Monday, September 30, 2019

The Similarities between the books Brave New World and Logan’s Run

In a dystopian society, one is not limited to the sum of displeasure and lies that might transpire. The lines between dystopian and anti-utopian societies are similar in contrast, but offer a wide array of absent pleasure for the citizens of the totalarianistic state. Brave New World, a brainwashed utopia, written by Aldous Huxley, introduced the first suggestions of human cloning in literature. Thinking about the class ranks that the â€Å"embryos† are classified into, you are literally born into either the lower classes or upper classes; contrasting Logan’s Run.In the movie, the society presents themselves in different colors. It’s not that the women wear one color and the men wear another, but instead based upon their age. The different colors of their wardrobe put forward an insight into anyone that they might converse with. It seems a little bizarre, don’t you think? But very logical. To sustain population control in Logan’s Run, the process ve iled as â€Å"renewal†, masks the true reason for the so called â€Å"carousel†. When the citizens in Logan’s Run reach the age of 30, they are basically done, meaning they are sentenced to death.But in the minds of the rebellious ones that are next up for â€Å"renewal†, they take their chances and run. You know their considered a runner because the red dot on their hands will lose their color, and when their ready to be renewed there’s no longer life, so the red will start blinking. This enjoyed process by the other citizens watching isn’t so tasteful for anyone humane or sane. When compared to our society throughout the world, China has a high policy on child restrictions. The law states they are limited to the one child policy.So with the ever growing population of China, there’s certain ways to try and slow down the growing rate of humanity; similar to Logan’s Run. In both Brave New World, and Logan’s Run, one thing is apparent. The futuristic society’s role in sexual relations. It’s a â€Å"no strings attached† kind of constructional, sexual pleasure. The way Logan used the technology to choose women he wanted for the night, was disgusting to the common person; but in all actuality, it was acceptable and encouraged in their civilization. When Logan 5 is selecting his pray he comes acrossJessica 6 in which her rejection to his offer, makes him feel allured. This is because of their conditioning, intercourse is practiced and performed so much, that there’s no rejections, it’s as if their playing a Simon Says game. Same case in Brave New World, there’s no repercussions to their actions! I believe that’s the alarming red flag. Any woman in our society to be unprotected meaning, no way to prevent pregnancy, then your cruising to become a mother. But in both sex pleasured worlds, they know nothing bad is going to happen after their one night stand, s o they continue on their ongoing activities.The inevitable fate of both worlds has its bad sides and okay sides, for us outsiders we can only image how much harm is going on. But both Brave New World and Logan’s Run illustrate a society striving for ultimate efficiency, and ultimate pleasure. There is so called life outside of both considered â€Å"utopias†. Not suited for the non-rebellious intellectuals. The conscience minds who question the rule of authority and the ways of the society are gaining new ground in discovering the outside world. There’s ways around everything.But for some, living in the dystopian setting of futuristic, test tube lives can alter you true, humanly instincts. One living in lies, won’t or can’t be acceptable to the ways of life on the outside, it may take time or just never happen. Good example: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. I know we all knows the story, but the societies in both: Brave New World and Loganâ€⠄¢s Run complement each other, suggesting new, alien ideas, thought of by obviously more than one man. The boundaries are endless in according to dystopian and utopian works of literature, leaving one to think†¦. What kind of society are we living in?

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Character Analysis of Hugo’s Javert Essay

Hugo’s character Javert sees anyone who may have commit a crime as simple as the theft of a loaf of bread as a social malefactor, a blight on all of society, a prime evil who needs to be eliminated, removed from the general population, and a devil that can be neither reformed nor tamed. Javert is the true rationalist. Like Medieval philosophers, he believes that people will naturally resort to evil, and that these people can never be saved or reformed. Javert is the true rationalist because he believes the law is the highest authority, sees Jean Valjean as purely evil, and because he wholeheartedly believes in the infallibility of the law. Javert believes the law is the highest authority throughout Les Miserables. When his character is first described, Hugo states â€Å"It will be easily understood that Javert was the terror of all that class which the annual statistics of the Minister of Justice include under the heading: People without a fixed abode† (57). Javert believes that all of those that live in poverty are destined to be criminals because they are forced to live without being able to satisfy certain wants, and that people, who are naturally bad, will violate the law to satisfy themselves. Javert, quick to punish anyone of a low social status, is also quick to punish himself. When he falsely accuses Monsieur the Mayor of being a convict, he asks to be dismissed. To the Mayor, he says â€Å"I denounced you as a convict- you, a respectable man, a mayor, and a magistrate. This is a serious matter, very serious. I have committed an offense against authority† (69). He believes that he has violated the law and should therefore be punished for it, even though he has proved himself to be a worthy inspector and only is guilty of a minor infraction. He believes that any man, despite any previous or future actions, is inherently evil if he has ever done wrong, so Javert automatically condemns himself because he has commit a crime. Javert also believes that the word of the law always supercedes the word of a normal man. Champmathieu, who denied being Jean Valjean, was, in fact, not him, but Javert was positive that he was because the police had accused him of it. When Champmathieu proclaimed his innocence, Javert said of him â€Å"Champmathieu plays off astonished† because he believes that there is no shadow of a doubt  on whether this man is Jean Valjean. The police accused him of this, so they must be right. The police, because they are the envoy of the law, the supreme judge of character, must not be wrong, they are infallible in his eyes. Javert is a true rationalist because he believes that the law decides what kind of person you are, and the law is the highest authority, and that once judged by the law, a man cannot change. Javert is a rationalist because he believes that man is incapable of reform. Throughout the novel, Javert pursues Jean Valjean because he is a convict who is a danger to society. In M_ sur M_, Jean Valjean showed he was reformed by giving to his fellow man before taking for himself. In M_ sur M_, Jean Valjean made 600,000 francs, but not without giving 1,000,000 to the people of the town. Javert pursues him even though he proved himself to be good for the community. Javert is relentless in his pursuit because he firmly believes that a convict is incapable of reformation because he has shown himself to be a doer of evil, and someone who has done evil is inherently evil. When Jean Valjean saved Cosette from the Thenardiers, he showed that he was capable of love and that he was no longer bitter from years of incarceration. Nevertheless, Javert chases after him because he believes he is still a threat, because of his evil nature. Afterwards, Jean Valjean made it his life’s purpose to raise Cosette and give all his money to the poor, to better their circumstances. When Thenardier intended to kill Jean Valjean, Javert came not to stop a crime in process but to get Jean Valjean. Javert even pursued Jean Valjean after he had spared Javert’s life at the barricade. Even after the innumerable good, selfless deeds that Valjean performed Javert pursued him because he thought Valjean was still and would always be evil, because a man’s soul cannot change, is predestined to good or evil, love or violence. Javert shows he is a rationalist because he is blind to the fact that Valjean has reformed, because it is impossible for a man to do so. Javert shows he is a rationalist because he believes the law is infallible with all his soul. When saved by Valjean, Javert is confronted with a moral dilemma. He knew that he had to bring back Valjean or else he was in violation of his duty, and that if he were to let Valjean be free he would  be equally as evil. Hugo describes this predicament â€Å"Javert felt that something horrible was penetrating his soul, admiration for a convict† (336). Javert felt that he was becoming evil because he empathized with a purely evil man. As he empathized with Valjean, â€Å"all the axioms which had been the supports of his whole life crumbled away† (336). Javert was infected by a terrible disease, compassion. Compassion blinded his objectivity and was rendered an unworthy judge, now he was merely a wretch of a man, with a soul as black as Jean Valjean’s. Because in his mind, the mind of a true rationalist, there was only right and wrong, there were only two ways about this. He could either turn the evil man in or die for aiding and abetting the fugitive. Javert must do either the right, and prove himself true, or do wrong and prove himself evil. He must be either good or evil, because there is no such thing as a gray area, and no such thing as compassion, only seeds of evil in his soul. He was his own judge, jury, and executioner. He killed himself because he had failed before the eyes of the law, he failed to do right and was thus proven evil, and did not deserve to live. For this he was a rationalist. Javert represents the true rationalist in this novel because he believes the law is the highest judge of men. The law is the world’s guiding light and is always true. It is infallible, and the judge, a dispensary of the law, is the direct envoy of God. Jean Valjean is purely evil, and his attempts at repentance are only attempts to get out of trouble and to once again be assimilated into his surroundings, so he can once again do evil. Valjean is only a wolf, attempting to wear a sheep’s skin. His beliefs lead him to be so close minded that he is unable to deal with the fact that the law might be wrong. His mind is his own gallows, because he believes in the supreme power of the law. His rationalist beliefs are his noose, the ultimate cause of his death.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Organisational Design and Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organisational Design and Culture - Essay Example On the basis of management structure and its complexity, Mintzberg has broadly categorised Organisational Design into the following five levels- Simple Organisation, Machine Bureaucracy, Professional Bureaucracy and Adhocracy. The internationally renowned author of business and management books, Mintzberg has also recognized the different classes of work patterns-Process or Occupation where all employees reported directly to a single executive; Purpose or Division where employees work in units and thus report to their respective unit heads and Matrix where both of the above mentioned kinds co-exist. Depending upon the requirements and managerial levels of an organisation, the appropriate kind of Organisational Design can be selected. Several healthcare institutions have adopted these Organisational Design patterns to affect an overhaul in the debilitated healthcare industry. In addition to the mounting healthcare costs, the industry is also troubled by its failure to meet the growing expectations and demands of the patients. In an era of rampant media growth, the patient is more informed about his medical rights and treatment options. This body of knowledge encourages him to stipulate enhanced and superior treatment. As McMurphy and Vujicic state "The patient-provider relationship is in flux. Consumers desire greater autonomy and participation in their healthcare decisions." ( 2000). But the global health industry has not been able to adapt to these changes completely. In an attempt to refurbish the redundant and obsolete hospital managerial procedures, the healthcare organisations formulated the "patient focussed care" approach. Whole healthcare community embraced this approach, which was aimed at providing superior services to patients and spruces the costs. Under this approach, certain new protocols were established and the various hospital procedures were simplified. Apart from resulting in a decline in the duration of stay of patients, this methodology has also resulted in higher patient satisfaction. Different medical institutes have adopted different routes to follow this approach. The Beth Israel Medical Centre, New York was the first institution to adopt this approach on the East Coast. This 934-bed urban institute decided to focus on Therapeutic Recreation and set up a "Planetree Unit". Every room in this luxurious unit was equipped with its own refrigerator, a television set, and an audio speaker near the patient's pillow- all in an attempt to fasten the process of healing. The hospital is still in the process of self-examination and thus the outcome of this methodology isn't clear as yet. The Medical Center, Pennsylvania decided to employ a more technical scheme. This 470- bed community, which employs 1900 professionals created eighth in-patient focussed care centers. A sincere attempt was made to make these centers fairly autonomous and independent. They had several pharmacies, labs and X-ray areas all to themselves. They also possessed independent housekeeping and patient admission services. These steps were undertaken to minimise

