Conjugation Tables for the Italian Verb Chiamarsi (To Be Called)

A hero is the one who can do anything to protect his...

A hero is the one who can do anything to protect his people, guard the good and maintain a high amount of morality. The Greek hero Achilles and Ireland’s Cuchulain both lead very similar lives; the lives of true hero-warriors. Although the tales and myths of both these great warriors come from very different cultures it is important to note the similarities between them and they do have various character traits that sets them apart but the myths of Achilles and Cuchulain are essentially the same type of legends.†¨ Achilles is considered the greatest of all the Greek warriors. Because no man could beat him in the combat and most importantly no weapon could pierce him expect for his heel. At the initial narration of the story, we get this†¦show more content†¦Cuchulain is such an hailed heroic figure in ireland because he experienced different life style as a demi god who could do the impossible, He is without a doubt Ireland’s greatest hero-warrior. Many s ay he is the Achilles of the irish myth because both know that they are going to die young but still battles it out for glory. Both of them have the capacity to kill hundreds of men with ease. The ancient Greek and Irish myths might possess similar way of portraying a hero as The hero is insanely strong and handsome enough to win any women heart. The most common thing in both of them is that they are heroes from birth. In the book it says that cuchulain fought the other country army when he was seven years old. Eventhough both the heros description and birth are similar, cuchulain holds a little edge over Achilles in the sense of nobleness, as Achilles kills people out of revenge factor and anger, cuchulain does it for his country men and protection of the state. This is definitely a nobler cause to leap into battle. None of the things maynot be true about the deeds or the insanely unbelievable heroics, they might be the sheer exaggeration in the tales in order for the writers to elevate their characters, they might have existed as great warriors but not as demi gods who possess unbelievable talents. †¨they are both great warriors for their countries and will live through generations by stories of their written heroics travelling around the world. A mythic heroShow MoreRelatedCode For Accountability For Renegade Police Officers3236 Words   |  13 PagesWhen a man gets robbed on the dark streets of the city he can resist and fight back. When a woman gets raped she can resist and scream for help. When the family home gets burglarized, family can call the police or use other means for protection. But what could a person do, be that man or a woman, if he/she is a victim of crime committed by law enforcement officers? 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Humanistic Theory free essay sample

Calm down an agitated person, assisting a friend through a death of a family member, or something as simple as avoiding negative thoughts through distracting, these forms of lending a hand can be described as psychotherapy. Anton Meamer discovered the age-old wisdom in the eighteenth century, early nineteenth. Anton realized that when a person or individual suffers a variety of mental anguish or illness, when put in a hypnotic trance, their symptoms disappeared. Many didn’t understand the nature of what Anton was doing and dismissed a lot of his work. Later, Sigmund Freud rediscovered the theory and showed that the presence of caring, being attentive, becoming a trusted listener assisted with their issues or situations. Allowed a person to focus on their experience through revisiting long forgotten traumatic events and assist with symptoms of the trauma. Through observation, psychotherapy became a form of treatment and a new revolutionary form of therapy was born. As the foundation of psychology was being laid out, the development of theories began to be discovered. Understanding behavior and what may cause a person to want to strive in life and become successful in society opened the doors for theorist to develop a humanistic theory. The potential of an individual making a contribution to society and becoming a person who is likeable by peers, family, and friends led two theorist to develop the humanistic theory movement. Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers regarded an individual’s personal growth and feeling fulfilled in life as basic human motive. Humanistic theory involves the development of an individual. The achievement of happiness is dependent upon the willingness of an individual to pursue their own deepest interests and desires. By an individual focusing on themselves, creating a strong sense of self gives a person to feel positive about their contribution to society. Humanist’s theory looks at behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the individual presenting the behavior. A goal of humanistic theory and therapy gives the client the opportunity to deal with their behavior and situation in their own terms of real self and ideal self. With this idea, a client’s progress and direction in the therapy is based from what they are and what they want. Achieving self-esteem in therapy through this process allows the client to evaluate their own sense of what. Self-esteem will also strengthen the understanding of self and not be something or someone they are not. As the foundation is being set, as the clients acceptance of real self begins to emerge, their self-esteem becomes solid and their awareness to eventually not strive for being someone or something they’re not creates a positive sense of self and their needs begin to be met. With the qualities of positive regard for self, having an unconditional awareness of self, creates an empathetic and genuine client and humanistic therapist relationship. Using the techniques of humanistic therapy allow therapist to assist the client in agreeing with the merging of their real self and the ideal self. No matter what the client reveals of them self in therapy, keeping a positive regard will keep the client in an accepting and warm environment. In the context of humanistic psychotherapy, the individual should expect the therapist to be accepting of whatever has been revealed. As this bond is established, the client’s achievements towards self-actualization can be secured through the understanding of the therapist creating a solid and functional use of the client’s needs. The development of the â€Å"pyramid of needs† by Maslow in 1943 became the blue print used today to identify the needs of individuals. Maslow believed that in the correct order, an individual can become self-actualized through a hierarchy of needs. Once an individual has met the basic physiological needs such as food, water, sex, sleeps etc. then they are able feel safety through the security of body, employment, morality, family health, etc. As the individuals moves up the hierarchy, feeling loved and belonged strengthens their self-esteem and reaching self-actualization is achieved. Carl Rogers believed that in order for an individual to develop fully, in addition to Maslow’s hierarchy, their environment needs to be genuine, accepting, and have empathy. Rodg ers felt that without the essential environment that is nourishing, development of healthy personalities and relationships will not have the opportunity to flourish fully. Rogers continued to expand on Maslow’s theory by going a little deeper. He felt that an individual operates from a unique frame of reference through building self-regard and self-concept. As an individual is identifying how to meet their basic needs, what about the experiences that are learned? David Kolb took a different approach then just viewing behavioral theories. Kolb developed the experiential learning theory that takes the approach on how experiences, including cognitions, environmental factors, and emotions influence the learning process. Kolb illustrated that experiences provide a great deal of information that serves as the ground level for reflection. Through reflections, Kolb believes an individual forms an abstract concept. Kolb describes four stage cycle theory of learning that creates a transformation of an experience. Concrete experience also known as â€Å"Do†, reflective observation also known as â€Å"Observe†, abstract conceptualization also known as† Think†, and active experimentation also known as† Plan†. One may begin at any stage, but must still follow each other in sequence. The first two stages are ways to grasp an experience and the last two are ways to transform an experience. The first stage, concrete experience is when the individual actively experiences in an activity such as a lab session or field work. The second stage, reflective observation is when an individual consciously reflects back on that experience. The third stage, abstract conceptualization an individual attempts to conceptualize a theory or model of what is observed. The fourth stage, active experimentation is when an individual is trying to plan how to test a model or theory or plan for a future experience. When speaking of individuals, this describes the learner. Both theories demonstrate an approach that helps an individual identify with their selves. Each approach taken may have a different model that is adhered to, however, each approach focuses on the experiences that an individual has had that make up their psyche. Through understanding where an individual is at with their level of needs, the understanding of how they perceive and learn the information helps build a strong foundation when addressing the issues and situations of a person. As with any type of therapy, using techniques that is considered traditional in the aspect of a person-centered therapy, creating an environment where the clients is allowed to lead the conversation in a therapy session gives the client a sense of control. Feeling as if they are being heard, the relationship can begin to form and the therapist will continue to be aware of the different levels of theory that can present itself. Using the correct technique in a session will be sure that the client’s subjective perspective isn’t being missed and both client and therapist benefit from the potential growth that is uniquely inherent in them both. References: Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc. Retrieved January 26, 2013 Kolb, D. A. , Boyatzis, R. E. , amp; Mainemelis, C. (2000). Experiential Learning Theory: Previous Research and New Directions. In Perspectives on cognitive, learning, and thinking styles. Retrieved January 26, 2013 McLeod, S. (2012). Humanism. In Simply Psychology. Retrieved January 26, 2013 Severin, F. T. (1973). Discovering man in psychology: A humanistic approach. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved January 26, 2013

The Grassland Biome Essay Example

The Grassland Biome Essay The biome I will be telling you about is Grassland. Grasslands dominate the landscape of a grassland biome. Normally grasslands are found in between latitudes. A popular name for grasslands in the United States is called the bread basket. Grasslands in North America are known as Prairies, and in South America they are known as the Pampas. Eurasia has the Steppes, and in South Africa they are called Savanna and Veldt. The trees only grow where the water is located. That means that there are barely any trees. It is the only type of land that has the least amount of trees besides deserts. That means that it more than likely won`t be able support life because of how few trees there are. These are some of the things that make grasslands unique. Some of the major locations are North America, Pampa of Argentina, Fields of southern Africa, parts of Hungary, Northeastern China, USSR, Siberia, and the Serengeti Plains of Africa, South America, and Australia. Even though that there is not a lot of major locations, the lands cover a good portion of land. There are many other locations but these are only a few of the major ones plus there is a lot of minor countries. There are not many landforms because grasslands are just a never ending ocean of grass. What landforms form all depends on where that grassland is located. For example you would not find many rolling hills in the coldest grasslands unlike in the United Sates you would. Primarily there are steppes and plateaus. You can also find hills and valleys in the Savanna grasslands. Vegetative life is often conductive to crop growth, which is why so many farms are found in the prairies. There are not many plants because of the lack of water that is why there are not many landfor ms at all. We will write a custom essay sample on The Grassland Biome specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Grassland Biome specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Grassland Biome specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer African elephants, wild dogs, black mambas, mongooses, emus, zebras, koala bears, lions, antelope, and even Nile crocodiles live there in the grasslands. Elephants do well in grasslands because they are herbi

