Stefan’s Diaries: Origins Chapter 24

September 25, 1864 They say love can conquer all. But can it conquer Father's belief that Katherine and those like her are demons–devils? I do not exaggerate when I say Katherine is an angel. She saved my life–and Anna's. Father must know the truth. Once he does, he will be unable to deny Katherine's goodness. It is my duty as a Salvatore to stay true to my convictions and to the ones I love. Now is the time for action, not doubt. Confidence courses through my veins. I will make Father understand the truth–that we are all the same. And with that truth will come love. Father will call off the siege. This I swear on my name and my life. For the rest of the day, I sat at my desk in my bedroom, glancing at an empty notebook as I contemplated what to do. If Father knew Katherine was a vampire, he'd call off the hunt. He had to. I'd seen him laugh with Katherine, attempt to impress her with stories of his boyish antics back in Italy, and treat her as he'd have treated a daughter. Katherine gave my father a vigor I'd never seen in him. She gave my father life. But how could I persuade him of this, when he so deeply despised demons? Then again, Father was rational. Logical. Maybe he could learn what Katherine had already taught me: that vampires weren't all evil. They walked among us, they cried human tears; all they wanted was a true home –and to be loved. Finally, I steeled my courage and stood up, closing the notebook with an abrupt clap. This wasn't a schoolboy's assignment, and I didn't need notes to speak from my heart. I was ready to speak to Father man to man. After all, I was nearly eighteen, and he was planning to leave me Veritas. I took a deep breath and walked down the winding staircase, through the quiet living room, and knocked sharply on the door to Father's study. â€Å"Come in!† Father's muffled voice called. Before I had even put my hand on the knob, Father swung the door open himself. He wore a tailored jacket, with a sprig of vervain in the lapel, but I noticed that instead of being clean shaven, he sported salt-and-pepper stubble and his eyes were bloodshot and hooded. â€Å"I didn't see you last night at the ball,† Father said as he ushered me into his study. â€Å"I hope you weren't part of that noisy, careless mob.† â€Å"No.† I shook my head vigorously, feeling a flicker of hope. Did this mean Father was no longer planning an attack? â€Å"Good.† Father sat at his oak desk and slammed his leather-bound book shut. Beneath it, I could see complicated drawings and diagrams of the town, with X's over certain buildings, including the apothecary. And just like that, the flicker of hope was extinguished, and cold, hard fear took up residence in its place. Father followed my gaze. â€Å"As you can see, our plans are much more thought-out than that foolish brigade of drunks and boys. Luckily Sheriff Forbes and his team put a stop to them, and none of them will be welcome at our own siege.† Father sighed and steepled his fingers together. â€Å"We're living in dangerous and uncertain times, and your actions need to reflect that.† His dark eyes softened for a second. â€Å"I just want to make sure your decisions, at least, are prudent.† He didn't add â€Å"unlike Damon's,† but he didn't have to. I knew that was what he was thinking. â€Å"So the siege †¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Will happen next week as planned.† â€Å"What about the compass?† I asked, remembering the conversation with Katherine. Father smiled. â€Å"It works. Jonathan's been tinkering with it.† â€Å"Oh.† A wave of horror rushed through me. If it worked, then that meant there was no doubt Father would find Katherine. â€Å"How do you know that it works?† Father smiled and rolled up his papers. â€Å"Because it does,† he said simply. â€Å"Can I talk to you about something?† I asked, hoping my voice betrayed none of my nerves. An image of Katherine's face flashed in my head, giving me the strength to lock eyes with Father. â€Å"Of course. Sit down, Stefan,† Father commanded. I perched in the leather wingback chair near the bookshelves. He stood up and walked over to the decanter of brandy on the corner table. He poured a glass for himself, then one for me. I took the tumbler and held it to my lips, taking a tiny, almost imperceptible sip of the liquid. Then I steeled my courage and stared straight at him. â€Å"I have concerns about your plan for the vampires.† â€Å"Oh? And why is that?† Father leaned back against his chair. I nervously took a large gulp of brandy. â€Å"We're making the assumption that they're as evil as they've been characterized. But what if that's not true?† I asked, willing myself to meet Father's gaze. Father snorted. â€Å"Have you any evidence to the contrary?† I shook my head. â€Å"Of course not. But why take what people say at face value? Y taught us ou differently.† Father sighed and walked to his decanter, pouring more brandy. â€Å"Why? Because these creatures are from the darkest parts of hell. They know how to control your mind, seduce your spirit. They are deadly, and they need to be destroyed.† I glanced down at the amber liquid in my glass. It was as dark and murky as my thoughts. Father tipped his glass to me. â€Å"I shouldn't have to tell you, son, that those who stand with them, those who bring shame to their families, will be destroyed as well.† A chill went up my spine, but I held his gaze. â€Å"Anyone who stands with evil should be destroyed. But I hardly think it's prudent to assume that all vampires are evil just because they happen to be vampires. Y always taught us to see the good in ou people, to think for ourselves. The last thing this town needs, when there have already been so many deaths from the war, is more senseless killing,† I said, remembering Pearl and Anna's terrified expressions in the woods. â€Å"The Founders need to rethink the plan. I'll come to the next meeting with you. I know I haven't been as involved as I could have been, but I'm ready to take on my responsibilities.† Father sank back into his chair, leaning his head against the wooden back. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples. For several long moments he remained in that posture. I waited, every muscle in my body coiled to receive the angry flurry of words that was sure to fly from his mouth. I stared dejectedly into my glass. I had failed. I had failed Katherine, Pearl, and Anna. I had failed at securing my own happy future. Finally, Father's eyes snapped open. To my surprise, he nodded. â€Å"I suppose I could give the matter some thought.† Cool relief flooded my body, as if I'd just jumped into the pond on a scorching summer day. He would give the matter some thought! To some, that might not seem to be much, but from my stubborn father, it meant everything. It meant there was a chance. A chance to stop sneaking around in the dark. A chance for Katherine to remain safe. For us to be together, forever. Father lifted his glass to me. â€Å"To family.† â€Å"To family,† I echoed. Then Father drained the rest of his glass, which compelled me to do the same.

Are Teachers Born or Made? Essay

MARKET MODEL is the classification of market meaning, it has more buyers and sellers . Charles Darwin an English nationalist, once said that in the struggle for survival, the fittest win out, on the expense of their rivals because they have succeeded in adapting themselves best to their environment. This means competition is much more intense in the business, market place where different people compete with each other in order to emerge on the top and make more profits. This essay will discuss monopolistic competition which is the market structure in which there is a relatively large number of producers offering the similar but differentiated products. (Roger Leroy Miller 2000) in businesses competition is important where different people like in the question, (Chinese and Indians ) compete with each other in order to emerge on the top and make more profits. this essay will discuss monopolistic and its associated benefits . Firstly each of the entry and exodus (Roger Leroy miller) fo r any †¦..element monopolistic competitor , potential competition is always in the background, since sellers in monopolistic competition worry of losing business. This type of market helps firms to enter and exit a particular firm without facing problems. The entry and exit of a firms helps to sustain completion since the entry firms can come with new ideologies that can sustain business of the country. Entry increases the number of products from which customers can choose hence reducing the demand faced by each †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Already in the market (N. Gregory , Malawi 2001) consequently when firms are making loss, firms in the market has †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. To exit . as firms exit customers have fewer products from which to chose. Secondly, product differentiation: each firm produces a product that is at least slightly different from the other firms, i.e. rather than a price taker, each faces a downward sloping demand curve. (N. Gregory, Malawi 2001) Monopolistically competitive firms turn out variations of a particular product, i.e. they produce product with slightly different physical characteristics (McConnell Bruce 2008) for example Chinese goods are slightly different from Indians, goods like luxury goods are clothes and shoes . Firstly number of firms, each firm has small percentage of the local market and limited †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Over market t price. The presence large number of firms ensures that collusion by group of forms to restrict output and set prices is unlikely (McConnell Bruce 2008) independent action with numerous firms in an industry. Create no feeling of independence among them. Each firm can determine its own pricing policy without considering the possible reaction of rival firms. With so many sellers, each seller has a relatively small share of the total market (McConnell Bruce 2008) this makes the circulation of money very easily as no one will regard other person having more money than him. Example can be of chinese and Indians. However monopolistic competition has many benefits that can contribute to the development of the country. The following are some of the benefits . To begin with, it fosters innovation. Competition in business facilitates sellers to sell new things that change the lives of people. For instance, they sell goods like torches, radios that can soften the lives of people at the same time lead to the development of the country. Further more, availability of resources. Whenever there is competition the resource availability take place. The availability of goods and services creates economic growth that can lead to unlimited wants of consumers hence leads to the development of the country. I.e. if resource are available, it lead the country to develop, since the activities like infrastructures occur.