Friday, September 27, 2019

Module 1 TD-HRM 401 - Recruitment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Module 1 TD-HRM 401 - Recruitment - Essay Example Human resource management is all about producing the appropriate means of replacing or adding to existing staffs. The internet has proven to be effective in recruiting professional in different location. The internet has the deigned tools to advertise and shortlist candidates for the selection process. Individuals are able to attach required documents without physically appearing at a design panel. This will reduce the cost used in recruiting given individuals as the outsourced recruitment parties would at minimal using this approach. The third party involvement in most cases may compromise the quality needed in the recruitment process. In conclusion, the internet is accessible by a large number of people at the same time hence becoming an appropriate tool while advertising. The parties interested are able to confirm their credentials and at the same time receive feedback within the shortest of period. Using the tool the company is able to save on cost of recruitment and at the same time receive a large number of applicants at the same time. Large numbers of applicants will means that the Human resource manager will use diversification as a means of recruitment. Â  Bersin, J. (2013, May 23). Corporate Recruiting Explodes: A New Breed of Service Providers. Forbes magazine. Retrieved from

Thursday, September 26, 2019

ARO Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ARO - Assignment Example Ebola cuts across nearly all the mutual commitments of global health, medicine, and science anthropologists. This is because the tragedy exposed the political economy of illness and health, demonstrates how the movement of technology and science ceases or flows, and exposes the drawbacks of thrilling solutions to structural issues (Abromowitz, 2014). Additionally, Ebola emergency brings to light the outcomes of health with regard to reconfigured social relations created by the development and health regimes of governance. Ebola also tragically emphasizes racialized reasoning that determines the lives that count. As anthropologists, action-centered attitude is fundamental during such emergencies, since such approach would improve ethnographic expertise response in the affected nations. In order to improve the current situation of Ebola in West Africa today, Abromowitz (2014) suggested several things that anthropologists can use to connect the local and global populations in understanding the crisis. First, anthropologists can train epidemiologists on death counting in this region. This would work well in closing the gap between actual deaths and counted Ebola deaths, thus offering crucial information on movement, patterning, and expansion of the tragedy. Additionally, community anthropologists can observe the Ebola response systematically and report on, interpret, and explain existing local approaches. This will make it possible to make sense of local concepts and ideas, behaviors, and beliefs and suggests ways that are actionable. Given the noise around Ebola, anthropologists are expected to detect and track emerging risks amidst Ebola noise such as black market flows. Within the affected areas, anthropologists can hold multidisciplinary university based groups t o assist in real time tracking of the disease (Abromowitz, 2014). The role of such groups would be to evaluate the political,

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Reading response of the reading Living in a Globalizing World Essay

Reading response of the reading Living in a Globalizing World - Essay Example The people living in United States, gets affected by the affect of globalization on the economy. The positive aspect of the US economy is to generate profit through expansion of industrialization but the adverse aspect is that it leads to the increase in the number of the outsourcing by declining the number local jobs (Crawford and Fogart 1-137). The inequality in sexism, racial prejudice is creating a big chaos in the society and also affecting globalization. With the advent of globalization, few negative aspects such as number of sex trafficking and discrimination of the people on the basis of the race has increased worldwide. s. The institutional racism also gets influenced through globalization due to the integration of the diverse culture. Conversely, many people have adopted orphan children, who belong to different racism for providing them better life (Crawford and Fogart 1-137). The term wealth means the property of an individual, which is earned by the person throughout the life. However, wealth not only provides materialistic happiness but also non-materialistic aspect. Wealth is also the satisfaction, which comes out from the mental peace and happiness. In present scenario, people feel that the people who spend time with their family are happier than any other financially rich person (Crawford and Fogart 1-137). To be an ethical consumer the person needs to adopt the fair trade, which is paid to the worker as workable wages. The role of ethical consumer is to provide support to poor farmer by purchasing food products from them. The customers need to be aware about the money and investment procedures (Crawford and Fogart 1-137). There are some countries are still lacking in its economic nature. The main reason behind this poor situation is inequality in the British colonials. The people who belong to elite class lead different life from that of the poor people. These may lead to

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Neoottomanism in Turkey and the Role of Turkey in the new formation of Essay

Neoottomanism in Turkey and the Role of Turkey in the new formation of the Arab world - Essay Example Thus, ottomanism transformed into the ideology of pan-Turkism. The Turkish leaders of the late XX - early XXI century, especially Recep Tayyip Erdogan, updated the doctrine of ottamanism-pan-Turkism, turning it into so-called neoottomanism. Modern Turkish leaders advocated the creation of an integrated economic and cultural-linguistic space that has commonality of interests; it is the main essence of this ideology. However, neo-Ottomanism implies the dominant influence of Turkey not only on Turks, but even more - non-Turkic peoples and countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire at different time. The doctrine of "neoottomanism" was not completely comprehended even by its originators. Nowadays a lot of European and American politicians are greatly concerned about the given ideology and they do not want to stay away from it. United States, for example, hatch the plans to create a unified Turkic political space dominated by Turkey, and are interested in supporting the sovereignty of newly independent states of Central Eurasia. A heavy blow to this "subtle pan-Turkism", i.e. neoottomanism, was stroke by the Collective Security Treaty Organization, members of which were two Turkic states - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the Islamic one – Tajikistan. Uzbekistan led its own political game for a certain period, but then, joined the CSTO. Turkmenistan's foreign policy tends to neutrality at the present time. Under the auspices of the U.S., such projects as The Black Sea Cooperation and GUAM were developed. If earlier the U.S. was more interested in strengthening Turkey's influence on the Balkans, nowadays - on Northern and Southern Caucasus, Crimea, Ukraine, Bessarabia, as well as Syria, Lebanon and Iraq - as vectors, amplifying the Turkish-Russian confrontation. "Political and operational" role of Turkey in these regions is the most attractive for the U.S. But practice shows that the U.S. is not confident in the effectiveness of such role-based participation of Turkey, even in these projects. Yes, Turkey could play a leading role in the formation and activity of GUAM, but Western politicians are in no hurry to pedal its role. Turkey activities in Georgia, especially in some regions, such as Ajaria and Abkhazia, as well as in Dagestan and Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Adygeya, Krasnodar territory, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Albania, Kosovo Macedonia, and Bessarabia can only be seen in part of a joint Turkish-American project. All other joint plans of the United States and Turkey in Central Asia are minor, in fact. Issues, related to the presence of Turkey military machine in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Crimea, are always discussed between the military and intelligence services of both countries. Turkey's position in these regions is much stronger than that in Central Asia. Only the situation in Iran, especially in its north-western regions, can be compared with Turkey positions in the above regions. In 2001, the present minister of foreign affair s of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu published his voluminous work â€Å"Strategic depth: the international position of Turkey†, in which he analyzed the regional and geopolitical interests and priorities of Turkey; he also put forward a series of theoretical assessments and propositions. After

Monday, September 23, 2019

How import and export restraints governing foreign trade can affect a Essay

How import and export restraints governing foreign trade can affect a country positively and negatively - Essay Example This research will begin with the issue of export restraints. The exports of a country represent the goods and services that are produced locally to then be sold and shipped to customer in other countries. In 2006 the world top exporter was Germany with $1,133,000,000,000 in outgoing trade. In order to achieve high export total countries need to have open and flexible economic system with excellent manufacturing and production capabilities. In new knowledge economy the ability to transfer information at rapid speeds has allowed the proliferation of service exports. The governmental policies of a country can provide exports restrains that may negatively or positively affect an economic system. For example in a country with restrictive environmental laws many industries such as the chemical industry may not be able to establish operation, thus the country will be a poor exporter of these types of goods. A closed economic system can be a major restraint for exporting activities. In Chin a before the reforms of 1979 which began a path towards economic recovery China’s export were low and could not compete in the international marketplace. The country changed its economic policies that created a semi-open system. The changes which culminated with creation of open economy after China gain entrance into the World Trade Organization in December of 2001 have allowed China to have three consecutive decades of 10% annual economic growth. A country culture and beliefs system can become a restraint for export activity.

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Research countering the student-teacher ratio effect Essay Example for Free

Research countering the student-teacher ratio effect Essay Graddy and Steven (2005) examines several studies of secondary school performances throughout the U. K. and concluded that there is little to no effect of the student-teacher ratio on the achievement of students. Borland, Howsen Trawick (2005) also found no noticeable connection between student achievement and either reduced or enlarged class sizes. The Congressional Budget Office presented results and analysis of 1986 SAT scores. Analysis revealed a relationship between student performance and student-teacher ratios. Lower student-teacher ratios were consistent with lower SAT scores (as cited in Hanushek, 2000). School size, which is another important consideration that also affects the student-teacher ratio, does not demonstrate an effect on student performance either, according to Lamdin (1995). There is also very little long-term effect of student-teacher ratio on student performance and lifelong achievement. Though Vignoles (1998) found a slight correlation between student-teacher ratio and student performance on O Levels exams in the United Kingdom, the observed effect was so small as to be insignificant. In fact he argues that true effect on student achievement is actually non-existent. This conclusion is based on the finding that the effect of a lower student-teacher ratio was not reflected in later years on the job market and in terms of earnings 17 years later. True achievement, he argues, is measured not by the standard of achievement tests, but by later success in life. He safely concludes therefore that there is no true effect of class size on student accomplishments. Schweitzer (1991) suggests that moves by institutions to decrease the pupil-teacher ratio are counterproductive and will only result in additional government spending with little effect on student performance. He believes that the old-fashioned method of â€Å"hard work on the part of the student, good teaching by the faculty, and strong motivation by both† (Schweitzer, 1991, p. 297) are the key ingredients to improved student achievement. Thus, as Gursky (1998) surmises, there is very little magic to class size or student-teacher ratio. Some researchers have proposed that the optimal size for any classroom is between 15 and 17 students. What the research is confirming is that there is presently very little in the way of consensus on the issue of whether or not reduced student-teacher ratios result in improved student performance. In the comprehensive review conducted by Hanushek (2000), 14% of the researches showed that there was a positive relationship between increased student-teacher ratio and a similar 14% found the opposite association. The remaining 72% found the relationship to be too insignificant to matter (p. 5). It is fallacious to suppose that all factors that may impact student performance can be isolated and controlled in order to discover a causal relationship between the variables of lower or higher student-teacher ratios and higher student performance. As researchers such as Hanushek (2000) and Preece (1987) would argue, there are a myriad of home-environmental and societal factors over which the state or school have very little control but which may impact student performance in either direction regardless of existing student-teacher ratios. Without a doubt the family background from which the students come plays a significant role in impacting achievement. Dustmann et al. (2003) proposes that the financial resources of the family, the quality time parents spend with children, the size of the family, a child’s birth order and the interest the parent shows in the child’s performance are important in analyzing factors that influence success in school. The socioeconomic context and location in which the child resides could also be a constraining factor. Preece (1987) adds that another factor, the heterogeneous nature of the classroom could be a significant key in understanding student achievement. He proposes that more homogeneous classrooms foster a better learning environment for students, regardless of class size or student-teacher ratios. Research has not proven either side of the debate but has demonstrated the possible merits of both. Educators seem determined, despite the lack of evidence to support the claim, to reduce the student-teacher ratios in an effort to impact student achievement. These educators are not completely misguided in their position however. It is a combination of factors too complicated to isolate that determines the how well each student achieves individually. Reduced class sizes have not proven to be harmful to any significant extent and thus existing policies to continue to reduce the student-teacher ratios cannot possibly do any notable amount of harm. ferences Alspaugh, J. W. (1994, Summer). The relationship between school size, student teacher ratio and school efficiency. Education, 114(4), 593-601. Borland, M. V., Howsen, R. M. Trawick, M. W. (2005, Mar). An investigation of the effect of class size on student academic achievement. Education Economics, 13(1), 73-83. Colorado Association of School Boards, Colorado Association of School Executives Colorado Education Association. (n. d. ). Believe in a better Colorado. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from http://www. believeinabettercolorado. org/images Dustmann, C. , Rajah, N. van Soest, A. (2003, Feb). Class size, education, and wages. Economic Journal, 113(485), F99-F149. Ehrenberg, R. G. , Brewer, D. J. , Gamoran, A. Willms, J. D. (2001, Nov). Does class size matter? Scientific American, 285(5), 78-85. Graddy, K. Stevens, M. (2005, Apr). The impact of school resources on student performance: A study of private schools in the United Kingdom. Industrial Labor Relations Review, 58(3), 435-451. Gursky, D. (1998, Oct). Class size does matter. Education Digest, 64(2), 15-18. Hanushek, E. A. (2000, Aug). Evidence, politics, and the class size debate. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from http://www. utdallas. edu/research/tsp/pdfpapers/paper19. PDF Lamdin, D. J. (1995, Apr). Testing for the effect of school size on student achievement within a school district. Education Economics, 3(1), 33-42. Morisi, T. L. (1994, Jul). Employment in public schools and the student-to-employee ratio. Monthly Labor Review, 117(7), 40-44. National Center for Education Statistics. (2001, Sep). Elementary and secondary school enrollment. Education Statistics Quarterly, 2(2). Retreived November 19, 2007 from, http://nces. ed. gov/programs/quarterly/Vol_2/2_2/q3-3. asp Preece, P. F. (1987, Jul/Aug). Class size and learning: A theoretical model. Journal of Educational Research, 80(6), 377-379. Sable J. Garofano, A. (2007, Jun). Public elementary and secondary school student enrollment, high school completions, and staff from the common core of data: School year 2005-06. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from, http://nces. ed. gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo. asp Schweitzer, T. T. (1991, Summer). Collective bargaining, teachers, and student achievement: Comment. Journal of Labor Research, 12(3), 297-298. Vignoles, A. (1998, May). Raising standards in our schools: Does class size really matter? Economic Outlook, 22(3), 18-23.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Lilypads Hotels Essay Example for Free

