External environment for banking industry Essay

Standard Chartered is the world’s leading emerging markets bank headquartered in London. Standard Chartered employs 30,000 people in over 500 locations in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. It is one of the world’s most international banks, with a management team comprising 70 nationalities. Standard Chartered has been committed to Hong Kong and China for nearly 150 years. Standard Chartered Bank opened its first branch in China in 1858 and is the oldest foreign bank in the country. The Bank has operated in Hong Kong since 1859 and has been issuing Hong Kong banknotes since 1862. Standard Chartered PLC listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2002. The bank is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies, by market capitalization. It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises. Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services in trade finance, cash management, lending, custody, foreign exchange, debt capital markets and corporate finance. Standard Chartered is well-established in growth markets and aims to be the right partner for its customers. The Bank combines deep local knowledge with global capability. The Bank is trusted across its network for its standard of governance and its commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it operates. The new millennium has brought with it two of the largest acquisitions in the history of the bank with the purchase of Grindlays Bank from the ANZ Group and the acquisition of the Chase Consumer Banking operations in Hong Kong in 2000. These acquisitions demonstrate Standard Chartered firm committed to the emerging markets, where it has a strong and established presence and where it foresees future growth. With the acquisition of ANZ Banking Group, StanChart became the largest foreign bank in terms of branch network and profitability in India. The merged entity has a combined network of 61  branches and 74 ATMs across 15 cities of the country. Understanding the global, political, technological and socio-cultural segments of its environment is obviously critical to Stanchart’s success. It has acquired companies in order to consolidate its global operations; operates in 50 countries; seeks to display environmental and social responsibility; and deals with communications technology. It strives to take advantage of opportunities in the dynamic environment, the need to deal innovatively with new acquisitions, the problem of reframing the public’s view of banking and ongoing cut throat competition from other commercial banks and non banking entities. The bank therefore has to make clear the communication challenge and make clear the global nature of its operations to the wider community, governments and the population at large. Research evidence suggests that external environment affects a firm’s growth and profitability over time. Changes in political, regulatory features, the strength of different nations’ economies at different times, and the emergence of new technologies are a few examples of conditions in the external environment that are affecting banks like StanChart and several other firms throughout the world whether in manufacturing or services sector. The companies in attractive environments perform better than the companies that are in less attractive environments. Therefore strategy development is about ‘fit’ i.e. identifying opportunities in the environment and building strategy matching resource capabilities to those opportunities. The resources and competences of organizations also play an important role as they explain the differences between organizations, potential uniqueness and therefore superior performance. The ‘stretch’ view argues that strategies should be built on the unique competences and resources of an organization by seeking out markets in which competences have special value or by trying to create new markets on the basis of such competences Another consideration is the stakeholders of company. Organizations have different stakeholders (shareholders, customers, employees, government) who have expectations of the organizations and may exercise considerable influence and power over the strategy to be followed As said earlier, the external environment plays an important role for banks. Most of the external factors are beyond the control of a bank. The factors such as competition; political, economical, legal, government rules and regulations influence the firm’s choice of direction and action and also affect the internal environment of a bank. The external environment influences a company’s strategic options as well as the decisions made in light of them. The firm’s understanding of the external environment is matched with knowledge about its internal environment. Matching the conditions of the two environments is the foundation the firm needs to form its strategic intent, to develop its strategic mission, and to take strategic actions in the pursuit of strategic competitiveness and above-average returns. The external environment encapsulates many different influences which makes the tasks of CEOs more difficult. Identifying the different environmental influences though makes sense, is not very much useful as the overall picture of these influences does not emerge. The second difficulty is that of the speed of change. The impact of technological changes on businesses is much faster than ever before. Technology has transformed the way in which the banking business is carried out. In addition the competitive pressures are also driving more banks to diversify their product range in response to market demands. We can broadly categorize this environment into two types: remote environment and operating environment. Remote environment: This environment consists of a set of forces that originate beyond a firm’s operating environment. This comprises of political, economic, social, technological and industrial forces which create opportunities, threats and constraints to the firm. For example macroeconomic instability in an economy characterized by chronic inflation, fiscal imbalances and periodic balance-of-payments crises also affect all the banks. Operating environment: The operating environment involves the factors that provide many of the challenges a bank is facing when attempting to attract  or acquire essential resources or when striving to profitably market its goods and services in the immediate competitive position, customer profile, reputation among suppliers and creditors and accessible labor market. The operating environment is also called the competitive or task environment. Hence by considering conditions in the operating environment business can be much more proactively planned. An organization’s external environment is shown in the figure below. The figure depicts the firm’s business area, remote environment and the operating environment cutting into an area of total external environmental impact on the firm. In the banking industry if the Reserve Bank increases the reserve requirements for the commercial banks it would affect all the banking companies in the economy. This is an operational risk. Over the past two decades, commercial banks across the globe have aggressively repositioned themselves to compete under new economic, technological, and regulatory conditions. These institutions are no longer protected by regulatory entry barriers, and are confronted with a marked transformation in telecommunications and computer technology. Banks can no longer rely on traditional banking models and therefore have invested huge amounts of resources in the search for new competitive strategies. While many of these attempts had fruitless results, the most successful strategic innovations have set a new paradigm in banking and have changed the way banks compete. The manner in which commercial banks currently underwrite their loans, finance their activities, grow their franchises, distribute their services and market their images can hardly be compared to ones that bankers adopted in 1970s. Coming to the regulatory environment, banks still do not compete in a completely unregulated environment. Regulations continue to shape banking strategies for example, in US, the federally insured deposits are the basis of community bank business strategy. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) loans are a mandatory for all banks (in India, priority sector credit is mandatory for all commercial banks, this would be dealt in detail in subsequent pages). Investment decisions of every bank are influenced by capital regulations. The system of multiple regulators can affect the choice  of organizational form of banking companies. While most banks are regulated by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), some are under dual control of government and RBI. In India, all banks are subject to RBI’s regulation but the framework is not uniform in the sense that public sector banks, cooperative banks, and private banks are governed by significant differences and not all of them have access to the payments system. The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) regulates the deposit taking activities of non-banking non- financial companies and also some activities of Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). SEBI regulates the capital markets and supervises stock exchanges, mutual funds, securities dealers and brokers, merchant bankers, credit rating agencies and venture capital funds. Companies in the insurance sector are regulated by IRDA. Banks are permitted to be involved in insurance activity through joint ventures/equity participation/selling agency type arrangements. Thus, the object of regulation itself is susceptible to some overlap. Several scandals in banks have led regulators to make increased informational demands on banks. As banking markets grow more concentrated, anti-trust laws may increasingly limit the scale and scope of bank mergers. At a minimum, regulation is simply a fixed cost that must be borne by banks, which does not influence a bank’s behavior. At the other extreme, and perhaps in a more realistic situation, regulation can significantly affect banks’ strategic choices and influence competition in financial markets. Innovations introduced in the markets are often driven by, and in some cases succeed exclusively because of the prevailing regulatory environment. Similarly, commercial banks’ competitive strategies are shaped by both new technologies, and the limitations of technology. Retail banking had traditionally been built around the paper-based payments, but IT has created new strategic possibilities for it. Electronic delivery of banking services can reduce a bank’s overhead costs to a great extent. However abandoning bank branches can also give rise to disastrous strategic costs. New technologies have a led to a great transformation in the risk management practices of commercial banks, but application of such techniques may also create some unforeseen new risks. After generations of technological stasis  in the banking industry, the ongoing rapid pace of technological change has made â€Å"strategic innovation† a viable competitive strategy for banks.

