Saturday, August 31, 2019

Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

The novel entitled â€Å" Bee Season,† which is written by a great American Novelist and Musician named Myla Goldberg tells about the profound story of young girl whose intent is driven by her admirations of conquering the national spelling bee contest and her journey of facing the aftermath of her achievement.Basically, the story of this novel is bound within the limits and narrative of a family, which tackles the broad range and the various faces of domestic problems and difficulties among the family members.As for this novel, the conflict of interest within the family is considered to be one of the main aspects in the story, which dictates the progress of the novel's narrative. More so, the awareness of practicing personal autonomy, individual desire and differences in the family are of the most signifant features of the novel.On the other hand, this novel also enlightens the narrative as to how and why the young ones are affected by the various difficulties and negatives a spects of life. Thus, through the representation of Eliza Naumann, one of the main characters in the novel, the author, Myla Goldberg, provides a clear picture as to how the younger members of the family would lose their innocence and pollute their young percpetions as they slowly began to witness and face the harsh realty of life.Overall, this novel tells about the story of Saul Naumann who â€Å"spends the first portion of his life as Sal Newman, son of Henry and Lisa Newman, decorator of Christmas trees and Easter eggs† (Goldberg 2000, p. 110). Eliza Naumann, a seven-year-old girl the sole member of a gifted family who remains to be classified as a typical individual in a sense that she is less fortunate in terms of academic achievements. She is very much different from that of her brother and her parents.â€Å"Since being designated three years ago as a student from whom great things should not be expected† Eliza Naumann, for a certain time, is considered as a medi ocre not just in her family but also in the academe, as per the definition and point of view of her teachers and mentors (Goldberg 2000, p. 101). With this condition, as a student and the youngest in the family, Eliza has lived her life without the favorable guidance and support of her parents and of the other members of the family.Thus, for almost the entire span of her existence, Eliza is not aware and is deprived of knowing the activities of her parents and brothers. Far from the awareness of Eliza, the majority of her family is a practicing a strict religious way of life. Her father, Saul, works as a cantor in the local House of Prayer in their community and her mother, Miriam, works as a local lawyer, while her brother is a prolific and gifted student who reads and recites Hebrew through the intensive guidance of their father.Though it seems acceptable that Eliza Naumann accepts and understands her primary stand as mediocre and less important status in the family, she still has an exceptional gift that would alter the seat she occupies in the family. Fortunately, Eliza has discovered her exceptional gift in spelling as she won in the class and school spelling bee contest, which has served to be the start of something new in her life. This incident and the series of events in the life of Eliza have brought her to a new begginng, as she slowly attracted the attention of her parents.â€Å"When Eliza studies, it is like discovering her own anatomy† and it is no doubt that she has this kind of skill and gift, as she is a product of a well-rounded and gifted family. Since then on, Eliza's life has never been the same anymore. From a mediocre situation with a less signifcance in the family, Eliza's success in the spelling bee has gathered the respect and support of her father, Saul, who decided to teach her and encouraged her to study the works of religoius writers.In a sense, it can be said that through the success, which Eliza Naumann has gathered in wi nning all the preliminary spelling bee that she participated, she has lost her innocence as an ordinary young girl that belongs to a well-established and reputable family. As her success brought about an intensive attention to her family, Eliza's father has introduced her the religious way of life and belief that he has for most of his life.Thus, these changes have altered the young perception and existence of Eliza, as she has become more oriented and aware of different philosophy and beliefs with the help of her father's encouragement. More so, through the confidence and recognition that she got from winning the spelling bee in her school and in their district division, Eliza is more capable of doing and learning other things that would further enhance her awareness and knowledge as an individual, which has paved the way for her to lose her innocence.Lastly, witnessing and facing the harsh realirty of life and problems of their family, more especially with her mother ending up in the psychiatric hospital due to insanity, Eliza's innocence as a young girl has been jeopradized and sacrificed, which in the end, gave her the reason to let go of her innocence and do what she think is right and practices self autonomy.In the end, though Saul â€Å"would like to think he has kept his distance in order to protect his daughter from his unfulfilled hopes† (Goldberg, 2000, p. 161). His desire in shaping his children according to his beliefs and philosophy has still affected the innocent mind and perception of Eliza Naumann, as seen in the latter pasrt of the novel when she conciously mispelled a words in their class spelling bee (Goldberg, 2000). Reference Goldberg, M. (2000). Bee Season. New York: Anchor Books.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Econ case study Essay