Comparison of Three Books about Vietnam War Essay

Comparison of Three Books about Vietnam War - Essay Example While different authors appreciate the occurrences during the war, they portray the war and the US interference in different ways. This paper will examine three such books, comparing the description of the Vietnam War in all the books. The Vietnam War was a memorable event in the history of the US. A People's History of the United States In the book, A People’s History of the United States, Zinn presents the history of the Vietnam War in a simplistic manner that common people can appreciate. Zinn provides this history through the eyes of the common folk instead of the economic and political elite. For instance, he focuses on the US citizens’ resistance to the Vietnam War, as well as the people of North Vietnam who though deemed insignificant, were able to defeat the US-backed South. Zinn terms the US involvement in the Vietnam War as a mission in futility. He exemplifies that regardless of its military and technology superiority, the US was unable to defeat Northern Vie tnamese whose main weapon was human strength and tactical thinking capacity. According to Zinn, US victory in Vietnam was impossible because North Vietnamese dejected colonial imperialism after Japan’s failed attempt to capture Indochina. He argues that the US was fighting a war it could not win. This is because the people of Vietnam favored the government led by Ho Chi Minh and were against Ngo Dinh Diem’s regime. This allowed the people of Vietnam to maintain high morale throughout the war. On the other hand, morale among US military fighters in Vietnam was quite low because most of the American soldiers revolted against the atrocities they inflicted, like the My Lai massacre. Zinn describes the Vietnam War as a war between â€Å"the wealthiest and most powerful nation in global history† and â€Å"a nationalist, revolutionary movement in a peasant nation†. This description paints the picture of a fight akin to a cat and mouse fight where the insignifica nt revolutionary people fought against a mighty nation such as the US. Normally, one would expect that the stronger party in the fight wins, but in the Vietnam War, Zinn asserts that it is the small, insignificant humans who won against the technology of the US. In addition, Zinn speaks of the impact the US citizens had on the culmination of the Vietnam War. Zinn talks of the impact of the US movement against the Vietnam War as having, â€Å"played a critical part in bringing the war to an end†. Nonetheless, Zinn attempts to dispel the common belief that US opposition to the Vietnam War was amongst college students and intellectuals from the middle class. He uses statistics from the war period to show evidence that considerable opposition also came from the US working class. For instance, poet Robert Lowell refused to attend a luncheon at the White House, while singer Eartha Kitt spoke out against the war in the presence of the first lady. Zinn maintains the stance that it is the common people that brought change in Vietnam. The assertion â€Å"the revolutionists fought against the Japanese† and defeated the superior nation speaks of the impact of Vietnamese on the going on within their country. Zinn’s description of the war also holds that the troops also opposed the war, citing refusals and desertions to progress to war, as well as movements like Vietnam Veterans Against the War, which subsequently covered US invasions

Breach of Confidentiality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Breach of Confidentiality - Essay Example It is intended to make sure that a person in possession of confidential information only uses it for purposes for which it was transmitted to him in the first place. The law of confidence can - as opposed to copyright, which is only concerned with the protection of the form in which information, idea or thought is expressed - protect the content of the information, idea or thought. The main function of the law of confidentiality, or an action for breach of confidence, is the prevention of the illegitimate use of confidential information by a recipient of information. A good conceptual springboard to the understanding of the justification for the protection extended to those items which fall within the ambit of confidence, is the notion that something which people are prepared to pay for must be worth protecting and therefore ought to be protected. However, the courts will only enforce properly identified rights that fall within recognised categories known to law. Some of the items that are protected under the law of confidence are those which do not consist of any specific intellectual property rights under patent, design and copyright or even trade marks law. Traditionally, this has been classified into personal information, governmental secrets and trade secrets. (Catherine Colston and Kirsty Middleton Modern Intellectual Proprty Law 2nd Edition) Obviously, the information, in order to receive the protection of the law, must be confidential. To be such, it must not be something which is public property or knowledge. Therefore, information which is in the public domain cannot be confidential. However confidential the circumstances of communication, there can be no breach of confidence in revealing to others something which is already common knowledge. For example, an employer cannot restrain his ex-employee from revealing a secret process to his new employer if that secret process has already been patented by the employer prior to the revelation by the ex-employee, for it is by then already in the public domain (Mustad v Dosen [1963] RPC 41). All that is required, however, is relative, and not absolute (as in the case of a patent specification, where novelty is required) secrecy. The information must be information the release of which the owner believes would be injurious to him or of advantage to his rivals and others. The owner must believe the information is confidential or secret, i.e. not already in the public domain. The owner's believe must be reasonable. The information must be judged in the light of the usage and practices of the particular industry concerned. On the other hand, it is equally clear that the mere fact of the publication of information does not detract

What Is Modernism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

What Is Modernism - Essay Example The essay "What Is Modernism" analyzes modernism movement. Every change is guided by unique principals for this case modernism involved a break from indigenous traditions and continual progression. Modernists celebrated intelligence, radical thinking and creativity because these were the abilities of mankind furthermore, they did not fall captive of indigenous limits. Realism period involved art that painted the subject exactly as it was, for example, Edouard Manet painted a French courtesan ‘Olympia’ bold, brash and unashamed. This was the first time that artists broke from traditional standards. Impressionism followed where artists painted impressions of the actual subjects. What they portrayed is a distinction between what they see and that which the brain processes, bringing out the impact of scientific knowledge on art. From this period, the ‘isms’ poured forth, which involved post-impressionism, fauvism and cubism. Artists utilized every opportunity to break loose from commonly held teachings and techniques. Modernism had well renowned and prolific artists like Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, George Seurat and Marcel Duchamp just but to mention a few. Modernism encompassed nearly the whole of 20th century art; it is now easy to understand why modernism is a significant point of discussion by art critics and historians. Well, viewing modernism from a different angle, it’s not all about painting. There are other disciplines as Music, philosophy, literature and sculpture, the list is long.

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy - Research Paper Example Roskin (2012) asserts that the Kennedy’s doctrine was for responding flexibly to communist expansion, particularly to guerrilla warfare. Initially, the Kennedy counterinsurgency program succeeded in overturning the foreign policy establishment in a bout of seminars, uptight formulation of strange policy, counterinsurgency courses and bureaucratic upheavals. Nonetheless, this counterinsurgency orientation has not been executed at the detriment of its hitherto extremely prominent twin, which was the offensive unconventional warfare. Apparently, the Kennedy administration became practically instigated with the landing craft designated for Cuba, which started in April 1961 with efforts of meddling with existing governments there and in Congo; this was a lasting feature of those three brief years. However, it was a set of initiatives to develop an extensive counterinsurgency policy that controlled the years of Kennedy, with a doctrine, infrastructure, and a program of counterinsurg ency being developed nearly overnight. This counterinsurgency era regarding the military and the intelligence establishments started with Kennedy and thereafter faded away with the withdrawal of the United States from Vietnam. This program drew partly from the same resources built up for unconventional warfare, and offered a new and integrated tactic to a deserted Cold War’s theater (Ucko, 2009). Kennedy's involvement in confronting the guerrilla warfare has in most cases been seen as a reaction to the back-up of wars of liberation by Nikita Khrushchev. There are perceptions that the speech by Khrushchev in January 1961, following Kennedy's inauguration, is particularly significant in electrifying the new president to a program of action. Nonetheless, Khrushchev's rhetoric was possibly rather less significant compared to the troubles with communists present in Vietnam and Laos, ideological doubts concerning African decolonization, and the unfinished business within Cuba; however, efforts were in progress for slapping down the first unbeaten communist revolution within the America's backyard (Ucko, 2009). According to the accounts of meeting by National Security Council regarding Kennedy's initial months in office, much of his thinking, and that of his group, had previously been crystallized with the

Ivan Illyich's Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ivan Illyich's - Assignment Example Ivan’s unexpected death was certainly a terrible shock for Peter at the moment he first learnt about the same; as the painful moments his childhood friend spent at the verge of death portrayed a dark, drab and dismal picture of the ultimate ceasing of mortal life. Although he was well aware of the bitter reality that everyone had to give up the ghost sooner or later, yet no one actually appears to be ready to submit to the fact that his name is also included in the list of those leaving the world. An intense sway of unpleasant idea looked piercing into his mind, leaving him at the state of horror and anxiety. However, soon he realized that it was actually Ivan, and not he himself to become the prey of death. Consequently, man’s urge to live a long and an immortal life for the future decades to come could be explored in his sub-conscious that forbids him to admit the certainty about the end of life. It is therefore, Peter pretended to ignore the entire sourness of the me mories related to Ivan’s immediate demise within days (Tolstoy, 101-102). The author rightly elucidates an imperative divergence between â€Å"intellectual knowledge and emotional realization† of any social or natural phenomenon, which keeps humans at a safe distance from realizing the bitter facts courageously at heart. Consequently, man does not surrender before the powers that could turn all his strength and abilities into weaknesses and disabilities respectively. Although Peter scared death, and felt unpleasant exit of his friend from the world, yet he mistakenly viewed that death had also departed from there along with Ivan far away to some yonder lands. The contemporary era psychologist R. Kastenbaum has elaborated the facts behind anxiety, denial and acceptance of the death phenomenon in various volumes on human perils and fears about death. While explaining the reasons behind one’s anxieties about the inevitability of the end of life, Kastenbaum is of th e opinion that age, gender and life experiences certainly play dynamic role in respect of the intensity of the anxiety people maintain regarding death. The psychologist, based on his study on the same topic, refutes the false notion that the elderly fear death more than the young and middle aged individuals. On the contrary, the elderly start accepting the bitter reality that they are entering the period of life when death is at hand, and they could become prey to it at any moment. Since they already have consumed the most productive years of their life, and have made accomplishments in accordance with the education, skill, experience and proficiency etc they had obtained in their active years. Thus, they happily accept the death phenomenon as an inevitable part of life, and do not try to deny the same. On the other hand, since the young individuals have developed many dreams in life, they have serious reservations about the end of life without meeting the goals and hitting their ta rgets in an apposite manner. It is therefore, Kastenbaum (2010) regards early 20s as the period of lif