Lilypads Hotels Essay According to the Court, the Fourth Amendment is mute about undercover searches (inside the home or out), inspections of welfare mothers and probationers homes, flyovers of curtilage and trespasses on property beyond it, surveillance of public movements, most compelled testing for drugs and alcohol, dog sniffs of cars and luggage, and rummaging through garbage. n1 Why don’t you contact me directly at natashagils at yahoo dot com and we can make this work one on one instead of going through middlemen to get assignments done. And the Amendment is close to irrelevant in a host [*604] of other situations, including third-party subpoenas for documents, checkpoints for drunk driving and illegal immigration, residential and business health and safety inspections, and searches of junkyards for stolen parts. n2 Under current constitutional doctrine, the government needs no justification to engage in the first set of actions, and so little to carry out the second that it is virtually unregulated. †¦ A crucial initial assumption in this essay is that, at bottom, neither the language nor the legislative history of the Fourth Amendment drives the analysis on this issue. †¦ I am looking for socio-political explanations for our current Fourth Amendment doctrine, not formalistic ones. The most obvious such explanation for the decisions referenced above is that the Supreme Court does not want to shackle government law enforcement efforts. Undoubtedly, that is a large part of the answer. But it is not the entire story. As I have suggested elsewhere n5 (and briefly explain again here), effective crime control and a more activist interpretation of the Fourth Amendment are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Other explanations for the Courts less-than-robust reading of the Fourth Amendment focus on the ironic consequences of decisions, mostly generated by [*605] the relatively liberal Warren Court, that were meant to expand its scope. For instance, it is fashionable to place much of the blame for todays law on the Warren Courts adoption of privacy as the core value protected by the Fourth Amendment. This move, in Katz v. United States, n6 was hailed at the time as a major enhancement of constitutional protection against government intrusion. As many have pointed out, however, because privacy is a manipulable concept, the Court has since found it easy to declare that a large array of police actions-ranging from use of informants to public surveillance and school and workplace drug testing-either do not implicate or are only limply protected by the Fourth Amendment. n7 This diagnosis has some attraction as well, but fails to explain why even the more liberal justices have often gone along with many of the privacy-diminishing holdings of the Court. In this essay, I too suggest that the modern Courts early expansive stances on the Fourth Amendment have ultimately led to its diminishment. But Katzs expectation-of-privacy formulation is not the culprit. Rather, three other liberal dogmas-what I call the probable-cause-forever position, the individualized suspicion mantra, and the obsession with exclusion as a remedy-are the primary reasons we have a Fourth Amendment Lite. The end-logic of these three dogmas produce such unappealing results that even moderate and liberal justices have balked at them, leaving us with a search and seizure jurisprudence that is much less than it could be. When a search requires probable cause to be constitutional, courts are naturally more reluctant to denominate every police attempt to find evidence a search. When suspicion must be individualized, they are more likely to gloss over the harms caused by investigations of groups. And when the sole serious sanction for an illegal search or seizure is suppression at trial, many judges have less sympathy for viable claims, because they cannot stomach dismissal of criminal charges against guilty people. I. Probable Cause Forever Of course, probable cause is not required for every police action that is called a search or seizure. Terry v. Ohio, n8 a Warren Court decision, stands for the proposition that both detentions short of arrest and patdowns of outer clothing are permissible on reasonable suspicion, which represents a certainty level somewhere below the even-chance threshold often associated with probable cause. The Terry Court was willing to relax Fourth Amendment strictures with respect to stops and frisks because the governments interest in effective crime prevention and [*606] detection on the streets justified the brief, though far from inconsiderable, intrusion upon the sanctity of the person that these actions occasion. n9 In the seizure context, the post-Warren Court has routinely relied on this balancing approach-or what I have called the proportionality principle-in holding that several different types of detentions short of an arrest may take place on less than probable cause. n10 In the search context, however, it has been much less willing to follow this route. Instead, the Court has insisted, in the words of Justice Stewart in Katz, that searches conducted . . . without prior approval by judge or magistrate [and therefore without probable cause], are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, subject only to a few specifically established and well- delineated exceptions. n11 †¦ [In] T. L. O. .. [the Court] then went on to hold that probable cause was not required to search a school childs purse for evidence of disciplinary infractions, thereby creating the one major exception (other than Terrys frisk rule) to the probable-cause-forever dogma. Labeled the special needs doctrine, a phrase taken from Justice Blackmuns concurrence in T. L. O. , the exception, when it applies, requires only that government action be reasonable, n14 which in practice has meant that neither a warrant nor probable cause is required. But the special needs exception is usually only applicable when, as in T. L. O. , those conducting the government action are not police and are pursuing some end other than ordinary criminal law enforcement (e. g. , school disciplinary searches, drug testing for administrative purposes, checkpoints for immigrants, or inspections of businesses for regulatory, health and safety violations). n15 Indeed, the classic statement of the special needs paradigm is that it kicks in only when special needs, beyond the normal need for law enforcement, make the warrant and probable-cause requirement impracticable. n16 The Court has on several occasions called these special needs [*607] situations exceptional and limited. n17 In other words, outside of frisks, the usual law enforcement search for evidence of criminal activity requires probable cause. n18