1) Why is economics central to an understanding of the problems of development? It is because that the development of a country depends on economic factors. Economics helps you to interpret how a country is developing, economic policies of a country that determine whether or not it develops and how fast it develops if it performs. In addition, economics helps you to understand how wealth and finance are distributed, and the causes and effects of borrowing and lending. Problems of development are like not having enough money, economics teaches us about problems in development and so we can better interpret these problems primarily by looking at the economic components that define the troubles. Furthermore, economics is a social science and is concerned with people and economic development problems also stemming from people so these fields are related and understanding the one helps you better understand the other because you can build up a bigger picture. 5) Why is an understanding of development crucial to policy formulation in developing nations? Do you think it is possible for a nation to agree on a rough definition of development and orient its strategies accordingly? It is important because, like I answered on question number one, development of a country rely on the economic policies of a country which decide the country is developing or not, and how fast it develops. Depends on what policy formulation the country select, it may result different ending. In my opinion, currently nations cannot agree on a rough definition of development because most of them have different approaches, measurements and standards. However, I believe in the future there might be a working definition that the nations can agree on and orient its strategies. Like the textbook  mentions there are three basic components that help understand the meaning of development which are sustenance, self-esteem and freedom. 6. Why is a strictly economic definition of development inadequate? What do you understand economic development to mean? Can you give hypothetical or real examples of situations in which a country may be developing economically but still be underdeveloped? The Strictly economic definition of development was inadequate due to not taking into account the factors other the financial or economical. I considered that economic development meant financial growth or the increment in yield of goods. An example of a country that is developed economically, but still underdeveloped would have to be India, which I selected for the group presentations, because it is producing a lot of goods and services, but many of its citizens are living in poverty and there’s still a high inequality between genders. 7. How does the concept of â€Å"capabilities to function† help us gain insight into development goals and achievements? Is money enough? Why or why not? The capacities to function help us clear insight into development goals and achievements by letting us determine how much freedom of choice a person experiences in their country which makes it a full measurement of growth. Money is not enough to gain insight of development goals and achievements because money does not help people from living long, and it does not guarantee people’s happiness. 8. What forces may be at work in giving the Millennium Development Goals such a high profile in international economic relations? In my opinion, money forces work in giving the Millennium Development Goals. If a country get high incentive of money, they can borrow money easier than the other country who does not perform well on money. 2. Brazil has special interest because its growth performance from the 1960s  through the 1980s was the best in Latin America, with at least some parallels with East Asian policy and performance (Todaro & Smith, P.28). Moreover, other indicators of development in Brazil lagged, eventually undermining growth prospects. After the civil war and gaining benefits from the other Central American countries, it seems that Brazil should have been in a much better position to fight extreme poverty trap and social equity. Rather, it has continued to insure an extremely high percentage of its population in extreme poverty in an upper middle income country, and remains one the countries with the highest degrees of inequality in the world. 3. Chapter 2 1) According to the textbook, the problems that most developing countries have in common are poverty, high levels of unemployment and underemployment, low levels of agricultural productivity and sizable imbalances between urban and rural levels of living and economic opportunities (Todaro & Smith, P. 92). The most significant problem is serious poverty because every person should at least have the most basic needs such as home, basic clothes and food. 2) According to the textbook, low levels of living is the amount of money on average a person makes in a country. (Todaro & Smith, P. 29). In my opinion, low levels of living can exist simultaneously with high levels of per capita income because there might be a few that are earning a lot with the majority of the population earning less. For instance, on 1980’s Portsmouth, Ohio and Brazil, which is an upper medium income country with nice levels of per capita with a bulk of its citizens living in poverty. 4) In my opinion, among health, labor productivity, and income levels, there are huge, and strong relationship because I think labor productivity decides the income levels, and it also affects people’s health. For instant, people can observe that people’s health is low when labor productivity is low and it comes with low productivity the income levels are lower than the normal  countries. 5) â€Å"Dominance, dependence, and vulnerability† in their relations with rich nations is that many developing countries do not have any means of their own that they come to depend on the rich nations handouts and pretty much become vulnerable and dominated. In other words, rich nations can kind of force the developing countries to do what they want, and make them poor if they refuse. For example, rich countries are forcing or suggesting Iran and North Korea to give up nuclear weapons by interrupting their economy. Moreover, a developing country is so poor that it cannot invest and that is where the rich countries come and provide financial aid to make that poor nation depend on rich countries. 6) Developed countries produce large quantities of goods, services, and in general do a lot of manufacturing. Countries such as these use science to improve technology and generally have good health care and education for their people. Compared to developed nations, developing countries practice subsistence agriculture and often suffer a miserable income, clothing, and housing. Only few people in developing countries receive proper health care or education. In addition, and life expectancy is relatively short. Most developing countries also lack the resources needed for economic growth. Also, developing countries’ primary sector of economic is the major contributor to the GDP of the country. Low GDP per capita is there. Usually exports agricultural goods or natural resources and imports value added goods from developed countries. 7) The composition of the Index reflects dissatisfaction with income as a measure of well-being: income is not the only argument in a person’s utility function. The Human Development Index is an attempt to develop a better measure of well-being. If I design the new HDI, I want to set up the standard of get information from people. Quality and trustworthiness of those data is disputable, especially when we get the information from UN non-democratic members. It is because I think it might much better if we have a standard method to get adequate data which shows their own interest for strengthening their credibility and legitimacy. 12) According to Jan Kees van Donge, he states that in Southeast Asia, the transition to sustained growth has consistently been associated with policies aimed at macroeconomic stabilization; improving life in the rural sector, increasing agricultural productivity, and ensuring an ample supply of food. In contrast, sub-Saharan Africa initiatives in these directions have in some instances been present, but the concurrent pursuit of all three policy objectives has not. Other factors that appear to be of somewhat lesser importance, but that nevertheless deserve further study are: industrialization on the basis of foreign direct investment; systems of politics and governance; and cultural patterns as manifest in policy choices. (â€Å"Tracking Development in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: the primacy of policy†, par.3) 13) According to the textbook, colonial legacy is described as the colonies and institutions that were created and controlled by European and other foreign powers. These colonies and institutions that were created in the developing countries had a negative effect on the development of those countries that still continues today (Todaro & Smith, P. 69). The advantage of colonial legacy is that arrangement might be exists. A disadvantage would be that in many cases, these countries or institutions will not rich by its own country’s ability. 