Revealing Sweeney Todd: Exploring a 19th Century Penny Dreadful as a Literary Classic

In 2013 the mention of the character Sweeney Todd conjures up images of Johnny Depp dressed in dramatic makeup and singing in a high budget film production; however, today’s audiences may not be aware of the villain’s extensive history in English literature and the numerous transformations that took place before the creation of the musical monster. From its origin as a serialized Penny Dreadful to an elaborated text and eventual stage play, the infamous barber Sweeney Todd has become a well- known literary character. Sweeney Todd first appeared in the Penny Dreadful titled â€Å"A String of Pearls. A romance† published anonymously in 1846/1847. The first work was subject only to negative criticisms as a cheaply written tale for the lower classes of England. As the story has moved through time and Sweeney Todd has gained popularity, this original text deserves recognition beyond that of a simple immoral tale. The mysterious plot of the story guides readers through a suspenseful narrative laden with mystery and surprise. Much in the way that the pieces of the story are revealed, it is apparent that the 1847 â€Å"A String of Pearls. A Romance. † be exposed as a great work in English literature. I will examine the ways in which the story’s title misguides the reader in plot and twists the story’s overall context, ultimately robbing it of the credit it deserves. I will then look at the ways in which the story’s potential fame has been masked behind nineteenth century literary critique. Based on the title of the piece, the string of pearls would appear to be the key plot element of the story. The reader assumes that the plot will be driven forward by the stolen gems and that ultimately they will be the treasure that brings together the lost lovers at the end of the tale. Conversely the pearls end up leading the reader astray, becoming only important in subplots of the story (Mack 120). The introduction of the string of pearls is within the first chapter when Sweeney Todd burgles them from Mark Ingestrie before murdering him in his barber shop. The pearls are the treasure Mark Ingestrie had brought back for his betrothed, Johanna Oakley and while the tale is dedicated to the strand of pearls, they are only the motivation for plot movement in two of the thirty nine chapters, appearing only when the barber tries to sell them off for profit. The pearls misguide the reader in plot; however, it is the secondary title â€Å"A Romance† that misrepresents the gothic form of the story. Gothic literature originated in the mid eighteenth century and was targeted toward the same middle-class audience as novels (Davison 2). What separated the genre from the majority of works at this time was its focus on ghostly and mystical material and settings. Most critique of gothic works during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was centered on its immoral nature as it was claimed that the literature appealed to readers’ corrupt tastes (Davison 5). Certain elements of literature are prescribed solely to the gothic and can easily define a work as belonging to the genre. According to Davison there are three features that can always be found within a gothic; horror, romance and mystery (7). With this description in mind and the fact that â€Å"A String of Pearls. A Romance† was a penny dreadful whose roots were founded in the gothic genre (Anglo 1), it is easy to place the story within the realm of gothic literature. Looking specifically at the three elements outlined by Davison, it is questionable as to why â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  was published as a romance. The romance in the story is typical of eighteenth century tales, where love is the cause of immense joy or upset to characters. Reactions of romantic characters of the period are expected to be over the top dramatically (Davison 58). The romantic characters in the story, Johanna Oakley and Mark Ingestrie fit this description accurately. Johanna’s love for Mark Ingestrie is unbearably strong and the reader is subject to her immense folly as she learns of his possible death. She cries â€Å"Oh, Heaven why have I lived so long as to have the capacity to listen to such fearful tidings? Lost- lost- all lost! God of Heaven! What a wilderness the world is now to me! † (Lloyd 28) after learning that her betrothed did not return from his trip at sea. Mark Ingestrie also shows brief moments of extreme emotion when he believes that Johanna has betrayed him for another man; he admits to himself that he is all alone as â€Å"she whom I loved is faithless† (Lloyd 61). While the two romantic characters in the story prove to be accurate portrayals of romance literature at the time, their melodramatic outbursts are rare within the story and do not pre-occupy the tale. Much more prominent in the story is the terror induced by the characters of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. Sweeney Todd is described as maniacal in both appearance and action while the crime duo haunt the entire town, feeding their victims flesh to the population of London. The opening chapter of the story introduces the reader to Todd and from the beginning Todd gains his reputation as the story’s villain. Described as â€Å"ill- put-together†¦with an immense mouth and such huge hands and feet† (Lloyd 2), the barber is made to appear monstrous. His laugh is also described to the reader early on to be so terrifying that a customer comments â€Å"do you call that a laugh? I suppose you caught it of somebody of who died of it. If that’s your way of laughing, I beg you won’t do it anymore. † (Lloyd 4). It is not only his horrific appearance introduced in chapter one, but also Todd’s wicked personality. It can hardly be taken as a joking threat when the barber leans into his apprentice Tobias and warns â€Å"listen to me, and treasure up every word I say†¦ I’ll cut your throat from ear to ear, if you repeat one word of what passes in this shop† (Lloyd 3). From the beginning of the tale, readers are cautioned that this character possesses the traits that will turn this tale into a terror. Todd’s partner in crime is also subject to an introduction highlighting her villainous features. While Mrs. Lovett is described to be physically very appealing, her eyes and smile portray the evil within her. It was said that her â€Å"smile was cold and uncomfortable-that it was upon her lips, but had no place in her heart†¦and there was a lurking devil in her eye† (Lloyd 18). The description given of Mrs. Lovett, with the lurking devil in her eye became a favourite for gothic fiction writers, the language enabling it to evoke an eerie presence within the character (Mack 126). Mrs. Lovett’s outward appearance as a young beautiful woman hides behind this demonic smile and veils her customers from what is in her basement and in her pies. The horror spread by the baker and the barber is that of the urban unknown. The story utilizes feasible fears created in an urban center such as London and through Todd and Lovett plays them out to their full effect. The dreadful partners tap into anxieties that are deeply rooted in people’s minds in cities with large populations and high rates of crime. A serial killer paired with cannibalism is not far-fetched horror; it is a fear that lies as a realistic possibility within all of us (Hand 141). Hand points to the fact that while some villains such as Van Helsing, and Jekyll and Hyde have lost their scare factor; Sweeney Todd continues to fill the role in horror due to his believable terror (141). Due to the fact that Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett possess such strong horror characteristics, it is impossible for the story to remain in the realm of romance. The two characters are the driving force that make this tale so enticing. It is these two characters alone that transform the romance into a terror (Mack 103). The attributes of horror are more prominent in the tale, as the love between Johanna Oakley and Mark Ingestrie become a subplot to the terrifying murder and cannibalism taking place. It is because of this that I believe the story is titled incorrectly. Just as the pearls are not of great significance to the plot, the romance also leads the reader astray from the true gothic element of the story. The class distinction and segregation of London in the eighteenth century shows itself prominently in the story. Mark Ingestrie destined to be a lawyer and respectable middle class man runs away in hope of finding treasure at sea. Changing his name to Lieutenant Thornhill, his journey proves a success until his return to London and loss of treasure. He then takes his place as a working class citizen, making pies for Mrs. Lovett under the name Jarvis Williams. The character’s multiple roles in the story at different class levels, is a similar structure taken by the story â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  itself. The first time â€Å"A String of Pearls. A Romance. was published in 1846 it was in Edward Lloyd’s weekly magazine People’s Periodical and Family Library. The serialized story ran for eighteen weeks and had a total of thirty nine chapters (Weltman 1). Lloyd’s publication was considered to be a Penny Dreadful, aimed at middle class London readership (Anglo 46). Penny Dreadfuls were serialized literature that provided cheap and entertaining reading for th e English working class in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. They rose in popularity as the rates of urbanization and literacy increased in country. The demand created for affordable literature was met with a transition from chapbooks to Penny Dreadfuls (James and Smith xi). Penny Dreadfuls have their roots in gothic literature, as they tended to take commonly known tales from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and embellish them with details of crime and gore (Anglo 10-11). The first Penny Dreadful tales were aimed at an audience of all ages and sexes and were known commonly as â€Å"bloods†, however, by 1860, the serialized pieces were enjoyed predominantly by young boys (Anglo 12). Due to their cheap and quick production, Penny Dreadfuls were subject to much criticism (Dunae 134). In a severe critique made in by the evangelical society of London in the nineteenth century, Penny Dreadfuls were said to be â€Å"devoid of every element of sweetness and light and are filled instead with blood and revenge, of passion and cruelty, as improbable and almost impossible in plot as they are contemptible in literary execution† (Dunae 135). Criticisms such as this were common during the publication of Penny Dreadfuls as they threatened the didactic and moral literature children were preferred to have indulged in. The upper classes looked down on the works as immoral and sensationalized crime stories (Dunae 140). According to Dunae, much of the controversy surrounding Penny Dreadfuls was in reality caused by class issues in the time period, not by the content (147). Groups attacked the publications as they were a threat to the upper classes. Working men and children were thought to be empowered by reading of lower class heroes and crime (Dunae 147). Much as Sweeney Todd himself is judged by his appearance as a lower class criminal, the story he appears in, is heavily critiqued based on its low form as a Penny Dreadful. If the story were to have been published originally in a form other than a Penny Dreadful, I believe it would be considered a greater piece of literature. Lloyd’s publishing company, like many others at the time was made up of numerous authors who were said to pass stories around, so it is believed to be unclear as to who was the original author of the Sweeney Todd tale (Jackson). Dunae proposes that the quality of writing in â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is of higher quality than most Penny Dreadfuls and believes he has traced the original author to be James Malcolm Rymer; a more well-known Penny Dreadful author with significant works such as â€Å"Varney the Vampire† (136). It is not only the writing that makes this story stand out from the rest. While most Penny Dreadfuls are predictable with diffuse and predictable plots (James and Smith xiii), â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  takes numerous plot turns that are unexpected and shocking to the reader. More contemporary literary critics have discussed the story in a more positive light. Anglo makes the claim that â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is the best known Penny Dreadful (15) and that the character of Sweeney Todd is the most dreadful and famous villain from any of the tales published in the period (49). There has been one critique of the work that went as far to claim it has offered â€Å"some of the best horror writing ever written† (Jackson) and can easily be seen as the inspiration to later horror works such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula (Jackson). While â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  may be gaining some recognition as an inspiration for other works, Mack points to elements of the story that stem from recognized classic literature that aid in pushing the work into a the category itself. Sweeney Todd, as villainous as he may be possesses an immense depth of intricate and confused humanity. His loneliness, regret and fear allow the reader to sympathize for the evil character in times of trouble (Mack 127). Mack claims that this is similar to villains created in Dickens works. The Sweeney Todd story is also inspired by other great works such as the Odyssey (Mack 116), as the story mimics the basic outline of a man returning from sea and falling prey to cannibalistic murder. The connections Mack is able to make to between the Penny Dreadful tale and classic literature allow the story to stand out in plot, influence and writing, all of which attribute it to be a greater work than originally labeled. The original story published by Lloyd in 1847 gained popularity quite quickly and before the final three installments had been printed, George Dibdin Pitt adapted it into a stage play and opened it March 1st 1847 at the Brittania theatre (Weltman 1). Since then, the story has been adapted numerous times for stage, film and literature (Weltman 20). In this way, it has made its way through different classes as it becomes exposed to more people through different mediums. â€Å"A String of Pearls†¦Ã¢â‚¬  has influenced a remarkable amount of literature since its creation (Mack 197). Sweeney Todd characters along with his cannibal pie making accomplice continue to appear in children’s literature to current day, including Terry Pratchett’s Where’s My Cow? Their popularity and horror has spread across the world in an array of works (Hand 141). The story’s survival is only more proof that it deserves the recognition of a great classic within English Literature. The story of â€Å"A String of Pearls. A Romance† brings to light the ways in which a publication’s format and title can affect its success as a piece of literary work. The story’s origin as a serialized Penny Dreadful published in 1846/ 1847 confined its critique to a cheap and immoral tale meant only for the enjoyment of lower class readers. The format along with its title as a romance ignored the tale’s true identity as a great work of gothic literature. Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett’s characters embody horror by dominating the plot with a terror that can seem all too realistic for any reader. Their murderous and cannibalistic narrative overshadows the romance advertised to readers. It is their horrific and suspenseful narrative that has carried through the past two centuries popularizing Sweeney Todd in literary works to this day. The nineteenth century characters’ ability to inspire terror in modern audiences deems this story the right to be called a classic.