Lottery By Shirley Jackson Essays (744 words) - Dystopian Literature

Lottery By Shirley Jackson In many stories, settings are constructed to help build the mood and to foreshadow of things to come. "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson is a story in which the setting sets up the reader to think of positive outcomes. However, this description of the setting foreshadows exactly the opposite of what is to come. In addition, the theme that we learn of at the end leads us to think of where the sanity of some human beings lies. The story begins with the establishment of the setting. To begin, Shirley Jackson tells the reader what time of day and what time of year the story takes place. This is important to get the reader to focus on what a typical day it is in this small town. The time of day is set in the morning and the time of year is early summer. She also describes that school has just recently let out for summer break, letting the reader infer that the time of year is early summer. Shirley Jackson also seems to stress on the beauty of the day and the brilliance of nature. This provides the positive outlook and lets the reader relax into what seems to be a comfortable setting for the story. In addition, the description of people and their actions are very typical and not anomalous. Children play happily, women gossip, and men casually talk about farming. Everyone is coming together for what seems to be enjoyable, festive, even celebratory occasion. However, the pleasant description of the setting creates a faade within the story. The setting covers the very ritualistic and brutally violent traditions such as the stoning of Mrs. Hutchinson, who dared to defy tradition. It is very apparent that tradition is very coveted in this small, simple town. This can be proven by the ancient, black box used for the lottery and the significance of farming for the community. Farming is also the only known way of life because of tradition. The men in "The Lottery" are "speaking of planting and rain, tractors and taxes". This is because the ritual performed in the story is supposed to have an effect on the harvest. "Lottery in June, corn be heavy soon" used to be a saying heard in that town. The abundance of their harvest supposedly depended upon their performing the ritual of the lottery. Although it is implied that the abundance of their harvest depends wholly on cruel act of stoning a human being to death, there is evidence that not all in the community agree with the ritual. Children are an important focus in "The Lottery". Jackson makes it easy for us to imagine their "boisterous play" and the children are described in depth. I think these children symbolize perceived states of happiness in the story. I also believe they are vital necessities in the story because they are taught and expected to carry the traditions. For instance, "someone gave little Davy Hutchinson a few pebbles" so that he will then be able to participate in the stoning of his own mother. In the story, many parts of the ritual had been changed or even long forgotten by most of the people. This fact in itself, along with a few other clues, tells me that not everyone agrees with it. One character says, "seems like there's no time at all between lotteries anymore". This means that the lottery is much too frequent or should not even be done at all. I believe that many disagree with the practice of the ritual, I also think that the individual feels helpless in putting a stop to it. Mrs. Adams mentions to Old Man Warner, "that over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery" and that "Some places have already quit the lotteries". He replies "Pack of crazy fools" and says, "There's always been a lottery". Although she does not say it in so many words, I find it obvious that she feels that the ritual should be put to an end. This in combination with the fact that many of the townspeople do not even remember the reasons behind the ritual has led me to the conclusion that they only continue the process for "tradition's sake". It just goes to show that humans are creatures of habit and that sometimes we continue to participate in (or tolerate) harmful practices. This is simply because as individuals we feel powerless and unable to stand up against behaviors that have always been accepted. The setting

Calcium In A Plant Based Diet Essays - Calcium, Diets, Osteoporosis

Calcium In A Plant Based Diet Essays - Calcium, Diets, Osteoporosis Calcium In A Plant Based Diet Many people choose to avoid milk and other dairy products because they contain fat, cholesterol, allergenic proteins, lactose, and frequently traces of contamination. Milk is also linked to juvenile-onset diabetes, and other serious conditions. Happily, there are plenty of other, safer and more reliable sources of calcium. Keeping your bones strong depends more on preventing the loss of calcium from your body than on boosting your calcium intake. Some cultures consume no dairy products and typically ingest only 175 to 475 milligrams of calcium per day. However, these people generally have low rates of osteoporosis. Many scientists believe that exercise and other factors have more to do with osteoporosis than calcium intake does. Calcium in the Body. Almost all the calcium in the body is in the bones. There is a tiny amount in the bloodstream which is responsible for important functions such as muscle contractions, maintenance of the heartbeat, and transmission of nerve impulses. We constantly lose calcium from our bloodstream through sweat and other excretions. It is renewed with calcium from the bones. In this process, bones continually lose calcium. This bone calcium must be replaced from food. Calcium needs change throughout life. Up to the age of 30 or so, we consume more calcium than we lose. Adequate calcium intake during childhood and adolescence is especially important. Later, the body begins to slip into negative calcium balance and the bones start to lose more calcium than they take up. The loss of too much calcium can lead to soft bones or osteoporosis. How rapidly calcium is lost depends, in part, on the kind and amount of protein you eat as well as other diet and life-style choices. Reducing Calcium Loss. A number of factors affect calcium loss from the body: Diets that are high in protein cause more calcium to be lost through the urine. Pro tein from animal products is much more likely to cause calcium loss than protein from plant foods. This may be one reason that vegetarians tend to have stronger bones than meat eaters. Caffeine increases the rate at which calcium is lose through urine. Alcohol inhibits calcium absorption. The mineral boron may slow the loss of calcium from bones. Exercise slows bone loss and is one of the most important factors in maintaining bone health. Sources of Calcium: Exercise and a diet moderate in protein will help to protect your bones. People who eat plant-based diets and who lead an active life-style probably have lower calcium needs. However, calcium is an essential nutrient for everyone. It is important to eat calcium-rich foods every day. The following chart will tell you the calcium content of many foods. Legumes Calcium (mg) Chickpeas, 1 cup, canned....................78 Great Northern beans, 1 cup boiled.........121 Green beans, 1 cup boiled....................58 Green peas, 1 cup boiled......................44 Kidney beans, 1 cup boiled.................50 Lentils, 1 cup boiled..............................37 Lima beans, 1 cup boiled......................52 Navy beans, 1 cup boiled...................128 Pinto beans, 1 cup boiled.....................82 Soybeans, 1 cup boiled......................175 Tofu, raw, firm - 1/2 cup......................258 Vegetarian baked beans, 1 cup..........128 Wax beans, 1 cup canned................. 174 White beans, 1 cup boiled.................161 If using Calcium Fortified products, check the source of the calcium. Bibliography Vegetarian Journal Future Link The Internet

Assignemnt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Assignemnt - Essay Example In the last few decades, the development of location based service has accompanied the growth of mobile telecommunications. Location based services such as global positioning satellite systems offer many benefits to consumers, but raise issues pertaining to privacy, trust and justice. Socially responsible telecommunication firms should develop policies to safeguard data and build trust (Chen et al., 2008). There has been a need to be able to exchange information within firms, partners, and customers. The four layers of the value chain include network operators, system integrators, assemblers, and sub-assemblers. E-commence initiatives influence process and relational innovations through collaboration. The use of collaborative electronic tools can strengthen business relationships, and trigger information visibility. In a business-to-business e-commerce environment, tighter long-term relationships between tiers of stakeholders are vital to the success of products or services. Generally, e-commerce is associated with sales and procurement activities. However, in this case it goes beyond to collaborative product development, forecasting, production planning, and management of inventory (Cassivi et al., 2005). Human capital of higher quality can enable firms to increase the range of various activities, and enhance their abilities to increase returns. According to Wei et al. (2009), the competitive edge of firms in today’s economy stems from â€Å"difficult to replicate† knowledge assets, and manner of deployment. The contemporary economy is knowledge based and requires direct engagement for the generation of knowledge. The knowledge economy emphasizes on human talents that organizations can harness, and developing those abilities. Participating in the evolving global networks requires building capabilities for competitiveness. The real value of organizations depends on ideas, insights and information that employees

Any attempt to provide an adequate theory of cognition that ignores Essay

Any attempt to provide an adequate theory of cognition that ignores emotion is probably doomed to failure (Eysenck, 1995). Discuss - Essay Example This paper is dedicated to analysis of relationships between cognitions and emotions in order to find out whether Eysenck's (1995) thesis is right or not. There are now few doubts that cognitions and emotions together constitute the core of personality, its set, and in fact make "what a human is" (Kelly, 1969). The value of emotions and cognitions for personality could hardly be underestimated. Already Aristotle admitted the value of emotions in people's lives (Kafetsios and LaRock, 2003). In the early XVIII century J.Berkeley was one of the first to distinguish emotions and cognitions. J. Berkeley came to the conclusion that people's reactions on the stimuli - the so-called "ideas", are combinations of cognitions (the acts of people's minds) and emotions (the acts of people's soul and fantasy). According to Thomists' ideas, emotions and cognitions are the major characteristics that differentiate human beings from non-humans (Lyons, 1999). Regardless the visible simplicity of the issue, both the nature of emotions and cognitions and their relationships still remain discussable and contestable amidst psychologists and physiologists. There are numbers of approaches and theories that tend to go into two extremes. One of these extremes insists on poor or even no relationship between cognitions and emotions. This extreme reflects metaphysical attitude to affects understood as the antitheses of rationality. Another approach Another approach named "biological" or "physiological" theory of emotions summarizes the findings of Ch. Darwin (psychoevolutionary theory), W. James and C. Lange (organic theory), and W. Cannon (psycho-organic theory) who generally explained emotions as the functions of mind and believed that emotions are unrelated to cognitions. Also this statement is less supported by contemporary psychologists, until now the biological approach has a number of partisans. Modern reinterpretations of this approach still assume that cognitions and emotions are completely different in nature. While cognitions are extremely structured and "personalized", emotions are less individual and, in fact "depersonalized", as most people share the same emotions reacting on the same events (Danes, 1991). The common critique to this point of view usually implies the following statement: if people's emotions are unrelated to their thinking, then our emotional reactions should always be the same and stable regardless the stimuli. However, our emotional reactions, in fact, lie on a certain continuum, where such emotion as "attraction" may range from a "slight interest" to "passion" depending on our rational evaluation of an object. This statement implies psychological relatedness between emotional and rational (cognitive) processes which participate in rational procession of data. Another extreme, widely known as "cognitive approach", implies that emotions and cognitions can not be analyzed and understood separately as they both constitute the joint process of reacting. According to cognitivists, emotions

Disturbance of Corporate Personality and Law Coursework

Disturbance of Corporate Personality and Law - Coursework Example This research will begin with the statement that one of the moral issues in the co-operate scene today is the act of bribing company officials in order to get tenders and other orders in the business world. This is a situation where the company officials are given bribes in order to hand over a certain order to a particular supplier. Bribing other officials to hand over information regarding a competing company falls in the same category as unethical business behavior. These offences are legally punishable by the law in the United States of America. It is documented that most of these companies are oblivious of this as an offence that is punishable by international law. However, officials should not accept bribes under any circumstances. This makes the competition in the market to be unfair. The market share then is more likely to shift from a competitive market to a monopoly. Monopolization of the market makes it worlds harder to ensure the rights of the consumer are well adhered to . This kind of moral situation should not exist in an ideal society let alone a business situation. Eradicating such vices hides a bigger picture of ensuring that each of the people’s interests is better protected. This can only be done by the effective education of people both of their rights and of the wrongs they may commit if they stay ignorant. A recent example is the publication in a global corruption report made by transparency international. This report showed that companies are still in the habit of offering bribes to officials of other states in order to get their products into those states faster. Also bribes offered to political heavyweights for smoother navigation of the product within the political climate of the state. Problems brought about by corporations investing in countries with populations that have low returns differ from the main concerns of the companies in more mature markets. Diamond also initially focused on an e-conference he attended. According t o Diamond, â€Å"the consequences of all that deforestation include loss of timber and other forest building materials, soil erosion, loss of soil fertility, sediment loads in the rivers, loss of watershed protection and hence of potential hydroelectric power, and decreased rainfall.1† The conference was gathered on basis of the role that governments ought to take enabling a suitable environment that. CSR is one of the groups that cover a wide variety of ecological problems connected to trade conduct. Through the conference attended, I have not observed any guiltless references made by the writer with regards to negligence of ecological responsibility. I also have come across companies that the writer appears to be referring to successful funding and repairing of harm caused to the environment. An example used by Diamond is the EPA superfund program that righteous ecologists have supported to the extent of clearly deserving their fortune. Such programs have been reported to s upport the public from the actual damage that has been inflicted on the environment. The writer talks about the level or state of the compensation that EPA imposed on the environment as a result of the activities carried out certain companies2. Diamond opens up the occasional useful programs and policies huge corporations put into effect to inform companies that taking care of the environment is not the sole task of the people. During the aftermath of the oil spill, Chevron claimed to be in control of the situation. The writer simply reveals the programs initiated in the name of saving out environment, and does not let the companies off the hook. Some of the areas that signify that the writer does not the company off the hook for its environmental damaging operations include the