14) According to the textbook, five characteristics of the developing world are physical and human resource endowments, per capita incomes, climate, population, and historical role of migration. It says that developed countries are more natural resources when the country started to grow were as most developing countries usually did not have a lot of natural resources (Todaro & Smith, p.71). Per capita incomes are a lot higher in developing nations than in growing nations. The growth rates of populations in developing rural areas are usually higher compared to that of a developed nation. 15) The differences between the traditional HDI compare to NHDI, HDI uses arithmetic mean. In contrast, NHDI uses geometric mean. HDI uses GDP and the  NHDI replaces that with GNI. Traditional HDI added the three components and divided by three. However, NHDI takes the cube root of the product of the three component indexes. In my opinion, NHDI is better than HDI because it gives us a realistic average and the traditional HDI gives us an arithmetic average which is not realistic. 4. a. R1=-21%, R2=42%, R3=59%, R4=9, R5=0.87% = 14.42% b. R1=-40%, R2=56%, R3=-90%, R4=0 =-44.69% c. R1=-20%, R2=78.12%, R3=91.34% =39.7% 5. Chapter 3 (page 136-137): Questions for Discussion 1-6 1) The structural change model of Chenery focus on structural changes in the stages of the process of economic change, industrial and institutional structures of emerging economies. Chenery research conducted on the transformation of production structure shows that the increased role of the industrial sector in the economy in line with the increase in income per capita is happening in a country closely linked with the accumulation of capital and improving human resources (human capital). The neo-Marxist is an indirect outgrowth of Marxist thinking. The main idea is that a disproportionate relationship between the central state which consists of the developed and the periphery is composed of the developing world. The false-paradigm model is the model that advice or suggestions may mean well but often do not have enough information about the country to be assisted, especially developing countries. For the developing nations, I think the  best explanation is related to the situation in most developing countries is the neocolonial dependence model (neo-Marxist). This model explains that economic development on developing countries depend on developed countries, especially in direct investment in the mining sector and import of goods produced. 2) Dual societies means that rich nations and poor nations at world level are exist; and a few rich complemented with a majority of poor people in the developing countries. Thus, dualism is a concept which represents the existence. I think it does not portray the development picture in developing country because it seems like a concept that divide the world into only two part. Development or developing countries. 3)  According to the text book, it says that different sets of conditions, of which some are â€Å"superior† and others â€Å"inferior,† can coexist in a given space (Todaro & Smith, p.125). Also, the interrelations between the superior and inferior elements are such that the existence of the superior elements does little or nothing to pull up the inferior element, let alone â€Å"trickle down† to it. These are reason why it is a valid conceptualization. 4)  According to text book, neoclassical economic theories designed to accelerate the growth of GDP as the principal index of development (Todaro & Smith, p.125). it is valid policy because it is all connected to the False-Paradigm Model and a policy of autarky. 5) I do not think that there is a single unified theory that explain the one country. Including the economic theory, a situation should be explained by the several theories arising from various branches. Also, we can observe that there are many factors which are put into the section of output or input. 6) Even though the free-market theory and the dependence theory indicates the opposite meaning of explaining the market, in my opinion, neoclassical, free-market theory is not necessarily incompatible with dependence theory. In case of the rich countries or the country, which is developed country yet it was developing countries at past, both free-market and dependence theory is needed to explain their economic status. 6. Chapter 4 (page 195-196): Questions for Discussion 1-10 1) Actions can be taken by one agent reinforces incentives for others to take similar actions. With Multiple Equilibria graph, there are pressure which hit equilibrium point. Also, one equilibrium to other points there are demand shock, supply shock and government interruption which indicates the metaphor of economic problems. For example, on our daily life basis we can observe the invisible hand in the market which means that government makes decision for economy and affect our life. 2) According to the PowerPoint, indivisibilities in amounts of investment imply a region of increasing returns to scale, as in the fixed costs of the big push model. Once again, increasing returns plays a key role in generating multiple equilibria. This is related to how the investment works with big push model. In case of O-ring model, investment is one of the outpour sector which effects the formula. It was hard to find the limitation in o ring model, but I would like to say and would like to ask why q is only between zero and one. It can be the limitation points of O-ring model? 3) I do not think that developing countries can escape all of the traps described in this chapter. Especially developing countries cannot escape from the poverty trap because poverty fuels move the poverty. It is happening in underdevelopment countries. Therefore, if a country is in poverty trap and try to escape, they should have positive information externality from development countries. In case of development countries, it is still hard to escape the poverty trap but it is movable than the developing countries. 4) High levels of inequality lead to lower rates of growth and development because it makes rich countries more rich and poor countries poorer. If there is a high level of inequality on growth and development rate, it supports the poverty trap, which is the most difficult thing to get out of the trap, to develop. 5) In case of central planned market, such as public ownership of resource and governing board that makes decision for economy. If government interrupt the free market and give pressure to equilibrium point, it makes new prices from government. Also, it leads to a lack of private investment. Finally, the market might have a failure results. 6) In my opinion, low level of trust of people outside one’s extended family is related to information externality. It always better to accept positive information. Also, it is connected with the Haussmann-Rodrick-Velasco Growth Diagnostic Decision Tree theory. In case of low levels of private investment and entrepreneurship, it may causes low return to economic activity and high cost of finances which cause low social returns and market failure. 7) O-ring production function is complementarity between workers’ skills. Therefore, we can find O-ring production on our daily life where the place indeed high technology or the worker’s skills. For example, if the producer of IPhone 6 has more significant skills, the price may different. 8) I think the two approaches cannot be used together to inform each other. If I assume that logically cohesive model with strong assumptions is the big push model, the other theories, such as O-ring model can supports the limit of the big push. However, in my opinion, the two approaches cannot be used together to inform the same situation at the same time. Because there might be some overlap sections and limitations between two theories. 9) As a reader of chapter 4, The Big Push model described in this chapter is useful in shedding additional light on the nature of problems considered. It shows market failures lead to a need for public policy intervention. Moreover, it is more efficient for economy because it assumes that perfect  competition with traditional firms operating, limit pricing, monopolist with a modern firm operating. If there is an intertemporal, urbanization, infrastructure and training effects, a big push may necessary. 10) According to my research, Egyptian reforms launched in 2004 appear to have focused well on the most critical constraints-reducing red tape and tax rates, and improving access to foreign exchange-thereby getting a strong growth response out of a limited set of reforms. However, inefficient bureaucracy remains an important obstacle to higher growth and reforms in this area should continue to have high payoffs. Ongoing reforms are also addressing constraints that are likely to become binding soon (or have become so already), such as inefficient financial intermediation and high public debt. Improvements in education may rapidly become a critical factor for sustaining higher growth ( Enders, Klaus-Stefan, sec.1).