Ksa Self Eval

I am definitely a quick learner which is very beneficial to on the spot coverage for a co-worker, was trained for basic process to handle JABBER for only half a day since my co-worker needs to go to an emergency leave for 3 weeks, midyear n 2013 and helped my peer with relaying referrals to JABBER when she had a foot surgery which leads me to be an alternate on handling JABBER. I was managing authorizations for all local primary care that goes to a native facility, SEC Orthopedic and .NET after ELL was passed on to one of my peers.I was assigned to be a mentor to new employee to assist with all work related issues. On late December 201 3, was asked by my Supervisor to manage JABBER in place of my peer that volunteered for another task. I was handling all officer consults, authorizations and referral management along tit SF which is also considered a big task due to a number of patients that's being sent to their facility and all other local primary care that are being sent to native facilities for almost 9 months. Created a spreadsheet via Microsoft Excel for all JABBER clinics for easy tracking.I volunteer to work TOT every Saturday to take down Mammography consults and all other categories that needs to be worked on. I have been asked questions and advice by my peers (Nurses and Ma's) on work related issues, especially new employees. Questions about work processes, most specially computer related, mostly bout trouble shooting and vendor information. I also helped on answering the phones (ACED Line) when needed. I was the first MASS in our department to have tried the process of the PC program. Wowed some of my peers the step by step process of submitting consult/ referrals/ authorization through scanning to the program. I practically started the process and showed/ trained some of my peers, even the leads. I created the letter for veterans (fixed it, since it was from a flyer in PDF format that needs to be converted to Microsoft Word document), I also created the main coversheet for PC we use whenever we amend, deny, re-route a secondary request/ authorization and put together a verbiage to be used whenever we create an authorization for Tries. Tot tied to work on JABBER, SF and other local primary (native facility) which leads me to just occasionally helping with PEG. However, the main person who has been processing PC authorizations still seek my advice most of the time, as far as trouble shooting PC processes. I also contributed a lot to our temporary MASS working with faxes even though was not assigned to be her mentor, she always seeks my advice most of the time. I am one of the Ma's who were trained to close/ complete consults by scanning medical notes/ documents to CPRM.Although am not the main person for PC anymore, I volunteered on updating and forwarding the PC Provider List every Monday. Currently, have been helping to close out consults (since almost the end of fiscal year) by scanning medical documentations/ notes to CPRM. Added the ASK submitted when I was promoted for GAS 6 just for a refresher. GAS-6 Medical Support Assistant (Advanced) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: 1 . Ability to collaborate, communicate, set priorities, and organize the work in order to meet deadlines, ensuring compliance with established processes, policies, and regulations.In my current position as a Medical Support Assistant with the VASS Integrated Care Service, I am responsible with the review (after being approved by MR.), scheduling and authorization process of consults in collaboration with the CICS patient care team and communicating with non-VA medical facilities, this include determining urgency of care to ensure timely and best purchased care for our veterans. I've been constantly picked by my supervisor to process urgent or implicated consults on account of having an excellent attention to details and accuracy.Due to my ability to learn new skills quickly, I became a part of the reconciliation team r egardless of being new, working on a spreadsheet via Microsoft Excel consisting of over 2000 plus claims to determine, track down, adjust or cancel used or unused authorizations on a weekly task to recoup funds that had been obligated to vendors but never used, it was then used for processing backlogged pending authorizations for this FYI. In addition I was also assigned by the chief of our department to assist on identifying/ recessing denied and duplicate claims.I efficiently identified hundreds of duplicate/denied claims from previous FYI. I've been a part of a group of Mass and nurses working to close out thousands of outdated consults. I assisted going through a spreadsheet determining which authorizations needs to be closed (nickered) out freeing up funds for use of unprocessed and pending authorizations. 2. Ability to communicate tactfully and effectively, both orally and in writing, in order to meet program objectives. This may include preparing reports in various formats an d presenting data to various organizational levels.I became the point of contact for all veterans from the Electronic Wait List (ELL) that are being seen in Providence Health & Wellness, Providence Senior Care Center, Mat-Us and Southeastern Foundation for their local primary care. Constantly communicating with the vendors and patients to coordinate appointments, consults, ERR visits and authorizations to ensure care for our veterans. Maintaining/ Updating a spreadsheet and writing appropriate notes/ comments to track down number of veterans being seen for local primary care outside VA.As an alternate MASS for JABBER, assist in coordinating all veteran consults between the Joint Venture Hospital and Veteran's Administration. I am one of the only two Mass with access to the computerized medical records system at Elmsford Air Force Base Hospital. I assist in entering consults and authorizations for all care received at the Joint Venture. Assists on directing veterans, their dependents , and beneficiaries via telephone communication when covering the ACED line. 3.Advanced knowledge of the technical health care process as it relates to access to care. Proficient in CPRM, r-BCC Authorization, Vista, Microsoft Access (NBC Letters) which is utilized in consult management and referral process. Skilled in operating FIBS Distribution and Processing which utilize when working with the reconciliation and claims, SUCH which is utilized for entering BIER consults, scheduling and printing notes/ reports such as referrals, orders and reports for labs, CT, MR., Grays etc.Equally competent in utilizing systems such as RPM which is comparable to Vista, Signature and LATA which is comparable to CPRM, AFC System for electronic receipt Of documents faxed available for review and processing of healthcare providers. 4. Advanced knowledge of managing a clinic. This includes independently utilizing reference sources, decision-making, and empowering the team to collaborate and resolve pr oblems within a complex systems environment.Worked as a Case Manager Assistant at the Alaska Native Medical Center, Internal Medicine Clinic managing one of the 7 sub-specialty clinics, General Medicine with two Case Managers (nurses) and 3 doctors responsible for having the doctors review the consults according to urgency, coordinating appointments or patients, scheduling surgeries/ procedures, taking care of patient's travel and lodging. – Manages consults, authorizations, updating spreadsheet (monitoring and tracking) of the Electronic Waiting List (ELL) for four locally and out of town clinics.Such clinics are as follows; Providence Health and Wellness, Providence Senior Care Center, Providence Mates-Regional and South Central Foundation. Am currently assigned to manage consults/ referrals, scheduling and authorization for Native Agreements, .NET, Orthopedic and an alternate for JABBER specialty clinics. 5. Advanced knowledge of policies and procedures associated with ope rational activities that affect the patient flow, patient care, and the revenue process.

Design and Critically Analyse International Marketing Essay

High marks will be awarded for work that demonstrates excellent understanding surrounding the key issues and a well structured systematic discussion. You are expected to have read widely around the subject area and have been able to integrate this reading to support your critical analysis. Please include evidence to support your discussion (e.g. academic papers, trade press, newspaper references, etc.). Additional Information: Articles in academic journals, or those suggested in the Readings, will cover the generic theories covered in the lectures, but will not provide you with detailed information on your chosen company/ brand. You are likely to find information on the specific companies/ brands on company websites, in the trade press, newspaper articles, etc. Before making a final choice about a company/ brand, be sure that you are able to collect enough information! Think in terms of the following: (1) how can you collect enough information and (b) how can you demonstrate that this information is reliable. Abstract†¦ The aim of this report is to find the ultimate market for Ferrari S.P.A. This task will initially start off with really basic screening processes to eliminate the obvious countries where there will be very little demand if any demand for this particular product. However when exploring deeper into this project, many complexities arise which encourages engaging in a more specific and detailed screening processors later on. In which this paper concludes that†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 1.1 Introduction†¦ Within this report its intentions are to find the most lucrative economy for Ferrari which they have yet to invest in. This will allow Ferrari to take advantage of that specific country by opening up a dealerships allowing them to be able to directly supply the market without the need to export and import the cars which can be expensive from both the business and the consumer via high transportation costs and tariffs/quotas. By doing this it will mean that Ferrari will increase their sale in that country as they will be more in the publics eye. Saudi Arabia car figures very good article: http://academic.reportlinker.com/d013032223/The-Saudi-Arabian-Passenger-Car-Sector-Key-Market-Figures.html Very good website showing Ferrari dealerships http://www.ferrari.com/English/Dealers/Pages/Dealer_Locator.aspx

IPad in India Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

IPad in India - Research Paper Example s most advanced economies in terms of communication as the country can boost of the presence of some of the world’s largest communication companies. The product use pattern in India is highly consolidated with global usage pattern. What this means is that the people of India adjust themselves to product patterns as it applies to other parts of the world where most products are manufactured. Because of the influence that globalization has on product use pattern in India, consumers in most urban parts of India prefer sophisticated product features just as exists in manufacturing origins like America and Europe. Retailing is a major source of employment for most people in India (Bultez et al., 2009). Because of this, there is several retail shops scattered all around the country. Most of these outlets are however filled with basic electronic and technology products such as computer parts and mobile devices. Quite recently, the use of social media has come to dominant the medium of advertisement in India. There is also the use of sources like televisions, which has the highest patronage and reaches (Card, 2009). Billboards, radio advertisement, posters and newspaper advertisements are all popular. This section of the paper has been dedicated to looking at India as a potential and viable market destination for iPad products. It has been established that globalization is fast catching up with the people in India and so they seem highly advanced with the use of technology tools including mobile devices like the iPad. Patrons in India would want to purchase the newest and latest releases on the international market, as and when they are launched. India believes in organized market and so deals less with middlemen. The use of multiple forms of media has been identified to be the most effective way to reach out to a larger population of potential customers (Stern, and El-Ansari, 2002). This means that the electronic and press media will all be used. Due to the

Life Cycle Analysis Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Life Cycle Analysis - Case Study Example In the end I have concluded this paper with my final words. The conclusion consisted of possible strategies or plans of action that the company could take to come out of the position it is in at the moment. In the end, I would like to state that the purpose of this paper was only academic and it was not intended to take any unlawful gain from the data used in this paper. Coyote Logistics are industry leader in logistics industry. It was founded in 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. They provide a wide range of services to their clients. These services include: Supply Chain Management, Transportation and Technological Solutions. In terms of revenue the company is going from strength to strength Coyote Logistics' revenue grew 587.5 percent from 2006 to 2008 according to the company. They also increased the number of the employees from 82 in 2006 to about 350 at the end of 2008. In order to qualify, the company had to be privately owned, based in the 20-county metro Atlanta area and not be a subsidiary of another company. It has to have been established in the first quarter of 2006 or earlier, and to have had 2008 revenue between $1 million and $300 million. Coyote logistics is the industry leader in logistics industry. ... If we look at the company from the lens of life-cycle assessment we will determine the company's true worth in the social environment. The Life Cycle Analysis or Assessment is the investigation and it is a means by which we evaluate the true worth of the company for society. It helps us in determining environmental costs and benefits that the company is rendering. These costs are known as social costs. The first thing that used in the life cycle analysis is determining the goal and scope of this analysis. In our case we want to determine the social costs of Coyote Logistics. Coyote Logistics is using modern technology in its operations. So, our scope will deeper in determining how this technology is developed. If Coyote Logistics technology has result in destruction of any natural resources while experimenting then the cost of that natural resources will be apportion to the product in which this technology is used. Similarly, as a result of development of this new technology, some costs would have been reduced and the society would have been benefitted from this cost reduction and these will be considered as possible benefits for the society or social benefits. So, we want to assess the technological aspect of Coyote Logistics and that is where we will set our boundaries. If we do not set these boundaries we will have assess every single detail and that would be impossible to compu te and will be too time consuming. The next step is called Life Cycle Inventory Analysis. In this stage we will collected the data from Coyote Logistic about their products and based on our findings created a model. According to their Coyotelogistics.com, they have been able out perform other companies worth

