Classical Music Criticism and Judgment Essay

Classical music is one kind of the art music from various style of music. On Oxford Dictionary give the meaning of classical music as serious music following long-established principles rather than a folk, jazz, or popular tradition, and even give more specifically meaning by the period of music(since the music has 6 periods; middle age, renaissance, baroque, classic, romantic and contemporary) that classical music is the music written in the European tradition during a period lasting approximately from 1750 to 1830, when forms such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata were standardized. How do we judge the classical music, and what is the musical value of classical music? I think this is the hard thing to critics about the good or bad of the things that we call it as one kind of art. We could analyze music by their elements such as the musical form, the harmony, the rhythm, orchestration, register of that piece etc. But also the problems is everyone has different taste and also some have the same taste too such as one composer love the way dominant chord run to sub median chord and then resolve to dominant again then end with tonic chord but another one like the way to begin the phrase with sub median then dominant for two bars to extend the dominant longer (could call it as dominant prolongation) until tonic in the last bar. The question is what is the best chord progression of those two ideas? , and how do we judge what is the best chord progression? And interesting question is how do we judge that one piece copy from any other pieces? Another example is if we judge one of the phrases in symphony no. 9 by Beethoven â€Å"Ode to Joy† as the best phrase that compound with many good melodies, best chord progression and orchestration and great idea to add choir to that movement but there is also a question that who judge that this phrase is the best. How do they judge? , and what is the material that they use to judge this kind of classical music to make it the best of Beethoven’s pieces? The Best music in all kind of area not only includes by best music by creativity composers but also has to have best performers that can perform the best performances too. In classical music the performers have to do analyze and interpretation the music that they will perform, have to know the period of that music so they could play as the style of each period, have to practice in the right way to gain more techniques to their muscles to control their musical instrument, have to perform as natural as possible like they are speaking, eating or walking. The best performers have to bring all emotions and energy from the music that is just a music note on the paper to touch their audiences’ heart. The problems are what is the best performance? , and how do we judge the performance? As a classical guitarist I used to compete in one competition. All juries have to fill in the form for all competitors there topics are Technique, Dynamics, Balancing, Precision and Rhythm, Style and Expression, and Stage Performance. Maybe those topics could judge the best performance but the problem I could see was one song that I performed called Marley’s Ghost by Andrew York the main part of first section was the melody on the bass line. One of jury wrote on the Balancing blog that I played too loud but another on said I played too soft so I got the question that who is correct? This could show that it is hard to judge the best performance. It is depend on what do you like? What is your feeling? What are the things that you used to experiences. At last the way we critic and judge classical music could be judge from both quality of pieces and the quality of performance. The performers should know the aesthetic of composers who composed the songs that they will perform so they can perform in the way right way from performers’ interpretation. And definitely the listeners will judge it by their experience and feeling.

Breakeven Analysis

BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS Break-even is the point at which a product or service stops costing money to produce and sell, and starts generating a profit for your business. This means sales have reached sufficient volume to cover the variable and fixed costs of producing and distributing your product. [Type the document subtitle] KOMAL BHILARE ROLL NO: 85 2013 DEFINITION Break Even is: †¢the sales point at which the Company neither  makes profit nor suffers loss, or   Ã¢â‚¬ ¢sales level where fixed cost are fully absorbed by or   †¢the level where contribution margin equals the fixed cost.Breakeven analysis provides data for †¢Ã‚  profit planning †¢Ã‚  policy formulating and †¢decision making Break-even analysis may be based on: †¢historical data, †¢past operations, or †¢future sales and costs, Depending on management’s need and desire. †¢The break even analyses technique is used in various  business decision making areas, as this h elp in knowing the minimum desired level to be achieved to avoid loss situation. †¢The Breakeven analysis is mostly used at the time of  investing in new project and introducing new products. The organizer of this workshop must have seen Break  even for this workshop. USE OF BREAK EVENANALYSES ?  Hospital or Hotel management would like to know sales  point in terms of number of beds/ rooms, to recover fixed cost to reach at a breakeven point. ?The school owner would be interested in knowing minimum number of students to be admitted to reach at  breakeven ?New branch of bank would need to know minimum deposits from customer ?On introduction of new products certain huge sales  promotional expenses are planned in order to achieve  planned sales. The management while deciding about approving expenditures would be interested to see cost / benefit analyses or minimum expected sales (break even) to be achieved to recover these expenses (disregarding the very ambitious sa les budgets submitted by the sales and marketing team) FORMULA A) Breakeven point of output = (fixed cost) / (contribution per unit) Where, Contribution=selling cost – variable cost Fixed cost= Contribution -profit B) Breakeven point of Sales = 1. Fixed price x SP per unit Contribution per unit 2.Fixed Cost x Total Sales Total Contribution BREAK EVEN GRAPH Uses of Breakeven Chart A breakeven chart can be used to show the effect of changes in any of the following profit factors: †¢ Volume of sales †¢ Variable expenses †¢ Fixed expenses †¢ Selling price PROFIT VOLUME RATIO (P/V RATIO) The ratio of contribution to sales is P/V ratio or C/S ratio. It is the contribution per rupee of sales and since the fixed cost remains constant in short term period, P/V ratio will also measure the rate of change of profit due to change in volume of sales.The P/V ratio may be expressed as follows: P/V ratio = Sales – Marginal cost of sales = Contribution Sales Sales = Changes in contribution = Change in profit Changes in sales Change in sales A fundamental property of marginal costing system is that P/V ratio remains constant at different levels of activity. A change in fixed cost does not affect P/V ratio. The concept of P/V ratio helps in determining the following: †¢ Breakeven point Profit at any volume of sales †¢ Sales volume required to earn a desired quantum of profit †¢ Profitability of products †¢ Processes or departments the contribution can be increased by increasing the sales price or by reduction of variable costs. MARGINAL COST A marginal cost is another term for a variable cost. The term ‘marginal cost’ is usually applied to the variable cost of a unit of product or service, whereas the term ‘variable cost’ is more commonly applied to resource costs, such as the cost of materials and labour hours.Marginal costing is a form of management accounting based on the distinction between: a. th e marginal costs of making selling goods or services, and b. fixed costs, which should be the same for a given period of time, regardless of the level of activity in the period. Suppose that a firm makes and sells a single product that has a marginal cost of ? 5 per unit and that sells for ? 9 per unit. For every additional unit of the product that is made and sold, the firm will incur an extra cost of ? 5 and receive income of ? 9. The net gain will be ? 4 per  additional unit.This net gain per unit, the difference between the sales price per unit and the marginal cost per unit, is called contribution. Contribution is a term meaning ‘making a contribution towards covering fixed costs and making a profit’. Before a firm can make a profit in any period, it must first of all cover its fixed costs. Breakeven is where total sales revenue for a period just covers fixed costs, leaving neither profit nor loss. For every unit sold in excess of the breakeven point, profit will increase by the amount of the contribution per unit LIMITATIONS OF BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS: It is best suited to the analysis of one product at a time. * It may be difficult to classify a cost as all variable or all fixed; and there may be a tendency to continue to use a break even analysis after the cost and income functions have changed. * Break-even analysis is only a supply side (i. e. costs only) analysis, as it tells you nothing about what sales are actually likely to be for the product at these various prices. * It assumes that fixed costs (FC) are constant. Although this is true in the short run, an increase in the scale of production is likely to cause fixed costs to rise.