Baptist Confessions

This essay will consider the English Baptist-Separatist Confession of 1609 and the Mennonite-Dordrecht Confession of 1633. (M) and (B) are used to distinguish the two documents. These two confessions, or statements of belief, are separated by only 24 years in time, and a relatively short distance geographically, one in Holland and one in England, yet there are a number of differences. It was John Smyth, a former Anglican minister, who drew up the Separatist confession. He later sought to align his church more with the Mennonites and after his death many of his congregation did become Mennonites.Despite this he is considered to be a founding father of the Baptist denomination. During the reign of Elizabeth I death was the penalty in England for those holding Anabaptist beliefs according to the Reformed Reader web site. The other document tells us in its heading that it came out of the Dutch Mennonite conference held at Dordrecht . The Mennonites were Anabaptist followers of Menno Simo ns, a Dutch religious reformer and former Catholic priest who had died some 72 years earlier in 1561. Between 1530 and the1590’s some 2,000 believers died for their faith in Holland according to the Continental European Protestantism web page.They were officially tolerated from then on, but many refused to fight in wars on Holland’s part, and preferred to flee elsewhere, some to Poland and the Ukraine and other to America. So both these confessions came at a time when official persecution was lessening. First of all one is much briefer than the other. Although it has some 20 sections the Separatist confession has only short discourses under each heading and runs to less than 2 pages of foolscap, whereas the Mennonite document, although it has only 19 sections is very much longer and more detailed.It is one of many Mennonite statements of faith. A much shorter version can be found on modern day Mennonite web sites. The first 6 of its articles are concerned with things g enerally believed. Then come articles concerned with the life of the church and includes the sacraments of baptism and communion. Articles 13 (M) onwards are concerned more with legal matters such as the relationship between believers and the secular authorities. The final section consists of a declaration of 1659 made by London based Anabaptists and is a refutation of accusations that had been made against them.Rather than a statement of belief it emphasises what they don’t believe e. g. that though they do not themselves practise infant baptism they believe that others should be allowed to follow their own consciences as they would wish to. They state very strongly that they are opposed to the Quakers, but at the same time wish to be tolerant and allow them to practice freely as they believe. They do come out strongly against ‘popery’, whom they blame for many deaths. Although concerned with freedom of conscience they are anxious to let it be known that they wi ll not support miscarriages of justice.This is in response to the fact that at the time of writing it Mennonites could be imprisoned simply for belonging to the group according to Cornelius Dyck in ‘An Introduction to Mennonite History’, pages 133 and 134. The Mennonites, although sticking to what they believe, are anxious to get on with rest of society. They have a section (13) (M) stating that God has allowed secular people to be in authority. In practice this means that though Mennonites will not go to war they will work under secular authorities in such areas as disaster relief and issues of social justice.Baptists too are concerned with such matters as in such organisations as the Baptist Missionary Society. The English Baptist statement spends a larger proportion of its text upon matters of faith and these are given priority. Only three articles, numbers 16-18, (B) are concerned with church business, i. e. who may dispense the word and the sacraments, how to deal with persistent sinners and how to interact with them in civil matters. The Mennonites also make statements of faith of course, but these are intermixed to some extent with such matters as the election of officers and dealing with sinners.On the latter subject the Mennonites are quite strict , referring to the separation from and the total shunning of reprobates, though they do put this in a positive light as being a way of making the person make amends and not in order to cause their destruction ( articles 16 and17 (M)). The Baptists are more pragmatic in their approach. They describe in article 17 (B) how to deal with those who persevere in their sins, but go on to say in the next article that such people are not to be avoided in worldly business.Regarding church practices an obvious difference is the inclusion of foot washing by the Mennonites, article 11,(M) which they felt was commanded by Christ in John 13 v 1- 15. They are one of several Christian groups throughout history wh o have practised this symbolic act, although it seems unlikely that it was included among the practices of the early church. The Baptists make no mention of marriage, despite the fact that many branches of the church consider it to be a sacrament. The Mennonites on the other hand state that it is God ordained and that St Paul allowed it within the church.(Article 12 (M)) They do state though that it should be between Christians who share common doctrine. In practice this means of course fellow Mennonites. Regarding Baptism the English Baptists make it very clear that it cannot be given to infants ( Article 14 (B)). The Mennonites in their confession ( Article 7 (M)) do not directly mention infants, but make it clear that it is for those who understand what they are doing and confess to faith, whereas this Baptist confession merely says that it is an external sign of the remission of sins, but makes no mention of public confession of faith.The Baptist confession describes its ministe rs as bishops and also mentions deacons and widows. (Article 16 (B)) It describes the church simply as ‘a company of the faithful’,( Article 12(B)) and gives the whole body authority to make decisions. ( article 13 (B)). The Mennonites refer to the church in much more elaborate language as the bride of Christ and the inhabitation of God in the Spirit. The Mennonites refer to the church leaders in slightly different terms as teachers, deacons and deaconesses, though they do make it clear further on that the latter term refers to widows.They refer to Jesus as the Bishop ( Article 9 (M)) and it is men who will do the teaching. There are of course many areas in which the two documents are in agreement. E. g. both refer to God as a trinity and as creator and that good works come out of faith rather than the other way round. In Article 5 (B) the Separatist states that there is ‘no original sin’ i. e. one is not a sinner by descent. This is in total contrast to Ar ticle 2 (M) of the Mennonite confession which states that because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve sin came into the world and has descended to all mankind, though both agree that man can be redeemed through Christ.The Mennonites are very concerned that faith is up to the individual, which explains their tolerance to the state and willingness to pay taxes etc. ( Article 13 (M)) Regarding communion, Menno left the Catholic church in part because of his lack of belief in the actual presence of Christ in the elements. The Mennonite document speaks rather of a holy supper,(Article 10 (M)), as commanded by Christ and in memory of what he had done.Smyth describes it on the other hand as ‘an external sign of the communion of Christ and of the faithful’ – Article 15 (B) and makes no mention of it being either a command or a memorial. Mennonites do not take oaths and quote scripture to back this up. They ask that others will understand and just take them at their word. Another area mentioned by the Mennonites and not by the Baptists is what they refer to as revenge, but which perhaps their fellow countrymen saw as justified war fare. The Mennonite statement in article 14 (M) explains their scriptural reasoning for this stand.Baptists would agree with them, but for some reason it is not mentioned. Many of the differences in these two documents are simply due to the type of authorship – one man as against a committee, the later being careful to check with each other before committing themselves to final wording, not omitting any point considered valid, hence the more complex language and greater length. Ye both groups would agree about many things – the need for faith and understanding before baptism, the greatness of God and the unique nature of Christ and his redeeming action.Both share a belief in the resurrection and in life eternal, even though they express this in slightly different ways, the Mennonites backing up their statemen ts with scripture and the Baptists seemingly taking this as understood. These two groups came into being because of the Reformation and new ideas that were around at that time, especially with regard to the onus on an individual to come to faith, rather than being automatically part of the church, because he had been baptised as an infant, without either faith or understanding on his part.The biggest difference between the two seems to be with regard to man’s sinful nature and how he acquired it.. Baptists and Mennonites continue to worship and live according to their conscience. Not every Christian would agree with every word written in these confessions, but it is to be hoped, that like the writers and followers they would be tolerant in Christian love. Biblography Dyck, Cornelius J. An Introduction to Mennonite History, Herald Press, Pennsylvania,1993Electronic Sources Central European Protestantism, Mennonites found at http://philtar. ucsm. ac. uk/encyclopedia/christ/cep/ menn. html retrieved 28th September 2007 Mennonites found at http://mb-soft. com/believe/text/mennonit. htm retrieved 28th September 2007. English Baptist Separatist Confessions found at The Reformed Reader http://www. reformedreader. org/ccc/esbc. htm retrieved 28th September 2007