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Contemporary vs Society in 1984

A. P. English 12 21 March 2011 Contemporary Society vs. 1984 In his dystopian novel 1984, Orwell expresses his vision of the nearing future through a fictional plot. Within the plot, Winston Smith, the novel's protagonist, lives a life controlled entirely by a manipulative and exploitative government. He, embodies the stereotypical personality of each citizen of Oceania—a person who abides by the laws of the ruling Big Brother government. Through the developing setting and characterization of our protagonist, the reader is able to witness the numerous aspects of control, manipulation and exploitation exercised by the Party and Big Brother. As his frustrations with the Party's control of history and longing desire to meet with a female co-worker increase, Winston begins to question the society he once aimlessly conformed to and the laws he once followed. Through Winston’s ordeal, Orwell expresses his concerns with an exponentially expanding American government. Such gross violations of personal liberties have played a prominent role in America's past as well as in its present. While writing the novel, Orwell recollected his childhood experiences in an oppressed India and began to draw comparisons to the then-current state of America. During the 1940s, America experienced increased military involvement, significant expansion of the federal bureaucracy and world dominance. In turn, Orwell’s writing of 1984 seemingly serves a cautionary and educational purpose. Honest government may expand into an oppressive one if its citizens do not vigilantly monitor its activity. In contemporary society, Americans face similar circumstances to those subject to the environment portrayed in 1984. The unfortunate happenings of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11th, 2001 still affect Americans presently. Consequently, Americans knowingly placed greater trust in their government and sacrificed certain liberties for superior security. Resulting legislation, such as the Patriot Act of 2001, allows the US government to bypass certain privacy rights in order to ensure safety within the nation. During the summer of 1798, the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by congress brought the United States closer to a â€Å"Big Brother† institution than ever before. The Alien Act â€Å"authorized the president to arrest and deport aliens suspected of ‘treasonable' leanings† Davidson 219). With no clear definition as to what actually constitutes a â€Å"treasonable leaning,† the president could've forced someone out of the United States the instant they engaged in a form of anti-American protest. Surveillance cameras in most buildings and some public streets further demonstrates the constant and grim reality of governmental supervision. US troops are stationed throughout the Mi ddle East in addition to their already inhabited locations. Similar to those subject to the omniscient Big Brother government in 1984, Americans are controlled by specific qualities and principles, social constraints, manipulated by a homogenous and monopolized society and exploited by the falsified allure of the â€Å"American Dream. † â€Å"Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. † (Orwell, p81). Such a simplistic definition of freedom misleads those striving for absolute freedom. In fact, American and Oceanian citizens share ultimate freedom if freedom was solely confined to its previously stated definition. However, the reader knows that those within Oceania are enslaved by their own totalitarian government. Therefore, freedom's true definition is much more complex and often contradictory. The contradictory nature of freedom and democracy proves the similarities between America and Oceania. Although not as radical of their 1984 counterparts, Americans defer to an elitist society to maintain their â€Å"freedom. † â€Å"In a paradox for democratic theory, the masses express the greatest confidence in the most elitist, nonelected branch of the government† (Dye 309). With greater confidence, comes blind trust. Since Americans allow a minority of elitists to dictate their society, true freedom and democracy cannot exist. Therefore, Americans are more like pawns that are governed by a select few, which was the reality of those subject to the Party, rather than the assumed impression that the majority controlled its own destiny. Throughout Orwell's novel, 1984, a fictional character named Big Brother exists. Throughout the town of Oceania are constant reminders of Big Brother's existence and his limitless oversight on the community. In addition to the sense of surveillance by Big Brother, telescreens within every household and microphones scattered across the town, further accentuate the lack of privacy within Oceania. Ultimately, in 1984, technology’s sole purpose was to intrude into each citizen's personal and private life. As technology further engulfs itself in modern society, aspects of 1984 are become more prominent. While telescreens are not exactly monitoring us every second of the day, many people are probably unaware of how public most of their private life really is. Between computers and security cameras, it really is not too hard for a member of some government agency to keep track of what someone does everyday. In contemporary society, human interaction and technology are becoming exceedingly intertwined. The rapid advancement of technology has allowed for the possibility of an inseparable combination of humans and technology. Upon writing his novel, Orwell extrapolated much of the detail about the technology within 1984 because of its unavailability or primitive features. The technology of modern society far exceeds that of 1984. If government could utilize lesser quality technology and control an entire population, what could amass if the technology were superior? Cell phones, computers, cameras, global positioning systems (GPSs) and other significant technological inventions in modern society have numerous benefits, but beget several drawbacks to ponder. Within each computer and cell phone are locating devices which allow the respected companies to observe the websites visited and the location of the each device. Wiretapping, legalized by the Patriot Act of 2001, permits governmental monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations to ensure safety. Surveillance cameras survey the actions of pedestrians to prevent crime. Although most of these cameras are operated by private businesses, privacy is still invaded. Realistically, the government’s use of technology as a means to intrude on American privacy is a definite possibility. In the past, and currently, the US government has used technology in order to ensure safety despite sacrificing certain liberties. With humans bearing a greater dependence on technology, the exploitation of technology by the government would prove devastating and irreversible. â€Å"War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible† (Orwell 198). The focal point of the Oceania’s economy was its overextending military. The constant war, overshadowed by the developing plot involving Winston, provides justification and a safeguard against its citizens. The purpose in participating in a perpetual war is to consume human labor and commodities. Without commodities, Oceania is able to justify their engagement in an unwinnable and â€Å"necessary† war. In addition, constant warfare keeps the population fearful, and creates emergency conditions whereby the government can expand its powers. People, manipulated into fear, will respond more favorably to regulations in times of war. Accompanying the sacrifice of personal liberties, following the distressing events on September 11th, 2001, includes an extension of military activity. First beginning with Former President Bush, and current President Obama, the US Army is combative throughout the world, specifically the Middle East, in its attempt to curtail acts of terrorism. Seemingly, as in the case with Oceania, the United States is continuously in a warring state. When peace is made with one country, war is claimed or threatened on another nation to continue a military presence. The Department of Defense, comparable to the Minister of Peace, allocates the largest level of budgetary resources and coordinates the activity of the United States armed forces. Not counting the cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Defense budget is expected to be $553 billion in 2012, up from $549 billion in 2011† (Factor 24). In addition, the Department of Defense posts useless statistics, incorrect economic predictions, and slanted opinions polls. The most infamous example of incorrect statistics and bias speech was Former President Bush’s Mission Accomplished speech. In spite of the continuing warfare, Bush stated this was the end to major combat operations in Iraq. Certain aspects of the Oceania war machine further manipulate the actions of the Oceanian citizens. The government of Oceania, orchestrated by the Party, influences its citizens into believing that they have a common enemy in the Brotherhood, specifically Goldstein. The Two Minutes of Hate, a daily period in which Party members of Oceania must watch a film depicting The Party's enemies, entices mob action and a blind expression of hate. The picture of Goldstein comes up on the screen, while the people scream in anger and horror at the image. Goldstein, they are told, is everywhere and must be destroyed. The similarities to modern society are more real than apparent and speak to what has been happening in the United States since World War II. Each significant event in history has seen evil characters that have been determined on destroying â€Å"the American way of life. † During World War 2, Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin led the rise of fascism and against democratic principles. During the Red Scare, Mao Tse-Tung of China disturbed American peace with communists influence on the American public. During the Arms Race, Lenoid Brehznev of the USSR challenged the social integrity of America. During the 1980s, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and now Bin Laden promoted use of terrorist attacks to harm Americans. Like Goldstein in Oceania, each man menaced society, striking fear and hatred into the peoples’ hearts. After their deaths, American society was not safer and soon after a replacement continued to terrorize America. Ultimately, the Party’s slogan â€Å"War is Peace† perfectly represents their exploitation of war and stronghold over their citizens. Through the expression of the slogan, the Party contends that in times of war, Oceania is at peace. Such a contradictory statement provides an example of the Party’s use of â€Å"double think† and manipulation of the people. Oceania – the Party – is able to remain at peace during times of war because of a war’s natural temperament. War acts as a means to ensure a stagnant social structure and prevent true socialism. War, specifically in 1984, guarantees a destruction of produce (Orwell 191). With a scarcity of produce, economic disparity becomes apparent and overprotection of produce becomes unlikely. Thus, the Party is â€Å"at peace† because revolution or any social change is improbable. Similarly, war has a parallel effect in modern society. In times of war, America is economically and socially stable. War creates an abundance of jobs which distills any opposition from the lower class which has an innate tendency to protest the actions of the highest class (Orwell 199). Industries rejoice as the government agrees to purchase any and all military related goods. The government expands its power by restricting several personal liberties which are voluntarily and willingly bequeathed by the people. The nation rallies around a common enemy, fueled by propaganda, and confidence in its government reaches a pinnacle. War establishes peace to authorities dictating the path of the nation: War is peace. Throughout 1984, the Party, in accordance with the Ministry of Truth manipulates its control of the past and rewrites history. In rewriting history, the Party ensures the completion of one of its slogan: â€Å"Ignorance is Strength. † The constant change of the â€Å"truth: and destruction of supporting records, allows the Party to keep its citizens ignorant of its true actions. Thus, the Party avoids confrontation with questioning and aware citizens. To address those unaffiliated with the Party, the Party ses a more indirect approach to keep the Proles ignorant. With guaranteed liberties, the Proles are content with their uncommon privileges and do not seek to interrupt their happiness and therefore do not challenge the Party. According to the Party, promoting ignorance prevents doubt and creates a powerful strength in the idea. The only way to keep an idea strong is to remove all suspicion of doubt. If one has no reason to question a belief, then that belief will remain despite its unreasonableness. And if this lack of questioning can become indefinite, then the belief is also indefinite. In American history, some events are understated, while others are overstated to glorify patriotism or conform to modern belief. Most recently, President Bush’s vacillation through several reasons to invade Iraq provide an example of understatement and deceit in politics. Initially, President Bush stated that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction which would prove harmful to Americans in the near future. After no weapons of mass destruction were found, President Bush stated that then President Saddam Hussein had anthrax and other biological harmful weapons. Anthrax was found in Iraq; however, the United States did not mention that the same anthrax was sold to Iraq by America. President Bush, then, justified the military activity in Iraq by claiming to fight terrorism and spread democracy. Congressmen, who supported the War of Terrorism, eventually reversed their opinions of the war and stated that the President and the Department of Defense provided inaccurate accounts of the terrorist activity in Iraq. President Bush’s waving between his reasoning to invade Iraq demonstrates an ability to keep Americans ignorant of the true motives of US invasion in Iraq. In 1984, there was an obvious separation of wealth. The London that Winston Smith calls home is a dilapidated, rundown city in which buildings are crumbling, conveniences such as elevators never work, and necessities such as electricity and plumbing are extremely unreliable. The grimy urban decay offers insight into the Party’s priorities through its contrast to the immense technology the Party develops to spy on its citizens. The conditions O’Brien, an Inner Party member, lived with greatly differed from the livelihood of Winston. O’Brien’s home was ornately furnished and enjoyed the likeness of cigars, coffee and tea. In modern society, the trend continues. The wealthy can afford to live lavishly, while the poor can barely afford to live. The concentration of wealth significantly favors the elitists. Those poor, in America and Oceania, ignorantly misuse their money on lotteries with the false hope of becoming wealthy. Despite being regarded as a fictional novel, 1984 and its portrayal of a controlling and exploitative government are comparable to the current conditions of modern society. Through Winston’s characterization, Orwell expresses his concerns with an exponentially expanding American government and a foreseeable future. Orwell, as told through 1984, envisioned a world of constant surveillance, where the privacy of the individual was virtually extinct. Although the technology he predicted seems unsophisticated, the concept of surveillance is applicable. Naturally, as the government expands, intrusion on the personal lives of its citizens is becoming accessible and simple. The use of technology, such as computers and cell phones, is becoming greatly intertwined in human interaction and everyday life. These advances in technology can be interpreted both positively and negatively. Legislations, such as the Patriot Act (2001) and the Alien and Sedition Act, have given the government an almost limitless means to interrogate radical thinkers. With the initial reading of this polemic book, Orwell’s work was subjected to pillory of all sorts; however as society has let time take its course it seems that those who criticized this work were the most jejune of all, about our Lugubrious society.