Science fiction writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Science fiction writing - Essay Example If so, then life can be traced back to the single element that composes all living things – which is carbon. Is the fifth element the carbon? We are not sure. The four elements were of course obvious even if the film was not explicit about it. As we already know in our physical world, the four elements are earth, water, wind and fire. Recent movies were also made about the four elements such as The Last Airbender and even a band was named after it that made the four elements a common knowledge. In our chemistry class, the fifth element is boron but it cannot be because the fifth element in the film was supposed to come from outer space that will be used by the extra terrestrial Mondoshawans to defeat the Great Evil that attacked earth. Also, combining the four other elements by the fifth element to become a Divine Light that will defeat Zorg and the Great evil sounds more like religion than science. It is not plausible to explain in scientific terms because it rests on faith r ather than facts and science. Again, the Egyptians were used as a conduit by the Mondoshawans aliens to leave the elements that will defeat the Great Evil. ... They were just economically prosperous so they have more time for study, research and discovery of their natural world which is why they were advanced and not because an alien lend them their technology. The only thing that is scientifically plausible in the film is the reconstruction of Leelo where her hands were used to build the whole thing (Leelo). This science is called cloning where another life can be reconstructed from the codes contained in a DNA sample which in this case is the hand. Albeit its propriety is highly debated, the application of this science (cloning) is already done in animals and was it was quite successful in recreating another life from mere DNA codes. In the case of the reconstruction of the Fifth Element, the DNA sample may have been collected from the remains of the hands of the original Leelo and from there, the fifth element was recreated which is scientifically plausible. II. The world and technology In my opinion, the movie The Fifth Element was one of the few exceptions in sci-fi movies where technology should harmonizes with the world as it narrate the story. The Fifth Element movie did not necessarily follow this formula yet it was a success both in the box office and among critics. The plot of the story was good although it was not grounded on sound science. We are instead entertained by the good visuals of the film (fight scenes, space scenes, etch) and the exceptional rendering of the actors and actress including the enchanting song of the opera singer who contained the four elements. There was nothing scientifically enlightening in the film whereby the audience will understand how some scientific concept works. It may be a sci-fi film but it also

The Importance of Market Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Importance of Market - Research Paper Example The focal company in this task is Verizon Wireless that in the telecommunications industry. There are different strategies that Verizon uses and I will analyze each one of them. One it deals with product research this it ensures that clients have different varieties to choose from and this is important as it ensures that clients have enough choice. This helps boost taste and preference of the employees and it is also important to note that in product research a lot of analyzes are done to ensure that the business can stand diversification (Austin, 2013). For a product to be set up to a final entity a lot has to be done and research and development come into place. This brings out the question that also marketing research is included for Verizon products. For example the new offer that will keep the telecommunications customers have to be influenced by conducting marketing research to identify the best suitable offer. It is not only the idea of choosing whether to use marketing research it is important but the best method of marketing research. It is important to ask whethe r to use survey, personal interview, observation and free trials. These are best regulated by the cost which they will incur and what is the best effective way. Verizon wireless cannot also ignore the importance of using advertising research. It is important to note that consumers need to receive information about a product and the company they are following closely as this will be important to further their agenda in progress and also help in receiving feedback. Verizon wireless been in the communication industry has to be up to date with any new changes and see to it they have adjusted this will ensure some new sanity to the firm and its client. The art of communication cannot be complete without the root to feedback as this is what ensures that what was accessed by the viewers was received by the targeted or focus group (Victoria,

Discussion 2 Week 10 The Assignment Model Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion 2 Week 10 The Model - Assignment Example ce in the balanced assignment model, the supply and the demand at each source and destination are clearly determined and limited to one, decision makers are provided with the essential tools to solve the problem conveniently. Likewise, as described, when the problem is unbalanced, it is either that the supply exceeds demand, or the demand exceeds the supply (Taylor, 2010). There are several benefits which could be gained from using the assignment model. For one, the decision makers are provided with clear constraints that would facilitate the formulation of decision variables along the indicated expected demand and supply at source and destination. In addition, through a study written by Caulley (1982), it was revealed that the applicability of the assignment model is appreciated in situations where â€Å"there is a variable to be optimized, such as teacher satisfaction. In the example used to demonstrate the assignment model, students are assigned to teachers in a way that matches them up with the students they request as much as possible†¦ The author concludes that the advantages of these models are that they give a better solution than can be obtained by inspection and they take teachers wishes into account regarding assignment† (par. 1). In addition, since these type of problems could be solved using computer applications through Excel or Excel QM, the decision makers could be provided with accurate solutions at the soonest possible time – giving the user of the model the convenience and ease of arriving at the most viable solution within a limited time period. Caulley, D. (1982, February). The Use of Assignment and Transportation Models in Evaluation. Research on Evaluation Program. Paper and Report Series No. 68. Retrieved from eric.ed.gov:

Human cloning and stem cell research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Human cloning and stem cell research - Essay Example This essay examines prominent scientific and ethical elements related to human cloning and stem cell research. While the nature of human cloning and stem cell research has a number of important medical implications, these notions are always accompanied by the ethical concerns of biotechnology. In considering current usages of genetic engineering one is able to establish a more broad ranging understanding of these questions; in these regards, genetic engineering finds widespread use in agricultural procedures, as well as genetically engineered animals (‘Ethical Issues’). As scientists experiment animal engineering questions emerge regarding what constitutes human cloning, as human genes have been inserted into animal organisms (‘Ethical Issues’). Stem cells specifically are biological cells found in multicellular organisms. Research has allowed scientists to artificially grow or replicate these cells that can be used in medical therapies. Stem cell research and human cloning poses a number of widespread benefits to humanity. Indeed, it’s been indicated that this technology could potentially be implemented to aid, â€Å"debilitating diseases and disabilities, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and spinal cord injury† (Lindsay, p. 228). Still, Federal funding has oftentimes been withheld from such research among arguments that such research kills an entity that is the equivalent of a person. While theology has ostensibly objects to cloning and stem cell research in terms of religious doctrine, it’s clear that even from a secular perspective the process poses a number of concerns. In these regards, if stem cell experimentation is allowed groups worry that eventually full-scale human cloning will occurs (Lindvall). Questions emerge concern the potential of human/animal chimeras. While such considerations are somewhat sensational, one also considers the moral issues

American History Women's Rights Reform Movements from 1877 to 2013 Research Paper

American History Women's Rights Reform Movements from 1877 to 2013 - Research Paper Example The paper therefore seeks to find a stand on whether Women Reform Movements have realized much of their goals over the years. This struggle in pursuit of rights has been turbulent over the years and still continues to date. In the United States, women rights movements have had a long history. As a result of their struggles, various legislative measures have been created over the years to safeguard the rights of women and prevent much of the discriminations seen in a society that is still skeptical about the ability of women. The core of the argument is therefore the determination of how the period spanning between 1877 to present could have seen tremendous positive steps towards the realization of equality with respect to men and women1. The suffrage movements were some of the most dominant women movements in history. For many years in the United States, women were not allowed to vote. In the early years of the women reform movements, the right to vote was therefore one of the centra l issues which the movements fought for. In 1878, Susan B. Anthony proposed and submitted a right-to-vote amendment to the constitution in order to grant women the right to vote in America. The era of women suffrage took much activity in the 1890s and Wyoming was the first state to have an organized women suffrage. The movement was mostly driven by the formation of the National American Women’s Suffrage association in 1890. ... The Anthony amendment which had been written earlier in 1878 was subsequently ratified as the 19th amendment and thereby became law in 19202. It must be emphasized that differences in leadership and other misunderstandings amongst the women led to the formation of several groups. The period following 1920 saw the creation of many splitter women political groups most of which fought for the same rights. The League of Women Voters was created in 1920 and became a very strong voice in championing for the rights of women. In order to address the rights of black women who experienced the worst discrimination than their white counterparts, the National Council of Negro Women was formed in 1935. These groups strongly fought for various forms of liberal reforms in the country. However, it should be remembered that many of the rights they fought for were not always granted easily. For instance, the National Women’s Party which was formed in 1913 proposed an equal rights amendment in 19 23 which actually stayed dormant for the next 50 years3. In the early years of the women rights movement, most of the women activists were concentrated in the North. This was due to the much awareness, industry and education in the North. It was not until 1890s that women began to organize in the south after much inspiration and influence from what was transpiring in the north. In pushing for the right to vote, the National Women Suffrage Association (NWSA) and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) were working together but later separated on ideological grounds. While NWSA sought to transform the status of women on the basis of ideological foundations in the hitherto patriarchal society, AWSA was more conservative and

