Quantitative Research

Quantitative research often is the preferred approach to problem design as results are precise. Many researchers prefer the exact measurement and statistical analysis that quantitative research offers. Observation in quantitative research allows classification and the statistical models built document the outcome of a study. The data collected in a quantitative investigation creates answers in numbers and statistics. Deductive reasoning is used to design quantifiable tools that collect pertinent data.Results are accurately measured and presented, as a â€Å"quantitative research paradigm is empirical in nature; it is also known as the scientific research paradigm† (Atieno, 2009, p. 14). Characteristics of a Quantitative Problem Statement The problem statement explains and justifies the decision to use quantitative analysis methods. The problem statement is a succinct and definite, implying data gathering and examination. â€Å"Quantitative research is a means for testing obje ctive theories by examining the relationship among variables,† (Creswell, 2008, p. ). Creswell (2009) indicated if a problem calls for factors that influence the result or a best outcome approach, then a quantitative approach should be used. Characteristics of a Quantitative Purpose Statement As Jenkins (2009) discussed, an effective purpose statement is in alignment with the problem statement. The nature of the study, data collection methods, and the study population identify the design approach. Variables identified in the design and logic of the problem contributes to the project design and hypothesis.Formulation of Quantitative Research Questions and Hypotheses The quantitative research questions and hypothesis clearly seek to answer the problem statement. The hypothesis is the premise of the study, the expected outcome of the study presents anticipated results in a quantitative manner. The questions and hypothesis create a logical basis to identify data collection methods suitable for problem solving. Quantitative Data Collection Procedures Data collection processes reflect the activities as originally outlined in the problem and purpose statements.The construction of formal instruments occurs to measure the quantifiable data gathered and analyzed. Constraints to data collection procedures such as organization, budget, time, and access to the survey population factor into the design process (Jenkins, 2009). Quantitative Data Analysis Procedures The results from the data collection process derived from trend analysis and surveys use statistical methods of measurement (Atieno, 2009). The results provide an exact result numerically measured.The precision offered by gathering data through easily quantifiable tools give reliable results. The data alone does not provide an answer; statistical methods for analysis provide a reliable means of clarifying a large data set (Jenkins, 2009). Statistical analysis is used to mitigate risk when a degree of uncertai nty is present. Numbers from the researched data set use statistical analysis and reporting for analysis. Descriptive statistics allow the presentation of results using graphs and charts (Jenkins, 2009).Visual communications provides a clear graphic representation that allows simple cognition of complex data. Research Fundamentals Quantitative research is a preferred method of problem-solving because of its precision. A properly designed problem statement and purpose statement drives the research process and deductive logic is used in the data gathering design. Results are analyzed using statistical methods to create a result set. Presentation of results may include visual communication tools such as charts and graphs, providing simple tools to understand complex trends and ratios.

Henkie Essay

6.1 Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers was one of the main casualties of the US end of the global financial crisis that began in 2007. The US Government, fearing the loss of confidence in the financial markets bailed out Fannie May and Freddie Mac, AIG, and some other financial institutions. But when it came to Lehman Brothers, then the fourth largest investment bank in the US, the Government refused to support and the bank filed for bankruptcy. Whether this was a sound decision is, probably, not the subject for this case – though that decision did precipitate a lot of subsequent problems. Rather the case has been written to generate discussion about the domination of a major institution by one man – Richard S. Fuld Jr. The case claims that Lehman Brothers was dominated by Richard S. Fuld Jr. Was this desirable? What steps could have been taken to avoid it? Who could have initiated these steps? The discussion should raise questions: where was the board, particularly the independent outside directors? Did they understand the risks involved in the business model being pursued by the CEO? Were they acquiescent, pliable, too-trusting, or dominated by the man who was chairman of the board, chairman of the executive committee, and CEO? Where was the audit committee, indeed, where were the auditors? Where was the nomination committee, which should have been considering board structure and membership? Indeed, where was anyone capable of standing up to Fuld? The second issue concerns the directors’ ages. Certainly many of them had relevant past experience, but many were old. True, some old people can contribute significantly to board discussions from the experience, knowledge and wisdom. But others deteriorate with age. The Lehman’s board lacked a balance. The third question – is it possible for the research analysts of a financial institution to give independent investment advice to clients about a company when the financial institution has an interest in that company? – can generate an important discussion that corporate regulators still struggle to control 6.2 The Siemens AG case 1. What might Kleinfeld have done to avoid resigning? Given the apparent cultural clash between Kleinfeld’s apparent Anglo-Saxon approach to tough-minded management and the more socially-concerned German supervisory board perspective, there might have been little he could do, other than, perhaps, communicating more closely with the labour and financial members of the supervisory board. In fact, subsequent rumours about the situation surfaced, which suggested there was more to the problem than a clash of expectations. Students might be able to unearth more information from press reports. 6.3 Tokyo Electric Power and the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi This case exemplifies how a company can report confidently that it has satisfied all the required corporate governance criteria and yet have serious governance flaws that led to a serious problem becoming a catastrophe. 1. Did the structure of the board contribute to the failures? The board was large, executive and lacking any sense of independent outside directors. This is typical in many well-established Japanese companies, as we will see in this chapter. Attempts by the Japanese Government and some international institutional investors, such as US CalPers, have largely failed to change attitudes in the boardroom, to where power should reside and who should be ‘promoted’ to the board. 2. How do you account for the discrepancies between the company’s alleged concern for corporate governance on its website and the catastrophic failure? This was a company that apparently did not accept the significance of professional corporate governance thinking, but went through the motions to satisfy the regulators and stock market investors. 3. What advice would you give to the chairman of TEPCO? Encourage the students to appreciate the personal and cultural aspects of the situation. â€Å"Replace the board with a majority of independent directors† is not a satisfactory answer. This is not the US or the UK. There is no tradition of independent directors, it runs contrary to many top executive beliefs. Moreover, where are these INEDs to come from? Pressure from institutional investors to resign might work: but there has to be a replacement. Alternatively, consulting advice, mentoring, attitude changing activities, experience on other boards could all be among the ideas suggested. 6.4 The TYCO case What should a board do to ensure that a CEO does not treat the company as a private fiefdom? Recognize that the CEO probably played a major part in the appointment of the other directors. Furthermore, resignation from the board may have little effect on the CEO’s behaviour. This is another corporate governance classic. The challenge to students is to go beyond normative generalisations about how boards should be constituted and how directors should behave. They need to realize that personalities really matter. As in many corporate governance sagas mentioned in the textbook, powerful people can exercise considerable charisma, influence and authority over others – particularly if they have chosen them themselves. What was required was a group of INEDs who would insist on knowing what was going on, and if dissatisfied stand up to the CEO/chairman. If appropriate, this case can be explored further from a legal aspect to see what offences Kozlowski committe d.