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Mediation vs litigation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mediation vs litigation - Essay Example lawyers to facilitate the presentation of their evidences and often, the lawyers may handle the case in very adversarial and aggressive tones (Tiersma, 1999). As a consequence, the litigation becomes disadvantageous to both parties and those who are weak and those who have no financial capacity to sustain the litigation process fell out of the balance or loss the case (Tiersma, 1999). The court processes is very legalistic in ways. Its communication system is often complex and misunderstood. Clients, often non-lawyers, do not understand the language of the law and lawyers on the other hand, lawyers cannot comprehend well the people’s language who are not fluent on the standard language of the legal system. Many of their documents are lengthy, overwritten, repetitious, and the legal language has its own peculiarity and effects in whatever context (Tiersma, 1999). There is explicit use of the laments of legalism in thoughts and in its logical structure in its documents. It will doubly complicate when lawyers start to argue using Latin maxims (Tiersma, 1999). Legal luminaries argued that the courtroom language has certain structural complexity which could either be syntactic complexity, inter-sentence complexity, phrasal complexity, and lexical complexity (Tiersma, 1999). Syntactic complexity adds to difficulty in comprehension. Although there was a recommend ed use of plain language but when the judge provide information and guidelines about the trial and evidences and about the utilization of the framework of the law (Tiersma, 1999). Since jurors are not equipped with legal knowledge, they weigh such responsibility of determining the verdict but must do so, using their considerable power, without endangering the fairness of the trial (Tiersma, 1999). There is therefore a problem in the language intended for lay jury and the language used by legal luminaries. Hence, the discourse is ruled by grammar constructions, conventions, legal vocabularies and language