Contract and Procurement Essay Example for Free

Contract and Procurement Essay Contract and procurement are imperative operations that should be done appropriately for the success of an organization. More often than not, people who are in judge of procurement do take these activities less seriously (MOLENAAR, 2007). Due to such concern most institutions have put in place stringent measures that control all the procurement transactions. In addition to that, people should be employed to be responsible for this duty according to the policies of many institutions should be highly trained (MOSEY, 2009). This sudden change that has taken place in many companies and organizations has real improved the output of the department of procurement hence most activities run smoothly as scheduled. The directors of the department of procurement partly determine the success or the failure of a project that is undergoing. Therefore, the managers of projects work very closely with the procurement officers to ensure that everything that is required is provided whenever its need arises. It is significant that, there exists a good relationship between the project managers and the procurement officers (MOSEY, 2009). If that is not the case, then there shall be contradicting ideas that will jeopardize the progress of the project. It is worth noting that, the duties and responsibilities of the procurement officers vary in accordance with the structure of an organization. This shows that, different procurement divisions have got structures which are designed to make management coordination and monitoring. This arrangement is imperative in improvement of the efficiency of the procurement activities. As aforementioned, the project manager should coordinate the transaction in collaboration with procurement manager to acquire all the requirements. The transactions which are carried out to achieve this are done un der the interpretation of the set policies, rules and regulations (BOWER, 2003). The rules and regulations set by the institution to ensure that the activities are carried out in harmony within all the departments that exist in a company. Unlike in the past, procurement process has dynamically changed and incorporated more activities. It only used to involve purchasing of goods and services required, but that is not the case nowadays (MOSEY, 2009). In procurement planning is done first. It determines whether to purchase a given commodity and if it should be bought the way it should be bought and quantity to be supplied. After this, reliable and potential supplies are determined, and contracts made with to supply the goods ordered (MOLENAAR, 2007). Before a contract is signed, thorough scrutiny is done by evaluating the proposals of the shortlisted vendors and interviews conducted to select the one that is unparalleled in offering those services and goods. After that, the one that emerges the best is awarded the contract. Supervision of the supply is done by the procurement office. Procurement process gives support to the internal activities that are done within an organization. The operations served include management, production and marketing services. It supports all the processes, infrastructure and systems required by the projects. In other the dimension, a procurement body that is independent and separate provides all the things required by the project on a transaction basis (BOWER, 2003). In this case, the director of the project gives a list of things which are required and the procurement officer buys and coordinates the goods until they reach at the company to be used. In either organizational structure, the procurement manager is involved in generating and managing the operational transactions and the linkage that exists between all the stakeholders of the project. This relationship that is created by the procurement manager exists in the whole procurement cycle period (MOSEY, 2009). The relationship between procurement professionals and the project management team is significant in that it creates a better environment for cross functional participation of all stakeholders. Moreover, it enables the procurement department to produce the best services to the project (DINSMORE CABANIS-BREWIN, 2011). Therefore, for the procurement office to fit properly in the organization it must be well acquitted with the management strategies of the project. In a project based organization, there are about five general steps of procurement. Foremost, in collaboration with management, the procurement office should determine the requirements of the project. After determining what the requirements, the supplier is selected, who in agreement with project managers and the procurement professionals is given a contract to supply goods and services. The procurement department supervises and conducts routine assessment on the performance of the supplier until the contract ends (DINSMORE CABANIS-BREWIN, 2011). In centralized corporate management, there is an interaction between the principal stakeholders; the corporate purchasing coordination team, the chief executive officer, the chief purchasing officer, the managers of the business units and the purchasers of the business unit (SANKAR RAU, 2006). All of them have well defined roles and responsibilities in the procurement process. Most companies use formal organizational mechanisms like working groups and commodity teams, non-formal mechanisms of networking like employing competent people and initiating development programs, advanced systems of communication and use of complex management strategies (PENFIELD, 2010). In the centralized business unit procurement, the business units operate autonomously despite the fact that they are under one enterprise. The business unit creates a procurement order ships it to another business unit for supplier. Proper accounting records are kept to show the financial transactions between the two business units (SANKAR RAU, 2006). References BOWER, D. (2003). Management of procurement. London, Thomas Telford. DINSMORE, P. C., CABANIS-BREWIN, J. (2011). The AMA handbook of project management. New York, American Management Association MOLENAAR, K. R. (2007). Alternative project delivery, procurement, and contracting methods for highways. Reston, American Society of Civil Engineers. PENFIELD, P. C. (2010). A primer on negotiating corporate purchase contracts. [New York, N.Y.] (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017), Business Expert Press SANKAR, C. S., RAU, K.-H. (2006). Implementation strategies for SAP R/3 in a multinational organization: lessons from a real-world case study. Hershey, Pennsylvania, CyberTech. MOSEY, D. (2009). Early Contractor Involvement in Building Procurement Contracts, Partnering and Project Management. Chichester, John Wiley Sons.

Matisse and Munch Essay Example for Free

Matisse and Munch Essay The Dance – Henri Matisse, (1909), oil on canvas. This painting was commissioned in 1909 by Sergei Shchukin for decorative purposes (MoMa). The painting comprises five nudes dancing in a circle that is reminiscent of ancient pagan practices. Dance of Life – Edvard Munch, (1899), oil on canvas. This painting was comprises of what can be described as a ‘cyclic view of life’ whereby â€Å"We repeat ourselves like crystals that are dissolved and then recrystallise again† (Munch in Humanities Web). This piece is a highly symbolic picture of life and death and the union of souls while Matisse invokes the somewhat basic nature of humanity right down to its drives and instincts. Munch was particularly concerned with the various ways in which you see the same thing, depending on mood and time of day. â€Å"The fact is that at different times you see with different eyes.† (Munch in Eggum). Matisse prized himself on a mature compilation of color and line that was not close to the morbid fascination with death that Munch had. In the two paintings there is a distinct two dimensionality that is curiously juxtaposed to a somewhat well-arranged subject matter. Matisse and Munch both use the same vivid color but Munch has a much more diverse palette in this case. Matisse appears to be sampling the primitive nature of life that is shown by the nudity of the subjects as well as the circular composition of subjects that is reminiscent of baroque artists such as Rubens. Munch uses color to denote the presence of life on the left hand side (white) and death (black) in the clothing of the woman on the right. In between is a fire-red dress that symbolises the unity of the man and the woman. Munch creates a heavy background full of circling people while in Matisse there is no background except for a horizon line created by green paint. The background in Munch’s painting shows the people becoming smaller in an attempt to give the impression of depth in an otherwise flat picture. References: Eggum, Arne. Edvard Munch as a Painter. Munch Museet, 2009. http://www.munch.museum.no/content.aspx?id=15mid=lang=en Humanities Web. The Dance of Life. 2009. http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=gp=ca=pID=480 MoMa. Henri Matisse – Gallery label text. 2006. http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?object_id=79124