Thorn Queen Chapter Eleven

Along with Ysabel, Dorian sent me back with some shipments of food on credit. I almost would have thought he was trying to soften the blow of me being stuck with her, except Dorian was the type who would actually enjoy the thought of us having an uncomfortable trip. He would get a kick out of knowing how irritated I was and probably regretted he couldn't be there to witness our interactions. Nonetheless, I mitigated the discomfort by riding at the head of my group, sticking Ysabel all the way in the back behind my guards and Dorian's servants. Shaya was understandably surprised when we arrived back. I left her to distribute the food and deal with Ysabel. â€Å"Put her somewhere. Anywhere,† I said. â€Å"It doesn't matter to me.† â€Å"But why†¦why is she even here? That's Dorian's mistress.† â€Å"Oh, yes,† I said, watching as a scowling Ysabel stepped aside for the rest of the entourage spilling into my castle. I kind of took offense at the sneer she gave my residence, despite the fact that I knew it was in disarray compared to those of other monarchs. â€Å"Believe me, I know she is.† Shaya seemed mollified and distracted enough by Dorian's gifts that I was able to slip away without too much argument. I made the crossing back to my world, not even bothering to change clothes before I went. When I finally got back to my own house, I had the pleasant surprise of finding Kiyo lying on the couch. Three cats slept on the couch's back while one rested on its arm. The fifth lay sprawled across Kiyo's stomach. â€Å"That,† he said, â€Å"is a great dress. Smells a little like horse, though.† I glanced down at the purple silk dress, which was holding up remarkably well considering all the dust and sweat it had been subjected to today. â€Å"It was part of a diplomatic outreach.† â€Å"Dorian, huh?† â€Å"What was your first clue?† â€Å"The slit.† I headed across the living room, toward the hall that led to the other side of the house. â€Å"I'm hitting the shower. You want to go to Texas with me afterward?† Kiyo straightened up, spooking a couple of the cats. â€Å"Is that like a new restaurant? Or do you mean the state?† â€Å"State. I have to go talk to those two shamans that Roland told me about.† I glanced at a clock. â€Å"We'd probably have to stay overnight.† He considered. â€Å"If we can be back by noon tomorrow, I'll do it.† I assured him we could and then left to shower away the day's dirt. Miraculously-and a little disappointingly-Kiyo didn't come harass me while I cleaned up. He had a tendency to show up while I was showering and offer to â€Å"help† clean me off. Conscious of our time, he let me be, and a half-hour later, we were ready to hit the road. Yellow River was just over the Texas border, making it about a four-hour drive if we kept a little over the speed limit. Kiyo liked to drive-I think it was some manly instinct-so I let him. We stuck to casual topics, which allowed my mind to wander to the Otherworldly affairs on my plate. The whole stress of running and caring for a kingdom still weighed upon me, but I had the comfort of knowing I'd done what I could and that Shaya would manage the rest. That was her job. We both knew it, and she would perform her duties excellently. I needed to stop stressing about that. The missing girls†¦well, those were my problem. At least, I'd made them my problem. Meeting with these shamans in Yellow River would hopefully shed light on that situation, so until I saw them, there was no point in worrying about that either. Ysabel†¦yes, well, that was something worth worrying about. I'd just let a viper into my household and took some comfort in realizing that my reluctance to stay the night in my castle would probably save me from being smothered in my sleep. If I'd had my way, I would package her up and send her straight back to the Oak Land. My stupid promise bound me. Maybe she did have something useful to teach me, but I had no evidence that she'd actually try to be helpful. She'd probably just glare the whole time, no doubt paranoid I wanted to move in on Dorian†¦. Dorian. I sighed. He was a problem, one I kept thinking would go away but didn't. I needed him, and we both knew it. So long as I did, he was going to use that as leverage to keep seeing me and taunting me. For the most part, that annoyed me. I hated being part of his games. Yet, at the same time, there was always something irresistible about Dorian, something that made me laugh in spite of the exasperation he so often caused. And, yeah†¦I hated to admit it, but no matter how much I loved Kiyo, and no matter how much I'd washed my hands of the romance between Dorian and me, there was still a part of me that would probably always be attracted to him. Our night together still haunted my dreams. His hand on me earlier today had woken a lot of those feelings, and I couldn't help but imagine again how easy it would have been for him to slide that hand up my leg†¦. â€Å"Eugenie?† â€Å"Huh?† Kiyo's voice startled me out of my indecent thoughts. â€Å"What are you thinking about? You have the weirdest look on your face.† â€Å"Oh, well, I†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I was totally astonished when the next words burst out of my mouth. â€Å"How come we never have any foreplay?† Kiyo's hold on the steering wheel momentarily faltered, and I feared we'd run off onto the shoulder. He quickly regained control. â€Å"What are you talking about? Of course we have foreplay. Remember that thing I did with the honey last week?† â€Å"Yeah, I guess. But that's more the exception than the norm. We always just kind of jump right into it.† â€Å"You never really seem to mind.† He had a point. â€Å"No†¦I mean, it's always good. It'd just be nice to†¦I don't know. Expand our horizons.† â€Å"I'm okay with that,† he said after several thoughtful moments. â€Å"I'm up for anything. It's just my†¦well, instincts, I guess, that tend to drive me right toward the main attraction.† I knew what he meant. The problem with spending part of your life as an animal was that you picked up some of their traits. Foxes in the wild didn't really devote a lot of time to foreplay. â€Å"I don't really mind. I'm just saying that I'd like to shake it up.† He fell silent for a while. Finally, he asked, â€Å"Does this have anything to do with Dorian?† â€Å"Why do you say that?† I asked blandly. â€Å"I don't know. More instinct.† His dark eyes narrowed as they focused on the road. â€Å"I'm not stupid, you know. I know you slept with him.† I jerked my head in surprise, unable to attempt any sort of denial. I'd never technically lied to Kiyo about what had happened with Dorian, but seeing as we'd been broken up at the time, I'd never really felt the need to go into detail. â€Å"How do you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I couldn't finish the question. Kiyo gave me a rueful smile. â€Å"Dorian used to watch you like a starving man who wants meat. Now he looks at you like he wants seconds.† I didn't say anything. No response came to mind. â€Å"It's okay,† continued Kiyo almost amiably. â€Å"I know it happened when we were apart. What's past is past-so long as it doesn't mess with our present.† It was rather magnanimous of him, and I felt both grateful and guilty. â€Å"It's in the past,† I agreed. â€Å"It has nothing to do with anything anymore.† The first shaman Roland had directed us to was a guy named Art. Like Roland and me, Art lived in his own piece of suburbia, in a large house that hardly looked like it belonged to someone who battled spirits and gentry. The sides were painted a sunny yellow, and the yard-which bore the signs of daily tending-was even ringed with a white picket fence. I could hear children playing down the street. In fact, Art himself was out in the yard, weeding flower beds as the afternoon light turned orange. I pegged his age around thirty or so. A red snake tattoo coiled around one of his arms while a stylized raven showed on the other. No doubt there were more under his shirt. He glanced up and smiled when we stopped beside him on the house's sidewalk. â€Å"You must be Eugenie,† he said, standing up. He brushed dirt off his gloves and looked apologetic. â€Å"I'd shake hands, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I smiled back. â€Å"No problem. This is Kiyo.† The two men exchanged nods of greeting, and Art directed us around the side of the house. â€Å"Roland said you wanted to chat, right? How about we sit down in the back? Let me clean up, and I'll go get us something to drink.† Kiyo and I followed his direction and found ourselves sitting at a cute, umbrella-covered table in a backyard even more lush than the front. Though a bit more humid, Yellow River's climate wasn't that far off from Tucson's, so I could only imagine the amount of water and labor it took to maintain this greenery. A funny thought came to me, and I couldn't help but laugh. â€Å"What?† asked Kiyo. He'd been watching a hummingbird dance around a red-flowered bush that flanked the house. â€Å"I was thinking I need Art to come do landscaping in the Thorn Land.† â€Å"I think that might blow your cover.† â€Å"Likely. I don't even know if he crosses over very much.† â€Å"If he does, it's probably only a matter of time before he finds out and tells Roland. Actually, it's only a matter of time before anyone does that.† I made a face. Roland knew a lot of shamans, all around the country. â€Å"Yeah, I know.† Art stepped out through the back patio, gloves gone and a new shirt on. He set down a small cooler, carefully sliding the glass and its screen shut again. The drapes hanging on the other side of the patio were blue and purple watercolors laced with silvery threads that I envied after my own had been ripped up by a storm I'd inadvertently caused. Between his excellent decor and yard, I was feeling like a lame homeowner. He opened the cooler. â€Å"I didn't know what you wanted, so I brought some options.† The cooler revealed an assortment of pop and beer. Kiyo opted for the latter; I took the former. The hot summer afternoon had cooled down to a pleasant temperature, and the shadows cast by the trees helped too. The memory of the hot journey to Dorian's was still with me, though, and I drank my Coke gratefully. â€Å"This is a great yard,† I said. â€Å"Wish I had the patience. Mine's kind of a rock garden.