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Government Programs in Cybersecurity Education and Awareness Essay

Government Programs in Cybersecurity Education and Awareness - Essay Example (Gattiker, 2009) Presently, the United States suffers a deficit in the number of professionals in cyber security; a fact that compromises predictions of America’s future needs. The demand for improved cyber security education would bolster America’s future workforce (Rudolph, 2009). Recent survey conducted by Zogby International suggests that cyber security education would be a significant contributor in the economic growth of the US. That small business owner registering high returns needs employees with cyber security skills. Another recent study by Microsoft indicates a significant demand for cyber security education in America’s K-12 classrooms (Gattiker, 2009). Therefore, the government programs, through cyber security education, would contribute in the economic growth of US and the sensitization of America’s K-12 classrooms among other contribution. a) The US government should raise the national awareness about cyber threats and associated risks. It should improve risk knowledge and cyber security vulnerabilities as well as engage in the promotion of the use of cyber security tools and resources. This can take the form of; encouragement of campaigns such as Stop.Think.Connect, Strategy promotion for cyber risk management training engagement in partnership with external stakeholders and encouragement of participation in activities, in line with cyber security. b) The cyber security workforce’s pool of individuals should be broadened by engaging in the promotion of interests in computer science and cyber security. This can be undertaken through an increase of diversity and quality of computer science programs in high schools, improvement of both undergraduate and graduate cyber security curricula and promotion of research and development on cyber security. c) The government should encourage the cultivation of globally competitive cyber security