Understand The Two Concepts Culture And Civilization Sociology Essay

Understand The Two Concepts Culture And Civilization Sociology Essay This essay will attempt a brief review of the history of the concept culture and its relationship with the concept civilization, in order to understand the two concepts, without making any claims towards offering anything new in the analysis of the chronological account of how the definition of culture changed over time.  [1]  Instead, the essay will attempt to explore the harmonies and dis-harmonies in the utilization of the two concepts, as a way of coming to terms with immanent ruptures and continuities which were explicated in various ways in which the logic and lexicon of these concepts were deployed in the different anthropological traditions over the years. From the outset, I would like to mention that I almost abandoned this particular topic because of the difficulties I encountered in finding a concise definition of, mainly the concept of culture. When, after several weeks of reading, it finally dawned on me that actually there was none, it all started to make sense that the subject of defining the concept of culture has never been closed and was never intended for foreclosure. This meant that understanding how the concept was variously deployed was as important as appreciating the manner of its deployment, especially in ways in which this was always associated with the concept of civilization, whose definition was more straightforward. The notion of Culture: Following a very unsuccessful search for a concise definition of the concept culture, it dawned on me that Terry Eagleton and several others was after all correct when he said that culture was one of the few very complicated concepts to have ever graced the English language (Armstrong, 2010: 1; Eagleton, 2006: 1; Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952). Culture was a very difficult concept to define because the evolution of its etymology and its deployment varied in different contexts and anthropological traditions, both contemporary and classical. Its meaning in one setting was often contested in another. The word culture was first used in America  [2]  , and in etymological terms, its contemporary usage has its origin in attempts to describe mans relationship with nature, through which resources were extracted. It depicted the outcomes of extraction of resources from nature through a process of labor, for example, through crop farming and livestock production (Eagleton, 2006: 1). It was in this sense that the concept was first formally deployed in the 19th century in Germany, where the word used was Kultur, which in German referred to cultivation.  [3]  The early German usage of the word culture was heavily influenced by Kant, who, like his followers, spelled the word as culture, and used it repeatedly to mean cultivation or becoming cultured, which subsequently became the initial meaning of civilization (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 10). The way the concept was first used in modern English borrowed from the usage first made of the word by Walter Taylor, which dates back to 1871 , although according to Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952: 9), Taylors use of the word culture, which was borrowed from German, was similar to the way the word civilization was used in Germany. The above sense in which the concept culture was for long deployed depicted it as an activity or occupation that entailed a materialist dimension related to the extraction of resources from nature. Coming from Walter Taylor, the modern scientific sense of the word culture no longer refers primarily to the process of cultivation, but more generally as a manifestation of customs, beliefs and forms of government (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 10). The latter sense signifies some abstraction to the transcendent and divine realm of spiritualism. Over time, the concept was also deployed in other ways that depicted it as an entity (Eagleton, 2006: 1). There was also a sense in which the concept of culture also depicted the transformation that took place in societys experiences with changing technologies of production as capitalism developed, although this understanding was quite often deployed in racist terms to differentiate between less industrialized nations of the non-west from the more ind ustrialized European societies. It is true, as observed by Eagleton that the relationship between nature and culture was such that nature produces culture which changes nature (Eagleton, 2006: 3). In this sense, there is a part of nature that is cultural, and another that is not. The part of nature which is cultural is that part which labor transforms, for example, into works of art, monuments, skyscrapers (or building structures) or cities. Such products of culture are as natural as rural idylls are cultural (Eagleton, 2006: 4). Because culture originally meant cultivation, or managing the growth of crops, which means husbandry, the cultural therefore would imply that which was within ones means to change. As pointed out by Eagleton (2006: 4), the stuff to be altered has its own autonomous existence, which then lends it something of the recalcitrance of nature in much the same way as the extent to which culture transforms nature and also influences the rigorous limits nature imposes on the cultural project. To this extent, I am in agreement with Eagleton (2006: 4-5) that the idea of culture signified a double rejection, of, on the one hand, the representation of culture as an organic (biological) determinism; and, on the other, as an interpretation of culture as an embodiment of autonomous spiritualism. To this extent therefore, culture rebuffs naturalism and idealism founded in biological determinism by insisting that from the point of view of culture, there was also a representation within nature which exceeded and dismantled nature. It also represented a refusal of idealism because even the highest-minded human agency had its humble roots in our biology and natural environment. The resulting contradiction from this rejection of naturalism (emanating from organic determinism) and idealism (as a result of autonomy of spirit) led to a contest between what had actually evolved and what ought to, which transfigured into what Eagleton described as a tension between making and being made, between rationality and spontaneity (Eagleton, 2006: 5). Consequently, although the relation between humans and nature was important to an understanding culture, in this paper, I consider the social relations between humans and nature in the course of extracting from nature, through which humans change nature to be the most important. This is what is central to understanding the concept of culture, which makes it possible to view it as a systematic way of life and living, that humans consciously develop that is transferred from the past to the present and into the future. It depicts some semblance of historically assembled normative values and principles internal to social organizations through which a diversity of relationships are ordered. In this way, it is possible to see how culture becomes an abstraction of itself, in its own right, which does not reify culture as a thing as this essentializes culture. I am inclined to agree with Armstrong (2010: 2) in her definition, which presents culture more as a process of meaning making which i nforms our sense of who we are, how we want to be perceived and how others perceive us. The above said, we also need to recognize that while culture is important, it is also not the only factor that shapes social relations between humans in the course of impacting on nature in ways that change it. Several other social, economic, political, geographical, historical and physical factors come into play. It is necessary to recognize that culture, which embodies as much as it conceals its specific history, politics and economics; is, as also pointed out by Franz Boaz  [4]  , not inert. It is an inherently Boasian conception to view culture as extremely dynamic; as having life, and existing in a continuous state of flux, as new notions of and about culture continues to emerge. This means that cultures cannot be expected to be static and homogenous. As new cultures emerge, tensions are usually generated. The totality of any culture and its individual trait cannot be understood if taken out of its general setting. Likewise, culture cannot also be conceived as controlled by a single set of conditions (Benedict, 1934: xv). It is also Franz Boaz  [5]  who noted that culture is some form of standardized or normative behavior. An individual lives in his/her specific culture, in as much the same way as culture is lived by an individual. Culture has a materiality that makes it manifest in diverse patterns implying that it meaningless to try and generalize or homogenize about cultural patterns (Benedict, 1934: xvi). Thinking of culture as socially constructed networks of meaning that distinguish one group from another implies not only a rejection of social evolution but also an endorsement of cultural relativism, which is also a Boasian tradition.  [6]  Boaz  [7]  rightly argued that perspectives that view culture in evolutionary terms tend to end with the construction of a unified picture of the history of culture and civilization, which is misleading. Tendencies which view culture as a single and homogenous unit, and as an individual historical problem is extremely problematic (Benedict, 1934: xv). I consider the distinctive life-ways of different people as the most basic understanding of the notion of culture. Cultural relativity is a recognition that different people have cultures and life-ways that are distinct from those of others. The notion of civilization: The concept of civilization, like culture, also has a complex etymology. By 1694, the French were already using the verb civiliser, and referred to the polishing of manners, rendering sociable, or becoming urbane as a result of city life (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 11). The French notion of civilization referred to the achievement of human advancement manifest in certain customs and standards of living. The French considered civilization as the end point of a process of cultivation that took place over centuries (Elliot, 2002). The English lagged behind the French.  [8]  In 1773, Samuel Johnson still excluded civilization from his dictionary, preferring civility, and yet civilization (from the word civilize) captured better the opposite of barbarity than civility. The English subsequently adopted the concept of civilization deriving it from the verb to civilize and associated it with the notion of civilizing others. The 1933 Oxford Dictionary defined civilization as: A developed o r advanced state of human society; a particular stage or type of this (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 12). By the 18th century, the word civilization in German was associated with the spread by the state of political developments akin to the German state to peoples of other nations. It was somewhat similar to the English verb to civilize (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 11). For the Germans and English, the concept of civilization invoked an imperial political agenda that was apparent in the way they deployed the concept. The harmony and dis-harmonies in deployment of concepts of culture and civilization: The evolutionary thinking about culture and civilization in the philosophy of Durkheim: Among the scholars who attempted a very rigorous narrative intended to distinguish between culture and civilization was Émile Durkheim, whose writings were first published in 1893. In trying to come to terms with the complex division of labor and associated behavioral changes that occurred with the industrial revolution in England, Durkheim, argued that inside modern industry, jobs were demarcated and extremely specialized, and while each product was a specialty, it entailed the existence of others in form of the labor they input into its production. As society evolved from agriculture to industry, so did culture of the pre-industrial era give way to civilization associated with the conditions of progress in human societies. Durkheim extended the concept of division of labor from Economics to organisms and society, from which its association with culture was derived, arguing that the more specialized an organisms functions were, the more exalted a place it occupied in the animal hierarchy. For Durkheim, the extent of division of labor in society influenced the direction of the development of the evolution of mankind from culture to civilization (Durkheim, 1984: 3). Durkheim used division of labor to make the distinction between culture as a preserve of the pre-modern mediaeval society and civilization as belonging to the modern industrial society. Durkheim argued that all societies are usually held together by social solidarity. In the pre-industrial societies, where social bonds were based on customs and norms, this solidarity was mechanical while in the industrial societies, which were highly individualistic, the solidarity was organic, and social bonds were maintained by contracts which regulated relations between highly individualistic beings. To Durkheim, societies transition from relatively simple pre-modern societies to relatively more complex industrial societies (Durkheim, 1984: 3). Durkheim argued that division of labor influenced the moral constitution of societies by creating moral rules for human conduct that influenced social order in ways that made industrial societies distinct from the pre-industrial ones. It created a civilized, individual man, capable of being interested in everything but attaching himself exclusively to nothing, able to savor everything and understand everything, found the means to combine and epitomize within himself the finest aspects of civilization. For Durkheim, tradition and custom, collectively defined as culture were the basis of distinction of the simpler societies which defined their mechanical form of solidarity that they exhibit. The modern societies, according to Durkheim, were characterized civilization (Durkheim, 1984: 3-4). Durkheim advanced an essentially Darwinian argument. In the biological determinism of Durkheim, it is argued that the shift from mechanical to organic solidarity was comparable to the changes that appeared on the evolutionary scale. Relatively simple organisms showing only minimal degrees of internal differentiation ceded place to more highly differentiated organisms whose functional specialization allowed them to exploit more efficiently the resources of the ecological niche in which they happened to be placed. The more specialized the functions of an organism, the higher its level on the evolutionary scale, and the higher its survival value. In similar ways, the more differentiated a society, the higher its chances to exploit the maximum of available resources, and hence the higher its efficiency in procuring indispensable means of subsistence in a given territory (Durkheim, 1984: xvi). There were fundamental contradictions in the perspectives of Durkheim. If Durkheim denigrated culture to the pre-modern, and viewed society as developing in evolutionary terms to the industrial, it could be assumed that he also believed that the solidarity which was associated with the industrial society was better. What then explains the fact that Durkheim was deeply convinced of and concerned about the pathology of acquisitiveness in modern capitalist society? Durkheim did not believe that the pathological