Friday, September 20, 2019

Concepts of Social Cohesion and Equality in Education

Concepts of Social Cohesion and Equality in Education The Personal is Political: Why do we let this happen? This age old saying indicates that the choices we make, the way we look, the way we act and present ourselves with and to other people, are political and defines our political orientation, as society dictates we have to look a certain way. But Who says so? The Person is Political is a liberal feminism theory, identifying that Personal problems are Political problems, as they are as a result of political systematic oppression. A rallying cry for many feminists in the 60s and 70s, in their underlying message, in writings, readings and consciousness raising. Relating to the theory and resonating with the feminists cry, Marxism removed the focus away from struggling individuals and onto group struggling, ratifying the only way to effect real change is to do so collectively! Concurring with this ideology, Durkheim further cited by Filloux, stated society is bigger than us and shapes our thoughts and actions the collective conscious, mechanical solidarity with sameness and social bonds based on shared morality, uniting members. This essay will look at supported published literature, how it is understood by the leaders of thought in this field, validating and correlating the shared language to describe and defend my own practice in the community of education. How are we faring against social, economic, cultural and political ideologies? Is it just words? It is my belief, fairness and equality for all has still not been achieved and is an ever evolving work in progress. The differences in society are our connections. Our cultural norms are tacit and white privilege is asking us to challenge them daily and understand what is in Our Knapsacks. We as practitioners, do have the power of inertia to intercede between the individual learner and stakeholders to collectively effect real change to ensure a better society for all. Irelands changing demographic over the last 10 years has helped to shape a more socially and culturally diverse society. There is no doubt that Ireland will remain a diverse society and it is important that we celebrate and harness this diversity and ensure that our communities are inclusive. Speech by Minister Stanton Equality Then, Now Future: Creating a more Equal Inclusive Society Key concepts and theories will explain real life practices and demonstrate the obligation to promote a critical analysis of social change and inclusion, in the context of the social, cultural and political frameworks. Critical reflection and ethics within daily practice trigger theories of social change, inclusion, quality and diversity in my role as an educator. A learner who is Dyslexic, Stephanie (not her real name) is the genesis of the case study and consequently support the growth of this essay. In order to understand other cultures, the lived experience of inequality and inclusion, or lack of will be categorised by three levels of the Micro, Meso and Macro. Taking this into consideration, her lived perspective will evaluate the extent to which Adult and Further Education includes marginalized social groups, what should be contained in an inclusive curriculum and the sense of agency to provide a comfortable supportive environment to enable her to deal with societys barriers. Critical factors such as equality form our mind-sets within particular cultures. The particular culture within our families, organisations and government are the markers of difference and operate at different levels in responding to diversity. Possessing an understanding of what is in my knapsack as a practitioner, Peggy McIntosh (McIntosh, 2016) enabled me to check my own assumptions and re-evaluate, Who and what I am and Who and what I am not The Other. Micro level considers the teaching and learning viewpoints at individual levels in Adult and Further Education. Long gone are the days of I Teach, You listen! approaches, the theory of developing intellect and not listening to the learners voice is non-productive. The importance of emotions are fundamental in the development to the functioning of an inclusive democratic society. How can I let my learners see that I truly care about their progression, if I cannot demonstrate empathy? Sharing my journey of Lifelong Learning, in a professional and legitimate manner allowing the language of emotions to be present within the classroom, is crucial in the establishment of trust building of respectful relationships. In addition, concurring with Filloux, practitioners should adopt to a discipline of sociology, providing for successful structures and facilitation of learning, in conducive learning environments. The teacher of the future is thus one who will manage to live out the pedagogical wish of the sociologist.. (Filloux, 1993) During Stephanies Wk1 Day 1, Induction Week on a yearlong Level 5 Office Administration Course, through Icebreaker introductions, Stephanie disclosed she had not been interviewed or applied for the course herself and was not happy about having to attend. As she had not applied for the course her negative attitude could be somewhat understandable. Stephanie had received a phone call from the organisation, the day prior to commencement of the course and instructed to arrive for class the following day at 8.30am. This relaxed day enabled Tuckmans Formation Stage to develop, empowering learners to share experiences, develop relationships and build confidence and self-worth. On Day 2, following reflection of the previous lesson, further discussions unfolded with Stephanie sharing her bad experiences in school to the group. Relationships were emerging, with other learners demonstrating sympathetic responses. Admitting how she struggled with reading, confessing how daily she was publically humiliated by having to read out loud and when she refused to do so, was labelled troublesome. She was regularly called stupid or dumb by both the teachers and peers and often sent to sit outside the headmistresss door, when she became argumentative. In her own admission, she said it was easier to start an argument in the classroom rather than feel useless. Stephanie felt the only person she developed a relationship with, was the School Secretary. She took the time to listen to me! This school secretary had recognised she was different and suggested her best approach to improve her performance in school would be to go to her doctor, and get a psychological assessment con ducted. The school would receive government funding to support learners with additional needs and the school would be in better position to support Stephanie with her studies. As a result of that conversation, Stephanie felt she had personally failed, in addition to the school system failing her, so she dropped out of school, after her Junior Certificate. However, she did go to the doctors who confirmed in a psychological report that Stephanie was Dyslexic. Emile Durkheim suggests Anomie is a lack of moral standards in a society. Unfortunately, it could be argued Stephanies previous experiences of system failure, in 2nd level education, certainly had an impact on her individual belief systems, behaviours and overall perceptions of Further Education (FE), hence shaping her negative attitude and barriers to motivation of learning. In addition to delivering subject matter content, practitioners are also expected to ensure learners are familiarised with the Rules and Regulations of the Institution. Following the 2 days lessons, in a 1:1 session, Stephanie was made aware of the facility to apply for Learner Support, if she felt she had a specific requirement. She produced her psychological report, stating I had come to class armed with it on the first day, but wanted to see if I would fit in with everybody first. To further support her progression through the course, additional support sessions for an hour, twice a week before and / or after class were offered, by myself. Reassurance was given to Stephanie that all strategies and learning experiences would be reflected in her own personal learning style. In addition, Learner Support if approved, would permit an extra 25% additional time to complete all assessments, the support services of a Reader / Scribe would be made available and all papers would be photocopi ed on yellow paper, to assist with reading. Following the meeting an application was submitted to the organisation for Learner Support. Micro Level is hugely important in the awareness to issues, context and sometimes problems that Adult learners experience, to develop learners skills and confidence in their learning with the necessary practices and strategies. Concurrent with Social Justice Ireland, our social role responsibility, as practitioners, leads to the identification of problems and impediments for progression and inclusion, to change and ensure a better, inclusive, nondiscriminatory society for all. Working to build a just society where human rights are respected, human dignity is protected, human development is facilitated and the environment is respected and protected. (Social Justice Ireland, 2009-2016) Meso Level is the organisations approaches to ameliorate policies and practices to support and promote inclusion, by facilitating the necessary support apparatuses. It could be argued, the solution to constructed failure, at Meso Level in Stephanies case at 2nd Level, focussed more on medical treatments, psychological assessments and monetary gain, instead of focussing on the educational solutions and the necessary support apparatuses. Thus, identifying the other so called efforts of supported others as self-centred. Concurring with Fiona OConnor suggestions, there is a severe lack of professional training given to practitioners to manage diversity within classrooms. Furthermore, at Meso Level is it more ubiquitous. Many employees at this level have never experienced the importance of emotions and emotional work within classrooms, as their roles and responsibilities are often administrative. (Number Crunching). In line with current paradigms to social inclusivity there is an institutional racism still in existence. At Macro Level, the lack of an interview for Stephanie prior to the course commencement, highlighted the failure to identify the necessary prerequisites, willingness to learn, commitment to complete such a long course or that she had an intellectual disability and cognitive condition such as Dyslexia, further demonstrates their lack of concern they do not want to be bothered. Practitioners organise the necessary applications, follow up paper work and hiring of Reader / Scribe personne l for a learner who has been approved for Learner Support. All of which is additional duties outside of class time. The organisations approach to addressing fostering and inclusion of inequality and diversity by practices could be questionable. Are they adopting a bums on seats view? Should practitioners be pre advised of the physical, mental and intellectual disabilities of learners in advance of course commencement? Macro Level is the wider structure context of class, gender and race. Legislative and policy frameworks are regularly being reproduced in the roll out of new revised Strategic Plans, underpinning education, equality and promotion of social inclusion in societal change. However, prior to commencement of the course, Stephanie contacted The Department of Social Protection (DSP) to clarify why she had a place on a course, as she had not applied for one. The information received, informed her she was from a marginalised group, on a Long Term Unemployed Register, therefore it was compulsory to complete a course. This was further outlined in written format, and stated that her failure to attend the course could result in deductions from her Social Welfare Payment. DSP enforcement, can be argued as having a negative impact on learners readiness to learn and a barrier to motivate individuals to partake in learning and progression to Adult and Further Education. Disability Acts, Equality Acts and legislative Strategic Plans provide opportunities to collaborate together and ensure that all of our citizens are entitled to lifelong learning (LLL) advocating the central pillar of the European Union (EU) strategy, to create a dynamic and competitive knowledge- based society and economy (NUI Galway, 2011). Is this at a cost to the individual? Where is the freedom of choice? The educational systems in place are clearly strongly integrated into the society. However, in my opinion, it is impossible to expect equality in education in short of progression and advancement towards equality in the social, economic, cultural and political systems. With this in mind, changing education is the catalyst to those revolutions in changing cultural values and opinions. As previously identified, Marxism removed the focus away from struggling individuals and onto group struggling. It is my belief, fairness and equality for all has still not been achieved and is an ever evolving work in progress, ratifying the only way to effect real change is to do so collectively. References Anon., 2016. Education.ie. [Online] Available at: http://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2016-Press-Releases/PR16-11-21.html[Accessed 22 November 2016]. Anon., 2016. Step It Up:Ireland vows gender equality a foreign policy in the push for the Sustainable Development Goal | UN Women. [Online] Available at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/step-it-up/commitments/ireland[Accessed 12 December 2016]. Anon., 2016. www.leargas.ie. [Online] Available at: http://www.leargas.ie/resources/[Accessed 2 December 2016]. Camilleri , M. A. Camilleri, A., 2015. Education and social cohesion for economic growth. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 19(5), pp. 617-631. Cullen Owens, R., 2005. A Social History of Women in Ireland, 1870-1970 An Exploration of the Changing Role and Status of Women in Irish Society. Dublin: Gill Macmillan. Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe, 2016. epale.ie. [Online] Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/epale/en/themes/social-inclusion[Accessed 18 November 2016]. European Commission, 2016. The EU and Irish Women. [Online] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/node/684_en#education[Accessed 12 December 2016]. Filloux, J.-C., 1993. EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917). UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, 23(1/2), pp. 303-320. Hearne, L. et al., 2010. The Adult Learner 2010 The Irish Journal of Adul and Community Education. Dublin: AONTAS. McIntosh, P., 2016. White Privilege:Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Waterford : s.n. NUI Galway, 2011. Lifelong Learning: Contemporary Policy and Practice. Galway: National University of Ireland. OCarroll, E., 2012. Preparing for Training Delivery. In: Train the Trainer. Dublin: Gill Macmillan, pp. 50-67. OConnor, F., 2010. Institutional racism in Irish adult education: fact or fiction?. In: The Adult Learner 2010 The Irish Journal of Adult and Community Education. Dublin : AONTAS, pp. 29-52. Office for the Promotion of Migrant Integration, 2011. Integration.ie. [Online] Available at: http://www.integration.ie/website/omi/omiwebv6.nsf/page/index-en[Accessed 11 November 2016]. OGrady, M., 2015. How Societies Change, Waterford: Dr Maeve OGrady Moodle WIT. OGrady, M., 2016. Education, Equality Social Inclusion, Waterford: Dr Maeve OGrady Moodle WIT. OGrady, M., 2016. The Other in Adult Education, Waterford: Dr Maeve OGrady Moodle WIT. Osler, A., 2015. The stories we tell: exploring narrative in education for justice and equality in multicultural contexts. Multicultural Education Review, 7(1-2), pp. 12-25. Social Justice Ireland, 2009-2016. Social Justice Ireland. [Online] Available at: http://www.socialjustice.ie/content/policy-issues/presentations-oireachtas-committees[Accessed 12 December 2016]. Waterford Area Partnership, 2016. Waterford Area Partnership. [Online] Available at: http://waterfordlife.ie/supporting-communities/social-inclusion/sicap/[Accessed 23 February 2016].

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Short stories Essays -- essays research papers

Essay   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The short stories â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro† and â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Mocomber† were both written by world renowned author Ernest Hemingway. The two stories are written completely unrelated to each other; however, both stories have vast similarities in the time and place in which they take place. Hemingway is a writer that is very methodical in his word choices. When reading these two stories a second time the reader finds considerable differences in the writing style the author uses in each story. To demonstrate, three sentences from each story will be compared and contrasted to show the differences in word usage, word connotation, and to find which story is written better. The initial pair of these sentences to be looked at are, â€Å"A fourth planed down, to run quick-legged and then waddle slowly toward the others,† from the short story â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro,† and â€Å"On the far bank of the stream M acomber could see, above the trees, vultures circling and plummeting down,† from the story â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.† The subsequent couple of sentences are â€Å"’You Bitch,’ he said,† from the â€Å"Snows of Kilimanjaro† and â€Å"’Why not let up on the bitchery just a little, Margot,’ Macomber said, cutting the eland steak and putting some mashed potato, gravy and carrot on the down-turned fork that tined through the piece of meat.† Finally, the third set of sentences are â€Å"She shot very well this good, rich bitch, this kindly destroyer of his talent,† from the story â€Å"Snows of Kilimanjaro† and â€Å"’That was a good shot,’ Wilson said,† from the story, â€Å"A Short Happy Life.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first sentence to be analyzed is, â€Å"A fourth planed down, to run quick-legged and then waddle slowly toward the others,† from the short story â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro.† In this sentence Hemingway is describing the actions of a vulture landing. When compared with its corresponding sentence from the short story â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,† â€Å"On the far bank of the stream Macomber could see, above the trees, vultures circling and plummeting down,† the reader can see similarities in the two sentences. Both sentences have to do with vultures flying and landing. However, there is a significant difference in the author’s word usage in each. In the first sentence, the word â€Å"planed† describes the vultures dec... ...† is an adjective, describing the noun â€Å"shot.† Notice that the word â€Å"shot† is used in different manners. In the first sentence, â€Å"shot† is an action, a verb, where in the second sentence â€Å"shot† is a noun. The second sentence is the better than the first. The first sentence is cluttered with descriptive words leaving each word with less value. In the second sentence the word â€Å"good† is the focus of the sentence making it a better defined and more coherent sentence. When compared these two sentences are alike only in their differences, for example the meaning of the word â€Å"shot† in the first sentence and the word â€Å"shot† in the second sentence are the same words with different perspectives. In conclusion the short story, â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Mocomber† is the better written of the two short stories by Ernest Hemingway. The author’s word usage, and connotation in this story, however similar to those in â€Å"The Snows of Kilimanjaro,† makes the reader clearly visualize the images he is trying to illustrate. The three sentences from â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Mocomber† are all around better written, use better words, and better help the reader imagine the author’s intentions.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Scouts Maturation through the Evil in the World Essay -- English Liter

