data is shown in Hobsons unpublished MA dissertation A Study of Working-Class Women at Home: Femininity, Domesticity and Maternity. Through talking with housewives, Hobson (1980, p. 85) found that television and radio are never mentioned as spare-time or leisure activities but are located by the women as integral parts of their day. As for those housewives, television and radio were regarded as the important elements in their daily lives, even their work and rest time were formulated by broadcast. They considered the broadcast programs as a friend and a crucial way for them to contact with outside world and to eliminate loneliness. Based on gender differences the understandings of television can also be divided into two worlds; which means men and women have dissimilar preferences. This study marks the beginning of gender analysis on audience. Turner (1998) explains that Hobson did not take the audiences into the world of an academic researcher, while it was she who participated in their world. She entered into the audiences house, watching soap opera with them, observing and interviewing them during that period. After the programs finished, she used to talk with the audiences in an open type for a long time. She asked the audience to determine what is interesting, what do they like or dislike or what do they concern about in those programs they had watched before. The audiences were encouraged by her to tell the reason why the program is popular or why it is criticized by them. To conclude, both these two studies carried out by Hobson and Radway have great significance in the history of audience research. Hobsons study is the first time that ethnographer study on the female audiences, and it is considered to be the first time in the history that ethnography is truly applied in audience research. The main contribution of this study is that it states the specific meanings of gender in the case of dealing with housework. Radway concurs in and further develops Hosons viewpoint of gender differences; she concerned with the common populaces power in domestic context of consumption. In terms of the method in audience research, using ethnographic method should be a kind of progress or breakthrough because it has opened up an unprecedented field of research. The results of such research are conducted by the researchers personal participant experience. The aim of research changes from a one-sided issue extends to an overall scope of daily life; researchers get out of their offices and enter into common peoples living room experience their real livesà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â€š ¬ at least the visible behavior in their lives. Although this approach is still debatable; however, as Zoonen (1994:146) claims, in terms of the location of the researchers, there is no single truth in the world; the reason why we acknowledge the truth is due to the participation of researchers, they learn to tell us, or to depict detailed map. However, some limitations are still exist in ethnography. First of all, the relationships between researcher and researched is difficult. Due to the fact that people often tell the truth to whom they are familiar with, so it is not easy for researcher to integrate into the community and to gain their trust. Ruddock (2001) notes that it is important to arrange researcher and researched in a relatively equal position. Moreover, ethnography requires researcher to stay with the community for a long period of time; for instance, several months or even two or three years. Therefore it is a time-consuming task; it may take a significant amount of human and material resource. Interview Many researchers have found that interview is a particularly appropriate method to understand the experiences and opinions of researched. Kvale(1996, p. 1) proposes that if you want to know how people understand their world and their life, why not talk with them? As a most widely used method, it has three remarkable characteristics: to begin with, it is ordinarily a one-to-one, face-to-face conversation; it involves individual interaction between researchers and researched. The interaction built by interview is different from those usually found in public lectures, meetings or group discussions. Holstein (2001) suggests the relationship between researcher and researched is like a kind of friendship because of the equal and intimate conversation. Livingstone(2010) points out that interviews adapt the way of research with rather than research on interviewees, it seems to be more personalized and humane. The second and the most important aspect is it is usually deep-going. The questions should not as simple as which magazine do you read? or how often do you read it?, they are much more complicated. It is conducted on the basis of individual matters; for instance, interviewee themselves, cultural knowledge, personal experiences and opinions. Interview is a useful and effective way for researchers, which enables them to investigate the root driver of interviewees certain actions and their interpretations towards different circumstances. Lastly, interview is commonly used in addition to other methods or collaborate with them to collecting data. David Morley uses interview method and applies Stuart Halls (1980) encoding/decoding model (He claimed that a message cannot be regarded as a ball which is passed on one by one simply, it should be understood as a process which the program producer encode it and the audience decode it) to the empirical studies. Morley (1980) researches the BBC(British Broadcasting Corporation) evening news program Nationwide, and the purpose of this study is to test the audiences interpretations of television information and the different understandings related to their social classes or stratums. That is to say, through the Nationwide research, Morley tries to prove the process of meaning generated depends on the TV message and the social structure of the audience. Morley has arranged 29 groups of audiences according to their occupation, each group had 5~10 people. These 29 groups are divided into four types: managers, students, TU officials and shop stewards. Morley made them watch two BBC evening news programs: program A was Nationwide in May 10th, 1976 and program B was a similar program in March 29th, 1977. Then he used focused interview and group interview to investigate the diverse understandings from different groups. Focused interview analyzes some specific situations of the participants, which means to understand their subjective experience, and then get the responses of them. He transformed the entire interview questions from open style to structuring type, such as do you think using the word to describe X is appropriate?'(Morley, 1980). He believes that focused interview conforms to the natural situations, and the more structuring questions can make the topic even more real and natural. Morleys research provided empirical proof for Halls encoding/decoding model and it evoked strong repercussions in the field of mass culture while also incurred a lot of comment. Some scholars think Morleys study is not very successful, because it has not broken away from the traditional empirical study which considered the social backgrounds as variable quantity. Turner (1990) criticizes the research of Morley have several drawbacks: Firstly, the community structure of the participants seems to be too simple dividing into four main categories. Moreover, the participants are not distributed in a natural situation, their interpretation are separated from the typical and real environment of television watching since general people usually watch television in the evening at home. So it is questionable whether their interpretations are reliable. Secondly, as participants are assigned with the people in same social class to watch TV programs, their interpretation can be influenced by other s in the same group; The last defect is in the the connection between television program and