Medtronics Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Medtronics Case Study - Essay Example If skim through the problems, it can be said that what they needed the most was to prioritize their innovation projects. However, initially coordination among the departments is required. A firm is defined from a market because coordination, learning and communication is not doe physically but on a mental level too (Kogut, Bruce, and Udo, 1996). The functional manager, in the first place, should not have zeroed their attention on only their job description but, flow of ideas and communication was to be regulated. Their second and most crucial complication was product development. (Leonard-Barton, 1992) talks about the core capabilities of a firm, which helps it to focus on the interaction with new product and process development projects. Thus, Medtronic should indulge technical systems, skills, managerial system and core rigidities to push out the innovation into the market. As knowledge is shared imperfectly across organization, employee, departments and market, ideas from one to another can solve innovation and development problem, but only if connection is prompt and timed (Hargadon, Andrew, and Sutton, 1997). Furthermore, as progress is made in product, it should be counterchecked at all crucial levels through speed, cost, innovativeness and quality. With the aid of these measures, company can make sure that the resources are available on time, every project is given attention one at a time, slow movers and lazy workers would not be tolerated and quality is above the consumer’s expectation. Furthermore, steps such as New Product Development (NPD) practices should be rigorously followed and Research and Development (R&D) departments needed to be given more recognition and awareness to innovate products (Wind, Jerry, and Vijay, 1997). Moving toward their last complication, the defaulted pace maker hinted that quality control and is direly needed in

Unpaid Internship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 7

Unpaid Internship - Essay Example In my opinion, the unpaid internship program is perfectly legal. Some institutions offer either a paid or unpaid internship program. For the unpaid internship program, a partnership is entered into between the schools and the training institutions. The institutions include the hospitals, factories, stores, and other unpaid internship entity types. Under both the unpaid and paid internship programs, the students are given an opportunity to experience real-life working conditions. In the internship program, fair exchange occurs. In exchange for the real-life working experiences, the unpaid intern earns educational units (Niles 108). The educational unit credits are in lieu of the interns’ being paid in U.S. dollar or other similar payment methods. For receiving free real work experiences, the greenhorn, neophyte academic learner cannot demand payment of their internship duties (Wong 57). Undoubtedly, the unpaid intern receives equivalent education units in exchange for the entit ies’ free training. Nancy Niles reiterated that â€Å"the unpaid internship program offers management another tool for fill the company’s need additional company recruits (Niles 107). Some entities engage in trial employment (internship) activities. The company tests the intern’s capacity to be hired as another future employee. For the slow-learning lackluster unpaid intern, management may immediately to terminate the internship. An intern who cannot follow the instructions or orders of the clinical instructors or training facilities’ superiors will surely be â€Å"kicked out† of the training sessions (Niles 108). Without a doubt, the unpaid internship program offers the facilities’ officers another tool in its desire to absorb highly qualified interns into the company’s regular employee program. The unpaid internship program increases the students’ job hiring prospects. To be effective, the students must focus quality time and energy to learning everything needed to be successful in the real world, including being hired in one’s dream job.

Designing a system for an IT user Essay Example for Free

Designing a system for an IT user Essay John would need at least a 4GB RAM as that will provide john with a lot of temporary memory to make his computer faster. Task 2- Storage Devices Item Description Why Required? Hard Disk It stores data, all data is stored on the hard disc. The hard disk is the main storage device on a computer it is needed for storing everything from pictures to software. The data is stored in this magnetic material. Thus, the hard disk is known as a magnetic storage device. He needs to save all his music, movies, work and other files. Everything he does needs to be saved on the hard disk so he needs. He needs a hard disk that comes with his computer to have a lot of memory preferably more than 500GB, so it is unlikely for him to need more memory. Flash Memory A flash memory, also known as a USB, stores memory which can be transferred from one computer to another computer. They are usually lightweight and easy to use. He needs a USB to transfer his work from his computer to another computer so he can also edit his work when he is studying on another computer. John can save a lot of work on a Flash Memory because they can be up to 64GB. CDs and DVDs CDs and DVDs are used to store audio or video files which can be played in a compatible CD or DVD player. A single sided DVD can store about 4. 7Gb of data. DVDs which store data on both sides can hold over 9Gb of data. He could use DVDs or CDs to store his music or the homemade movies that he makes. They are small, portable and are very easy to use but Johns computer will need a disk reader which usually comes with the computer. Task 3- Software Requirements Item Description Why required? Windows 7 It is the latest edition of windows operating systems. It has more features than windows vista such as improved booting times. It also has pre-installed programs such as windows movie maker, windows photo gallery and other programs. Windows 7 is quick and easy to use. He can also save files that can be compatible with other operating systems. I think that this will be the most useful operating system because most programs are compatible with windows and this is the latest edition of windows. Other operating systems like Apple (Mac) are much more expensive and not all programs are compatible with an Apple Mac and a Linux. Microsoft Office Professional 2007 It is cheap (i80 minimum price), Microsoft office 2010 is not a lot different but is i 430. Although this isnt the latest edition of Microsoft office, it isnt much different from the new 2010 edition and the 2007 edition is much cheaper. Microsoft office professional is one of the easiest software applications that can be used and it is very powerful which enables John to do many tasks at one using many different features such as word art. Although Microsoft office doesnt have as much creativity skills as other software, such as Adobe Photoshop, it still has many other features such as creating publications and presentations. Word : Excel : PowerPoint : Outlook : Publisher: Microsoft Word is easy to use and can also be saved in different formats. The 2007 version of word is compatible with word 2003, which he uses at college. Word also gives options of different layouts and different templates. It features calculation, graphing tools and many features what can be used in a spreadsheet. Excel is extremely useful as it can do anything a calculator can do and plot it into graphs and tables. Excel isnt all calculations; it also has some design features, for example colourful tables, graphs, text and table templates. PowerPoint can be used to make slideshow presentations which are easy to use. PowerPoint has custom animations which can be used on text, picture and slides. PowerPoint also gives templates which can make the presentation look of high standard as the templates have a colour scheme which makes a presentation look professional. Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. This is a publishing program which is easy to use, has many templates and produces good quality documents. Publisher is very powerful and easy to use. It lays out work for anyone who wants to produce work. To use publisher a custom layout doesnt have to be designed which makes work much quicker. Other publication software is not as fast as publisher. He needs word to help him with his A-levels and he uses Microsoft office at college so he is used to it. He can also use word to create flyers and other documents for his participation at the local conservative. Word can be used to create documents, letters, flyers and general editing. Word has many simple features which will make Johns work look good. He will use excel to make spreadsheets as he could be using this for his ICT A-level. Word is a very cleaver, powerful application as it can solve equations deal with difficult numbers and plot them into graphs. He can also use excel to plot tables for general use, for example how many leaflets he has printed for his local conservative party and how much were the printing costs. He could use PowerPoint to help him with his ICT A-level and because John is used to using Words at his college. He can also use PowerPoint to make presentations in his other a-levels, for general use and to give presentations about the local conservative party. He needs outlook to view his emails and easily manage everything. John can send and receive emails quickly using outlook. He can also use outlook to attach files, e. g. take work from college and back it up on home computer by sending files through an email. He needs publisher to produce flyers, leaflets and other documents he has Microsoft office 2003 so it is compatible with Microsoft 2007. He can also use publisher to produce letters that he can send and use generally. Publisher has many templates for example letters, flyers and business cards and they come in different sizes (A4, A5 and more). Access : Microsoft access is a program which allows you to make tables and search information in a database. If formulas are not needed it is better to use access than excel because it is easy to navigate to an area of data out of a database. He is likely to use this in his ICT A-level so when he does his work at college, he can finish it off at home. John can also use access to create tables about the amount of leaflets he has made. He can also use a database to record everything that goes on during the conservative party meetings. Adobe Photoshop Elements Adobe Photoshop is editing software used to edit pictures. It is also cheap. Adobe Photoshop elements might not be able to produce finalized documents like word or publisher but it can create stunning design picture, text and other shapes. He could use adobe Photoshop to edit his picture or graphics in Art/Design level. He also likes photography and he will be able to edit his pictures. To produce quality leaflets for his local conservative party John can create shapes and a design scheme in adobe Photoshop and bring it into word so he can add text and finalize his document. Adobe Premiere Elements Adobe Premiere Elements is a video editing software application for nonlinear video editing, published by Adobe Systems. It is a scaled-down version of the professional-level Adobe Premiere Pro. Adobe premiere elements have features which can edit each individual time frame. John likes making and editing home made movies and adobe premiere is a professional movie making software. An alternative video editing software is windows movie maker which comes free with windows 7, but windows movie maker doesnt have as much editing features because it is free and John will usually get more for something he pays for. Task 3 -Software Requirements Item Description Why Required? Reason Reason is a music making program which allows you do add and edit different sounds. Reason is a professional music making software which allows someone to edit music or sounds, just like professionals e. g. DJs. In Johns free time he likes making his own music so reason would be a good program for him to use. John can create a remix of other people music tracks or he can create his own music. He can also go back and edit every time frame of his music track. Microsoft German Language Pack Microsoft German language pack converts any language to German. It can even convert an internet page to German language. He studies German for his A-levels. John can use the German language pack to help him convert English to German if he needs help with his work. /he can also use the German language pack to convert all of his settings to German language so he can get used to reading German. Windows Live Messenger. Msn messenger is a free messenger which is easy to use and is used by many people. John can also use windows live messenger on his mobile so he can talk to a contact even when he isnt at his compute. It is very easy to use and he can add any contacts and make video/voice/text chats to them. John needs to talk to his friends and family. He also likes to make video calls. Windows live messenger is free and can be used just to write messages to a friend or family and John can also send happy or sad emotions to a contact he can also attach and send files to somebody in his contact list.