Scouts Maturation through the Evil in the World Harper Lees, To Kill a Mockingbird is a very complex novel that has many plots and many evils. Lee tells of an innocent black man accused of rape by a detestable family. She also tells of a man locked up in his house and isolated from the rest of the world. The narrator, Scout, learns about this turpitude, and this ultimately leads to her maturation throughout the story. The three main heinous acts are the way Tom Robinson is treated, the way Boo Radley is isolated from the rest of the world, and the way Bob Ewell commits the unspeakable. One of the main evils in the story is the way Tom Robinson is accused and convicted of rape. At the start of the book Scout calls those who are black, ''niggers''. This demonstrates that at the start of the book Scout did not consider black people to be as good as white people. Instead, she listened to everything that the town said about black people. This quote shows that Scout was still rather immature and had a lot of growing to do. When the jury walks in from Tom"s trial, Scout says to herself, 'I saw something only a lawyer"s child could be expected to see, could be expected to watch for, and it was like watching Atticus walk into the street, raise a shoulder, and pull the trigger but watching all the time knowing the gun was empty'"' (pg. 211). Scout is finally beginning to feel some compassion for Tom Robinson, a black person, after learning of the evil that has been done to him. She is able to realize that Tom Robinson is going to found guilty and feels horrible about it inside.''Naw, Jem, I think there"s just one kind of folks. Folks (pg. 227).' Towards the very end of the book, Scout has finally matured enough ... ...used for his death. Bob he is the one who ruined Tom"s life and ultimately killed him. Tom was just an innocent person, a mockingbird, who was accused and convicted, of a crime that he most certainly did not commit. This quote of Scout"s was so profound, and it was so amazing that she would understand the concept of a '"'mockingbird'"' at such a young age. Therefore, it is clear that Scout has developed quite a bit since the beginning of the story. Towards the beginning of To Kill a Mockingbird, it was clear that Scout still had a lot of maturing to do, but throughout the story, she matured quite a bit. The main factor that led to her growing up was learning of all of the corruption in Maycomb. Even though this evil was obviously not good for people such as Tom Robinson and Boo Radley, Scout would not have grown nearly as much in three years without it.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

School Bells

The elementary years of my life were the most stress free and enjoyable time of my life. I remember back when I was in elementary school, after school I would go to my backyard to catch frogs in the lake backyard. My best friend, Steven, and I would also go to the park and play in the playground. Life was too good during the earlier years. No conflicts, just scrapped knees. This was the time I also first learned how to ride my back. It was the most rewarding day I can remember. At first, I believed I could never learn to ride a bike. But with the assistance of my dad it was all possible. I remember the moment so clearly, my dad letting go of me. I pedaled feeling as if I was flying. The only problem was that I did not learn how to stop yet. What happened later is not as lovely. Ms. Fazio the best fifth grade teacher anyone can ask for. I also remember going to Islands of Adventure towards the end of my fifth grade year. Mrs. Fazio and I rode in the front of a roller coaster, I believe the ride was called Dueling Dragon. I just remember Ms.  Fazio screaming through the whole ride. The day overall was amazing. But sadly bygones are just bygones. Now I have to worry about college, homework, work, and my future. I miss having to worry about scraped knees and getting my agenda signed. Life was good during the elementary days. Come home watch television, eat cookies, and go out feeling as though nothing can go wrong. Running around during recess and playing tag. Times sadly have sadly changed. Now I am just left with these nostalgic feelings.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Professional Ethics and Toxic Waste Essay

1.Discuss why Rachel has an ethical responsibility to take some action about her suspicion of the illegal dumping of toxic wastes. Rachel has an ethical responsibility to take some action about her suspicion of the illegal dumping of toxic wastes because it is illegal to begin with and even though it might only be a suspicion, if it turns out to be true, under the eyes of the law if she knew about it and did nothing, she is just as guilty as the responsible parties. She might be working for a very prominent firm but if her suspicions turn out to be true, the minute those news go public the firm’s reputation will definitely suffer as will the firms employees. No employee wants to have to suffer the consequences of a wrong doing by the upper management of any firm and even more if the actions taken by the upper management are strictly illegal and they are knowingly performing such actions. Having found such incriminating note directed to the plants general manager and doing nothing about it is like saying you are ok with the illegal activities that you think might be taking place. Rachel is the director of financial reporting, this will be a person of interest in case an investigation takes place and if the investigation finds that she knew what was going on and did nothing, it will put her in a very bad position regarding the law and future employment. Rachel definitely has an ethical responsibility to take actions in regards to her findings. 2.For each of the three alternative courses of action, explain whether the action is appropriate. †¢Seek the advice of her boss, the vice president of finance for Alberta: This would be an appropriate action to take. Even though she might not know if her boss is directly involved in the situation, going to him with the concern is proof enough that she cares about her company and doing the right thing. If her boss is not involved she might even be somehow recognized as an example employee for going forward with such information and doing the right thing. †¢Anonymously release the information to the local newspaper: Releasing the information to the news anonymously is always an option even though for her specific case I would not recommend it. She has no proof that her suspicions are in fact taking place and it would be very irresponsible on her part to say her company is doing something as illegal as improperly dumping toxic waste on purpose just to save some money. †¢Give the information to an outside member of Alberta’s board of directors, whom she knew because he lived in her neighborhood: Again, releasing such information to an outsider without knowing if it’s true or not, might be irresponsible on her part because from that point on it would only be one step for a company outsider to make the information public without knowing the facts. Since in this case the outsider is a member of the board of directors, she could contact that person if she feels comfortable with him in order to discuss her findings privately. That way she is also showing her commitment to doing the right thing for her company and shows her concern to do right by her as an employee. 3.Assume that Rachel sought the advice of the vice president of finance and discovered that he both knew about and approved of the dumping of toxic wastes. What steps should she take to resolve the conflict in this situation? If Rachel sought the advice of the vice president of finance and discovered that he both knew about and approved of the dumping of toxic wastes I’m sure she will have a conversation with her regarding what she just found. Rachel will have to see what he has to say about the toxic waste dumping and then make a decision regarding the confirmation of her findings. That decision might range from leaving the company and not reporting the incident, to staying as an employee and going directly to the appropriate agencies and reporting her findings. Whatever Rachel decides to do, she still has an ethical obligation to report her company’s illegal activities be it to her superiors or to an agency like for example the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Curleys Wife Character †of Men and Mice Essay

Of Men and Mice is not kind in its portrayal of women. In fact, women are treated with contempt throughout the course of the book. Steinbeck generally depicts women as troublemakers who bring ruin to men and drive them mad. Curley’s wife, who walks the ranch as a temptress seems to be a prime example of the destructive tendency. Despite the author’s rendering, Curley’s wife emerges as a relatively complex and interesting character. Although her purpose is rather simple in the book’s opening pages, she is the â€Å"tramp†, â€Å"tart† and â€Å"bitch† that threatens to destroy male happiness and longevity. The social setting of the novel is also important, as it could later explain characters attitudes towards other people. It is set in the U.S. in the 1930s; this is the time of the Great Depression. This was a result of the First World War. It affected the rich and poor alike, factory workers and farmers, bankers and stockbrokers. In s hort, it affected everyone; no one was left untouched. But of all the people hurt, farmers were the worst off. Curley’s wife is first introduced in person to us in a symbolic way; this is shown when George is talking to Lennie about the dream and when Curley’s wife first meets both men. â€Å"Both men glanced up, for a rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off.† The symbolic meaning of the word sunshine is hope, freedom, happiness and dreams. This foreshadows that she may cause trouble or come in the way and could ruin it all for Lennie and George. She is also described as a â€Å"girl†, which tells us that she is very playful, childish and vulnerable. Her appearance later in the novel becomes more complex. But even before this we are forewarned about her, Candy tells George and Lennie about her, making her out at the wrong type to begin with, â€Å"Married to weeks and got the eye? Maybe that is why Curley’s pants is full of ants,† giving us the impression she was a person not to socialis e with. Also tells us that the men on the ranch know that Curley knows that is wife looks at the rest of them, hoping for one of them to try and get close to her, so he can then create a situation for a fight. As Candy relaxes he also goes on to get them to have the same opinion as him about her by saying, ‘well, you look her over, mister. You see if she ain’t a tart†, and the reply from George, ‘Purty?’ making sure that we see her as ‘jail bait†. Then when we first get to see her she is dressed as if she is going out to a party, and Steinbeck also enforces the concept that she is trouble and a tart, by describing her appearance, â€Å"she had full rouged lips†, â€Å"red mules, on the insteps of which were little bouquets of red ostrich feathers†, using the colour red as a foreshadow that she is dangerous. This is the first time also that we see that she is attractive and that she knows it, also that she wants the men to look at her, â€Å"she put her hands behind her back and leaned against the door frame so that her body was thrown forward†, forcing the men to look at her curves. This first sign of nativity shows that she doesn’t understand her affect on men, showing her age as a teenager and her understanding of her sexual attractiveness. We also get an insight to her life with her husband and why she is always coming around the rest of the men. When Candy tells George and Lennie about Curley having his glove full of â€Å"Vaseline† and that he was keeping â€Å"that hand soft for his wife†, tells us that she was also being beaten up, and that nobody could see the bruises because Curley had softened his hand, or he hit her in places where we couldn’t see the bruises. This is the first time we see her as a victim needing help. We also see that see can be cruel, and willing to misuse power. When she confronts Lennie, Candy, and Crooks in the stable, she admits to feeling a kind of shameless dissatisfaction with her life. Her vulnerability at this moment and later when she admits to Lennie her dream of becoming a movie star makes her utterly human and much more interesting than the stereotypical vixen in fancy clothes. She seeks out even greater weakness in others, preying upon Lennie’s mental handicap â€Å"they left all the weak ones here†, Candy’s debilitating age, â€Å"tell an’ be damned. Nobody’d would listen to you, and you know it† and the colour of Crook’s skin â€Å"you know what I can do to you if you open your trap?† in order to steel herself against harm. Dreams are a major reoccurring theme, when Lennie tells Curley’s wife of his and George’s dream she just says â€Å"baloney†, but she has a dream of her own and she proceeds to talk Lennie about it. She has dreamt of being a movie star, which nearly came true when she encountered an actor. ‘He says I could go with that show†, but like most young girl s was forbade from her mother, ‘my ol’ lady wouldn’ let me†. So having her dream pulled out from underneath her she rebelled, and married Curley. However she always wanted to achieve something of herself and loved attention. â€Å"Curley’s wife lay with a half-covering of yellow hay. And the meanness and the planning and the discontent and the ache for attention were all gone from her face. She was very pretty and simple, and her face was sweet and young. Now her rouged cheeks and her reddened lips made her seem alive and sleeping very lightly. The curls, tiny little sausages, were spread on the hay behind her head, and her lips were parted†, this is the first time we are shown her true self – she was a young, innocent, lonely young girl. When you take away all the walls she had erected you come back to a young girl wanting to be loved, who saw Lennie as a way out from Curley’s abusive relationship. As Lennie could hurt Curley, but not realising the danger she was ultimately putting herself into. So in conclusion Curley’s wife is the most depressed and lonely characters in the novel. She has no friends, no future, no respect; she doesn’t even deserve a name. All she wants is someone to talk to but in her mind the only way she can do this is by flaunting herself to the men to get noticed. This leads her to be perceived as a â€Å"tart† by the men. She represents absolute loneliness and desperation to achieve something better in life. Even though she is very lonely, she comes across as a very beautiful woman. She flaunts herself by dressing and acting in a â€Å"tart† like manner, but really she is just making use of her body to gain the attention of the workers to soothe her. If anyone would give her a break, treat her like a person, she would idolise them. Her craving for contact is immense but she, with her background is incapable of conceiving any contact without some sexual context, she is not particularly oversexed, but has been forced to recognise that her sexuality is the only weapon she has, and the only thing that gets her noticed. Consequently she is a little starved. She knows nothing about sex, except the mass information girls tell each other. All through the novel the men make out that Curley’s wife is trouble. But yet there was never any proof that Curley’s wife has ever caused any of the trouble or conflicts. The only trouble she caused was when she died.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Coloplast Organizational Structure Essay