Corning Z

Corning -Z- Glass Corning Glass Works was a leader corporation in the development of glass and ceramic products. After so many years of success Z-Glass was facing decline in the yields at the Harrisburg Plant. Trying to find the problem and a solution for it, a group of engineers from the (M&E) was assigned to the plant in December 1977 under the leadership of Eric Davidson. Davidson’s Team were faced with a lot of challenges and a tens relationship accord in some department between team and line personnel, due to the fear that the team will cause the line personnel to lose their jobs. There were so many reasons that could cause the yield to decline . T. V Tube casing was corning’s most successful product and RCA ( a major Corning customer) opened it own plant to make glass funnels and front plates , and some of Cornering experienced employees went to work to RCA taking all the important information with them . Thomas MacAvov President of the company noticed that a poor job had been done in transferring the products from the lab into production . Most of the responsibility of this transfer fell on Untried M&E Division . David Leibson VP of M&E chose Eric Davidson to lead the Harrisburg project. Davidson started selecting members of the M&E team in the first weeks. he started with choosing four . Davidson used the receivership approach , every solution has to be accepted by the plant, they have to rally own the changes. If I was in the position of David leibson I think this approach is a really good one, as these are the people who are going to work on the project and communication between the managers and the plant. Andrew MacTavish was the Harrisburg plant manager ,he was a man known as a champion of the little people . MacTavish came to conflict with Eric Davidson , for the conflict of interest. Davidson should try to convince the plant of his way in more flexible approach . he should let the know that they will not lose their jobs . documenting the presses is something that should be done in order to pass the knowledge to all the coming technicians and engineers. All way communication should be influenced .

Stranded activity

Would there be any laws to control how you lived, what right or freedoms you exercised, or what property you had? Why? There would have to be certain moral laws as to how to live on the Island. The majority of laws should still pertain despite the situation. No murder or stealing should definitely still apply. Freedoms and Rights should be very close to the U. S. Government as far as the freedom of speech, and religion. As far as property and the rights to own the property, there should be an agreement as to which property each errors owns and that what was built or created by that person is their property.These would be good laws to control how citizens live in a realistic way which would help arguments and discrimination in these areas. Realistically these laws would be broken though. Despite the fact that the majority of people do want to be civil and have an agreement on how to overcome and avoid issues, without an actual government it would be chaos. Government provides rules an d breaking them results in consequences, with no rules or consequences to actions, It makes it seem okay. It Is Important to establish laws and consequences of breaking them. ) Considering the key terms from this unit, what type or form of government would be best suited for your situation? Why? In this situation of being stranded, a Direct Democracy would be the best government in order for citizens to collectively vote and agree on problems. There still needs to be a government to keep everything together so an anarchy would not be a good idea. An Autocracy would be a bad idea as well because with one person governing there would be no regard to others opinions.With a Direct Democracy everyone has the ability to state their opinion without It being unfair or unreasonable because they all voted. 3) Would anyone have the right to govern you? Would you have the right to govern anyone else? Why? I believe if it was a mutual group decision on the issue then the group as a whole has the right to govern that person. I don't believe one person should be able to govern because that is Just one person's opinion and it is a biased decision.In the direct democracy that I believe the citizens on the stranded island should have, it would be more reasonable to have the group govern. In order to have a working and stable environment governing others is necessary but with fairness. 4) Would you have any rights? What might these rights be? Yes, I would have rights because everyone deserves to have them. Rights such as the right to build a home, rights to hunt and gather food as well as rights to vote for how 5)What might people who were stronger or smarter than others try to do? Why?The stronger or smarter people might try to create a dictatorship in order to have intro over others and to govern them for their own personal reasons. They might also try to effect the idea that everyone is equal and some citizens may be treated poorly and have their rights taken away. Rights suc h as owning property, and voting may be taken away. 6) What might the weaker or less worldly or wise try to do? Why? The weaker and less worldly would most likely give in to the opinions of others. In a direct democracy they might let others influence their votes in order to try to keep the peace.This is a good reason why it should not be a one man Job to govern, because the weaker may have trouble stating their own opinions. 7) What might life be like for everyone? Life for everyone no matter how their government is run would be hard. Not everyone is going to be happy with the decisions that the government will come to and that will always create conflict among the citizens. Learning how to fend on the island while still following the laws and morals would be difficult and in the situation many not obey these rules.

A Study of Luxury Fashion Brand Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

A Study of Luxury Fashion Brand - Essay Example The paper "A Study of Luxury Fashion Brand" analyzes the influence of social media marketing on brand loyalty and purchase intention of Chinese youth fashion customers. Social media is one of the most emerging marketing medium in the global business scenario. Recently, such marketing mediums are used highly used by the firms in order to attract customers from different economic and demographic segments. Social media portals are using Web 2.0 base, which offers higher interaction among the potential customers. According to DeLuca (2011), social media is highly used in the Chinese regions. It has been observed that out of 1367 million Chinese populations, 642 million peoples are using internet actively and 629 million peoples are having active social media accounts. In addition, it has been observed that 506 million people are having active mobile social accounts (Das, 2014). It has been observed that Chinese people are using social media like Qzone, Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo, Peng you and Renren. Therefore, it can be said that luxury fashion retailers will share the features of clothing products, pricing information, store information, product range and collecting feedbacks from the customers. Denk (2010) stated that customers purchasing intention varies for different factors like shopping orientation, product interest, product types, experience of the previous purchase, and trust on the particular products. Such traits are observed in luxury fashion retail brand’s purchase intension.

One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter Essay

One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter - Essay Example This essay discusses that careful analysis of Islamic law as manifested in the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights would tend to reveal that it is impossible to invoke human rights principles under a system where what is given primacy is the stability of the state, the maintenance of culture and tradition and the binding force of religion. In the United States, for instance, though we see wanton violations of due process and human rights committed by the Bush administration, the grand majesty of the law may at least be invoked to seek redress and to call policies wrong or reprehensible. This paper makes a conclusion that with that said, there are still positive changes to look forward to. The mere fact that the CDHR was entered into by the Islamic states means that there is at least recognition of the need to adhere to a basic human rights framework and that states may no longer act with impunity and expect no censure from the international community. Certainly, there should also be mo ves to actively pursue human rights offenders and punish human rights violations – whether large or small scale. There is a great ethical and moral imperative to exhume the past if only to serve as lessons for the future. In addition, through vigilance and continuous lobbying and sowing the seeds through human rights education, we make it possible to envision a future where human rights are protected, diversity is celebrated and every individual is allowed to blossom to his or her fullest potential. Â  ... The converse of that, of course, is that far too many leaders justify brazen acts of oppression and injustice as a cultural norm and should thus fall outside the scrutiny of the international community. How indeed does one balance these competing interests The concept of human rights is by no means of recent vintage. It is used primarily to define relationships between the citizens and the State, by constituting a check on the awesome power of the State and by enabling human beings to flourish to their fullest potential free from oppression, strife, hunger and discrimination. A thriving and robust democracy, it is often said, can only be achieved when basic human rights are preserved. Cherished principles like press freedom, religious freedom, diversity and pluralism are indispensable requirements of a democratic society. It is difficult, if not altogether impossible, to argue against the validity of these principles. The various conflicts and revolutions in the world have shaped the concept of human rights as we know it. In the last two hundred and fifty years, we see the clamor for human rights as the clamor of a world and of the various peoples inside it for equality and freedom. Starting with the French and American revolutions towards the latter part of the eighteenth century, it is this very notion of human rights that has led colonized states and revolutionary movements to assert their voices and fight for their freedoms against oppressive and despotic governments - from the Tiananmen Square uprising in China to the struggle of the East Timorese against Indonesian occupation. When the United Nations was created in 1948 by a world still reeling from the ravages of the Second World War and intent on healing the wounds

Policy of Mandatory Marriage Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Policy of Mandatory Marriage - Research Proposal Example However, marriage requires more than just love between partners, and if this is not considered it is likely that after a few years of marriage the seeds of divorce germinate and take root (Jasper 54). The topic aims at, firstly, establishing the various causes of divorce. Secondly, it shows that through educating couples on the essence of marriage then they will respect and uphold it as an institution. Thirdly, it aims at showing that couples who have understood the essence of marriage through marriage education would avoid incidences of divorce through; biding their time, not rushing into marriage until they find the right person or going into marriage when they have armed themselves with weapons that would counter any divorce triggers (Jasper 94). Plan of fulfilling the topic The topic will start with a discussion of; the importance of marriage, misconceptions about marriage, the reasons for divorce and the negativity and pain that come with divorce. The topic will also address the way in which the media has portrayed marriage.