Marketing Analysis Of Marks And Spencer

Marketing Analysis Of Marks And Spencer Success is the ability of a firm to do well than its competitors. By 1990s MS had been massively successful in terms of market share profit. Therefore, we can take up that the firm was overtaking its competitors in term of market share and profit. This was attained by different approaches. The companys maturity, strategies, philosophy and control of the value chain were all vital to its success. Strategy of product and service differentiation was the main feature for MS . The development of brand St Michael and its creation as a sign of British manufactured quality, at a sensible price were essential to the company. By providing a welcoming, co-operative service that guarantee superior shopping comfort and handiness to customers, distinguished MS from further high street retailers. The company quickly turn into a household name, with a solid corporate image, that could be trusted upon to give good value for money. This prepared it stand out from the rest and therefore more fruitful. As MS matured, and it advanced along its experience curve, it was able to benefit from an accumulation of experience, process innovation, economies of scale and improving customer brand loyalty (Porter M. 1980. pp163-164). This assisted the company to deliver improved service at a low cost, to customers who were less price-sensitive, thus assuring success. Simon Marks, well-known as aggressive Leader for his expertise over the business and his thought. His firm thoughts and realization of core values provided the company a strongly devoted ethos culture. This ethos was continued through the employ of staff that would fit-in and turn into part of the family. Staffs of MS were very faithful, which meant that they could be trusted upon to provide the true level of service to the clients. They actually were Customer oriented through the start of the business to be crucial to the success of the company. MS deployed a very thoughtful style of strategy, which empowered whole control of all features of the business. Thru its was effective years, the company kept and remained true to the durable core values, firstly set in place by Simon Marks. Every store manager tracked central route on all matters with devotion to rules and the company fundamental ethics and values. This confirmed that the MS image was steady throughout the nation and assis ted to support the business identity. The culture admired the policy and strengthened the companys victory through differentiation. Simon Marks recognized the market necessity for great quality at reasonable price. It was his trust that most of the British suppliers could arrange for these items and he rapidly forged close ties with his belief suppliers. This connection was so vital, it was incorporated in the companys central principles. Suppliers had to deliver products of the high quality and description and this assisted to give MS a large manufactured goods range that customers could trust on. The locked-in suppliers, captive distribution, owned retail outlets, effective in-house service network and strong after sales support meant that MS had a strong vertically integrated system that controlled most of the value chain (Porter. Ibid. p128). Guaranteed products from a assured chain assisted make MS so fruitful. The achievement of MS was not only owed to the company itself, a certain amount of good fortune is also required for any business to succeed , creativity, hard work and market requirement. Back in the late 1880s, Michael Marks had not continued with the penny bazaars or Simon Marks not carried back ideas from America proceeding how to advance the business, then it is more than probable that the company would not have been a achievement. MS was so effective because it occupied an area of the retail market that no one other had. It distinguished itself and continued high criteria in product quality and customer deal whereas keeping price reasonable. MS managers were devoted to the company beliefs and operated closely to produce strong links with British suppliers. Market Penetration: i.e. existing products in existing markets. Additional product lines have been offered in the food and clothing categories to gain more market share. MS has introduced a designer collection with the aim of entering different segments of the younger (Thompson, 2001). Also, different product ranges such as cosmetics, furniture, books and CD, financial services etc have been introduced. Certain marketing events has been introduced by MS such as growing advertising, employing an outside agency for public relations and launching the marketing department to take a more dedicated customer orientation. MS has upgraded its product lines through innovation. E.g. Buying in new fabrics and colours, increasing product offerings (MS 1998 annual report). Product Development: i.e. new products in existing markets. MS offers customers a more extensive choice based by the highest quality and safety standards. MS introduced in-store bakeries, rear-service delicatessen, hot food counters and so on into stores to differentiate itself from competitors for providing new selling opportunities for unique product ranges (MS 1998 annual report). Some innovative products are added such as washable silk, jumpers and etc. (MS 1998 annual report). Furthermore, MS introduces sub brand designer in order to supply a collection of womens clothing for the fashion conscious woman (http://marksandspencer.com, 18/03/02). Market Development: i.e. existing products in new markets. MS increased selling space by 410,000 sq ft in 1998 through opening 4 new stores, extending 16 stores and purchasing 19 selected stores from Littlewoods (MS 1998 annual report) in order to upgrade and make the stores more pleasure experience for the customer. Also, MS has opened a number of stores at UK railway station and airports. MS has tried to enter into the young segment by offering more fashionable clothing and introducing some designer brand. Moreover, MS is now offering a mail order for busy people and those living in remote areas. Mean while the company continued to established markets in Western Europe, Canada, USA, and the Far East, this was now being done via a franchise method. Diversification: i.e. new products in new markets. Apart from its core products: food and clothing, MS developed a new strategic direction within the UK through its diversification into financial services, home furnishings etc. (Maureen Whitehead, 1992). MS also diversified into US retail food market by purchasing Kings Supermarkets (http://www.clm1.org, 24/04/02). Until 1998, MS has already had more than 20 outlets. MS also diversified into the world market. They were following-up on their worldwide reputation that they had gained since the 50s by only selling quality items at value pricing. Current Strategic Situation: Due to successful again MS must to inspect what made them successful originally Simons Marks understanding of customer preferences and trends. This led MS to meeting the customers requirements in the market and launching some very solid core capabilities, which over time commanded to others. Though, where MS pass on wrong is that they lost touch with the developing market and hence requirements of customers; customers needs transformed but they didnt. To re-establish this success MS must certify they know the market exceptionally well and decide what section of the market they wish to acquire. By going back to their original rudiments, inspecting their existing strengths and deciding on a market segmentation strategy that best matches these strengths, MS should be able to become moneymaking once more. Continuous satisfactory market research must be accompanied to certify MS does not lose touch again with their target market as another blunder could critically damage the organisation . Today MS is operating in a highly competitive market where purchasers have a comparatively high percentage of disposable income and are spending large amounts. This gives them high negotiating power specially since they are well knowledgeable about competition and so it is important to use the most cost effective suppliers to be able to save costs and grow the profit. With modern manufacturing techniques consumers are expecting high quality even at this low cost. Buyers presume a minimum standard and a market accumulation situation had established. The large number of substitute products in the market today also helps makes it this highly competitive atmosphere; there are many other retailers having competition for both the top and bottom end of the market share. This necessitates MS to have an aggressive marketing strategy to recapture market share. MS needs to take opportunities which form on its current strengths and be cautious about current threats that could potentially lead to more difficulties. By structure on existing strengths or core capabilities MS should goal to strengthen its market place and form new competencies earlier boarding on a noteworthy expansion program. Once a number of strong core competencies have been established MS can consider dangerous growth. SWOT Analysis STRENGTHS MS became Well Known MS has created a Good image for their customers. Their store locations were prime. Clothing is a requirement but several peoples also purchase a wide-ranging variety of clothes to match their different events or desires. Urge purchasing accounts for a high share of sales. Customers are continually purchasing new clothes to fill their wardrobes, either for the reasons of fashion or to switch worn-out stuffs. The UK industry is stronger in design fashion. Less common for people to get prepare their personal clothes than it was in the past. Costs of manufacture are dropping down as manufacturing is progressively being moved to inexpensive places around the world. WEAKNESSES Severe rivalry lead MS to heavy discounting that is grind down profit margins. The UK cloth trade has lesser output than leading European competitors is progressively being vulnerable by low cost foreign competition. Substantial brands have high profiles and their goods are relaxed to copy by counterfeiters with slight changes by competitors. Large chains dominate the retail sector and the only way to gain share in this mature market is to success to win customers from competitors. Speedy fashion variations can render items obsolete very quickly. Outmoded mail order collections are losing ground, as it is difficult to keep well-informed of fashion. Internet selling is unlikely to be significantly successful, as customers like to try on clothes and see the superiority of fabric and workmanship. Sales are periodic, with the greatest spending taking place in the run-up to Christmas, when more expensive coats and party wear are anticipated. Clothes are also common gift choices. The state of the reduced can have an important impact on sales at the top end of the market, as well as on desire buying. OPPORTUNITIES Men still spend less on dresses than women and this segment of the market remains underexploited. There is quiet sufficiently of probable for further merging in the market. The asset of brands such as Dorothy Perkins and the expertise of British retailers suggest there is probable for further growth abroad, mostly in the new EU member states. The ending of the MFA should lead to more discounts in the cost of products which could increase retail sales overall and/or cause consumers to trade up to items once elsewhere their means. Number of working women remains to growth, they will not only want more clothes for work but are also more probable to have the financial freedom to create clothes purchases. The industry remains to encourage a teenager marketplace for fashion-conscious 8 to 12 year-olds. THREATS Clothing chains from overseas, mainly those from Europe, such as Zara, have positively occupied UK high streets. Conventionally popular retailers, like Marks and Spencer, will have to adapt or face the harm of more market share to aggressive groups such as Arcadia. Both manufacturing and retailing are labour concentrated and are affected by legislature concerning minimum wages and working hours. The increasing participation of grocery multiples in clothing retailing is adding low-price volume to the market. A recession in the economy could cause men, in specific, to cut back on overall expenditure in this sector. In the current market environment a quantity of choices are open to MS now. These include: Founding a strategic union with another organisation This would involve an unwritten agreement with other clothes retailers not to encroach on each others market share. This would allow MS to regain strength in its original core business and so ensure it is in a better position to possibly expand into new markets in the future. Dis-investments In order to focus all its efforts on the recovery of the UK business, MS could divest or close non-core businesses and assets, which would allow it to focus only on core business until its market position is regained. Purchasing of smaller competitors To minor the level of competition and create trading easier MS could buy up minor retailers. This would give MS more control over the market and growth their market share deprived of making many changes. For MS to attain organic development and recover the market share they once had they neediness to initially toughen their core profit centres by selling more of their current merchandise to their current clients. After this MS can initiate to reconstruct its reputation for quality service and distinguish their products so customers observe them to be of higher value then the competition. By control the price constant this should help take back segments of the market missing to competitors. Once this is attained MS can remain to look at choices for product innovation. By introducing absolutely new and original products they can further strengthen their market segments. After this has been completed MS should begin to market their current merchandise to attract customers from fresh market segments through careful advancement planned by careful market