Newspaper Coverage Of Celebrity Crimes Media Essay

Newspaper Coverage Of Celebrity Crimes Media Essay Media has a significant influence on people and so do the celebrities. These effects can be both positive and negative. The kind of coverage of celebrities and celebrity crimes by newspapers and magazines can influence the opinion of the public on the celebrity criminals. This kind of influence can be greatly attributed to the process by which the news about celebrity criminals is evaluated and presented for the readers to analyse. This paper is going to look at the effects of the print-media coverage of celebrity criminals which could be biased or unbiased and its influence on the public accordingly, thus questioning media credibility. Introduction My interest in traditional form of media i.e., the newspapers has always been deeper than the other forms of media. Also, I believe that news in the newspapers is better evaluated and helps to form a strong opinion about issues and events that occur globally. This interest in understanding the impact of newspapers on public opinion developed even further when I read about coverage of celebrity crimes. The manner in which news is presented in the newspapers whether it is about national or international celebrity crimes is something that caught my interest. In addition to this, my interaction with people of different ages and status regarding celebrity criminals considerably inspired me to choose this topic for my research. Prosperity of both science and culture has made people familiar with supply of information in abundance. Modern media, such as the internet, mobile phones, television and the traditional media such as newspapers and magazines make news and variety of information easily accessible to us. However, the most common form of news is that about the celebrities and public figures. It has become very evident in the recent times that media pays too much attention to the personal lives of the celebrities (popular figures). Addition to this, the important factor is that most of the reports on lives of famous people are always focused on brilliant achievements, lavish lifestyles and exaggerated enjoyments which overstate the attractive part and understate the painstaking part. Therefore, the masses especially young people are often biased and tend to perceive celebrities as their idols. They happen to adore their idols with such passion and zeal that the amount of negative news and information about celebrities can even change their perception towards life. The extent and quality of celebrity news in the media appears especially inordinate today, multiplying and intensifying at such a rate that legitimate news has fallen in precedence (Brown, 31). Whether it likes it or not, the public knows more about Britney Spears and how many pills she swallowed than about many political issues (Wright, 1). It is a known fact that in India we treat celebrities no less than god. And the Indian media being very well aware of this fact ensures that celebs and celebrity crimes get a lot of coverage so as to garner attention of the masses. In this process of covering celebrity related news, media tends to sensationalize the stories, often focusing on irrelevant details about celebrities instead of the main crime that has taken place. This research informs about the news coverage of celebrity crimes, the faith of public on media (print media) and the manner in which the presentation of such news coverage influences their opinion. In this vein, analyzing the content presented by newspapers, as well as celebrity-news magazines, offered the clearest method by which to examine how news on celebrity crimes is covered and publicized. Researching articles on the major, relevant topics of media ethics, the role of celebrity news in Indian society and credibility of media was instrumental in gaining a better understanding of the subject matter. More emphasis was placed on researching relevant topics, as it is difficult if not impossible to determine the exact effects of media coverage of celebrity criminals through a study or direct observation. One can constantly see and read about celebrity crimes, however the influence of such news on public opinion is what really matters. Through analysing media coverage of celebrity criminals, especially the print media with the help of several  examples  of celebrity crimes will enhance the objective of this research paper. The purpose of this  research proposal  is to s ee if media coverage of celebrity-crimes is biased and how this changes peoples opinion and perception on celebrities, thus questioning medias credibility. Articles and news reports covered by various newspapers (both English and regional), on the crimes committed by celebrities like Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Shiney Ahuja, Saif Ali khan and many more were looked upon in this research paper. Also a survey was conducted to understand the effects of newspaper coverage of celebrity crimes and how it influences opinions of the public. The survey acts as a supplement to the newspaper articles that were analyzed to gain a better understanding of the objective of this research paper. The literature review provides Literature Review To understand the influence on the people of the portrayal of celebrity-criminals by media, it is important to understand the terms celebrity, crime, media bias and public opinion. These terms may not be connected with each other directly; however the understanding of these together would contribute in assessing the study of this paper. Celebrity The word celebrity is derived from the word celebrate, in that a person is supposedly famous because the community celebrates him or her (Rockwell, 20). The term celebrity indicates someone whose fame rests overwhelmingly on what happens outside the sphere of their work and who is famous for having lifestyle. The celebrity is thus constructed through gossip, press and television reports, magazine articles and public relations (Redmond Holmes, 99). Public Opinion Commonly the concept of public opinion is taken literally to mean the opinion of the public. While this is not incorrect, it constitutes a rather naÃÆ' ¯ve understanding of the concept. A more sophisticated conception must acknowledge the element of publicity in public opinion: public opinion as distinguished from private opinion. Indeed public opinion is a shared aggregate phenomenon. It is a collective social entity, and publicity is necessary for its formation. It is the knowledge of the very existence of others who share values, beliefs and concerns that forges a host of discrete opinions into a viable social entity (Shamir, 1). Based on these factors there have been researches that explain how biased media-coverage plays a crucial role in forming biased public-opinion. Media has a fixed agenda of providing certain news in a certain manner so that it is perceived in the manner that print media wants it to be perceived as by the people. Through their day-by-day selection and display of the news, editors and news directors focus our attention and influence our perceptions of what are the most important issues of the day. This ability to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda has come to be called the agenda setting role of the news media (McCombs, 1). This theory of agenda setting is applied by the media and describes a very powerful influence of media its ability to tell people what issues are important. It explains the correlation between media and people the rate at which media covers a story and the extent that people think this story is important. Studies into the agenda-setting function of the press confirm that media have a great deal of influence upon political decision making and that they are especially influential in telling the general population what to think about (Kuypers, 5).   The media tends to be biased whenever it provides flawed or irrelevant facts to support a certain viewpoint. It is also biased when it frames certain issues in a particular manner. Such framing is done so that the issue is perceived in a particular way. According to many scholars our perception of a certain issue is more or less dependent on the way the issue is framed (Kuypers, 7). There are millions of events that occur globally in todays world. And to examine these events and report about them there are thousands of people around the world who are employed by media organizations. The media decides and tells us which issues are important and which ones or not. We have never physically witnessed the war situations of Afghanistan, Iraq or even Kashmir. Despite this we have the pictures of these events in our heads. The media reports inform about the latest events and issues that are taking place in the world and are inaccessible to us. Thus, most of our perceptions about the world are based on the second-hand reality created by the media organizations. There is no guarantee that this reality is an accurate picture of the world (Saqib Riaz, 1). This explains how gate-keeping is done by the media, wherein it chooses the newsworthiness of certain news and evaluates it based on a variety of reasons and preferences. The aspects of a certain event that are covered in the news and the kind of importance that is given to these aspects leads to significant differences in peoples perception of that event. The portrayal of news stories results in the peoples understanding of the journalists consideration of important issues and who the most prominent public figures of the day are. Thus from the details of the coverage of news stories and their evaluation by the media helps the public form their perception of these news stories and the public figures (McCombs, 7-8). Thus from the above literature it is evident that public opinion is formed on the basis of the kind of information that media prioritizes and later provides to the public. The media does set the agenda of what is discussed around the world on a daily basis. It chooses stories that are reviewed by the public regularly. Not many people seem to be aware that the stories they read are picked by the media organizations before getting printed. The impact of someone selecting the news stories for the masses to read can be positive as well as negative. Therefore, even when crimes committed by celebrities are covered by the media, it tries to change peoples opinion depending upon a positive or a negative coverage of that particular news. Media can manipulate news using a variety of strategies that can alter peoples perception. It can navigate their audience through what it feels is potent and viable concerning topics specifically related to celebrity crimes. The aspects that contribute in the assessment of opinions of the public are the audiences of the media, their lifestyle, interests and their level of sophistication. Nevertheless, there are many other dependent variables that create a different representation of truth. And through this, media has the power to influence peoples point of view. 2.1 Media and Celebrities Usually news about celebrities is considered to be soft news (entertainment) unless a crime has been committed by a celebrity. Media today places a lot of importance to celebrity news. Reports of soft news outweigh the amount of hard news that gets reported in todays mass media including the traditional media i.e., the newspapers and magazines. According to Bennett (2007), some of factors affecting the increase of soft news include the economics of the news business, journalists dependence on sources who control information, routine news-gathering practices, professional norms and a need to fill the news hole that has been created by 24/7 news coverage. Celebrity focused, soft news tends to be quick and easy to report about. Additionally, such stories have proven to be popular among audiences and are easy to dramatize. Celebrity stories may also serve the uses and gratifications of many audience members. Bennett (2007) suggests that in addition to learning, many viewers use news to satisfy their needs for curiosity and surveillance, entertainment and escape, and social and psychological adjustment. With the advent of the Web and the Internet, increasing numbers of citizens turn to alternative information channels that deliver politically packaged information in a format better integrated with personal interests and various citizen-action options (Bennett, 2007). This statement is valid not only for politics but all kinds of news information. There are websites, magazines, newspapers, television stations, etc. to suit every different need and people have the choice to visit only the ones that interest them. Therefore, the shift seen in news coverage from informative to entertaining cannot be blamed solely on the media. Celebrities become products and are endowed with expertise outside of their celebrated areas (West Orman, 2003: 118). The celebrity culture today expects that stars be spokespersons for all kinds of issues, as well as bear the responsibility for issues that are problematic. This power is not derived from within these stars, but rather from the audiences interest in them. Celebrities are expected by many to be shining examples of model citizens, yet their good deeds like activism are overlooked in favour of scandalous, dramatic, negative reports about them (Amanda Jones, 2009: 8). This sheds light on how media portrays celebrities. There are times when media will provide sensationalized news about celebrities to garner attention and increase readership. Journalist Caspar Llewellyn-Smith makes this point when he states that the guiding principle of celebrity gossip magazines is to show famous figures off-guard, unkempt, unready and unsanitized (Llewellyn-Smith, 2002: 120, cited in Holmes, 2005: 23) (Holmes Redmond, 2006: 184). According to McCrackens findings, the mass media are, in effect, making a concerted effort to provide unflattering coverage of celebrity personalities. It is these kinds of news stories that are increasingly present in our every day mass media outlets. Such stories provide the drama and sensationalism that media consumers are looking for (2009: 311). The above literature explains that media often portrays the celebrities negatively by presenting sensational news about them. The news coverage on celebrities and celebrity crimes done by the media is negative often to create drama and stir the publics interest. 2.2 Media Coverage of Celebrity Crimes The role of the press is to educate and create awareness amongst the masses, however in the recent times it seems to have switched this role with that of entertainment. Instead of focusing on the details of the crimes committed by the celebrities, media tends to divert the attention to the celebrities lives and sensationalizes the news about them. In covering the most titillating or personal aspects of a story, present-day coverage often trivializes more important structural and procedural issues. During the 2005 Michael Jackson molestation trial, the Los Angeles Times, which ran approximately 317 stories on the case, printed only two pieces focusing on the crucial new California statute that allowed prosecutor Tom Sneddon to introduce evidence of past allegations against Jackson. Much of the Times coverage offered almost daily trial updates, which consisted primarily of subjective descriptions of the personal behavior and appearance of the various witnesses and courtroom actors in t he case (Fox et al., 2007: 6).