Examples of Post Modernism in Play and Worker Drone Essay

In any situation foreign to the character, anything and everything will be done to try to make sense of ones surroundings. The importance of identifying the type of the movies shown in â€Å"Worker Drone† by Raju, S. (2010) and â€Å"Play† by Kaplan and Zimmerman (2010) are vital to the understanding of not only the plot, but also the common themes presented. For example, common themes in both movies were was the sense of paranoia, a showcase of intertextuality and an ambiguous endings. All three common themes make it clear that these movies are in fact postmodern films, despite the fact that there were also a few common themes also found supporting a modernist and existentialist sense. There were ambiguous ending in both filmsIn both films, there were clear ambiguous endings, which makes them postmodernis a large indicator of a postmodern film. For example, the audience also does not know what how the ending was in the movie â€Å"Play† movie â€Å"Play† ends, and leaves them asking questions such as to who was the little boy and does the female end up tell anyone else what she saw in the ending? In â€Å"The Worker Drone† the audience never finds out if the war had ended or even if Paul has actually told anyone else the truth. These films display ambiguous endings and leave the audience wondering as to what exactly happened, and allows them to create their own version of the ending in their own heads. This common theme displays a postmodern type of storytelling in both â€Å"The Worker Drone† and â€Å"Play†. Another key postmodern theme that I believe was most apparent was the use of intertexting themes in both â€Å"The Worker Drone† and â€Å"Play†. An example of such was used during â€Å"Play† when the story is actually set inside a videogame in which the characters play as characters inside of the game cartages. Also, Wwhile in â€Å"The Worker Drone† this theme is shown with the use of the â€Å"Planet Dogstar† promo commercial that is played as a video inside of a movie. These examples of intertexting are very apparent in both films and represents another aspect of postmodern themes. Lastly, as related to the previous paragraph, most specifically the movie â€Å"Play†, the strange world in which these characters live in create a sense of paranoia and has them begin to question their reality. As mentioned, in the movie â€Å"Play† these characters find themselves in a strange video game world in which they are unsure of who they even are (eg. â€Å"Who am I? Where am I?†). Meanwhile, in â€Å"The Worker Drone† the main characters have developed paranoia in which they believe they are being monitored to the point in which they have nanochips implanted in their brains. In conclusion, both â€Å"The Worker Drone† and â€Å"Play† presented common themes showcasing a postmodern view such as intertexting, ambiguous endings and paranoia. These themes stood out the most in my opinion and made these stories postmodern in my opinion. Task 1, Topic 2: Two Examples of Post modernism FINAL COPY In any situation foreign to the character, anything and everything will be done to try to make sense of ones surroundings. The importance of identifying the type of the movies shown in â€Å"Worker Drone† by Raju, S. (2010) and â€Å"Play† by Kaplan and Zimmerman (2010) are vital to the understanding of not only the plot, but also the common themes presented. For example, common themes in both movies was the sense of paranoia, a showcase of intertextuality an ambiguous ending. All three common themes make it clear that these movies are in fact postmodern films, despite the fact that there were also a few common themes found supporting a modernist and existentialist sense. In both films there were clear ambiguous endings, which is a large indicator of a postmodern film. For example, the audience also does not know how the movie â€Å"Play† ends, and leaves them asking questions such as to who was the little boy and does the female character end up tell anyone else what she saw in the ending? In â€Å"The Worker Drone† the audience never finds out if the war had ended or even if Paul has actually told anyone else the truth. These  films display ambiguous endings and leave the audience wondering as to what exactly happened, and allows them to create their own version of the ending in their own heads. This common theme displays a postmodern type of storytelling in both â€Å"The Worker Drone† and â€Å"Play†. Another key postmodern theme that I believe was most apparent was the use of intertexting themes in both â€Å"The Worker Drone† and â€Å"Play†. An example of such was used during â€Å"Play† when the story is set inside a videogame in which the characters play as characters inside of the game cartages. Also, while in â€Å"The Worker Drone† this theme is shown with the use of the â€Å"Planet Dogstar† promo commercial that is played as a video inside of a movie. These examples of intertexting are very apparent in both films and represents another aspect of postmodern themes. Lastly, as related to the previous paragraph, most specifically the movie â€Å"Play†, the strange world in which these characters live in create a sense of paranoia and has them begin to question their reality. As mentioned, in the movie â€Å"Play† these characters find themselves in a strange video game world in which they are unsure of who they even are (eg. â€Å"Who am I? Where am I?†). Meanwhile, in â€Å"The Worker Drone† the main characters have developed paranoia in which they believe they are being monitored to the point in which they have nanochips implanted in their brains. In conclusion, both â€Å"The Worker Drone† and â€Å"Play† presented common themes showcasing a postmodern view such as intertexting, ambiguous endings and paranoia. These themes stood out the most in my opinion and made these stories postmodern in my opinion. Task 2: Movie Questions Q. What is the name of the movie? A. The Great Gatsby Q. When was the movie made? A. First in 1925 but again in 2013. Q. What is the main setting of the movie? (Time and place) A. Between West Egg and New York in the early 1900s after a war. Q. Who are the main characters? Which one is the protagonist? Which one is the antagonist? (Who are they, describe them briefly). A. Daisy : Gatsby loves her. He met her five years ago but didn’t marry her, now she is married with someone else and Gatsby wants to get back with her. Nick : The cousin of Daisy. Is used by Gatsby to connect with Daisy, and he is the one narrating the story. Jordon: Has a connection between Nick, Tom and Gatsby, and is a â€Å"side character† Protagonist: He is â€Å"Jay Gatsby†. His character is shown as the film progresses, and he is a mysterious man that throws parties every Saturday for what is later revealed to impress Daisy. He is a con man and has made money off of corruption. Antagonist: Tom (Daisy’s husband) is the antagonist in the film. He is originally just loving to his wife, but upon realizing Gatsbys intensions, plans to Gatsbys death Q. What