research. Once they have recognized a position in other market segments they can begin to distinguish their merchandise within that mark et segment and additional strengthen their position. Finally, MS can initiate to once again increase by looking at new product options in completely new markets such as financial services. Therefore I would recommend MS primarily disinvest loss-making sub-sidiaries to allow the organisation to focus on upgrading its core business strength. This can be assisted by founding a strategic alliance with other organisations not to violate on each others market for the time being. Smaller competitors should not be attained at this stage until MS is in a sturdier financial position. Strategic Direction for the future: Internal Development: MSs will have to invest in training led to enhanced performance of supervisors and junior management. In-addition, MS will have to give people widespread roles through inspiration in order to help organization grow more smoothly. Inside the UK market MS will have to decide to revolutionize the store with modern look. The upgrading on design and layout for the store will have been introduced in an attempt to gain customer demands on convenience and to increase more shopping attractive. done Acquisitions: MS have to buy more stores as part of the growth programme; this will allow the company to double the number of locations. The store bought will then be altered into MS corporate style, with specific departments of the MS business (Welwyn Garden City). Joint Development: The relationship with suppliers allows MS to sharing knowledge and information throughout the supply chain i.e. MS worked with its suppliers e.g. Dupont to pioneer the use of the material Lycra for the mass market (case study). Future Resources of MS: Tangible:  ª Wide variety of high quality products with value for money, own-brand products  ª Hard working staff and good management team  ª Loyal customers Intangible:  ª High product value  ª Good image, so it will converted into high reputation  ª Buyer and staff loyalty  ª They will must have some Strong relationships with suppliers  ª Highly expertise expertise knowledge Human:  ª Supply-chain management; expertise in outsourcing  ª Outstanding services in purchasing and merchandising  ª Small hierarchy that will allow outstanding communications between head office purposes and stores. E.g. managers ask about employees opinions frequently to encourage argument and the expression of new ideas Successful strategic management requires winning, retaining and balancing resources. Performance depends directly on simple, mostly tangible, resources, but the growth of tangible resources is dependent on intangible factors. However, for MS, the loyalty of customers and the reputation is decreasing, the morale is shrinking and the cost is increasing (Kim Warren, 2002). The value chain analysis could be used to identify the organisational capabilities. Value Chain Analysis: SUPPORT ACTIVITIES Firm Infrastructure:  ª Subcontracting with suppliers as well as outsourcing domestically and internationally  ª Development of financial services such as availability of credit cards Technology Development:  ª MSs technologists working together with suppliers to gain knowledge about product development (e.g. with Dupont-Lycra)  ª EPOS system to help MS improve productivity so that it can respond faster to market changes  ª Customer ordering system (mailing system)  ª Having its own website for online selling, which allow customers to see products and service online Human Resource Management:  ª Good appraisal system for employees such as store Management training program and so on (Morgenstein Strongin, 1992)  ª Specialist advisers in key departments  ª Staff service initiatives Procurement  ª Minimising the environmental impact of their operations and merchandise  ª A well established supply base, with a high product specification standards PRIMARY ACTIVITIES Inbound Logistics:  ª Long-Term and non-contractual relationship based on mutual trust and understanding  ª Integrated business process with suppliers in terms of product specification, material management, quality control and so on  ª Sharing knowledge and information throughout the supply chain Operations:  ª Exclusive quality control in the operation process  ª Dealing direct with manufacturers instead of through intermediaries, understanding and controlling products from raw materials to finished goods  ª Subcontracting production with very tight conditions to suppliers  ª The costs of stockholding were carried by the supplier  ª Working across within franchises Outbound Logistics:  ª Franchise agreement overseas such as Greece, Indonesia, Thailand and so on  ª Good Store location Marketing and Sales:  ª Comfortable shopping environment  ª High quality products with good value for money  ª Wide ranges of products and services Services:  ª Offering the highest standard of customer care (Johnson Schole, 1997; Case Study) The value chain analysis helps MS identify the way to cooperate across different functions in the chain and then add more value to products and sustain competitive advantages. Having had the value chain analysis, the core competences of MS are as following:  ª Sourcing methods  ª Ability to deliver high value, reliable, consistent quality products  ª The trust from investors and customers  ª High quality of management 4.0 Evaluation MS Strategy: In order to evaluate MS strategy, the SFA analysis will be give below: Strategy Suitability Feasibility Acceptability Differentiation * * * Do Nothing Withdrawal * * * Market Penetration * * Market Development * * * Product Development * * Diversification * Internal Development * * * Acquisition * * Joint Development * * * Differentiation The company had serious consideration regarding the future direction of the company and its brand (St. Michaels). Because of its success in image, branding and quality, it is viewed acceptable to continue down the same road. Do Nothing The Do Nothing strategy has not been successful as it leaves MS behind in the market place, due to this MS has lost its continuous development in terms of quality, branding, customer values and so on. They have proven too slow to take action against those changes in a very competitive market place. Withdrawal According to the company inability to operate successfully in countries such as Canada, US, Fast East and some European countries as well as the Asian crisis in 1997, the choice left for the company would be to close the unprofitable outlets while remain operating in the other countries that still profitable. Market Penetration MS starts to introduce a number of new product lines in 1998 such as cosmetics, financial services, furniture and etc. however by the time they were introduced its competitors had already followed MS some successful strategy. Consequently, MS has lost its competitive advantage. Market Development Regarding to the acquisition of 19 outlets from the Littlewoods group this was suitable because it allowed the company to achieve its reposition in the market place. Product Development MS re-evaluated and improved a number of product lines mainly in the food and lady clothing, but also entered into the furnishing business. The food lines improved MSs profitability; however, the clothing and soft furnishing have not yet been able to compete with high street competitors. Diversification MS had taken their standard strategy formula and tried to stall it in their overseas operations, but they did not take the culture differences and other risks, i.e. economic, commercial and political. Internal Development The modernization of outlets, the retraining of employee and upgrading their central purchasing system helped MS to be more competitive in the marketplace. Acquisition MS acquired the 19 stores from Littelwoods for the purpose of adding them to the up-grading programme with the purpose of adding to the companys property assets. The company also acquired the food chain King Supermarkets in the United State, this operation operates under its own name. Joint Development MS required new ideas to add excitement to its product lines and therefore enhance the shopping experience of their customers. The failure of MSs suppliers to develop possible new products has been viewed as a failure in their relationship which had to be addressed without delay. The problem was due to the past attention had been given to quality and efficient delivery of the product, Marks Spencer standards have always be strict, the MS and not enough effort on focusing on their customers and what customer wanted from the relationship. When the customers feel satisfied then will be prepared to commit themselves to future purchases from the same supplier, this can be viewed that the relationship gives MS a real competitive advantages as well as economic 5.0 MSs situation: Text Box: Industry Saleshttp://www.coursework.info/document/3/4/4/44381/44381_files/image013.gif According to the life cycle, MS is sitting in the mature stage and the fortunes have been in decline. As the increasing competition such as from Next and Gap, the customer tastes changing and the short of experience of going overseas, MSs profit declined sharply from  £1,102m in 1997 to  £546m in 1999 and the share price declined from  £6.65 to  £4.61 (The Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2001). http://www.coursework.info/document/3/4/4/44381/44381_files/image014.gifGap Analysis: MS was very successful in product range and quality in the past; therefore, they overlooked the changes in the environment such as increasing competition, changes in customer tastes and so on. As a result, they remain do-nothing strategy without investing in product innovation, environmental monitoring or marketing, which led to the decreasing in profits in 1998. In order to fill the gap, MS should start to look at and change product and marketing strategies. Furthermore, different options should be looked at by MS such as brand identity (different brands for different segments), segmentation (more attention on key segments), diversification (for the financial service, they should choose the effective target audience and identify their needs and wants properly). (MS Corp. Press Office, 2001) http://www.coursework.info/document/3/4/4/44381/44381_files/image015.gif In the past, MSs strategy based on broad differentiation (image of good quality and wide range of products at affordable price). At the moment, its strategy was unclear because they were trying to do everything to maintain its competitive advantage. They are using unrelated strategies such as cutting costs (cost leadership) as well as trying to use differentiation focus by entering different niche markets (financial services and so on) as well as differentiating its brand through the range of products on offer. Consequently, leads to the company positioning in stuck in the middle. All in all, MS failed the sustainable competitive advantage hurdle. With fickle customers, changing fashions and intense competition, a sustainable competitive advantage is difficult to maintain in this particular sector. Although MS has plenty of attractive retail space and George Davies brought a magician, however, MS need to have some dramatic change in order to survive and revive. 6.0 Recommendation and conclusion: MS faces the toughest test of its ability to survive in the war of the High Street. It must not only defend its market share, but must also find ways of gaining back customers perception in terms of quality, brand loyalty and so on. MS required new ideas to add excitement to its product lines and therefore enhance the shopping experience of their customers (Dennis Adcock, 2000). MS is changing itself such as outsourcing and recruit more new and young employees. New strategies are in Place: an upmarket clothing line has been introduced, returning to selling only own-brand products, stores have been revamped, top management appointments made, the utilization of Microsoft BizTalk serve and Window 2000 serve and opening out-of-town stores to shift surplus stock. The difficulty for MS is achieving the right balance between the corporate values that gave it its strong market position, and the innovation that is required to stay competitive. It is a tough time for MS and also the right time for a new broom, MS should get lessons from past and look at more about what is happening in the market place and change itself from the old way of doing things to a brand-new image in order to sustain its competitive advantage and regain its leading position. Reference: Books:  · Case Study from Declan  · Daft and Marcic, 2001  · Dennis Adcock, 2000, Marketing Strategies for competitive advantage; John WileySons Inc.  · Hartley and Palmer, 1999  · Jennings and Wattam, 1994, Decision Making An Integrated Approach, 2nd edition, Financial Times, Pitman  · Jobber, 2001, Principles and Practice of Marketing, 3nd Edition, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company  · Johnson, Scholes, 1993, Exploring Corporate Strategy Text and Cases, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd.  · Johnson Schole, 1997, Exploring Corporate Strategy, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall  · Kim Warren, 2002, Strategic Performance connecting to the fundamentals of business dynamics, London Business School  · Morgenstein Strongin, 1992, Modern Retailing Management Principles Practice, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall  · Naylor, 1999  · Thompson, 2001, Strategic Management, 4th Edition, British Library Internet:  · http://www.clm1.org/education/2001/ms.pdf, 24/04/02  · http://marksandspencer.com, 18/03/02  · http://www.statsed.co.uk/bes/bes_spring1999/28_2/sec2.htm, 19/04/02 Other Sources:  · Chartered Institute of Marketing, 2001  · Marks Spencer Press Release, June, 1996  · MS 1998 annual report  · MS Corp. Press Office, 2001  · Maureen Whitehead, 1992, Management Decision, Vol. 32 No. 3, 1994, pp. 38-41  · Pawlyna, Andrea, British retailer on the roll, Asian Business, April, 1996  · Welwyn Garden City, Deputy Head, Stanborough School Appendix 1: http://www.c