Certified to Live :: Graduate Admissions Essays

Certified to Live    The day had finally come, and now it was over. I had worked diligently for four years, and what did I have to show for it? One measly little degree. All that work just for a piece of paper.    That night, after the graduation ceremony, I tossed and turned thinking about the past four years and what this degree meant. According to the University of Southern Mississippi Honors College, I was now certified to be a filmmaker. But what did that mean? Sure, I knew how to work a camera, edit film; I even knew the format for writing a script. I could classify movies into genres, and decipher the most complicated plots. However, these things did not ensure me a career in film. I needed talent, creativity, and drive to really be successful. I was suddenly very nervous about what I was going to do if I failed, and even got out my old college bulletin to look at other possible majors. A few more years of school did not sound so bad.    Then, I started recalling the past few years of my life. I had had so much fun in college. Staying up all night and talking with my friends, people-watching on the campus lawn, all those midnight McDonald's runs. College had been my first time to really be away from my family and friends. It had given me a chance to really come into my own, to realize the kind of person I really wanted to be. I had been able to make mistakes freely, and learn from them.    Throughout the four years, some of my professors had been wonderful. There had been my Freshman Comp. Professor who had pushed me until I finally became a good writer. My film editing instructor had always liked my work, and said she would help me to get started in the business.    The more I thought about it, the more I realized I knew.

Descartes :: essays research papers

Foundation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Descartes Meditation VI Of the existence of material things, and of the real distinction between the real soul and body of man, he explains he reasoning for believing that the mind is better known than any body. Descartes states his reasoning through various assumptions that he has made in his search for knowledge. Descartes is a philosopher, who through thinking comes to these conclusions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the reading of Descartes he interprets his understanding of how and why the mind is better known than the body. He states that, â€Å"Myself in my entirety in as much as I am formed of body and soul (mind) taught by nature, sun, stars, and sky. Descartes realized that he could learn things from his body. Things like pain if he touches a flame or pleasure if he drinks a cup of wine. With senses Descartes could see textures and beautiful landscapes. This made Descartes realize that from this generalization that he has made, what he learns from his body does not exceed what he already knows in his mind. I think Descartes point is well made in his quote above. I come to understand this though, through the fact that the minds common sense is what tells me I should not touch a flame, because of the pain it will bring me.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Through Descartes studies of himself, he also came to the conclusion that, â€Å"†¦Mind alone, not mind and body in conjunction, is a requisite to a knowledge of the truth in regard to such things.†(376) He explains this premise with the analogy, â€Å"†¦Although stars make no larger an impression on my eye than the flame of a little candle there is yet in me no real or positive propensity impelling me to believe that it is not greater than the flame; but I have judged it to be from my earliest years, without any rational foundation.† This analogy interprets that, just because there is no direct effect upon his the body or physical senses it does not mean that nothing exists. The mind is more important to think and realize the possibilities even though his body cannot sense them. So even though the flame looks the same size as the star his mind know it in fact is not. I can only understand so much of this statement by Descartes. I understan d that that his mind can differentiate the star from the star, but this is not preconceived knowledge given to him at birth.

How Shakespeare Has Changed My Life :: essays research papers

How Shakespeare Has Changed My Life Learning about Shakespeare was fun for me and I learned some new things. Some of the things that we talked about in class and that we read in Romeo and Juliet changed my thinking on other topics and gave me a different point of view. Shakespeare influenced my life because he showed that just because you see someone and think that they are the love of your life doesn?t mean you are truly in love with them, I never knew how much of our language came from William Shakespeare and how complicated Elizabethan language can be considering all the rules about how to pronounce words and where the accent goes on words. I feel that Shakespeare has influenced my thinking on love verses infatuation greatly. I can?t count how many times someone in my school has ?gone out? with someone else and then broken up with them in the next few days. When I read Romeo and Juliet, Romeo was in love with a girl named Rosaline in the beginning and was moping around because his supposed one true love in the world didn?t love him back. Then a few scenes later he was entranced by Juliet at the Capulet party. His change of heart happened so quickly you can tell that he probably isn?t really in love with her. That kind of thing still occurs today with young boys and girls constantly changing their minds about who they like and who they are dating. Truthfully, Romeo and Juliet are too young to know what love really is, they are only 13 and 14 years old! I think that Shakespeare has shown that if two people really believe that they are in love, even if they are not they will go to great lengths to be together, if it means lying to parents or hurting other people around them. Reading Shakespeare?s Romeo and Juliet made me think very deeply about love and what it means to be in love. When I was very young I always thought that people fell in love the moment they saw each other. I thought it was love at first sight for everybody and that people stayed in love forever, of course later on I understood that wasn?t always the case. Love takes time and you can?t rush into it or take it to fast. Sometimes people that end up getting married were good friends before they started a relationship and that paid off in the long run because they loved each other for their personality and who they are and not what they look like.