is the essence of the problem or conflict that lies at the heart of this movie? A. Gatsby was unable to marry Daisy five years prior as he was too poor, and is now trying to win her back now that he is rich. The essence of the problem is also the decision by Daisy as to who she wants to spend the rest of her life with (Gatsby or her husband, Tom) Q. How are the attitudes and perspectives on life from that era reflected in the film? A. The language is very clearly an older, more British form of English with many British phrases presented (â€Å"Old Chap†). On top of that, the clothing, buildings, and cars are clearly old fashioned and dates back to the early 1900’s. Lastly, there is clearly a cultural shift between the main characters, and the lesser â€Å"poorer† peoples. This is clear by the lack of disregard to colored and underprivileged peoples in the early 1900’s Q. How is the story helped by camera angles? A. There are close shots during emotional scenes in them such as the only time when Gatsby was angry and when he was shot dead as well. There are shots with Dutch/angle to show confusion during the party scene when Nick met Gatsby for the first time. And when Tom’s lover, was struck by the car that was being driven by Daisy. There were also many long shots from above  to show wider detail like when there is a shot taken of the block/city. Q. How is the story helped by music? Provide several specific examples. A. The music was really relative to the scenes, and clearly emphasized the point playing. For example, there was soothing music during intimate scenes, and in contrast there was loud, fast paced music playing during the party scenes. Also, there was a clear difference in genre of music based on the ethnicity shown. For example more classical music was played during scenes with Daisy’s husband, and hip-hop during scenes with African Americans. Q. How is the story helped by costumes? A. Every scene costumes played a major role on portraying the setting, wither it be representing rich from poor, casual to formal, or night to day, as well as portraying the time this film was set in. The costumes were clearly early 1900s and was showcased by women wearing full dresses with hats, as well as Gatsby even holding a cane for show. An example of formal to casual is showcased by the Butlers wearing tuxedos in comparison to causal night clothes worn by Gatsby and other characters. Q. What is the overarching theme of the movie? Defend your choice. A. This film has one of the clearest themes I’ve even noticed, and it’s that wealth can’t buy you happiness. This is shown by the fact that Gatsby was able to throw rich extravagant parties, yet was unhappy because he was not with Daisy. Eventually he would actually die as a result of trying to get Daisy’s love back to marry him. Simply put, money cannot buy happiness Q. How do these production choices (camera angles, music, costumes) contribute to the overarching feeling that the movie is existentialist, modernist, or postmodernist? Choose one of these three styles and show how production choices helped to illuminate the literary style of the film. A. As mentioned previously, camera angles, music and costumes played a major role in the film. These helped present a Modernist style of movie by presenting costumes in the early 1900s sense. Around this time modernism began to grow, and you can tell by the modernist touches to the clothing. The music along with the costumes presents the Flappers ideology and really presented the modernist feel. Q. How is this like the poems, songs, or stories you have read in this unit? A. I found this movie had a variety of elements in it showcasing not only modernist views, but also existentialist and postmodernist ideas. Now of course these views have been presented in other poems, songs and stories throughout this unit, but it is the first time that all these elements are so clearly together. For example, modernist elements were found in the references to WW1 and Oxford U, while postmodernist elements were showcased in paranoia and suspension of other characters. In conclusion, I find this movie to have been a great blending of all themes, but having modernist as the center point idea. Q. How is this film different from everything else that you have read, heard, etc., in this unit? Make two specific connections. A. I found this film showcased many examples of several elements showcased in this unit (modernist, postmodern, existentialist, etc.). This made it more of an opinion choice based off the evidence as to what type of film was showcased. I did find this film to be much more enjoyable than the other films shown (practically because I knew about the story prior to) and made this film much more enjoyable/realistic to watch. Q. Is this movie mostly existentialist in outlook or mostly modernist in outlook or mostly postmodernist in its style? Why do you think that? A. I believe the movie was modernist for the most part because it had many of the elements required and did not have many postmodernist or existentialist elements throughout. Elements such as alliteration, such as the term â€Å"Old sport† were used for multiple reasons throughout the movie, which showcases a modernist form. Allusions/references were also very apparent, in such forms as references to WW1, Oxford U, etc. The theme of juxtaposition was shown as well when Daisy was deciding who to spend her life with. Task 3: Script The movie had many modern elements and concepts to it, and by adding the following monologue I hope to present the fact that it is such by using a  few theatrical devises used from that era (eg. â€Å"Strong visual images, Free-form poetry†). This scene begins the story as a reflection of the stories events told by Mr. Gatsby before the story its self is presented in full. â€Å"She was unique. A lovely girl for whom I loved from when I laid my eyes first upon her. You see, I was a fool. Her exquisiteness was so mind-blowing, so much in such that I became too nervous to make my presence available to her. We first met in Louisville in 1917, and we fell madly in love. Time changed, we grew apart. Yet here I found myself in the same country, same city and almost the same island yet I was a fool and I stayed reclusive.† â€Å"I don’t know how long it may have been, in fact I might not have ever reacquainted with her had it not been for a swell lad that moved next door named Nick. You see, every Saturday. Over and over again. Week after week. With my incredible wealth I hosted the grandest, most exciting parties that this Grand Island have ever seen, hoping, just hoping that this golden girl would show up.† â€Å"Today my heart is aching For a woman that’s far away I would give anything to hold him And any ransom I would pay† Once finished speaking, Mr. Gatsby finishes typing up what he’s said in story form. Proceeds to the crumple up the paper and throw it in the trash bin. Modified Poem from: http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poems/love/long-distance/#ixzz3TZLUMIlw