audiences; are the viewers willing to watch Nationwide which Morley provide to them? The television content are given by researcher instead of chosen by the audiences themselves, this situation makes the research biased. Morley (1986) also acknowledged that this research has ruined the result because of the rough supposition. Nevertheless, scholars still regard his study as an important turning-point in audience research, he transfers audience research from viewing the structure of text to exploring how the audience deal with the text, and the reformation makes a considerable impact on the development of reading ethnographic method (Moores, 1993). In the same way, Ang(2006) notes that The Nationwide Audience has generally been received as an innovative departure within cultural studies, both theoretically and methodologically. For Morley himself, he has profoundly awarded from the deficiencies and revised methods in his later research to respond to the criticism of this study. In 1986, Morley launched another study of audience research with interview methodFamily Television. In this study, He aimed to find what affect peoples viewing experience, especially the interaction between family dynamics process and television-watching behavior. At first he attempted to study on the family social location and class identification; however, he found that the principle through all the researched family is closely related to gender issue. So he began to study the gender differences impact on the viewing practices. He chose 8 topics and selected 18 households as a sample and the researchers personally entered in these families to interview the family members. The interviews aimed at both parents and children, generally last for one to two hours. In order to leave space for thinking and asking questions, the entire inte rviewed process is not structured. Moreover, due to the presences of other family members, as well as the complicated interview questions, Morley was confident to get to the real interpretation. By using such a participation and observation method with interviews, Morley (1986) learned that the living-room politics heavily impact the family viewing reception so that it resulted in various viewing experiences for different family members. For these empirical differences, Morley recognizes it is not caused by the biological characteristics of men and women; however, it depends on their different social roles in family. For men, family is a leisure field, while it is more likely to be a workplace for women. Since domestic environment is constructed by gender relations, it leads to a variety of viewing experiences. However, Stevenson (2002) maintains that although Morleys study reflects the different patterns of media in constructing social life, such life is actually surpassing the fact of the belief. In other words, Morley tends to overly emphasize the importance of audiences interpretation capacity in ideology. Although there are some criticisms, the contribution of Morleys two studies cannot be ignored. Similarly, As Tuner (1998) points out, Morleys study break through the theoretical model encoding/decoding put forward by Hall (1980), Hall concerned text is the key point of the way that viewers decode the text; however, Morley focused on the social process itself of audience watching television. Turner (1998) confirms that Morleys study directly lead us to attach importance on the social forces which produces audience, reduce attention from text and audience. It stresses more extensive study on practice and discourse of everyday life. In summary, with facing (to) a totally unfamiliar world and objects, comprehensive and detailed descriptions are urgently needed. The holistic view and detailed fieldwork which contained by ethnography is in response to these needs. In other words, ethnography is a detailed report records the entire process and various kinds of approaches for researched. However, as all the other research methods, ethnography has its own limitation which is that not all of the social activities can be measured via participant observation or personal interviews. For instance, ethnography cannot be used to research the events of the past, it only can be carried out at present. In addition, ethnography cannot handle large-scale case study, such as large organizations or the whole country (Hammersley Atkinson, 1983). With mention to interview, it is useful and effective in collecting data, researchers can understand the experiences and perspectives through communicating with researched. Moreover, interv iew is also a good way to make audiences feel equal and relax. However, it is not suitable for all of the audience research. For example, it may not be able to insight into the role of the people or organizations which are outside the world of personal life of interviewees. To conclude, as two of the most popular methods, ethnographic and interview are often used in cultural studies to explore indepth under a particular circumstances. As academic trends which grow out of specific historical context, and with the care of individual subjectivity, cultural studies always pays close attention to powers in practice of cultural phenomenon, constructing audiences as active users of media. It places audience in the social context; therefore it breaks through the empirical audience research successfully. Even though scholars still have some controversy, the paradigm raised by the school of cultural studies really provides a different landscape of the interaction between audience and culture, which firmly establishes the characteristic status in audience research. Reading List: Fetterman, D.M. (1989). Ethnography: step by step. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Hartley, J. 2002. Communication, cultural and media studies: the key concepts. London: Routledge. Barker, C. 2000. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London: SAGE. Lindlof, T.R. Taylor, B.C. 2002. Qualitative Communication Research Methods. California: SAGE. Ruddock, A. 2001. Understanding audiences: Theory and method. London: SAGE. Geertz, C. 1973. The interpretation of cultures. New York : Basic Books. Hobson, D.1980: Housewives and the mass media. In Hall, S (ed.), Culture, Media, Language: Working Papers in Cultural Studies. London: The Academic Division of Unwin Hyman, pp. 85-95 Turner, G. 1998. British cultural studies: An introduction. London: Routledge. Purdie, S. (1992) Janice Radway, Reading the Romance, in M. Barker and A. Beezer (eds) Reading into Cultural Studies, pp. 148-64. London: Routledge. Radway, J. 1986. Identifying Ideological Seams: Mass Culture, Analytic Method, and Political Practice. Communication, 9, pp. 93-123. Wood, H. 2004. What Reading the Romance did for us? European Journal of Cultural Studies, 7(2), pp. 147-154. Zoonen, L.V. 1994. Feminist media studies. London: SAGE. Sonia Livingstone, Giving People a Voice: On the Crticial Role of the Interview in the History of Audience Research, Communication, Culture G. Critique 3 (4, 2010): 566-71 Kvale, S. 1996. Interviews : an introduction to qualitative research interviewing Interviews. London: SAGE. Holstein, J.A. Gubrium, J. F. 2001. Handbook of Interview Research: Context and Method. London: SAGE. Morley, D. (1980).  The Nationwide Audience: Structure and Decoding. London: British Film Institute. Tunner, G. 1990. Audience in British cultural studies. Boston:Unwin Hyman. Morley,D. 1986. Family Television: Cultural Power and Momestic Leisure. London: Comedia. Moores, S. 1993. Interpreting audiences: the ethography of media consumption. London:Sage. Ang, I. 2006: On the politics of empirical audience research. In Durham. M. G (ed.), Media and cultural studies : keyworks. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.174-194. Stevenson, K. 2002. Understanding Media Cultures: Social Theory and Mass Communication. London: SAGE. Hammersley, M. Atkinson, P.(1983). Ethnography: Principles in practice.New York: Tavistock.