Coloplast went from a production structured organization to a functional structured organization. In the production structure the focus was on the products wish were divided into 3 product divisions. In the functional structure the company focus on specialization of tasks. Before: the production organization The production organization structure also called Division Structure is divided into 3 production division; skin, wound care and continence care, and ostomy care. Each division beyond having its department for research, development, sales and marketing, contains all the necessary resources and functions. By applying the production organization, a company gains the followings benefits: A structure where it’s easy to define the objectives and word work assignments can simply be coordinated, within each division. Another Benefit Coloplast can gain on this structure is the flexibility among workers. Workers from one department can be put on assignments in another department within the same division, if needed. This’s made possible by the fact that most of the workers are not specialist in any specific field. Should any problem occur in the division structure the causes are quickly detected and solved. This type of structure allows local leaders to make small locale adjustments to meet the challenges in there division. But this system holds its own weaknesses. It can harm communication flow between different divisions. This may result in loosing the overall focus on the objective of the organization. It may happen that each local division create its own culture witch may not necessarily be compatible with the company’s culture as a whole. The limited communication between divisions makes it hard for them to exchange experience and expertize. This system by nature is heavy and costly. In order for the company to have all the necessary resources and functions within each division, they can’t afford the best expertize on every field. After: the functional organization The new organizational structure focuses more on functions. Unlike the previews structure that focused on the product. This new structure pulls functions out of the different divisions and put them in centralized units, each specialized in respectively Globale Maketing, R and D and Global Operations. As a consequence, the former divisions are reduced to production units and subsidiaries; that receives instructions from the top. To assure communication between top and bottom, Coloplast place Commercial Excellence above the whole new structure. With the three functional divisions, Coloplast makes sure that there a clear purpose that goes all the way through the whole company, when it comes to their global marketing, innovation and how new products should be developed. As a result Coloplast becomes a unified company with no duplications of tasks. The greatest advantages of this functional centralized structure is its lightness and affectivity. It gives the opportunity to hire highly specialized staff. As Coloplast CEO puts it; â€Å"The subsidiaries have a huge, but simple, responsibility: they ? ll have to sell like the dickens† meaning that Coloplast now can headhunt exact talents for each function. The workforce those talents brings is not only promoting a single product but the company as a whole. Employees have the opportunity to learn from their superiors. They also have the opportunity to work alongside colleagues who relate to their professional interests and abilities, thus making for a more productive and enjoyable environment. By moving the production responsibility from all division to the Global Operation in cheap-labor countries, it’s possible for Coloplast to reach the point of an Economical of scale. Like any other organization structure, the functional organization has weaknesses. Because of the decision-making within the functional works from top to bottom, it’s a constant challenge to make sure that the organizations objectives are integrated at the bottom. Another disadvantage is that units may have limited flexibility in problem solving, making changes or responding quickly to customer demands and needs, since the final decision-making authority rest with the top level of management. So how does Coloplast solve these challenges? Commercial Excellence/Business Excellence For solving the challenge of implementation of the organizations objectives and assurance of a two-way communication, Coloplast places â€Å"Commercial Excellence† above the entire new structure, which acts like the strong arm, that’ll prepare budgets and make sure that objective are achieved. Commercial Excellence or Business Excellence is the systematic use of quality management principles and tools in business management with the goal of identifying improvement opportunities, area of strength and ideas for future organizational development. It’s a support function that’ll help ensure â€Å"best practice† so that the organization can avoid those complications. Conclusion This new organizational structure is a natural step for the entire group, not only does it outsource to cheaper-labor countries but it has also given Coloplast improved profitability and an organic growth of 7%. The sustained competitiveness Coloplast has gained is due to the change of organization structure where they went from a production organization to a functional organization. With the transformation came the opportunity of standardization of tasks, this leads to efficiency and expertise in the related fields. This was something they lacked in the production organization. By implementing the Business Excellence, Coloplast shows that it’s aware of the weaknesses of the new organization design and intent to avoid them. Lars Rasmussen, Coloplast CEO, emphasizes how important it’s that this supporting system doesn’t end up like a police maneuver, keeping subsidiaries in an iron grip. â€Å"Instead it shall ensure â€Å"best practice† and set such high standards, that where that is difficulty, it’ll become natural to draw on headquarters†. It’s all about motivation, contributing to people and relying on each other. This serves as a great factor for self-actualization for the individual employee witch is not only contributing to the fulfillment of personal potential but also to the work-environment. The new organization has great potential; they have cut production time by half, they went from 13 factories to 10, constantly stimulating innovation by supporting Coloplast Incubator. Coloplast current strategy placed a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of their employees, as well as implementation of some standard guidelines and the right motivation. There are no doubt about the new structure is more complex than the previews one. Annex