International Human Rights Apply Equally, Despite Cultural Differences Essay

International Human Rights Apply Equally, Despite Cultural Differences - Essay Example xile; right to a fair and public hearing by an impartial tribunal; to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise; freedom from arbitrary interference with his family or home; freedom from attacks on his honor and reputation; freedom of movement and residence within the borders of his country; freedom to leave and return to his country; freedom to seek asylum and to flee persecution; right to a nationality4. Article 16 also emphasizes that men and women of legal age who have no limitations to marry have the right to marry and start a family; to own property and to associate with others; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; freedom of opinion and expression; peaceful assembly and association; to choose government officials; to access public services; to social security; to choose their work and to enjoy just and favorable work conditions, including equal pay for equal work; to rest and leisure; right to a standard of living sufficient for his health and well being (food, cloth ing, shelter, medical care, and social services); to education; to freely participate in the cultural life of the community; and to social and international order where rights can be realized. These rights are also in line with a person’s duties in the community. These rights are subject to limitations as determined by law and in line with the recognition of the rights of others and of ensuring morality, public order, and general welfare5. In effect, these rights are not absolute and they still have to be evaluated in terms of their impact on public order and morality. Universality of human rights Human rights, as discussed by some circles are said to be endowed to individuals by the mere reason of being human6. Rights are means by which members of society participate in the activities in... This essay has sought to present an academic understanding of international human rights as they come into conflict with the people’s culture. The premise that international human rights apply equally, despite cultural differences, is a premise which is clouded with much controversy, with different nations and cultures clashing with the ideal standards of the international community. The principle of non-interference and state sovereignty is being used as a defense for these nations who seemingly violate these international human rights. This report makes a conclusion that the practices set forth as human rights violations may not actually be considered as violations for peoples which have made these practices a part of their culture. Nevertheless, based on the mandates of the UN Charter, these are deemed violations of human rights. Based on the above discussion, there is a need to set forth universal human rights in order to prevent the violations of such rights which are unf airly justified under culture and traditions. Allowing said violations to remain uncorrected is a dangerous practice to carry out because these practices may further support the dictatorial and abusive regimes of governments. In effect, although there are inherent dangers which are expected with the implementation of standard human rights, the gains are very much beneficial to most cultures and to the citizens of the world. This paper stresses that modern international human rights law as was previously discussed was conceptualized as a response to the atrocities carried out during and prior to the Second World War.

Vulnerability of an organizations information system Research Paper

Vulnerability of an organizations information system - Research Paper Example Vulnerability in regard to organizational information systems can be defined as â€Å"a weakness that allows a threat to be realized or to have an effect on an asset† (Kim & Solomon, 2010, p.6). Thus it can be realized that a threat is not capable of affecting an information system unless the system is weak or vulnerable not to survive an attack (Kim & Solomon, 2010, p.6). Thus the vulnerabilities of an organization’s information systems reflect that the organization’s control over the systems has either become lost or ineffective (Whitman & Mattord, 2011, p.65). In the present times, the cyber world has taken a significant position in both organizational as well as personal lives. The most critical factor that has been obtained as making the information systems vulnerable to cyber threats and attacks is the human element. The information technology (IT) managers of today’s business organizations are thus encountered with severe challenges in regard to suc h vulnerabilities (Platsis, 2012). The present study focuses on the vulnerabilities those organizational information systems presently challenging the IT managers, with over viewing the most important cyber security vulnerability and considering measures that might protect organizations from such vulnerabilities. ... All these media, if vulnerable, can lead to cyber intrusions causing cyber threats or attacks, thus affecting the entire information system of the organization. Hardware and Software: Information systems viruses and other malwares have the capability to destroy the software system of computers, or they might affect the security functions of the system. Thus this makes the software vulnerable allowing outsiders to steal information and use their commands on the organizations’ computers and information devices to manipulate information as per their need. This initiates the need for an organization to consider the use of antivirus tools essentially as well as update the system’s functions on a regular basis to detect any vulnerability, in advance (Kazmeyer, 2013). Considering the vulnerabilities of the hardware, it is of major concern since the unsecured terminals can be taken advantage of by outsiders along with the help of network access points, using which they might ge t access to systems that are otherwise protected. Security functions may be circumvented by an intruder if they get access to server rooms or floors where the computer systems are placed for work. Thus in order to prevent this, organizations need to have strict control over the access of any individual to the hardware such that such vulnerabilities may not be taken advantage of (Kazmeyer, 2013). Transmission Media: The media of transmission in organizations include both cabling as well as wireless communication media. In case of cabling, wires are used for transmission, that in many cases pass through the walls and channels of the organization eventually terminating the plugs of the walls

Corn Supply and Demand Schedule Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Corn Supply and Demand Schedule - Essay Example By showing the relationship between price and quantity, the demand schedule most commonly consists of two columns. The first column lists the current price of a product, listed in ascending or descending order. The second column lists the quantity of the product that is desired, or demanded, at that price. As the price rises, the quantity demanded tends to reduce. When the data in the table is graphed, creating the demand curve, it demonstrates the relationship between various price points and the corresponding demand. The demand curve can provide a way to estimate the demand for the product at any point along the curve. Demand and Supply Schedules A demand schedule is typically used in conjunction with a supply schedule showing the quantity of a good that would be supplied to the market at given price levels. Graphing both schedules on a chart with the axes described above, it is possible to obtain a graphical representation of the supply and demand dynamics of a particular market. Ceteris paribus, the market reaches an equilibrium where the supply and demand schedules intersect. At this point, the corresponding price is the equilibrium market price, and the corresponding quantity is the equilibrium quantity exchanged in the market.

Project Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Project Management - Case Study Example This results into continuous problems hindering the realization of the project goals. The company is left with no choice but to hire another CEO Andre Gignac after twelve months to oversee the success of the project. Indeed their decision was a rewarding one. Andre organized staffs into various groups and delegated specific duties to the members so as to avoid confrontation arising from different departments. Provided motivational support which ensured every member was committed towards the course of project delivery. To the disbelief the management, the company had managed to achieve its objectives within three months something that was impossible with the predecessor. The hiring of Mr. Rogerge was purely based on assumptions and not on merit of having the best skills required to achieve objectives (Furman, 2011). Having knowledge about a concept does not necessarily mean one can be the best manager to oversee the ideas as Mr.Roberge has thought. The CEO found it hard to coordinate work between the different workforces at his disposal, was self-centered and had no best interest at hand to deliver on the project which eventually led to his failure. However this is contrary to what Andre Gignac did to the organization. He had experience and understands what management means and do not have to know IT skills for him to be a success. He understands the role of collective responsibility in the organization in the development of any project course (Furman, 2011). He clearly distinguishes duties and responsibility to persons to ensure a smooth flow of work. Andre provided encouragement, unity in the workforce by hosting evening parties. This has made the manager to achieve goals within the unexpected period of time. Hiring of well trained, qualified and experienced mangers complimented with a good design by integrating whole departments will make the organization to achieve its goals since smooth flow of work is ensured and commitment while