Developing the Leader in You Essay

Abstract Aristotle’s philosophy on leadership states, â€Å"Men make themselves leaders by performing acts of leadership†. This paper is written to bring forth a better understanding of leadership development. Following the understanding, will be an explanation of key factors that are salient to leadership, and why it must be covered. Great insight will be brought forth in elaborating on ‘collaboration’ as the key to developing great leaders. Life experiences will certainly have an impact on how effectively a leader develops good character, and how experiences can hinder and strengthen a leader’s ability to motivate others and create company growth. Flexibility and adaptability in spite of any circumstance can be the factor to make or break a situation, in coming toward the end of this paper it can be said that learning about continuous change can be deemed as extremely valuable in their leadership career in knowing how to bend when the wind blows. Finally, a lesson in life†¦ it’s not a fairytale, learning to accept failures and successes alike. The Leader in You The most important factors†¦ Leadership principles can be taught to the masses, although behaviors in a great leader is a learned trait; acquired over time. The crucial word in leadership is â€Å"trustworthiness†, a behavior that Cam, Caldwell, et al. (2010) state is associated with an individual’s perception regarding image, knowledge, and development style is of utmost importance (p. 500). Developing the leader within entails evolving through experimentation as a person learns new innovative approaches to solutions and problems. In time, new challenges arise that once seemed insurmountable, are now a part of the pragmatic approach that defines a leaders leadership style and strategic ability to overcome. To reach this stage in leadership empowers an individual, and reaffirms the persons ability to exert the skills to make informed decisions. This also means that the leader is in no way influenced by anyone in what to say or do; guiding and directing is the mark of an effective leader. The leader’s most effective tool is to constantly develop themselves; never stop learning. The most important characteristics of an effective leader are: to have their own identity, having openness to change, have self-respect, make good choices, be sincere and authentic, maintain a sense of humor, be willing to make mistakes-admit and learn from them, have an appreciation for cultural differences, genuinely care about others, maintain effective interpersonal communication skills, receive meaning and purpose from their work, be passionate about their work, and maintain healthy boundaries. Realize that no leader is perfect, and may not have all of these qualities†¦ Although, should strive to be well-rounded for the sake of the people they are mentoring, and themselves. Truth be told, the key or ticket to accomplishing the most vexing challenges—collaboration. Collaboration is the key to developing great leaders A collaborative relationship is based on mutual reciprocation of which is intended to assist each other in personal growth and development toward new levels of understanding to improve each others lives. In this section of the paper, the question that should be asked is, â€Å"What type of leader does a person want to be known for†¦and how do they wish to be perceived by the people they are developing?† This question has many answers, although to streamline it, the leader should be known for being innovative, results-oriented, and having a collaborative leadership style. This means that the leader will creatively expand the proverbial ‘pie’ into equal sections, and bringing in different talents and abilities to work together to solve a problem. One of the advantages of working together is that everyone is enthusiastic, motivating each other, and willing to implement the group plan because they developed it. There is organizational empowerment that comes with collaborative work like this, it is a win/win for a company and the leader due to the fact that within these groups there is always an opportunity to: train new leaders, get broader substantive results, and assist subordinates to bond; learning that two or more heads are better than one in accomplishing projects. Bali (2011) states that,† leadership is less about what we do and more about what we become—and in the process—how we influence and learn from those around us.† (p.11) People who aspire to become leaders, must know their strengths and weaknesses in order to develop either a stronger competence in the area they are weak in, or challenge themselves in areas where their strengths excel; this shows subordinates that you are not above personal self development and will encourage others to do the same. Competence is never enough for a great leader; it demands integrity and good moral character which influences the next generation of leaders. Leadership and good character Competence without integrity and character is worthless. A leader may know how to perform the job and lead the people to accomplish tasks, although without character they may cut corners if you will, and not always ‘do the right thing’. This behavior is detrimental to a company’s future, and those of the people under them. A leader with good character, integrity, and competence is steadfast and can be counted on to do the right thing, build a company’s reputation to be strong and unyielding, and establishes a foundation of trust with everyone involved. The purpose that character and integrity serves has to do with the specific times when their leadership road gets ‘rocky’, and at the edge of failure†¦ Time and time again it is seen in the media that people ‘fall’ from great heights within an organization, and instead of strategizing accordingly, their lack of integrity and character lead them to corruption, and sacrificing the ir reputations and principles for ‘immediate’ satisfaction due to their selfish need for self gratification. What is interestingly true, is that the leader who does have a strong-steadfast foundation within them, leads the organization in a smooth, effective, and successful manner so much so that because they have avoided potential threats a company may face†¦ most of the time they will not receive the credit due them because there wasn’t any catastrophe to see. This leader is defined as having intrinsic motivation in their leadership style that states they are internally motivated with their passion and vision to reach their goals instead of using external motivation like money and rewards. Eubanks et al. (2012), state that organizations should proactively develop leaders’ sensemaking skills so that they can better understand and enact ethical decisions (p. 2). A great leader is able adapt to change for the betterment of a company’s future endeavors and growth, and is perhaps the single most important leadership competency. Having to bend when the wind blows†¦ Flexibility and adaptability to change†¦ It helps a leader understand that they have control over their destinies in spite of the current circumstances and they can change it all by the choices they make in the present that affect the future; learning from the past in order to press forward. Leaders know that major change is hard enough, but continuous change is much harder. What is meant by this is that most companies have a strategy that works and they stick to it, and then establish a system that ensures it will always work for them. Most companies will find that when the bottom line is not being met, they place as much as much effort as they can to try and reboot or resuscitate a system doomed to fail because they have not established long term back up plans. So what is left, is a company in a position where stagnation is festering. In order to improve, great leaders will recognize they have to change and adapt to new innovative ways so that the company can work its way out of stagnation and into a position of growth; reinventing the structure of the company forcing stabilization. Mastery in this level of leadership involves someone who is seasoned enough to know that through many experiences throughout their carrier, it is flexibility and adaptability that is the core driving a company to new heights. A company knows that the value within doesn’t come from the people filling in positions, but the skills they bring to the table that make a company thrive! It is because of these skilled individuals that an effective leader can motivate and guide people to reach their potential and achieve tougher and challenging goals; especially in uncertain times (Nixon et al., 2012, p. 208). Leadership is a fine art, where hope, aspirations, and innovation are the catalysts that bring forth new approaches from different perspectives which lift the constraints of old practices that hinder the progress of a company. The flip-side to great leadership is that things don’t always turn out the way they are suppose to, and the results can be anything but a fairytale! Leadership, anything but a fairytale! Reality is the last thing that would ever be discussed in a fairytale, much less the detrimental repercussions of the characters actions. Nearly everyone’s world begins with parents reading their child fairytales, and their impressionable minds continue to believe that life will go on this smoothly. Although the underlying reason is to give everyone hope, imagination, and to strive for that happiness—in the business world, and leadership positions†¦ people are being set up for failure; high expectations are great, as long as they aren’t unrealistic. Penner (2009) states, â€Å"The problem arises when we benchmark our lives with these greats. We find that in the real world life is generally not perfect, that we do have to work hard at what we do and sometimes we are not successful.†(p.2). Innovative minds come from creative thinking outside the box, which does come from fairytales, but have to be used constructively. Steve Jobs, leader in technology, will be the first to tell you, ‘People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are usually the ones that do.† Conclusion Throughout this paper, I have expressed my thoughts on the development of leadership and effects on a company, collaborative relationships, adaptability and change, why good character in leadership is important, and the most important factors in leadership†¦ This paper is full of valuable insight for those who plan on enhancing their careers in their current field of leadership, or those whose future career may depend on the knowledge. Leadership is a gift, one that directly affects the lives of others, in developing the skills for future leadership positions. In finishing this paper, one can conclude that leadership traits can influence the success and failure of a company, and mentorship of one or many individuals. References Bali, V. (2011). Leadership lessons from everyday life. Leader to Leader, 60, 7-11. Caldwell, C., Hayes, L.A., & Long, D.T. (2010). Leadership, trustworthiness, and ethical stewardship. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(4), 497-512. doi: 10.1007/s10551-010-0489-y Eubanks, D.L., Brown, A.D., & Yberna, S. (2012). Leadership, identity, and ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(1), 1-3. doi: 10.1007/s10551-012-1295-5. Nixon, P., Harrington, M., & Parker, D. (2012). Leadership performance is significant to project success or failure: a critical analysis. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 61(2), 204-216. doi: 10.1108/17410401211194699 Penner, D.S. (2009). Leadership: Facing the fairytale. Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 3(1), 7-10.