Caring for our elders longer at home Research Paper

Caring for our elders longer at home - Research Paper Example In the 21st century, where every person is living a busy life schedule, caring for elders has come out as a responsible job to manage. The responsibility is brought onto the care agencies, which try to bring effective and professional care for elders present at home. There are different challenges, which care agencies face during organizing care for elders. The most prominent challenge for them is the multi-culture, which discriminates race, social class, culture and ethnicity of the elders during the service (Watson, 2011). This paper understanding the problems of care providers is analyzing the case of an agency, which provides home-based care service to elders. The objective here is to understand the ideology of the company (the elder caring agency), its vision and mission to serve elders of society. The aim here is to understand and evaluate the status of the company in terms of the models and frameworks of elder care presented in the literature. There are several agencies in Georgia State, which are situated to provide effective care to elders at home. Georgia Living At Home (GLAH) is one of those successful agencies, which provide all types of non-medical care services to elders. The agency is successful in giving full companionship and support to elders present at homes. The services of GLAH include meal preparation, transportation, medication reminders, and full care assistance to elders. The agency provides in home services to seniors, which is for comfort and ease of the elders. GLAH looks up onto fully cooperate with the clients’ families and their decisions. The agency cooperates and guides families to bring care they desired for their elders. This is how GLAH keeps a distinctive position and respect in the Georgia elders’ community (Haeg, 2013). Jean Watson (a famous American Nursing Professor) first proposed the theory of human caring. This theory states that caring process involves different obligatory and moral

Time Management Portfolio Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Time Management Portfolio - Research Paper Example All the subordinates are interlinked with the various resources within the organization through a process called control. They are controlled and effectively monitored to ensure smooth sailing of all organizational activities. Time management on the other hand, refers to being able to carry out all your activities, within the allocated time period. An effective time manager does not run out of time. He manages to carry out all the transactions within the stipulated time frame. It is extremely necessary for various parties and individuals to be considerable time managers. This concept ensures efficiency; it ensures effectiveness and finally enables one to be fast in carrying out activities. It reduces redundancy of tasks, enables the organization operate on a planned scope. This is necessary for management to set the various goals and standards since they all depend and rely on time. Management is a doctrine that owes its existence to the ancient professionals. The various scholars an d personalities managed to be able to develop various theories that aided and guided the discipline. From Henry Fayol, to Abraham Maslow’s, they all gave their take on the topic management. This is necessary as it has ensured that the discipline’s tangibility remains and it has constantly continued to be regarded as an art, a principle that is learnt. Like management effective time management is also a skill acquired through time. ... After organizing the events or activities, the next step is to rank them in the order of urgency. The exact initial subjects that are urgent in terms of delivery production, time they are generally required, and finally the relationship to the returns are sorted out according to the list of urgency. The next step in the time management process is to gather all the necessary resources to be able to accomplish and achieve the said tasks. These involves gathering the necessary resources in terms of materials needed, human resources needed, the respective tools needed to complete the respective tasks. Allocation of the resources to the particular organizational endeavors is the next step. They are organized and finally the next step is to carry out the activity under siege. It is necessary to plan and manage the planned time. Time as stated is a scarce resources. Time is the only factor at the disposal of various organizations that enables people to carry out their various activities wel l. It is necessary to plan for it as it ensures effectiveness in the production process, it ensures quality in the well planned products and services offered, it reduces on wastage through effective planning of all the activities and resources the aspect of wastage is reduced as all the resources must have been planned for. It enables urgent orders to be completed with ease and efficiency; it reduces delays and fines charged as a result of a late delivery. As the saying goes, time is money and planning time well various organizational activities will also be planned well. This ensures effectiveness in the operations of the organizations and creates efficiency within the system. Time Management Portfolio As defined Time Management refers to being able to carry out all your activities,