Magnet Status Essay

A Magnet Recognition Program recognizes health care organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. Consumers rely on Magnet designation as the ultimate credential for high quality nursing (American Nurses Credentialing Center, 2008). Magnet status is becoming the â€Å"gold standard† for nursing excellence and as more hospitals seek the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s desired Magnet recognition, more hospitals are requiring their nurses to either return to school for their bachelor’s degrees or have a BSN before applying. The Institute of Medicine, Future of Nursing Initiative recommended that organizations should strive to achieve 80% BSN prepared nurses by 2020. Educational criteria for nurse leaders and managers require at least a BSN (Institute of Medicine, 2010). Magnet hospitals are an inspiration for nurses looking for a quality institution in which to practice. This status translates into a hospital that values nurses and promotes excellence. Nurses play a significant role in the whole hospital experience for patients and their families. They are the primary source of care and support during some of the most vulnerable times in a person’s life. Studies show Magnet hospitals have higher percentages of satisfied registered nurses, lower turnover and vacancy, improved clinical outcomes, greater nurse autonomy, and improved patient satisfaction (American Nurses Credentialing Center, 2008). When nurses are happier and more engaged, patients and families are happier. At Magnet hospitals, nurses are able to spend more one-on-one time with their patients providing compassionate care than at most other hospitals. This doesn’t mean that nurses at other hospitals provide poor care, this is not the case at all, but the nurse-to-patient ratios at a Magnet Hospital is more manageable. This allows the nurse to have more time with each patient, instead of running around trying to take care of an excessive amount of patients, it is unrealistic for a nurse to have one-on-one time with so many patients, when she has to do assessments, pass  medication, and everything else that comes up during a shift. Hospitals that achieve Magnet recognition, display it proudly and there is good reason for this. Magnet status does not come easily, it’s a lengthy and costly process. Hospitals must work hard, prove a deep commitment to nursing, and often undergo major organizational change to meet the strict requirements (American Nurses Credentialing Center, 2008). Since Magnet hospitals are designated for four years, Magnet recognition must be maintain. This is an ongoing process in which the organization will repeatedly review and revise its programs. One of the Forces of Magnetism that provides the conceptual framework for the Magnet appraisal process is Quality Improvement . Nurses play a key role in Quality Improvement as they are essential to hospitalized patient care, they spend the most time at the patient’s bedside and are in the best position to affect the care patients receive during a hospital stay. Hospitals face increasing demands to participate in a wide range of quality improvement activities, and they are reliant on nurses to help address these demands (Draper, 2008). Quality Improvement information pressures hospitals not only to participate by reporting, but also to perform well relative to competitors and show improvement. This is often one of the incentives behind hospitals seeking Magnet Program status (Draper, 2008). Another Force of Magnetism is Professional Development. The health care organization values and supports the personal and professional growth and development of staff (American Nurses Credentialing Center, 2008). Yale-New Haven Hospital is continually developing and enforcing quality and safety measures aimed at pre venting and minimizing errors at all levels of the organization. One of the Quality Initiatives is minimizing infections. This is done by maintaining good hand hygiene. Good hand hygiene is an important and effective way to prevent germs being spread in the hospital. Yale-New Haven Hospital, makes sure that sinks, soaps and alcohol-based sanitizers are readily available throughout the hospital for patients, staff and visitors. An audit for hand hygiene performance is done and the information obtained is used to make improvements. Another way to minimize infection is by maintaining isolation precautions in place when necessary, this is to protect patients, staff and visitors. Everyone must follow any precautions listed on the sign outside the patient’s room. Yale-New Haven Hospital has a quality assurance team  that continually monitors and measures performance across the entire Yale New Haven Health system. They evaluate and survey patients and staff at all levels to create hospital â€Å"scorecards.† They also rely on reporting from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and The Joint Commission. Performance reports and scores are circulated to leadership, physicians, nurses, administrators, and other key staff members so they can monitor progress and make informed decisions on where and how improvements should be made. The benefit of this is that when problems are identified, they investigate the causes and adjust practices to prevent the problem from happening again. This helps to maintain a culture of safety and continuous improvement (Yale New Haven Hospital, 2014). After writing this paper, I’ve realized that continuing my education and getting my Baccalaureate degree in nursing, whether mandated or not, will open many doors in my future career as a nurse. Achieving higher educational goals not only serves patients more effectively, it also prepares nurses to be leaders in their profession and to participate not only in direct patient care, but also in policy and governance as a career unfolds. References American Nurses Credentialing Center â€Å"Magnet Recognition Program.† American Nurses Credentialing Center, 2008 available at http://www.nursecredentialing.org/Magnet/ accessed Apr 15, 2014. Draper, DA., Felland, LE., Liebhaber, A. and Melichar, L. (2008, March). The Role of Nurses in Hospital Quality Improvement, available at http://www.hschange.org/CONTENT/972/ accessed April 25, 2014. The Future of Nursing: Focus on Education – Institute of Medicine. (2010, October). Retrieved from http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2010/The-Future-of-Nursing-Leading-Change-Advancing-Health/Report-Brief-Education.aspx/ accessed April 15, 2014 Yale-New Haven Hospital How & Why We Measure Performance. Retrieved from http://www.ynhh.org/patient-information/minimizing_infections.aspx accessed Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

The main idea behind use of biomimicry techniques

Biomimicry, also called bionics, is a new branch of science that explores natural designs and processes so as to transplant these ideas to finding solutions to human problems.The main idea behind use of biomimicry techniques is that â€Å"nature, imaginative by necessity, has already solved many of the problems we are grappling with†, and the organisms that survived to this day are the secret to success, in contrast to those that are buried as fossils (Benyus, n.d.).Scientists can discover the principles underlying natural phenomena to apply them later to design of human practices and products. The closer human society and production approaches nature, the closer is the goal of sustainable development.Biomimicry can help solve a number of problems in the most diverse areas of science. One of those is the production of extra strong materials. In contrast to humans that use the â€Å"heat, beat, and treat† for this purpose, nature makes tough stuff like collagen and bone from natural materials within the body.The spider’s web is in fact much more enduring than regular steel and produced of inexpensive materials in an environmentally friendly way. Knowledge of how humanity can copycat the spider’s work would help people make fiber in the same way would produce a revolution in the industry. The same is true of the proposal to introduce natural agricultural systems that would replace traditional annuals with plant cultures indigenous to the territory that would supply the land with natural fertilizers if allowed to overwinter.Biomimicry can alter the way we categorize living species. As of today, most biologists follow the traditional classification grouping organisms in accordance with their origin. A cow and a dolphin are placed in the same class of mammals even though they have a completely different habitat and adaptation mechanisms.From the bionic perspective, animals and other species that have similar adaptive mechanisms and employ similar processes can be grouped together so that their special features can be evaluated and studied by scholars. Under this perspective, dolphins can be grouped together with fish so that their methods of moving under water can be investigated effectively.Biomimicry would mean that humans would get strengthened grip over their evolutionary development. No longer would humanity be in conflict with nature, trying to re-shape it in its own way. All things produced and lifestyle would become less artificial and more natural.The greatest advancement would come from the application of biomimicry techniques in medicine where it is used in â€Å"replacement or enhancement of organs or other body parts by mechanical versions† that differ from regular â€Å"prostheses by mimicking the original function very closely, or even surpassing it† (Wikipedia, 2006).Examples include the cochlear implant intended for people with hearing impairments, artificial hearts, respirocyte, a red cell designed with the help of nanotechnologies, and a silicon retina functioning like the human one (Wikipedia, 2006). Looking at these technologies, one can draw the conclusion that human species can now control its own evolution in the way no other species had ever been able. Relying on scientific technologies to reproduce natural processes and designs, humans can correct â€Å"failures† of nature for disabled and sick individuals, helping them return to normal life.The use of biomimicry has important implications for pharmaceutical companies. They can now produce new, improved medication mimicking the designs and techniques used by nature. Exploring sharks, anemones, and other animals, scientists have discovered that â€Å"mrine creatures, which live surrounded by pathogens in the sea, are full of novel defenses† (Benyus, n.d.). Following nature in the composition of new drugs, pharmacologists can re-create this natural variety by creating medication that will mir ror these natural products and help humans in the same way.Natural substances are often the best solutions to human problems since they are applied in nature to heal and cure. As stated above, organisms that were inefficient in their design and failed to develop reliable ways to deal with diseases are long gone, after they had been shoved to the sidelines of the evolution. Those that survived can offer humanity reliable ways to fight with disease.Many pharmaceutical companies have recognized the emergence of new opportunities to improve their offerings. The Danish pharmaceutical company Novosymes that leads in industrial enzymes and microorganisms is one of the pioneers in this area. Production of enzymes for many other industries contributes to the manufacturing of â€Å"laundry detergents, bread, olive oil, wine and even the turf on the local golf course† (Fried, 2004).For example, in the detergent manufacturing it makes sense to use enzymes because they perform better than regular cleaning substances. Enzymes that are present in virtually every living organism are basically â€Å"biodegradable proteins that speed up all vital biological processes† (Fried, 2004). Growing organisms such as bacteria and fungi, Novozymes tries to identify organisms that produce a high amount of enzymes. In fact, scholars even combine microorganisms relying on DNA sequences to produce new enzymes.Thus, the use of biomimicry in pharmaceutical business and other corporate environments allows companies to better meet the needs of their customers and grant human beings greater control over their lives. This does not mean that companies using biomimicry techniques will be controlling human lives. However, by imitating nature, they will hopefully be able to make human society more sustainable and economic growth and technologies more balanced and environmentally friendly.ReferencesBenyus, J. Biomimicry. Retrieved August 7, 2006, from www.biomimicry.netFried, R. (2004). A Business Built on Biomimicry. Retrieved August 7, 2006, from http://www.tidepool.org/original_content.cfm?articleid=120228Wikipedia. (2006). Bionics. Retrieved August 7, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimicry

Slave Religion essays

Slave Religion essays When it comes to religion most people feel they have a belief in God or a higher power. This belief helps sustain them in times of mental and emotional turmoil and many times physical pain. The slaves of North America brought with them a belief in their sacred beings, in which they didnt distinguish the living from the dead. Their belief that in death the body just slips from the physical state to a spiritual one was widely believed in and can still be seen in such places as Jamaica and Trinidad, and in United States but to a lesser degree in the form of Voodoo. A religion that incorporates Because they were very expressive in their supplications to God in their practice of their religious beliefs, their prayer sessions were stifled by the slave holders for fear of slave revolts. Because of the censorship, they generally had to wait until late at night after the head count when they could slip away to a designated location (generally a predetermined slave house) or theyd steal a way into the woods for fear of being heard by their masters. When really concerned about their masters not learning of their prayer meeting (particularly their mid week meetings) to mute their voices they would turn pots upside down in the middle of the floor or the round area in the thickets that they had created for their prayer sessions. Some would even resort to putting pots over their heads because they were overcome with emotions and it was forbidden to worship without the masters approval. The African slaves brought with them the practice of laying of their hands on each other as they sang and prayed as a sign of physical support, understanding, and healing of the spirit. Their beliefs helped them survive the physical, mental, and emotional degradation of being humans in bondage. In the US during the first one hundred and fifty years the slaves were able to practice their religion almost unobs ...