features of the industrial society were caused by an inherent flaw in systems built on organic solidarity. Rather, he thought that the malaise and anomie were caused by transitional difficulties that could be overcome through the emergence of new norms and values in the institutional setting of a new corporate organization of industrial affairs (Durkheim, 1984: xxi). For Durkheim, the flaws in industrial and class relations did not mean that the pre-modern characterized by culture was better. That the class conflicts which were inherent in the industrial society and were associated with the structure of capitalist society would be overcome by the emergence of a new corporate society in which relations between employers and employees were harmonized. Beholden to none of the political and social orientations of his day, Durkheim always attempted to look for a balanced middle way (Durkheim, 1984: xxii). The contemporary play of relationships between culture and civilization has, to say the least, rendered wanting, the ideas which were advanced by Durkheim. For example, if culture is a preserve of the pre-modern, what explains the pervasiveness of barbarism within civilized formations of the industrialized world? Can we have culture in societies that are characterized as civilized or with civilization? Or are societies that are said to possess culture devoid of civilization? The contradictions in the etymology and deployment of concepts of culture and civilization: The usage of culture and civilization in various languages has been confusing. Websters Unabridged Dictionary for English defined both culture and civilization in terms of the other. Culture was a particular state or stage of advancement in civilization. Civilization was called advancement or a state of social culture. In both popular and literary English, they were often treated as near synonyms, though civilization was sometimes restricted to advanced or high cultures (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). As early as the 1950s, there were some writers who were inclined to regard civilization as the culture of urbanized societies characterized by cities. Often, civilization was considered a preserve for literate cultures, for instance, while the Chinese had civilization, the Eskimo were seen as in possession of culture (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). The English language distinction between civilization and culture made in the past was different from that made in the German language. In German, civilization was confined to the material conditions, while the English expression sometimes included psychic, moral, and spiritual phenomena (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). The German Kultur also referred to material civilization, while culture in English over time came to mean something entirely different, which corresponded to the humanities. The German Kultur also related to the arts of savages and barbaric peoples, which were not included in any use of civilization since the term civilization denoted a stage of advancement higher than savagery or barbarism. These stages in advancement in civilization were even popularly known as stages of culture; implying that the word culture was used synonymous with the German Kultur (Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 13). In English, culture was a condition or achievement possessed by society. It was not individual. The English phrase a cultured person did not employ the term in the German sense. There was a sense of non-specificity in the way in which the concept culture (Kultur) was deployed in the German sense (Krober Kluckhorn, 1952: 13). From its etymological roots in rural labor, the word culture was first deployed in reference to civility; then in the 18th century, it became more or less synonymous with civilization, in the sense of a general process of intellectual, spiritual and material progress. In Europe, civilization as an idea was equated to manners and morals. To be civilized included not spitting on the carpet as well as not decapitating ones prisoners of war. The very word implied a dubious correlation between mannerly conduct and ethical behavior, which in England was equated to the word gentleman. As a synonym of civilization, culture belonged to the general spirit of Enlightenment, with its cult of secular, progressive self-development (Eagleton, 2006: 9). Form my reading of the literature on this subject, it was not clear at what point culture and civilization begun to be deployed interchangeably. Suffice to mention, however, that in English, as in French, the word culture was not unconditionally interchangeable with civilization. While it was not entirely clear, between the two concepts of culture and civilization, which predated the other, they both shared a transcendental association with the notion of cultivation, as something which is done to (or changes in) humans in the course of exacting labor upon nature to change it, that leads to the development of human qualities to suit the needs of collective humanity. Culture, which emerged in German from the notion of Kultur, which meant cultivation, appeared as a form of universal subjectivity at work within the particularistic realm of our separate individualities. For Eagleton (2006: 8), it was a view of culture as a component of civilization which was neither dissociated from socie ty nor wholly at one with it. This kind of focus also portrayed an essentially Kantian notion of man as becoming cultivated through art and science, and becoming civilized by attaining a variety of social graces and refinements (or decencies), in which the state had a role to play. This Kantian conception therefore distinguished between being cultivated and being civilized. Being cultivated referred to intrinsic improvement of the person, while being civilized referred to improvements of social interrelations (interpersonal relations), some kind of ethical pedagogy which served to liberate the collective self buried in every individual into a political citizen (Eagleton, 2006: 7; Kroeber Kluckhohn, 1952: 11). There was a sense in which the concept of civilization had an overwhelming French connection (coming from the concept civilizer), in the same way culture was associated with the Germans (from the concept Kultur). To be described as civilized was associated by the French with finesse with regards to social, political, economic and technical aspects life. For the Germans, culture had a more narrowly religious, artistic and intellectual reference. From this point of view, Eagleton (2006: 9) was right when he observed that: (i) civilization was deployed in a manner that played down national differences, while culture highlighted them; and, (ii) the tension between culture and civilization had much to do with the rivalry between Germany and France. I am reminded here of Eagletons famous phrase that: civilization was formulaically French, while culture was stereotypically German (Eagleton, 2006: 10-11). Towards the end of the 19th century civilization and culture were invariably viewed as antonyms. If, however, the description by Eagleton (2006: 9) of French notion of civilization as a form of social refinement is acceptable, then one can also accept Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952: 14) description of civilization as a process of ennobling (or creating nobility) of humanity through the exercise by society of increased control of the elementary human impulses. This makes civilization a form of politics. In the same light, I also agree with Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952: 14) that cultures German connections link it with the control of nature through science and art, which means culture embodies technology (including equipment) as well as knowledge systems (including skills) relevant for subduing and employing nature. The implications of the above are two-fold: (a) culture and civilization, can not be looked at as antonyms or binary opposites, in the sense in which evolution theorists would want us to view the relationship between these two concepts with culture as being akin to an inferior status while civilization is ascribed to the superior; (b) both tend to depict not only elements of normativity in advance in life-forms, but also constantly improving internal conditions of the internal elements of these concepts that define humanity which they embody. There is a way in which the elements embodied by these concepts depict superiority in their respective life-forms. Even when there are tendencies for overlaps in the elements depicted by these two concepts, for example, their association with politics, art, technology and urban living, there is a sense in which both concepts cannot be viewed as stages of development one from the other. It appears to me that Eagleton viewed civilization as a value-judgmental concept that pre-supposed an improvement on what went before, to whatever was not only right, but a great deal better than what was (Eagleton, 2006: 10). Eagleton was also non-presumptive when he pointed out that historically, the deployment of the term put it within the lexicon of a pre-industrial European middle class, which used the concept to justify imperial ambitions of mercantile and early industrial European capitalism towards those they categorized as of inferior civilization (Eagleton, 2006: 10). This fact has to be borne in mind if the concept when the concept is deployed today. Culture on the other hand, required certain social conditions that bring men into complex relationships with natural resources. The state becomes a necessity. Cultivation was a matter of the harmonious, all-round development of the personality. Because there was overwhelming recognition that nobody could do this in isolation, this helped to shift culture from its individual to its social meaning. Culture had a social dimension (Eagleton, 2006: 10). Whichever was, between culture and civilization, the progenitor of the other, there is a dual sense in which these concepts appear linked by their enlightenment era roots; and also not linked at the same time. I agree with Eagleton that civilization sounds abstract, alienated, fragmented, mechanistic, utilitarian, in thrall to a crass faith in material progress; while culture seems holistic, organic, sensuous, autotelic and recollective. However, I have reservations with Eagletons postulation of, first, a conflict between culture and civilization, and secondly, presentation of this conflict as a manifestation of a quarrel between tradition and modernity (Eagleton, 2006: 11). One of the greatest exports from the Enlightenment era was its universalism. Post-enlightenment political philosophy contributed significantly to critiques of enlightenments grand unilineal narratives regarding the evolution of universal humanity. We can look at the discourse of culture as a contribution to understanding the diversity inherent in different life-forms with their specific drivers of growth. Increasingly, it had become extremely perilous to relativize non-European cultures, which some thinkers of the time idealized as primitive (Eagleton, 2006: 12). In the 20th century in the primitivist features of modernism, a primitivism which goes hand-in-hand with the growth of modern cultural anthropology emerged, this time in postmodern guise, in form of a romanticizing of popular culture, which now plays the expressive, spontaneous, quasi-utopian role which primitive cultures had played previously (Eagleton, 2006: 12). While todate the concepts civilization and culture continue to be used interchangeably, there is also still a sense in which culture is still deployed almost as the opposite of civility (Eagleton, 2006: 13). It is not uncommon to encounter culture being used in reference to that which is tribal as opposed to the cosmopolitan. Culture continues to be closed to rational criticism; and a way of describing the life-forms of savages rather than a term for the civilized. If we accept the fact that the savages have culture, then the primitives can be depicted as cultured and the civilized as uncultured. In this sense, a reversal means that civilization can also be idealized (Eagleton, 2006: 13). If the imperial Modern states plundered the pre ­-modern ones, for whatever reasons, is it not a statement of both being uncultured and lack of civility, quite antithetical to what one could consider as civilization of the west. What sense doe it therefore make to posture as civilized and yet act in an uncultured manner? Can viewing culture as civilization, on one hand, and civilization as culture, on the other hand, help to resolve the impasse in the contemporary deployment of these concepts? One fact is clear, either way; it has potential to breed postmodern ambiguities of cultural relativism (Eagleton, 2006: 14). Alternatively, if culture is viewed, not as civilization, but as a way of life, it simply becomes an affirmation of sheer existence of life-forms in their pluralities (Eagleton, 2006: 13). Pluralizing the concept of culture comes at a price the idea of culture begins to entertain cultural non-normativities or queer cultures, in the name of diversity of cultural forms. Rather than dissolving discrete identities, it multiplies them rather than hybridization, which as we know, and as Edward Said observed, all cultures are involved in one another; none is single and pure, all are hybrid, heterogeneous, extraordinarily differentiated, and non-monolithic (Eagleton, 2006: 15). Attempts to valorize culture as a representation of particular life-forms associated with civility can also be perilous. There is a post-modern sense in which culture can be considered as an intellectual activity (science, philosophy and scholarship), as well as an imaginative pursuit of such exploits as music, painting and literature. This is the sense in which cultured people are considered to have culture. This sense suggests that science, philosophy, politics and economics can no longer be regarded as creative or imaginative. This also suggests that civilized values are to be found only in fantasy. And this is clearly a caustic comment on social reality. Culture comes to mean learning and the arts, activities confined to a tiny proportion of humanity, and it at once becomes impoverished as a concept (Eagleton, 2006: 16). Concluding Remarks: From the foregoing analyses, it is clear that understanding the relationship between culture and civilization is impossible until we cease to view the world in binaries in which the West (Europe) was constructed as advanced and developed with the non-West perceived as primitive, barbarous and pagan. Historically, the Wests claim of supremacy was always predicated on their provincialization of the non-west, whose behavioral patterns were judged from the experience of the West, and characterized in generalized terms as traditional customs and therefore culture. I agree with Benedict, that the West did all it could to universalize its experience to the rest of the world, even when this experience was different from that of those from the non-west (Benedict, 1934: 5). Assumptions of the mutual exclusivity of culture and civilization in society are premised on perceived irreconcilability of values and beliefs. Religion was always used in the West to posit a generalized provincialism of the non-west. It was the basis of prejudices around which superiority was justified. No ideas or institutions that held in the one were valid in the other. Rather all institutions were seen in opposing terms according as they belonged to one or the other of the very often slightly differentiated religions. In this con

