Romeo and Juliet Act3 Scene 1

What happens in Act 3 Scene 1? It is a crucial scene, a turning point and it determines the rest of the action. It is a tense and exciting scene for the audience and tragic at the same time. In this scene, soon after Romeo and Juliet secret marriage, Tybalt kills Mercutio and then Romeo kills Mercutio to take revenge. Then, Romeo is banished from Verona. Paragraph1: Why were tension and excitement created? Mercutio is not in a good mood but he is in argumentative mood, he seems angry.The audience is prepared for the fact that a fight is going to occur (tension and suspense are built). He tells Mercutio that if someone is in a bad mood, everything even an unimportant cause will end to a fight. Benvolio is warning Mercutio that because it is a hot day he is sure there will be a fight (and if we meet we shall not scape a brawl-Benvolio). He suggests Mercutio that they should go home. The strong use of vocabulary and personification here increases the tension. for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring, Benvolio). We know that a fight is inevitable. The use of symbolism with awhiskers in beards, cracking nuts etc make the audience even more worried for what will happen after (thou, why, thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair less in his beard than thou hast, Mercutio). When Tybalt arrives, the atmosphere immediately changes, becoming much tenser, because of his dangerous reputation, yet he remains polite to Mercutio as Mercutio is not his real target.Mercutio uses provocative language towards Tybalt and Tybalt reacts in a similar way (make it a word and a blow, Mercutio) (you shall find me apt enough to that sir, an you give me a reason, Tybalt) Tybalt tells Mercutio with irony that he hangs out with Romeo, so Mercutio gets angry and threatens. It is evident that he will not withdraw calling him aa villaina (Romeoa ¦ thou art a villain, Tybalt). This is a great insult to Romeo who is of noble birth. He tries to start a fight with Romeo and he accus es Romeo to antagonize him in the hope of starting a fight. The audience adopts negative feelings towards Tybalt.

A Critical Study of Income Patterns After the Event Tourism in Sri Lanka Essay

Sri Lankan tourism has improved with the end of the civil war in 2009; it has able to bring many tourists from various nationals to Sri Lanka due to improvement of Security and other tourism related infrastructure. Sri Lanka  tourism is focusing on promoting Sri Lankan tourism through many areas that can get competitive advantage from its key competitors. Event tourism considered as the latest addition to the Sri Lankan tourist industry, with the intention of latent to be a key tourist attraction to catch the attention of many tourists by organizing various international and local events develops the tourism in Sri Lanka and to earn substantial foreign exchange and expertise from other countries. During 2008-2010 development of world tourism remained flat due to the worst recession world has gone through after 1930’s.During 2009 world tourism has dropped dramatically by 5.5% and in 2010 growth of tourism remained flat. This slump of tourism did not affect Sri Lanka badly but the phase Sri Lankan civil war was ending (2008-2009) tourist arrivals had dropped considerably. But has able to rebound from the droop during the post war period due to the progress of situation security of the island. Event tourism is an important and rapidly growing segment of international tourism ’’. An article by Getz in 1989 in Tourism Management. Problem Statement According to â€Å"Mahinda Chinthaya† which is governments philosophy on development of Sri lanka, tourism considered as key income generator for SL economy, recently SLB has spend heavily on organizing major international events to attract foreign tourist to Sri Lanka. These events have many merits and failures to identify and through this research author will do a critical study of income patterns after the event tourism in Sri Lanka which is essential further improvement of the Sri Lanka travel industry. So the study is consist of information regarding the revenues and expenses occurred recently concluded Events in Sri Lanka. â€Å"Critical study of income patterns after the event tourism in Sri Lanka which is essential further improvement of the Sri Lanka travel industry.† Problem Justification Income after events conducted in SL gone under public conjecture, identification of income generated thorough sale of goods and services during the time of an event is a vital factor in future event planning. Analyses of the expenses made by private sector and government is important since some of the cost unable to be accounted due to poor accounting policies used by firms. Since that it’s important to identify the income generated by locals as well as foreigners by conducting events in Sri Lanka. All the income generated sponsorships given by the foreign firms for events conducted in SL and the identification of the publicity given by local and foreign media which has given good image about Sri Lanka and future income can be generated from these promotions. Though analyze author critically evaluate the income pattern after event tourism in Sri lanka and areas that critical have a impact on, Event tourism Sri Lanka which has been rarely overlooked by the government of Sri Lanka to develop the countries tourism. Objectives of the Study * Objective of finding key areas that able Sri Lanka should develop to Event tourism. * Evaluating past international events organized by Sri Lanka tourism to promote tourism in Sri Lanka. * To find out the relationship between past events and their revenue generation to gain positive financial out comes to Sri Lanka. * Recommend the areas that Sri Lanka Tourism should widen to gain more financial and to Promote Sri lanka as a major Event tourism destination. * Find out the structure of the Sri Lanka tourism and how to develop to add more pecuniary returns though improvement of its functions. Significance of the Study Scope of the study- research going to be profound and Proportional analysis of the research topic. Population for the research is been events the recently held in Sri Lanka (2009-2011), following constraints also been identify during the process of the research. Sample for research-Data available of the events conducted in Sri Lanka are not well documented and large scale events has the influence of the government. Since some of the cost incurred during the events are not available. Therefore the author has chosen the samples from events that have primary cost of more than 30 million to conduct an event, because hundreds of events done individuals  focusing on Tourists. Below mentioned groups are benefited from this report; Event organizers –Through analysis of this Research help event organizers identify returns and expenses of conducting events. Also it will contribute them development weaknesses which they done in past events and use their strength effectively. Tourism professionals of the industry (promoters) – this able to identify the areas they should develop attract from tourists and to built image on other countries to visit Sri Lanka by using various cost effective and creative incentives attract more visitors to Sri Lanka to attend the future events. Government- This will help government identify the areas that should improve outcomes of the events conducted by various parties to attract tourists, which gives a valuable contribution to the local economy and to make a productive return from their investments. Media-Research will guide local and foreign media carry out widespread promotion events on Sri Lanka and the boost the image of Sri Lanka as a major tourism destination. Fut ure researchers- Research on this topic guide future researchers to an in-depth research in subject matter. Scope of the Study Research will be focused on revenues or the income generated from event organized by Sri Lanka Tourism and it will identify the how the income patterns during the period of 2009-2011.Research contained the events conducted in Sri Lanka focusing only on attracting foreign tourist with assistance of the government. Thorough analysis of the research people related tourism, particularly people who financing the similar events discussed in the research. Chapter 2 – Literature Review Chapter 3 – Research Methodology Independent Variables Dependant Variable Hypothesis|

Barry Hines

Barry Hines Essay Mr Sugden shouts at him for not having his kit, he doesnt understand that Billy and his family are poor and cant afford to buy his kit. From this Mr Sugden bounces a ball on Billys head Mr Sugden bounces the ball on Billys head This is all unnecessary but its the only way Mr Sugden can feel powerful which is a shame. I also believe that the reason he bullies the pupils is because hes insecure about himself and feels thats the only way he can feel good about himself. Mr Sugden treats Billy unfairly compared to the others Well get down then, before I come and make you red hot! And doesnt seem to listen to Billy or the others. Later on in the game a dog comes onto the pitch and Mr Sugden thinks that violence is the key to getting the dog off the pitch Go and fetch half a dozen cricket bats from the game store This shows that Mr Sugden doesnt have a high tolerance level and believes that that shouting and using violence will get him respect but it only creates a barrier between pupil and him as most children are too scared to disagree. I think thats why he treats Billy the way he does as he will answer Mr Sugden back but not in a cheeky manner You dont need cricket bats to do that, sir Mr sugden is very narrow minded and if some one has a different opinion to him then violence will change their mind. Mr Sugden is sarcastic towards Billy Whats the matter Casper are you scared of the ball Mr Sugdens need to humiliate Billy reminds me of Macdowell in the yard. Theres no real difference between the two. The main event that stuck in my mind was when Sugden made Billy take a cold shower because he missed saving a goal The cold water made Billy gasp he also had three boys to block the entrance so he couldnt escape Hey up, shift let me out, you rotten dogs! Mr Sugden took away any dignity that Billy may have had when he did this; the whole class was laughing at him. I believe that this scene would have made the audience want to go and grab Billy out of the shower and put Mr Sugden in it. The boys who are blocking the entrance begin to think they should let him out, however Mr Sugden disagrees Can we let him out now, sir? Hell get pneumonia I though the imagery of the shower scene was very dramatic and showed just how far Mr Sugden would go. This scene really moved me and I felt sorry for Billy in having to be put through that experience. The scene with the youth employment reminded me how much his mother didnt care for him or his future as there was a boy sitting next to him with his mother who was nagging him about his tie An straighten you tie. The boy wished his mother would stop nagging I wish youd stop nagging Whereas Billy would appreciate it if his mother gave the time to nag him because to Billy it would show him that his mother cared. The first thing the employment officer said to Billy was Well come in, lad, if your coming, I havent got all day. This doesnt set a good impression or any mutual respect between Billy and the officer. Billy expresses an interest in working in an office Id be all right working in an office, wouldnt I? Ive a job to read and write Then at the end of the meeting the officer hands him a leaflet to read which shows that he wasnt paying attention to Billy and didnt really care. Billys skills go unrecognised. Overall there were similarities between Billys home life and school life as they were both just as hard and he was mis-judged. However there was one main difference, which was someone, did care about Billy at school, Mr Farthering, who gave him time and attention. READ: Health EssayThis helped Billys confidence and gave him a friend to confide in. Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else can. Kes is the only thing in life that makes him want to exist in this cruel society that he has been bought up in. He relies on Kes as his escapism to get away from the world. Kes has become a close friend of Billys, His only friend, he confides in him about school and home Hes allus after me allus has been. Like that day last summer when I fetched you, he was after me than When talking to Kes its like the build up of emotions has burst and he lets out what he is feeling freely. This is unusual for Billy has he finds it hard to express what hes feeling. Even though Billy doesnt receive any love or affection he still knows how to give it to others which shows that his mother and brother havent ruined his emotional status completely. The writer was very descriptive when writing about Kes and Billy to show the reader how immersed he is with her The hawk flapped her wings and fanned her tail, her claws still gripping the glove. Throughout the story Billy only seems happy when hes with his bird. Kes is his only enjoyment in life, his only luxury. It seems that when hes with Kes to him its like living in rich mans world for once. He feels safe and secure. In a sense I feel that the bird is seen as an image of Billys dad because when Billy found out that Kes was dead he had flashbacks of his dad. It infers that losing Kes was like the loss he felt when his dad was no longer around Where are you goin dad? The writer compares the loss of the bird and Billys dad in detail and uses flashbacks to show the reader the comparison between the two. The language Hines uses creates a more realistic image of Billy and his life. He uses slang shit to make it more personalised and to make the reader feel as though they are theyre with Billy through the story. Hines uses detail when writing about Billys more happily times like when he is with Kes and when he refers to his dad and the tall story. Hines uses a Yorkshire accent to make it more real tday, which helps create a more defined image of the characters. The whole novel is based on just one day in Billys life Hines does this by using flashbacks to show in depth what the characters are like so that the reader has a better understanding of what the characters personalities really like. Hines uses short sentence to create effect and emphasise the normality of Billys daily routine Billy left the shop. Therefore I conclude that living in poverty does have an effect on peoples attitudes and how they respond to others, the harshness of their lives portray in their behaviour to others. This book really shows how much teaching has changed, I believe for the better, since the 1960s. As in the school life we see in this book the teachers enjoy the power and humiliating the children, whereas nowadays most teachers aim in their career is to make a difference and to help as much as they can. I believe that Hines shows how harsh and cold life can be and can make us more fortunate people appreciate life more and not take food and peoples kindness for granted.