3 Cases of Not Only . . . but Also Variations

3 Cases of Not Only . . . but Also Variations 3 Cases of Not Only . . . but Also Variations 3 Cases of Not Only . . . but Also Variations By Mark Nichol Sentences that employ the â€Å"not only . . . but also† counterpoint (as in â€Å"I visited not only France but also Spain†) can confound writers, who often fail to apply logical syntax when using this construction. As shown in the examples below, such confusion often occurs in similarly posed statements. Discussion and revision of each sentence explains and illustrates coherent use of related constructions. 1. The idea was not to just construct a new arena, but one that would nod to the roots of the game. Just occupies the same role as only in a â€Å"not only . . . but also† counterpoint, and the principle is the same- when a verb applies to both the â€Å"not only† proposition and the â€Å"but also† proposition, the verb must precede â€Å"not only†: â€Å"The idea was to construct not just a new arena but also one that would nod to the roots of the game.† (Also, note that in this example as well as in the others, internal punctuation is not required to set off the two parts of the sentence.) 2. The above principles are not intended to prescribe specific reporting practices, but rather offer sound direction for the board and management to pursue. Here, as in a â€Å"not only . . . but also† construction of this type, the verb supports both elements of the not/rather counterpoint, so it must precede, not follow, not: â€Å"The above principles are intended not to prescribe specific reporting practices but rather to offer sound direction for the board and management to pursue.† 3. It’s not simply deciding how good or bad an individual playing card is, but rather how consistently the player manages his or her appetite to win and his or her tolerance for losing. This sentence does not have a â€Å"not only . . . but also† counterpoint, but it requires a similar construction to make sense. Because simply implies addition, not replacement, also should replace rather, and the second part of the sentence requires a verb equivalent to deciding: â€Å"It’s not simply deciding how good or bad an individual playing card is but also determining how consistently the player manages his or her appetite to win and his or her tolerance for losing. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:5 Uses of InfinitivesDeck the HallsQuiet or Quite?

Responding online dissciocuion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Responding online dissciocuion - Essay Example The instructions on how to prepare Miso Soup were ineffective. The author should have provided an image illustrating how to wrap the tofu block in two layers and how to lay it on as required. The author of the post is wrong in generalizing that all adults can get by without images. The author should understand that people have different levels of understanding. Assuming that the intended message will be conveyed adequately without visual aids is an unwarranted assumption. It would require considerable effort to teach an individual with significant knowledge of the language how to tie a bow-tie without the direction of visual images (Laskowski 1). The terminologies to use when explaining how to perform a body building exercise will be difficult to choose. The use of a video guide simplifies the task. In conclusion, the writer of the post succeeds to show the relevance of visual aids in instructions. The careless inclusion of images is pointless, but skillful use of the same is of significant importance (Laskowski

The Security Professional and their role in Emergency, Disaster and Essay

The Security Professional and their role in Emergency, Disaster and Contingency Planning - Essay Example It also explains the measures and techniques that the security professional use to handle different emergencies or disasters. An emergency refers to an unforeseen combination of circumstances whose resulting states of nature require immediate attention and actions. An emergency may be serious to the extent that if no immediate attention is provided, it can result to crucial and fatal situations. A contingency, on the other hand, refers to an event that has the possibility of either occurring or not occurring in the future as predicted. A disaster can occur if people live near hazardous areas like unstable slopes where landslides are most likely to happen active volcanoes or close to rivers that are likely to burst and flood any minute. Introduction Security professionals are a group of low voltage contractors, individuals, or firms that specialize in the installation of security systems (Fischer, 2008). These systems are installed either at homes, offices, business premises, military camps, or even sport centers and clubs. Security professional also engage in maintenance and servicing of the security systems installed at any given destination. The different types of security systems include fire alarms, burglar alarms, 24 hour emergency service, access control, internet and cellular monitoring, closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance systems, 24 hour UL monitoring system, home theatres and outdoor intrusion detectors. Security professionals ensure that they provide the necessary security system for all destinations. For example, in providing for home security, there are different systems that can be provided and they include fire alarm notification and detection, medical emergency notification, intrusion detection and carbon monoxide detection (Fischer, 2008). The installation of home security is vital for any home because it provides 24 hour security to an individual’s loved ones especially when one is absent. This is because it aids in watching o ver one’s valuable possessions while absent from the house at any given time of day. This kind of protection is necessary since it reduces chances of burglary and intrusion. To aid in home security, also available are both wireless and hard wired systems that have a battery backup which keeps the homes protected even if power goes off. Security camera systems and video surveillance have gained popularity in protecting business areas like banks and other retail stores. Security cameras and videos have aided in improving security of these facilities because they tend to attract huge numbers of people that frequent their premises on a daily account. Security professionals have also had an upper hand in improving security in travel depots like air strips, shipping and port security, and the road transport security. Air port security is of utmost importance because a lot of people travel by plane. Security professionals seek to ensure that no passengers board the plane with prohib ited items that could cause a plane hijack or a staged bomb. This is done by ensuring that items like knives, pen knives, fire arms, scissors, box cutters, inflammable objects and other sharp objects are confiscated upon discovery at the checking points (Fischer, 2008). In road transport mainly operated by the buses, action plans are

HR contributes at SYSCO Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

HR contributes at SYSCO - Case Study Example The same human resource initiative play a key role in improving work place safety, as well as save on the amounts of compensation that employees ask for. The market driven approach also has administrative roles in the preservation of entrepreneurial independence. This is concerning the issue of maintaining freedom in regional operation offices where practices can be â€Å"sold† to the offices. This can be done by convincing the managers and members of staff to adopt the said practices by evaluating the usefulness and suitability, as well as conflicts with standard operational standard in a region. Factors in human resource management influencing employee compensation include the use of survey data. This cuts back compensation claims by up to 30%. This is through interventions by human resource strategists to increase safety. In terms of employee turnover, it can be increased by applying programs and services based on data collected from managers and employees through surveys. This way output increases and cuts costs use in employee recruitment and training. In addition, the use of incentives and employee retention increased employee turnover, which in turn, translates to customer satisfaction. This works together with the experienced employees with better knowledge of operations and products of SYSCO thus improved employee

Winston Smith Needs OBrien Essay Example for Free

Winston Smith Needs OBrien Essay In the novel 1984 George Orwell pictures a monstrous world of tyranny. One of the themes he explores deals with the way an individual perceives his life in such a world. In the world in 1984 loneliness meets despair, hatred allies with brutality, and one has no choice but to find a way out of that nightmare in order to survive. Winston Smith, the main character, chooses self-delusion as an escape from the horrible reality. In the beginning OBrien is just an object of Winstons attempt to believe that there is someone like him, another man who is surreptitiously against the Party. Smith thinks that OBrien will understand him and help him change his life. Ironically, OBrien really saves Winston from the nightmare of reality, by making him accept it and even love it. Winston Smith is a concealed outcast. He behaves as a Party member while hating the principles and doctrines of the Party. In his consciousness Smith is alone against society a thinking individual facing a deceived mass of people who (za mass may e that ama ne sam ubedena)blindly love the(misliq che ne trqbva da go ima izob6to) Big Brother. Winston realizes that to be an outsider in a world in which individuality is a crime is dangerous. He asks himself if he is alone in the possession of memory because he does not want to believe that everybody is deluded, that all the people like to be controlled by the Party (Orwell p. 62). Even in the age of solitude there must be other intelligent men (Orwell p. 30) Only an intelligent person can understand that sometimes the majority in the face of society might be wrong. Winston, being a concealed outcast, feels lonely. He is longing for a soul mate, a friend, someone who would understand him. Winston wants to meet another concealed outcast that would be against the Party. OBrien is an Inner Party member. It is not difficult to guess that he is not unorthodox. Paradoxically, Winston decides that exactly OBrien is the collaborator he needs: He felt deeply drawn to him ( ) because of a secretly-held belief or perhaps not even a belief, merely a hope- that OBriens political orthodoxy was not perfect. (Orwell p. 13) Smiths belief is based only on the fact that OBrien looks intelligent indeed. Imagination does not need facts it can make them up. Smith already has the hypothesis: OBrien is against the Party. He only needs the proofs. Winstons desperate need for collaboration stimulates his imagination. Thanks to it, Winston gradually starts finding proofs of OBriens unorthodoxy: But there was a fraction of a second when their eyes met and for as long as it took to happen Winston knew-yes, he knew! that OBrien was thinking the same thing as himself. (Orwell p. 19) To know that he is not alone in his hatred for the Party even that is an escape from the locked loneliness in which one had to live (Orwell p. 20). People tend to believe what they want to believe. Thus,(sloji tazi zapetaika:)) in Winstons mind OBrien becomes a secret friend who is a political conspirator. Smith is unable to see that OBriens collaboration is simply the necessary illusion. Once happened to believe that OBrien is a member of the Brotherhood, Winston starts interpreting reality in such a way as to keep this impression. In one of his dreams Smith hears somebody saying: We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness (Orwell p. 27). Winston does not see the face of the man talking, but as a consequence of his interpretation, he identifies the voice as OBriens (Orwell p. 27). When Winston starts keeping a diary, he needs to address the diary to a particular person (Orwell p. 84). Again he chooses OBrien: He knew, with more certainty than before, that OBrien was on his side. He was writing the diary for OBrien to OBrien (Orwell p. 84) Winston is sure that OBrien is a friend and there are (mislq che evidence se izpolzva samo v edinstv. Chislo, taka che go promeni za vseki sluchai)not any evidences to support his belief: Nothing but a flash of the eyes and a single equivocal remark: beyond that, only his own secret imaginings, founded on a dream. (Orwell p. 176) Smiths confidence can only be explained by his need and wish to deceive himself. Ironically, Winston turns out to be right about two things OBrien is a man he can talk to and one who really helps him change his life, but by different means. OBrien does not become his collaborator in a conspiracy against the unbearable regime, nor does he introduce himself to the Brotherhood, but makes him one of the brainwashed Party members. In this way Winston is saved from the horror of reality and starts liking it. Smith has always felt attracted to OBrien because of his appearance of a person you could talk to, if somehow you could cheat the telescreen and get him alone (Orwell p. 13). That is an appealing appearance, especially for a man who is longing to be heard. Winston wants to have someone with whom to share his thoughts, and it does not matter if this someone is a friend or an enemy, as long as he is able to understand: Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood (Orwell p. 264). And OBrien is the person to do so: I enjoy talking to you (Orwell p. 271). Even though Winston does not realize it, OBrien has a good reason to listen to him: in order to alter somebodys conception of the world, and even to eliminate it, one must first have a good notion of it. OBrien really succeeds in changing Winstons mind. Using torture to make Smith relinquish all his beliefs and hopes for a better world, even his love for Julia, OBrien deprives him of the sense of life. If one has nothing to live for, the tyranny of the Party does not matter anymore,(sloji zapet. ) and he is not motivated to rebel against it. OBrien is the one to cure Winston from his disobedience: He had the air of a doctor, a teacher, even a priest, anxious to explain and persuade rather than to punish (p. 257). Smith really needs OBriens help in order to accept reality. Winstons despair is caused by the fact that he cannot acquiesce with the formidable reality. Loneliness and helplessness to rebel against the regime of the Party make him suffer. In the beginning of the book OBrien is a needed illusion an imaginary political enemy of the Party for Winston not be alone in his hatred. At the end,(zap. i tuk) OBrien saves Smith from his anguish by altering his mind and depriving him of the sense of his life. In both cases Winston needs OBrien in order to cease suffering and to survive.