Anthropology of Tattoos

He repeated this several times as a ceremonial pot was filled with gathering soot from the burning fire. After the artist finished his tedious design, he rubbed soot from the pot bottom deep into the slits, planting the bacteria that would infect the skin, raising the scars into their meaningful design. She felt accomplished that she withstood the agonizing pain while other members of her clan could not. Her newly inherited body art signified the birth of her first son, and left her with a renewed sense of beauty. This is the way of life common to people indigenous to the motherland of Africa. Scarification, however, is not the only form of body art that is used. Body painting, tattooing, and branding are all similar forms of body art, which can be found in Africa and other cultures throughout the world. The word â€Å"tattoo† comes from the Tahitian word â€Å"tattau†, which means â€Å"to mark†. Tattoos have evolved from being symbols of punishment that were given to identify criminals and slaves in the early ninth-century Chinese culture, into a pop-culture trend of using he skin as â€Å"a way of describing the exotic uncivilized other† within ourselves (Schildkrout 2004:324). For centuries, the body has been used as a â€Å"visible way of defining individual identity and cultural difference† (Schildkrout 2004:319). This cultural difference becomes apparent when studying the evolution of body art over time, especially when focusing on the differences between the Western and Non-Western cultures. People have been adorning their body with tattoos and piercing for centuries, but until recently, the thought of tattoos in ancient Egypt had been pushed aside. It has now been discovered that, without a doubt, tattoos did exist in that time period. Although miniscule, a group of enormously important tattooed mummies serve to help prove this point (Bianchi 1988:21). The first mummy to be discovered was one f a woman named Amunet, whose mummy was found in an excellent state of preservation, â€Å"most likely due to the fact that she served as a priestess of the goddess Harthor at Thebes during Dynasty XI†(Bianchi 1988:22). The tattoos on her body were comprised of a pattern of dots and dashes in an elliptical shape on her lower abdomen. The thighs and arms adorned the identical parallel lines of the aforementioned pattern. Two more women mummies, who were discovered and believed to be from the same time period, also had similar tattoos on their lower abdomen (Bianchi 1988:22). This group of woman represents an exclusive group of Egyptians who received tattoos in that time period, because there is no other evidence that shows tattoos to be a part of the Egyptian culture until the time of the Middle Kingdom. These abstract patterns associated with ritualistic tattooing survived into the New Kingdom. The Egyptians, more then likely, borrowed a form of tattooing from the Nubian civilization. Unlike the Nubians, whose purpose for tattooing is unknown, â€Å"the Egyptians appear to have regarded the tattoo as one of several vehicles by which the procreative powers of the deceased could be revived† (Bianchi 1988:27). Substantiation proposes that only women were associated with the decorating of their bodies and the ritualistic activities that went along with it. The art of tattooing began with the grouping of bluish or black dots and/or dashes forming abstract geometric patterns; that system of body art lasted for over two thousand years in ancient Egypt. Just like other ideas and goods, the idea of tattooing began to travel to several different societies, and has evolved into extremely different forms of art all over the world. In northeastern Zambia, the Tabwa â€Å"once covered themselves from head to foot with scarification† (Roberts 1988:41). The women of the Tabwa began receiving elaborate marks on their face, chest, and backs when they were young girls; it sometimes was continued at other points in a woman’s life (Roberts 1988:43) such as courting rituals and for woman wishing to bear a child. Male sculptors would trace designs and make incisions on the lesser intimate parts of the body; they left the rest for the women to do. ‘Tabwa women used razors to slit skin [that had been] plucked up with a fishhook or arrowhead. These incisions were then rubbed with soot from a pot bottom, an irritant that produced the desired raised cicatrices† (Roberts 1988:44). There were several reasons that this tradition was done, different to every age and gender in the tribe. Young women went through this process in order to achieve a state of perfection, which was required for those wanting to marry and have children (Roberts 1988:45). Scarification is a form of body art that was used in several tribes because according to their customs â€Å"beauty is not physically innate, but rather a function of the girl’s inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:45). Not only the Tabwa, scarification was used in such tribes as the Ga’anda and the Tiv; all the tribes have distinctly different purposes for doing this, but the process and effect of the body are the same. Another form of body art is body painting, which the people of the Southeast Nuba begin at a young age; but the meanings, and time frame from when they begin decorating the body are very different between males and females. The males paint themselves from the ages of 12 to 27 (Faris 1988:31). Typically, they only paint during the down time after the harvest season and before the next years planting begins. This is the time that the males are less involved in mandatory and productive activities; they spend their supplementary time with festive activities such as dance and sport participation. The restrictions placed on the men by their age, most importantly deal with the color that they use on their body—for example â€Å" only the older age groups are eligible to use the greatest elaboration in color, including the deep black and yellow [colors, that are] prohibited to younger grades†(Faris 1988:32). The change in elaboration allowed on the body does not coincide with any physiological changes, rather, it corresponds with changes â€Å"in productive status or sport† (Faris 1988:32). As they move up in grades from young laborers that answer to the elders, to mature men that own their own property, farm and family, their elaborate painting ability increases. The elders though, do not decorate their bodies; rather, they delegate and lead rituals for the younger men and enforce the rules of allowed color use. Therefore, the male body painting shows their progression thru ones life stages. The women of Southeast Nuba, â€Å"from the age of six years, until consummation of marriage, oil and ochre [their bodies] daily, in colors [that are] appropriate to their patri-clan section† (Faris 1988:34). After childbirth, they may continue to wear some oil and ochre on their shoulders. The personal body art of women is strictly related to the physiological changes that occur as a women goes through life, and are fixed around body scarification as a way of showing her changes. A woman’s scarification is so important, that â€Å"if a husband refuses to pay for a scarring specialist, a woman may seek a lover who will do so, and her first marriage will end† (Faris 1988:35). Unlike the males elaborate body art, a woman’s body art is simple, but it accumulates over her life-span and is very standardized, while a male’s body art is constantly changing. Body painting, tattooing and scarification thus far had been tools used by individuals to beautify their body and elevate their status within their tribe; this is not the case with all societies. In several other cultures, tattoos have been used in a form of branding, which is quite the opposite. Though tattooing and branding are â€Å"similar in that both involve the insertion of pigments under the skin to create permanent marks†, branding is implemented in order to lower an individuals status, to punish for crimes committed, to identify slaves, but most importantly, to eliminate personal identity (Schildkrout 2004:323). â€Å"The immutable alteration of human skin by branding needs to be considered in relation to, but ought not be confused with, tattooing† (Bianchi 1988:27). Two recent studies originating in South Africa elaborate on this subject, reporting on the political influence of tattooing â€Å"as a means of social control† (Schildkrout 2004:330). They site examples from Zambia in which a medical practitioner travels around to villages â€Å"in which witch craft accusations have been common†¦to inoculate people against people against witch craft† (Schildkrout 2004:331). The villagers would â€Å"submit to bodily inspections†, they were then treated â€Å"by getting numbers tattooed on their arms† (Schildkrout 2004:331). This is disturbingly reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps when an unfathomable number of Jewish people lost their personal identities and became known as only a number in the system to be disposed of. This â€Å"symbolic denial of personhood† served as a system â€Å"of control and surveillance† (Schildkrout 2004:323). This system of control was also imposed by â€Å"authoritarian regimes† in Southeast Asia (Schildkrout 2004:323). The Zhou and Ming Dynasties branded criminals as a form of punishment with â€Å"extensive, often full-body tattoos, with elaborate pictorial imagery as well as written inscriptions† (Schildkrout 2004:324) portraying their crime. This form of tattooing is definitely contrary to traditional methods. Similarly in Brazil, branding was used to mark convicts by the penal authorities. Penal tattoos derived their power from subjugation of the marked convicts. The humiliation of being visibly branded was a significant component of the convict’s punishment. In an act of resistance, those that had been branded â€Å"were known to reclaim their bodies by writing over the inscriptions or by displaying them in new social situations† (Schildkrout 2004:324). The branded, therefore, became the empowered, restoring the function of the tattoo to being personally-motivated. This personal motivation is perhaps most notable in Western cultures, specifically North America. In America, the Native Americans used body painting in many ways, usually connected with ethnic identity, social roles or marital status (Rubin 1988:179). The Natives also used the body as a canvas in ritualistic ceremonies, on warriors going into battle and for the beautification of their women. When the Europeans discovered America, they brought with them slaves from Africa and they introduced branding of the slaves into the American culture. After the civil war, when the slaves had been freed, branding was still embedded in American culture through groups of people including gang members and convicts. Though â€Å"branding is often associated with involuntary marking and the denial of personhood†, it has also â€Å"been adopted in contemporary Western body culture as an assertion of group identity, for example in college fraternities† (Schildkrout 2004:323). Tattoos were also prevalent in other parts of America, including Alaska. Among the Eskimos â€Å"[t]he function of these art forms [was] – essentially manifesting one’s place or role within the hierarchy of hunting life† (Gritton 1988:190). With the introduction and adaptation of the western civilization in Alaskan culture, â€Å"the marks of a hunter or hunter’s wife served no purpose in their new lives and were understandably abandoned† (Gritton 1988:190). The function of body art and tattooing has been Americanized, evolving from its native origins to incorporate self expression. This self expression has mushroomed from a manor of identifying oneself to a way of gaining attention through shock value. Though ever-changing, all forms of body art mentioned play enormous roles in the lives of people. Certain non-Western cultures are based around the ability to use skin as a visible way of defining status or bettering their self-image, in order to attract companions. So the artists who are allowed to perform the act of adorning bodies with different designs are regarded as having a very important place in the society. They are â€Å"scarring specialist† (Faris 1988:35), â€Å"body artists† (Drewal 1988:84), but most importantly, they are known as â€Å"[the] one-who-creates- art† (Drewal 1988:84). In the non-Native American culture, however, the general attitude towards tattoo artist in present-day American culture is less than appreciative. Extreme critics even characterize tattooist as opportunist, exclusively seeking monetary gain (Sanders 1988:229). â€Å"The tattooist interest in artistry and control is often in conflict with his profit orientation†, revealing the major flaw within the American society (Sanders 1988:229). This is the major difference in western and non-western cultures. Body tattoos in western society are an object to be purchased. Americans obtain tattoos in the same manner that they acquire a new Louis Vuitton handbag. They purchase them as accessories, which is in stark contrast to the non-western cultures, who acquire tattoos as an essential ritual in their society. With this is mind, the process in which American’s purchases body art seems slightly ridiculous. Tattoo artists often complain of the unwillingness of customers to spend the quoted amount of money for â€Å"a tattoo [they] are going to wear for the rest of [their] life† (Sanders 1988:229). It is more acceptable in American culture to invest in short term materialistic purchases, therefore the legitimate tattoo artists are constantly being monitored and regimented under strict laws imposed by the government. Despite the absurdity of the purchasing process, the reasoning that propels the American society to obtain tattoos is just as flawed. Some reasons people give to explain permanently marking their skin include, â€Å"they were drunk, it’s a macho thing, to fit in with a crowd or even worse, for no reason at all† (DeMello 1995:42). Western society seems to have a complete disregard for the spiritual origins of body art. Tattoo artist are even witness to clients’ apathy, avoiding â€Å"working on people who are obviously under the influence of alcohol† (Sanders 1988:225). Where once there was a ceremonious celebration deeply rooted in spiritualism, in American society the only ritualistic ceremony is the receiving of a piece of paper on how to care for the recently acquired body art. This apathetic attitude of Americans is perhaps derived from the renouncing majority of the population. This bias stems from â€Å"very early ‘regulations’ [including] Moses’ remarks in Leviticus 19:28 forbidding any cuttings in the flesh or the printing of any marks† (Armstrong 2005:39). Since tattoos â€Å"were not sanctioned by the church† the profile for the tattooed archetype became unconventional (Schildkrout 2004:325). Christian belief has been adapted to the masses, forcing those who are tattooed into rebellion. The majority of people adopting body art include â€Å"bikers, convicts, and other ‘low lives’† (DeMello 1995:40). In Western society â€Å"the idea that the unmarked body as a sign of God’s work was linked to the Protestant reformation† and â€Å"the idea that body markings were a sign of savagery goes back even earlier† ( Schildkrout 2004:324). This is ironic considering tattoos in earlier cultures signified positions of high status. Perhaps the only entity that ties these drastic cultures together is the desire to increase their inherited beauty. â€Å"If the body is – metaphorically – a site of inscription to various degrees for various theorist, then cosmetic surgery can be seen, at one level, as an example of the literal and explicit enactment of this process of inscription† ( Schildkrout 2004:320), which is also seen in the aforementioned tribes with the rituals of scarification. DeMello also agrees that along with tattooing and piericing, that cosmetic surgery is seen as a form of â€Å"body modification† (DeMello 1995:37). â€Å"Not only does the tattooed skin negotiate between the individual and society and between different social groups, but also mediates relations between persons and spirits, the human and the divine† (Schildkrout 2004:321). Body art is a tradition that extends throughout the barriers of the world and although the forms in which they are found may be different, the idea of using your body as a canvas is universal. Although recently, several anthropologists agreed and have begun to examine body art more closely, looking at it â€Å"as a microcosm of society† (Schildkrout 2004:328), Roberts still believes that â€Å"there can be no ultimate explanation of symbolism† (Roberts 1988:51). He claims that â€Å"the blazes on trees in the Ndembu forest will remain many years after their purpose and meaning are forgotten. So it is with other inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:51). This is exemplified in the woman who endured the agonizing pain of her scarification to instigate a new chapter in her life. Nevertheless, soon after her body is placed into the ground, her skin will no longer be a visible indication of who she once was. She will become a memory and her body will no longer