Why people bet online or prefer betting in stores Research Proposal

Why people bet online or prefer betting in stores - Research Proposal Example This is according to Luntz (2006). For starters, an individual can gamble within several sites. It is imperative to note that those sites offer massive rewards and bonuses. The bonuses come when the betting sites agree to reward new customers who have just registered to their sites. At the same time, the betting sites may agree to reward their old and loyal customers (Luntz 2006, 467). By this, they will be making the customers committed to what they do. Betting rewards also come in the form of clients being allowed to offer free bets on some occasions. In addition, the customers may be offered general bonuses. According to Petry (2004), we should not ignore the fact that people practice online sports betting because they find it somewhat safe. This fact may be debatable especially because there are a number of sites that claim to provide opportunities for betting, while their main intention is to fraud the public at large. Nevertheless, most of the betting sites in the UK are under the management of well-known companies with an irrefutable reputation like William Hill, Gala Coral, Bet365, Sky Betting and Gaming and 32Red among others (Petry 2004, 661). This makes online sports betting to be safe. Another reason as to why people indulge in online sports betting is the fact that it is comfortable.This is according to Kelly (2011). The ease is because for one to participate in online sports betting, then they need to be computer literate and have data access. The two requirements will enable any interested party to register on any online sports’ betting site and take part in betting. The ease is also demonstrated by the fact that the customers can... Considering how rapidly the betting industry has been growing, then I may be forgiven if I said that betting might just be as old as the society. The UK opened its doors to betting back in 1961 and since then the industry has never looked back. The betting shops have been rising in the number and so does the number of those who practice betting. Originally, people used to bet by visiting the betting shops. Supplementary to that, some people employed the services of a telephone credit betting. Due to the advancement in technology, however, some people started opting for online betting. And indeed online betting has not disappointed. The organizztion of the literature review is such that it first deals with why people carry out online sports betting followed by the reasons why people bet in stores. It is beyond doubt that betting is slowly spreading its wings into our society. It does not consider age given that children as little as 12 years old have attested to be involved in betting at one point. Similarly, even the older population takes part in betting because statistics reveal that those aged above sixty also take part in betting. In like manner, betting knows no gender because both males and females take part in it (Abott 2009, 412). We may not be able to predict the rate at which betting is advancing in the society. One fact for sure is that, whichever form of betting one involves in, be it online sports betting or visiting the betting stores, betting is gaining ground. In addition, we ought to appreciate the findings and works of the various authours reviewed above. This is because they have managed to bring us upto speed with an area of our life we almost forgot.

Education and career goals for a scholarship Essay - 1

Education and career goals for a scholarship - Essay Example Hence, serve the global community better as an accountant in an area that I have passion in beside acting as a role model to young women. Many people in the community perceive accounting as a demanding career and by taking this challenge, I will encourage many young people to venture into this field. Additionally, women for long have been relegated to low-paying jobs in the service industry. For instance, waitressing and retail positions though this seems to be changing for the better and I would like to be a part of that shift. Therefore, it would be empowering to be among those intending to break the glass ceiling and assume strategic positions in the corporate sector. However, to be in a position to achieve these goals, I require a lot of support particularly financial. This is because my husband and I own a small business in Loveland whose net income is not even sufficient for us. We neither pay ourselves a salary nor do I have any other funding available from Stafford loans for my education. Hence, implying realizing my goals will be quite a challenge due to economic constraints, which we are experiencing. This is despite having searched relentlessly for organizations that would help me in achieving my academic goals. Therefore, based on my financial condition I believe that I deserve this scholarship opportunity. Since, I am hardworking, tenacious and always striving to succeed in every endeavor I undertake. Besides, I want to be a role model for other young women in my community. Therefore, awarding me this scholarship opportunity in your foundation will help me accomplish my educational and career goals. I look forward to your positive

TERRORISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

TERRORISM AND POLITICAL VIOLENC - Essay Example The challenge therefore is about getting a clear distinction between terrorism and crime. Acts of terrorism has risen tremendously in the world and they are normally carried out by those with extreme goals. United States Department of Defense sees terrorism as an act of unlawful violence intended to create fear and used to intimidate governments or societies either for political, religious or ideological reasons. Terrorism is so much linked to political violence Historical Aspect of Terrorism Acts of terrorism has been in existence for millennia and so it is not something that just began the other day. The question one asks is, can an Unabomber doing a campaign for terrorism be termed as criminal, terrorist or a revolutionist? The French revolutionary state got into the same state of confusion when it instituted systematic state terror around 1970s leading to death of many people. Concept of moral equivalency broadens definition of what constitutes terrorism and that which is not. Cr itics argue that what matters is the outcome of the act and not the intent. If a military force with uniform cause damage to a population is categorized as the same as directing a bomb to the civilians deliberately. Anyone is termed as a terrorist as long as that person has caused harm to innocent civilians only that military action is a form of terrorism with a different name (Fridell,2001). Terrorism flexible and adaptable and therefore these characteristics have led to confusion all over the world. Tactics of committing acts of terrorism have been changing significantly over the recent past and more importantly increase in the number of causes and social context for terrorism. Nowadays most terrorist continue to perform their acts in the name of revolution and fulfillment of religious duties. The change of tactics makes it difficult for government and the security agencies and to fight this vice in the society. The elected leaders who are charged with the responsibility of fighti ng for people’s rights are the main culprits and most of them do these things to maintain their political positions. Terrorism traces its roots to so many years back and it has been going through series of revolution. The very first kind of terrorism of 1st and 14th century AD that exhibits the same acts as one’s being experienced today was Zealots of Judea, who Romans refer to as dagger-men campaigned for assassination of the Roman forces and those Jews who collaborated with them. Their aim was to express their belief that they were not ready anymore to remain subjects to Roman rule while being dictated by Judaism. Another group was the Assassins a group that broke from Shia Islam adopting a tactic of assassinating enemy leaders because the cult prevented open combat owing to limited manpower (Han,2010). This secretive killing of enemy leaders sends a fearful awe in their enemies and so they are forerunners of the current terrorism in terms of motivation, organization , and goals and indeed they made a psychological impact. Between 14th and 18th century, terror was applied extensively in warfare as well as in resolving conflicts. There was an uninterrupted communication and this led to open warfare. Kingdoms and principalities broke up to form nations and by then these nations had enough strength authority to curb the terrorism menace. The use of the word â€Å"Terrorism† was first initiated by French revolution following a

Impact of Domestic Violence on Children Research Proposal

Impact of Domestic Violence on Children - Research Proposal Example successfully, the researcher has to have a clear schedule of the activities to be carried out, choose the best data-collection method, and have a clear budget plan that matches the targeted population and the sampling design. The researcher should have knowledge on how to present and analyze the data collected. The researcher should keep the right level of ethical standards and carry out the research without any bias. He should at the same time accord the respondent the highest level of confidentiality and ensure honest response from the respondents. In this regard, the best method will be either face-to-face interviews or online (phone call) interviews. The questions can be both open ended and closed ended questions that can give the respondent opportunity to elaborate on their response. The project begins from 4th November 2014, where the research proposal is prepared for the next one week. Using the data collected, data analysis begins on 18th November to 24th of the same month. The researcher then engages in project compilation and gets presented between 2nd and 8th December. Domestic violence is defined as a situation whereby one party in a relationship controls the other and may even assault them sexually, mentally or physically (Summers, 2002). The family to which a child belongs to plays a major role towards determining the well-being of that child physically and mentally. Domestic violence affects children emotionally and psychologically. The effects of the child’s experience at home are reflected on other activities such as the child’s relationships with other children and the child’s education (Summers, 2002). Cases of domestic violence have significantly increased, and it has turned into a matter of concern especially due to the effects directed to the innocent children (Summers, 2002). In a family where domestic violence occurs often, the likelihood of there being peace and happiness is very low (Summers, 2002). A child in such a home

Project management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Project management - Essay Example A project manger should be aware of leading a group of people rather than only managing them. Being a project manger can be a wonderful experience, not only is it challenging but it also helps us in stretching our minds and abilities further than what we thought. A project is a usually a small venture to create products or services. In some organization which comprises of application developers, consultants or IT integration whatever they do is a project because they complete a project for other organization or for their own business success. Therefore, as Kevin Kocis mentioned in his interview that the best part of IT Project management is leading and initiative that solves the business needs and or helps in the success of the business. IT Management is the all about implementing of technology and inspiring the team members. In a technical project the largest group of people involved are the users. Now that we have established the meaning of Project Management we shall proceed further and see what is required to start a project. To start a project all the information about the same is collected from people who are associated or have interest in the project. After all the information is gathered, than the project manager fits them together and finalizes whether this information can be deemed as a project or not. This similar theory is also explained by Kevin Kocis. The Project manger should establish the start and end time of the project. He is responsible for seeing whether the target is achieved and also developing ways to reach the target and making way for his team members. The one who is funding the project is known as the project sponsor. The project sponsor shall determine what the end result of the project should look like. To communicate between his seniors and team, the project manger acts like the interpreter as sometime the person who is funding the project is unaware about the information and relies on the project manager to help him

Answer the questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Answer the questions - Assignment Example Secondly, McCoy was tired from the lock trek he had already been on; therefore, carrying the Sadhu down the slope was going to be a more than impossible task to accomplish. Additionally, everyone in the group was disjointed, and thus there was no common ground to make a decision. As a defense for McCoy, I would say that the circumstances that prevailed in the mountain provided him with little or no rope on which to make an informed decision. Each decision he would have made would have had consequences. The decision he made to treat the Sadhu for hypothermia helped a great deal to bring the Sadhu back to vigor from the lifeless state he had been in prior to the McCoy’s intervention. In conclusion, McCoy did something to mitigate the situation even if it was enough to suffice the situation. In this case, I think McCoy would have stopped to help. Women and children are vulnerable and as such, McCoy would have been motivated to help. Additionally, there is a vast chasm between the Western culture and Asian culture since McCoy hails from the western culture he would have stopped to help the western woman. Besides, children are a responsibility of everyone in the Western culture; therefore, he would have also been forced to help if it were a child. McCoy helping a western woman or a child matters because failure to do so would lead us to question his values, as well as moral grounding. Women and children are vulnerable and as such, it is essential to assist them. Context is essential for us to empathize with McCoy in this situation. Besides, context enables to learn from experiences and hence make a better decision in the future. The conditions that prevailed in McCoy’s case were grave, and McCoy was in danger of being spent up or getting an attack of altitude sickness. Absolutely. The dangers that one faces on top of the mountain are life-threatening in nature – altitude sickness, accidents, hypothermia – to mention but a few. When making a judgment, in