Asset Pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Asset Pricing - Essay Example The Modus operandi of the Hedge Fund has also been described to be different from other forms of funding i.e. mutual funds owing to the fact that it involves an investment in liquid assets, provision of leverage (Tran, 2006). Moreover, economic research has determined that the Hedge Fund operates in a dynamic and diverse market through various financial instruments and modes of investment. In this regard, the name the Hedge Fund was arrived at taking into consideration the hedging styles that were earlier applied. However, the current modes of operation of the Hedge Funds do not necessarily involve the use of hedging methods (Tran, 2006). Currently there are two main types of the Hedging Funds, they include: â€Å"The Credit Suisse Equity Market Neutral Hedge Fund Index† and the â€Å"Credit Suisse Global Macro Hedge Fund Index†. ‘Credit Suisse Equity Market Neutral Hedge Fund Index’ has been described as a sub-branch of the Hedge Fund Index that has facilitated efforts of measurements directed towards determining the level of performance ascribed to Equity Neutral Funds. Moreover, it is perceived as a benchmark for asset-weighing process (http://www.managedfunds.org/hedge-fund-investors, n.da). The Corpus of Credit Suisse facilitated the development of a wide range of innovative strategies for asset-weighing such as the investable indices as well as investment tracking portfolios. On the other hand, the ‘Global Hedge Fund Macro Hedge Fund Index‘ is a sub-branch of the Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index that is applied to assess the global performance of funds on macro level. The concept of Global Macro-funds involves a focus directed towards identification of extreme price values through the application of a leverage approach. The leverage approach is specifically applied to project the movement of prices, currency, commodity markets as well as the rates of interests (Milner, 2001). Most investors of the global hedge fund

Credit analysis of potential customers of IBM Global Financing - Dissertation

Credit analysis of potential customers of IBM Global Financing - Current status appraisal and recommendations for future improvement - Dissertation Example Additionally, it has also hastened the credit approval process to a very short span which is inadequate to accurately arrive at a picture of the credit situation of the Company. This report examines the risks posed in the issue of credit and in financing arrangements, and also examines different kinds of credit models, applying them in the context of IBM Global, to examine its credit appraisal process and suggest recommendations to improve the efficacy of the credit rating process. CHAPTER ONE Aim and Objective of this Study: The recent financial crisis that has affected most of the world economies highlighted the grave problems that can arise when credit and financing arrangements are entered into indiscriminately, without a rigorous credit analysis system in place. IBM Global Financing is one arm of IBM that aids and assists credit worthy clients to develop a comprehensive investment strategy by offering them financing options for purchase of new IT equipment, or lease of equipment and other applications. This study proposes to examine the importance of assessing the risk of credit default risk and entering into a discussion of credit risk models, so that they can be applied in the context of the credit analysis process that is in use at IBM Global Financing. ... he IT systems that are already in existence at various organizations all around the world are legacy systems that are no longer optimum and effective in terms of functionality in a fast paced global environment. IBM Global Financing helps several corporations and businesses to acquire IT solutions that can help to meet the needs of the businesses in the most efficient and cost effective manner possible. It offers different kinds of financing options to address the unique needs of a particular organization and to help the said organizations to also manage their assets and cash flow as they carry on the process of improving and enhancing their IT systems. The Company does not merely offer It equipment at attractive financing rates, it also offers strategic financing for corporations to be able to survive in the current harsh economic climate that has plagued almost every region of the globe. The Company provides invaluable assistance to corporations in IT leveraging, commencing right f rom the beginning of the process when the decision is made to implement improved IT solutions. The corporations in questions are offered options to maximize their purchasing power, offered financial incentives and concessions as they implement and use the said systems and also in the disposal of IT systems when they are no longer effective or when they are upgraded by better systems. The clients of IBM Global Financing are aided in the process of making the right decisions. IBM Global Financing therefore offers short and long term loans, both for end customers as well as partnering options, offering financing on the basis of instalment payment plans, leasing options or through the use of factoring models, all of which are geared towards providing customers with a cost effective option to

What Should Be Done about Child Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What Should Be Done about Child Obesity - Essay Example An article was published in the Telegraph on the 6th of January 2010 titled â€Å"BREATS MILK NO BETTER FOR A BABY THAN FORMULA†. In this article, a Norwegian professor Sven Carlsen claimed that breastfed children are not healthier because they are fed naturally because they conditions in their mother’s womb tended to be better. Unfortunately, a lot of nursing mothers refer to this article to defend their use of formulas over breast milk. Today children are suffering from health conditions that were once identified as adult diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, increased the level of blood cholesterol, child obesity and sometimes increased blood pressure. Breast milk has been shown to be very beneficial for children and effective in reduction of the  child obesity and other health conditions. The child’s organism is nourished optimally with breast milk and various studies explain how breastfeeding controls child obesity. Breastfed children are able to control the amount of breast milk they take, in this regard they can regulate consumption and demand when they are hungry unlike in children fed with formula who tend to finish a bottle and this can override the child’s self-regulation of energy intake. Children fed with breast milk are more likely to adapt to varieties of nutritious food such as fruits and vegetables. These are essential to maintaining a healthy body weight throughout their lives and reduce the chances of diseases. The effects of breast-milk on hormones and metabolism are essential in the maintenance of ideal body weight because of the ideal content of insulin which helps fat storage but when children are fed with formulas they tend to store more fat because of the high level of insulin content in formulas and such children are predisposed to obesity.

Love - Language and Memory Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Love - Language and Memory Paper - Essay Example Memory, one of the most intriguing components of the human psyche, have been studied and even subcategorized by countless scholars throughout the decades. Among the most notable theories of its categories is the issue regarding semantic memory and it link to language production. Several questions can be deliberated when looking upon this specific interaction of memory and language. Is memory, more specifically semantic memory, the sole reference with which language is formed and structured? How does semantic memory affect the production of language? More importantly, will language be able to survive without semantic memory? And is it possible that both language and semantic memory dependently coexists in some aspects? This article will try to detail the important facets of language and its relationship with semantic memory. Before we delve into the dynamics of language and semantic memory, let us first define the psychological concept that is memory. Memory can be described as â€Å"the capacity that permits organisms to benefit from their past experiences.†(Tulving, 1985, p.385). Procedural memory enables organisms to retain learned connection between stimuli and responses including those involving complex stimulus patterns and response chains, and to respond adaptively to the environment. Semantic memory is characterized by the additional capability of internally representing states of the world that are not perceptually present... Episodic memory affords the additional capability of acquisition and retention of knowledge about personally experienced events and their temporal relations in subjective time and ability to mentally â€Å"travel back† in time. (p.386). Memory is made up of a number of interrelated systems, organized structures of operating components consisting of neural substances and their behavioural and cognitive correlates. A ternary classificatory scheme of memory is proposed in which procedural, semantic, and episodic memory

Economic and Social Inequality in the United States Essay - 1

Economic and Social Inequality in the United States - Essay Example America, while promoting liberty and freedom of speech, has been seen as a place where people are afraid of speaking their minds. This can be attributed to the cultural socio-economic history of the nations, with regard to trying to protecting the many ethnic groups which have lewd to a situation where people have to be careful what they say, rest they be in a situation where they are accused of hate speech. The most significant difference between American and European culture is the American consumerism. In the past five decades, American consumerism has been said to increase and it has also been attributed in part to the recent economic crisis. Europeans are seen as shyer with regard to spending and have been seen as more conservative. In line with this consumerism, American has also been seen as too concerned with money as opposed to trying to live more well-rounded lives. In this regard, quality if life matters less as long as one has a fat bank account in America. Americans are not all bad though. In fact, it is considered that Americans are some of the most inspiring people in the world, always seeing their problems as opportunities to do greater things (Katzenstein, 78). This is unlike people from most European countries such as Germany where people live more closeted lives and adventure is not considered as a good way to spend a life. These cultural differences have significant implications, both positive and negative, with regard to the economics of nations and are necessary to study and understand. In order to be able to successfully achieve these objectives, I will need to take Sociology 130AC: Social Inequalities: American Cultures- the course will help me gain a deeper perspective into the historical causes as well as consequences of inequality in the United States.  