Community Policing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Community Policing - Term Paper Example tes the fact that lack of crime, the preservation of public calm, over and above the protection of life and property are the only things that can prove whether those police endeavors have been successful or not and whether the police force have attained the goals for which were hired (Met.police.uk, 2011). Community policing, also known as community-oriented policing (COP) or problem-oriented policing concerns itself with the re-identification of the task of the police as facilitators in the society. Community policing refers to the transformation in philosophy with regard to police duties against community responsibilities to a team notion of complete quality organization of the society (Worts, 2000). Arrington (2006) presents the United states Justice Department’s â€Å"most often agreed upon† description of community policing – community policing refers to a philosophy of policing that upholds and endorses organizational policies of managing the causes diminishing social disorder as well as the dread of crime using problem-solving procedures and community policing affiliations. Arrington (2006) adds that proper community policing happens co-operatively with all members of the community participating as equal partners. The most important objective of the police should to make the life quality of residents better as well as to ensure that they feel safe. This has led to the establishment of a number of varied tactics and strategies by the police aimed at enhancing the relationship between the police force and members of the public. According to the Community Oriented Policing Services (2011), the concept of community-oriented policing is based on the principle that the reduction of citizens’ fear of crime while still establishing collaboration among the members of the community and the police is a momentous objective of police organizations. The Community-Oriented Policing services (COPS) (2011) further describes community policing and states that its

Introduction Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Introduction - Case Study Example Benson both London Agencies. The agency’s initial advertisements were for Rolls Royce, Schweppes, and Hathaway Shirts. In 1950, the sales of the agency increased to 160% because of featuring a distinguished man with a black eye patch. The company ran for 25 years thereafter. Ogilvy and Mather International resulted from Ogilvy & Mather merging with its British partner agencies in 1965 with individual offices run by local presidents as an independent agency. Four regions, namely North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia constituted 270 offices by 1991. The four important disciplines represented by these offices were public relations, direct marketing, promotion of sales and advertisement. A leading marketing service Company known as WPP Group plc acquired Ogilvy and Mather in 1989 for $864 million. Major losses in the form of advertising assignment withdrawal by Unilever and Shell followed. In 1982, Charlotte Beers was the first outsider for election as the Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy and Mather Worldwide. Beers was the first woman as well to chair the American Association of Advertising Agencies in 1986. It is from this point that the agency recuperated from its failures with the help of recalled Ogilvy and Mather veterans. The Chief Executive Officer’s job was to remove the word beleaguered from the agency’s name:

Over-cutting the forests of Indonesia, Philippines and Sabah Essay

Over-cutting the forests of Indonesia, Philippines and Sabah (Malaysia) - Essay Example Yet, clear cutting, deforestation, and over cutting of the timberlands has resulted in severe shortages of lumber in countries such as the Philippines where 9 percent of the forests were cleared in the period 1980 thru 1990 (Ascher 13). There are a myriad of forces at work that create a climate where short-term gain outweighs the sound long-term management of a countrys natural resources. Flawed government policies and a failure to understand the implications of the economic driving forces has resulted in forest ove4r cutting in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The generic and overly simplistic viewpoint that over cutting the forests in under-developed nations is a combination of greed, corruption, and ignorance marginalizes the effect of government policy. While it is true that these can have a significant effect, such as Malaysia where over $1 billion was unaccounted for in 1994, it is more often the well-intentioned, though misguided, government policies that result in forest mismanagement. In addition, governments have failed to enact strict enforcement and accountability policies that would limit the influence of special interest groups and hold government officials more responsible for the budget. Ascher illustrates the extreme case of Indonesia where President Suharto engaged in the "off-budget pursuit of development strategies ranging from downstream wood products to aerospace" as well as "†¦motives such as political campaign finance and personal aggrandizement" (81). The redistribution of resources without sound budgetary con trol disrupts pricing as well as contributing to over production. One of the more clearly misguided efforts at managing the forestry sector output has been the proliferation of export bans of raw timber around the world. The Indonesian economy lost $400 million in 1981-82 when it banned the export of raw timer in an effort to spur

Art Research paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Art Research paper - Essay Example revolutionized the Western art scene, while Middle-Eastern cultures denounced it as blasphemy. With the advent of Christianity, the nude form was suppressed and it was not until the Renaissance, when artists looked to antiquity for inspiration, that the nude form came in vogue once again. The period between the 15th -17th century saw some of the most renowned works of nudes come into being. Kenneth Clark2 (1956) whose seminal work on the female nude gave way to much animated discussion on this forgotten topic, credits the Renaissance with giving an impetus to this form, saying â€Å"In the greatest age of painting, the nude inspired the greatest work†. The nude female form continues to inspire artists and art lovers to this day and many ground breaking studies reveal the various nuances of female depiction, its metamorphosis over the ages and the reaction it evokes, ranging from awe to a total denial of its worth as a subject. The words nude and naked are often interchanged for each other, but the difference in their meaning is so wide that the word nude invariably evokes the image of a person without clothes but it has an aesthetic ring to it. Naked on the other hand can mean intolerance and a subsequent discarding of clothes or even to a cult of nudists who exhort people to give up clothing. To put forth the idea more clearly, we can use Kenneth Clark’s definition of the terms, where he says â€Å"To be naked is to be deprived of our clothes, and†¦. the embarrassment†¦in that condition. The word nude carries †¦no uncomfortable overtone†¦it projects†¦a balanced, prosperous, and confident body: the body re-formed.† The author has delineated the female nude in conformity with religious, cultural and philosophic tenets of classical and modern Western society. Clark’s theories are the benchmark for any argument for or against the female nude, while John Bergerâ⠂¬â„¢s study of the relation between the work of art and the person