Implications of Research on Bilingual and Polyglot Aphasia :: Essays Papers

Implications of Research on Bilingual and Polyglot Aphasia Research conducted on bilingual and polyglot aphasics has brought interest into the field of linguistics mainly because of its contribution to L2 research, especially in providing explanations for the organization of distinct languages in the brain. Since there exists such a variation between individual cases, the most important thing to come out of this research is a set of factors involved in these aphasia cases as well as theories emerging from research. Some of these factors include: the language environment in which the aphasic recovers, influence of the L1, language mixing, brain lateralization for language, and the question of whether structurally similar languages follow a similar pattern of deficits and recovery. The main pathological implication—determining what is missing or misplaced inside a bilingual or polyglot aphasic’s brain—also shares importance with determining how different languages are structured in the brain. The history of research on bilingual aphasia into the 20th century begins with the work of two Frenchmen at the end of the 19th century by the names of Ribot and Pitres. Ribot wrote his paper, Les maladies de la memoire, in 1881 (Lebrun 12). Pitres, using seven polyglot aphasic patients as the basis for his work, published Etude sur l’aphasie des polyglottes in 1895 (Lebrun 11). Ribot’s conclusion about recovery in polyglot aphasics is known as Ribot’s rule, which basically states that L1 will recover more than any L2’s. Pitres’ rule, built off of Ribot’s, takes a different approach in saying that the language used most often â€Å"pre-morbidly†(i.e. before the onset of aphasia) is the one which will be regained the fullest, irregardless of that language being an L1 or L2. Various individual cases have cropped up which match both theories, so further research has attempted to explain variances in recovery of specific languages through other means. Also, after Pitres, the research focus became more one of examining deficits in syntax and morphology in an attempt to explain brain construction, and less of an analysis of â€Å"interesting language recovery† in these patients. Examining Theoretical Issues Another important component of the study of polyglot aphasia came with the distinction between compound and co-ordinate bilingualism, as examined by Lambert and Fillenbaum (1959). Although the state of being a â€Å"bilingual† is a hazy one, the distinction between the two concepts comes with the context of acquisition.

Plate Tectonics Explained Essay -- essays research papers fc

The interior structure of Earth is chemically divided into an outer solid crust, the mantle, a liquid outer core, and a solid inner core. The core is largely composed of iron, along with nickel and silicon. Other lighter elements are usually in the crust. The core is divided into two parts, the solid inner core and the liquid outer core. The inner core is thought to be solid and primarily made up of iron and some nickel. The outer core is all around the inner core and is believed to be made up of liquid iron mixed with liquid nickel. The outer core is about 2890 to 5100km. The inner core is 5100 to 6378km. Earths mantle is mainly composed of substances high in iron and magnesium. The melting point of every substance depends on the pressure and the deeper we go the higher the pressure becomes. Because of this the upper mantle is said to be semi-molten and the lower mantle solid. The upper mantle iron-substances are semi-molten because it is hot and they are under little pressure, lower mantles iron-substances are solid because they are under a lot of pressure. The mantle is 35 to 2890km. Earths crust ranges from 5 to 70 km in depth. The thinnest parts are the oceanic crust made of dense iron magnesium silicate rocks and underlie the ocean basins. The thicker crust is continental crust, composed of sodium potassium aluminum silicate rocks. The crust varies from 0 to 35 km or 5 to 70km. Convection currents occur because the density of a fluid is related to its temperature. Hot rocks lower in the mantle are less dense than the cooler rocks above. The hot rocks rise and the cooler rocks sink because of gravity. Convection currents are thought to be the driving mechanism of plate movement. Convection currents cause convergent and divergent movements. When the rising part of the convection current rises it causes the upper mantle to move upward and in a lateral direction. This causes the mantle to split and new material to rise creating new ocean crust. The downward motion of the convection current pulls the mantle crust downward at convergent boundaries. When part of the mantle crust is uplifted the weight of the lifted part, pushes the sinking mantle down, causing motion in the tectonic plates. A convergent boundary is where two tectonic plates move towards each other. And when they collide they form either a subduction zone with its associated island arc or an... ...ld Ocean. They are somewhat divided by the continents into the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic. The World Ocean is 361 million km ² in area, the volume is 1370 million km ³, and its average depth is 3790 m. The landmasses are divided into seven continents. They are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, North America, South America and Europe. But before there were seven it was said to be just one giant landmass called Pangaea. Supposedly this super continent began to break up about 225-200 million years ago, eventually coming into the position the continents are today. Similar fossils of several different animals and plants that once lived on land had been found widely separated on the continents. There would be no way that these could have gotten where they were found if the continents were then as they are now. Works cited 1.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  History of Plate Tectonics -http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/tectonics.html 2.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Earth Structure http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/lessons/Earths_layers/Earths_layears4.html 3.)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Earth Science Book -copyright 2002 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Organizational Concepts -high :: essays research papers

GreenPages, Inc. hereinafter referred to as GP is a dynamic organization that most closely fits the sociotechnical model put forth by Trist (1963) and Rice (1963) of the Tavis Institute. GP was created by Kurt Blieken in 1992 to be as he put it the most elegant company in existence today. Starting with a blank piece of paper Kurt Blieken crafted a mission statement (attachment A) that served as the underpinnings and catalyst to create an organizational structure that balanced the complex technical systems with a social and economic system which serves as a model to the computer industry today. GP is currently under going tremendous growth of over 100% annually which creates a turbulent environment and tests the organization structure GP was founded on. It is the belief of Kurt Blieken as well as those of us whom work at GP that this unique corporate structure can not only be retained but thrive as the organization scales to new heights. In order to understand the goals and challenges facing GP it is useful to utilize Weisbord’s Six-Box Model to analyse the organizational structure. GP was formed with two purposes in mind. The first was to create the best place to work in the country. The cornerstone of this purpose is a value system which is the very heart of our corporate culture. This value system is as follows: ? The company’s most valuable asset is its corporate culture. The basis of the culture is cheering at another’s success, helping out when a teammate needs a hand and being generous with praise. GP culture is so important that people who cannot or will not embrace it fully will not be allowed to stay. ? GP was designed from the ground up to meet the needs of our customers. We continuosly change and improve ourselves and our systems to meet new needs. ? Every job in the company is critically important. We hire good people, then give the tools and the training to be outstanding. We are always striving for perfect execution of everything we do. ? It’s OK to make a mistake. Since we hire good people, a mistake is just that, a mistake. If many mistakes occur it is the system which needs to be corrected. Following this policy can be difficult but it leads to a wonderful lack of finger pointing and back covering. GP culture encourages new ideas and risk taking.