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson proved that institutions are the Essay

Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson proved that institutions are the ultimate cause of economic development. Do you agree - Essay Example As a result, in societies where political and economic power has been distributed for a long time on a consistent basis, institutions are usually path-reliant. This occurs even in societies where the institutions are socioeconomically below the optimal standards of operation. Acemoglu et al. (2001:1395) state that many scientists and economists hold that contrasts in institutions and government policies are the primary causes of huge disparities in income per capita among countries. They further claim that contrasts in colonial experience may be a genesis of exogenous disparities in institutions. This claim is based on two logics. The first is that Europeans employed very different strategies when colonizing other nations, and these strategies spawned different institutions. On one hand, such as in New Zealand, America, and Australia, they established institutions that implemented the rule of law and promoted investment. On the other hand, in countries like Ghana (Gold Coast) and the Congo, they established exploitative regimes aimed at quickly extracting resources. These institutions impeded economic growth and investment. Secondly, the institutions established in both extremes of the world remain in place today and have led to the differences in econom ic development and stability of the affected countries (Acemoglu, Johnson, & Robinson, 2001:1395). According to Acemoglu et al. (2002:572), Atlantic trade catalysed European growth via ancillary institutional media as well as its more pertinent root effects. However, the crux of their argument, which relates to this paper, is that Atlantic trade earned huge profits for merchant interests in favour of institutional reform in states that satisfied two vital preconditions: democratic initial institutions and convenient access to the Atlantic. The result was a shift in political influence away from the

Network Security Planning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Network Security Planning - Research Paper Example Over the year network infrastructure has always been suffering major threats and immeasurable attacks of the data panel. The following has been established as the major threats to the network infrastructure: In order to secure network infrastructure one must secure and manage the access of such infrastructure devices. Compromising with the infrastructure devise access, compromises the management and security of the entire network. This calls for the establishment of critical and suitable controls necessary to curb unauthorized invasion to the infrastructure devices. Network infrastructure devices aims at providing a wide range and different variety of access protocols. This includes asynchronous and console connections, In addition to protocols based on remote access such as HTTP, Telnet, rlogin and SSH. Therefore, every infrastructure device should be skillfully configured and reviewed to ensure that only allowed access procedures are enhanced and that they are thoroughly protected. Enhance confidentiality of data- protect all the sensitive data stored from copying or viewing. Protect all the information in a communication channel from session hijacking, sniffing, and man in the middle attacks. Cisco safe architecture, like any other network security system, is not immune to limitations. However, it has successfully developed threat mitigation and detection programs readily available on Cisco security agents, Cisco firewalls, Cisco network admissions control, and Cisco IPS and web safety appliances. In addition, these devices alerts and generate information centrally gathered and correlated using the Cisco security monitoring, analysis and response system which recognize the source of threats, envisage the attack route, give the possible suggestions and sometimes optionally implements the response actions. The visibility of Cisco IPS reduces many instances of false positives thus allowing for dynamic quarantine impositions of unsecured

Journalists influence the news Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Journalists influence the news - Assignment Example â€Å"The production, presentation, and consumption of visual messages in all manner of media can be justifiably sliced in separate technological, historical, cultural and critical perspectives. The requirements for theory building at each stage are different† (Elliott & Lester, 2002). And while it is recognized that â€Å"Photography is the only ‘language’ understood in all parts of the world, and bridging all nations and cultures† (Helmut Gernsheim cited in Elliott & Lester, 2002), it is also acknowledged that â€Å"photographs supply information without having a language of their own. Photographs quote rather than translate from reality† (John Berger cited in Elliott & Lester, 2002). The difficulty arises from the variety of social, political and cultural approaches that can be taken in the interpretation of an image. Added to this is the greater ability of photographers and photojournalists to manipulate images in many different ways as a means o f achieving the image sought. In determining the ethics involved in the decisions made by photojournalists and their editors regarding whether or not to print a particular image, then, it is necessary to take into consideration the â€Å"intent of the image creator and the not-so-blank canvas of the image consumer† (Elliott & Lester, 2002) as these various approaches come into play. The question of ethics is often confused with other photographic considerations, such as aesthetics or etiquette. â€Å"A question that is truly ethical deserves a response that addresses the human cost† (Elliott & Lester, 2002). The use of a particular image that is likely to cause a great deal of pain, for example, must be justified not on the concept of its beauty or interest level – an aesthetic concern – but rather on whether or not the display of this image is necessary to present

A Problem Critical to the Education in the 21st Century Essay Example for Free

A Problem Critical to the Education in the 21st Century Essay In the 21st century I believe that inequitable opportunity is the most critical education problem. Inequitable opportunity impacts people of different racial backgrounds in various ways. It limits the knowledge a student receives, the rate at which they learn, funds available to the school, the students ability to succeed in the workforce upon graduating, it even affects the knowledge or lack of knowledge a student learns at home. Though this may affect the teaching staff in ways, minorities from a lower income family are the ones impacted most. These students often fail because they are not prepared for success. Students from a lower social class have fewer resources available to them; therefore they do not make it to the top. Schools in poverty stricken areas receive less funding, and this severely impacts the students. The school is unable to provide students with up to date technology, and the resources needed to compete with their peers from more privileged backgrounds. The school will not be able to provide ESL classes for Latino students. Students will more than likely drop out; the ones who actually manage to graduate will probably be less qualified to perform essential job duties. These students will not be as knowledgeable because they may be using outdated texts, and they are not able to learn how to fully utilize technology needed to survive in today’s workforce. Schools that are in a low income neighborhood do not have modern buildings, the school buildings are very out dated. The air conditioning and heating may not be working properly creating a very uncomfortable learning environment. This may discourage students from wanting to go to school and it definitely does not attract quality faculty. Another issue that impacts the student severely is the lack of parent participation in the education process. This is crucial to the development of the child from a very early age; it is imperative that a parent be involved in preparing their child for life, as well as reinforcing things learned at school. Education starts at home and moves to the public arena where social interaction, behavior skills and knowledge are enhanced. Poor parent participation may be the result of work schedules, transportation issues, language barriers, or suitable clothing. Once again children from low- income families suffer the most. Both parents may have to work just to pay the bills, and in some situations there is just one parent, forcing some students to help care of siblings at after school when they should be focusing on homework or studying. As the child ages less attention will be paid to the individual as class size increases, the number of teachers increase with diverse classes, and overall s ize of the school grows. At this point the child will need extra help completing assignments and requiring encouragement to continue the education process consistently and for the duration through some college. The parent is not exempt from the learning process because of inadequacy or exempt because of poor education. As briefly mentioned earlier, in this setting the teaching staff is likely to be under qualified, once again this impacts the student. By the teaching staff not being qualified the type of skill the students will learn will not be up to par. Classroom Managers should also be aware of how they are engaging their students. They should have high expectations of all of their students. There seems to be a lot of racial stereotyping in minority communities. Teachers should know that all Asian students aren’t smart and that all African American students inferior learners. If teachers establish a high expectation of learning from all of their students and expect all of their students to do well then those expectations will be seen by the student. Students are then able to work at their highest potential and are not limited; a teacher should believe that all students are capable of learning at a higher level. The teacher of the 21st Century need to be more culturally responsible and they need to be more aware of what is going on in the classroom. Educators need to be trained in a way that is going to be more beneficial to the educational process as a whole. For example if a teacher has a classroom where the majority of the students are not being successful then that teacher and/ or teaching techniques should be reevaluated. The classroom is not a place where a student is just given work to perform and the teacher is detached, the classroom of the 21st century needs to be an interactive classroom where teachers and students comes together to share ideas, and engage each other in the learning process. Unless a Teacher can step out of the conventional box and begin to assess themselves and what they actually bring to the classroom, it will not evolve. Teachers should interact with students on a more personal level in the classroom and get to know their students as individuals; some children can get lost in the classroom for a number of reasons; including personal problems at home, and learning disabilities. By being involved more with the student’s teachers are better to adapt to a student that is having problems because they are unable to read well, or a student that is simply having problems seeing the board. Without establishing some type of a relationship with the children it is very hard for a teacher to recognize the problems students are having and how to effectively deal with these problems. Just because a student is unable to keep up with fashion, technology receives free lunch does not mean that this student does not have the ability or the will to learn. There are successful people that grew up in poverty, and have gained success through hard work and education. Everyone should have the same opportunity to receive quality education. Students are taught that education is the key to success, so how can one succeed when the education is not equal to their peers, the ones they will be competing against for their spot in the future. Education is the poor man’s dream to a better life. With minorities and Latinos making up a large amount of students in school the effects of inequitable opportunities has a larger impact on them. Students who come from an inferior social-economic level are just as motivated as students who come from a higher social class. You have Latinos who hardly speak English and are attending schools that are incapable of accommodating them; therefore they do not earn a degree and are forced to take a low paying job. â€Å"Status† may have an impact on a student in a social environment, but in the educational system this should not be a factor. The students from a lower social class are being prepared for failure, while the students from a higher social class are being prepared for success. In the 21st century I believe that inequitable opportunity is the most critical education problem. Recognizing the problem is the first step, however we as a society need to find solution on how to better level the playing field in the educational comm unity in order to make schools work for everyone. One thing we can to is to not only encourage proper funding for schools in low income areas but to also make sure that this funding get appropriated to do what is needed in order to make sure that the children have a proper learning environment. Bills and referendums continue to be passed in education s in order to make sure that schools are up to par but sometimes this money does not get to the prosper schools. Some schools get new buildings and a/c systems while other schools just get paint. We need to come together to demand to our elected officials that something be done about the conditions of certain schools. We need to make sure that these school schools have the materials that they need in order for them to produce successful students. Books need to be provided to every student not only in class but also at home as a reference for homework and studying. Computers need to be provided in these schools so that the students don’t fall behind on technology and become inferior to their peers. We elect these officials and we need to demand that they begin to look out for the betterment of our schools. We should go online and see how they are voting on the issues that affect us. If they are not pushing the type of educational reform that we need in our communities and in our school then we need to elect someone who will. Parents need to become more involved in their students learning. We must understand that a lot of parents are working, and most low income households are being led by a single parent; we need to find a way to get these parents involved to help their children so that they don’t continue to fall behind. Even if it’s just educating them on the process of following up with their elected officials and making sure they vote and their vote counted and is heard. Opening up the schools for parent participation and PTO and PTA meeting on a weekend rather than on a school night would make it easier for parents to become more involved. Also, schools could try social networking, and sending up dates to parents Facebook or Twitter pages to keep them up on what’s going on in the schools. This is a new era and the American household has changed and the educational sytem needs to keep up in order to keep these parents involved and up to date on what’s going in their child’s school. Teacher also need to be developed in the classroom and become more responsible for what is going on and have high expectations for all of their students. This will ensure that all student as are working to their best ability to learn. This can be done by giving existing teachers additional training and giving new teachers the training they need to be successful in the 21st century classroom.