Economics Book Critique Essay Example for Free

Economics Book Critique Essay Paul Rubin began his preface by stating that tabula rasa should no longer be viewed as something credible. Rubin maintained his conclusion that evolutionary biology would eventually be the foundation of all social sciences. He maintained that the fundamental taste for liberty is a genetic legacy from the hunter-gatherer bands in the history of mankind. He stated, â€Å"I reach a surprising conclusion: modern western nations, and particularly the United States, are the most effective societies for satisfying our evolved political preferences† (Paul, p. x) Rubin’s attitude’s towards liberty is the one which cost me a great deal of apprehension, in spite of the fact that it is not brought up much in the book. Although I enjoyed reading the book, the fact that so little has been said regarding freedom, I believe, ought to be a cause of serious apprehension. In regard of the contended predominance of Rubin’s concentration on the biological foundation which lies beneath the current state of human liberty, he should have considered beginning with animal freedom as articulated by, say, Pavlov on the â€Å"freedom-reflexes†. The foundation of Rubin’s opinion appears to be a firm certainty that human control and freedom are polar opposites. In fact on his Preface he claimed that when he began the research he was still a libertarian and thus he does not understand much of government’s constant rules regarding human behavior. He stated, â€Å"I have not used evolutionary analysis to prove points in which I already believed† (Paul, p. xv). I was quite bewildered upon reading this remark especially since his declarations seems to exhibit an absolute lack of understanding regarding the vital social control as well as counter-control procedures. It also showed a black void of nearly enormous quantities in awareness of the huge body of literature which could be dated back from the founders of civilization. Rubin feelingly asserted â€Å"There are substantial benefits from limiting government power and great dangers from allowing it to increase. It is, therefore, a puzzle, to explain why so many seek to increase the power of government† (Paul, p. 134). His statement seems to be a little naive. Rubin admitted that most normal individual’s desires governments to do pretty much more than defend them from dishonest dealers, banks, and the like. Most citizens knows the danger of the profound corruption from financial organizations and this is the reason why it is not really much a â€Å"puzzle† why they want to increase government power. The same could be said with the world’s third world countries with weak economies. They look for international kind of government in order for the mistreatment of other advanced countries to be limited if not stopped altogether. The book Professor Rubin wrote is interesting in spite of the fact that I do not agree much with the things he mentioned there particularly on the issue of freedom. Professor Rubin’s, Professor of Economics, attitude towards society and liberty appears to intentionally shun the standard control terminology. He talks a great deal of power, and acquiescence in separate terms of dominant, counter dominant, and the like instead of using the standard terms such as social control and counter control. There are no discussions regarding socialization, customs, introjections of values, punishments, and the like. Overall, I view Professor Rubin’s work to be stimulating particularly because he have some unique views of his own which made me think mentally and allowed me to exercise my faculty of reason. Although I do not agree much with the things he claims, I could still say that his book was an interesting read as well as thought provoking and for these reasons I recommend this book to everyone.