Is the U.S. government doing enough to make the american worker Essay

Is the U.S. government doing enough to make the american worker competitive - Essay Example The question is if America is doing enough to make its workers competitive? This literature will explore the capability of the human capital of the United States and to ascertain if governments have provided measures to make its labor capital competitive with the global market. It will also delve if it’s necessary to impose more tariffs to goods that cannot be competitively made in America. US Economy President Barack Obama assumed his political seat vowing economic reform and redistribution of wealth. Officials and constituents rigorously discussed the imperative of budget cuts, refocused on social services and in raising capital for investment to generate employment opportunities and for economic bilateral relations with emerging markets. This strategy was essential as home needed to be cared by administrators too after suffering debilitating economic setbacks due to offshore conflict situations and anti-terror drive (Nixon, 2011). True enough, taxation was levied for those within the affluent class of American society, e.g. luxury tax for jet and boat owners and financial analysts restudied how income taxes could add more for national revenue. Obama thereafter made a pronouncement to unleash American business ingenuity and improve its productivity to maximize the American economic dynamism by extolling 70 trade agreements sealed for 12 US states. ... The trade deal hopes to provide manufacturing job opportunities to 235,000 American citizens for agriculture development, gasification, railway construction and production of hybrid buses. Obama also opened business deals in South Korea that will help auger 70,000 American jobs and of the removal of 95% tariffs between this nations, albeit opposition of AFL-CIO, a labor federation, arguing that free trade and removal of tariffs is unprotective of US workers. This measure to improve US macro-economic relations was a positive response after an economic recession that has affected major industries of the country which cost the loss of $13 trillion in 2007 and loss of 208,000 jobs in the trucking industry (US Department of Labor, 2010). Both small and big firms were hit with similar net job losses (US Department of Labor, 2010). In another development, last February 2011, the US government closed doors for H-1B work visas, a 3-year employer sponsored visa for highly skilled foreign worke r, following Immigration Services announcement that statutory cap of 85,000. While the agency protects the interest of the country from being burdened of increasing populace of immigrants, this was however criticized by some economist as a policy which discouraged entry of foreign investors e.g. Microsoft opted to avail European market because it can allow to hiring of highly skilled employees from foreign countries (Nowrasteh, 2011). Nowrasteh (2011) proposed government to review and reconsider this opportunity since companies like Intel, Sanmina-SCI, Sun Microsystems, eBay, Yahoo and Google with high-skilled foreign workers made America a leader in

Major Differencies Between Eastern and Western Philosophies as the Basis for Adult Education Essay Example for Free

Major Differencies Between Eastern and Western Philosophies as the Basis for Adult Education Essay Western philosophy has its roots in Athens, Rome and Judeo ­Christianity while Eastern philosophy is derived from Confucianism, Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism. As Greek and Latin are to Western civilisation, so classical Chinese is to East Asian civilisation. I will focus on four major differences between Eastern and Western philosophies. 1. Western Individualism and Eastern Collectivism In the Greco‑Roman tradition, the image of Prometheus powerfully illustrates the struggle for individual freedom. Prometheus had gone against Zeus, the all powerful god who ruled the sky from Mt. Olympus. Prometheus annoyed Zeus by creating human beings. To protect the human beings from Zeus, he stole fire from Hephaestos, the blackmith god and gave it to the human beings. This angered Zeus to the extent that Prometheus was chained to a rock and an eagle tore out his liver. In European consciousness, Prometheus had become the hero who: defied the patriarchy in the name of individual freedom, who brought light into our darkness. He was the saviour who sacrificed himself for the sake of mankind, the benefactor who brought the gift of technology down from heaven, the teacher who taught us that we are not at the whims of the gods any more, who showed us how to use our intelligence to take control of the world. The Christian tradition has also reinforced the notion of individual rights. The Bible speaks of God creating Man in His own image and letting him have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth (Genesis 1:26). By comparison, the Chinese live in a world of obligations: obligations to serve the ruler, obligations to work for the family, obligations to obey elders, obligations to help relatives, obligations to do well to glorify the name of ancestors, obligations to defend the country in times of trouble, and obligations to oneself to cultivate ones own virtue. It would also seem that rights only belong to one individual ‑ the Son of Heaven. Confucianism promotes conservatism and this stifles creativity and robs the people of self‑introspection. 2. Fragmentary and Holistic According to Fritjof Capra, the emphasis of rational thought is epitomised in Descartes celebrated statement,Cognito, ergo sum ‑ I think, therefore, I exist. This has forcefully encouraged Westerners to equate their identity with their rational mind rather than with the whole organism. This division between the mind and the body has led to a view of the universe as a mechanical system consisting of separate objects, which in turn were reduced to fundamental building blocks whose properties and interactions were thought to completely determine all natural phenomena. This mechanistic conception of the whole world is still the basis of most of our sciences and continues to have a tremendous influence on our lives. Academic disciplines become fragmented and this has served as a rationale for treating the universe as if it consisted of separate parts to be exploited by different groups. The essence of the Eastern world view is the awareness of the unity and the mutual inter‑relation of all things and events, the experience of all phenomena in the world as manifestation of a basic oneness. All things are seen as independent and inseparable parts of a cosmic whole, as different manifestations of the same ultimate reality. The Eastern traditions refer to this ultimate, indivisible reality as Brahman in Hinduism, Dharmakaya in Buddhism and Tao in Taoism. 3. Conflict and Harmony The Marxist view of history saw change as arising from a dialectic interplay of opposites ‑hence class struggle and conflict. Western civilisation based itself on the struggle between the Good and Evil, God and Satan or Psyche and Cupid. Eastern philosophical thought is based on this notion of the Yin and the Yang. Frithjof Capra describes the Yang as the strong,male creative power associated with Heaven while yin is the dark,receptive, female and maternal element. The dark yin and the bright yang are arranged in a symmetrical manner. They are dynamic ‑ a rotating symmetry suggesting very forcefully a continuous cyclic movement.The two dots in the diagram symbolise the idea that each one of the forces reaches its extreme, it contains in itself the seed of the opposite.Life says Chuang Tzuis the blended harmony of the yin and the yang. Taoism permeates the economic and social lives of the Chinese through geomancy, qigong, Chinese medicine and idol worship. As Chan observes:Almost every hotel, office and commercial building that has gone up within the last decade adheres to certain principles of geomancy or Fengshui ‑ the art and science of harmonising man and nature. 4. Idealism and Pragmatism. The Western idea of democracy does not fit into the Eastern scheme of things easily. In an interview by the Daily Telegraph on 16 October 1989 the former Prime Minister remarked that: I think in a mainly Chinese electorate, the idea of a loyal opposition and an alternative government does not come easily. Youre either for or against the government. The Confucianistic idea of social hierarchy where a persons existence is relational, extending from his family, society and country. The pragmatism of the East is exemplied in the way Confucianism has been used to emphasize order through social hierarchy and the rules and conventions. Taoism provided the meaning of life and thus compliment Confucianism. Confucius preached the doctrine of the here and now. The emphasis is one of life and life and not life and death. The sage hoped to hear the right way in the morning, and die in the evening without regret. What lays the foundation of life for the Chinese is the family and the continuation of the family also means the passing on of experience, culture and thought. The Taoists has an equal view of life and death seeing life and death as the coming out and going back of a human form of existence. Chuang Tsu talks of coming and going . Lao Tzu said,out to life, in to death. The crux of the matter is to make the best of the present.

An Activity For Enjoyment Children And Young People Essay

An Activity For Enjoyment Children And Young People Essay Play defined as an activity for enjoyment. Children and babies develop language and social skills through reading books and play. Through play and reading books, children develop maturity and socialization. These social activities will enhance their physical development, cognitive development and psychosocial development. I will be going to talk about how Dora the Explorer television program I have chosen helps the children to influence their physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development through play. How to read books to children enhances language development and language skills for children with using different reading strategies. Finally, I will be explaining the knowledge of play and language development for babies and children that may influence my future practice as a health professional. Child supporters must consider all factors that interfere with optimal development and provide circumstances that allow each child to obtain fully the advantages associated with play and r eading. Play is the most important part of the childs development. Play allows the children to enhance their physical development, psychosocial development and cognitive development. Most parents see cartoons with their children as a way to help their child learn. I have watched many children television program like blues clues, the go show, and Dora the explorer, to understand how these television programs get children to contact with aspects of life. Dora the explorer is an animated childrens television show. Dora the explorer show programmed to engage preschooler activities in a play-along, computer-style adventure. Dora the explorer is an example of physical development. Physical development focuses on the physical growth and the development of both gross motor skills (e.g. walking, jumping) and fine motor skills (e.g. Finger movements, eye coordination) control of the body. Dora the explorer on-screen character talking to the child encourage the child to take part, label objects, songs and dance actions allows for movements with control and coordination. Dora the explorer animated also influences the cognitive development theory, cognitive theory is a change and stability in mental ability such as learning, thinking, and memory. The Dora the explorer allows the children to think of a way to get to their destination so this helps children gaining knowledge and solving problem in daily life, which enhances their memory capability. Television provides the children with a valuable tool at home for great learning. Another theory is influences psychosocial development by Erik Erikson to get through the idea of personality. Watching and learning from on screen shows allow children to gain knowledge of social learning theory; this enhances their self-esteem, learning about the culture and society and teaches them how to interact with people. Children learn from TV shows how and when to show the emotions. These allow the children to encourage self-awareness about the world around them. Reading books to young children is the best way to promote language development and language skills like speaking, reading, and listening. Reading books to children at home can encourage their reading skills. Books should have something like shapes, short stories, pictures that children will find interesting, enjoyable, and fun. This will help develop a sense of reader appreciation. When children have books in their home, they are more likely to sit down and read them. Parents can and should encourage an appreciation for reading. When reading a book to child the reader needs to keep few things in mind for better result. The books you choose for the children need to be short and simple, attractive, use appropriate language, speak clearly, slowly, and use expression. Reading books to children that influence the social learning theory by Albert bandura. In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational le arning. Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways (McLeod, 2011). Children learn many different ways, some learn quickly by visibly for example books that got colors, picture, and shapes with it and some learn verbally for example- imitating the expression and words. Using various techniques to enhance language development, tunes of the voice and getting them to turn the page that influences the theory of positive reinforcement. If imitated behaviors and consequence are satisfying so the child is likely to perform behaviors. If parents are encouraging and giving them positive feedback then the behavior is likely to repeat as it provides the child with strengths. Simply using booking reading tool at home helps them learn. Book reading is good for a childs development to gain imagination. Children are very sensitive. We need to handle them with care. So far, the information I have gained through the education of play and language development of babies and children provided me with a greater understanding that could influence my future practice as a health professional. Skills that I have gained from the knowledge of reading books to children are to create an environment that allows children to understand their personality, which will help children to be more interactive. As a health professional, I build a warm and open environment for children to bring out their ideas. In order to achieve my nursing practice do this use the techniques like distractions, communication, and education. Conversation with children, asking questions with slow pace and allowing them to answer. This will enhance their understanding while mine. The skills I learned from the play are that children are very attractive colors, toys etc. by using play to help nursing practice can enable you me to complete difficult tasks with children like taking medicine, I can get the child to cat like a super hero and be strong and asking them to stand straight like a strong soldier. These skills can help me to build a relationship when I am working or handling kids. Building a relationship creates an environment where children feel secure take risks. In my conclusion, play is a cherished part of childhood that offers children important developmental benefits and parents the opportunity to engage fully with their children. Influence their physical development, Cognitive development and psychosocial development. Play allows children to learn new things and to understand the world around them. Reading Books is another important aspect to enhance their development. Reading books to children will help children gain language skills. I have gained many skills that can be relevant or may influence my nursing practice as a health professional .The knowledge of children and babies and about their play and book reading. I learned many techniques that will make my nursing practice easier when I have to assess children and babies. Techniques like distracting children into something, communicating. Communicating likes having a conversation about their favorite shows and asking them questions.