† Art grinned, crinkling up the lines around his eyes. They were an azure blue that stood out against his sun-weathered skin. â€Å"But that's fashionable up there, isn't it?† â€Å"Yeah, kind of. But there's a fine line between a fashionable arrangement of sand and rocks, and, well†¦just a pile of sand and rocks.† He laughed again. â€Å"Well, I'm sure you have better things to do. Roland tells me you're keeping busy now that he's retired.† â€Å"‘Retired' is a dubious term. It's hard for him to sit still, knowing I'm out there doing business by myself.† â€Å"And I hear you've got some business questions to ask me?† Right to the point. I liked that. â€Å"You've got a big crossroads here.† â€Å"I do,† he agreed. â€Å"Keeps me busy.† â€Å"You get a lot of gentry crossing over?† He took a long sip of his beer and considered. â€Å"Well, there are always gentry crossing over.† â€Å"Has there been an unusual amount lately? Girls in particular?† His eyebrows rose in surprise. â€Å"Not that I've noticed. Why do you ask?† â€Å"Following up on a job,† I said vaguely. â€Å"Women cross over all the time, of course,† he mused. â€Å"But men outnumber them. Seeing a surge would be noticeable. Most of my time lately has been spent on exorcisms.† I nodded. Until gentry and Otherworldly creatures had decided they wanted to father my child, spirits had made up the bulk of my business too. That was a normal shaman workload. â€Å"Sorry I can't be of more help,† added Art kindly. I must have looked disappointed. â€Å"You should check with Abigail, though.† â€Å"She's the other one here, right?† â€Å"Yup. We work together sometimes. Maybe she's noticed something I haven't.† I thanked Art for the info, and we spent the next hour or so chatting about assorted things. Art asked questions about Kiyo's background. Roland could sense Kiyo's Otherworldly nature, but Art's blandly polite style made me suspect it wasn't a talent he possessed. Art also wanted to know about my jobs, no doubt curious about my interest in gentry girls. I kept my answers vague, in no way coming close to the fact that I was protecting my subjects. After making our good-byes, we headed off to the second address Roland had given me. Abigail lived in an apartment in downtown Yellow River, very different from Art's homey location. The downtown area was actually more thriving than I would have expected. Yellow River was a small town at the end of the day, but it still had an assortment of interesting shops and restaurants. Abigail's apartment was above an antiques store, and we climbed two flights of rickety stairs to get to her. The mysterious, dusty nature of it all was much more in line with stereotypical shaman images. Indeed, when she answered the door, I suspected she would have met most people's visions of a shaman. She was an older woman, gray hair styled into a long braid down her back. Her loose peasant blouse was patterned in mauve and yellow flowers, and crystal beads hung around her neck. She broke into a beatific smile when she saw us. â€Å"Eugenie! So nice to finally meet you.† She ushered us inside, and I introduced Kiyo. The apartment was beautifully constructed and nicer than its outside suggested-but cluttered with candles and assorted statuary. It made me feel better after Art's immaculate home. The apartment was also filled with cats. I counted at least seven, and all of them looked up at Kiyo's entrance. Four of them got up and rubbed against his legs. â€Å"You've certainly got a way with animals,† noted Abigail. â€Å"I'm a vet,† he explained, giving her a winning smile that tended to make women weak in the knees. Like Art, Abigail sat us down and forced beverages on us, this time in the form of herbal tea. We started with the usual small talk. Abigail was a big fan of Roland and couldn't say enough nice things about the work he did. I couldn't help feeling a little bit of stepdaughterly pride. When we finally got to the issue of gentry girls, though, Abigail didn't have much more to offer than Art had. â€Å"Most of my work is actually along the lines of healing and spirit retrievals,† she explained. Spirit retrieval was itself a form of healing, often done when some entity was plaguing a human in a possession sort of way. I'd done it a few times but was no expert. â€Å"I don't do much in the way of casting out. That's Art's specialty, but that crossroads is so big that he sometimes gets more than he can handle. So, I help out every once in a while.† â€Å"But you haven't noticed a surge of gentry girls?† Abigail shook her head, making the crystal beads click together. â€Å"No, but like I said, I'm not out in the field enough to say for sure. And gentry usually aren't so difficult to cast out†¦. Art tends to handle those on his own and call me in for the entities that are harder for him to get rid of.† She gave me a rueful grin. â€Å"Neither of us is as strong as you or Roland.† I played with my tea bag, wondering how to parse this new information. Was my theory about gentry girls sneaking over here a total bust? Or were they being crafty enough to avoid detection? I usually ended up casting out gentry because they did something troubling that put them on my radar. Gentry girls slipping in among humans wouldn't necessarily attract a lot of attention. We thanked Abigail when we finished our tea and left for our hotel. I'd booked one that sat just on the edge of town. As we walked toward where we'd parked my car on the street, Kiyo declared that he wanted to take it over to a gas station on the corner for both gas and air for the tires. I told him I would walk down there and meet him. I wanted to browse a few of the shops before we called it a night. Poking my head in the little stores gave me a chance to get my mind off the gentry girls and today's disappointing intel. Most of the shops were what you'd expect for a small town. Antiques. Vintage clothing. Crafts. One, however, was a sex-toy shop, and I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows at that. It was surprising in this town. Equally surprising was that I went in and bought something. I met Kiyo at the gas station shortly thereafter. â€Å"Not much in the way of information,† he said as we drove out to the hotel. â€Å"Yeah. I want to check out the crossroads in the morning before we go.† That was the main reason I'd chosen to actually come out to Yellow River in person, rather than simply call with my questions. â€Å"If that doesn't yield anything, we might just have to give this theory up.† Kiyo shook his head, a small smile curling his lovely lips. â€Å"I don't know what to think of you sometimes. You're so annoyed about this whole queen thing, yet here you are, going to a lot of trouble to help these girls.† We reached the hotel and found a parking spot. He turned off the car. â€Å"And let me guess. You want me to stay away from it all?† â€Å"Only inasmuch as it'll keep you safe. But truthfully? What you're doing is great.† The look he gave me showed just how great he thought it was-and how great he thought I was. There was admiration there in his eyes, underscored with something heated and dangerous and wonderful. I might make jokes about his animal intensity, but when channeled into sex and passion†¦well, there was nothing to laugh about. My whole body felt the heat of his gaze, every nerve coming to life. â€Å"Let's go inside,† I said softly. â€Å"Yeah,† he agreed. â€Å"No place I'd rather be.† His hands were on me as soon as we cleared the hotel room's door, reminding me of the first night we'd spent together. He pushed me onto the bed, tearing off my clothes as he did. I wanted to sprawl right there and let him take me-but just barely had enough presence of mind to wriggle away. â€Å"Did you mean what you said earlier?† I asked, my breathing hard. His dark eyes were hungry and impatient. â€Å"If it gets the rest of your clothes off right now, then yes, I stand by whatever I said earlier.† â€Å"About expanding our horizons?† This gave him pause. â€Å"What did you have in mind?† I slipped away from him-no small feat-and produced my purse and the purchase I'd hidden in it: the bag from the sex-toy store. I pulled out a pair of handcuffs. â€Å"Are you serious?† Kiyo asked, not sounding particularly opposed so much as curious. â€Å"That headboard's got a nice spot to lock your wrists in.† I might dream of Dorian restraining me, but right now, it was the thought of me being Kiyo's captor that aroused me. â€Å"Me?† This was a surprise to him too. He hesitated only a moment, though. There was desire and lust radiating from him, and while he might have preferred simply jumping in and having his way with me like usual, the bottom line was that he wanted me, period. One way or another. â€Å"Okay.† He pulled off the rest of his clothes and lay back against the bed's covers, hands stretched up. I paused to admire his body, filled with such strength and power. After removing my own clothing, I leaned over him and fastened one wrist to the headboard. I heard his breath catch as I did, my breasts only a few inches from his face. His other hand immediately went out to my hip and ran up along the side of my body. I pulled away, out of reach. â€Å"Not allowed,† I warned. â€Å"You don't get to call the shots here.† He gave me a saucy grin. Being tied down wasn't in his nature, but he felt bolder with only one hand bound. He was still able to feel in control. â€Å"I've got another hand and two feet,† he pointed out. I smiled sweetly and reached back into the bag. I pulled out three more pairs of handcuffs. His smile faded to astonishment. â€Å"Don't worry,† I said. â€Å"I've got it covered.† I made sure all his hands and feet were locked into place, putting him at my mercy and ensuring he wouldn't do anything I didn't want him to. And as I lowered my hips down near his face, spreading my thighs so that the warmth of his mouth and tongue had no choice but to lick and suck as long as I wanted, I felt smug satisfaction in knowing for certain that I would be the one who got off first tonight.