Have the welfare reforms enacted since the 1980s been successful in Essay

Have the welfare reforms enacted since the 1980s been successful in achieving their goals - Essay Example However, some decades later, the program was blamed for creating a dependent culture. This encouraged the government to institute reforms on the welfare sector. This paper will look at major achievements and challenges of welfare reforms since the 1980s. The Need for Reforms in Welfare Sector To the beneficiaries, the financial benefits derived from public welfare programs were better than most low paying jobs. Hence, most people preferred to remain covered by the welfare program than be employed. On the contrary, many people felt that there was a need for the government to continue providing welfare assistance since most of the beneficiaries were children under the Aid to Families with Dependant Children (AFDC) (Wax 2009). Under this program, families were living under comfort of assured of federal support. However, the new reforms on welfare have changed this situation by eliminating the guarantee. The choice of who to benefit from the welfare program in most countries depends on t he intended goal of a specific program. In basic terms, the main aim of major welfare programs is to get the target individuals out of poverty by making them self-reliant and thereby lead a better life. ... ility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PROWRA) of 1996 takes credit for helping reduce the number of people who are dependent on welfare (Grogger & Karoly 2005). Second, the reform removed the control of the welfare system from the hands of federal government and passed it to state governments. Third, the reform set some minimal requirements that a state has to meet in order to benefit from welfare services. The reforms saw the federal government give out welfare support in a flat rate on the basis of the population in the state. This succeeded in encouraging people to look for work as a way of lessening dependence on state welfare. The achievements of Personal Responsibility and Work opportunity Act reform were strengthened by the Temporary Reward for Needy Families (TANF) program. TANF replaced the AFDC which gave support to all needy families with needy children (Martin 2011). TANF required state governments to encourage the people to search for employment while receiving welfare assistance. This was the first time in the history of the welfare approach for the government to impose requirements to states and beneficiaries. The assistance was also limited to five years of a family’s lifetime. As a result, there has been a 60 percent reduction in welfare dependency due to rise in employment levels. However, the perceived reduction in caseload in 1990s due to the reforms is challenged to be as a result of strong economic growth in the economy of United States. Strong economy meant people were able to find better paying jobs, and hence become less reliant on welfare funds. Increase in Employment and Income of Single Mothers Even though the critics of early reforms had predicted dire consequences primarily to the single unemployed mothers, they stood to witness

Monday, August 26, 2019

Mitigation of Earthquakes in Mega Cities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Mitigation of Earthquakes in Mega Cities - Essay Example Although earthquake is a natural phenomenon that cannot be averted, we can take some precautions in order to mitigate the destructive potential of its aftermath. The invention of Richter scale has enabled us for computing the magnitude of earthquakes. Today, it is possible to identify frequently earthquake occurring places and the intensity of every earthquake. Modern facilities such as earthquake alarming systems are some of the advancements in this area. However, lack of improved infrastructural deterrence techniques often affects the effectiveness of disaster prevention in mage cities. According to census reports published by Government of Maharashtra (2000) in 1991, 60% of the registered buildings in Mumbai were made up of non-engineered materials such as informal masonry. It is important to note that Mumbai is categorized under seismic zone 3, which indicates the high vulnerability to the occurrence of devastating earthquakes. The earthquake history of Mumbai reflects that large number of earthquakes occurred across different parts of the city during the last century and even in the last two years. Severe losses had not been reported until 1967 when one attacked Koyna region of Mumbai with a magnitude of 6.3. Large number of buildings was destroyed at this calamity. Damages of such sorts can be avoided to a large extent only if the city employs geotechnical guidelines for the disaster prevention. The Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) reports that â€Å"poor governance structures, lack of awareness, and poor professional standards and ethics† are some of the major impediments for disaster prevention in mega cities (cited in Wenzel, 2006).

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Patriot Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Patriot Act - Essay Example Hence, to weed out terrorism / breeding grounds of terrorism wherever it is found around the world so that such ugly situation may not engulf the United of States of America or other allies in the world. The mentioned act was approved by both the houses of peoples representatives i.e. Senate and the House of Representative on 26th October, 2001 (Whitehead & Aden, 2002). The previously mentioned act empowered law enforcement agencies / intelligence agencies to track out terrorist net work aims at to gather maximum information about their activities. This enables cited agencies to deal with the terrorist with iron hands. The concerned authorities of USA taking into account the increasing terrorist activities reviewed and amended the money-laundering act accordingly to stop flow of funds to such organization who promotes terrorism to accomplish their nefarious designs. So far, the action taken by the United States of America is to ban such organization as well as freezing of their funds in connivance with the countries that are in league with America against war on terror (Whitehead & Aden, 2002). The strict American Laws make it impossible for a suspected terrorist to enter in the US for sabotaging the national assets / endangering the life of common citizens. The new act enhanced the capability of law enforcement / intelligence agencies to fight terrorism in an effective manner (Whitehead & Aden, 2002). The patriot act in fact provides protection to American people against domestic and foreign terrorism. It describes the official version of domestic terrorism. According to which any person who have ill intention to harm human life falls under the ambit of above act. Hence, by virtue of this act, law enforcement and intelligence agencies may obtain search warrant from federal judge wherever terror related activities are found on the surface. This is an easy way to investigate the matter by streamlining and exchanging communication between agencies (Ball, 2004). H owever, the act in question specifically focuses on the surveillance of terrorism activities in order to prevent international terrorism. In case terrorist caught red handed, an exemplary punishment should be awarded to him to deter others. He / she should be tried in a competent court of law for punishment in accordance with law. The use of modern gadgets in promoting domestic / international terrorism cannot be ignored (Doyle, 2001). The policy makers while drafting policy must take into account the rights of citizens that have conferred to them by the constitution and the bills of rights. American policy makers must respect the Constitution to protect American rights. It protects the rights of every citizen irrespective of their cost, creed and profession, whether he / she are a part timer or full time policy makers who enjoy the benefits of given rights even in the war time (Ball, 2004). After the act of terrorism on the mentioned date of the year 2001, Mr. Bush sought unbridled power as president of USA to summon reserve forces to face the war like situation. As a result of this act, liberties of American people have been taken away to meet the eventualities and to fight terrorism. By enactment of this act, power of law enforcement agencies / intelligence agencies gave unchecked powers to investigate the suspected terrorist in a brutal manner, which amounts to flagrant violation of human rights (Doyle, 2001). The