Cable Modems in the Workplace :: Internet Cable Modem Essays

Cable Modems in the Workplace Until recently, small businesses could not afford T-1 service to connect to the network. The recent advent of cable modems has provided a cheaper alternative to this problem. Cable operators have primarily targeted consumers in their initial cable modem rollouts. Multiple System Operators (MSOs) are now selling higher priced broadband Internet services to the corporate customer. The question is, does cable modem technology provide the optimum service for a medium sized company that is dependent on the Internet for data computing and research? To answer this question, we have to evaluate the price, bandwidth, and reliability in the business network. One significant factor that separates cable modem technology from other telephone networks is its ability to share bandwidth on the network. This characteristic is both an advantage and disadvantage for cable modems. The advantage is that cable modem users have the ability to use as much bandwidth as possible when it is available. The disadvantage resides in network congestion. When the user needs the bandwidth for a large file download or upload, it is not guaranteed the bandwidth. Lack of guaranteed bandwidth and modem reliability is the biggest concern that most companies have with cable modems. Yes, it is cheap, but can it perform? In the past, the reliability rate was 50% to 60% because of improper equipment and technology. (Schuman, Now playing:, 1999) More recently, upgrades of the cable system has allowed close to 98% cable modem reliability. Reliability is also dependent upon the number of users the cable company has hooked up to the cable node. If too many users are connected to the same node, there will be degradation in throughput. The cable company claims 30 Mbps downstream data transfer, but sharing often makes it more like 1.5 Mbps. (ZDNET, Cable Modems:, 1999) The quality cable companies like TCI, mitigates the uneasiness about reliability and questionable throughput by providing guaranteed upstream bandwidth, and excellent technical support. The reliability and congestion issues all seem to be problems of the past with the current upgrad es and service quality improvements made by the cable company. The big advantage that attracts many businesses is the low monthly fees compared to T-1 lines. A traditional T-1 line will cost at least $1,000 per month, where as TCI cable company charges $249 per month for 256 Kbps upstream connection.

gender Essay -- essays research papers

Introduction Women have come a long way in the area of the workforce in the past one hundred years. If you were to look back one hundred years ago, you would never see a woman working outside of the home. Society had the idea that a woman's place was in the home cooking, cleaning, reproducing and care giving. They had the idea that there was no place for her in the workforce because that was a place for only men. Yes, it is true that some people may still have this view today but a lot of things have changed over the years. Women are no longer only restricted to working in the home doing domestic chores. However, this did not come easily but rather after many years of fighting to get the same rights as men. Slowly women started to enter the workforce fulfilling roles such as secretaries and nurses. It was jobs like these that were viewed as woman's jobs and you would never see a woman doctor, fireman or police officer. Women were still being marginalized into a certain category of jobs. However, women continued their fight and today they fulfill such roles as doctors, fireman and police officers. In this essay, we will focus on the entry of women into the police force. We will not only look at what it took for women to get into the police force but also what types of roles they play in the police force today. In addition, we will look at what roles women hope to play in the police force in the future. By doing this we hope to show you how far women have come in the area of police work in the past one hundred years and how far they will still have to go. History of Women In The Police Force In the past, policing and women were never associated with each other. Policing was a male dominated profession which women were not welcomed to join. However, these biases and unfair beliefs that women were not welcomed in the police force began to change slowly. In the nineteen tens and twenties woman began to be employed by the police forces. Women's social groups began to lobby that women should be able to be employed by police forces. With all of the support groups that women were involved in, pressure began to mount for there to be a representation of women in male dominated police forces. The first women police officer in Canada was sworn in the Vancouver police force in 1912. "1912: Vancouver - Mrs. Lurancy Harris and Miss Miller were sworn in as 4th clas... ...rk. This includes such jobs as police chiefs, police sergeants and deputy police chiefs. However, they will only be able to prove themselves to the public and the police force if they are given the same chances as men to obtain these positions! Reference Page Cohn, Alvin W. 1978. The Future of Policing. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage publications Inc. Hernandez, E. 1982. Females in Law Enforcement. Femininity, Competence, Attraction, and Work Acceptance. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 9, 1:13-34 Kearney, Katherine G. White & Thomas. Men & Women at Work LeBeuf, Marcel-Eugene & McLean, Julia. 1997. Women in Policing in Canada: Beyond the Year 2000-Its Challenges. Ottawa, On: Canadian Police College. Lunneborg, Patricia W. 1989. Women Police Officers. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas Publishers. Martin, Susan Ehrlich, and Jurik, Nancy C. Doing Justice, Doing Gender. Sage Publications "RCMP Having Trouble Getting and Keeping Female Mounties". Canadian Business & Culture . pg.11. August, 1996. "Survey Suggests Majority of Female Mounties Have Been Sexually Harassed". Canadian Business & Culture. pg.26. September, 1996.

John Constable :: Biography Biographical Painter Artist Essays

John Constable John Constable was born on June 11, 1776, in East Bergholt, Suffolk. As a young man he worked for his father in the family business at a flour mill. In 1799, Constable decided to leave the flour mill so that he could study at the Royal Academy School. His first landscape painting was in 1802 and after that he studied painting and English Rural life on his own. Constable developed a distinctly individual style. His paintings were "executed in the open air rather than in a studio, as was customary, was an innovation in English art. Constable departed from the traditions of Dutch and English painting by discarding the usual brown under painting and achieving more luminous lighting effects through the use of broken bits of color applied with a palette knife. The Dedham Vale, The Cornfield, The Leaping Horse, and The Hay Wain are great examples of Constable's individual style and how he was a Romantic Painter. One of Constable's first important paintings was Dedham Vale of 1802 and the Dedham Vale of 1828. These paintings "repeat intrinsically the composition of that compact gem - like scene" (Reynolds,21). The Dedham Vale of 1828 was painted from a topographical point of view. "The painting shows a view from the hill bordering the Stour Valley. Constable loved the view from the Stour Valley so much, that he drew from almost the same spot in several sketches and painted at least three versions in oil." Constable described the Dedham Vale as, "perhaps my best." Because Constable painted in the open air rather than in a studio, his attention to detail is almost unmatched. The way "he catches the sunlight in blobs of pure white and yellow." Maybe Constable sums it up well when he says; "I should paint my own places best - painting is but another word for feeling. I associate my "careless boyhood" to all that lies on the banks of Stour. They made me a painter and I am grateful" (Reynolds, 31). Constable's next painting is a good example of his Romantic style. The Cornfield, painted in 1826, shows his Romantic vision of the countryside. The landscape is of the Suffolk countryside with "lovely valleys and peaceful farmhouses." As a young boy Constable would travel down that lane from East Bergholt to the Vale at Dedham on his way to school. There are a number of elements in the Cornfield that Constable focused on.

Will Smith

Will Smith is one of the greatest actors, singers and rappers of our time. Even from his youth to his adulthood, he has become one of the most influential people of America. He has become a gifted and talented actor, demanding millions of dollars for his parts in number one hits movies at the box office. With his charm, his talent, and his generosity he will be a household name remembered for years to come. Williard C. Smith, Jr. known as Will grew up in a middle class area in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, called Winnfied located in the Overbrook section of West Philadelphia.Will Smith is the youngest of four children born to Caroline and Willard Smith, Sr. Will Smith’s heritage is both African American and Native America. He attended a Baptist church near his home with his family. As a young boy, Will loved to sing and rap. He was a talented little boy who loved to be in the spotlight. As a young boy, he was given the name Prince, because he always talked his way out of tr ouble and because of his charming looks. He was a very smart child growing up. Will was one of those kids everyone wanted to be like and be around.He was close to parents; unfortunately they divorced when Will was young. Will was then raised by his mother, Caroline and three other siblings. He attended the prestigious Julia Reynolds Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School in Philadelphia. He was later transferred to Overbrook High School, where he graduated. His good SAT scores didn’t satisfy him to get into a college he wanted to enroll. His plans were to study computer engineering. Therefore, he pursued music. He then met Jeffrey A. Townes at a party that he attended and they soon began performing together.They were known as â€Å"DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince. † He was the first hip-hop artist to be nominated for an Academy Award. He won a Grammy Award for the song â€Å"Summertime† during his rap career and received the first ever Grammy Award for Bes t Performance for the song â€Å"Parents Just Don’t Understand† in 1989. In 1990, Will Smith was almost near bankruptcy, and that was when Benny medina and NBC had an idea for a sitcom based on his life in Beverley Hills. NBC television network signed Will to a contract on the hit sitcom, â€Å"Fresh Prince of Bel-Air†.It was this sitcom that prepared him for his acting career. The sitcom lasted six years; during that time, he ventured into movies. Starring in his first movie,†Six Degrees of Separation† in 1993. After that movie, he was offered major roles in Independence Day, in which he played a fearless and confident fighter pilot. He was also starred in Men in Black, where he played the confident agent J. From then on he has gained lead in many successes including Men In Black II, Bad Boys II, I Robot, and Hitch.Will met his first wife, Sheree Smith at a taping of â€Å"A Different World† in 1992. They had one son together, Willard Smith, III (Trey), he was born on November 11, 1992. Will and Sheree divorced in 1995. Will Smith then met his second wife, Jada Pinkett in 1995 when she tried out for the role of his girlfriend on â€Å"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. † They have two kids together, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, he was born July 8, 1998, and a daughter, Willow Camille Reign Smith born October 30, 2000.