Effects of Influences Essay -- Sociology Risk Factors Protective Facto

Statement of Problem Coming from the inner-city I have been exposed to many risk factors that affect a juvenile's chances of becoming a delinquent or serious and violent offender. Intervention, however, can decrease the chances of a juvenile becoming delinquent. There are various protective factors that can "buffer" the impact of risk factors on a child's life. My mentor was the main source of protection from the risk factors of my childhood. Despite the fact that my family was not the positive influence I needed, I am grateful for my mentor because he really taught me a lot. For children raised in a single parent home, a mentor can do a world of good for both the child and himself. Both benefit from the knowledge each can provide regarding their different social worlds. The introduction to this paper is a story of how I arrived at where I am currently, compared to where I might have been had I never met my Mentor. The story of my father's life without a father, or any other positive influence, is included to explain my father's footsteps. My grandfather died in prison but with great pride about what he had done: breaking the law in order to buy a home for his family. The all too common product of premature unions are children raised in a broken home with one parent. Having two incomes is a lot better than one, if not having the mom at home to raise the children while she is financially supporting the family. Being a single parent is very difficult, with daycare being one of the only options for childcare while working. Some research indicates that daycare causes a child to be more aggressive as compared to children who have both parents while growing up, one being the caretaker and the other the provider. Family is... ...ng to others they often turned to drugs because they looked at it as being what the cool kids are doing. The participation in drug use will lead a person to only make friends with those who do drugs. The interviewees were also around drugs very often since their family members did it as well. When the parents do not look down upon the use of drugs they are only encouraging the use of drugs. Prevention programs should target the parents and family similar to some type of parent management training. This type of training would consist of social and academic skills, conflict resolution and mediation. Programs that consist of more than one predictor are more effective. Community and school-based strategies are also a part of being a protective factor. Crime has still increased between the mid 1990's and now, even though the number of chronic offenders is still unknown.