Events [in his life and around him] that shaped Glenn Gould's adult Research Paper

Events [in his life and around him] that shaped Glenn Gould's adult life - Research Paper Example In 1939, when he was 7 years old, he started to go in the Toronto Symphony concerts. Between 1940 and 1944, Gould went through all exams from Grade 3 to Grade 10 in the Toronto Conservatory of Music in which he studied piano. After Grade 10, Gould started to study theory until 1947. He won many medals from that conservatory for the next 10 years, and also performed in many functions meanwhile. Between 1948 and 1950, Gould discovered the Schoenberg music through Guerrero. From this time onwards, he became a champion of the Schoenberg music for the rest of his life. In July 1951, Gould made an honoring speech for late Schoenberg. From 1952 onwards, he spent most of his time with his family. He gave himself time to prepare himself as an adult musician. In 1957, Gould released his last â€Å"Radio Canada International transcription disc (Programme 140): Brahms's Piano Quintet, with the Montreal String Quartet† (Bazzana). Soon after that, Gould stopped playing piano aggressively. à ¢â‚¬Å"He was the James Dean of classical music† (Page cited in Clarkson). Works Cited: Bazzana, Kevin. â€Å"Timeline.† 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. . Clarkson, Michael. â€Å"The secret life of Glenn Gould.† 25 Aug. 2007. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. .

Truth and Knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Truth and Knowledge - Essay Example The thinking process involves reasoning, analyzing, arguing, testing, and making decisions. (Halpern, 2003, p. 37) Arguments are constructed from known facts or evidence, which are presented as the premises, and conclusions are drawn from the given premises. (Salmon, 2004, p. 45) For example, the statement â€Å"All crows are black† is a statement of fact that becomes a premise. Similarly the statement, â€Å"This bird is a crow† is another fact that becomes the second premise. From these premises, it can be said that â€Å"This bird is black†, which is a conclusion. There are two approaches for drawing conclusions –deductive and inductive. Deductive arguments proceed from the universal to the particular cases. If all the premises are true, the conclusion in a deductive argument has to be true. We can say that the conclusion is already implicitly contained in the premises in the case of a deductive argument. A deductive argument is either valid or not valid; there is no intermediate state. Inductive arguments proceed from particular instances to draw conclusions about the universal truth applicable to all elements of a particular class. Inductive arguments expand what is contained in the premises, and draws conclusions that are probably true but not necessarily always so. Thus there is a degree of validity associated with inductive arguments. (Salmon, 2004, p. 49) Some arguments contain unstated premises. These are facts or assumptions that are necessary for the argument to be valid but are not expressly stated. Premises may be unstated because they are perceived as universally known. For example, a joint library between San Jose University and Silicon Valley may be concluded as demonstrating the university’s commitment to promote innovation. This conclusion might be based on the unstated premise that Silicon Valley is innovative, even though this might not be stated expressly. (McGraw-Hill, 2000) However, it is always better

See below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

See below - Essay Example For instance, it has never been established that illicit drugs manufactured in Australia have been exported to other countries like the United States (Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, 2007). In Australia, the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories cooperate with each other in making legislation that addresses the supply, distribution, possession and use of narcotics. These bodies share the responsibility for enacting relevant legislation. There is a trans-state supply of illicit drugs in Australia, which has no geographical boundaries within the nation. Moreover, it is also evident that in certain incidents there had been cross national supply of drugs (The Attorney - General, 1989). The courts and the police employ drug diversion initiatives to treat drug addicts. These initiatives attempt to divert users from taking drugs. Education and compulsory assessment are two major diversions provided to drug abusers. After completion of the assessment, drug users are shifted to the appropriate education or treatment program. In April 1999, the Council of Australian Governments or COAG implemented the national strategy, by which concrete and concerted action was to be taken against drug peddlers and possessors (Crime Prevention and Community Safety Learning Circles). The National Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative provides early intervention measures for first time abusers and other less serious offenders; which provide either treatment or education, without involving the criminal justice system. The aim of this strategy is to encourage and motivate drug users to identify their drug addiction, at an early stage, and obtain appropriate treatment. This enables them to rejoin society without causing any adverse impact and ensures safety. Proponents of diversion schemes argue that educating users and providing subsequent treatment measures for first time users in the early

Significant person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Significant person - Essay Example The size of his feet and hands is normal, not too big or too small. His head is square shaped with a notably short neck and narrow shoulders. He has a birth mark of two black dots on the other shoulder with two hairs and we use to call them cockroaches and he enjoys it. His sense of hearing is exceptionally good and his voice is loud when he talks. His voice also vibrates when he laughs and he is always smelling cigarettes in his breath when you are closer to him. He likes to use gestures when speaking like nodding the head when emphasising a point. He keeps a moustache which makes her facial expression look fun. My father is 59 years old and is an ambassador and I mostly admire him for his great achievements in life. He finished his high school in Qatar and obtained a diploma in Lebanon. He went on to obtain a Masters Degree in San Diego, CA. He is married and has six children of which four are boys and two are girls. We are originally from Qatar but we are living here because of his ambassadorial post. His position gives him status in the society though I am not very familiar with his

ISP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

ISP - Essay Example For individuals and small individual internet is provided by use of cables, broadband wireless, dial up, integrated services digital network (ISDN) and several other methods. For large organizations, Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) is used. The services that ISP provides are, provision of a world wide web, electronic mail service, internet relay chat for customers to chat with third party, servers that allow customers and interested parties to share on a forum or a certain topic online and a file transfer protocol that enables customers to store their data and other documents and for third parties to retrieve them Internet security has in recent times deteriorated because security measures have not been appropriately taken keen off especially by the individuals and small business owners who leave loopholes for fraudsters and boot-nets who then conduct malicious activity and send large amounts of spam. Some content that have been made available are threatening, malicious and even sexually violating. Internet service providers have been protected by the communication decency act sec 230 that free them of liability caused by irrelevant material posted by third party on the websites. The liability of an ISP may arise when a third party publishes malicious material on their communication infrastructure. With the increased accessibility of the internet to millions of people every day, the internet has become a big gateway of information to diverse people. The information that flows through it has content enough for any operation whether positive or negative. Therefore there is a need and a big one at that to provide protection for the people who use it at any given time. The communication decency act, section 230 provides immunity for internet service providers against material posted by third party. The section states that, â€Å"No provider or user of an interactive computer

Michelangelo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Michelangelo - Essay Example Michelangelo spent a year with Ghirlandaio, and then his apprenticeship was broken off. He got access to the collection of ancient Roman sculpture of the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de’Medici. Michelangelo lived with Lorenzo’s family and became like a son to him. The death of Lorenzo in 1492 was a very painful moment in the artist’s life. Soon after Lorenzo died the Medici family lost power and Michelangelo had to flee to Bologna. About the same time Michelangelo studied anatomy at the hospital Santo-Spirito, which helped him a lot in becoming a great sculptor as we know him. Michelangelo created his fist sculpture at the age of 17. That was the Battle of the Centaurs. In 1496 Michelangelo moved to Rome and spent five years there. We do not know much of his life and work at that period of time. There he carved a statue of Bacchus for a bankers garden of ancient sculpture. â€Å"This is Michelangelos earliest surviving large-scale work, and his only sculpture meant to be viewed from all sides.†(Michelangelo Biography, para.5) In 1498 he carved Pieta (pieta is a type of image in which Mary supports the dead body of Christ across her knees), which is now in St. Peter’s Cathedral. When Michelangelo returned to his hometown – Florence - in 1501, he was recognized as the most talented sculptor of the central Italy. He started carving the statue of David for Florence cathedral. â€Å"In the David Michelangelo first displayed that quality of _terribilità  _, of spirit-quailing, awe-inspiring force, for which he afterwards became so famous†¦ He was, however, far from having yet adopted those systematic proportions for the human body which later on gave an air of monotonous impressiveness to all his figures. On the contrary, this young giant strongly recalls the model; still more strongly indeed than the Bacchus did. Wishing perhaps to adhere strictly to the Biblical story, Michelangelo studied a lad whose frame was not developed."(Symonds,

Facilities Maintenance & Operation Cost Optimization for Commercial Research Paper

Facilities Maintenance & Operation Cost Optimization for Commercial Buildings (this study will be applied for National Commercial Bank Buildings) - Research Paper Example The operational phase of the commercial buildings has proved to be longer compared to the construction and design phase of the project. Such a longer operational phase of the buildings makes it much cost intensive, this gives rise to evolution of high performance buildings so as to meet the sustainability goals, and energy efficiency. Facility maintenance covers all aspects of the proper operations of such commercial buildings in order to create a safe, optimal, and cost affective environment for the employees. The major divisions within the facility maintenance are operations, contracting, and maintenance, custodial, commissioning, and landscaping. The operation cost seems to be an ever increasing factor because of such maintenance facility. This research paper deals with the challenges that come in proper facility maintenance of such commercial National Bank buildings. The paper encloses a literature review on the mentioned topic and even some outline questions that are commonly as ked by the audience. The main goal of this research paper is to analyze the ways in which proper facility maintenance can be conducted in such commercial buildings with a total optimization of the operation cost. The paper deals with the various aspects of proper equipment maintenance and operation system so that it meets the goals of the facility maintenance team. The maintenance of the building equipments such as heating air conditioning, lighting etc and the hospitality for the employees incurs considerable amount of operating cost that can be only optimized through high performance building operations. Hypothesis for a research paper is set of propositions that are constructed as an explanation for some phenomena. It is rather a provisional conjecture in order to guide the investigation for a particular topic. Hypothesis is often termed a mere guess or assumption. The title for the research study is to determine

Research a medical topic of interest to you using professional medical Paper

A medical topic of interest to you using professional medical journals such as Jama, nursing or dental or physical, occupational, or speech journals - Research Paper Example This leaves prevention as the only feasible alternative to control the virus. The prevention is done through immunization of attenuated forms of the virus to induce the body to develop natural immunity against the virus (John, 2002). Cases of poliomyelitis have declined in the recent decades but it is still too early to celebrate. The elimination of the second of the three-poliovirus serotypes; type 2 was eliminated in 1999.This marked a milestone achievement and evidence that the global resolve to eliminate paralytic poliomyelitis is attainable. Improvements in immunization and continuous surveillance are ideal in the completion of eradication of polio (Samwel et al, 1991). The feat of polio eradication is highly supported by polio programs, innovations such as global positioning system, mapping, and strategies of immunization at transit points. It is strategic to declare polio as a global health emergency to arouse concerted efforts by countries globally to eliminate the disease. The shift from the use of oral polio vaccine (OPV) to inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) is timely and appropriate. This is because of the magnitude of reduced effectiveness of OPV in locations with high burden of enteric pathogens and diarrheal disease. This challenge can be more pronounced in some areas leaving children who have received several doses still vulnerable to polio attack. The development of viral genetic sequencing technology reveals that OPV viruses are capable of regaining fitness and neurovirulence when continuously transmitted from one person to the other. Based on the information of genetic attenuation, it is imperative that true elimination of polio means zero transmission of poliovirus .It is notable that vaccine viruses apart from being genetically prone to reversal to neurovirulence, are also epidemiologically prone to transmission to unvaccinated children thus causing polio outbreaks. To reduce the cost of the administration of IPV, it is

Ancient Greece Essay Example for Free

Ancient Greece Essay Temple of Apollo at Didyma The Greeks built the Temple of Apollo at Didyma, Turkey (about 300 bc). The temple supposedly housed an oracle who foretold the future to those seeking knowledge. The predictions of the oracles, delivered in the form of riddles, often brought unexpected results to the seeker. With Ionic columns reaching 19. 5 m (64 ft) high, these ruins suggest the former grandeur of the ancient temple. Bernard Cox/Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York Greek Mythology, set of diverse traditional tales told by the ancient Greeks about the exploits of gods and heroes and their relations with ordinary mortals. The ancient Greeks worshiped many gods within a culture that tolerated diversity. Unlike other belief systems, Greek culture recognized no single truth or code and produced no sacred, written text like the Bible or the Qur’an. Stories about the origins and actions of Greek divinities varied widely, depending, for example, on whether the tale appeared in a comedy, tragedy, or epic poem. Greek mythology was like a complex and rich language, in which the Greeks could express a vast range of perceptions about the world. A Greek city ­state devoted itself to a particular god or group of gods in whose honor it built temples. The temple generally housed a statue of the god or gods. The Greeks honored the city’s gods in festivals and also offered sacrifices to the gods, usually a domestic animal such as a goat. Stories about the gods varied by geographic location: A god might have one set of characteristics in one city or region and quite different characteristics elsewhere. II PRINCIPAL FIGURES IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY Poseidon, Ruler of the Sea Ruler of the sea and brother of Zeus, Poseidon was one of the Olympian gods of Greek mythology. He is usually represented in Greek art wielding a fishing spear known as a trident. In this large bronze statue from about 460 bc, Poseidon seems poised to strike with his trident, which today is missing. The statue is in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, Greece. Nimatallah/Art Resource, NY Greek mythology has several distinguishing characteristics, in addition to its multiple versions. The Greek gods resembled human beings in their form and in their emotions, and they lived in a society that resembled human society in its levels of authority and power. However, a crucial difference existed between gods and human beings: Humans died, and gods were immortal. Heroes also played an important role in Greek mythology, and stories about them conveyed serious themes. The Greeks considered human heroes from the past closer to themselves than were the immortal gods. A Gods Given the multiplicity of myths that circulated in Greece, it is difficult to present a single version of the genealogy (family history) of the gods. However, two accounts together provide a genealogy that most ancient Greeks would have recognized. One is the account given by Greek poet Hesiod in his Theogony (Genealogy of the Gods), written in the 8th century BC. The other account, The Library, is attributed to a mythographer (compiler of myths) named Apollodorus, who lived during the 2nd century BC. A1 The Creation of the Gods According to Greek myths about creation, the god Chaos (Greek for â€Å"Gaping Void†) was the foundation of all things. From Chaos came Gaea (â€Å"Earth†); the bottomless depth of the underworld, known as Tartarus; and Eros (â€Å"Love†). Eros, the god of love, was needed to draw divinities together so they might produce offspring. Chaos produced Night, while Gaea first bore Uranus, the god of the heavens, and after him produced the mountains, sea, and gods known as Titans. The Titans were strong and large, and they committed arrogant deeds. The youngest and most important Titan was Cronus. Uranus and Gaea, who came to personify Heaven and Earth, also gave birth to the Cyclopes, one ­eyed giants who made thunderbolts. See also Creation Stories. A2 Cronus and Rhea Rhea and Cronus In Greek mythology, Cronus was the ruler of the universe. Here, his wife Rhea hands him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes in place of their son, Zeus. The portrayal, created between the 1st and 3rd centuries, is on the base of a stone statue at the Museo Capitolino in Rome, Italy. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY Uranus tried to block any successors from taking over his supreme position by forcing back into Gaea the children she bore. But the youngest child, Cronus, thwarted his father, cutting off his genitals and tossing them into the sea. From the bloody foam in the sea Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love, was born. After wounding his father and taking away his power, Cronus became ruler of the universe. But Cronus, in turn, feared that his own son would supplant him. When his sister and wife Rhea gave birth to offspring—Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon—Cronus swallowed them. Only the youngest, Zeus, escaped this fate, because Rhea tricked Cronus. She gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow in place of the baby. A3 Zeus and the Olympian Gods Bust of Zeus In Greek mythology Zeus was ruler of both the Olympian gods and the human race. Sometimes he is portrayed as a just and merciful defender of the weak. At other times he appears to be passionate, inconstant, and vengeful. This ancient Greek bust of Zeus is in the National Museum in Naples, Italy. THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE/Corbis. When fully grown, Zeus forced his father, Cronus, to disgorge the children he had swallowed. With their help and armed with the thunderbolt, Zeus made war on Cronus and the Titans, and overcame them. He established a new regime, based on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. Zeus ruled the sky. His brother Poseidon ruled the sea, and his brother Hades, the underworld. Their sister Hestia ruled the hearth, and Demeter took charge of the harvest. Zeus married his sister Hera, who became queen of the heavens and guardian of marriage and childbirth. Among their children was Ares, whose sphere of influence was war. Twelve major gods and goddesses had their homes on Mount Olympus and were known as the Olympians. Four children of Zeus and one child of Hera joined the Olympian go ds Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Ares. Zeus’s Olympian offspring were Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Athena. Hera gave birth to Hephaestus. A4 The Offspring of Zeus Zeuss Consorts and Offspring Zeus, the ruler of the Greek gods, had many relationships with Greek goddesses and mortal women that resulted in offspring. Zeus even gave birth to a child without a mother—Athena, the goddess of wisdom, sprang from his head. Metis is considered to be Athena’s mother because, as one story relates, she was Zeus’s pregnant wife when he swallowed her just before Athena emerged from his head. Zeus married his sister Hera after Metis’s death.  © Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Zeus had numerous children by both mortal and immortal women. By the mortal Semele he had Dionysus, a god associated with wine and with other forms of intoxication and ecstasy. By Leto, a Titan, Zeus fathered the twins Apollo and Artemis, who became two of the most important Olympian divinities. Artemis remained a virgin and took hunting as her special province. Apollo became associated with music and prophecy. People visited his oracle (shrine) at Delphi to seek his prophetic advice. By the nymph Maia, Zeus became father of Hermes, the Olympian trickster god who had the power to cross all kinds of boundaries. Hermes guided the souls of the dead down to the underworld, carried messages between gods and mortals, and wafted a magical sleep upon the wakeful. Two other Olympian divinities, Hephaestus and Athena, had unusual births.

Toyota’s problem revealed

Toyota’s problem revealed 1. Abstract A system can be defined as a collection of interrelated parts that taken together form a whole system such that the collection has some purpose and a change in any parts leads to or result from change in some other part(s). Information system is organized system which comprises input unit, process unit and output unit with a feedback mechanism that receives raw data and converts into a sensible information. Management information system is a system that provides information for the management activities carried out within the organization. This system consists of hardware and software that accept data and store, process, and retrieve information. This information is selected and presented in a form suitable for managerial decision making and for the planning and monitoring of the organizations activities. Essential to the idea of a management information system is the ability to retrieve data and use it for the production of targeted information for different purposes. Much data will be stored as the result of transaction processing operations. It is important that this data is seen as a central resource for the entire management information system and not tied to the application that produced it. In order to achieve the objective of common availability, the data needs to be managed as a central resource. The software that creates this database and handles access to it is called a Database Management System. This ensures the data is controlled, consistent and available to provide information. The database serves as a permanent store for the results of transaction processing, as a temporary store during processing and as a store for the records of the transaction processing and the database is handled by the database management system software. This protects the database from direct contact with the application programs and maintains data consistency. 2. Toyotas Problem Revealed Toyota is all about the customer. Technology does not drive business processes at Toyota but the various systems employed in it like Toyota production system(TPS),Corporate Customer Information System, Just-In-Time System, Customer Relationship Mangement,Enterprise Resource Planning are, few systems to name ,which drive the business processes on Toyota.Psabilla (2006). Major problems faced by Toyota can be broadly classified into Organizational/Technical and Management Problem. 2.1 Organizational/technical problems at Toyota: 2.1.1 Problems with Corporate Customer Information System (CCIS) CCIS is a central repository of up-to-the-minute customer information linked to all transaction systems. CIS is designed around customers, providing information about the products and services they use and their relationships with other customers and the organization. CCIS can reduce the costs associated with redundant systems by functioning as a single, central point of entry for creation, inquiry and retrieval. Because it readily accepts information from a variety of systems, CCIS easily accommodates virtually any financial institutions system environment. In order to build and sustain a competitive edge, service organization need to strive to maintain a superior quality of services in an effort to gain customer loyality, hence improving customer retention rates.(Kadampully,1998) Many organizations find they are surrounded by data that come in variety of forms: records, instructions, design, blueprints, maps, image, sounds, metadata, detailed data, and summarized data, to name just a few. Yet much of it does not truly satisfy their information need. This information may be stored in places ranging from file cabinets to databases and from library shelves to the Internet. Todays organizations have achieved quantity of data and information, but not necessarily quality of either, meaning that the data or information lacks one or more vital characteristics necessary for it to be fit for use. Problems with the quality of data and information are further compounded by the struggle many organizations are experiencing as they try to improve their systems for knowledge management and organizational memory. This is the main area where Toyota had crucial problem. Toyotas database had several million records that had to be checked. Some database had wrong addresses, wrong vehicles, and wrong motors. 2.1.2 Information- and Data quality challenges Toyota relied on its Corporate Customer Information System to provide the information about its customers and other service problems. Data from system identified Lexus owners with troublesome tyres, and Toyota began mailing the owners cheques for $400 or more to replace troublesome tyres. But some of these cheques went to the people who did not even own a Lexus and one was mailed to a Toyotas auditor for a vehicle he no longer owned. These mistakes pointed to a massive data quality problem because the Corporate Customer Information System used customer data stored in 15 databases in different parts of the company. So the company had to bear a huge financial loss. 2.1.3 Root causes of poor data quality in the Corporate Customer Information System Multiple data sources: Multiple sources of the same information can contain different values for information, including values that were accurate at a prior point in time. Subjective judgment in data production: data collected using subjective judgments and technique can lead to biased information being recorder. Bypassing input rules and too strict input rules: bypassing database edit checking without careful examination may produce missing or error nous information when individuals either arbitrarily change a value to pass the edit check or skip entering the field. Input rules that are too strict may further encourage data entry clerks to seek ways to bypass onerous edit checks. Volume of data: Large volume of stored information may make it difficult to access information from multiple system Distributed heterogeneous systems: distributed heterogeneous systems can lead to inconsistent definitions, formats, and values as well as excessive time spent to select and aggregate information from multiple systems Researcher and practioners are continuing to discover and explain the roots causes of poor quality data so that the systems that collect, process, and disseminate data can be improved. One of the best examples of this type of research is an article by strong, lee, and Wang (1997) that identifies ten key problems that often lead to data-quality problems 2.1.4 Cost of poor data and information quality are difficult to quantify The costs associated with poor data and information quality are often difficult to quantify because they involve both tangible and intangible components. Without accurate cost estimates, organizations may not realize the impact that poor data and information quality is having on their bottom line and, therefore, improvement is not a priority. Knight(1992) Redman (2003) estimates that without an active quality program in place, the cost of poor data and information quality for a typical organization is about 20% of the revenue. Although the fear of bad publicity keeps many companies silent about this issues,Knight(1992).thats why,Toyata also suffered a huge financial loss due to decline in its sales revenue. The presence of poor quality data and information can lead to higher costs in several ways. First there is the cost of remedying the mistake caused by the poor quality data or information along with the cost of correcting the data or information problem itself. rectifying the harm caused by poor data and information quality may involve dealing with cleanup effort, loss of lives, valuable equipments or production time, rework, lawsuit or penalties, and costumer appeasements such as offering rebates or issuing apology letters. Redman (1996,1-16) also cities other quality-related expenses such as different department within the same organization maintaining their own stores of redundant information because no one trusts the information in the others data base: managers forming poorer, less-confident decisions that take longer to make; and organizational difficulties in adopting new technologies such as data warehouse or business- re- engineering projects. Beside causing additional expenses, the presence of poor quality data may cause revenue reduction due to dissatisfied customers and partners opting to do business with someone else.Dealing with the effects of poor quality data and information can frustrate employees, lower job satisfaction, and raise levels of organizational mistrust. In a tight labor market, organizations may find that poor quality data and information inhibit their ability to attract and retain skilled employees. All these findings are echoed by Hansen and Wang (1991), who found that data and information quality impact corperate profits by interfering with an organizations ability to deliver customer service, management support, and productivity gains. 2.2 Management Problem at Toyota â€Å"In Toyota, Technology plays a critical role by supporting, enabling and bringing to life on a mass scale the processes derived by adhering to Transaction Processing System(TPS).Over the years, Toyota refined a number of other concepts and production methods that support the two central TPS pillars.They are Just-in-time and Genchi Genbustsu(meaning- Go and see for yourself) . And behind each of those pillars are information systems, supporting and enabling the processes†-Evans,P(2002). Data and information quality represent an important and maturing area in the field of management information system. This pursuit is fraught with the challenges as organizations discover the difficulties surrounding the definition, measurement, analysis and improvement of quality for data and information. For the help in dealing these challenges, organizations can turn to a growing body of research on data and information quality. (Coleridge,S.T 2003). The major management challenges face by the Toyota is as follows: Financial Loss: The Company had a huge financial loss due to error on the customer information system. Company had to pay huge value for the customer service resulting into tangible loss for it. This introduced a financial risk to the company. Ineffective customer service and support: The Company offered monetary compensation to Lexus owners with troublesome tyres but unfortunately, it reached to such group of people who never owned such vehicles. On other side of the coin, the incentive never reached to deserving candidates. This action gave wrong message to the public. Customers were totally dissatisfied with the customer service and support system of the company resulting a problem in the customer retention program of the company. Ineffective decision support system: the poor quality data led to inaccurate information to transaction processing system. This resulted poor reports which are tools for decision making in the Management Information System. This entire problem resulted its effect on the company on its strategic planning area i.e. Executive Information System. Human Resource Problem: Huge number of employee had to recruited throughout various branches distributed in different geographical locations. Laying off these unnecessary workforce was a big problem to the company as they had to handle the distributed information system. 3. Management Initiative to solve the problem 3.1 Installation of Centralized Database: Toyotas management called for a single centralized customer database to solve the problem regarding the data quality. The advantages of a centralized database approach can be summarized in that it leads to a system where data management and control are more effective and the ability to share data is increased. Advantages of database can be summarized as follows: Data redundancy is reduced: In the application led, file based approach; data such as employee name may be unnecessarily duplicated in various files. This is a waste of storage and can be reduced, if not entirely eliminated, in a database system. Data consistency can be maintained: A corollary of the elimination of redundancy is that update inconsistency is reduced. Some inconsistency may result unless care is taken in database design, because some duplication of data is not eliminated. Independence of data and programs is possible: In the file based approach, the application programs are closely interdependent with the file structure. For example, the payroll programs will need to ‘know how the employee file is organized in order to access to records. It makes a great deal of difference whether the file is organized sequentially by employee# or organized with an employee# index. At the level of the record, the order of the fields and the length of each will probably need to be ‘known by the program. It is not possible to change the file organization or change the record structure without changing the program or program that access it. The program is dependent on the data. In a database system, many programs will share the same data. It is not desirable to require each program to be changed when there is a change in the physical form of storage of data.( changes in physical storage can be made for reasons of technical efficiency.) The database management system maintains the same view of the data to the accessing program no matter how the data may be reorganized physically on the disk. A logical view is presented to the user or user programs: following from the last point, it is clear that the view of the data presented to the users or user programs must be independent to the physical storage details it must be logical. Many database management systems allow different logical views of the same data to be presented to different users or programs. This is important as it frees programmers from a need to pay attention to the physical details of storage and allows them to concentrate on the applications to be coded. In the example covered earlier in this chapter, it is much easier for programmers to develop the cost allocation program if it is not necessary to consider the physical details of data retrieval. Program can concentrate on how to do a task, not on how to obtain the data to do Applications development is enhanced because data sharing is possible: The ability to use the database management system to retrieve data across the database in any required form once it has been stored opens up the range of applications for which the existing data can be used. Standards can be enforced: The factor that all access to data occurs via the database management system allows the individual responsible for this , the database administrator (DBA), to ensure that applications standards are followed in the representation of data. Security is more easily implemented: The DBA will control access to the database. The DBA can ensure that authorization code for users are set restricting their access to only parts of the database and for only for the functions (read,write,copy)that are legitimate to their data purposes. Databases allow more effective control over access than the dispersal of responsibility associated with file- based systems. However, a breach of security may lead to a greater risk, as more data is accessible than with a traditional file- based system. (Curtis,G.,Cobham,D.(2002) 3.2 Application of Informaticas Power Mart: Informatica is data integration software. Thousands of companies rely on the informaticas platform to lower the IT costs and gain greater business value from all their information assets both on-premise in traditional IT computing system and in the internet cloud. Two main elements of this software are : Data mining It is a collection of tools and techniques. It is one of the several technologies required to support a customer-centric enterprise. In broader sense, data mining is an attitude that business actions should be based on learning that informed decisions are better than uninformed decisions, and that measuring resulting is beneficial to the business. Data mining is also a process and methodology for applying the tool and techniques for effective relationship with its customers. (Berry, Michael J. A.Linoff, Gordon S. 2004) Data mining helped Toyota to identify the hidden trends in the database. Various software modules present in the data mining were used to realize the dependency of data and its relationship with other entities in the database repository. This helped Toyota to make decision in the real-time. Data Warehousing Data warehousing is a logical repository of an organizations electronically stored data. It fulfills the organizations need for reliable, consodiated,unique and reporting and analysis of its data at different levels within the organization. The practical reality of Toyota is that their data infrastructure was made up by a collection of heterogeneous systems like customer relationship management, Enterprise Resource planning, transaction processing system, decision support system etc, throughout all the branches distributed in different geographical locations. so same information of different entities were repeated all over in the database. Data warehousing tools and module helped to keep these information in more scientific way in the form of data marts. Some of the benefits that a data warehouse provided are as follows: A data warehouse provided a common data model for all data created whatever the datas source may be. So it was easier to report and analyze information Before storing data into the data warehouse, inconsistent data were identified and resolved which made it easy to report and analyze the trend of data. The information in the warehouse can be stored safely for long periods of time. Data warehouses provide retrieval of data without slowing down operational systems because they were separated from operational system. Data warehouses added the value of operational business applications especially CRM. Data warehouses helped decision support system applications to produce trend reports, exception reports, and reports that show actual performance versus goals. 4. Conclusion: By implementing a new information system, Toyota was able to maintain data quality within the database. As we know â€Å"Too much of Information kill information†, the main challenge in every business is not creating and storing the information but the challenge lie on the capability of company to manage it and use it as par need. Efficient management of the database helped Toyota to increased its annual vehicle sales revenue from 750000 to 1.7 million. This is a huge financial benefit to the company from market share viewpoint. Toyota also gained the intangible benefits of ‘first-mover advantage which made them a leader in using a new process or system that were difficult for competitors to follow yielding strategic competitive advantage. This helped them to stay in the business despite of the huge system failure. Other intangible benefits like staff morale, customer satisfaction,reputation,customer-management, value chain management, organizational learning were also o bserved by the management.