Fundamentals of Microeconomics Essay

Macroeconomics defined as â€Å"the study of the economy as a whole, which includes inflation, unemployment, business cycles, and growth† (Colander, G-5). There are many fundamentals that affect the economy in both a good and bad way. These fundamentals affect the economy, and they also show the growth of the economy. The fundamentals are gross domestic product (GDP), real gross domestic product, nominal gross domestic product, unemployment rate, inflation rate, and interest rate. Defining the fundamentals Gross Domestic Product is â€Å"the total market value of all final goods and services produced in an economy in a one-year period† (Colander, G-3). GDP calculation is very important because it calculates the growth, decline, or stand still have the economy. When the GDP is calculate, it is base on previous numbers not future numbers. For example, the GDP is +2%, which means a growth of 2% for the previous year. Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is â€Å"the market value of final goods and services produced in an economy, stated in the prices of the giver year† (Colander, G-7). Real GDP is an inflation measure of the production of goods and services in the economy. It reflects price changes throughout the year. The real GDP is base more on realistic numbers instead of a guess. The calculation is more accurate concerning the gross domestic product for the previous year. Nominal gross domestic product is calculate at existing prices. Nominal GDP does not reflect inflation and is known as â€Å"current dollar GDP.† Nominal GDP can either be higher or lower than the GDP. When nominal GDP is calculate without reflecting inflation, which can show a higher growth in the economy when it is lower or at a standstill. Unemployment rate is â€Å"the percentage of people in the economy who are willing and able to work but who are not working† (Colander, G-9). The unemployment rate is calculate every month, and it shows the people who are looking for work. This rate does not include individual like the elderly, people working only a few hours a week or people who do not send resumes into different business. The unemployment rate shows that based on the number of people in the United States, a certain percentage is actively looking for work but has not found work. Inflation Rate is the percentage rate of change in price over a certain period usually a year. The inflation rate is calculate using last year price for a particular item to determine how much it will cost. Inflation rate determines the price of many things that include the price of the dollar. When individual calculates the inflation rate, it can help others determine if it is better to buy certain products today or later. Interest Rate is â€Å"the price paid for the use of financial asset† (Colander, G-4). Interest rate is a certain percentage that an individual has to pay on borrowing money or purchasing something. The interest rate is base on the credit score and the item purchase. The rate can go from being a very low number to as high as 10 percent. Purchasing of Groceries The purchase of groceries affects government, households, and business daily. The government determines the tax placed when household purchase groceries. Every household in the United States purchase groceries to survive. The businesses are affected by grocery purchase through the purchase. The business is affected by the purchases made because it shows what is being purchase more and what is being purchase less. The flow of resources take place in continues circular motion. The groceries are receive by the business from the local food processing plants. The employees at the local business placed the items on the shelves and groceries are ready for sell. The household members purchase the groceries from the business and pay the taxes government placed on the items. This continues to take place daily and will always continue. Massive layoff of employees The flow of resources takes place, and it affects businesses in both good and bad ways. Most business can employee the previous laid-off employees to allow taxes to be paid. When businesses are not able to employ more employees, unemployed do not demand good and services. When employees are layoff, there is no income coming into the household. The household is affected because there is no income, which in return means less good and service that can be purchase. When massive layoffs of employees take place in the economy, it affects government because they are paying unemployment benefits, Medicaid, and giving food stamps and more welfare to those eligible. Decrease in taxes When the government decides to decrease tax, it affects everyone differently. Government is affected in a good way, but it occurs in the long-run supply and demand curve. The government is losing more because taxes are lower but more money is being receive. In the long-run supply and demand, the government receives more money because the household is purchasing more good and services. The household is excite because more money is coming into the household because taxes are lower. The lower the tax, the more income, which mean more good and services are being purchase. Businesses are excite because more goods and services are being purchase. The flow of resources occurs and is affected in the long-run supply and demand curve. References Colander, D.C. (2010). Macroeconomics (8th ed.) Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

How the Environment plays a role in Learning Essay

Learning is a process which touches on almost every aspect of human life. Surprisingly, it is through learning that the experiences of the past are passed on to the younger generation by parents as well as educators. It is impossible to get knowledge without learning. Apart from knowledge, learning equips people with skills and abilities that enable them to deal perfectly with the complexities of life. Through learning for instance, individuals get to know about the rules that enable them to interact in their social lives. Learning is however not unique. It networks with an individual’s social life and the environment (Custom Essay, 2009). Richlin in his book, Blue print for learning: constructing collage courses to facilitate, access and document learning, acknowledges that â€Å"Learning does not occur in a vacuum. † It cannot occur in isolation either and is dependent on various factors such as the environment (Richlin, 2006). The environment is the substance upon which learning is laid upon. It forms the backbone of learning. Environment thus plays a significant role as far as the learning process is concerned. The environment can affect the learning process either positively or negatively. This research paper seeks to look at various environmental factors and the roles they play in the learning process. The Natural Environment Though in the current world there is a high rise of technology and people can change the environment to suit their needs, the impact of natural environment on learning is still so strong and cannot be ignored. For example, people who were brought up in rural areas are very different from those in urban area. This is in respect to what each has learned. Those from the remote areas are in contact with nature itself. They learn so much from nature since their dwelling place is so natural and has not been contaminated by human activities. On the other hand, a city dweller has no natural environment access and barely learns much from it. He or she is even less concerned with what is happening in the natural environment. Lessons on nature become challenging to city dwellers but remote dwellers learn with ease (Custom Essay, 2009). It is in the natural environment that historical, scientific, and geographical materials for learning are found in plenty. These natural features are fun to learn when individuals know what they are learning about. For instance, those located near the ocean or sea will have fun learning about the marine ecosystem. Likewise those in mountainous regions will enjoy a geography lesson on types of mountains. Learning in these natural environments is so real, so natural, and so meaningful and students tend to perform better than those who learn in the theoretical way in the cities (Smith, 2010). Social Environment Many people do not know that social environment plays a fundamental role in the process of learning. Humans are social beings and they can neither live nor learn in an isolated situation. Ones a child is born, the learning process begins from the social environment. By crying, the child knows that it will be attended to by the society around it. The first people to get in touch with an individual from an early age are from the family members. The family at this level is the social environment for the child. Basic knowledge is learned from the parents and it becomes the foundation of an individual’s future life. The social environment then expands as the individual advances in age. He or she can learn from friends, peers, and influential adults (Custom Essay, 2009). However, different people that an individual comes into contact with, impact differently on his or her learning process. At the early stage of a person’s life, parents shape the views, beliefs and equip the person with basic knowledge, skills and the abilities. The family can affect the child negatively or positively. For instance, statistics reveal that children under family abuse score less in exams than the ones who have been raised normally free from abuse. Abused children feel useless and they develop a negative self image. They undermine their learning ability and hence perform poorly in the learning process. In contrast, a family can positively motivate a child by encouraging them to believe they can. Such children build confidence in themselves that enable them to face challenges at home and in school. This positively influences their learning. The time the parents spend with their children also influences learning. Very committed parents like those in the military have little time for their children and therefore children do not get all the knowledge that they require. Other parents have a high priority for discipline and they will raise-up disciplined children. High level discipline augers well with learning (Smith, 2010). At the adolescent stage, peers mean everything to an individual’s life. An individual develops personality through the interaction with his or her peers (Custom Essay, 2009). Learning can be impaired if the teen chooses a bad social grouping. Anti-social behaviors like drug and substance abuse will no doubt impair a person’s learning process. Drug and substance abuse interferes with the activity of the mind in processing information. There is also the interference with the normal functioning of the body. In addition, some people spend much of their time in non-constructive activities like gambling. They therefore do not concentrate in their classroom activities leading to poor performance (Smith, 2010). Despite the fact that most of a person’s personality has already been shaped by the time they reach adulthood, adults still learn even in old age. The social environment affects the learning process of an adult (Custom Essay, 2009). The Physical Environment The physical environment also affects the learning process. To start with, the structures in which people, particularly students, spend most of their days will determine the quality of learning. Research has shown that students in shabby schools rarely perform well as compared to those in decent schools. Shabby structures are not attractive to the learners and they do not feel motivated to learn either. They might also be missing some structures such as windows which will pose a danger to learning especially in times of hurricanes and rains. A good physical environment is attractive and cultivates positive attitudes in both learners and teachers. Schools or learning environments should be friendly if at all the desirable learning is going to take place. There should be attractive spaces to give students comfort the way they would in a cafe. Learning is therefore improved with the physical environment improvement. In the classrooms, the arrangement of desks and spacing all count to the learning process. Studies have revealed that students who are less attentive and barely successful are mostly affected by arrangement of desks. Their queer behaviors will tend to increase when they are in rows rather than around tables. To make sure that all students are monitored, clustering of students should be avoided. This ensures that there is enough space for every student and there is no opportunity for the misconduct of students. The students therefore will be serious and of course learn more in spacious classes (Victorian Institute of Teaching, nd). Other physical aspects that determine the process of learning include climate, noise, and color. Extreme temperatures negatively affect the quality of learning (Victorian Institute of Teaching, nd). Hurricanes will also have their part to play. Many other disastrous weather conditions affect learning negatively. The student will spend more time fighting with the disasters than in their studies. Poor weather reduces the level of concentration (Smith, 2010). Noise disrupts the whole process of teaching and learning. Too much noise leads to the impairment of the cognitive function. Most reading and studying problems are associated with noise. Furthermore it is difficult for a student to hear what the teacher is saying if there is a lot of noise in the environment. Likewise color affects the efficiency and motivation in learning. Choice of colors depends primarily on the learners’ age and gender. Brighter colors go well with young children and adolescents will be attracted by subdued colors. Males feel at peace with brighter colors but females would like softer colors. Careful considerations should therefore be made when furnishing classrooms to avoid negative influences (Victorian Institute of Teaching, nd). The Cultural Environment Individuals are from different cultural backgrounds. The styles of learning differ from one culture to another. In the developing worlds like Asia and Africa, teachers, mentors and parents insist on the observation of strict discipline in the process of teaching and learning. Children are not given time to air their views. In contrast, in developed countries like US, learning is less controlled and children are allowed to actively participate in learning and teaching processes. This may go a long way to motivating students for better performance. Restrictions on the other hand will make students hate the whole process of learning and teaching (Smith, 2010). The learning process is also affected by the nature of the cultural environment. Some cultures may have a special respect when it comes to knowledge acquisition. People who are learned are greatly respected. These people become mentors to the learner and boost their morale. For example, if a child grows up admiring a certain engineer, chances are that he or she will learn more to become that engineer. Additionally, in the developed countries almost everyone is educated. They also have better resources such as equipped libraries and internet facilities. Their children therefore receive information they require in learning from diverse areas. The more the resources, the more simplified the learning process will be. On the other hand, inadequate resources will always pose a threat to the learning process. In addition, poor countries have a high number of uneducated people and thus do not act as motivators to learning (Smith, 2010). Some cultures also may influence learning by holding a special position in a particular area of study. For along time, there have been talks on mathematics, sciences and languages. Certain cultural backgrounds may fail to put weight on the study of language such as in Myanmar. Some tribes here have no records of their written language. Students from such localities are restricted by their cultural environment to learn the language. They will only have few language experiences. Other cultures will put more emphasis on subjects like mathematics. Learning mathematics for students from these environments will not be a difficult task. The cultural environment therefore dictates what is to be learnt and to what extent (Catherine, 2010). Classroom Setting There are different classroom settings all of which affect the process of learning. Learners tend to perceive various settings differently. For instance, in comparing the traditional classroom teaching with online learning, traditional though passed by time, provides the best setting. Online learning does not monitor the learner’s move. Learning therefore is at the mercy of the learner’s self discipline. More so, there is no reinforcement offered by online learning and there is no educator-recipient direct interaction. In traditional classroom environment, the learner’s moves are closely monitored, there is teacher-student contact and therefore reinforcement is guaranteed. The teacher is in a position to learn the psychological weakness of a student. Once the problem is known, the student can be helped out. Students of the traditional setting will always perform better academically than online students. The learning process is therefore affected by the kind of setting selected (Smith, 2010).

The Church as Forgiving Community: an Initial Model

The Church as Forgiving Community: An Initial Model Liberty University Summary To forgive is not to condone, excuse, forget, or even to reconcile. To forgive is to offer mercy to someone who has acted unjustly (Magnuson; and Enright, 2008). The study of forgiveness in this research article leads us down a path of insightful hopefulness for reconciliation, peace, trust, self-esteem and greater self-actualization. Along with humanistic values this article gives the reader a deeper comfort in the mercies that is given from a greater high power when forgiveness is asserted.The overall premise of â€Å"The Forgiving Community,† as an initial model was a great starting point for greater research. Within the article we see why a basic theory could be important and should be implemented, especially in the case of reaching our children before a culture of unforgiveness and grudges engulf them. The main idea of this article was how to train the church community to instill the forgiving model. One of those ideas of how to instill the forgiving model was for forgivers to learn from their forgiveness and understand one must forgive because they have been forgiven for something themselves.As forgiveness is given and received both recipients, especially the forgiver now see that we all live in a world full of brokenness yet we still yearn to be restored into full fellowship with one another. While the authors were building their case for the forgiving community model they really focused on trying to teach the forgiving model. Looking at forgiveness as a model in the church within the numerous levels of its hierarchy was greatly insightful. Because, this lead to a purpose driven environment that was built on the back of repetition.This shows an effort not to exclude anyone out of the conversation as one is trying to make a lifestyle of living in the atmosphere of forgiveness. Interaction At first glance this article seemed interesting to me simply because of its title. It was one of those things that you look at and say, should not it be that way anyway. As a pastor I have been teaching on forgiveness and confession for a number of weeks in my bible study class. Everything that has been read and the scriptures that have been used in my study time have validated my conclusions of the past few weeks.Not only has my conclusions been validated it has now allowed me to deepen my studies with some empirical materials to allow my class to partake into some knowledge outside of scripture interpretation. This journal piece has challenged me as a pastor to become more psychological in my studies and further deliberate in my method of teaching. There should be a continuum of information that is given out not just from the pastor but from every auxiliary leader so that the message is not just heard but is embedded to all that are receiving the message.This will lead to the sustainability of a message and a life of character change, which will lead one to a li fe of self-gratification, healing, love and respect for self and others. Robert D. Enright is not just noted as an author in this article but a lot of his work is also cited in this article. Because of the dynamic references in this article his books are now on my reading list for future sermons and bible study topics especially on the topic of forgiveness.Along with reading his other works, there is a piece of me that wants to see how he interprets the scriptures of forgiveness through the lens of academics. Is there a more spiritual rational for his belief of forgiveness or is it mere empirical data received through research. Application The counseling session topics that will be used in this scenario are rape and forgiveness. Based on the article we would have to establish a level of comfortability and trust for this conversation even to blossom.Because rape is such a private encounter and the lack of trust that is in the mind of the victim; encouraging one to release their fears and pains is a delicate task. Initially, I would create a series of messages dealing with forgiveness, confidence, love, misconduct, rejection and/or acceptance. This would be done in a group setting and the conventional church service setting. There would then be a time of self-evaluation and reflection so that individuals have time to process the actions of their past lives.Afterward, there will be a time of one-on-one discussion to feed the beast of past pains and allow the clients to see since one is still here God has a continued plan past their hurtful ordeal. The subsequent steps of further sessions will be how to forgive others and how to forgive oneself for the past actions after the rape occurred. Using the church as a forgiveness community we will allow others to discuss their past and how they made it through as in the life of Joseph with his brothers in Genesis the 50th chapter.A beginning and ending of any session would begin like this, â€Å"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done† (Genesis 50:20, New Living Translation). You can accept the past. No one sin, no one exploits, no one choice on your part is too big for God to handle or for God to work out. Just look at Joseph! The same brothers that plotted, sold, and lied about him had to rely on him for their survival. You can embrace the present. There is no place in your life to ride the, what if thrill ride.The past is forgiven and gone, and the future is in God’s hands; so you are free to focus on your present: because you’re present is where God’s love, grace and mercy will stream from. You can look expectantly toward the future. Even if you make mistakes today, God still controls your future. Even when things appear to be terrible, you can trust that God is still working out his divine plan for your life. Reference Magnuson, C. M. , & Enright, R. D. (2008). The church as forgiving community: An initial model. Jo urnal of Psychology and Theology, 36, 114-123.

Technology affect future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Technology affect future - Essay Example The mere purpose for which phones are discovered was for making communication and getting immediate feedback (calling), and now a wide range of uses has been developed. Phone as a technological device change in size and use is worth examining. In this case, the point of focus is to examine how technology in phones has advanced t from the past to present. The future of these devices will also be examined. As pointed out earlier, Grahams discovered telephone that later advanced to cellular phones. Telephone composed of booths from where one would make a call. The telephone booths connected with each other using phone lines. It meant that one would have to travel to the nearest area that was connected to a phone line just to make a call. Telephones represented caste and marked class of individuals in the society (Roche, 1972). These classes included the ruling class and business people since they are the only ones who could afford to have them. Apart from being expensive, they were rare and were barely used. Initially, the purpose of phones was calling.Making quicker communication in a time when sending letters was the only means of communicating with people in different regions was necessary.Other features like voice mail began to be integrated into phones with time as technology continued to advance. The phones also were characterized by hardware problems such as overheating, especially with the Motorola phones. From the candlestick phones used in the 1930s to Motorola DynaTAC utilized in the 1980s, to all other phones to date, there has been an evolution in size of the phones as (Sismondo, 2009) finds out. Phones began being massive and weightier devices.The display of phones started as black and white with no light in the background. This later changed with the addition of background light. That was not all, and phones were also fitted with antennas for network reception. There is a

The current trends in hardware Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The current trends in hardware - Essay Example An OS also takes care of sharing of a system by multiple users and also handle the various authentication issues in multiple user systems. The sharing of resources also forms a vital functionality of the OS in a multi user system. Conventionally all these functionalities of the OS are implemented in the kernel. And the kernel is accessible to all the programs that run in the system. Almost all systems use a system language or command to program the kernel. This is not modifiable by the user and remains outside his purview. Even if it needs to be modified, the complexity and the vastness is overwhelming and it requires heavy debugging and testing to ensure that the modification is bug free and it does not affect the rest of the functionalities. Also the pageability of kernels is extremely limited and even if it can be pages it takes a lot of work to decide what can be paged. All these restrictions and drawbacks of adding and modifying functionalities are slowly being eliminated and on ly those functionalities that are absolutely necessary are being added to the kernel. Innovative ideas to efficiently retrieving and handling information are thus being ignored because of the complexities involved in implementing them. Though Lisp Machine and Smalltalk managed to bring this user modifiable functionality in an easy to use language they failed to separate the user from the program. This principle of separation between the user and the program is one of the core principles of an operating system by definition. Another design method is the multi server system which attempts to break down the kernel into logical parts with interfaces between them. This makes it easier for the user to add more functionality separately to the specified block. Also the debugging phase becomes much easier since the code is less. This OS design addresses the users need to customize but the barrier between the user and the system still remains. I.e. the user still needs certain privileges to m odify the system code. [9][2][16][17][3] [5][6][10] GNU Hurd This new development seeks to address all the drawbacks mentioned till now and also to provide the dynamic user modifiable functionality to the OS. This new design seeks to achieve this goal by restricting the area of the system code. It makes the system code pertain to only specified basic areas and leaves the rest of the process to be defined by the user. The user can also add the remaining parts and can share these parts with other users without being bothered about the viability and the authenticity of the code and system. Let us take a look at each of the mechanism that is part of the new design system called Hurd. In the Translator Mechanism, the Hurd is found to use the Mach ports as a method to communicate between the user and the server. Every mach port is different and it implements a certain set of protocols which identify the operations that it can do and also represents the object of the port. The protocols or rules of conduct specified by the Hurd are the input/output protocol, the file, the socket protocol, and the process protocol. Each file can have a translator associated with it. Here the server executes the translator program associated with each file instead of each file returning its own port. The translator is allotted a port to the actual contents of the file,