Drama and Theatre studies – practical- coursework

In my AS theatre studies course we have studied, Antigone a Greek tragedy by Sophocles and, Yerma by Federico Garcia Lorca which is a Spanish play based in the countryside of Andalusia. Both plays have their main characters female and both surround around the â€Å"injustice† they have been through the main reason being men and the patriarchy society they're in. So from both the plays we've studied we get a feeling of a â€Å"battle between the sexes† they both create the idea of women â€Å"fighting back†. This was our group's first inspiration for our devised piece we decided to base our play around the treatment of women and the unity of women coming together to fight against men, because of the unfairness towards women. This idea of all women against their men gave me the idea of a scene from the production of Chicago the musical, where all these women are together in jail for having killed their husbands/boyfriends in a variety of ways and they all sing of how â€Å"He had it coming†, making it the men's fault. I thought this idea of fighting back but then justifying it because these men are â€Å"cruel† and so deserve punishment, this could also be used in our play. This scene is a musical scene they are all singing and dancing, it's also quite creative in that it starts off with simple sounds that each woman makes to represent her â€Å"story† for example one woman keeps repeating the word â€Å"pop† you later find out when she explains her story (in song) that her man kept making that pop sound with his gum and that's what irritated her into shooting him dead! When each woman says their word (or sound) it goes around again from the beginning and they kept repeating it over and over and faster each time that it started to make a beat and that's when the song started. This influenced us into doing many things for our play such as having an unrealistic scene where we could have music and dancing and also if we had the female characters that have had the injustice done to them if they each had one word to describe them and then like in Chicago have them repeat it in a climax of a scene. In Chicago they all come together and dance in unison etc†¦ o we began to think of having those individual stories of each woman but then in the big climax having them come together to get revenge in â€Å"unison†. Therefore the basic plot that we gathered for our devised piece is that there are a number a woman who have been treated unfairly or unequally by men they are in a relationship and so they all get their ‘vengeance' by coming togethe r and punishing them all in an extremely unrealistic way. The group came up with ideas of using something like â€Å"voodoo† or magic to be their fight back. Because when we thought of â€Å"powerful† â€Å"evil† women it made us think of â€Å"witches† and that casting a spell could be their way of getting men back! Research Chicago- Item 1 (enclosed) In this scene of Chicago these women are in jail they all sing about how they killed their husbands and blame them for their death. The imagery of all these women uniting as one and dancing in unison, that'd be useful for our play, instead of keeping the women as individuals even though they all have different stories and are different people, make them come together, become one and fight back. Also it shows the feisty sexy side to women shows them to be strong not just sweet and caring as they are stereotyped to be, so we need to portray this. It's almost like saying every woman has a tigress in them and you push her then it will be unleashed and she will fight back! Arab men and domestic violence- Item 2 (enclosed) From this article you can see the main reason these Arab men were abusive to their wives was because of their patriarchal society. This I feel is down to insecurities of when they are not feeling like they are in â€Å"power†. But these statistics show that they are â€Å"against† it, it's almost like they don't realise what they're doing, and some blame their wives for them doing it. This helps me to understand my character because I know that he uses certain mechanisms to save himself from blame and feeling guilty. I'll use this in my acting, id be trying to make excuses and to justify my reasons for beating my wife. True story domestic violence Tanya Grey- Item 3 (enclosed) This could be put into both my character and Priya's, because we can use examples of things that had happened in this story of abuse and put it into our story. For example one scene in our play when the husband comes home and the wife is terrified just hearing his footsteps; this was real and had happened to this woman in the article. From this we made our stylised version of it, the footsteps and other actions are exemplified by a thudding sound that will be made by one of the actors off stage, and as he gets closer a heart beat rhythm starts showing how scared she is. And also in one scene the husband suspects his wife is waiting for another man (cheating) because she's got candles and is relaxing, this again comes from the real life story of this couple where she was relaxing and having a bath and he accuses her of waiting for a man. The reasons for them doing things can also be put into how we see our characters and then this will help us to understand them and so be able to â€Å"be† them (Stanislavsky's magic IF), for example his reasoning is jealousy wanting to have power and she stays with him at first because she finds this strength and power attractive, before she realises that he's actually dangerous! Stanislavsky's Emotion Memory- Item 4 (enclosed) When trying to be and feel like our characters we have to literally feel what they are feeling to be able to act to the best potential, this theory of Stanislavsky's allows an actor to do this by bringing similar personal feelings of the actors into their acting. So for example when Priya is acting extremely scared she had to remember a memory of when she felt really scared and then put all those gestures facial expressions etc into the acting. This of course is quite difficult because you're not in that situation; you need a lot of focus and determination to carry it off well. This could help me also in scenes where I have to be aggressive and angry if I jus think of the last time I was very angry and imagine being my character and what I'd do in that situation. Feminism/Ann Oakley- Item 5 (enclosed) Our play in a way represents feminism, women fighting against men! Ann Oakley is one of the main feminist writers, these quotes show her views on why men are the way they are (patriarchal society). Again I can use this to understand the thought paths of my male character; she believes they are violent because they see at as â€Å"masculine† because that's how men are presented in their society. So my character may feel like it's his â€Å"duty† because he is male to put everything in â€Å"order† (by forceful means). Again these are his reasoning for doing the abuse. I could mention these kinds of reasons in my monologue. Theory of why men abuse- Item 6 (enclosed) Again this gives the familiar reason that men abuse because they want power, but it also explains why women tend to stay with their abusive partners, which is because some women may be very dependant on their husbands, financially and if they have children she feels she can't be able to give them what they need. Also another reason not mentioned is that women that are in love with their partners just don't want to leave them because they love them and expect them to change one day. Priya's character will also need excuses for why she is with him and they'd be dependency and love. She can portray it in her acting by trying please him, not getting him angry, always doing as he says etc†¦ Health and safety 1. Stacked chairs There are many chairs that are stacked in corners it could be dangerous if they were to fall on to someone it could injure them so we made sure to keep them away from us whilst acting. There are also some chairs with attached desks which are quite heavy and some aren't extremely stable. So again we need to make sure they aren't in our way when acting. 2. Board on wheels This board can be pushed on to someone's foot or may fall on someone so is also dangerous to us so we keep it away from us. 3. Floor slippery If we have slippery shoes the floor is also quite smooth so it may be easy for us to slip and hurt ourselves. 4. Lights If the lights are a bit wobbly they might possibly fall on someone, so we made sure they were fixed on securely. They made sure they had safety chains so that even if they fall they don't fall to the ground and so don't hurt someone or get damaged 5. Trailing wires: there are wires on the floor that can easily be tripped over, we made sure they were pinned to the sides of the wall and don't come anyway near our acting space (stage). Shoes: They can be a problem if they are high heels or platforms if some were to accidentally trod on some one it could hurt them quite badly. Rope scene: This is when the women are strangling the men with ropes, we had to use a technique that our drama teacher taught us of the person who was being strangled would actually be the one in control of what happens not the other person, so the other person is holding onto the victim whilst they are moving around and acting as if they're being strangled. Abuse scene: There is a part where I am supposed to have slapped Priya but instead we make a noise and my hand doesn't touch her face she just moves like I had hit her. Helia's necklace: There is a scene where Helia's character pulls off her necklace and drops it on the floor, this could be risky if the beads were to fall off and they scattered because someone could slip on them. So she will pull them and drop them gently but looking like she's doing it with more force. Development of the play and my role When we had decided on the ideas of what we want in our play, using different ideas from some of the plays we've studied, as a group we all sat and discussed the next step which was the actual story-line of our play. This came quite easy for us as our main inspiration was about the oppression of women and how they are â€Å"mistreated† by men in a patriarchal society (mainly based on Yerma and Antigone). And we knew our climax has got to be about the anger and revenge of women, when we were talking about this I mentioned the jail scene in Chicago the musical where all the women were bitter and vengeful of their men, they had all murdered their husbands and were proud of it, they justify why they did it, from this we thought of the play being about proving the point or justifying how women are treated badly by men. So this brought us to the idea of having one man that had used a number of women and so is cheating and lying and not valuing their relationships but then these women figure it out and join together to get their own back. Finally after deciding on this idea we started trying out a scene we realised many lessons were being wasted by us just talking and thinking about what to do rather than trying out things to see if it works or not. The group were too focused on figuring out what or how these women will get their â€Å"own back†, we came to the conclusion that the only way to do this was to have it as an unrealistic scene. I started to think of how we could do this and I remembered a scene from my favourite TV show Friends where the three main female characters wanted to get rid of everything of their ex's and phoebe the gypsy type character told them to throw everything that's theirs or they gave them into a fire and that's a remedy of letting go of their man. I liked the symbolism in the idea of the fire and their personal items representing them, when I told this to the group we then came out with the idea of making the â€Å"come back† a fire â€Å"voodoo† scene! This way we could represent the women's anger and frustration in a strange way as if it's driven them insane and they just need to let it all out and this is their way. And the good thing about theatre is we can show this in a stylised performance and make it completely out of the ordinary. The â€Å"revenge voodoo† scene was the first scene we tried out, Dee volunteered to be the guy, the rest of us were then to be the angry women, Dee was defiantly on the ball that lesson I think she worked better when actually physically doing work she came up with the idea of having the guy wrapped in rope and each women had a piece of it in their hand and they were all tugging at him so that he was moving in different directions, and she also thought of a rock song that was appropriate for this scene. But then when trying to move on from there we realised it was far too complicated to do the individual stories of each women with that one guy because there were simply too many women, that's when we thought of having three couples and this left out an actor (Beatrix) we thought of just having her as a mystical character, a devil like creature that likes to stir things and will be in the background of most scenes but invisible to everyone and the final voodoo scene will have been planned by her, she had brought the women together and put it into their heads to do the voodoo ritual. We started talking a lot about the voodoo scene we wanted dancing and light effects etc†¦ But we were wasting a lot of time just discussing minor details that can be dealt with later on so we all decided to just spilt into our couples and work separately on our individual stories and scenes, which would come before the voodoo scene, then near the end of the lesson we'd come together and tell each other what we'd done. In my couple I am the man and Priya my wife, we discussed reasons for how and why this relationship broke down it had to be of course the husband's fault and so a reason to why she's against men and wants revenge, when thinking of a patriarchy society and the problems with this I immediately thought of how man like to claim â€Å"ownership† over women and I remembered this film I had watched called â€Å"Enough† and it was about this man who was so obsessed with being in control he beat his wife just to make him feel like he had power over her. I told Priya about my idea of using domestic violence as the story of what happened between our couple, at first she wasn't so sure, she said it'd be difficult to portray someone beating someone and it may turn out to be too much like a â€Å"soap opera†. But I tried to convince her we could make it work so she agreed to give it a go. When discussing with the other groups we then had our three reasons why these women are angry with their men, ours was he abused his wife, Dee and Ema had decided Ema was to be a young 14 year old girl that was raped by Dee a 22 year old man, Helia and Elizabeth got their idea from Yerma, Elizabeth was the husband in this relationship and Helia the wife, she was desperate, almost obsessed with wanting a child but Elizabeth's character isn't interested. In the prison scene of Chicago (mentioned in â€Å"inspirations† and â€Å"research†) they all chant one word which describes their story of what happened between them and their men (why they killed them). This made us think of giving a word to each woman and then in some of their scenes everyone else could whisper that word at certain times. Priya is â€Å"Abuse†, Helia is â€Å"Obsession† and Ema is â€Å"Innocence† these words all have an â€Å"S† sound quality which I think gives it more of an impact and gives it a mysterious atmosphere. Being a Muslim I wear a headscarf and I thought I could use this with the character, because I am a man I could put the scarf in a way that it represents a turban and so obviously this helped me to shape the character, because wearing a turban he could be an Asian, Persian or Arab, but being part Arab myself I thought I'd probably find it easier to be something that I knew about. Being an Arab man then made me consider putting on an accent, to make it a little more interesting and then I thought of a background story between me and Priya just by knowing my character a little more. I thought that since I was being an Arab and Priya being English this would of course be a big culture clash, and being part English and part Egyptian myself I also knew about having a culture clash, and then this could be the reasons for him being insecure about their relationship and then leading to trying to control her by physical means. In the English culture it's much more normal for women to socialise freely with men but Arabs do believe in socialising with both sexes but aren't as lenient, They feel women should be protected and are seen as precious and need not always be on show for men to look at, so in the culture it's normal to have segregated gatherings. But if Priya's character isn't of course accustomed to this she will find it normal to talk to guys in the same way she talks to girls but to him in his culture when a girl is very chatty to a boy their immediate thought is she fancies him and if he is an insecure controlling type of character this will irritate him and make him feel even more insecure and then he will feel he has to stop her. This is what I will use as my purpose for beating her. Acting as my character is quite difficult for me because I'm extremely feminine in the way I walk, talk, my gestures etc†¦ nd being a man everything needs to be changed, I tried watching men in the street just to see how they hold themselves and move when they walk. But because I'm quite slim and small it's hard to move like someone that has broader shoulders and a larger physique. I also find it difficult to put myself in a man's shoes but using the techniques of Stanislavsky I try to understand my character in order for me to be him, everything he does should be for a reason (action for a purpose). For example my gestures aren't to be as extended and flowing as I would usually do them being female they should be more strong and firm but then by him being Arab also gives him certain hand gestures more than a usual European man would do. Even though I imagine him to be insecure inside, he is the type of character that would never tell anyone that he is insecure or upset, instead he would put on a stern face and hold it all in and also instead of ever blaming himself or seeing his mistakes he only acknowledges other people's, so everything is someone else's fault not his! Only by understanding how my character is and how his mind works did I find it easier to act as him. When acting out all our scenes that the couples had done separately, we realised that our scenes were far too realistic and life like which isn't what we all initially intended so we came together and discussed what sort of scenes we want and that they should be done in a similar format etc†¦ We then came up with the idea of having three scenes in every couples section, scenes that are all of different type one realistic, one non- naturalistic and one documentary. It would just give the play more of a spice because there is quite a constant tone through out, which can be quite dull, so by seeing things from different perspectives we thought would make it more interesting. The realistic would obviously be what happened in their every life then the non naturalistic is their thoughts, their dreams, what happened but done in exaggerated dream-like way etc†¦ The documentary scene we originally thought of getting a voice of a man played by tape or CD reading out a news report but then we realised Beatrix needed more lines and so gave her the role of reading the reports, she would read statistics on domestic violence, rape and infertile men. And we thought of using Visual aids to make it a little more interesting so having that information on a screen behind Whilst we were talking about visual aid we thought of the voodoo scene having a fire and to imitate the fire we could have an image of fire on the back screen during that scene. The first scene that me and Priya did which was me coming home and accusing her of waiting for another man and that's the build up of me abusing her, this idea I got from a true story of domestic violence (research). This was what we thought was too realistic and boring but we kept it because when we decided to have the three different types of scenes it balanced it out so seemed ok. We were going to start with the realistic scene but from that research I had done, the true story, I got another idea that we could do. The woman hears her husband coming home and just by hearing his footsteps gets extremely scared and by making this an unrealistic scene it can be very effective. Making the sounds of his footsteps and everything he does as loud exaggerated thuds, and as I get closer to Priya the thudding then starts to sound like heartbeats getting faster and faster and I put my hand on her shoulder and there's one last loud thud, I've arrived! We wanted to put this before the realistic scene of our argument but the group had a problem with this because Priya and I had actually already got an unrealistic scene and this would mean we have one more than the other couples. But I really didn't want to let this idea go I felt it would be very good to show the wife's fear of her husband. And so after some convincing I won my case, under the condition we try and merge this scene with the realistic one. Final Evaluation When we watched ourselves on tape acting our piece, there were many good points I found but also things I felt needed to be improved. Most of our gestures the women's and the men's I thought were very good and to the point (action for a purpose). Although I found I needed to change my posture at points, my body language needs to be a lot more masculine! Beatrix also needs to get more involved in her character so that she can do more gestures and facial expressions correct to the type of character she is. She is being a little cheeky and doing some gestures to portray that but we felt there needed to be more so that the audience has some understanding of what Beatrix is. Our tones of voice (men and women) were good and were believable but we need to slow down our pace and take our time when saying our lines. Our stylised techniques such as the toy box scene of when Helia's character dreams of having a baby and we are all the toy dolls that dance around her, this looked really creative. We need to make sure all of us keep those scary toy smiles on so it's even more affective. In most of our scenes we just need to make them run a little more smoothly and there were some incidences where people didn't know what scene was coming up and the other actors would hint at something for them to remember. This is important that we all help each other out if someone gets confused or forget their lines if we feel out the gap and improvise with it which I ended up doing on the tap because Priya had forgotten one of her lines so I said her line but in a different way so that I was asking it to her in a question and she could just agree to it. The most important section we need to work on is our ending which isn't complete because we need music and need to figure out the choreography etc†¦ I think it'd be useful to also make a clear definition when it has changed from stylised to realistic to documentary because we are just going from one to the next which makes it seem a bit scruffy perhaps if for example we had a news report tune before the documentary starts to give it a bit of an introduction. And in the stylised we could all say the words in cannon of the woman that is in the scene (e. g. innocence) repeatedly to give it that creepy atmosphere and making sure the audience know it isn't realistic. Overall the play came along very well, we all listened to each other and took on ideas and decided everything as a group so that we were all in agreement, we really worked together like a team, which I think pays off in our work. Everyone participated in what they thought of the scenes, lighting, music etc and all the actors had a great deal of respect for each other which made it easier to act side by side and help each other out. There may have been some weaker actors that came late and didn't give as much input into the piece and there were the stronger actors that held the play together, but everyone deserves credit for the amount of work put into the acting of our play.