The Human Genome Project: Advantages and Disadvantages

The Human Genome Project: Advantages and Disadvantages The Human Genome Project was an international research effort to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the genes that it contains. After the idea was picked up in 1984 by the US government when the planning started, the project formally began in 1990 and was completed in 2003, 2 years ahead of its original schedule. The Project was coordinated by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy. Additional contributors included universities across the United States and international partners in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and China. Goals The main goals of the Human Genome Project were to provide a complete and accurate sequence of the 3 billion DNA base pairs that make up the human genome and to find all of the estimated 20,000 to 25,000 human genes. The sequence would act as a template for the annotation of genes discovered in the future: if a geneticist found a novel gene that increases the risk for breast cancer, for instance, she should be able to decipher its precise location and sequence by mapping it to the master sequence of the human genome. By comparing abnormal genes to the normal genes in the template, the geneticist would be able to map the mutation responsible for causing the disease. Benefits The potential benefit of a comprehensive sequencing effort was highlighted by the isolation of disease-linked genes such as Huntingtons disease, Cystic Fibrosis, and the most common breast-cancer-associated gene, BRCA1. The one-gene-at-a-time approach was very inefficient and laborious. It only worked for monogenic diseases. But most common human diseases are genomic polygenic diseases caused by multiple genes spread diffusely throughout the human genome. Cancer and mental illnesses are examples of genomic diseases. Public versus Private Approaches In 1998, a similar, privately funded quest was launched by the American researcher Craig Venter, and his firm Celera Genomics. Venter was a scientist at the NIH during the early 1990s when the project was initiated. The $300,000,000 Celera effort was intended to proceed at a faster pace and at a fraction of the cost of the roughly $3 billion publicly funded project. Celera used a technique called whole genome shotgun sequencing, employing pairwise end sequencing, which had been used to sequence bacterial genomes of up to six million base pairs in length, but not for anything nearly as large as the three billion base pair human genome. Celera initially announced that it would seek patent protection on only 200-300 genes, but later amended this to seeking intellectual property protection on fully-characterized important structures amounting to 100-300 targets. The firm eventually filed preliminary (place-holder) patent applications on 6,500 whole or partial genes. Celera also promised to publish their findings in accordance with the terms of the 1996 Bermuda Statement, by releasing new data annually (the HGP released its new data daily), although, unlike the publicly funded project, they would not permit free redistribution or scientific use of the data. Ultimately, Celera afreed to provide free access to academic researchers but with several important constraints. Although a working draft was announced on June 26, 2000 (jointly by U.S. President Bill Clinton and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair), it was not until February 2001 that Celera and the HGP scientists published details of their drafts. These drafts covered about 83% of the genome (90% of the euchromatic regions with 150,000 gaps and the order and orientation of many segments not yet established). In February 2001, at the time of the joint publications, press releases announced that the project had been completed by both groups. Improved drafts were announced in 2003 and 2005, filling in to approximately 92% of the sequence currently. The Book of Man It has 3,088,286,401 letters of DNA It is divided into twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. All other apes have twenty-four pairs. It encodes about 20,687 genes in total only 1,796 more than worms, and 12,000 fewer than corn. It is fiercely inventive. Gene regulation and gene splicing are used more extensively in the human genome than in the genome of other organisms. It squeezes complexity out of simplicity, produces near-infinite functional variations out of its limited repertoire. It is dynamic. In some cells, it reshuffles its own sequence to make novel variant of itself. Parts of it are surprisingly beautiful. An enormous proportion (about 98%) is not dedicated to genes per se, but to enormous stretches of DNA that are interspersed between genes (intergenic DNA) or within genes (introns). These stretches encode no RNA, and no protein. It is encrusted with history. It has repeated elements that appear frequently. It has enormous gene family genes that resemble each other and perform similar functions which often cluster together. It contains thousands of pseudogenes genes that were once functional but ahve become nonfunctional, ie, they give rise to no protein or RNA. It accommodates enough variation to make each one of us distinct, but enough consistency to make each of us different from other species. Its first gene, on chromosome one, encodes a protein that senses smell in the nose. Its last gene, on chromosome X, encodes a protein that modulates the interaction between cells of the immune system. The ends of its chromosomes are marked with telomeres. Like the little bits of plastic at the ends of shoelaces, these sequences of DNA are designed to protect the chromosomes from fraying and degenerating. Although we fully understand the genetic code ie how the information in a single gene is used to build protein we comprehend virtually nothing of the genomic code ie, how multiple genes spead across the human genome coordinaet gene expression in space and time to build, maintain, and repair a human organism It imprints and erases chemical marks on itself in response to alterations in its environment thereby encoding a form of cellular memory. It is poised to evolute. It is littered with the debris of its past. Gandhi: The Hindu-Muslim Gap Gandhi: The Hindu-Muslim Gap Introduction The opening years of the twentieth century were stormy. That was the time when the greatest catastrophe of history took place. The political scenario was undergoing a change. The British were beginning to feel a bit uneasy. Discontentment was brewing. Political discontent was growing due to the inability of the government to organize effective relief during the period of plague and famine. In order to stem the discontent, the British played the political trump card with great aplomb. For the first time, they used their divide-and-rule political game with great force. From 1870 onwards, the British started inciting the Hindus and the Muslims to form their own political parties to establish their distinct religious identities. That was perhaps, the beginning of the communalisation of politics. The British not only encouraged the two communities to form political parties along religious lines, they took various constructive steps to create a situation whereby Hindus and Muslims would be forced to think in a way as if their religious identity is at peril. This effort culminated in the partition of Bengal in 1905. The partition was made along communal lines. The British had realized that a united India was a strong India and thus they decided to separate Hindus and Muslims, the major population of India. As a result India would not be united and would remain weak. The British continued this strategy of divide and rule and finally India was divided. This policy left a deep impact on the Indians, the communal hatred between Hindus and Muslim is still prevalent and has taken a major form. This has resulted in many riots and caused major harm to life and property. Revolt of 1857 The British East India Company came to India as traders but slowly took over the rule in India and in no time the whole of India was under the British rule. India was the largest and the most important colony of Britain. They made immense profits in their rule, but they treated Indians as an inferior race. Indians were tortured and treated like slaves, they were forced to grow Indigo and as a result the cottage industries suffered a heavy setback. Slowly over a period of time Indians realized about their rights and got to know about nationalism. They also fought for freedom in numerous revolts, but all of them were crushed as the Indians were not united. Some of the famous revolts were the Santhal Rebellion, Indigo revolts and many more. These small revolts took shape of a national movement and emerged in the form of the revolt of 1857 https://mail.google.com/mail/images/cleardot.gif The greatest and the most widespread armed uprising which shook the foundations of the British rule in India was the Revolt Of 1857.The accumulating hatred against British rule which had resulted in numerous, though localized, outbreaks burst in a mighty rebellion in 1857.The dispossessed rulers of Indian states, the nobles and the zamindars who had been deprived of their lands, the Indian soldiers of Britains army in India and the vast masses of peasants, artisans and the others who had been ruined by British economic policies and had been rising up in revolts in their isolated pockets, were now united by the common aim of overthrowing British rule. The introduction of greases cartridges which showed the British rulers complete disregard of the religious beliefs of the Indian people provided the immediate cause of the revolt. The soldiers killed the British officers and marched to Delhi. They conquered Delhi and proclaimed the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar as the emperor of India. The rebellion spread like wild fire and the British rule ceased to exist over a vast part of Northern and Central India for many months. The major centres of the revolt, besides Delhi, where some of the fiercest battles were fought were Kanpur, Lukhnow, Bareilly and Bundelkhand. This victory was short-lived as British reconquered the states and Indian rule was back in the hands of the British. The revolt was over and now the power had been transferred from the British East India Company to the British Crown. The Queen had decided herself to take care of the Indian politics as she had realized that the conditions had become far worse than expectations. Many promises were made to the Indians regarding their welfare under the Queens Proclamation, but hardly any were followed. The conditions had not improved and the same tactics were used in a minor form. Rise of Indian Nationalism Nationalism is a sentiment based on common cultural characteristics that binds a population and often produces a policy of national independence or separatism. It involves the feeling of oneness and brotherhood for your own countrymen. The growth of Indian nationalism started in the nineteenth century. Political unification of