Kangxi-Emperor and the Taiping Rebellion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kangxi-Emperor and the Taiping Rebellion - Essay Example Kangxi was one of the best Emperors in those times because he never mobilized people into fighting. He gave out rules that were friendly to people and rules that would easily be followed without questions. Being a man with a Family, farming would be an important thing so as to provide food for the family, Kangxi told people to respect farming so as to have adequate food and clothing. He encouraged people to love schools and academics as that was one way of gaining knowledge and honoring the scholar. Hong Xiuquan after failing his second exam attempt, he gave up and continued to protestant missionaries. He never encouraged people to love education or anything related to it (Foster 158). Being a family man and living during the Hong Xiuquan times, it would be hard to encourage a person’s children into a school considering the War that was everywhere. The Army, which anyone would expect to bring peace, was the leader in destroying the Cities. The Taiping beliefs followed the Ten Commandments similar as the ones found in the bible but they separated men and women from living together. Women were given more power and even married couples lived in quarters segregated by sex. Following the Commandments was a better idea with the Taiping rules but separating married couples was not a good idea. People who are married are supposed to live happily together but the Taiping rules would never allow that (Foster 160). The Taiping rules were things that you should never do but there were no things to be done.

Law of Rape- Problem question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Law of Rape- Problem question - Essay Example 1). The important factors to look for in Alice’s case are signs of both obvious and discreet objections to Ben’s sexual advances. There are no obvious verbal or nonverbal cues from Alice before or during sexual intercourse with Ben. She did not tell him â€Å"no,† and he did not threaten her in any way. Alice was not intoxicated, and there were no indications that she was drugged either. The keyword in every rape situation or incident is consent. The law is very clear on accounts of non-consensual rape, but if consent is initially given, is it still considered rape? Should it still be tried in court? CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) applies the word â€Å"effective† to consent. They explain, â€Å"The law does not allow a person’s consent to sexual activity to have effect in the following situations: where the person giving consent did not understand what was happening and so could not give informed consent, and where the person giving consent was u nder the relevant age of consent† (Sexual Offences- Rape, 2010). These two forms of consent are opposites of one another due to the fact that the letter would not hold up in court but the initial one would because of the lack of understanding. Alice is presumably of age. The issue that comes to light is whether or not Alice was understanding of her situation. Now, she is not mentally handicapped or incoherent by drugs or alcohol, but she was misled by Ben into believing engaging in sexual intercourse with him would in turn give her love, companionship and financial stability. The question remains about whether or not Ben is guilty of rape under the present law. In a court of law, it is unlikely that Alice would have a solid case against Ben because consent was given and there is not a clear establishment of understanding in regards to how â€Å"understanding† is defined in law. Although, that does not mean Ben is innocent, the fact remains that Alice was not affected by outside substances or health, which would be concrete evidence to support Ben’s side of the case. Looking at the accused offender, Ben, his bodily actions fail to reveal any harmful intent. Physically, Ben did not coerce Alice by means of force of threat. The disputable wrongdoing he committed was verbal manipulation. The court could argue that Alice consented to sexual intercourse with Ben based on her personal expectations of him. She was willing because he met her requirements for a mate, and at any time she could have resisted his advances. Alice could have been eager to receive a lover and that overrode her ability to spot the red flag Ben presented when he promised marriage to her so soon after they met. Some may even go so far to say that Alice wanted a wealthy companion so much she willingly fell for Ben’s deception. The idea of willingness is another dubious term that arises in court in reference to rape cases. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines willingne ss as â€Å"cheerful readiness to do something† (2011). Alice could be seen as happily engaging in sexual intercourse based on the cheerful prospect of marriage and love. If that is the case, Ben would have a stronger case in his defense against her in court. Too much evidence points to Alice consenting to him, especially because consent was given prior to, and during the actual act. No signs point to Alice

How can an understanding of nonverbal communication make business Assignment

How can an understanding of nonverbal communication make business communication more effective - Assignment Example Some common forms of nonverbal communication were also discussed which included gestures, glances, postures, body language, eye contact, tone of voice, and facial expressions. Nonverbal communication was included in the paper in order to know the significance of nonverbal communication in a workplace environment. Kinesics, proxemics and paralanguage were also discussed in order to get a deep understanding of nonverbal communication. After describing nonverbal communication in detail, effectiveness of nonverbal communication was discussed supported by some examples regarding use of nonverbal communication in a business environment. Examples were given in the last paragraph of the paper in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of nonverbal communication between the manager and the employees working in any specific company. Communication is a skill related to the transfer of knowledge from one person to another. Any individual needs to communicate with some other individual or group of individuals in order to transmit some information. Without communication, no knowledge or information can be transferred form one person to any other person. Communication needs the participation of at least two parties form which one party transfers the information while the party at the second end acts as the receiver of the information. Communication plays a vital role in each and every field of life because no activity can be performed by a person without having required amount of knowledge regarding that specific activity which comes through communication. Communication is of two types which are verbal and nonverbal communication. In verbal communication, a person makes use of tongue in order to transfer some information to another person whereas in nonverbal communication, gestures and body language play the role o f communication among the individuals. Sending and receiving of wordless messages or information is referred to as

LAW FOR BUSINESS Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

LAW FOR BUSINESS Assignment - Essay Example In general, compensation for economic loss resulting from damage to property can be recovered. As such, it is difficult to clearly distinguish between pure and consequential economic loss. This was demonstrated in Spartum Steel and Alloys Ltd v Martin &Co, wherein, the defendant had by inadvertence caused damage to an electronic cable in the plaintiff’s factory. The outcome of this act was a reduction in profits, and a general delay in the functioning of the factory. The court while awarding damages for the pure economic loss caused, rejected the claim for general damages (Speaight, 2009, p. 23). The compensation was with regard to the economic loss that was the direct outcome of the damage to property. The floodgates argument has several features. One of these contends that allowing recovery for pure economic loss in some instances would result in a plethora of lawsuits, which would effectively diminish the functioning of the courts. Furthermore, the imposition of widespread liability would unfairly and disproportionately burden a defendant. In addition, the defendant would be hard pressed to assess his potential liability on causing damage to the effects of a primary victim (von Bar, Drobnig, & Alpat, 2004, p. 124). The number of secondary loss sufferers becomes indeterminate and depends on all those who have an economic interest in the primary victim’s property. ... 19). On several occasions, the floodgates argument has been employed, in order to restrict liability. Thus, the House of Lords admitted this argument in Majrowski v Guys and St. Thomas’s NHS Trust. In this case, it was held that an employer could be deemed to be vicariously liable for an employee’s breach of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Moreover, in Conn v City Council of the City of Sunderland, the Appellate Court ruled that classifying an act as harassment would depend upon the place and context in which it had taken place. Consequently, it dismissed the plaintiff’s claim of injury as the language employed by the supervisor had been what was commonplace in that industry. In the case of Weller v Foot and Mouth Disease Research Institute, the inadvertent release of a virus from the defendant’s institute, resulted in a near epidemic of foot and mouth disease among the cattle of that area. As a result, the farmers in that area had to slaughter th eir cattle, and auctions could not be conducted. The auctioneers made a claim for damages. In its ruling, the court held that the auctioneers had merely undergone an indirect financial loss, and were therefore not eligible to claim damages (Harpwood, 2008, p. 87). Thus, the floodgates argument has been successfully contained by the judiciary. This is evident from the ruling in the above cited cases. Question Two: Extent of Accountant’s Liability to Non – Clients An accountant’s liability, with regard to clients and non-clients was determined through the judgement of the courts in the following cases. A negligent misrepresentation, despite being honest, can result in a claim for damages. This holds good, even if there had been no contract

Concepts Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Concepts - Research Paper Example Non- verbal communication is beneficial in international business settings. It makes communication brief and effective. Finally, it exemplifies the level of professionalism thereby increasing the level of confidence. On the downside it cannot be used as a public instrument for communication, prevents detailed conversation and not as of much influence as verbal communication. Persuasive communication is more personal, more detailed and effective in sharing information (Fontane et al., 2013). Conversely, it is time consuming, involves emotion which is inappropriate for business and requires a high level of negotiation skills. Collaboration improves the receipt of feedback in an organization and ensures participatory decision making. In opposition, collaborative communication delays the decision making in the organization and is ineffective where a huge number of employees are involved. Non- verbal communication is used in international communication and in business talks with potential clients to increase business opportunities by showing confidence and professionalism (Guffey, 2012). Persuasion communication is used in convincing customers and potential clients to undertake a certain business deal. In summary, collaboration is used in day to day operation of the business in decision making. Fontaine, M., Parise, S., & Miller, D. (2013, June 13). Collaborative environments: A dynamic tool for transforming business processes. Retrieved from

Business Strategic Plan and Presentation Essay Example for Free

Business Strategic Plan and Presentation Essay http://www.homeworkbasket.com/BUS-475/BUS-475-Week-5-Individual-Final-Strategic-Plan-and-Presentation Resources: Vision, mission, values, SWOTT analysis, balanced scorecards, and communication plan Write a 700- to 1,050-word section for your strategic plan in which you add your strategies and tactics to implement and realize your strategic objectives, measures, and targets. Include marketing and information technology strategies and tactics. Develop at least three methods to monitor and control your proposed strategic plan, being sure to analyze how the measures will advance organizational goals financially and operationally. Finally, recommend actions needed to address ethical, legal, and regulatory issues faced by the organization, and how they can improve corporate citizenship. Combine your completed strategic plan. This includes the vision, mission, values, SWOTT analysis, balanced scorecard, and communication plan. Your consolidated final strategic plan should be 2,800 to 4,200 words in length. Prepare three to five Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® slides in which you briefly outline the vision, mission, values, and balanced scorecard that you have developed for your business. For More Homework Goto http://www.homeworkbasket.com