John Kotters Eight Steps to Change Essay Example for Free

John Kotters Eight Steps to Change Essay A Systematic Approach: Eight Steps to Change. We shall use the impact of low-cost airline as an example to understand each step. In 2003, Lufthansa was facing intense competition from low-cost airline on short-haul domestic flights. In the fight for domination in the German skies, Lufthansa intend to match the low-cost rivals by expanding its own network of cut-price domestic and European services. Establish a sense of urgency. From previous experiences of battling competition and enforcing change, the first step leading to the successful implementation of change is the creation of urgency. Establishing a sense of urgency is vital for eliminating contentment and achieving the collaboration needed to implement change. Employees are required to co-operate, understand the differences between the company’s current situation and a desired future participate and step up to the mark in order to succeed. . 2. 2Step 2. Create a powerful guiding coalition. Once sense of urgency is established within the organisation, the next step is forming a strong group of guiding coalition. The group could consist of internal or external organisation members with significant credibility and authority. These â€Å"outsiders† can provide valuable judgement, experiences and ideas that in turn allow the employees to share a common level of understanding for change. 3. 2. 3Step 3. Develop a compelling vision. Obviously, the reason for changes is discontentment with the current situation and having the desire for a better future. For that reason, management have to develop a clear and accomplishable vision that consists of these characteristics: a desirable future, compelling, realistic, focused, flexible and, easy to communicate. They have to be specific about how the change will improve the organisation and how those improvements will benefit employees in the organisation. 3. 2. 4Step 4. Communicate the vision. During the implementation of change, there are bound to have resisters opposing the change. Communication is the crucial factor to convert the resisters with managers taking advantages of all the communication channels in the organisation to get the transformation effort across to all. It must be able to convey and explain the specifically how the vision will benefit them. 3. 2. 5Step 5. Empower others to act on the vision. In every change, there are bound to be obstacles. The first four steps encourage employees to accept changes. To further support change, obstacles that obstruct the way to attaining the vision should be eliminated. If the obstacles happen to be an employee, the organisation may well have to decide the option available or sever the relationship with the individual. 3. 2. 6Step 6. Generate short-term wins Depending on the significance of change, some transformation of change might take years to before it is successfully implemented. In the case of Lufthansa, in order to top the low-cost aviation industry, the duration might approximately take ten years. Attitude and motivation among employees might fade along the way. Soon, they will loose sight of the vision and become discouraged and disappointed therefore Lufthansa should set up multiple short-term win situations in a major transformation change. 3. 2. 7Step 7. Consolidate gains and push for more change. It is important to note that celebrating a short-term win might create complacency among employees. So instead of celebrating or declaring victory prematurely, organisation should take the opportunity to implement larger changes. With the confidence and belief, employees will be able to accept larger and more drastic changes than before. Organisation should build on the current momentum to push for more change. 3. 2. 8Step 8. Anchor new approaches in the company’s culture. Once the objective has been achieved, prove the positive result to employees. After that, management should ensure that cementation work such as new working methodologies and policies are enforced into the company culture whereby continuous improvement and changes are seen as norm and survival.

Advantages of Learning Organization

Advantages of Learning Organization Due to impacts of the international financial crisis and the notable slowdown of the economy, Bank co has encountered more challenges. Accordingly, Bank co is transforming from an operational company to a sales-oriented one, in a bid to enhance their competitiveness. As the customer services centers are established and original branch institutes are shut down, the structure change influences 7 percent of the workforce. The board doesnt think a young management can handle the shift and further reforms; therefore, a great emphasis is put on staff learning approaches. As the staff capabilities are core resource to an organizations competitive advantage, all the management focuses on the planning and implementing of strategies. This essay not only elaborates Bank cos successful integration its HRM strategy with the overall business strategy, but also discusses the problems in the policy implementation. Some coherent solutions for these problems are also discussed in this essay. 2.0 Bank cos Objective as a Learning Organization 2.1 Definition of Learning Organization Peter (1990) proposed that any organizational thought a learning organization can be conducted by teams led by managers that facilitate a communication that values reflective thought, new patterns of thinking and a suspension of assumptions. In generally speaking, a learning organization has the following characteristics. First, the staff has a shared vision as their daily guideline and considers all organizational processes, functions, activities, and interactions with the overall environment as a member of the system. Second, each staff can air their own opinions to each other without fear of criticism or punishment. Third, staff sacrifices their personal self-interest and integrates department interest to cooperate to achieve the organizations shared vision. 2.2 Advantages of Learning Organization Brandt (2003) proposed that a learning organization is just like a school, a flexible and responsive organization should change in accord with changing circumstances. A learning organization has the following advantages. First, learning organization can promote continuous improvement. Whether project outcomes satisfy customers needs or not relies on how managers assess and narrow the gap between the two. Levine (2001) found that improve managers concentration span to organizational learning is a great potential to establish cooperation and continuous improvement that promote organizational performance. Second, learning organization can promote innovation. Although this statement is obviously true, but there is no quantitative study based on parallels between the characteristics of learning organization and the statement in literature that supports innovation and employee creativity can improve the performance of learning organization (Ramous and Steger, 2000). Third, learning organiz ation can foster community building. As learning community can break through stereotype routines and cultivate effective learning environment. Digenetic (1998) claimed that a learning community should be a mechanism for creating the learning organization. 2.3 Evaluation of Bank cos Objective With the financial crisis wreaking havoc on nations across all continents, the sense of living in a globalized age has become more acute. To cope with profound changes, Bank co made a strategic shift which focuses on four main units. First, human resource planning is long-term programs of Bank co. Due to the resignation of skilled and veteran managers, Bank co supports staff development by offering investment of  ¿Ã‚ ¡17 million. It allocates about 25,000 training days for the staff each year. The training and development (TD) department has finished the training programs for more than 5,600 managers until nowadays. And the training programs coherently focus on five units, such as, resourcing and development, HR quality, training design and delivery, equal opportunities and residential training. Second, training and development should be implemented to management staffs at all levels. Since a survey indicates that 60% employees considered that the training programs are just attending courses, the TD department decided to implement a wider range of flexible training methods, such as, self-directed learning, coaching, job rotation, secondments, etc. As a result, staff at all levels start to self-study in learning resource center without the reliance on training courses. Their hobbies and interests have been explored by a large margin. Thats to say, Bank co cultivates a learning atmosphere within the company, and ushers staff to take the responsibility of self-development. Third, employee relations are another focus of Bankco. The employee relations are cooperative instead of competitive, because staff at all levels share the same goal of the organization. It coincides with the policy of a harmonious society. It is an opportunity for staff to realize themselves, while it is a challenge for the managers who provide opportunities within which the staff can learn and develop. According to Maslows hierarchy of needs, self-actualization is the highest need on the pyramid of needs, self-actualization must produce an attraction and stimulant for staff to find themselves (Maslow, 2008). Fourth, personnel operation is important. As HR department had considerable power, Bank co established a belief that a learning organization would remain competitive and successful. The shift causes an unprecedented series of efforts and initiatives intended to learn from diverse source, because the line managers are responsible for ensuring that proper action will be good for individuals who keep a partnership with their mangers. During the establishment of learning organization, Bankco has achieved good financial performance as a reward. 2.4 The Achievement of Learning Shift The shift from being operational to becoming sales oriented has brought significant changes in the performance of Bank co. First, as a learning organization, Bankco retains knowledge workers. Bank cos shift causes some of middle-aged managers to leave, when the company is in desperate need of talent to rebuild itself. Therefore, the management had to give top priority to learning programs to cultivate talent as fast as possible. Second, the learning center collects public recording which is unobtrusive and useful in the execution of decision-making and work process. The data on management and information about staff behaviors to certain jobs are useful for researches to analyze Bank cos operation and set down the appropriate management policies. As learning is applied to innovate or modify individual dispositions, processes, policies, and procedures, the staff can further develop their interests and hobbies, Bankco can improve its management experience as well. 5.0 Conclusion In our uncertain world, the only thing that appears to be certain is that social computer-base communication technologies are rapidly becoming online hot spots and changing the way we communicate and information. It is convenient to express social relationships on the IM and blog through links and comments. But we should take advantage of these technologies and overcome their challenges. The best approach is to develop good habits to use computer-based communication technologies, even the link is from friends, they need verify to friends again.