Murphy Case Analysis Essay

Just-In-Time Concept. Just-In-time manufacturing, or JIT, is a management philosophy aimed at eliminating manufacturing wastes by producing only the right amount and combination of parts at the right place at the right time. This is based on the fact that wastes result from any activity that adds cost without adding value to the product. The goal of JIT, is to minimize the presence of non-value-adding operations and non-moving inventories in the production line. This will result in shorter throughput times, better on-time delivery performance, higher equipment utilization, lesser space requirement, lower costs, and greater profits. The key behind a successful implementation of JIT is the reduction of inventory levels at the various stations of the production line to the absolute minimum. This necessitates good coordination between stations such that every station produces only the exact volume that the next station needs. On the other hand, a station pulls in only the exact volume that it needs from the preceding station. In this case, Murphy’s management started the implementation of JIT without wholly understanding the concept; the poor performance was caused by lack of knowledge about JIT and lack of communication/coordination between the departments. Problems at Murphy: The CEO of Murphy Manufacturing liked the idea of JIT (reducing inventory holding cost while improving production efficiency) based on a few books he read, thus he wanted to implement this concept in his company even though the present MRP system had been working very well for a long time. On the other hand, Joe Vollbrach, Vice President of Operations for Murphy Manufacturing, initiated the implementation process based on the way it was working in the book examples he read without doing any feasibility study a or having a complete understanding about how to implement JIT concept in a small manufacturing environment like which Murphy is in. The result is disastrous, purchasing department are constantly ordering  materials at very high cost; the shipping/receiving department are harassed by endless loading/unloading task; production efficiency was down due to lack of production materials and no clear production schedule; sales people has to deal with angry customers because most the order aren’t shipped/delivered on time. General JIT Implementation Guidelines: Since JIT encompasses a number of functional areas of the company, top management support are a must. Full acceptance by top management is required to empower middle management to overcome the inevitable roadblocks in implementation. In this case, John should take the initiative to be the champion of JIT concept and provide the full support for implementation. Second, training and education as a fundamental requirement for JIT implementation in order to promote a significant change in attitude of the workforce that will create an environment conducive to completing the implementation. Training courses should be made available for employees to fully understand JIT concept and harness it. Third, it is important that JIT is seen as a philosophy rather than a set of add-on techniques to current practices. The company must question why and how it uses JIT and be able to figure out the results of undertaking JIT and incorporate them into its marketplace strategy. By adhering to these guidelines on implementation and instill the knowledge of JIT concept to entire employees at Murphy’s, the transition process to JIT will go smoothly and best JIT implementation techniques will be utilized. The pros/cons of implementing JIT in Small Manufacturing Enterprises: Most publications discussing JIT implementation focus on large manufacturing firms, the environment in which the concepts arose. Because of the limitations that small manufacturing enterprises face, which include limited staffing and material resources and reduced bargaining power with customers’ suppliers and financial institutions, it is not clear that all JIT  components are applicable to every environment. Thus choosing the right JIT implementation strategy is crucial for Murphy’s future successes. Most Small Manufacturing Enterprises depend heavily on a few major customers, thus normally suffer fluctuating demand from these key customers. In regard to vendor relationships, their purchase volume is not large enough to give them leverage over their suppliers to purchase in a small batch size with a good quality at a definite time. Compared to large firms, Small Manufacturing Enterprises normally have limited free cash to fund investment in new production concepts or technologies. They also lack bargaining power with their creditors and debtors, and have difficulties in getting loans from financial institution. Hence, forward planning is constrained by cash flow maintenance. Consequently, if Small Manufacturing Enterprises get involved in innovative projects at all, they will focus on projects with short term returns and overlook initiatives promoting long-term results. Small Manufacturing Enterprises also have limited non-cash resources (machinery or people). They do not normally have specific departments such as a training department or an engineering department. With limited management staff there is a small pool for potential champions of new techniques. Also, small firms may be so small that a change in production cannot be implemented without affecting the entire plant. This is another barrier for Small Manufacturing Enterprises to improve their operations as they have to risk the whole factory in order to know whether a certain technique is appropriate or not to the company. Which is very true in this situation, slight modification in any one of the major operation departments, will affect the entire company. Thus, every step has to be carefully analyzed and backup techniques needs to be developed. However, there are also several advantages for small manufacturers compared to big ones. Small firms normally do not have union contracts and usually have fewer problems with resistance to change compared to large companies. A flatter organization is typical in small firms and it fosters more frequent open communication. Therefore, the decision making process is simpler and the result is conveyed faster throughout the employees. Compared to large  firms, small firms are used to working in smaller batches and are more accustomed to a flexible response to demand changes. Problems in Implementing JIT Components: First, Cross training is common for small manufacturers because of the need to cover absent employees from a small labor pool and is also easier to implement than in large companies. The only problem is that extensive training is costly. Small manufacturers may train key employees individually and ask them to impart their knowledge to other worker. In this case, all the middle management can learn about JIT concept then passing it to production employees. Second, most small companies are very dependent on a few major customers. They lack bargaining power with their key customers and will not be able to compel these customers to order on a stable demand rate. The most desirable situation would be the cooperation of their customers in sharing their forecast demand and production schedule. Achieving this may be limited by bargaining power and therefore the result may be production based on inaccurate forecasts resulting in using finished goods inventory as a buffer. Production leveling can be a great barrier for small businesses to fully adopt JIT. Third, JIT Purchasing is normally implemented as the last component, especially for small manufacturers, due toe lack of bargaining power with their suppliers. Small manufacturers normally do not give enough sales to their vendors and are forced to order in large batches and store a large amount of raw material or they will suffer a higher cost to get the materials just-in-time. All these potential problems need to be studied, when implementing the JIT concept at Murphy.

Gwen Harwood “Sharpness of Death” and “At Mornington” Essay

Through a critical study of Gwen Harwood’s poetry, the responder’s personal response has a significant effect on their judgement towards her poetry. In The Sharpness of Death, Harwood explores the inexplicable link between life and death, as well as the value of memories in response to the inevitable passing of time. Similarly in At Mornington, Harwood accentuates the value of appreciating life to overpower death and the importance of memories to lessen the effects of time passing. These aspects, which reoccur throughout Harwood’s poetry are universal, timeless, and prevalent to human existence and society. As a result, Harwood’s poetry has been able to endure varying contexts and continue to captive and create meaning for readers. The varying interpretations of Harwood’s work influence the judgement of responders to both the individual poems, and Harwood’s poetry as a whole. The Sharpness of Death explores differing perspectives on death and its irrefutable link with life, encouraging contemporary readers to question their value of death and develop a judgement on the poem and Harwood’s poetry as a whole. Part one of the poem establishes the personas desire to bargain with death, through the demanding tone that is used to address it, â€Å"Leave me alone.† For the contemporary reader, this highlights the desperation to evade death, something many modern responders are able to identify with. As the poem continues, Harwood renders the philosophers attempts to undermine death through analysis, as meaningless. The use of the oxymoron â€Å"complex logic,† highlights the futility of this act, suggesting that death cannot be explained, only experienced. This challenges the value of attempting to understand death for the responder as even those considered the most intelligent living, cannot provide sufficient answers. As the poem continues, the importance of life, rather than explanations, to overcome death is explored. The personification of blossoms in the line, â€Å"blossoms to hold the light that’s gone,† highlights for responders that the beauty of life, as represented by the blossoms, needs to be appreciated and understood in order to come to terms with the darkness that comes after death. The  final part of the poem returns back to first person, giving the poem a cyclical nature, common in Harwood’s poetry. This depicts to audiences the cyclical nature of life and the subsequent inevitability of death. In the final two lines of the poem,â€Å"If I fall from that time, then set your teeth in me,† the negative imagery depicts the persona’s view that only when she has lost the fulfillment that comes with life, will she be able to accept death. This creates a positive judgement for the responder, depicting that their fear of death can subside if their life has been lived with joy. The exploration of the connection between life and death throughout The Sharpne ss of Death, encourages responders to challenge their perception on the connection between to two. The response of audiences towards The Sharpness of Death, brings up questions in relation to the value of memory in response to the passing of time, inevitably impacting upon the judgement of the contemporary reader. In the second part of the poem, â€Å"I hope he found some light beyond that field of black everlasting flowers,† the positive connotation of light highlights the power of memories in overcoming the darkness that is death. For responders, this leads them to accept that their memories are what will alleviate them from the effects of times passing. This image of black flowers is juxtaposed by the description of the Nasturitums in part three of the poem, â€Å"Purest of colours, how they shone.† The metaphor of the flowers depicts the power of positive memories to overcome struggles that have been faced as time has progressed. The personification of light where Harwood says, â€Å"light like a noble visitor stayed with us briefly and moved on,† emphasis es the power of memories which often fade as time goes on. This encourages the contemporary reader to consider what their prominent memories are and thus, consider how their perception of them has changed over time. The rhetorical question, â€Å"How would you ever know me now†¦unless I brought these flowers,† enhances the idea that it is remembered past experiences which enable us to draw a connection between the past and present. For the contemporary reader, this accentuates the value of memories in appreciating life, a consistent theme of Harwood’s throughout her poetry. The sexual imagery in the final part of the poem, â€Å"my tongue sang with his juices,† depicts the strong influence of memories in relation to love in giving power to accept death, when the  passing of time is over. This places death in perspective for responders, as being only one aspect of life, with memories and friendship enabling people to transcend it. Throughout The Sharpness of Death, Harwood’s exploration of the power of memor ies in accordance with the passing of time influences the responder’s perception to a large extent. The connection between life and death is further accentuated through Harwood’s poem, At Mornington, which, similarly to the The Sharpness of Death, challenges readers to develop a judgement towards this inexplicable connection. The first part of the poem depicts the fearlessness and uncertainty of childhood, deriving from a lack of understanding of death. In conjunction with this, the simile, â€Å"was caught by a wave and rolled like a doll among rattling shells,† suggests the powerlessness of the persona to control her direction in life, at a stage where there was no understanding of death. This concept has been experienced by an array of responders, and thus impacts upon their judgment to a large extent. The metaphor which Harwood uses to describe the graveyard the persona is standing in, â€Å"avenues of the dead,† emphasises that everything in life is temporary, with death being the only definitive part. This asserts to the contemporary reader that death doe s not need to be focused upon as it is certain. Therefore life which is temporary and changing, should be valued. In the second last stanza, â€Å"We have one day, only one, but more than enough to refresh us,† the repetition of one highlights the power of even a small part of life being able to assist in overcoming the struggle that thought of death places upon our existence. As the poem progresses, the persona is able to develop a changed perspective on death. The irony in the line, â€Å"at your side among the graves I think of death no more,† highlights the personas acceptance of the cycle of life as a result of the strong friendship they have developed, enticing readers to do the same. Water is used as a powerful motif throughout the poem, highlighting the persona’s acceptance of the inevitability of death, in particular, â€Å"waters that bear me away forever†. This encourages the contemporary reader to also accept this inevitability in order to appreciate their own life. The response of readers to the value of life in accepting death throughout At Mornington, h as a significant impact upon their opinion as it is a concept that is universally experienced and  understood. In accordance with The Sharpness of Death, Harwood’s At Mornington, encourages audiences to develop a judgement in regards to the value of memories in response to the passing of time. The poem begins with Harwood’s memory of her early childhood where she â€Å"leapt† from her father’s arms into the sea. The alliteration to introduce this, â€Å"They told me,† highlights her lack of personal memory of the uncertainty of her childhood and the need of others to reinforce this memory. For many responders, the uncertainty of their childhood was not realised until adulthood, allowing them to appreciate Harwood’s poetry as relevant to their lives. The high modality to describe her memory of believing she could walk on water, â€Å"Indeed I remember,† depicts the prominent memories of the innocent child. This brings responders to consider that while the memory of invincibility is strong, the sense of invincibility itself has been lost as time has progressed. The motif of water is also continued, this time referring to memories, â€Å"on what flood are they borne.† This metaphor highlights that memories are able to cross the boundaries of time, thus emphasising the importance of them to responders who are experiencing the effects of times passing. This motif is continued in the fourth stanza, â€Å"There is still some water left over.† This depicts to the contemporary reader that even when time seems to have reached it’s end, memories still retain the ability to bring back the sense of abatement attached with them. In the final stanza, the metaphor, â€Å"rolled in one grinding race of dreams, pain, memories, love and grief,† highlights that memories are attached to varying emotions and are apart of the race that is life, where the inevitable end is death. This causes readers to consider the importance of the varying memories within their life, to make the journey to the end worthwhile. Through the appreciation of memories in response to times passing throughout At Mornington, responders are able to identify with Harwood’s poetry and thus develop a significant association with it. Throughout Harwood’s poetry, in particular, The Sharpness of Death and At Mornington, a variety of universal and timeless concepts are explored, sparking varying responses from responders. In both these poems, the  connection between life and death, and the value of memories in response to the passing of time is explored. This exploration by Harwood is one that can be related to by a variety of readers, influencing these readers to a large extent, to develop a judgement towards Harwood’s poetry as a whole.