India, fall of Indias old social and economic system, the beginning of modern trade and industry and the rise of new social classes laid the basis of nationalism. The social and religious reform movements and popular anti-British revolts contributed to the growth of nationalism. The farmers were suffering under the new land tenure systems introduced by the British government. The Indian industrialists were sad because of the economic policy of the British government. All import duties on cotton textiles were removed in 1882, which harmed the textile industry. The people of India became aware of the fact that the development of their country was not possible unless British rule was ended. There was a series of famines, which took a toll of millions of human lives, due to the indifference of the autocratic British administration. Indian Nationalism was broadly divided into three phases Moderate phase Radical phase Gandhian phase The Moderates advocated and used methods of Constitutional agitation for demanding reforms. They had faith in British and thought that the British would agree to their demands. They considered British just and kind. Some of the famous leaders were Dada Bhai Naoroji, Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Surendranath Bannerjee The Aggressive Nationalists had no faith in British rule, they thought that India could not progress under the British rule and freedom was necessary for their development. They believed that this could only be done by adopting aggressive methods. Some of the important leaders were Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra pal and Aurobindo Ghosh The Gandhian Phase was led by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi; he devised the methods of Ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha (insistence on truth) to attain independence. He converted the Indian freedom struggle into a mass movement; Gandhiji played a very important role in the independence of India. Partition of Bengal The decision took effect the Partition of Bengal was announced in July 1905 by the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. The partition took effect in October 1905 and separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. The reason behind the partition that was officially announced was that the Bengal province was too large to be administered by a single governor and therefore was partitioned on administrative purpose. But the real reason behind the partition was political and not administrative. East Bengal was dominated by the Muslims and West Bengal by the Hindus. Partition was yet another part of the Divide and rule policy. Indians were outraged at what they recognise as a divide and rule policy, where the colonisers turned the native population against itself in order to rule. This partition provided an impetus to the religious divide and rule, as a result of that, All India Muslim League and All India Hindu Mahasabha was formed. Both the organisations aimed at fanning communal passions. Muslim League The All-India Muslim League was a political party during the period of the British Rule which advocated the creation of a separate Muslim-majority nation. Being a political party to secure the interests of the Muslim diaspora in British India, the Muslim League played a decisive role during the 1940s in the Indian independence movement and developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state in the Indian subcontinent. Muslim League was a political organization of India and Pakistan, founded 1906 as the All-India Muslim League by Aga Khan III. Its original purpose was to safeguard the political rights of Muslims in India. By 1940, under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, it had gained such power that, for the first time, it demanded the establishment of a Muslim state (Pakistan), despite the opposition of the Indian National Congress. During World War II the Congress was banned, but the League, which supported the British war effort, was allowed to function and gained strength. It won nearly the entire Muslim vote in the elections of 1946. The following year saw the division of the Indian subcontinent and the Muslim League became the major political party of newly formed Pakistan. By 1953, however, dissensions within the League had led to the formation of several different political parties Hindu Mahasabha Separate Electorates Separate electorate is a system of election to legislatures which divides voters along the lines of their religion or ethnicity; designed to ensure that each religious or ethnic group can elect their own representatives. In the case of separate electorates, the voting population of a country or region is divided into different electorates, based on certain factors such as religion, caste, gender, and occupation. Here, members of each electorate votes only to elect representatives for their electorate. It was used in India, prior to Independence, to guarantee representation for religious minorities. Separate electorates have been criticized as socially divisive, and for privileging one aspect of social identity above all others. In Indias pre-independence era, when the Muslims in India demanded fair representation in power-sharing with the British government along with the Hindus, the British government provided for a separate electorate system for the Muslims. As a result, of the total 250 seats of the Bengal Legislative Assembly, 117 seats were kept reserved for the Muslims. Efforts of Gandhi to bridge Hindu Muslim Gap One of the greatest contributions of Mahatma Gandhi was his unparalleled attempt at Hindu- Muslim Unity. Although he could not accomplish this task at the end still he fought for its realisation throughout his life. His always said Even if I am killed, I will not give up repeating the names of Ram and Rahim, which mean to me the same God. With these names on my lips, I will die cheerfully. He believed all religions to be true but not fallible. To Gandhiji Hindu-Muslim unity means unity not only between Hindu and Muslims but also between all those who believe India to be their home, no matter to what faith they belong. He believed that it was a criminal to quarrel over trivialities. Gandhiji knew that India could not attain freedom without Hindu Muslim unity, so he worked for the cause. To attain freedom India had to be united as one nation, they had to fight together for a common cause. He realized this and took advantage of this in the Khilafat issue. The Khilafat movement (1919-1924) was a pan-Islamic, political protest campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government and to protect the Ottoman Empire during the aftermath of World War I. The position of Caliph was in danger and Ottoman Empire existence was short-lived, but the Caliph was the religious representative of the Muslims so they decided to launch a movement against the British. The Khilafat Movement was launched under the Ali Brothers, Gandhiji decided to support this movement to win the support of Muslims. Gandhiji thus strived for Hindu Muslim unity and considered Muslims as his brothers. Hindu Muslim rivalry would cause partition of India which would result in a weak India, this was exactly what the British wanted. They wanted a weak and divided India as it would be easy to govern it. This partition would result in various riots and bloodshed, it would result in a divided India, thus Gandhiji was against the partition from the start Mountbatten Plan The actual division of British India between the two new dominions was accomplished according to what has come to be known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan. Lord Mountbatten worked out a detailed plan for the transfer of power to the Indian people. It was announced at a press conference by Mountbatten on 4 June 1947, when the date of independence was also announced 15 August 1947. The plans main points were: Hindus and Muslims in Punjab and Bengal legislative assemblies would meet and vote for partition. If a simple majority of either group wanted partition, then these provinces would be divided. Sindh was to take its own decision. The fate of North West Frontier Province and Sylhet district of Bengal was to be decided by a referendum. India would be independent by 15 August 1947. The separate independence of Bengal also ruled out. A boundary commission to be set up in case of partition. The Indian political leaders accepted the Plan on 2 June. It did not deal with the question of the princely states, but on 3 June Mountbatten advised them against remaining independent and urged them to join one of the two new dominions (India or Pakistan). Rioting The British conquest of India was accompanied by large-scale violence, sometimes directed toward the Indian civilian population. During the colonial wars of conquest, there were mass killings, but few are remembered. Violence between Hindus and Muslims is one of the most publicized features of colonial Indias history. Some, particularly Indian historian Gyan Pandey, hold that its characterization as violence between religious communities was invented by colonial administrators in the 19th century, and that it misrepresented forms of violence which were in fact extremely complex. Others see in it a faithful reflection of the actual crystallization of communitarian identities based on religion, in response to certain colonial policies. Whichever is the case, Hindu-Muslim riots became a permanent feature of the Indian political scene in the first half of the twentieth century. The main reason for these riots were the divide and rule policy which had instigated everything. These riots we re hindrance in Indias independence because they made India weak and this is what the British wanted. If India was weak then their rule would become even stronger, as a result India was divided and Hindu Muslim riots are still prevalent. Finally Partition of India The British had laid their roots long ago, now the Hindu Muslim rivalry had become severe and Partition of India now could not be stopped. The partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics. This led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan (later the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh) and the Union of India (later Republic of India) which took place in 1947, on 14 and 15 August, respectively. The partition of India was set forth in the Indian Independence Act 1947 and resulted in the dissolution of the Indian Empire and the end of the British Raj. With the decision in favour of partition made, the parties next faced this nearly impossible task of fixing a border between the new states. The Muslims occupied two main regions in the north on opposite sides of the country, separated by a majority-Hindu section. In addition, throughout most of northern India members of the two religions were mixed together not to mention populations of Sikhs, Christians and other minority faiths. The Sikhs campaigned for a nation of their own, but their appeal was denied. On August 14, 1947, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was founded.

Male Masochism in the Religious Lyrics of Donne and Crashaw Essay

Male Masochism in the Religious Lyrics of Donne and Crashaw The impetus of my psychoanalytic exploration of male masochism in Donne and Crashaw occurs in Richard Rambuss's "Pleasure and Devotion: The Body of Jesus and Seventeenth-Century Religious Lyric," in which he opens up possibilities for reading eroticism (especially homoeroticism) in early modern representations of Christ's body. In this analysis, Rambuss opposes Caroline Walker Bynum who, in response to Leo Steinberg's The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art, claims that depictions of Christ's genitalia (the focus of Steinberg's work) can only be regarded as erotic from a modern standpoint, for such representations in historical context, before the advent of modern sexuality, could not have rendered "sexual" meanings for their audiences but only those signifying reproduction. As Rambuss points out, Bynum's analysis denies the possibility of reading the erotic--especially the homoerotic--in medieval/Renaissance representation (268), for it works on the underlying assumption that such meanings are structured according to the false binary of "sexual/generative." Conversely, In Rambuss's view, "the body [is] at least potentially sexualized, as a truly polysemous surface where various significances and expressions--including a variety of erotic ones--compete and collude with each other in making the body meaningful" (268). This is where my exploration begins. Rather than "delimit the erotic," I wish to investigate what is potentially sexual in seventeenth-century religious poetry (here that of Donne and Crashaw), tracing not only "same-sex" desire "spun out from and around Christ's body," as Rambuss has done but also examining libidinal economie... ...ery of a different strain of masochism than that which Freud labeled "moral"--"Christian masochism" (197). [3] In "The Economic Problem of Masochism," Freud identifies three types of masochism: 1) Primary or erotogenic--the bodily association of pain and sexual excitement; 2) feminine--the desire to be beaten; and 3) moral--the self-inflicted torture of one's ego by the superego (161). My term, erotic masochism, would include the "erotogenic" and "feminine" in a Freudian framework. [4] Jean Laplanche, in Life and Death in Psychoanalysis, has shown the role of such transition in the human subject's "sexualization," or movement from non-sexual to "sexualized" drives. In erotic forms of sadism and masochism, the subject transforms [via a "prop"] non-sexual aggression into a desire for sexual aggression, directed at others or against the self (85-102).

Applied Behavior Analysis Essay -- Autism Autistic Disorders Essays

Applied Behavior Analysis What is Autism? Autism is a neurological disorder delaying overall development and functioning. Children with autism generally experience prominent delays in the development of language, non-verbal communication, cognitive abilities, adaptive functioning, and social interaction. Children with autism often exhibit self stimulatory behavior such as spinning, rocking, hand flapping, or other peculiar motor behaviors. Autistic children can also be characterized by repetitive behavior and obsession with routine. Wide ranges of severity exist among those affected, for example, communication development can be displayed through complex language acquisition or the child may demonstrate no form of communication at all. A Parent's Perspective If you receive a diagnosis of Autism for your child, it can be devastating. Finding the appropriate help for your child can prove to be a painstaking endeavor. It is common for parents to receive conflicting, and/or erroneous information about the treatment of Autism from various professionals. The purpose of this pamphlet is to explain a mode of treatment known as Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and its potential effectiveness. What is ABA? ABA is a comprehensive behavior program incorporating all aspects of a child's life. It is characterized by a systematic teaching program. Every learning objective is broken down into the simplest form and taught to the child in a one-to-one (child/teacher) format. As skills are developed, complexity is added and generalization into all parts of the child's life is expected. The primary teaching method is known as discrete trial teaching. Discrete trial teaching occurs in a highly structured environ... ... 28 Nov. 2001. Connecticut Families for Effective Autism Treatment. 7 Feb. 2002 <http://www.ctfeat.org/daversabafinal.htm > Saffran, R. â€Å"What is ABA?†, Jul. 1997. ABA Resources for Recovery of Autism/PDD/Hyperlexia. 7 Feb. 2002 <http://members.tripod.com/Rsaffran/whatisaba.html> Leaf, Ron, McEachin, John, Editors. A Work in Progress: Behavior Management Strategies and a Curriculum for Intensive Behavioral Treatment of Autism. New York: DRL Books, 1999. "Early Behavior Intervention for Autism: What Does Reserach Tell Us?" by Green, G. as found in Behavior Intervention for Young Children with Autism, edited by C. Maurice, G. Green, S. Luce "Roll Call of Recovered Kids", <http://home.san.rr.com/autismnet/rollcall.html> provided through The Autism Network Resources for Physicians website, 2000-20001.<http://home.san.rr.com/autismnet/>

Reality TV Essay -- essays research papers

Reality TV: The Rise of a New Show â€Å"The Contender†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the newest shows to hit the vast majority of reality TV shows that already exist is The Contender. The Contender is a show that focuses on all the hardships, training, pain, and dilemmas that a boxer, who is preparing to fight, must endure. The Contender will be a very successful show, because it has the attributes of raw emotion that can’t be found when a director is yelling ‘action,’ and ‘cut.’ By raw emotion I mean that the viewer has reason to watch the television show due to an emotional attachment, besides the mere entertainment value, or for the love of the sport of boxing. Viewers fall in love, but instead of characters, they are able to fall in love with actual people. Reality television is something that has become a major part of the television industry. The motivation and success of these shows is based on the fact that none of the shows are ever scripted. Many critics labeled the reality television show as a fad, or as something that would not last. However, reality TV has shown to be quite the opposite. Reality TV will not go away, but instead continues to evolve and over take time slots of other scripted shows. Viewers can relate to the people who are apart of these shows because the viewers know that the people that they are beginning to enjoy, and in essence, love, are real. I do not mean that actors are essentially machines, but the characters they love are the same cha...

Forgiveness Therapy on Depression, Anxiety and Posttraumatic

Gayle and Robert (2006) explain the different studies on the effect of forgiveness therapy. The article discuses about 35% of women are facing emotional abuse from a spouse or romantic partner. â€Å"Women often demonstrate negative psychological outcomes long after this abuse. † (O’Leary, 1999).Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, and Polek (1990) and Sackett and Sanders (1999) have stated some of the categories that took effect after one’s been abuse psychological thru critizing, ridiculing, jealous control, purposeful ignoring, threats of abandonment, threats of harm and damage to personal property which causes and have strong negative impact of emotional abuse than physical abuse.Enright and Reed has underlined the consequences of those psychological problems which are depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder, low self-esteem, learned helplessness, and an ongoing debilitating resentment of the abuser. The treatment uses to heal those women is â⠂¬ËœForgiveness Therapy’which uses as a problem solving respond to severe wrong doing. FT also found out these psychological emotional abuse can affect those women decision making. There are two unique challenges for recovery that Sackett & Saunders, 1999 have found.First â€Å"Learned Helpness† which defines that those women turn out to blame themselves for the abuse relationship. And â€Å"Accusatory Suffering† (Seagult & Seagult 1991) entails maintaining resentment and victim stauts. â€Å" the assumption in accusatory suffering is that healing the wounds of the abuse will somehow let the penetrator off the hook. † FT also focusing on decreasing and helping the resentful feeling toward the abusing partner and assist them to recover and develop good will.The study used 20 participant abused women who has been abused and has been divorced or permantly separate with their partner for a more or at least 2 years. Among those participants are different races , ethnicity that has some or college degrees with no or full time career jobs. Participants have been tested by using the screening checklist by using the Psychological abuse survey, the Enright forgiveness inventory, Coopersmith self-esteem inventory, State-Trait Inventory, Beck Depression inventory, Environmental Mastery Scale Reed instrument, the PTSS checklists, and Story measure.

Integrating learning styles Essay

Facilitators use different learning styles such as auditory, kinetic, and visual methods to enhance each student’s ability to grasp material the simplest way possible. Through research, instructors have adapted many instructing methods to tap into each student’s learning style without alienated other strategies necessary for various learners. Auditory strategies may include speeches, tapes, or auditoria tutorials so the students can complete their work as they listen to the facilitator’s instructions thoroughly (Felder and Soloman, p.1). Instructors should emphasize the key words during their speeches to trigger the student’s critical listening skills. The keywords of the speech should be relative to their new material, but it must advise them on how to carry out the motions as well (Family Education, p. 2). As in online tutorials, the student must be able to hear the instructions and place the instructions in action by kinetic learning methods. Kinetic methods can include on-hands learning opportunities such as drawing, playing, or writing. An example of this would be to write out the format of a mathematical equation. The students learn to articulate the mathematical structure of the equation in order to answer the question more thoroughly (Felder and Soloman, p. 2). Instructors can use hands-on applications to break the barrier between the textbooks and the information’s overall objective. For instance, an electrical engineer must use their knowledge in the field in order to work diligently through their coursework. It is very important to give the students a chance to have a complete understanding of what their class material is about through kinetic methods. Visual instructions show students how to replicate the sequence for a given answer (Family Education, p. 1). For example, a student must know the basics of a mathematical equations in a more, in-depth way to capitalize on the verbal (auditory) and kinetic (working out) aspects of the subject matter. Reference Cited Felder, R. M. and Soloman, B. A. Learning Styles and Strategies. North Carolina State University. Retrieved October 25, 2006 from http://www. ncsu. edu/felder-public /ILSdir/styles. htm. â€Å"Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic Learners. † (2006). Family Education. Retrieved October 25, 2006 from http://school. familyeducation. com/intelligence/teaching-methods/38519. html.

Care for the physical and nutritional needs of babies and young children Essay

When planning meals for young children it is best to meet their nutritional needs. Each meal should be the right consistency for the child and include all of the major food groups. There are five food groups, bread, cereals and potatoes (starchy food), fruit and vegetables, milk cheese and yoghurt, meat, fish eggs, beans, lentils (protein) and foods high in fat and sugar. When planning a meal the fruit and vegetables should be served at each meal and should try and have five servings of either each day. Milk cheese and yoghurts should be served three times a day and bread and cereals either as a snack such as bread sticks or as an accompaniment to a meal. Meat, fish or a vegetarian option should be served three times a day. Foods which are high in fat and sugar can be included every day in addition to the other food groups but one a child is 2 years old you can gradually lower the fat in their diet. All of the five food groups combined will give the nutrients required for a healthy balanced diet. Young children should eat according to the appetites and not portion sizes. It is good to introduce new foods to children and encourage them to try these and let the parents know what meals the children have tried to encourage a large choice of different foods. You also need to be aware of any cultural diets that may need extra consideration. Tamara Wright CYPOP 2: Care for the physical and nutritional needs of babies and young children 6.2 Some children may suffer some allergies or intolerance to foods. A child with a server allergy to nuts may react even if someone else in the room has a bar with nuts in depending on the severity of the allergy. The child may react in various ways such as swelling of the skin or a rash or start to be unable to breath easily. All instructions received from carers regarding their children should be advised to all staff and in areas such as the kitchen a photo of the child with their allergy written in large should be displayed so everyone who may be serving the child food is aware. It is best that children under 1 year are not given cows milk to drink because their digestive system cannot cope with it. Also avoid with baby’s shark, swordfish and marlin because it contains high levels of mercury and this can affect the baby’s growing nervous system. Avoid raw shell fish to reduce the risk of developing food poison. Foods that are low-fat, low calorie and high in fibre foods are not suitable for babies as they needs small portions that contain lots of nutrients and calories. Nuts should not be given to children under 5 years as they can choke on them. If there is a history of a allergy of peanuts in the family then this should be checked by a doctor. As with any type of allergy it can lead to a severe reaction, or possibly an anaphylactic shock and will need to be treated at hospital or immediately with an Epi pen. Some children have a reaction to eggs whether they are cooked on uncooked. Eggs may contain bacteria if not cooked correctly this can lead to food poisoning.

Macroeconomics †Globalisation Essay

â€Å"For its supporters, globalisation describes a dream of opportunity and prosperity. For its opponents, it denotes a nightmare of greed and inequality† Explain the term globalisation and the factors that may have contributed to the process. Globalisation can be defined as the integration of the world’s economies into a single international market, as local and national markets become incorporated into the global capitalist system of production with increasing interdependence. It promotes the free movement of labour, capital, goods, services, technology and management in response to markets around the world. The growth of markets in this manner is not a new, but a process that has seen the markets grow from a local scale to a national one during the Industrial Revolution and to an international scale by the end of the 20th century. The growth of international trade has been significant in furthering globalisation. During the Industrial Revolution, Britain had a significant comparative advantage as its advanced manufacturing technology allowed hugely improved transport through steamships and railway networks across its Empire. This opened up huge potential markets around the globe for British exports, at the same time making a huge range of goods from these new trading partners accessible to British consumers. Although comparative advantages have changed, this is a trend that has continued into the 21st century, with the rise of low cost air travel and other forms of transport becoming quicker, cheaper and further reaching. There is certainly incentive for this – international trade driving globalisation has seen a rise in the trade of manufactured goods to $12 trillion in 2005, a hundred times greater than it was in 1955. Over a similar period, the industrialisation of LEDCs has also been significant. As systems of production in economies such as the Asian Tigers, including Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong, and increasingly the Tiger Cubs of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia along with other NICs have advanced; their economies have become increasingly suited to manufacturing industries. Cheap labour costs in these countries encourage this development, which has been partly responsible for a new international division of labour. As production and trade of quaternary services such as research and development has increased in the three main areas of influence of North America, the EU and Japan, MNCs have increasingly looked to NICs to provide secondary industry, incentivised by low production costs and an increasingly welcoming attitude from national governments. Whilst restrictions still exist, this is particularly true in India, where rules that previously did not allow FDI are loosening and large firms such as Wal-Mart are seeing opportunities to access new markets, particularly in the IT sector. It is perhaps a result of this and other economic liberalising policies that India is seeing growth rates of 9%. Whilst the rise of globalisation has certainly seen a widening in participation in international trade – not even the oil producing nations are, for example, energy independent, some economies are far more integrated in the global capitalist system of production than others. As many MEDCs specialise in the production of services, very little of their economies are left purely domestic. In contrast, however, the remaining non-industrialised LEDCs, such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa, have significantly less impact on the global economy. Trading in ‘cash crops’ and similar primary goods, much economic activity in these nations is still domestic, with many farmers, notably, practicing subsistence farming to the point they have little to no involvement in the cash economy. Evaluate the view that, although globalisation has brought benefits to the UK economy, it has not been without significant costs. The process of globalisation has not continued without criticism. Clearly, there have been considerable benefits to the UK economy over several hundred years as a result of globalisation, but are there costs associated with the rise of the global economy and, indeed, are those costs now outweighing the benefits of an interdependent world? Globalisation has increased the competitiveness of UK markets. Competing in highly contestable markets, British firms face competition from abroad. A few large firms, between whom collusion very well may have occurred, as explained by game theory, had typically dominated domestic markets. As more firms entered the market, they erode larger firms market share with which they may have exercised monopoly power. Domestic firms are thus forced to become more productively efficient, producing at lower cost to compete with, for example, goods manufactured using cheap labour in South East Asia. Competition would also promote innovation so that in an economy with high labour costs, British industry could gain a comparative advantage over foreign firms. The effect of globalisation has thus been an influx of new goods and services combined with lower prices on existing goods, now of a better quality. Globalisation has therefore lead to a net gain in welfare for UK consumers. However, the realities of the situation are very different. Realistically, UK firms cannot compete in the manufacturing industry where economies with cheap labour have been deemed to provide ‘unfair competition’. The UK is a high labour cost country and thus at a comparative disadvantage which is effectively impossible to overcome, as demonstrated with the loss of the motor industry in the UK during the 1970s. ‘Footloose capitalism’ has no preferred location, and as such will shift production to wherever costs are lowest. Globalisation has spurred the process of de-industrialisation, whereby employment in the manufacturing sector has fallen from 7.1 million in 1971 to 3.1 million in 2005, where the size of the UK labour force has in fact grown with rising participation rates. Many of these workers are either unskilled or have been trained to a specific task, making it difficult for them to find alternative employment, compounding the problem. The effects have not just been felt in manufacturing, but increasingly in the service section as IT booms in India and many firms opt for business process outsourcing. Surveys by Deloitte have shown that much of the UK population are deeply concerned about the outsourcing of white-collar jobs. Globalisation has lead to job losses in the UK, causing social distress and negatively affecting unemployment rates, an important economic performance indicator. The picture is not as bleak as it may seem, however. Unemployment rates in the UK remain low, and that generated can be viewed as frictional unemployment as other vacancies do exist. Government training schemes, such as free IT lessons under the auspices of Learn Direct also go a long way to combating structural unemployment as manufacturing workers can retrain for jobs in the quaternary sector. Whilst the UK has lost the majority of its manufacturing industries, a new international division of labour has emerged as the theory of comparative advantage shows that global production is increased if economies specialise in what they are relatively best at producing. The UK’s specialisation in the service industry has lead to job creation and significantly increases in national output. Measured through real GDP growth, this rise in national output as a result of specialisation shows that globalisation has been in part responsible for economic growth. Augmented by the multiplier effect, this brings benefits to the whole economy. However, the direct economic benefits derived from globalisation have in fact widened spatial inequalities rather than benefited all, as impacts have differed between the regions. Under the international division of labour, there has been a greater emphasis on knowledge-based industry with the rise of the service sector, with 73.1% of national output in 2004 being in the service sector, compared to manufacturing’s 15%. Where benefits from these dramatic figured? Quaternary and knowledge-based services are concentrated around the M4 corridor – the sunrise strip, and silicon fen, with R+D focused on science parks located around southern universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. These effects of de-industrialisation have created a north/south divide, as the north is traditionally home to the manufacturing industry. Northeast England never fully recovered from loss of traditional heavy manufacturing industries such ad shipbuilding. The consequential migration of workers to the south of England has placed pressure on resources and housing, whilst some northern areas such as Liverpool have seen a fall in population. This is allocatively inefficient – resources are wasted whilst the necessary investment needed to deal with the new distribution of population has spurred further investment in the south, widening the north/south divide. In conclusion, the costs to the UK economy from the march of globalisation are highly significant, although their impact can be disputed when the importance of globalisation to UK economic development is considered. However, globalisation is not a process that can be reversed, halted or even slowed. The world is interdependent and will continue to be so, and the UK must be a part of it. International trade, the driving force of globalisation, is enormously important to the UK has been responsible for its position as a major economic power since the days of the British Empire. We have neither the resources nor the inclination to pursue a policy of economic isolationism, as the potential benefits from globalisation are huge. The best option, therefore, would be a cautious approach, devising strategies to tackle problems as they arise with a fundamental focus on sustainability.