The Traditional Narrative Structure Of Thomas Hardy English Literature Essay

The Traditional Narrative Structure Of Thomas Hardy English Literature Essay In order to assess the validity or otherwise of Thomas Hardys assertion, we first need to consider whether or not any such construct as traditional narrative structure can properly be said to exist and, assuming that it does, provide a definition of what this structure might be. This is not as straightforward as it may appear. For one thing, there are many different traditions in world literature and therefore many different concepts of traditional narrative structure. It would be unwise, for instance, to attempt to assert that the storytelling devices employed by the anonymous authors of the stories later compiled as The 1,001 Nights or The Arabian Nights Entertainments complied in all respects with the narrative strategies pursued by Dickens, Trollope, Defoe, Austen and the other writers of the novel form as it has been understood and developed over the past two hundred years within Western society. It is possible to understand from Hardys statement the kind of narrative structure that he had in mind, the progression from event A to B to C suggested by the regular formulation of beginning, middle and end. That Hardys statement should exhibit a strong implied attachment to this sort of narrative structure is in no way surprising, for it was an important aspect of his writing. However, there had already been changes to what Hardy considered the traditional narrative style. Narrative trickery of one kind or another had been apparent in many authors works. Experimentation with form began very early on in the novels development. Indeed, it is arguable that such experimentalism had been present in the English novel since its earliest days. Samuel Richardsons Pamela or Virtue Rewarded , for instance, arguably one of the first novels written in English, may conform to the beginning-middle-end formula looked upon so fondly by Hardy one hundred years later, but it is far from being a standard third party text. The book is an epistolary novel, which is to say that it consists of a series of interlinked texts, purporting to be letters written by the novels protagonist and no fewer than five other correspondents, each of whom has his or her unique literary style, psychology and point of view. Richardson was not the first novelist to adopt this epistolary approach. Other writers, both in France and England, had preceded him. Yet there is no doubt that Richardson displayed a profound and unprecedented facility with the form. In Margaret Drabbles words, he raised the form to a level hitherto unknown and transformed it to display his own particular skills.  [1]  And Richardson was not the only English novelist to have departed sharply from Hardys norm during the English novels formative years. His inventiveness and willingness to experiment with form had been equalled by several other writers, most importantly Lawrence Sterne. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, published in several parts between 1759 and 1767, stands out as a paragon of unconventionality even today. Its many stylistic novelties and tricks of form include flashbacks, typographical eccentricities, missing pages and multiple perspectives. Not for nothing has it been referred to as the progenitor of th e twentieth century stream-of consciousness novel  [2]   The traditional narrative structure that Hardy had in mind had, therefore, been altered and subverted from within for many years prior to the start of his own literary career. It is, nonetheless, true that the notion of a novel having to possess a beginning, middle and end had become firmly embedded in the psyche of most readers and writers by the late Victorian era. Hardy suspected that the dominance of the traditional narrative structure was under threat by the time he abandoned novel writing around the beginning of the twentieth century. The Age of Realism, in many ways the last great affirmation of the Enlightenment, with its impressively self-confident faith in reason and in reasons access to the real, drew to an end as the nineteenth century began to spill into the twentieth,  [3]  writes Andrà © Brink in his overview of the novels long development as a form: In a turmoil of uncertainty prefiguring Eliots later wry conviction that human kind/ Cannot bear very much reality, Modernism was born. A remarkable revolution swept through all the arts. The faith in representation, which for so long had shaped Western culture, was wavering; and, in Santayanas famous phrase, mankind was starting to dream in a different key  [4]   Both novels, Italo Calvinos If on a Winters Night aTraveller and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez are arguably experimentations into a different style of traditional narrative fictions, that are far removed from what Hardy had in mind. If on a Winters Night a Traveller is probably Calvinos best known novel, published in Italian in 1979 and translated into English by William Weaver in 1981. Since then it has become firmly established as a classic of post-modern fiction. An examination of the books form quickly explains why. Far from being a conventional narrative, in which events are described from the outside by an omniscient narrator and everything proceeds smoothly from an initiating incident to a denouement, the novel has a bewitching and playful form. It is self-reflexive, in that it is a book about a reader who is trying to read a book called If on a Winters Night a Traveller. The first chapter and each subsequent alternate chapter are written in the second person. They form a linking narrative between the intervening, even-numbered, chapters, which all purport to be extracts from various books which the reader tries, at different times, to read: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvinos new novel, If on a Winters Night a Traveller. Relax. Concentrate. Dispel every other thought. Let the world around you fade. Best to close the door; the TV is always on in the next room.  [5]   One prominent way in which If on a Winters Night a Traveller resists traditional narrative structure is by violating boundaries of the structure. These are the boundaries comprised by the inside and the outside of the novel. If on a Winters Night a Traveller resists these boundaries because its premise is a readers attempt to read a work entitled If on a Winters Night a Traveller, whilst being aware that the narrative is instructing the reader to read and how to. This external, authoritative narration in the narrative has the effect of rupturing any traditional narrative sequence in further ways. It causes there to be various acts of reading, both within and without the text, which are out of synch with each other. A key example of this is Calvinos statement that, You are about to begin reading Italo Calvinos new novel If on a Winters Night a Traveller.  [6]  Not only is the readers identity destabilised by the fact that the you may refer to the reader outside or the reader insid e the text in a way not common in traditional narrative, but also the acts of reading are temporally disrupted: You are about to begin reading Italo Calvinos new novel If on a Winters Night a Traveller, the boundary of narrative, narrator and reader is broken, the reader is being instructed by the narrative to read. Another key example of the boundaries, set out by traditional narrative is the set of short orders, orders directed at us, the reader, to physically move our body: Stretch your legs, go ahead and put your feet on a cushion, or two cushions, on the arms of the sofa, on the wings of the chair, on the coffee table, on the desk, on the piano, on the globe. Take your shoes off first. If you want to, put your feet up; if not, put them back. Now dont stand there with your shoes in one hand and the book in the other.  [7]   This address to the reader has the effect of pulling the reader into work. This is very much a departure from Hardys view of the traditional narrative form. However, this is not to say that there is not a traditional narrative thread binding the work together. As the book continues, a clear, if unconventional, story begins to take shape. The reader, who is referred to and addressed throughout the novel becomes the protagonist in a convoluted narrative that revolves around an international conspiracy involving fraud, a mischievous translator, sinister government agents and a number of other elements. There may not be a traditional plot embedded in the book, but there is definitely a plot and it is one that has enough narrative muscle to keep a reader enthralled. There is a clear sense, throughout the book, that the author is solicitous to the reader and eager to retain his or her interest. This desire to aid the reader is borne out by something Calvino once wrote: My working method has more often than not involved the subtraction of weight. I have tried to remove weight, sometimes from people, sometimes from heavenly bodies, sometimes from cities; above all I have tried to remove weight from the structure of stories and from language.  [8]   If on a Winters Night a Traveller also highlights the problems of the one dimensional aspect of traditional narrative structures. If on a Winters Night a Traveller resists linearity. Traditional narrative structures are mentioned only in the context of their non-appearance, complaints such as that of chapters interrupted right at the climaxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦lets hope we get to the end satisfactorily.  [9]  Here the vocabulary of traditional narrative climax and satisfying ending, though present is subverted. Calvino comments on his own narrative throughout and his most clear comment on this particular form of resistance to traditional narrative structures occurs when, making explicit the sexualised connotations of interrupted climax, and satisfying ending, he describes how Lovers reading of each others bodiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ differs from the reading of written pages in that it is not linear. It starts at any point, skips, repeat itself, goes backward, insists, ramifies in simultaneous and divergent messages, converges again, has moments of irritation, turns the page, finds its place, gets lost. A direction can be recognized in it, a route to an end, since it tends toward a climax, and with this end in view it arranges rhythmic phases, metrical scansions, recurrence of motives. But is the climax really the end? Or is the race toward that end opposed by another drive which works in the opposite direction, swimming against moments, recovering time?  [10]   One Hundred Years of Solitude could loosely be described as a family saga. It deals with the varying fates of numerous individuals drawn from seven generations of one South American family, but it is in not a type of narrative. The book includes multiple time-frames and numerous supernatural elements, including ghosts and prophecies, all of which are treated in a matter-of-fact fashion by the novels many characters. This makes it a clear embodiment of magic realism and it has, indeed, been identified by many critics as the quintessential magic realist text.  [11]   The American science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolf, for instance, has said that Magic realism is fantasy written by people who speak Spanish,  [12]  while the British fantasy author Terry Pratchett has said that it is like a polite way of saying you write fantasy  [13]  . Despite the difficulty many have experienced in pointing out its exact nature, however, the term continues to have resonance for many readers and One Hundred Years of Solitude continues to be seen as its most characteristic text. What is it about this book that qualifies it as magic realism and in what way is its narrative distinguishable from Hardys cherished mode of traditionalist storytelling? The books difference is undoubtedly the mythic and timeless quality Marquez brings to bear in his treatment of the fictional town of Macondo and its multi-layered connection with the Buendà ­a family, whose patriarch, Josà © Arcadio Buendà ­a, is also Macondos founder. Macondo is, in a way, a leading character in the novel and yet its geography and character remain remarkably opaque throughout. As Ian Johnston has pointed out: There is something clearly magical about the world of Macondo; it is a state of mind as much as, or even more than, a real geographical place (we learn very little about its actual physical layout, for example). And once in it, we must be prepared to meet whatever the imagination of the author presents to us.  [14]   The capacity of the imagination to which Johnson alludes is immense, and so the ability to enforce a willing suspension of disbelief in the mind of the reader that co-exists with it  [15]  . It is Marquezs ability to make the reader accept and even fail to question events that could not possibly take place in the real world that give One Hundred Years of Solitude its unique flavour. An excellent example of the kind of trick Marquez plays repeatedly, comes early on in the novel when an act of suicide is followed by a physically impossible perambulation by a trail of blood: A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendà ­a house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlour, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amarantas chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano Josà ©, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]  [16]   The blending together of the real with the imagined, the plausible with the impossible, is what characterises the book throughout. Time becomes a blur, characters reflect the personalities of long dead ancestors or unborn descendants, history and chronology are obscured by the interplay of broadly similar events (invasion after invasion, birth after birth, death after death). Only Macondo seems stable, in the end, and yet even Macondo blows away to nothingness in the final, apocalyptic chapter, leaving the reader uncertain regarding the status of everything that has happened. And yet, all of this has to be set alongside the extremely detailed and persuasive nature of Mà ¡rquezs writing. He may be concerned with the fantastical and the fabulous but he also a sharp-eyed literary observer. The translator Edith Grossman made exactly this point when she gave the keynote speech at an event held in New York in 2003. Focusing on the quality of his prose and on his approach to narrative, Grossman said of Mà ¡rquez: He is a master of physical observation: Surfaces, appearances, external realities, spoken words everything that a truly observant observer can observe. He makes almost no allusion to states-of-mind, motivations, emotions, internal responses: Those are left to the inferential skills and deductive interests of the reader. In other words, Garcà ­a Mà ¡rquez has turned the fly-on-the-wall point of view into a crucial aspect of his narrative style in both fiction and non-fiction, and it is a strategy that he uses to stunning effect.  [17]   One Hundred Years of Solitude also resists traditional narrative structures with its relation to traditional boundaries of, and within, narrative. If on a Winters Night a Traveller contravenes boundaries; One Hundred Years of Solitude goes further by collapsing these traditional boundaries. A very significant way in which this is affected is through the names in the novel. Spread over several generations, there are three women with a forename Remedios, five male characters with the forename Aureliano, and five characters sharing both a forename and a surname: Josà © Arcadio. What should be a straightforward, linear piece of historiography is made more complex and convoluted by Marquez. It becomes unclear exactly which characters of the names Aureliano, Remedia or Josà © Arcadio are interacting at certain points in the narrative. One such example is that of Aureliano and Amaranta Ursula, in the rooms where Colonel Aureliano had also made love, made mad love on the floor of the porch à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦they were awakened by a torrent of carnivorous ants who were ready to eat them alive.  [18]   One Hundred Years of Solitude often resists traditional narrative structures at the same time as drawing attention to them. One key example of this is the flashback with which the novel begins. As a traditional narrative structure, the flashback has a very definite sense of the present through which the past is framed. However, Marquez resists this traditional structure by destabilising this present tense, and the presence of the character having the flashback: Many years later as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember[à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]  [19]  The suggestion of a traditional flashback is preserved in the act of remembering, yet Marquez resists the traditional structure of the flashback by locating it into the future , Many years later, was to remember, a ruptured linearity which is, in a further resistance to traditional narrative structures, explained only at the end of the novel, when Aureliano finally realises that the parchments he discovered are a prophecy of the novels events: at that prodigious instant Melquiades final keys were revealed to him and he saw the epigraph of the parchments perfectly placed in the order of mans time and space.  [20]   Both One Hundred Years of Solitude and If on a Winters Night a Traveller depart quite radically from the traditional narrative structure utilised by Thomas Hardy and yet neither Marquez nor Calvino is willing to jettison the idea of narrative or deny their readers a satisfying encounter with the elemental power of storytelling. These texts resist traditional narrative but they do not reject or repudiate narrative itself. On the contrary, they provide meaning and pleasure by taking the novel further and beyond the structure in which Hardy worked in. Both writers resist traditional narrative structure by rupturing the linearity of the narrative and creating problems of time and engagement of the reader. Bibliography