Characteristics and Features of CSS

Characteristics and Features of CSS Assignment 1: P1/m1 Introduction CSS was introduced in 1996. It was created to stop people from having to repeat a lot of code. For example, if someone wanted to change the paragraph text, they would have to do it every single time they wanted to change the properties. CSS has since become more adapted to having more features, for example you can now use the # and change the background to a massive array of colours. What is CSS CSS is a formatting language used to add styling to your page. This is done by having the CSS document linked into your html page. This page then has selectors and properties which affect the tags inside your html document. Characteristics of CSS CSS is written in the following this rule: selector {property: value;} an example of this would be: This would be used to change the full page to a grey colour. As you can see, the body is the selector, the rule is the background colour and the value is the colouring. The order of operations is how the page is read and ordering the methods of formatting into importance. The order goes as follows: HTML, Inline, Internal then external. How do we use CSS: Three ways of HTML accessing CSS Inline An inline style sheet only affects the tag it is in. This means that you can change small details of the page without changing everything on every single page. This is good because if you had an external style sheet/internal with everything in it. You would have to make a new tag just to change that one detail. Inline overrules external which means you can change small details. After HTML, inline is next on the order of operations. This means that it overrules internal/external. This is an example of the background colour being orange on a webpage: As you can see, the background colour is set to orange. And this would be a standard for every page with the style sheet attached. However, if you go to the body tag in html and add this line of code a line of code that would look like this: I would then change the colour of the background regardless of the background colour set by the external style sheet/internal. Another example of this being used would be with font styles. You would for an external style sheet put a P value followed by the attributes like this: and this would-be outcome: However, if I wanted to have a green text on one single piece of paragraph text you would then use inline styling. You would put something like this: and this would change the colour of what the external styesheet had set it to. This is good because if you again had a lot of paragraph text but you needed this to be slightly different for example you wanted the size to be a little bit smaller you would then have to create a whole new tag. This way you can change a few properties and only on that one tag. You would use internal when you only want to add a small change to a single tag. This is because inline only affects the one tag it is inside. You would not use inline when you either want to affect the full page or the full website because you would have to copy the code over and over again. Internal Internal styling takes place in the head of the html document. This means that if you are customising the page, you can see everything from scrolling. The internal styling is placed in a and a inside the tags. For this example, I am going to show you 4 different headings I created through internal. I will now show you the outcome and the text inside the body. This looks simple, neat and organised because it is. Unlike inline, the styling and the tag is separate. This means that you arent as confused by the styling as you might be if it was inline. Both internal and external are superior for this reason. I will now she you all the styling I used to get the outcome that you previously saw: As you can see, I can add a family of fonts. This means that if one font is not supported on a users computer they will see a different alternative font. I added a text-align because if I wanted to add these tags inside a shape they would stick to the right of those shapes. Font size is just formatting how big I want the text to be in opposed to how big it would default to if I left it with the html style. An advantage to internal styling is the fact that it overrules external in the order of operations. This means that if you had one stylesheet linked to all of your pages but you wanted a few small changes you wouldnt have to make a new stylesheet instead you can just change it in the head tag. A disadvantage would be that internal is under inline so if you have accidentally forgotten to remove a piece of inline code you dont want inside it you might miss it and have to go all the way through the document just to find what you are missing. You would use internal possibly as a backup. For instance, if the external stylesheet doesnt download properly and crash you would still see the website like normal because it would then turn to internal for the whole stylesheet. You would use inline when you want to make changes to the whole page but not every single page, like changing the font size of headings. You wouldnt use internal when you already have an external stylesheet set up normally because it simply isnt needed. Only as a backup. External External stylesheets allow someone to format their webpage (much like internal) but on a separate document. This means that you can have 2 or more workplaces (as you can link more than one stylesheet into your document) giving you a much cleaner workspace. This would be a massive advantage due to the fact that the stylesheet is easily accessable. However, it is a disadvantage because any change you make to the external stylesheet affects any html document that is linked to it.The stylesheet you attach would be a CSS document that you would use to format tags in. In terms of the order of operation, External is last. Putting the order to: HTML, Inline, Internal and then External. This is both a positive and a negative. It is a positive because you could have something like a background image like this: Which would set the background to: (and for reference if you zoomed out, it would tile) This could then be linked to every page and would set the background image to that. But if you wanted the background to be something else, a different image, you could use inline styling on the body tag to change it to that image. However, it could be called a negative because if you are altering someone elses website and you wanted to use external, they may have inline which would mean you had to go through each line of code to check. Some websites have over 900 on just the HTML page. You would use external when you want to make a stylesheet that will run on every single page (or a number of pages) because instead of having a long list of lines of code clogging up your HTML page, you would only have to deal with 1 line which would be the link to the page. You wouldnt use external if you only have 1 page because it would be impractical to have 2 pages when only 1 will be visible. (it would be more efficient to just use internal) Linking a stylesheet A fully linked stylesheet looks like this: Href: This is the path to the stylesheet. As you can see mine just says main.css which means that I dont need to go anywhere other than the file. Main equals filename and CSS is the document type. If for example you had to go back in the path. Before the file name, there would be a ../ This would look like this: And if you had to go forward in the path, you would see a /foldername then the file name. Type/rel This is done just to tell older browsers/mini browsers the actual document name because it tells them the document name. P2: Box Model What is it? A box model is something that allows a web designer/developer to create a layout to the page. This is high in accuracy due to the fact that you can edit right left up and down pixel by pixel. You also have options between margin and padding. Why do we use it? You would use this model to apply accurate spacing on your objects inside the webpage. You are also then able to work out how much space has been used and gives you an option for borders. How do we use it? An example of when you would use a box model would be when adding in a shape. As you can see here, you would add styling to a div tag like you can see here. This would set the size for it but not add anything to do with the box model. This means that if you added another box, they would be directly touching. Like this. To fix this you would want to add a margin-bottom like this: The issue would then be fixed and there will be a 10px gap between the two objects. Content: Content is the actual image or the text. The content is the centre of the box model and is what it is created to serve. This is because without the content there would be no need to have any spacing or any borders because there would be no item for it to be based on. Padding: Padding is the distance between the content and the border. This is to add inside space and make your spacing more accurate than just using margin which is the outside. An example of padding would be: In this example, I show the use of one number in padding. This means it affects the padding of up, down, left, right. I could use 4 numbers which would affect up, down then left right like this: This is good because it allows a lot of choice which is very precise. Border: The border is the outline after the padding. Without padding, the border would take place around the content. It would look like this: And the code will look like this: However, to move the border location you would need to add padding. This is due to the fact that padding is inside between the content and the border. If you wanted it to move further outside, you would need to add this line of code in: This makes the outcome look like this: You are also able to change the border style, currently I have the double border style but that can easily be changed my altering the value. For example I could set it to dashed like this: With the outcome of this I will now show 4 more examples of using borders. This is just a standard border with the colour defaulting to black. The margin is used to add a space between the bottom of each box. This adds a dashed border instead of the solid style and I have changed the colour to red. This has a bored style of dotted and the colour is set to green The border is the ending to the content area. You can set this to be 0 px which would make the border invisible to someone viewing it. You also have the option to choose things like Margin: Margins are used to add outside spacing after the border between objects. This is effective because it means that you are able to have some space before the next starts. Without margin you wouldnt be able to create a spaced website that has borders because the borders would always be touching and padding would be on the outside. An example of margin would be this: This shows spacing at the bottom without them touching. Without the margin, they would be touching which would look clunky and wouldnt look professionally made at all. This is what it would look like without the margin being added: