Summary of Medieval and Renaissance Criticism Essay Example For Students

Summary of Medieval and Renaissance Criticism Essay W. H Atkins published in 1952. One major development in this age is the adoption of Christianity as the religion of the Mediterranean region. Roman Catholicism prevailed in Western Europe. Classical elements were absorbed in the Medieval Age, sometimes modified and later became a part of it. Many pagan literature were incorporated into the medieval ethos(character). The critical terms in vogue during the Classical Age were popular with the writers of the age and they even followed the prescriptions on the art of composition as laid down by the rhetoricians of the previous age. We will write a custom essay on Summary of Medieval and Renaissance Criticism specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Medieval Criticism systematically classified literature under grammar, rhetoric and poetry. The Medieval Age developed a systematic poetic grammar. The term grammar meant the science of correct speaking and reading curriculum for poets which was for the formation of the basis of literary creation and development eloquent speech. This grammar curriculum provided for the humbugging influence in the Middle Ages. Another form of criticism was prosody; the study of versification and scansion. Prosody was meant to provide basic training for prospective poets in the basic poetic forms. Horace had a clear influence on the Middle Ages. There was always a debate as to which logic or grammar should gain precedence over the other. Poetry was considered a prophecy or revelation and was equal to philosophy in the Old World. A considerable amount of medieval criticism dealt with biblical criticism and mysticism and allegorical reading of works. The poets were theologians and their poetry was the overflow of moments of inspiration. Poetry existed with and in grammar, rhetoric, logic and philosophy. Medieval criticism may be divided into five broad periods:- 1 . Late Classical (1st century BC to 7th century AD). 2. Carolingian (8th century to 10th century). . Scholastic (13th century to 14th century). 5. Humanist (14th century to 16th century). Medieval theory was based on a divine plan in which the function of literature was supposed to help and individual to become a better Christian. Though the Middle Ages were a dark period, there are some works which tell us that these were the ones that prepared the ground for Renais sance thought, and later, a continuous critical tradition. There was an educational system following the Roman model which encouraged cultivation of poetry. A critical climate developed slowly. There were a few works of notable significance. In the 7th century, Bed and Alicia expounded grammar, logic and Biblical and Christian poetry. In the 12th century, John Salisbury and a few classical theorists infused life into literary studies. In the 13th century Geoffrey of Finials and Josh Garland taught techniques in poetic composition using manuals, theorizing at its infancy. Roger Bacon and Richard of Bury kindled enthusiasm for poetry and literature. The Owl and the Nightingale(circa 1210) written by and unknown poem, a debate poem is the earliest surviving English lyrics of medieval period expressing a native and pure English sensibility. The strength of the poem lies in its use of the vernacular. The employment of colloquial language as spoken by the common people, and the proverbs used in the dialogue carry the age-old wisdom of the English nation. This can be seen as a forerunner of the movement towards the use of the vernacular in English poetry. Dante Aligner (1256-1321) too defended the use of the native or vernacular medium rather than the courtly Latin for literary composition. He set an example in composing Divine Comedic in Italian, thus establishing spoken dialect for use in serious epic poetry. According to him, secular poetry also had hierarchy of four levels of meanings corresponding to the four levels f scriptural exegesis the literal, the allegorical, moral and spiritual. He maintained that it was essential for a practicing critic to analyses and understand the literal sense first before he moved on to more appealing and edifying senses of higher levels of symbolic or esoteric meaning. The term Renaissance is of Italian origin meaning rebirth or reawakening. .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 , .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .postImageUrl , .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 , .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:hover , .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:visited , .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:active { border:0!important; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:active , .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162 .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ub5e1f7c9810aa2bb1cdcc8448c0d2162:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Italian vs. Northern Renaissance ArtIt stands for the historical rebirth of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. The movement initially started in Italy and later spread to France, Germany, England and other European countries. There are two views regarding the Renaissance movement One view is that the Europeans believed they have discovered the greatness and superiority of the ancient Greek and Roman culture after the dark Middle Age. The other view is that the Renaissance was not an abrupt movement, but had its roots established even during the medieval times and the movement was one of gradual progression. There was a revival in the study of arts and literature, sparked by an interest in Greek and Roman literature of the Classical Age. The classics were reinterpreted by Italian men of letters. The widening of the horizon of knowledge was accelerated by ringing technology. The focus of interest in study shifted from abstract notions such dignity associated with him became the subject of study,. Literary criticism during Renaissance was tasked with Justifying imaginative literature. The basic belief was that literature was the by- product of theology or philosophy. Literature was not evaluated through criteria. The yard stick for Judging poetry was neither literary nor critical. During the Renaissance, a large body of literature of the past was recovered and the real task was to establish Justifiable considerations by which these works could be Justly estimated. One other task was to seek a Just and proper answer to Plats refutation and objections raised in his dialogues and the Republic. Many Renaissance scholars successfully answered these charges by blaming the artist and not the art. Those who abuse art and betray the sacred office of art should be banished from all commonwealth. Renaissance criticism took upon itself the prime duty of uniting and reconciling the best elements in Aristotle and Horace and establishing literary criticism as an independent field of study. Prominent Renaissance critics are Patriarch, Scalier, Minotaur, Biochip and the Italian Roberto and Castellated. The greatest and most important work of this age is Kidneys Apologia for Poetry. Elizabethan criticism exhibits two traits. First, there is in existence a complete body of critical works of the Renaissance and secondly, it shares several characteristics with the works of other European countries associated with the Renaissance. English Renaissance is not an isolated phenomenon. It exhibits a clear line of progression falling into the following demarcations. There are mostly rhetorical studies of literature in the first stage of evolution. Thomas Willows Art of Rhetoric (1553) is probably the first work of criticism in English language. Roger Chasms Schoolmaster(1 568) and Richard Towels Towels Miscellany(1 559) are two other important works. The English came to learn that form and style were important considerations in literary appreciation. It was during this period that English poetry was Italianized too great extent. The second phase was a period when attention was paid to the metrics and metrical patterns in poetical composition. Art of English Poesies(1 589) by Richard Pathname and Discourse of English Poetry(1 586) by Mary Webb are the earliest works on classification of meter, and the introduction of classical meters into the English language. The third stage is the stage of philosophical criticism. Among the most prominent works of apologetic criticism of this period are Sir Phillip Kidneys Apologia for Poetry(1 583). Thomas Champions Art of English Poesy(1602) and Samuel Daniels Defended of Rhyme(1605). The fourth stage belonged to the first half of the 17th century. Ben Johnson was the important fugue during this period. He was a classicist. If Sidney taught poetry, then Johnson taught it. There is an unmistakable influence of Italian criticism here. This stage opens up a new dimension in English literary criticism when the French came on the scene. .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b , .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .postImageUrl , .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b , .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:hover , .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:visited , .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:active { border:0!important; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:active , .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ue5f323833208604606617efcd92c1d8b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: World History Renaissance Ch. 11A patriotic spirit inspired this period. Some of its characteristic features were a devotion to the national cause, commitment to classicism in a pure form and the faith that art should imitate nature. John Dryden, the poet laureate was With its emphasis on humanism based on the idea that people are rational beings and its faith in the dignity and worth of the individual, the Renaissance was a period of intellectual ferment that prepared the ground for later thinkers who arrived on the literary scene during the period of Enlightenment.

Free First Grade Mathematics Worksheets

Free First Grade Mathematics Worksheets When it comes to teaching first-grade students the common core standards of mathematics, theres no better way to practice than with worksheets geared toward repeatedly applying the same basic concepts such as counting, adding and subtracting without carrying, word problems, telling time, and calculating currency. As young mathematicians progress through their early education, they will be expected to demonstrate comprehension of these basic skills, so its important for teachers to be able to gauge their students aptitudes in the subject by administering quizzes, working one on one with each student, and by sending them home with worksheets like the ones below to practice on their own or with their parent. However, in some cases, students may require additional attention or explanation beyond what worksheets alone can offer- for this reason, teachers should also prepare demonstrations in class to help guide students through the coursework. When working with first-grade students, its important to start from where they understand and work your way up, ensuring that each students  masters each concept individually before moving on to the next topic. Click on the links in the rest of the article to discover worksheets for each of the topics addressed. Worksheets for Counting, Time, and Currency One of the first things first graders have to master is the concept of counting to 20, which will help them quickly count beyond those basic numbers and begin to understand the 100s and 1000s by the time they reach the second grade. Assigning worksheets like Order the Numbers to 50 will help teachers assess whether or not a student fully grasps the number line. Additionally, students will be expected to recognize number patterns and should practice their skills in  counting by 2s,  counting by 5s, and  counting  by 10s  and identifying whether a number is  greater than or less than to 20, and be able to parse out  mathematical equations from  word problems  like  these, which may include  ordinal numbers up to 10 In terms of practical math skills, the first grade is also an important time to ensure students understand how to  tell time  on a clock face and how to  count  U.S. coins up to 50 cents. These skills will be essential as students begin to apply two-digit addition and subtraction in the second grade. Addition and Subtraction for First Graders First-grade math students will be introduced to basic addition and subtraction, oftentimes in the form of word problems, over the course of the year, meaning they will be expected to add up to 20 and subtract numbers below fifteen, both of which wont require the students to re-group or carry the one. These concepts are easiest understood through tactile demonstration such as number blocks or tiles or through illustration or example such as showing the class a pile of 15 bananas and taking away four of them, then asking the students to calculate then count the remaining bananas. This simple display of  subtraction  will help guide students through the process of early arithmetic, which can be additionally aided by these subtraction facts to 10. Students will also be expected to demonstrate a comprehension of addition, through completing word problems that feature  addition sentences up to 10, and worksheets like Adding to 10, Adding to 15, and Adding to 20 will help teachers gauge students comprehension of the basics of simple addition. Other Worksheets and Concepts First-grade teachers may also introduce their students to a base-level knowledge of fractions, geometric shapes, and mathematical patterns, though none of them are required course material until the second and third grades. Check out Understanding 1/2, this Shape Book, and these additional  10 Geometry worksheets for late Kindergarten and Grade 1. When working with  first-grade  students, its important to start from where they are. It is also important to focus on thinking concepts. For instance, think about this word problem:  A man has 10 balloons and the wind blew 4 away. How many are left? Heres another way to ask the question:  A man was holding some balloons and the wind blew 4 away. He only has 6 balloons left, how many did he start with? Too often we ask questions where the unknown is at the end of the question, but the unknown can also be put at the beginning of the question. Explore more concepts in these extra worksheets: How Many More to 10Fill in the Missing Numbers - to 10How many less - to 10Subtraction Facts to 10 Beginning Fractions: Concept of 1/2.

Compensation policies and practices in any Saudi Company Essay

Compensation policies and practices in any Saudi Company - Essay Example The policy also holds that every employee should receive an employment contract specifying their levels of salary. This policy states that every employee of the company should receive a competitive salary and this is aims to ensure that the company is able to maintain a highly competitive workforce with high level of skills and expertise. Through this policy, it is able is able to establish a practice through which the appropriate salary is determined for all employees are therefore able to work competitively for the company. The second policy is the policy on range of salaries and on the method of payment. The range will be dependent on the level of qualification and the work experience that the employee has. The method of payment is monthly and will be dependent on the terms provided on the employment contract (PMU, 2013). Another policy that the company observes is the benefits policy which ensures that various benefits are offered to the employees. The benefits maintained in the benefits policy include an annual vacation for the employees, holidays for the employees provided by the company, offering insurance, savings and retirement plans for its employees, offering shipment for personal effects of the employees and assisting employees when undertaking their education. Another compensation policy that Saudi Aramco observes with regard to compensation of its employees is employee’s promotional policy which gives the well performing employees to higher levels in the company and this will entail a an increase in the amount of salary that the employee receives. The basis for promotion of the employees may also be upon the application for promotion by an employee. It may also be based on review of the academic records of the specific employee. Another compensation policy that south Aramco applies on its employees is overtime work policy. This policy ensures that the employees are compensated for the extra

Importance of ERP systems for its success in the business environment Dissertation

Importance of ERP systems for its success in the business environment through solutions - Dissertation Example The constant support and guidance helped in gaining multiple perspectives and understanding over the research topic. The researcher would also like to thank his professors for offering profound insights on the research topic along with helping in forming deeper understanding over the research topic. The researcher feels proud of his University on offering all the possible help and support by allowing access to the library and electronic sources. This helped in exploring the research area in a systematic manner. The help and support of family and friends often act as a support system and the researcher would like to thank his family members for being there and supporting him during the research process. Their constant motivation and guidance helped in being positive and enthusiastic while conducting the research. The researcher feels happy to state the significance of friends in terms of offering critical views and opinions along with helping in thinking differently through logical di scussions. The support and cooperation of friends helped in gaining multiple insights over the research topic along with being critical in assessing personal understanding of the research topic. Overall, the researcher would like to thank everyone who has been a constant support and medium of motivation in the research process. ... The introduction chapter introduces the research topic along with stating the aim, objectives and research questions. The chapter also explains the scope of the research topic along with highlighting its rationale. The literature review helped in investigating the elements of the ERP along with exploring its benefits and risks in the competitive business environment. The literature review also helped in investigating issues and reasons resulting in the success and failure of the ERP systems. In order to explore more, a robust research methodology has been designed using positivism research philosophy and deductive research approach to analyse secondary data and information. The findings and analysis revealed that ERP Systems succeed mainly because of the organisational culture and support, cooperation and acceptance offered by internal stakeholders. The case studies of Dell and Fox Meyer revealed that Dell succeeded in its ERP implementation mainly because of effective and judicious planning while Fox Meyer failed because there was no planning and human resources were not trained or skilled enough to handle the challenges and complexities of ERP systems. Overall, it was concluded that in order to derive benefits from ERP systems, it is important to understand the use and purpose of ERP along with assessing the organisational culture and stakeholders’ acceptance for the ERP Systems. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1.Introduction 5 1.1introduction 5 1.2 Research Aim 6 1.3 Research Objectives 6 1.4 Research Questions 6 1.5 Research Topic within the Current Academic Literature 7 1.6 Relevance of the Research Topic 9 1.7: Contemporary Nature of the Study 10 1.8 Summary 10 Chapter 2.0 Literature Review 11 2.1 Introduction 11 2.2 Elements and Modules of ERP 11 2.3

Designing a Diversity Workshop for University Faculty Incorporating Research Paper

Designing a Diversity Workshop for University Faculty Incorporating Multicultural and International Objectives - Research Paper Example Diversity, in years gone by, was not embraced. In fact, it was often shunned to the point where the country saw many colleges and universities rise to the level one race, one religion, and one culture. To continue with this practice would not only be an injustice to students around the world who have come to cherish our individual freedoms and liberties, but it would service to deny faculty and the student body alike the privilege of learning in a multi-cultural environment. Understanding and accepting people of other cultures and beliefs do not have to be a daunting task. It simply requires compassion and a desire learn from and embrace others. Our university might be small in number, but we have the capacity to develop a cultural awareness that rivals institutions much larger than our own. Our own faculty is diverse, yet we have failed to tap into this reality. We should be making use of our broad range of professional and military experience in order to better understand the diver sity existent around us and to use the knowledge to impact our student body as well. This training program has been developed with our faculty in mind. It will focus on the instructional methodologies inherent in multicultural education, and it will create a sense of global awareness amongst us all that we must be conversant with the latest educational issues, diversity, and multicultural theory. It is in so doing that we will truly become a global institution who can make a positive impact in the field of education, while embracing multicultural diversity and becoming more accepting of each student and staff member who passes through our illustrious halls. Purpose There is no mistaking that the world is becoming increasingly diverse, yet this same diversity has not been reflected in the field of higher education. According to Hill, et. al (2011), only 10% of earned Doctorates in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are represented by minority groups (p. 2 0). This not only leaves a great gap in these critical fields, but it indicates a troubling trend. If universities cannot embrace multicultural education, then society will be losing out on valuable learning opportunities moving forward. This purpose of this training workshop is to reverse this trend by providing faculty members with the tools necessary to incorporate multicultural education into the classroom, thereby encouraging diversity and an exchanging of scholarly and academic ideas across cultures. Embracing the diversity amongst us, a further purpose of this workshop will be to share various pedagogical techniques with one another that will serve to enhance our own multicultural understanding. Our students are increasingly coming from a diverse background and we must work together with all students to foster an atmosphere of understanding and respect. This begins with the faculty, each of who has valuable experience to draw from in the field of diversity education. Embracin g all people does require, to some extent, a shift in our way of thinking and the methods that we employ in our disciplines. It has been noted by some faculty members at other institutions that, â€Å"Fundamental and sustainable change is possible, given the right combination of vision, compromise, and commitment† (Grogan & Vaz, 2003, p. 35). It is this primary need for change that forms the basis for this

Impact Of Virtual Reality On The Society Media Essay

Impact Of Virtual Reality On The Society Media Essay Despite the disagreement Virtual Reality has awakened the world in enormous ways and the society should not stay dubious of the tremendous potentials it has to bring in an optimistic way a large technological development. The word virtual shares its root with virtue, a word whose original meaning denoted strength. More recently, virtual has come to describe something that possesses essence and effect without possessing form, something not quite physical, but with a measurable impact on the real. Thats certainly true of virtual worlds. Virtual reality is turning out to be the topic with many opposing viewpoints. It has become the focal point of discussion among the general public for several reasons. Conceivably, this is mostly because of all the potentials which virtual reality develops (Hoffman, 2004). However, despite the disagreement this new technology has awakened, society should not stay dubious. Virtual reality if used in an optimistic way can bring a large technological development. Military and space technology, the entertainment industry, and the physical sciences contributed to the drive to make advanced computers user friendly. Initially, complex simulators presented low-definition displays through binocular headsets. Addition of position sensors introduced motion parallax, with depth cues that created the illusion of being within a three-dimensional graphical display. The invention of a `DataGlove, whose movements could be sensed by the computer and then reconstructed in the display, enabled the observer and computer to interact with instructions given by the observer via simple hand movements such as pointing. The overall effect was that the observer experienced a computer-generated artificial or virtual reality (VR), whose credibility depended largely on the agreement between the simulated imagery and the familiar sensible world (Zimmer, 2004). Societal Impacts of VR Virtual reality applications are finding their way into the mainstream of society. Initially, the use of VR (virtual reality) was seen as valuable only to scientists and engineers whose highly specialized needs more than overcame the poor quality of the computer generated 3D images. For example, scientists can engage in molecular research by moving within molecules to examine their structures. Doctors and other medical personnel can practice elaborate or dangerous procedures before attempting them on human subjects. With special imaging software, the experience can take place on a virtual done of the patient awaiting surgery in the next room. Doctors can control a microscopic, mechanical, seeing-eye arm, through the body which can lead to better diagnoses even on patients thousands of miles away (Zimmer, 2004). Immersive virtual reality pain distraction was originated and developed by Hoffman Patterson at the Univ. of Washington Seattle and Harborview Burn Center. Source: (Hoffman H. ) Formerly, virtual reality was known as nothing but a diminutive stride ahead of video games. However, it is now understandable that this technology can be used for more realistic purposes. These purposes embrace national defense, medicinal and surgical measures and a variety of other functions. Society has not completely recognized the benefits of virtual reality as of yet because it is still under progress. The basis for virtual reality enduring in its growth for so long is mostly due to its intricacy (Riva, Mantovani, Capideville, 2007). Oddly, even though much has been printed about the possible societal impact of other rising technologies, such as genetic production and cyborgization, comparatively very less has been penned down about the impact of VR on the society (Calvert, 2002). In my point of view this may be because people may believe they already have witnessed VR, through portrayal of VR on television and cinema; the worlds of genetic production and cyborgization are less common, and yet seem proficient to transform the very concept of  ¿Ã‚ ½humans ¿Ã‚ ½ (Lang, 1996). If this is why researchers have given reduced attention to VR, this position has resulted from erroneous philosophy (Zimmer, 2004). Virtual reality has the prospective to intensely modify human society, not by destabilizing our corporeal corpse (as genetic production or cyborgization may), but by changing our insight and relations. Other medical breakthroughs have occurred when humans use specially designed hardware in virtual worlds. Two of the hardware pieces specifically are a data glove and a body suit. The data glove fits the hand and has tiny sensors that record and transmit data about even the smallest movements of the fingers, hand, and wrist (Riva, 2005). Doctors have been able to use this information to identify and evaluate neuromuscular diseases of the hands. The data suit collects information about the human torso or even the entire body. With it, scientists can help individuals who have experienced leg traumas to learn to walk again. One researcher has even noted that disabled kids may someday engage in virtual rugby (Anderson Bushman, 2001). The menu of VR-experiences from which a patient might choose is limited by the capacity of the computer to generate accurate representations, by the skill of the designer, and by the preferences of the supervising clinician. Although the patient may choose from within that menu, choice is necessarily more constrained than in daily life. Restriction of choice in this way carries considerable potential for abuse. At one level VR becomes a terrifying instrument of torture, at another a powerful means of education (Wiederhold Wiederhold, 2005). Fundamentally, the experiences generated are limited to those that man can design; the meanings a patient might attribute to them need not agree with those presumed by the VR designer. It would be irresponsible to introduce patients to a world that contains no more significance or deeper meaning than that which man can construct. For patients seeking to understand, as many do, the purpose of their suffering, VR is as unlikely as hallucinogenic dr ug use to provide access to a deeper reality in their search for meaning (Anderson Bushman, 2001). Another early application of VR was in training people for hazardous real-life occupations. Firefighters, for example, can practice fighting fires and searching for trapped victims. Even more cutting edge is wearing a body suit that controls the movements of a robotic firefighter who can travel into severe heat and see through dense smoke to rescue an unconscious person. Exploring volcanoes is a third example of how virtual reality is changing our world. For obvious reasons, it is not safe to send trained volcanic experts into live volcanoes. However, it is possible to send a virtually controlled robot into the danger to send back digital images for further study (Wiederhold Wiederhold, 2005). In a virtual world, lifelike avatars can study and perhaps interact with the holographic display of a humanoid robot More recently, VR has worked its way even beyond these initial applications into the workplace, school, and home. Commercial applications include product design that is more efficient, requires less travel time, and less money to develop. Entire buildings can be created and displayed for preconstruction walk-through. On a larger scale, the University of Washington has even created a virtual Seattle. Developers can examine and evaluate fuel flows in a rocket booster tank during a simulated launch (Zimmer, 2004). The aircraft industry can create new models and virtually experience instrumentation layout, seating arrangements, and emergency pathways. Now advertising agencies have developed virtual tours and objects to promote their products. Tourist attractions can share parts of their offerings from clear snorkeling waters to high-speed roller coasters to help entice travelers at home or in a travel agency. Auto manufacturers can put the prospective buyer in their automobiles on the World Wide Web while the customer is still at home (Hoffman, 2004). Virtual 3-D factories facilitate experimentation with manufacturing processes and can expedite the training of workers Government entities which previously might have used virtual reality only to simulate military maneuvers now might promote national treasures. Tank and submarine commanders benefit particularly from VR because the head mounted displays are very similar to looking through a periscope. Recently, the Smithsonian Institutions Museum of Natural History created a virtual museum tour on the Internet with the help of a team of educators at Mississippi State University. Schools have benefited from virtual reality field trips and experiments (Riva, Mantovani, Capideville, 2007). Whether the students are learning in public, private, or home school environments, they can engage in learning as never before. They can feel the effects of gravity as they walk on the moon, explore deep sea caverns, get face to face with beasts on a safari, or even touch the delicate rain forests creatures and vegetation. Students can also travel through virtual time. They can sit in on the signing of the Declaration of Independence, march through Atlanta with Dr. Martin Luther King, or trade flaming arrows with King Arthur (Cassidy Rimbeaux, 1994). Entertainment is drastically changing with virtual reality. Video games are more sophisticated and true to life from competing in the giant slalom at the Olympic Games with Tommy Moe or Picabo Street to driving in the Indianapolis 500 with the Unser family to competing for Top Gun with Tom Cruise (Gross Levenson, 1995). Several years ago, Juggling for the Complete Klutz; was published. It helped some people, but not everyone who wanted to be a clown. The missing element, now available with VR, was to slow down the action by reducing the effects of gravity. Later as the user becomes proficient, the gravity levels can be increased until they are back to Earth levels. My personal favorite though is Dreamality Technologies Inc.s Dream Glider (Gross Levenson, 1995). Ive always wanted to hang glide, but my wife has refused to allow me to do so because of the perceived dangers. Now, just by shelling out a few bucks and strapping on a harness, I can enter a simulator and glide anywhere within a virtual environment. Each interactive ride is different because the skill of the rider determines the course and length of the flight (Zimmer, 2004). Almost as fascinating as the applications of VR, is the psychology of life in a virtual world. The behavior of humans will be quite interesting to monitor as they begin to experience a phenomena known as reality confusion. Parents will have concerns about their children at school and at home participating in digital experiences. As with most new technologies that people and the press do not understand, the prospective evils are highlighted in discussions. However, concerns like isolationism and pornography, while valid, will eventually give way to the overwhelming benefits of virtual reality to our society. Therefore the way a few of us live now might be the way a larger population will live, decades hence (Hoffman, 2004). A common question is How close is virtual reality to true reality? It is true that there is a lot more that needs to be improved and developed. To truly bring a user to a point where one is unable to distinguish between reality and virtual reality, the hardware and software must encompass more of the senses. More powerful hardware will lead to better response times for the entire experience (Lang, 1996). Visually, resolutions must be high enough to match the capabilities of the human eye. Three-dimensional sound must replace stereo sound. The sense of touch must encounter force. Perhaps taste and smell will eventually work their way into virtual environments. In reality, the applications of virtual reality will stem from human needs, not out of technological capabilities (Lang, 1996). There is a huge amount of attention being given to the psychology of those who make use of the Internet, and to the Internet ¿Ã‚ ½s superior communal insinuation. Surely, VR and its possible societal and psychosomatic penalties ought to have this type of concentration, and much more. What will VR do to humanity, and to individual psychological understanding? Answers will be given to these conjectural questions in connection to communal domains. Although the social order knows a lot about VR there is still so much that it does not contemplate. Perhaps in future, new technology will come out and public will find out more about this virtual world (Zimmer, 2004). However, until that time, the questions will stay many and doubtful however the potential is limitless. People also argue about the probable societal effects of having most individual connections happen online, in the virtual or cyber world. Supporters of VR and online world say that prospect VR and technology could modify the stature of communication, thus drawing people more close to each other (Cassidy Rimbeaux, 1994). Noted by Lang (1996):  ¿Ã‚ ½The developers of the virtual worlds have limitless opportunities to shape the scale and appearance of the world, the capabilities of its avatars, the methods of communication, and even the laws of physics (e.g., space exploration over galactic distances). It is possible to explore new experiences that are not possible in any other medium ¿Ã‚ ½ (Lang, 1996). In 1999, Burger King conducted a focus group to tour a new store concepta 3,300-square-foot 50s-style diner. What made it unusual was that the group never left their seats, and the store didnt exist. The technology that made it possible-3-D computer-assisted design (CAD) brings a new dimension to standard CAD applications, which designers have used for more than a decade to sketch store plans electronically. 3-D takes that process a step further by offering a new perspective, thus making it easier to picture shelf sets and giving clients more input at an earlier stage in the design process (Zimmer, 2004). 3-D helps designers communicate better with store owners. Frequently, building owners arent comfortable with reading 2-D construction documents and may not fully understand the design. This causes costly changes late in the design or construction process. Using 3-D also helps identify errors, such as interferences between ductwork and the buildings structure, early in the design process, which eliminates costly change orders in construction and speeds the time to successful project completion (Zimmer, 2004). Electronic renderings force designers to be more objective and think about perspective. Additionally, mistakes are a matter of a mouse click. Once youve done a hand rendering, theres nothing you can do to change it. Its not a particularly responsive tool in terms of speed and revision. If somebody can see how something is going to work, they may choose a design theyd otherwise avoid. The same is true for materials. Conclusion The technology is turning out to be so complicated that public will no longer be able to differentiate whether they are in virtual or actual reality. Technology most certainly has the capability to go haywire. It is likely that VR will turn out to be a technological advancement which humans will be unable to control and will take over all of humanity. If this were the case, culture and the populace within it would turn out to be unsure if they were in virtual or actual reality. If society is clever enough to create such a technology it should be clever enough to decide and manage its penalties (Zimmer, 2004). Often times in the history, society in its entirety has been subject to decisions made by those of the inventors of new expertise. Without the direction and authority of society upon VR it could go to squander, or even turn out to be society ¿Ã‚ ½s enemy of sorts. However, in case of medical field exercises, Medical paternalism might lead to premature and ill-judged clinical applications of VR. Without professional self-regulation, abuse by experimentalists and inept therapists seems only too likely. A VR machine may be developed, for clinically justifiable purposes, to treat phobias or help establish adaptive coping behaviors in response to stress. No matter how much humanity is responsive of virtual reality, the individual mind still has instincts that cannot be forbidden. That is one of the disadvantages of VR. That no one is convinced what to anticipate. Just as the case may be with any other ability, the only way to find out the results of VR is to test the limits to which it can go. Knowing the virtual reality has the capability to influence so many people in such a big number of ways, there is a substantial need to have some kind of restraints (Gross Levenson, 1995). This brings up one more input argument as to who should be in charge of restraining this virtual world. If the government is in power it could possibly be ill-treated and mishandled. However, if society entirely is left to consider its uses, the affects could be also good or bad.

Logic and Moral Dilemmas Essay -- Logical Philosophy Philosophical Pap

Logic and Moral Dilemmas ABSTRACT: Logic is of great importance for the philosophy of education. In particular, logic provides a rational and critical approach in ethics, helping us understand the nature of moral dilemmas. Some suggest that all moral dilemmas result from some kind of inconsistency in the moral rules. Unsolvable moral situations simply reflect implicit inconsistencies in our existing moral code. If we are to remain moral as well as logical, then we must restore consistency to our code. This is accomplished by adding exception clauses to current principles, and giving priorities to some principles over others, or by some other device. I argue that we must accept moral dilemmas as an essential part of real-life reality on the grounds that some moral statements concern values. According to Moore's "axiological thesis," whether these statements are true depends on two factors: the set of alternatives from which we make an evaluation, and the scale of values with which we rate them. Also, it is po ssible that a given alternative is no better than another in some respect. Furthermore, there is no respect in which they are equally good or equally bad (the so-called "Condorcet's effect"). Thus, we must accept moral dilemmas as real rather than apparent. Among all the spheres of philosophy of education logic is of great importance. In particular it is logic that provides the rational and critical approach in ethics. So logic help us to understand the nature of moral dilemmas. It has been suggested that all moral dilemmas result from some kind of inconsistency in the moral rules. So our being faced with unsolvable moral situation merely reflected an implicit inconsistency in our existing moral code and that we forced... ...sibus perplexis// Th. Hobbes. A dialogue between a philosopher and a student for the common laws of England. Leibniz G.W. Specimen difficultatis in jure seu dissertatio de casibus perplexis. Doctrina conditiorum. De legum interpretatione/ Ed. by T.Ascarelli. Milano: Giuffre, 1960.P.267-302. 5. Lemmon E.J. Moral Dilemmas// Moral Dilemmas/ Ed. by Christopher W. Gowans. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.P.101-114. 6. Lemmon E.J. Deontic Logic and the Logic of Imperatives// Logique et Analyse. 1965. Vol. VII. No.2. P.39-61. 7. Moore G.E. Principia Ethica. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press, 1960. 8. Rescher N. Ethical Idealism: An Inquiry into the Nature and Function of Ideals. Berkeley,etc.:University of California Press, 1987. 9. Schlesinger G.N. The Sweep of Probability. Notre Dame & London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991.

Analyse Ways Essay

The Shoe-Horn Sonata by John Misto has five main themes or concerns. They are; History and Memory, Power and Control, Heroism and Relationships and War and Atrocities. John Misto explores all these ideas while telling the story of Bridie and Shelia’s reunion fifty years after they last saw each other. The play is about the histories of the women and the nurses that were captive of the Japanese during World War Two; their individual histories and joint suffering. The stories of these women were never made official and there is no government recognition of their plight and few, if any, official records. These painful memories are not part of any ‘official’ history and this is made clear in the play. â€Å"The British didn’t want anyone to know about us. They’d have lost prestige if people found out how women of the Empire had lived in the war. So for the sake for King and Country, they burned out diaries. Every last one.† Shelia, Scene Thirteen. Misto makes it clear in the course of the play that the memories of the women are accurate. The oral stories from these fictional characters have juxtaposed over them the factual images to confirm and extrapolate the stories of the women. The visual images of the thin, starving people are very strong and clear to an audience, for example, Scene Seven opens with a photo of some women POW’s Ââ€" â€Å"emaciated, haggard and impoverished†. This is shown while Bridie explains how thin Sheila and herself got while at the Japanese camps, â€Å"The lightest I got was exactly five stone…† The visual images show exactly what the women are talking about and add to the sense of theatre around the play. They heighten the audience’s understanding of the enormity of the issue. There is use of background sounds throughout the play, for example in Scene Five when Bridie explains what happened on Radji Beach on Banka Island there is â€Å"sounds of machine gun fire and cries of women on the soundtrack†. The dues ex machine effect of these amplified sounds further highlights the theme of memories and history, linking both the action and the memories of the two women on stage. The Shoe-Horn Sonata explores power relationships at a number of levels. The most obvious power play on stage occurs between the interviewer and the women he is interviewing. This power play has an ambiguous moment in which the women are uncertain as whether Rick has overheard a ‘private’ conversation in Scene Ten. This is also explained in the stage directions: â€Å"Bridie and Shelia look up, startled. Then they both realise they are wearing small microphones. They both wonder whether every word has been overheard…† Rick also has the power to choose what questions to ask, and what to edit out of his documentary film. On another level we can see the role of power between the prison guards and prisoners. The guards abuse their power physically, sexually and emotionally and many seemed to enjoy the pain they inflicted. Lipstick Larry’s comment in Scene Eight, â€Å"Plenty of room in the graveyard for her…† is typical of the cruelty the guard’s exhibit. The prisoners had little choice but to cooperate and be humiliated and abused, this in turn had a large physiological effect on both women. This is shown when Shelia explains that she still has nightmares about Lipstick Larry in Scene Ten â€Å"[haunted] Every night when I fall asleep, Lipstick Larry’s waiting. He calls to me and I go to him Ââ€" and no one can change that. Not even you.† The Japanese dominated the women in every aspect; they even made them bow to the Japanese flag every morning. In Scene Nine, the two characters are reminded of this power by the presence of the Japanese flag that is being projected on the back screen. It doesn’t move and dominates the stage; a continuing reminder of how the women lived their lives in the camp and the power and control that continues to affect them. This emphasises to the audience just how horrible the camps really were for the women and how they continue to affect them today, fifty years on. Misto’s play revolves around the heroic deeds and relationships that are up held by the women during the war. The heroic deeds were acts of physical courage of the highest order. For Sheila, the supreme sacrifice of selling her body to the Japanese in order to obtain the necessary drugs for her friend’s survival is all the more poignant as we understand the cultural and social background that she had come from. Misto focuses on the ‘unsung’ hero’s of the war, for example the Australia nurse that washed the bed pans of the women on the way to Belalau. â€Å"It was the bravest act I have ever seen. She didn’t get a medal for it butÂ…all of us loved for of that…† (Sheila) The stories of the two women are expanding the conventional view of heroism to include acts of sacrifice beyond simple physical courage. The Shoe-Horn Sonata shows clearly that relationships are able to survive the toughest of times. The relationship of Bridie and Shelia survives not only the horror of the prisoner of war camps but also the pain of their reunion decades after the war. Misto uses a variety of theatrical techniques to convey this relationship to the audience and show that survival and growth are features of the relationship. Misto gives evidence of how tough times were in the camps with a combination of dialogue and screen images being used to illustrate what had happened to these people, for example, the slides of the women POW’s at the open of Scene Seven. These slides portray the starving bodies, rough conditions and brutality yet through all this the relationship gets stronger. The music played throughout the play symbolises the stage at which Bridie and Sheila’s relationship is. For example, Scene Ten closes with Anne Shelton’s â€Å"I’ll walk alone† displaying to the audience that at this point in the play Bridie and Sheila’s relationship is at its most fragile point because the truth about Sheila’s sacrifice has just been revealed. The play highlights the horrors of war particularly for women and civilians. The atrocious way in which human beings treat fellow human beings in a wartime situation is not restricted to the Japanese, but seen to be central to war itself. The atrocities are seen to have affected both women’s lives ever after. For example Bridie’s fear of the Japanese people in David Jones. What is particularly significant for these women is the requirement to ‘keep  smiling’ (Scene Nine) and to repress the memories. For these women the memories of the atrocities are tinged with guilt and shame. In some respects this amount to an even worse atrocity to plague the lives of these women after the war. The humour used by Misto in the play, derives not only from the way in which the women used the power of the human spirit to laugh at adversity, but also from the way in which the playwright has juxtaposed those moments of recounting of comic events with the horrors of the memories of the reality. The light and dark in this play allows us to be both horrified and entertained. As in any great tragedy, the comic allows not simply relief from the pain, but help us to question the reasons for the horror. John Misto believes that the women victims of this defeat of the British deserve to have their stories told and their sufferings recognised by a wide audience. Having talked to ‘real survivors’ he wrote the play in the hope that more people would be exposed to their suffering and above all to their courage. The dialogue, music, the sound effects and the projected images work together to shape the audiences response and to tell the powerful story of the women’s memories, raw vulnerability, strong relationships and heroism.

Avoiding Future Frauds with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Essay

It is clear that the establishment of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) act in 2002 was specific to reducing future financial fraud and imposing criminal penalties for publicly traded companies. What is not clear is whether or not the act has proved to be successful in its implementation and governance. The establishment of the act and subsequent amendments are intended to protect the public from fraud in the financial accounting of publicly traded corporations. In 2002, there were opinions both for and against the effectiveness of SOX. More than a decade later, there are still opinions on both sides of the debate. Criticism of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act The effectiveness of the Sarbanes-Oxley act has been highly criticized since its inception. One of the major contentions is that the Sarbanes-Oxley act has no provisions to differentiate the requirements for small publicly traded businesses from large conglomerates (that lead and often monopolize the marketplace). Publicly traded companies that are small in size may find the costs of compliance prohibitive to the future of their business (Coustan, 2004). Critics of SOX believe that this unnecessarily reduces the number of players in a competitive marketplace. The cost of compliance can be excessive for some smaller companies. Auditing expenses cause companies to seek private investment and become privately owned (San Antonio Express-News, 2007). Ten years ago, critics expressed â€Å"fears that small, publicly listed companies might not meet internal control reporting requirements without substantial additional expense; some may have to delist because of it. It could mean only larger companies will go public† (Coustan, 2004, p. 1). In recent years, this debate continues. Critics still express concerns â€Å"that Sarbanes-Oxley is overreaching and has placed unnecessary  restrictions on corporations that have and will continue to unduly inhibit corporate performance until they are removed† (Brite, 2013). Another major contention of critics is that the costs of compliance for outweigh the benefits in an international marketplace. Those against SOX feel that the costs outweigh the benefits and speak out in public forums stating that the â€Å"Sarbanes-Oxley has burdened the US financial market with costly rules and regulations that have reduced international competitiveness† (debate.org, 2014). There are those that openly share the opinion that the implementations of regulatory overkill through the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley act â€Å"wrongfully make the innocent suffer for the guilty† (Gilmore, 2013). The reporting requirements of SOX are specific to businesses in the United States. Unlike American business, international business does not have the same requirements. â€Å"Regulatory compliance opposes economic costs on organizations and can affect their competitive advantage† (Srinivasan, 2014, p. 44). Increasing the cost for American business decreases competitive advantage in the worldwide marketplace. In addition to cost and competitive advantage, the structure of the bill has also been called into question. The Court of Appeals recently found difficulty with the wording of the amended 18 USC, citing that â€Å"paragraph (b) of the statute includes the word â€Å"knowingly† while paragraph (c) does not† (Bishop, 2013). The opinions of the Court of Appeals lends to the public opinion expressed in published CPA perspectives that â€Å"SOX was a hastily assembled bill† (Moran, 2013). Involved and cumbersome requirements cause confusion and frustration for companies attempting to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley act even more than a decade after its implementation. Companies and lawmakers alike have had difficulty over the years with the interpretation of and compliance with the act. â€Å"SOX brought about many changes to the way public companies had to operate, and there was some question as to how these would stand up over time† (Moran, 2013). Positive Aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act Despite complaints by critics, there are positive aspects of the Sarbanes-Oxley act that have withstood the test of time. Initial reactions have softened after smaller businesses were granted some relief in later amendments of the act. Larger businesses found that compliance with the act  increased investor confidence and contributions. In addition, the resultant increase in financial transparency has improved business relationships on many levels. First and foremost, there are many of the opinion that the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley act increased investor confidence and protection in the marketplace. â€Å"Does Sarbanes-Oxley prevent all bad actors from defrauding investors? No law could accomplish that. But it can and has deterred such activity† (Gillian, 2012, p. 1). Those in support of the Sarbanes-Oxley act agree that there is a positive side for investors and the businesses in which they invest. â€Å"A 2005 survey by the Financial Executives Research Foundation f ound that 83 percent of large company CFOs agreed that SOX had increased investor confidence, with 33 percent agreeing that it had reduced fraud† (Hanna, 2014, p. 2). With an increase in confidence and a perceived reduction of fraud, investors could more confidently make intelligent business decisions on the purchase and sale of publicly traded companies. Those on the positive side of the SOX act believe that the effects on small business have softened. Studies show that as companies become more accustomed to the costs of compliance, the expense decreases (San Antonio Express-News, 2007). In addition, the effects on smaller companies were ultimately deferred. â€Å"Audit standards also were modified in 2007, a change that reportedly reduced costs for many firms by 25 percent or more per year† (Hanna, 2014, p. 1). Although the costs of compliance decrease retained earnings, investors are more confident in the reliability of company reports (Gillian, 2012). â€Å"The cost of being a publicly traded company did cause some firms to go private, but research shows these were primarily organizations that were smaller, less liquid, and more fraud-prone† (Hanna, 2014, p. 1). These modifications of the act allowed more small businesses to remain competitive in the marketplace. Business relationships have also improved with increased transparency. The reduction of information asymmetry is a direct benefit to both the company and the investors. â€Å"Information asymmetry is a situation in which one party in a transaction has more or superior information compared to another† (Brite, 2013, p. 1). Periodic testing of internal controls required by SOX 404, increases transparency among internal and external stakeholders of the business. The American Institute of CPAs states on their website that â€Å"section 404B has led to improve financial reporting and greater  transparency† (American Institute of CPAs, 2006 – 2014). Conclusion and Opinion To evaluate the effectiveness of SOX in preventing future frauds, one must take into consideration the many different situations in which the legislation is applicable. Enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley act increases corporate responsibility and sets restrictions on auditor services. This certainly reduces the potential for fraud; however it does not eliminate it. From a business perspective, compliance is beneficial. The costs of implementing the requirements may be high; however the benefit of increased investor confidence in a publicly traded environment is higher. There are going to be situations in which fraud is inevitable. Fraudulent wrongdoers and companies will find loopholes and the recent Court of Appeals case is evidence of that fact. As with any law, this regulation will reduce the frequency of, but not prevent, purposeful future criminal activity. References American Institute of CPAs. (2006 – 2014). Section 404B of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Retrieved from AICPA: American Institute of CPAs: http://www.aicpa.org/advocacy/issues/pages/section404bofSOX.aspx Bishop, K. (2013, June six). Grand Theft Auto Meets the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Retrieved from California Corporate and Securities Law: http://calcorporatelaw.com/2013/06/grand-theft-auto-meets-the-sarbanes-oxley-act/ Brite, C. (2013, June 30). Is Sarbanes-Oxley a Failing Law? Retrieved from University Of Chicago Undergraduate Law Review: http://uculr.com/articles/2013/6/30/is-sarbanes-oxley-a-failing-law Coustan, H. L. (2004, February). Sarbanes-Oxley: What It Means to the Marketplace. Retrieved from Journal of Accountancy: http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2004/Feb/SarbaneSOXleyWhatItMeansToTheMarketplace.htm debate.org. (2014). Do you believe the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has failed? Retrieved from debate.org: http://www.debate.org/opinions/do-you-believe-the-sarbanes-oxley-act -has-failed Gillian, K. (2012, July 24). It Enhanced Investor Protection. Retrieved from nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/24/has-sarbanes-oxley-failed/sar

Coca Cola Organizational Management Essay Example

Coca Cola Organizational Management Essay Example Coca Cola Organizational Management Essay Coca Cola Organizational Management Essay On Tuesday, April 23, 1985 The Coca Cola Company announced that it would change the formula of its flagship soft drink; a formula that had been America’s favorite for 100 years. Kansas newspaper editor William Allen White said, â€Å"Coca Cola is the sublimated essence of all that America stands for. A decent thing honestly made [and] universally distributed. † (As cited in Oliver, 1986, p. 4) How could Coca Cola have tampered with the taste of a drink that was distributed to 155 countries and consumed more than 303 million times a day? Years of planning preceded the arrival of New Coke and years of internal problems contributed to the demise of the old one. Some of the seeds to those problems were planted in the original formulation of the Coca Cola Company, but would go unnoticed during the company’s boom years. In 1885 John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist registered a trademark for â€Å"French Wine Cola-Ideal Nerve Tonic Stimulant†. He eventually changed the formula by taking out the wine and adding caffeine and Kola nut. Thus, Coca Cola was born. Pemberton sold the rights to Coca Cola in 1889 to Georgia business man Asa Candler. Candler sold the syrup to wholesalers who mixed the syrup with carbonated water, and sold it to soda fountain proprietors. Also in 1899 Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead approached Candler with a proposition to bottle Coke. Candler thought it was too expensive a venture and wanted no part of it. Candler sold the bottling rights to Thomas and Whitehead for $1. 00! (Oliver, 1986. ) Each bottler had an exclusive right in perpetuity to bottle Coke in his area and no one else except soda fountains could sell Coke in that market. The bottlers actually owned the Coca-Cola trademark in their territories and the company could not refuse to sell them the syrup. (This set up, which formed the heart and soul of the Coca Cola system, would come under attack nearly 100 years later when the Federal Trade Commission charged the company with violating anti-trust laws by restricting competition. ) Candler contracted with the bottlers to sell them the syrup at a fixed price and by the 1920’s that contract was still binding. In Candler’s day sugar was 7 cents a pound, but post WWI inflation brought the price up to 28 cents a pound. When Coca cola tried to pass the increase on to the bottlers, they sued. They agreed to pay for the syrup according to the price of sugar based on the 1921 price with quarterly adjustments for the fluctuating price of sugar. However, the rest of the syrup ingredients prices were locked at the 1921 level. This pricing strategy worked for 50 years, but then the 1970’s came with its soaring inflation and the company barely made a profit on Coke. In 1923 Robert Woodruff , son of Earnest Woodruff who, as one of several businessmen bought the Coca Cola company from Asa Candler in 1919, became president of Coca Cola. Woodruff, acting as a structural change agent, launched radical new programs insisting on quality control, and firing up the bottling industry to make his product ubiquitous. These strategies signaled singular foresight because up until now, most people got their Coke at a soda fountain. Woodruff, in an effectual mix of theories E and O, fired his sales force and rehired them renaming them servicemen instead of salesmen. Part of their â€Å"new job† was to train retailers to properly dispense the syrup and find better methods for mixing the drink. At bottling plants, servicemen would increase productivity and efficiency by advising on all aspects of the operation. With Woodruff’s sweeping quality control programs, Coke lovers could expect to find one, and only one unmistakable taste in the North and South and from coast to coast. (Pendergrast, 2000) Woodruff wanted to place Coke â€Å"within arm’s reach of desire† anywhere and everywhere in the country. Wherever there are people who get thirsty, make Coke an option. Woodruff realized the enormous potential of the bottle as a means to carry out this dream. Coke in bottles could go anywhere. If people would sip Coke at the soda fountains and then find it on the grocery store shelves, they would probably buy it. Within Robert Woodruff’s first five years as president of the company, Coca Cola in bottles began to outsell Coke sold at soda fountains. Coke cropped up, as the 1927 advertising slogan claimed, â€Å"†¦around the corner from anywhere. † (Oliver, 1986) Woodruff outlined a plan in 1926 to test the drink in Europe. When the board of directors balked, he did it anyway in secret and turned a profit in three years. As Coca Cola went global, some recommended modifying coke’s flavor to suit the taste buds of each nationality but Woodruff stood by his belief in the universal appeal of coke’s single, secret formula. In the 1950’s Coca Cola ruled the soft drink world and its name was as universally known as that of any other product in commercial history. The advertising budget for the company in 1955 was 30 million dollars. Coca Cola continued to spend huge amounts of money on advertising, and Coke remained the favorite soft drink throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Comfortable profits up to and including 1984, made it very difficult to Coca Cola’s top officials to accept that as Coke neared its 100th birthday it’s lead over Pepsi was decreasing fast. Coca cola spent more than Pepsi on advertising, it was competitively priced and was more widely distributed that Pepsi. Apparently marketing technique was not the problem. In the end, the company felt it had no choice but to consider the product itself. Around this time, in 1984, we were experiencing the â€Å"Cola Wars. † Pepsi was going all out to prove that consumers liked the taste of Pepsi more than they liked the taste of Coke, and the â€Å"Pepsi Challenge† proved it. Exclusive Pepsi drinkers rated Pepsi higher than exclusive Coke drinkers rated Coke. Coca Cola had been collecting evidence and concluded that taste had to be the single most important cause of Coke’s decline. No matter how much money Coca Cola poured into its marketing programs, the results were not significant enough. â€Å"We estimated that the system, including bottler’s and the company, annually outspent Pepsi by 100 million and still their share declined. In 1980 when Coke’s market share grew, they outspent Pepsi by 150 million. † (Oliver, 1986. p. 95) The company’s top executives were also very busy at the time fighting law suits with their bottlers over the price of syrup, and not paying attention to a new and growing market population. Market analysts believed baby boomers were more likely to purchase diet drinks as they aged and became more health and weight conscious. Therefore any future growth in the full calorie segment had to come from younger drinkers, who at that time favored Pepsi and its sweetness by even more overwhelming margins than the market as a whole. While Coca Cola was enjoying a 52% share of the soft drink market, and fighting with the bottlers over rising syrup prices, Pepsi was hard at work attracting a younger, more â€Å"with it† segment of consumers. Pepsi had Michael Jackson touting its soft drink to this up and coming consumer group, and Coke had Bill Cosby, who was their parents’ age, as its spokesman. Younger people and teens were no longer depending on their moms to come home with the beverage of her choice. With this population becoming more economically independent, they were able to choose their own soft drinks and convince mom or dad to pick Pepsi up with the week’s groceries. Coca Cola’s senior executives commissioned a secret project named â€Å"Project Kansas† to test and perfect a new flavor for Coke itself. Much of the market research conducted between 1983 and 1985 on the possibility of a new Coke was discouraging. One set of focus groups said that Pepsi could improve its formula, but the answer to a Coke reformulation was a resounding NO. In other focus groups, there was another problem. When asked, What is your favorite drink? most people said, Coke!   Ã‚   When asked, What do you drink? the response was shocking:   sometimes Coke, sometimes Pepsi, sometimes even a generic if it was on sale. As Thomas Oliver puts it, There appeared to be a disturbing gap between what people said and what they did. (Oliver, 1986. p. 104) When Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO in 1980, he pointedly told employees there would be â€Å"no sacred cows in how the company did its business, including how it formulated its drinks. † (Newsweek, 22 July 1985. p. 39) Robert Woodruff was still alive and in his 80’s when Goizueta made this statement. Goizueta even said that Woodruff agreed with him about changing the taste of Coke. Bearing in mind what Woodruff said about 50 years before regarding the â€Å"single secret formula† being the only one for Coke, one must question the idea of Robert Woodruff being on board for a flavor change. The company’s marketing department went out in the field armed with samples of possible new drink for taste tests, focus groups and surveys. The results of that were strong; the high fructose corn syrup mixture overwhelmingly beat both the regular Coke and Pepsi. A small majority felt angry and alienated at the very thought, saying they would stop buying Coke altogether. Their presence in focus groups tended to skew results in a more negative direction as they exerted indirect peer pressure on other participants. The surveys, which were given more significance by standard marketing procedures of the era, were less negative and were key in convincing management to move forward with a change in formula for 1985. (Hays, 2004) But the focus groups had provided a clue as to how the change would play out in a public context, a data point that the company downplayed but which was to prove important later. In addition, the researchers never made it clear to the consumers that old Coke wouldn’t be available at all. Not stressing in the tests that the new taste would replace the old taste. Goizueta even defended the change by pointing out that the drink’s secret formula was not sacrosanct and inviolable. Referring of course, to the fact that the formula had been changed before, albeit minutely, to make it Kosher. One could argue that Goizueta was comparing apples to oranges by making this point. The reaction to the new Coke was immediate and violent. Three months of unrelenting protests ensued against the loss of coke. In addition to the noisier public protests, boycotts and bottles being emptied into the streets, the company had more serious reasons to be concerned. The bottlers were expressing concern over the new taste. Most of them saw great difficulty having to promote and sell a drink that had long been marketed as the â€Å"Real Thing†, constant and unchanging, now that it had changed. Bottlers also started threatening boycotts of New Coke. With the company now fearing boycotts from consumers and bottlers, talks about reintroducing the old formula moved from â€Å"if† to â€Å"when†. The resistance was so fierce that on July 11, 1985 Goizueta publically apologized to the American people. This mea culpa, in itself, changed American corporate behavior. Never before had a major corporation told the American people that it was sorry. Coca Cola executives announced the return of the original formula on July 10, 1985, less than three months after New Coke’s introduction. Throughout the 120 years of Coca Cola’s life, there have been a few changes. As Brian Dyson CEO at Coca Cola in the 1980’s said, â€Å"Eventually, anything that oesn’t change in the face of change will wither and die, and that’s the law of nature. † (Oliver, 1986. p. 99) Change is part of organizational life and essential for progress. When Robert Woodruff took over at President of the Coca Cola in 1923, he instituted structural change in that he treated the organization at a set of functional parts. Woodruff reorganized the parts of his machine, and achieved g reater overall performance. Most effectively by creating a service team with his salesmen and making the mixing process of Coca Cola syrup universal. He also substituted the title â€Å"serviceman† for the title, â€Å"salesman† for a team of employees, which changed the way his sales force was viewed by the bottlers. The salesmen were no longer seen as a force to be defended against, but part of the whole organization working together to create a fantastic, one and only product. Woodruff incorporated all four types of change; organizational, cost cutting, process, and cultural change into this one bold move. He was also a strong leader in that he insisted the taste of Coke would be universal throughout the world, and not be changed to suit any one nationality’s tastes. Robert Woodruff effectively mixed Harvard Business professors Michael Beer and Nitin Nohria’s Theory E and Theory O. before the theories were even discovered! (Luecke, 2003) While he aimed for a dramatic and rapid increase in profits by relying heavily on cost cutting, and process change, he also made use of Theory O by creating higher performance in fostering a powerful culture and capable employees through the servicemen training of bottlers and soda fountain owners regarding the mixing and dispensing of Coca Cola syrup. The syrup pricing debacle with the bottlers created a problem that would affect Coca Cola’s relationships and bottom line throughout the existence of the company. While hindsight may be 20/20, there may be no way that Asa Candler could have foreseen the precipitous jump in syrup ingredient prices in the years to come. Perhaps Candler could have used some more economic expertise to successfully forecast future rising prices. As far as Robert Goizueta and his decision to change the flavor of Coke, literally over Robert Woodruff’s dead body, that was clearly a structural process change made solely within the tenets of Theory O. While â€Å"it is impossible to anticipate the what when or where of change, it is something that business can count on and should plan for. † (Luecke, 2003. p. 1) Problem identification is important, but how the problem is identified is also important. Goizueta and his top executives were looking at their bottom line and shareholder value, and virtually nothing else. This included the lawsuits they were involved in with the bottlers over syrup prices. Candler’s deal with the bottler’s many years before came back to haunt them. They were looking at the prospect of Coca Cola being second in the market place for the first time in history. Their tunnel vision did not allow them to see the strides Pepsi was making with the â€Å"younger generation†. Coca Cola had made a structural process change in the flavor of Coke instead of a cultural change focusing on their relationship with bottlers, and most importantly, their relationship with consumers. They did not consider the fact that it was the unique taste of Coke that had made their company so successful. They should have left the taste of the â€Å"Real Thing† real. There were a few other things that could have been changed that needed fixing, rather than fix the one thing that wasn’t broken. For a few dollars more, they could have settled with the bottlers, and concentrated on what they could do to reel in the next generation of consumers without making the huge mistake of changing the formula.

Teaching assistants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Teaching assistants - Essay Example It has been argued that teaching assistants have too much responsibility without being given sufficient recognition for what they do.Discuss the evidence that is available to support or refute this statement indicating which appears to be more persuasive..''There is a Chinese proverb," Teachers open the door. You enter by yourself." Teaching is an art and to learn is also an art. Learning depends upon the level of interest of a student and art of a teacher is that how she/he make the specific subject or lecture interesting that a student has no other option but to learn whatever is being taught to him/her. If someone asks you to categorize teachers you may say math teacher, science teacher etc etc or you might say a good teacher and a bad teacher but you will never say a teacher and a teacher assistant. Do you know why Because most of us don't give the sufficient recognition to teacher assistants, we even don't consider them as teachers but as a helper to teacher or just an assistant .Just think when you will get into your practical life and some day sit down and try to remember your school days what would first came to your mind Your class room, your table, the teacher you most hated and your favorite teacher.that's it Had you ever taught about the teachers who use to come in your class in the absence of your teacherThese teacher assistants check your papers, copies and are indirectly related to you somehow and it won't be wrong if you had considered them one of your teachers. These teacher assistants are paid less then your class teacher may be that's why they are of less importance to you or the education system. She/he sits with the teacher in class and tries to judge if students are able to understand the lecture or not. Normally he/she is friendlier than your teacher. So in short the teacher assistant is a support for teacher, students, curriculum and school as well. They sometimes play the role of a mentor as well for the students as they interact with th e students more than the teacher. In short "they exploit and create learning opportunities"3 The question that arises is if they are given the appropriate pay and recognition for what they do A teacher works come to an end after attending class but a teacher assistant have to make course outline, examination schedule etc etc. Teaching has been considered as one of the noblest professions of world especially for women. These women are very competent who choose teaching as a profession because it is not easy to teach someone; To make them understand what you want to. A teacher assistant is also a kind of teacher who works more hard than "teachers". Then why they couldn't get the respect that students usually give to the teachers The reasons would be because they are paid less, they sometimes have to face arrogance of the teacher if she/did did any mistake or if the word "assistant" had made them lesser important than teacher or they might think that assistant know less then teacher. Unqualified Teachers: In some areas of world even teachers are not qualified enough i.e. "a survey of teacher qualifications in Northern Ireland which indicates that a significant percentage of teachers are unqualified in the areas of mathematics, physics, ICT, history and

Writing Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Writing Assignment - Essay Example This paper will critically analyze the book Frankenstein by Shelley on the teachings of the actions we take whether they are justifiable and redeemable in our current world. At the end of the book, the creature promises to destroy himself. This is highly not justifiable for this creature. The creature reasoning as to commit suicide is as a result it had the feelings of human nature. The creature felt mistreated and segregated. The main driving force was the realization that Frankenstein his own creator had abandoned him. In search to kill the creator the creature came to Frankenstein had died, it felt lonely as that was the family he ever knew was all gone, (Shelly p 68). The moral teaching is that everyone needs to have a sense of belonging. The creature lacked this love and therefore had to react this way. The creature could have been redeemed. The creature had no harm to any other living organisms like the plants and birds of the air. The creature had some sense of humor. Despite having destroyed the Frankenstein’s family. The creature didn’t cause any physical or psychological harm Robert Walton, (Shelly p 69). Frankenstein as seen in the Shelly novel, he created a creature and abandoned the creature without having taken fully responsibility of his creation. This relates very well to the many things that need our attention and jokingly we neglect them. In relation to the world this can as well be related to the irresponsible parents who bear children and fail to bring them up in the right quality life. These kind of neglected individuals are frustrated and have no true meaning of life. When these children grow up and realize what happened in their early life, the first victims are the parents, (Shelly p 22). The parents will have to pay the price for having neglected their uncontrollable children who then end up in crime. The issue of