“The Seven Storey Mountain” by Thomas Merton Essay Example for Free

â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† by Thomas Merton Essay Introduction Thomas Merton went through a significant conversion in his youth and turned into a prominent Catholic author and spiritualist. His autobiography â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† discusses his life from childhood to adult and the conversion to Roman Catholicism and entry into a monastery.   The title and the sequence of this book were enthused by Dante’s â€Å"The Divine Comedy†. Merton’s autobiography is divided into three parts: The first describes his life without God (â€Å"Hell†); the second, the beginning of his search for God (â€Å"Purgatory†); and the third, his baptism and entrance into a monastic order (â€Å"Paradise†). Discussion Thomas Merton’s autobiographical work â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† marked the true beginning of his outstanding literary career. Seven years before, he came into the Trappist abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky. Inspired by his abbot; Dom Frederic Dunne, Merton wrote his biography in order to explain his conversion from a non-believing Anglican into a transformed to Catholicism who left a promising educational career in order to join a secluded monastery. (Merton, 121) In the last several years of Merton’s life, he wrote comprehensively on such varied subjects like warfare and tranquility, the civil movement, racial and social discrimination, Eastern and Western monasticism, and the associations between conventional Christian values and the contemporary world. Merton divided his autobiography into three sections. The first part deals with the years between his childhood and the physical collapse he suffered in 1936. The second section explains his extensive period of convalescence, his transformation to Catholicism in 1938, and his choice in late 1939 to join a institution. The last part discusses his views previous to and subsequent to his entrance in the Gethsemani Monastery. The heading of Merton’s autobiography depicts the seven levels in Dante’s Purgatory. (Zuercher, 67) The celestial elegance allowed him to shift from the lowest to the highest degree of divine knowledge. The book â€Å"Seven Storey Mountain† explains in a clear and unassuming way Merton’s steady transformation from a conceited and indifferent youngster into a keen and mature believer who retrieved satisfaction as a meditative preacher. From the time of its publication in 1948, the book â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† has affected many readers in a positive way. (Merton, 129) The author in the starting of the book â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† describes himself as a captive of a worldly and selfish world. This evaluation of the new world to a reformatory has struck most of the readers as extreme. The well-known British writer Evelyn Waugh published a well modified story of â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† in the title Elected Silence in 1949. Waugh removed what he thought as the overstatement in both Merton’s way and his judgment of the world out of his monastery. Even though Waugh improved many parts of the text in Merton’s book, Merton thought that the polished and sophisticated way chosen by Waugh could not appropriately put across to the audience his intuitive response to his knowledge before and after his transformation. Merton wanted the readers of â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† to know that his life would have been worthless if he had not got the gift of belief from God; his conversion had drastically transformed his perception of the world. The book â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† has been favorably compared to such classic autobiographies as those of Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Saint Augustine, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Such praise of Merton’s autobiography is entirely appropriate because he also analyzed with almost brutal honesty the weaknesses and strengths of his character. Merton never attempted to mislead his readers by presenting himself in an overly positive light. His subjective analysis of his own life never seems artificial. His consistent attempt to understand the true motivation for his moral choices persuades his readers both to respect Merton’s perception of the world and to appreciate the universal elements in Merton’s spiritual and psychological growth: The chronological structure of this autobiography enables the reader to understand the gradual changes which caused Thomas Merton to convert to Roman Catholicism and then to enter a cloistered monastery. (Zuercher, 71) Thomas Merton had a difficult childhood. He was born near the Spanish border in the French village of Prades on January 31, 1915. His parents were both artists, and they moved frequently. His mother, an American, would die in 1921 and his father, a New Zealander, would die nearly ten years later. Merton spent his childhood and adolescence in France, England, Bermuda, and the United States but never felt at home anywhere. The artificiality and selfishness of modern society depressed him. Because of his profound sense of alienation, Merton yielded too many self-destructive urges: After he joined the University of Cambridge in 1933, he began to drink heavily and then fathered a child out of wedlock.   His previous mistress and their son both would die during a Nazi air attack on London. During writing his autobiography, Merton thought of a friend from Cambridge who had committed suicide. He was certain that only the love of God had sheltered him from the same destiny and that he had achieved nothing constructive all this time he had spent in England. He went to America in 1934 and then never came back to Europe. In the first section of â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain†, the misery and isolation which many people experience after the dreadfulness of the Holocaust and the devastation of World War II is strongly and emotively expressed. In the second section of â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain†, Merton disclosed that he required celestial grace and the ethical support of his friends both in order to nurture spiritually. Once Merton reached America, he registered at Columbia University, where he met two professors, Mark Van Doren and Dan Walsh, who intensely persuaded his personal growth. Van Doren trained Merton to think seriously, to give importance to truth for itself, and to disbelieve all types of baseless reasoning. Sarcastically, Merton had never planned to meet Van Doren. In the commencement of his junior year at Columbia, Merton went to the wrong classroom by mistake. (Zuercher, 81) When Van Doren came in and started talking, Merton decided to take that course in its place and gave up history course which he actually wanted to take. Merton thought of this unexpected accident as part of a divine plan to help him understand the gift of faith. Van Doren, who was a Protestant, became one of Merton’s best friends, corresponding with him for years and often visiting him at Gethsemani. Even though he did not share Merton’s religious beliefs, Van Doren strongly supported both his conversion to Catholicism and his decision to enter the monastery. Whenever he had personal problems, Merton knew that Van Doren would be there to help and guide him. Another close friend from Columbia was Robert Lax. He encouraged Merton to take a course on medieval Scholasticism which Dan Walsh, a visiting professor of philosophy from Sacred Heart College, was to teach at Columbia. Walsh taught Merton that no opposition need exist between the acceptance of traditional Christian beliefs and the philosophical search for truth. After he became a Catholic, Merton spoke to Walsh of his interest in the priesthood, and Walsh suggested the Trappist monastery in Gethsemani. At first, Merton rejected this suggestion, but within two years he would become a Trappist. Most of his friends at Columbia were not Catholic. Nevertheless, they attended his baptism in 1938. Eleven years later, his Columbia friends would travel to Gethsemani for his ordination. Friendship enriched Merton’s life and gave him the inner peace which he needed in order to accept the gift of faith. (Merton, 135) Whatever their religious beliefs; his readers can identify with Merton’s thoughtful analysis of the close link between friendship and the search for happiness. The third part of â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† describes his reasons for entering the Cistercian monastery and the great joy which active meditation brought to him there. After considering a few religious orders, he at first left the confined life. Nonetheless, after many conversations with his friends from Columbia and two retreats in Cistercian monasteries, Merton drew a conclusion that only the meditative life would allow him to grow spiritually. He wrote to Gethsemani and was accepted for what he was: a scrape whom the free gift of faith had transformed into a fervent believer. At Gethsemani, Merton would experience for the first time the pleasures of true emotional and intellectual satisfaction. When Merton reached Gethsemani on December 10, 1941, he saw the words Pax intrantibus (peace to those who enter) inscribed over the entrance gate. In Merton’s mind, this Latin greeting defined the paradoxical nature of the monastic life. The numerous and often-petty rules in a contemplative order are in fact designed to bring monks inner peace by freeing them from the artificiality of the materialistic world. (Zuercher, 82). Therefore, the peace he wished to acquire was the wisdom to accept everything as part of the divine plan. Yet this trust in divine providence would soon be severely tested. Only a few months after his arrival at Gethsemani, he was called to his abbot’s office. Merton’s brother, John Paul, then a sergeant in the British army, had come to the abbey in order to receive religious instruction, wanting to be baptized as soon as possible. By a curious coincidence, Father James Fox, who would serve as Thomas’ abbot and spiritual mentor from 1948 until early 1968, was asked to prepare John Paul for baptism. As his newly baptized brother was walking away from the monastery, Thomas suddenly realized that they â€Å"would never see each other on earth again.† Within a year the recently married John Paul was killed in action. Thomas coped with his grief first by praying and then by writing â€Å"Sweet Brother, If I Do Not Sleep.† His complete acceptance of divine benevolence persuaded Thomas that John Paul’s â€Å"unhappy spirit† had finally been called â€Å"home† by God. Only a brief epilogue, â€Å"Meditation of a Poor Man in Solitude† follows this powerful analysis of the last meeting between Thomas Merton and his only sibling. (Giroux, 145)    Reasons for Conversion Merton’s religious themes are centered in pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic spirituality and theology, but much of his writing concerns universal Christian ideas. A chief theme is the importance of grace. Life is empty without God and offers only empty pleasures and inescapable woes. Modern society enslaves its members with distractions and material goods; self-sacrifice can help people distance themselves from the false promises of the world. According to Merton, only through the sanctifying grace of God, which is the full participation in God’s life that supports us to good actions, peace and happiness can be found. (Merton, 147) Natural goodness is transformed by grace to bring us and others closer to God. Grace thus saves us and allows us to become our best selves. As Merton experienced it, conversion was preceded by grace-filled moments provided by good people, reading and contemplation, and the inspiration of an â€Å"inner voice† that directed him to carry out his thoughts. However, even baptism was not sufficient for true conversion. After his baptism, Merton continued acting as he had previously. Only after a while did he realize that conversion means conversion of every moment of each day, of turning toward God in thought and action constantly. Conversion means disregarding the concerns of the world, even denying pleasures to one’s self. (Zuercher, 87)   Conversion means abandoning the self to the will of God; understanding this led Merton to decide to join a monastery and become a priest. True happiness and true freedom come from giving all to God. The giving is easy and the rewards are great, says Merton. While this involves a kind of loss of self, in the end it allows for growth of the real self in God. Conclusion Merton’s life and that of the narrator of â€Å"The Divine Comedy† followed a same sequence. That narrator begins the poem in the middle of his life, and Merton wrote â€Å"The Seven Storey Mountain† in the middle of his life; he died at the untimely age of fifty-three. Works Cited Giroux, Robert. The Seven Storey Mountain. 50th anniversary ed. Introduction by. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1998. pg 145. Merton, Thomas. The Seven Storey Mountain. Harvest Books; Anv edition (1999). ISBN-10: 0156010860. pg 98-210. Zuercher, Suzanne. Merton: An Enneagram Profile. Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 2001. pg 58-99.