Unit 26

Edexcel BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production Assignment Brief Television & Film | |Unit 26: Film Studies |Title: Analytical Approaches and Relationships between Films and | | |their Production Context | | |Year: 2013 |Group: Year 12 | |Assignment Handout: |Assignment Deadline: |Assessor: | | / /2013 |Draft Submission: / /2013 |G. Rushworth | | |Final Submission: / /2013 | | |This brief has been approved by: |Date: | |J. MacKay |Jan 13 | Context | | | |This unit aims to develop learners’ understanding of how films are created for specific audiences and how they make meaning for those | |audiences through an exploration of industry practices and the application of a range of theoretical approaches. The insights that | |learners develop will inform their future production work. | |Learning Outcomes: |Unit: | |Be able to apply different analytical approaches to films |26. 1 | |Understand the relationship between films and their production contexts |26. 2 | Useful Resources: | |www. imdb. com | |Film website with range of industry and film information | |www. empireonline. co. uk | |Possibly word’s biggest and best film magaizine with huge back catalouge of reviews/features | | | |There is a very large selection of DVDs available in Media Studies.Just ask a Media teacher to take a look. | +-+ |Task 1: Analytical Approaches | |PASS |Using the analytical approaches of genre analysis, content analysis and auteur theory, create a |? |P1 | | |detailed discussion of the gangster genre. | | | | | | | | | |You will look at the film Goodfellas, and extracts from The Godfather, Scarface, American Gangster| | | | |and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. | | | | |? | | | |Your discussion of the genre may be done as a 1400 word report, or as a fifteen minute Power Point| | | | |presentation with accompanying notes. | | | | | | | | | |In your analysis of the gangster genre you should also consider the following: | | | | | |? | | |Codes and Conventions | | | | |Iconography | | | | |Findings from both your content and textual analysis | | | | |Narrative structure | | | | |Audience Readings |? | |MERIT |In addition: | |M1 | | |Relevant examples that draw upon elements or details of the films studied will be given to support| | | | |what is said, but you will not describe these examples to show how they illustrate the point they |? | | | |support. In discussing codes and conventions in a genre analysis you might note: | | | | | | | | | |‘The knife is part of the iconography of the horror movie and is often the means by which the | | | | |victim is killed.In 12 of the 15 movies I studied for my content analysis a knife was used for at| | | | |least one of the murders and in five it was used for all of them. The other two common means of | | | | |killing were strangulation with a rope and with the bare hands. Knives have connotations of | | | | |slashing movements and gushing blood. The most famous example of this must be the shower scene in | | | | |Hitchcock’s Psycho. Being knifed to death is particularly frightening because you can see the | | | | |person killing you.It’s not like shooting, which is done at a distance and is a much more | | | | |cold-blooded way of killing. This is why the gun is the conventional weapon in gangster movies | | | | |like Scarface. ’ | | | |DISTINCTION |Ideas will be developed and points supported with arguments and well focused examples which are | |D1 | | |elucidated in such a way as to draw out of the example precisely what it is about it that |? | | | |exemplifies the point it illustrates. | | | | |Examples will refer to precisely defined elements or details of the films studied.In discussing | | | | |codes and conventions in a genre analysis you might note: | | | | | | | | | |‘The knife is part of the iconography of the horror movie and is often the means by which the | | | | |victim is killed. In 12 of the 15 movies I st udied for my content analysis a knife was used for at| | | | |least one of the murders and in five it was used for all of them. The other two common means of | | | | |killing were strangulation with a rope and with the bare hands.What | | | | |these methods all have in common is that they involve close bodily contact between the victim and | | | | |the killer, | | | | |which makes the murder more frightening, unlike shooting which is done at a distance and is a much| | | | |more | | | | |cold-blooded way of killing. This is why the gun is the conventional weapon in gangster movies | | | | |like Scarface | | | | |or war movies like Platoon, where the killing of Elias by Barnes shows how far apart they are | | | | |morally as well | | | | |as physically and Barnes’s act seems even more calculating because it is so careful and | | | | |deliberate. Knives have | | | |developed connotations through intertextuality that are specific to horror movies, such as | | | | |slashing mov ements | | | | |and gushing blood. In the most famous example of this – the shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho – | | | | |we never actually see the murderer, but we do see the movement of the knife repeated over and over| | | | |again, and the blood swirling down the shower outlet as though it is just water. ’ | | | Task 2 Relationship Between Films And Their Production Contexts | |PASS |Empire, an established film magazine, wants you to write an illustrative article (800 words) about| |P2 | | |Hollywood’s Goodfellas (1990) and Britain’s Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). |? | | | |You can use your notes from task 1 to help you. Your article will look at the relationship each | | | | |film has with the production company and the factors that influence that relationship. | | | | | | | | |Your article should discuss the following: | | | | |Stars | | | | |Social issues | | | | |Regulatory bodies | | | | |Financial determinants | | | | |Distribution and Exhibition | | | | |Vertical and horizontal ntegration | | | | |Synergies between different films |? | | | | | | | | |You will ensure your article looks professional. You should add stills from both films, and use | | | | |appropriate font and layout. | | | |MERIT |You will talk about the relationships between production contexts and films, in such a way as to | |M2 | | |show why they are the way they are, or the effects they have on the films that are produced. |? | | | | | | | |Relevant examples that draw upon elements or details of the films studied will be given to support| | | | |what is said. | | | | | | | | | |Relevant factual information about production contexts will be offered although it will not be | | | | |used to support developed argument. | | |DISTINCTION |You will talk critically about the relationships between production contexts and films, justifying| |D2 | | |points |? | | | |made with supporting arguments or evidence. | | | | | | | | | |Yo u will draw out of an example precisely what it is about | | | | |it that exemplifies the point it illustrates.Material about production contexts will be well | | | | |researched and will refer to precisely focused elements or details of the film/films studied. | | | | | | | | | |You will provide full and extensive explanations and consistently provide arguments to support | | | | |points made. Relevant examples that draw upon elements or details of the films studied will be | | | | |given to support what is said. | | | |Guidance for this Assignment |Task |? |To achieve a PASS grade, the evidence must show that you are able to: | |P1 |Apply approaches to analysing films with some appropriate use of subject terminology |1 | | |P2 |Describe the relationship between films and their production contexts with some appropriate use of subject |2 | | | |terminology | | | |To achieve a MERIT grade, the evidence must show that you are able to: | |M1 |Apply approaches to analysing films cohere ntly with reference to detailed illustrative examples and generally|1 | | | |correct use of subject terminology | | | |M2 |Explain the relationship between films and their production contexts with reference to detailed illustrative |2 | | | |examples and generally correct use of subject terminology | | | |To achieve a DISTINCTION grade, the evidence must show that you are able to: | |D1 |Apply approaches to analysing films critically, supporting points with arguments and elucidated examples and |1 | | | |consistently using subject terminology correctly | | | |D2 |Comprehensively explain the relationship between films and their production contexts with elucidated examples|2 | | | |and consistently using subject terminology correctly | | | Tutor’s Feedback | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Referral – What the learner should do: | | | |Tutor’s Signature/Date |IV Signature/Date | | | | |Learner’s Feedback | | | | | | | | | | | |Learner’s Signature/Date | | | ———————– Grading Criteria: Text taken directly from criteria in BTEC guidelines