Enhancement of Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

Enhancement of Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting Enhancement of photocatalytic overall water splitting on H1.9K0.3La0.5Bi0.1Ta2O7 by loading Pt, Rh(oxide) as co-catalysts Wei Chen, Hui Wang, Liqun Mao, Xiaoping Chen, Wenfeng Shangguan Abstract: Pt and Rh were loaded on protonated layered pervoskite H1.9K0.3La0.5Bi0.1Ta2O7 by an in suit photodeposition method. The Rh loading facilitates the O2 evolution and the H2/O2 is close to stoichiometric ratio (≈ 2). Yet the Pt loading is unable to improve the O2 evolution, although the photocatalytic activity for H2 evolution was enhanced apparently. The different effect of Pt and Rh on phtocatalytic activity for H2 or O2 evolution is due to the chemical states of Pt and Rh on HKLBT. The Pt particles loaded on HKLBT by photodepositon are Pt0, functioning as activity sites for H2 evolution. However, the Rh particles loaded on HKLBT are not only Rh0, but also RhO2, which provide the activity sites for O2 evolution by means of reducing the overpotential of O2 evolution. 1 Introduction Photocatalytic water splitting has attracted much attention in the past decades for producing clean and renewable hydrogen energy[1-3]. The photocatalytic water splitting contains both water reduction process(for H2) and water oxidation(for O2) process. Currently, the water oxidation process is consider as a key bottleneck in photocatalytic reaction[4]. The difficulty of water oxidation is due to the high overpotential of O2 evolution, which is attributed to charge trapping by surface states and slow oxygen evolution kinetics[5-7]. This is also explaining why some photocatalytic reactions in pure water only produce H2 without O2 (or H2/O2>2). Therefore, providing the activity sites for oxygen evolution to reduce the overprotential is a key task on overall water splitting. It has reported that co-catalysts such as NiO[8], RuO2[9], Mn2O3[10] loading on photocatalysts play an very important role on achieving overall water splitting by mean of providing the activity sites or inhibiting t he occurrence of backward reaction. However, almost all of metal oxides loading on photocatalytic materials need heat-treatment, which is harmful to some materials with less heat-resistant, such as protonated layered materials[11], metal (oxy)sulfide[12] and metal (oxy)nitride[13], etc. Recently, Kudo et al[14] loaded PbO2 from Pb2+ by a photodeposition method without heat-treatment, indicating that oxides also are loaded by oxidation of photogenerated holes, which will provide us with a feasible way to load metal oxides on photocataytic materials by a photodeposition method. In our previous study, we found that, although protonated layered perovskite H1.9K0.3La0.5Bi0.1Ta2O7 showed high activity for overall water splitting, the ratio of H2/O2 was stoichiometric[15,16]. In addition, H1.9K0.3La0.5Bi0.1Ta2O7 (HKLBT) possesses weak heat endurance and the heat-treatment would result the collapse of layer structure. Herein, we report Rh oxide loading on HKLBT by in suit photodepositon to provide the activity sites for Oxygen evolution and enhance photocatalytic water splitting. The chemical sates of Pt, Rh loading on HKLBT are investigated. The effects of co-catalysts on water splitting, especially for oxygen evolution, are also discussed. 2 Experimental 2.1 Preparation of materials The protonated layered perovskite oxides H1.9K0.3La0.5Bi0.1Ta2O7was prepared according to the method presented in our previous papers[15]. The detail processes are as follows: (1)The layered compound K0.5La0.5Bi2Ta2O9 were prepared by the polymerized complex method as follows. 60 mL methanol was used as a solvent to dissolve 0.006 mol of TaCl5. A large excess of citric acid (CA, 0.09 mol) was added into the methanol solution with continuous stirring. After achieving complete dissolution, 0.006 mol Bi(NO3)3 ·5H2O, 0.0015 mol La(NO3)3 ·nH2O, and 0.00825 mol K2CO3 were added to the solution. The mixture was then magnetically stirred for 1 h to afford a transparent solution and 0.36 mol of ethylene glycol (EG) was added to this solution. Then, the solution was heated at 130  ºC to promote esterification between EG and CA, yielding brown resin. The resin was then calcined at 350 oC for 1 h to form black solid mass. The resulting black powder was calcined on an Al2O3 plate at 650  ºC for 2 h in air, then calcined at 900  ºC for 6 h to obtain K0.5La0.5Bi2Ta2O9 (denoted as KLBT). (2) Proton exchange reaction: KLBT (0.8g) was performed in 250 mL of 3 M HCl solution for 72 h at room temperature with replacement of the acid every 24 h, and then the product was washed with deionized water and dried at 60  ºC for 3 h to remove the water on the surface of potocatalysts to obtain HKLBT. 2.2 Characterizations The UV-vis diffuse reflection spectra (DRS) were determined by a UV-vis spectrophotometer UV-2450 (Shimadzu, Japan) and were converted to absorbance by the Kulbelka-Munk method. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements were conducted using a JEM-2100F (Japan). The surface electronic state was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, Shimadzu-Kratos, Axis Ultra DLD, Japan). All the binding energy (BE) values were calibrated by using the standard BE value of contaminant carbon (C1s =284.6 eV) as a reference. 2.3 In suit photodeposition and photocataltyic reaction The in suit photodeposition and photocatalytic reactions were carried out in a 350 ml top irradiation reaction Quartz cell at room temperature and a 250 W high-press Hg lamp was used as the light source. The catalyst powder (50 mg) was suspended in 60 ml aqueous solution containing a certain amount of (NH3)4PtCl2 and Rh(NO3)2 solution by magnetic stirring. At initial stage (about 2 h), Pt or Rh species were gradually deposited on the surface of HKLBT. After 2 h, generated gases were analyzed by an on-line GC with TCD detector (Huaai, GC9160, China, MS-5A, argon Argon as carrier gas). 3 Results and discussion 3.1 UV-vis DRS The UV-vis diffuse reflection spectra (DRS) of naked HKLBT and Pt (Rh)/HKLBT photocatalyts are shown in Fig 1. The absorption edges of HKLBT loading Pt or Rh have no notable change. However, after in suit photodeposition, the spectrum longer than 320nm exhibit new weak absorptions, which are ascribe to the adsorption of Pt or Rh(oxides) on the surface of HKLBT. The result indicates co-catalysts loaded on photocatalyst successfully as well. 3.2 TEM and XPS analysis The representative HRTEM images of Rh/HKLBT and Pt/HKLBT are shown in Fig 2. Fig 2a shows that the size of the Rh on HKLBT is about 5-10 nm. The lattice fringes of Rh and HKLBT can be observed clearly, suggesting the well-defined crystal structure. The lattice fringes with d spacing of ca. 0.251 nm and 0.184 nm can be assigned to the (101) lattice plane of RhO2 and (002) lattice plane of Rh0, respectively. The result is indicatinged that Rh particles photodeposited on HKLBT contain two different Rh species. The fig 2b shows the lattice fringe with d value of ca. 0.197 nm corresponds to the (200) lattice plane of Pt0, suggesting that Pt2+ was photo-reduced to Pt metal by photogenerated electrons instead of being oxideted by holes. The chemical states of Rh and Pt species on HKLBT photocatalysts were investigated by the XPS. Fig 3 shows the Rh 3d (a) and Pt 4f (b) binding energy spectra of Pt/HKLBT and Rh/HKLBT. As shown in Fig 3a, the Rh 3d5/2 XPS spectrum displays broad peaks and has been fitted to two overlapped peaks at ca 307.2 eV and 309.2 eV. The low binding energy at 307.2 eV is attributed to the Rh0[17], and the high binding energy at 309.2 eV is ascribed to RhO2[18], demonstrating further Rh photodeposited on HKLBT possesses two chemical states. The result is good agreement with the HRTEM result. The spectrum for the Pt7/2 (Fig 3b) exhibits two major peaks with binding energies of ca. 70.8 and 72.3 eV, which are assigned to Pt0 and Pt0 with adsorbed oxygen(Pt0-Oads) based on the previous report by kimi et al[19]. Photocatalytic water splitting activities of Pt/HKLB and Rh/HKLBT(à ¥Ã‚ ¤Ã‚ §Ãƒ ¤Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ®) Table 1 lists the rates of H2 and O2 on HKLBT loaded with different amounts of Pt-cocatalyst and Rh-catalyst by photodepositon method. As shown in table1, the photocataytic activity of HKLBT was improved by Pt or Rh loading. The highest hydrogen evolution rate was obtained when the amount of cocatalytsts was 0.3wt%, which reached the 2.0 times (Pt) and 1.2 times(Rh) of naked photocatalyst, indicating cocatalysts provide catalytic active sites for water splitting. Excess loading of cocatalysts caused a decrease of photocatalytic activityà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’because the excessive Pt or Rh loaded on HKLBT would not only block the absorption to light photon but become the recombination centers of carriers as well[20]. Moreover, it is noteworthy that Pt loading enhanced remarkably the photocatalytic activity of H2 evolution instead of O2 evolution, and the H2/O2 is also deviating from the stoichiometric ratio. Instead, the photocataytic O2 production is considerably promoted by Rh loading and the ratio of H2 to O2 is close to 2, when the amount of Rh loading is 0.3 wt%. If photocatalytic reaction occurred, the photocatalytic materials not only need to meet requirement of energy, but also have enough activity sites for H2 and O2 evolution. Generally, during an overall water splitting reaction, active sites of O2 evolution are more important than that of hydrogen evolution, due to high overpotential of O2 evolution of photocatalyst[4]. It has been reported, some metal oxides cocatalysts, such as RuO2, IrO2, are good candidates as cocatalysts for enhancing O2 evolution by reducing the overpotential of O2 evolution[9,21]. Valdà ©s er al[22]also reported that the overpotentials of O2 evolution on RuO2, IrO2 and RhO2 were relative low (2 evolution from the surface of the photocatalysts. In our study, Pt0 particles photocdeposited on HKLBT only function as activity sites for H2 evolution, while the activity sites for O2 evolution are insufficiency as well. In contrast, Rh species loaded on HKLBT was not only reduced by electrons to Rh0, but oxidated by ho les to RhO2, which is benefit to O2 evolution. To further demonstrate the effect of RhO2 on O2 evolution, the photocatalytic O2 evolution of HKLBT, Pt/HKLBT and Rh/HKLBT in FeCl3 aqueous solution was carried out(Fig 4). As shown in Fig4, It can be clearly observed that the photocatalytic O2 evolution of Rh/HKLBT is higher than that of both Pt/HKLBT and naked HKLBT, indicting that RhO2 functions as an O2 evolution promoter indeed[23]. Conclusion The Rh oxide (RhO2) was loaded on HKBT by in suit photodeposition method without heat-treatment. Compared to Pt, the Rh oxide on the surface of the HKLBT is able to enhance the photocatalytic O2 evolution, and the ratio of H2 to O2 is stoichiometric ratio (H2/O2=2). The enhancement of O2 is due to the decrease of overpotential of O2 evolution by means of RhO2. The present work is also providing a possibility without heat-treatment to load metal oxides on photocatalyst with low heat stability for overall water splitting. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (2012AA051501), the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (2009CB220000)à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51072116) and the International Cooperation Project of Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission (12160705700). Reference [1] A Kudo , Y Miseki. Chemical Society Reviews 38 (2009) 253-278 [2] X Chen, S Shen, L Guo, S Mao, Chemical review 110 (2010) 6503-6570 [3] K Maeda, Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews 12 (2011) 237-268 [4] M Kanan, D Nocera, Science 321 (2008) 1072-1075 [5] Z Fang, D Dixon, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 117( 2013) 3539-3555 [6] A Vojvodic, J Nà ¸rskov, Science 334 (2011) 1355-1356 [7] Y Li, Z Liu, L Liu, W Gao, Journal of American Chemical Society 132 (2010) 13008-13015 [8] T Townsend, N Browning, F Osterloh. ACS NANO 6 (2012) 7420-7426 [9] LM Martà ­nez, R Gà ³mez, V Cuchillo, J Ramà ­rez, A Cruz-Là ³pez, FJ Alejandre-Sandoval, Catalysis Communications 12 (2010) 268-272 [10] K Maeda, A Xiong, T Yoshinaga, T Ikeda, N Sakamoto, T Hisatomi, M Takashima, D Lu, M Kanehara, T Setoyama, T Teranishi, K Domen, Angewandte International Edition Chemie 49 (2010) 4096-4099 [11] Y Tsunoda, M Shirata, W Sugimoto, Z Liu, O Terasaki, K Kuroda, Y Sugahara, Inorganic Chemistry 40 (2001) 5768-5771 [12] X Chen, W Chen, P Lin, Y Yang, H Gao, J Yuan, W Shangguan. Catalysis Communications 36 (2013) 104-108 [13] A Kasahara, K Nukumizu, G Hitoki, T Takata, J Kondo, M Hara, H Kobayshi, K Domen, Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 106 (2002) 6750-6753 [14] Y Miseki, H Kato, A Kudo, Energy Environmental Science 2 (2009) 306-314 [15] W Chen, C Li, H Gao, J Yuan, W Shangguan, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 37 (2012) 12846-12851 [16] W Chen, H Gao, Y Yang, P Lin, J Yuan, W Shangguan, J Su, S Zhou, Acta Physico-Chimica Sinica 28 (2012) 2911-2916 [17] C Yu, K Yang, W Zhou, Q Fan, L Wei, J Yu, Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 74 (2013) 1714-1720 [18] Z Weng-Sieh, R Gronsky, A Bell, Journal of Catalysis 170 (1997) 62-74 [19] K Kim, N Winograd, R Davis, Journal of the American Chemical society 17 (1971) 6278-6279 [20] X Zong, J Han, G Ma, H Yan, G Wu, C Li, Journal of Physical Chemistry C 115 (2011) 12202-12208 [21] E Sabio, R Chamousis, N Browning, F Osterloh. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 116 (2012) 3161-3170 [22] à  Valdà ©s, J Brillet, M Grà ¤tzel, H Gudmundsdà ³ttir, H Hansen, H Jà ³nsson, P Klà ¼pfel, G Kroes, F Formal, I Man, R Martins, J Nà ¸rskov, J Rossmeisl, K Sivula, A Vojvodic, M Zà ¤ch, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 14 (2012) 49-70 [23] A Iwase, H Kato, A Kudo, Applied Catalyisi B: Environmental 136-137 (2013) 89-93 Fig 1 UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of naked HKLBT, Pt/HKLBT and Rh/HKLBT Fig 2 TEM images of Rh/HKLBT (a) and Pt/HKLBT (b) Fig 3 XPS spectra for Rh 3d and Pt 4f of 0.3wt%Rh/HKLBT and 0.2wt%Pt/HKLBT Table 1 Photocatalytic overall water splitting on Pt/HKLBT and Rh/HKLBT Co-catalyst Loading content(wt%) Gas evolution (ÃŽ ¼mol ·h-1)a H2 O2 H2/O2 ratio none 122.8 33.7 3.6 Pt 0.1 163.40 51.9 3.2 Pt 0.3 242.7 72.5 3.3 Pt 0.5 210.8 72.9 2.9 Rh 0.1 133.5 39.0 3.4 Rh 0.3 146.1 67.9 2.1 Rh 0.5 65.3 31.2 2.1 Photocatlaytic reaction conditions: 50 mg catalyst, 250 W high pressure Hg lamp (ÃŽ »>200 nm), 60 ml pure water a Average rate of H2 and O2 in 4 h Fig 5 Photocatalytic O2 evolution from FeCl3 aqueous solution over naked HKLBT, Pt/HKLBT and Rh/HKLBT (30 mg catalytst, 250 W high pressure Hg lamp, 60 ml 0.05 mol/L FeCl3 )

Anabolic Steroid Use in Major League Baseball (MLB) - Steroids Must be

Anabolic Steroid Use in Major League Baseball (MLB) - Steroids Must be Banned Athletes, whether they are young or old, pro or amateur, are always looking to gain an advantage over their opponent. Some may look towards an anabolic steroid, a powerful drug that many people take in order to boost athletic performance. But are these anabolic steroids safe for the human body? Many doctors think the answer to this question is no. The use of steroids in the MLB should be banned, as they are now. In the 1930’s, steroids were known to be used for homosexuals to lower there testosterone. In the past few decades, steroids have been found mostly in college, the Olympics, and in professional sports. But today, steroids are being found in middle and high schools. Most commonly, steroids have been found in athletes involved in sports that rely on strength and size, like football, wrestling, or baseball, in endurance athletes where athletes are involved in track-and-field and swimming, in athletes involved in weight training or bodybuilding, and in anyone interested in building and defining...

Transcendentalism Essay -- essays papers

Transcendentalism The highly religious philosophy of Transcendentalism developed as the response of a group of people who felt that it was unnecessary to practice a religion (and live a life) that was based on fear. The first Transcendentalists set out to create a more liberal way of life that allowed for personal growth, justice and freedom. To truly understand the implications of Transcendentalism and why Transcendentalists believed what they did, one must first look at the root of Transcendentalism, Unitarianism. Unitarians were a liberal, cutting edge group of people that completely discarded the standards of Calvinism. Where Calvinists believed that man had a degraded and depraved nature, Unitarians believed that people are basically good. Where Calvinists believed that knowledge of God and ethics came to people through the Bible and Clergy, Unitarians believed that people were capable of discerning truth and goodness with their own capabilities. Unitarians rejected the ideas that people were born into sin and that one had to work hard and suffer all of one’s life in order to secure passage into heaven. Moreover, they strongly advocated the idea that people had free will and that rational thinking was the way into heaven. One particular Unitarian, William Ellery Channing helped personify the ideas and ideals held by Unitarians. William Channing (1780-1842) was a pastor at the Federal Street Church in Boston and stressed the idea that it was an individual’s responsibility to listen and act according to his own conscience. Channing also supported the humanitarian reform and helped to link the liberal ideas of Unitarianism to those of humanitarianism. Channing managed to balance the rationalism of Unitarianism with a concern for the welfare of humanity. As time went on, the ways of Unitarianism began to change and the pillars of the religion began to evolve into something that struck many as â€Å"distressingly cold and formal† and â€Å"vague and passionless.† (The National Experience, pg. 261). The religion was also beginning to focus more on material success, rather than spiritual well being. While the foundation of Unitarianism began to lose its fervor, a new movement was forming. In and around Boston, a romantic movement was beginning and the rational ideas of Unitarianism began to lose favor. Romanticists rejected the idea that e... ...chings that men are evil and corrupt. The origins of the spiritual movement of Transcendentalism were fueled not only by religions of the day, but by a yearning for something more than what was believed in those religions. The rise of Transcendentalism was due to the transformation of Unitarianism as well as the beginning of a romantic movement which opened people’s eyes to the idea that everything could not be proven through rational thought. This idea paired with the thought that people were essentially good opened the door to a society based on human decency rather than fear. Bibliography 1. Rose, Anne. Transcendentalism As A Social Movement, 1830-1850. Michigan: Edward Brothers, Inc., Copyright 1981, pg. 93-95. 2. Blum, John; McFeely, William; Morgan, Edmund; Schlesinger, Arthur; Stampp, Kenneth and Woodward, C. The National Experience. Orlando, FL: Hartcourt Brace, Inc. Copyright 1993, pg. 260-262. 3. â€Å"Transcendentalism,† Compton’s Encyclopedia. Volume 23, Copyright 1990, pg. 248 4. â€Å"Transcendentalism,† Collier’s Encyclopedia. Copyright 1994, pg 405-406. 5. â€Å"Ralph Waldo Emerson,† Dictionary of American Biography. Volume 3, Copyright 1959, pg. 132-141. Transcendentalism Essay -- essays papers Transcendentalism The highly religious philosophy of Transcendentalism developed as the response of a group of people who felt that it was unnecessary to practice a religion (and live a life) that was based on fear. The first Transcendentalists set out to create a more liberal way of life that allowed for personal growth, justice and freedom. To truly understand the implications of Transcendentalism and why Transcendentalists believed what they did, one must first look at the root of Transcendentalism, Unitarianism. Unitarians were a liberal, cutting edge group of people that completely discarded the standards of Calvinism. Where Calvinists believed that man had a degraded and depraved nature, Unitarians believed that people are basically good. Where Calvinists believed that knowledge of God and ethics came to people through the Bible and Clergy, Unitarians believed that people were capable of discerning truth and goodness with their own capabilities. Unitarians rejected the ideas that people were born into sin and that one had to work hard and suffer all of one’s life in order to secure passage into heaven. Moreover, they strongly advocated the idea that people had free will and that rational thinking was the way into heaven. One particular Unitarian, William Ellery Channing helped personify the ideas and ideals held by Unitarians. William Channing (1780-1842) was a pastor at the Federal Street Church in Boston and stressed the idea that it was an individual’s responsibility to listen and act according to his own conscience. Channing also supported the humanitarian reform and helped to link the liberal ideas of Unitarianism to those of humanitarianism. Channing managed to balance the rationalism of Unitarianism with a concern for the welfare of humanity. As time went on, the ways of Unitarianism began to change and the pillars of the religion began to evolve into something that struck many as â€Å"distressingly cold and formal† and â€Å"vague and passionless.† (The National Experience, pg. 261). The religion was also beginning to focus more on material success, rather than spiritual well being. While the foundation of Unitarianism began to lose its fervor, a new movement was forming. In and around Boston, a romantic movement was beginning and the rational ideas of Unitarianism began to lose favor. Romanticists rejected the idea that e... ...chings that men are evil and corrupt. The origins of the spiritual movement of Transcendentalism were fueled not only by religions of the day, but by a yearning for something more than what was believed in those religions. The rise of Transcendentalism was due to the transformation of Unitarianism as well as the beginning of a romantic movement which opened people’s eyes to the idea that everything could not be proven through rational thought. This idea paired with the thought that people were essentially good opened the door to a society based on human decency rather than fear. Bibliography 1. Rose, Anne. Transcendentalism As A Social Movement, 1830-1850. Michigan: Edward Brothers, Inc., Copyright 1981, pg. 93-95. 2. Blum, John; McFeely, William; Morgan, Edmund; Schlesinger, Arthur; Stampp, Kenneth and Woodward, C. The National Experience. Orlando, FL: Hartcourt Brace, Inc. Copyright 1993, pg. 260-262. 3. â€Å"Transcendentalism,† Compton’s Encyclopedia. Volume 23, Copyright 1990, pg. 248 4. â€Å"Transcendentalism,† Collier’s Encyclopedia. Copyright 1994, pg 405-406. 5. â€Å"Ralph Waldo Emerson,† Dictionary of American Biography. Volume 3, Copyright 1959, pg. 132-141.

Interest Groups and Government Policies Essay

Interest groups help communicate and legitimize government policies in several ways. As instability is sure to attract political activity[1], it also attracts interest groups to meddle in such political activity. When certain government policies conflict with the specific interests of these groups, they can call the attention of the government through public demonstrations or protests. They can also use mass media to inform the general public about their views on certain government policies, thereby communicating not only their position on the issues involved but also the government policies being addressed. On the other hand, when certain government policies support the interests of these groups, they can further enhance the legitimacy of such policies by conducting a public forum designed to increase the public’s awareness on such policies, thereby gathering more public support. Even without interest groups, communicating and legitimating government policies can still be achieved. For the most part, people can still organize themselves without holding a collective interest other than the inclination to either support or protest an existing government policy. Since a more developed country is most likely populated by more interest groups[2], governments faced with the task of issuing specific policies in order to foster economic growth are most likely to face opposition from certain interest groups who oppose such policies. One example is when a government decides to issue a policy of free trade in response to the need of increasing the country’s trading activities so as to stimulate the economy. Interest groups opposing the government policy of free trade can stage demonstrations in public locations. Doing so can increase their chances of being heard by the government and, in consequence, compelling the government to adjust its policies accordingly. At the same time, these interest groups will openly communicate to the public the reasons why they oppose the policy without forcing them to join their cause. At the least, public demonstrations serve the purpose of informing the public and the government that a sector of the society opposes certain government policies. Mass media plays a key role in communicating the views of interest groups towards government policies. Since individuals interact with issues emphasized in media coverage[3], there is reason to believe that interest groups can reach and influence public perception through mass media in general. Interest groups can publish their articles through paid newspaper column space on a specific date of issue that they feel will have a lasting and strong impression on readers. Interest groups opposing specific provisions in government policies on healthcare, for instance, can pay for a space in a major newspaper where they can state their reasons for opposing the provisions and the alternatives that can be done. The method will most likely reach a large part of the population due to the large circulation of a major newspaper, thereby informing a broad segment of the public. Television and radio shows also provide avenues for interest groups to communicate to the public their position on government policies. For example, an interest group opposing the existing government policy on carbon emissions can either make a request to television networks to provide them with a show where they can air their views or accept invitations for discussions or interviews on television. Whether or not these interest groups are able to convince the viewing public, it is likely that they are still able to communicate a portion of the substance of the government policy on carbon emissions. On the other hand, interest groups can also legitimize government policies, especially those that are aligned with their concerns. One way of achieving it is to conduct a public forum where people can participate or simply listen to discussions about the policies. For instance, interest groups can hold a public forum in the town hall and discuss immediate concerns regarding the current government policy on immigration. With the immigration policy favoring their side, these interest groups can disseminate the information about the benefits of the policy which can eventually translate to more public support. Since the key principle is that the people is the source of the government’s power, public discussions conducted by interest groups which are able to gather public support for government policies further legitimize such policies. The pressure of interest groups to their Congressional Representatives can also legitimize government policies. Letters to Congressional Representatives coming from interest groups can help inform these representatives that a portion of their constituents are in support of a government policy that the representative may or may not actually favor. Through such letters, interest groups can put a pressure on their dissenting representatives to favor the government policy regardless of political affiliations. Signature campaigns when taken together with letters to Congressional Representatives can add more weight to the support given to government policies, giving these representatives more reason to align their positions with the public perception. Nevertheless, government policies can be communicated or legitimized to a certain degree despite the absence of interest groups. Other ways to achieve the goal of communicating and legitimizing government policies include signature campaigns, public dialogue with government officials and infomercials sponsored by the government. Through the initiative of a few individuals, signature campaigns can be launched in support of or opposition to certain government policies. Signature campaigns of this nature do not necessarily require the leadership of interest groups since private individuals can also gather public signatures even without an affiliation to any specific interest group. The purpose is to simply gather signatures as many as possible without attempting to form a formal group out of the total number of participants. Public dialogue with government officials can also be a way to inform the public about government policies. The dialogue can be sponsored by the office of the concerned government official or the local members of the community. Through dialogue, government officials are able to discuss in detail the purpose and nature of certain government policies. People are also given the chance to ask relevant questions to the government official whose response can further inform the public. Airing infomercials over the television or radio is also a way for the government to communicate its policies to the public and to further show the legitimacy of such policies. Since an infomercial is basically a â€Å"one-way† type of communication, it can simply inform the public about government policies at best. Government policies communicated to the public through radio or television infomercials are already assumed to be legitimate; the government is presumed to disseminate information about government policies that are lawful and approved by the concerned government agency. Despite the possibility of communicating and legitimating government policies in the absence of interest groups, it is better if interest groups are still able to challenge or reaffirm government policies especially when taken in the context of a democratic society. The presence of interest groups can indicate the health of the political activity in any country. In their absence, the legislature and the government in general may possibly overlook vital social and political concerns or abuse their power to create and enforce policies. Bibliography Bischoff, Ivo. â€Å"Determinants of the Increase in the Number of Interest Groups in Western Democracies: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence from 21 OECD Countries.† Public Choice 114, no. 1/2 (2003): 197-218. Domke, David, Dhavan V. Shah, and Daniel B. Wackman. â€Å"Rights and Morals, Issues, and Candidate Integrity: Insights into the Role of the News Media.† Political Psychology 21, no. 4 (2000): 641-65. Levmore, Saul. â€Å"Voting Paradoxes and Interest Groups.† The Journal of Legal Studies 28, no. 2 (1999): 259-81.