be used as a canvas. Anthropology of Tattoos He repeated this several times as a ceremonial pot was filled with gathering soot from the burning fire. After the artist finished his tedious design, he rubbed soot from the pot bottom deep into the slits, planting the bacteria that would infect the skin, raising the scars into their meaningful design. She felt accomplished that she withstood the agonizing pain while other members of her clan could not. Her newly inherited body art signified the birth of her first son, and left her with a renewed sense of beauty. This is the way of life common to people indigenous to the motherland of Africa. Scarification, however, is not the only form of body art that is used. Body painting, tattooing, and branding are all similar forms of body art, which can be found in Africa and other cultures throughout the world. The word â€Å"tattoo† comes from the Tahitian word â€Å"tattau†, which means â€Å"to mark†. Tattoos have evolved from being symbols of punishment that were given to identify criminals and slaves in the early ninth-century Chinese culture, into a pop-culture trend of using he skin as â€Å"a way of describing the exotic uncivilized other† within ourselves (Schildkrout 2004:324). For centuries, the body has been used as a â€Å"visible way of defining individual identity and cultural difference† (Schildkrout 2004:319). This cultural difference becomes apparent when studying the evolution of body art over time, especially when focusing on the differences between the Western and Non-Western cultures. People have been adorning their body with tattoos and piercing for centuries, but until recently, the thought of tattoos in ancient Egypt had been pushed aside. It has now been discovered that, without a doubt, tattoos did exist in that time period. Although miniscule, a group of enormously important tattooed mummies serve to help prove this point (Bianchi 1988:21). The first mummy to be discovered was one f a woman named Amunet, whose mummy was found in an excellent state of preservation, â€Å"most likely due to the fact that she served as a priestess of the goddess Harthor at Thebes during Dynasty XI†(Bianchi 1988:22). The tattoos on her body were comprised of a pattern of dots and dashes in an elliptical shape on her lower abdomen. The thighs and arms adorned the identical parallel lines of the aforementioned pattern. Two more women mummies, who were discovered and believed to be from the same time period, also had similar tattoos on their lower abdomen (Bianchi 1988:22). This group of woman represents an exclusive group of Egyptians who received tattoos in that time period, because there is no other evidence that shows tattoos to be a part of the Egyptian culture until the time of the Middle Kingdom. These abstract patterns associated with ritualistic tattooing survived into the New Kingdom. The Egyptians, more then likely, borrowed a form of tattooing from the Nubian civilization. Unlike the Nubians, whose purpose for tattooing is unknown, â€Å"the Egyptians appear to have regarded the tattoo as one of several vehicles by which the procreative powers of the deceased could be revived† (Bianchi 1988:27). Substantiation proposes that only women were associated with the decorating of their bodies and the ritualistic activities that went along with it. The art of tattooing began with the grouping of bluish or black dots and/or dashes forming abstract geometric patterns; that system of body art lasted for over two thousand years in ancient Egypt. Just like other ideas and goods, the idea of tattooing began to travel to several different societies, and has evolved into extremely different forms of art all over the world. In northeastern Zambia, the Tabwa â€Å"once covered themselves from head to foot with scarification† (Roberts 1988:41). The women of the Tabwa began receiving elaborate marks on their face, chest, and backs when they were young girls; it sometimes was continued at other points in a woman’s life (Roberts 1988:43) such as courting rituals and for woman wishing to bear a child. Male sculptors would trace designs and make incisions on the lesser intimate parts of the body; they left the rest for the women to do. ‘Tabwa women used razors to slit skin [that had been] plucked up with a fishhook or arrowhead. These incisions were then rubbed with soot from a pot bottom, an irritant that produced the desired raised cicatrices† (Roberts 1988:44). There were several reasons that this tradition was done, different to every age and gender in the tribe. Young women went through this process in order to achieve a state of perfection, which was required for those wanting to marry and have children (Roberts 1988:45). Scarification is a form of body art that was used in several tribes because according to their customs â€Å"beauty is not physically innate, but rather a function of the girl’s inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:45). Not only the Tabwa, scarification was used in such tribes as the Ga’anda and the Tiv; all the tribes have distinctly different purposes for doing this, but the process and effect of the body are the same. Another form of body art is body painting, which the people of the Southeast Nuba begin at a young age; but the meanings, and time frame from when they begin decorating the body are very different between males and females. The males paint themselves from the ages of 12 to 27 (Faris 1988:31). Typically, they only paint during the down time after the harvest season and before the next years planting begins. This is the time that the males are less involved in mandatory and productive activities; they spend their supplementary time with festive activities such as dance and sport participation. The restrictions placed on the men by their age, most importantly deal with the color that they use on their body—for example â€Å" only the older age groups are eligible to use the greatest elaboration in color, including the deep black and yellow [colors, that are] prohibited to younger grades†(Faris 1988:32). The change in elaboration allowed on the body does not coincide with any physiological changes, rather, it corresponds with changes â€Å"in productive status or sport† (Faris 1988:32). As they move up in grades from young laborers that answer to the elders, to mature men that own their own property, farm and family, their elaborate painting ability increases. The elders though, do not decorate their bodies; rather, they delegate and lead rituals for the younger men and enforce the rules of allowed color use. Therefore, the male body painting shows their progression thru ones life stages. The women of Southeast Nuba, â€Å"from the age of six years, until consummation of marriage, oil and ochre [their bodies] daily, in colors [that are] appropriate to their patri-clan section† (Faris 1988:34). After childbirth, they may continue to wear some oil and ochre on their shoulders. The personal body art of women is strictly related to the physiological changes that occur as a women goes through life, and are fixed around body scarification as a way of showing her changes. A woman’s scarification is so important, that â€Å"if a husband refuses to pay for a scarring specialist, a woman may seek a lover who will do so, and her first marriage will end† (Faris 1988:35). Unlike the males elaborate body art, a woman’s body art is simple, but it accumulates over her life-span and is very standardized, while a male’s body art is constantly changing. Body painting, tattooing and scarification thus far had been tools used by individuals to beautify their body and elevate their status within their tribe; this is not the case with all societies. In several other cultures, tattoos have been used in a form of branding, which is quite the opposite. Though tattooing and branding are â€Å"similar in that both involve the insertion of pigments under the skin to create permanent marks†, branding is implemented in order to lower an individuals status, to punish for crimes committed, to identify slaves, but most importantly, to eliminate personal identity (Schildkrout 2004:323). â€Å"The immutable alteration of human skin by branding needs to be considered in relation to, but ought not be confused with, tattooing† (Bianchi 1988:27). Two recent studies originating in South Africa elaborate on this subject, reporting on the political influence of tattooing â€Å"as a means of social control† (Schildkrout 2004:330). They site examples from Zambia in which a medical practitioner travels around to villages â€Å"in which witch craft accusations have been common†¦to inoculate people against people against witch craft† (Schildkrout 2004:331). The villagers would â€Å"submit to bodily inspections†, they were then treated â€Å"by getting numbers tattooed on their arms† (Schildkrout 2004:331). This is disturbingly reminiscent of Nazi concentration camps when an unfathomable number of Jewish people lost their personal identities and became known as only a number in the system to be disposed of. This â€Å"symbolic denial of personhood† served as a system â€Å"of control and surveillance† (Schildkrout 2004:323). This system of control was also imposed by â€Å"authoritarian regimes† in Southeast Asia (Schildkrout 2004:323). The Zhou and Ming Dynasties branded criminals as a form of punishment with â€Å"extensive, often full-body tattoos, with elaborate pictorial imagery as well as written inscriptions† (Schildkrout 2004:324) portraying their crime. This form of tattooing is definitely contrary to traditional methods. Similarly in Brazil, branding was used to mark convicts by the penal authorities. Penal tattoos derived their power from subjugation of the marked convicts. The humiliation of being visibly branded was a significant component of the convict’s punishment. In an act of resistance, those that had been branded â€Å"were known to reclaim their bodies by writing over the inscriptions or by displaying them in new social situations† (Schildkrout 2004:324). The branded, therefore, became the empowered, restoring the function of the tattoo to being personally-motivated. This personal motivation is perhaps most notable in Western cultures, specifically North America. In America, the Native Americans used body painting in many ways, usually connected with ethnic identity, social roles or marital status (Rubin 1988:179). The Natives also used the body as a canvas in ritualistic ceremonies, on warriors going into battle and for the beautification of their women. When the Europeans discovered America, they brought with them slaves from Africa and they introduced branding of the slaves into the American culture. After the civil war, when the slaves had been freed, branding was still embedded in American culture through groups of people including gang members and convicts. Though â€Å"branding is often associated with involuntary marking and the denial of personhood†, it has also â€Å"been adopted in contemporary Western body culture as an assertion of group identity, for example in college fraternities† (Schildkrout 2004:323). Tattoos were also prevalent in other parts of America, including Alaska. Among the Eskimos â€Å"[t]he function of these art forms [was] – essentially manifesting one’s place or role within the hierarchy of hunting life† (Gritton 1988:190). With the introduction and adaptation of the western civilization in Alaskan culture, â€Å"the marks of a hunter or hunter’s wife served no purpose in their new lives and were understandably abandoned† (Gritton 1988:190). The function of body art and tattooing has been Americanized, evolving from its native origins to incorporate self expression. This self expression has mushroomed from a manor of identifying oneself to a way of gaining attention through shock value. Though ever-changing, all forms of body art mentioned play enormous roles in the lives of people. Certain non-Western cultures are based around the ability to use skin as a visible way of defining status or bettering their self-image, in order to attract companions. So the artists who are allowed to perform the act of adorning bodies with different designs are regarded as having a very important place in the society. They are â€Å"scarring specialist† (Faris 1988:35), â€Å"body artists† (Drewal 1988:84), but most importantly, they are known as â€Å"[the] one-who-creates- art† (Drewal 1988:84). In the non-Native American culture, however, the general attitude towards tattoo artist in present-day American culture is less than appreciative. Extreme critics even characterize tattooist as opportunist, exclusively seeking monetary gain (Sanders 1988:229). â€Å"The tattooist interest in artistry and control is often in conflict with his profit orientation†, revealing the major flaw within the American society (Sanders 1988:229). This is the major difference in western and non-western cultures. Body tattoos in western society are an object to be purchased. Americans obtain tattoos in the same manner that they acquire a new Louis Vuitton handbag. They purchase them as accessories, which is in stark contrast to the non-western cultures, who acquire tattoos as an essential ritual in their society. With this is mind, the process in which American’s purchases body art seems slightly ridiculous. Tattoo artists often complain of the unwillingness of customers to spend the quoted amount of money for â€Å"a tattoo [they] are going to wear for the rest of [their] life† (Sanders 1988:229). It is more acceptable in American culture to invest in short term materialistic purchases, therefore the legitimate tattoo artists are constantly being monitored and regimented under strict laws imposed by the government. Despite the absurdity of the purchasing process, the reasoning that propels the American society to obtain tattoos is just as flawed. Some reasons people give to explain permanently marking their skin include, â€Å"they were drunk, it’s a macho thing, to fit in with a crowd or even worse, for no reason at all† (DeMello 1995:42). Western society seems to have a complete disregard for the spiritual origins of body art. Tattoo artist are even witness to clients’ apathy, avoiding â€Å"working on people who are obviously under the influence of alcohol† (Sanders 1988:225). Where once there was a ceremonious celebration deeply rooted in spiritualism, in American society the only ritualistic ceremony is the receiving of a piece of paper on how to care for the recently acquired body art. This apathetic attitude of Americans is perhaps derived from the renouncing majority of the population. This bias stems from â€Å"very early ‘regulations’ [including] Moses’ remarks in Leviticus 19:28 forbidding any cuttings in the flesh or the printing of any marks† (Armstrong 2005:39). Since tattoos â€Å"were not sanctioned by the church† the profile for the tattooed archetype became unconventional (Schildkrout 2004:325). Christian belief has been adapted to the masses, forcing those who are tattooed into rebellion. The majority of people adopting body art include â€Å"bikers, convicts, and other ‘low lives’† (DeMello 1995:40). In Western society â€Å"the idea that the unmarked body as a sign of God’s work was linked to the Protestant reformation† and â€Å"the idea that body markings were a sign of savagery goes back even earlier† ( Schildkrout 2004:324). This is ironic considering tattoos in earlier cultures signified positions of high status. Perhaps the only entity that ties these drastic cultures together is the desire to increase their inherited beauty. â€Å"If the body is – metaphorically – a site of inscription to various degrees for various theorist, then cosmetic surgery can be seen, at one level, as an example of the literal and explicit enactment of this process of inscription† ( Schildkrout 2004:320), which is also seen in the aforementioned tribes with the rituals of scarification. DeMello also agrees that along with tattooing and piericing, that cosmetic surgery is seen as a form of â€Å"body modification† (DeMello 1995:37). â€Å"Not only does the tattooed skin negotiate between the individual and society and between different social groups, but also mediates relations between persons and spirits, the human and the divine† (Schildkrout 2004:321). Body art is a tradition that extends throughout the barriers of the world and although the forms in which they are found may be different, the idea of using your body as a canvas is universal. Although recently, several anthropologists agreed and have begun to examine body art more closely, looking at it â€Å"as a microcosm of society† (Schildkrout 2004:328), Roberts still believes that â€Å"there can be no ultimate explanation of symbolism† (Roberts 1988:51). He claims that â€Å"the blazes on trees in the Ndembu forest will remain many years after their purpose and meaning are forgotten. So it is with other inscriptions† (Roberts 1988:51). This is exemplified in the woman who endured the agonizing pain of her scarification to instigate a new chapter in her life. Nevertheless, soon after her body is placed into the ground, her skin will no longer be a visible indication of who she once was. She will become a memory and her body will no longer be used as a canvas.