Idi Amin

Born in 1925, Idi Amin was unquestionably one of the most significant leaders since 1971 to 1980. He had achieved a great deal and had had an extremely negative impact on his people, his country and the international community. During his reign, Idi Amin had managed to gain total control of Uganda and murder a ridiculous amount of people who opposed or challenged his view. Further, he used lies and deceit to get into power and then abuse the trust of his people. Finally, his actions in supporting Britain caused a famine in his country.Essentially, Idi Amin was a significant leader; however it was for all the wrong reasons. Throughout Idi Amin’s time as leader, he was able to commit a number of heinous acts towards his society and against the rights of humanity. One particular event of which was most significant during his time as leader was a mass murder of over 250,000 people in his country, which he holds responsible for. The mass murder primarily involved anyone in Uganda t hat opposed against his views and the expulsion of Asians. In 1975 the body of one of his four wives was delivered to Mulago hospital.It had been chopped into pieces by Idi Amin himself for reasons being that she had been impregnated by another man. This proves that Idi Amin will not stand by any person in his life that resists against his wishes and establishes the brutality from within his character. Amin was able to manipulate a large majority of his people to secure his place for leader of Uganda, only then to abuse the trust of his people once elected. These actions soon lead on to further corrupt movements that had a negative impact on the people of Uganda.When Idi Amin presented himself as the opposition leader for Uganda, he announced to the people that if he were selected as president he would turn their country into a democracy. This false statement had given him much popularity from his people, which then resulted in him becoming leader. Once in power Amin abused this tru st by cancelling elections and turning the country into a dictatorship. These events highlight that he was a negative ruler, but signify his importance. A further demonstration of his negative rule, Amin, through his relationship with Britain brought about a famine. Before Idi Amin became leader, Uganda as a part of the British colony. Idi Amin had never gotten a proper education, though was able to gain a name in society due to joining the British army and getting promoted to colonel after a short period of time. He had gained a very good reputation in the army and was seen to have excellent leadership qualities; for example, When Britain was going through a recession that later on lead to an extreme food shortage for their people, Idi Amin had collected a very large quantity of Uganda’s farm crops to support Britain during their hardship despite the fact that starvation was still a major concern for his people at the time.Idi Amin believed that putting aside the health of h is country In order to develop a good relationship with the leaders of Great Britain was much more vital at the time. The great challenges Amin had face during his lifetime such as the time he spent in the army and the difficulties he faced as leader of Uganda, eventually lead to his destructive behaviour towards his people, his country and the international community. Amin's rule was characterised by gross human rights abuse, political repression, corruption, and gross economic mismanagement, each of which all had an extremely negative influence towards his society during his reign.

Creative Writing Workshop for Public High Schools

Creativeness is a natural gift that one possesses even from his or her birth and which requires constant use or exercise and continued development for it to remain spirited and change for the better. Organizing and implementing an effective workshop on creative writing will be beneficial to a particular group of people targeted to be well-informed on how to write short and long stories as well as narratives. This Creative Writing Workshop was specifically designed and programmed for public high school students across the country because of the small involvement and appreciation of creative writing. This activity also aims to make writing and reading a beneficial act, if not a force habit, for the said students and eventually make creating writing and reading a requirement in public high schools' curriculum. This Creative Writing Workshop and Activities in United Kingdom is for public high school students with various interests such as intellectual institutions, commercial enterprise, the arts, natural and social sciences and other services which will suit one's preference. Whether the high school student is just beginning or already a seasoned writer and just like to extend his or her creative writing in new perspective, this practical workshop is programmed to offer a sense and appreciation of different genres. We are in charge of a broad scope of creative writing and literature. Our yearly programme and production of publications that includes a website, a range of modern creative writing references, and internet sites showcase creative writing versions, details on modern creative writers and an online reading associations. Our latest preference and the focus of areas of activities are the promotion and development of creative writing for young people such as high school students in public high schools. This is because these soon-to-be creative writing students, when properly groomed and guided, will definitely represent an advance level in the evolution of their group. This new breed of creative writers may replace coffee and computer houses with conference venues and will expect regular and above average paychecks in the future. Furthermore, this workshop intends that participants from public secondary institutions will eventually turn to be more advantageous in their writing development compared with their counterparts in the private high schools. Patterned from the Brighton, England's THE SOUTH, a writer's network and literary arts agency whose service includes creative writing, this Creative Writing Workshop was proposed for the use of public high school students. This particular program will be spearheaded by professional creative and literary writer who are seasoned in dealing with young people. Types of Workshop The literary genre of Poetry, creative writing and reading or skill workshops and activities that will help a public high school student is the composition of this type of workshop. The workshop will concentrate on particular writers, or specific literary genres, or about genres, or on various topics or demands which include the natural science, the aspect of safe reproduction practice, family aspect, teachers (or the manner of teaching), substance abuse, neighborhood crime and racialism. In particular, the workshop will deal with specific or single workshops or a scope of actions as part of the Creative Writing Week as well as a combination of a media and transverse art form workshops to arouse one's creativeness utilizing one's literary or expressed statements celebration. One's writing techniques and skill will be developed and improved by employing a curriculum which will focus on creative reading and writing workshops and where every public high school student’s needs can be addressed. Additionally, the workshop will touch on creative writing classes for faculty members, study-support personnel and specific public school rooms associates. Meanwhile, the plan study includes the Writers-in-Residence Project which will give the participants effective creative writing skills and techniques, the pleasure of discovering oneself, and a memorable and fruitful experience with the writing procedures. The said project is a five-month program immersing public high school students in the reasoning, imagining, and creation of thoughts that composes a powerful creative writing work. The project is open to concerned and interested secondary students who have presented a unique ability and skill and interested in advancing them to create a full-length and published works. This Writer-in-Residence programme eases the work of a creative writer both in practical and financial aspects. The position can be practiced from 6 months up to a year. During this time the writer is inspired to create another creative writing that may be presented when the residency ends. The residency in a way helps or returns something to the society where he or she stayed such as workshop activities, writers associations, and conception of creative work invigorated by the community. The residency invites all creative writers, published or not, regardless of race, religion, nationality, age, professional experience, sexual preference, are of residence, or economic status. All residents are chosen primarily on the aspect of the anonymous details and writing samples provided in their applications. For more information on the selection process, please see ____. Workshop schedule (day and venue) The group is glad to work in a manner that best fits one's preference and according to the day, time, and venue that work for the high school participant. The various activities within the workshop can be done in one's school venue, secondary institution or centre. It can also be conducted at a different place such as a depository area, art gallery, historic dwelling, or place for travelers. The workshop's theme can be developed according to the preference of the venue. This can be scheduled during the period when high school students are on their term paper or project processing, during holidays, and in time of normal or off school and office hours. The workshop can also gather functions for little group (maximum of 10 high school students) in a designated Workshop Room at any public high school. Participants including the faculty members can engage in our regular programme of open workshops and may join our socialization plan. Rationale of the workshop Generally, people are conscious of the fact that communication, particularly that is intended for print, is personally owned by a specific person. However, others regard books and print materials as unrealistic to ignite one's creativity or they fail to capture one's vision. This is because they find that they do not have the time to attest to their own precept of creative writing. Purpose of the workshop Through this workshop, we aim that any public high school student, regardless of his or her age and heritage, could have the opportunity to be endowed and enriched by creative writing. For them to be able to show their real personalities, either verbally or in print, and deal with their ideas and emotion. We intend that the participants will have the expertise to claim language and own their own works and to build and search their respective attributes. We make a harmless area where high school students' expressions get a boost for them to enjoy the written and verbal creative writings and for the said participants to get out of their comfort zones and emerge as expert creative writers. Effect of the workshop Dealing and being into a work place with professional and seasoned creative writers will definitely have a compelling effect on the participants, both the high school students and their teachers. Getting away from the traditional method of learning, the participants will have the chance to experience and search for examples of good and effective creative writing. The workshop will open an opportunity and lead the participants to the force of creative writing as well as reading and make himself or herself as someone with authority who can excite others about the beauty of creative writing without antagonizing the audience. Aside from the high school students, their teachers can also benefit as they will emerge renewed with fresh thoughts on the process of creative writing. Procedure For this workshop, we propose a procedure that will assure that students will get maximum benefits from the activities in terms of creative arousal, self-manifestation, mentoring, learning details, self-esteem and publication productions. We will invite practitioners in the field of creative writing as the resource speakers or facilitators of the workshop. The speakers will conduct theoretical discussions to be followed by open forum where the participants and the speakers can discuss the merits of the activities. The participants will also be given time to apply the workshop's principles and theories. Requirement and result The workshop will necessitate careful study of particular requirement and result and will request participants to accomplish a survey/report paper. Then, we will eventually give an acceptable and flexible workshop proposal with appropriate recommendations. Since seeing a creative work put into print means accomplishment and boost to one's ability, the workshop proposes the provision of all required assistance for actual performance in the activities and eventual publication of the works. These may include the plan and publication of participants’ collection of creative writing papers and their video presentation. Similar successful workshops Successful workshops with similar programs involving creative writing, literary/poetry recital, video productions of dance and street arts workshops as well as in museums and galleries at different public high schools and communities are found in Hove, Sussex and the south of England and those creative writing and drawing workshops at Brighton. Price of the workshop The workshop charges a minimum of ?500. However, for the specific requirement of a particular group of high school students, we will request them to contact us for a detailed costing so that the financial proposal will fit into your project. For inquiries, you can reach us at (proposed name, contact numbers and online information about the organization facilitating the creative writing workshop).