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Model of Albert Memorial Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Model of Albert Memorial - Essay Example Built around 1863 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, model of the Albert Memorial still remains to be an authentic emblem of neo-Gothic architecture till date. The plastered and gilt model neatly wears a polished gander testifying to the facsimile of the original Memorial tower located in Kensington Gardens in the English capital.2 The model was commissioned by Queen Victoria to commemorate Prince Albert, her beloved husband who passed away in 1861. This essay is going to discuss the key points related to the model of Albert Memorial and not the Memorial itself. These points will pertain to the designing and production of the object as well as the technical aspects of the neo-Gothic style of architecture. The literature studies will involve exhaustive analysis of relevant sources, including images, critiques, historical accounts and other informative data. The model of Albert Memorial depicts a seated figure of Prince Albert shielded by a covering which is adorned with symbolic figures of angels. It is topped by a cross and positioned on a platform having ornamented horizontal bands between the architrave and the cornice. Figures of poets, painters, architects and authors are carved on the friezes with moulded plaster. ... It was orchestrated by the fact that middle class segment of the society gained ascendance following steady decline of the aristocratic upper class. The Industrial Revolution that shook the whole of Europe during this time also opened up new job avenues for the skilled craftsmen. Subsequently, both the elite class and the growing middle class could share a common point of interest ahead of the revivalistic phase during Queen Victoria's regime. In essence, the Industrial Revolution captured the spirit of the Aesthetic movement in the British society.4 Veblen (2004: 194) argues that the flurry of products conforming to the genre of industry arts was not caused by some arbitrary movement in aesthetic competence. Rather it was very much an acquired skill mastered through proper grooming of the workers within a systematic framework.5 Thus it would be justified to claim that the deployment of skilled workforce by Queen Victoria for the task of building the Albert Memorial model corresponde d to the norms of the transition from the Elizabethan to the Victorian era. Figure 2. Red House, Kent: Aesthetic Movement (Strickland and Handy 2001: 101) Mainly cast plaster is used to build the model, with a metallic framework to provide support. As far as decoration is concerned, an array of architectural techniques is incorporated to make it look like the original Memorial. The triangular gables beneath the covering are affixed with gilded and pied paper works representing mosaic. Granite effect is created through a scagliola-like decoration vested in the column shafts, the model floor, bases of the four corners, and the steps. The sculptured band around the base and other portions of the model are painted with a thick layer of

Friday, August 23, 2019

Competing Through Operations (Business,International and Management) Research Paper

Competing Through Operations (Business,International and Management) - Research Paper Example The report will incorporate different economic indicators to check the performance and various other factors that can improve and boost the business of McDonalds. Performance objectives of McDonalds: McDonald’s is considered as one of the largest food chains in the world and to improve as well as boosting up their business, the company officials have to devise new policies and objectives that can enhance their performance on every aspect so that to maintain their widespread status of the largest and most reputable food chain in the world. McDonald’s is also considered the largest user of beef in Europe, which actually number 8-9000 cattle per week, which are needed to satisfy the production needs of the McDonald’s in only UK. The company follows a philosophy of developing a collaborative approach with their clients, and they are committed to share the best experience with their suppliers as well as with their customers. The important part of the philosophy of McD onald’s is to keep improving in their business for which they devise new objectives which are basically modified version of the previous years’ objectives. The company is not only aimed to improve its relations with the clients and customers, but also with the suppliers on the primary as well as on secondary level. To check whether the staff is working properly, and whether the company has met its revenue gains according to the predictions made, the company prepares some performance objectives, which actually mean the execution of some policies through which those objectives can be achieved via an enhanced performance in every department. The five main performance objectives of McDonald’s are as follows: Speed: this objective is required to be achieved by the management of McDonald’s because the efficiency and speediness of the staff will be the only key to improve the gains which is the ultimate goal of the management officials. Cost: another main object ive of the management is to pursue such policies and regulations through which their production cost is reasonably lower. Quality: with the costs lowered, the management also seeks to improve the quality of its products as well as every other aspects such as the customer satisfaction, and customer-staff relations that are in the priority list of the company and they always seek to make a positive environment. Dependability: The Company knows it very well that without the efficient staff as well as a team of suppliers; the business of McDonald’s is not going to operate well. Therefore, the management has made it an objective to create an environment of dependability where all the individuals are working together as a team and where the concept of individuality is not existing, and that’s the only way through which the overall performance will be increased and improved. Flexibility: the staff of the organization needs to be flexible and able to do all the works, and ther efore the management has made it an objective to create such an environment in which all the workers are working together and their flexibility of each of the individual workers will be jumbled up in order to make a better team to run the business. The main conclusion that can be made from reviewing the 5 performance objectives of the McDonald’s is that the management has really made it an essential objective to create such a harmonic environment in which all the workers are working as a team and a coherence and team unity is established which is the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Difference in Hercules and Spiderman Essay Example for Free

Difference in Hercules and Spiderman Essay In many Greek hero myths and stories, protagonists are presented with a series of hardships or task they must past. In the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton Hercules tries to achieve atonement. He brainlessly accepts all the challenges that Eurystheus gave him, while Spiderman thinks thoroughly before he performs his actions. The tradition of achieving atonement has deteriorated away from modern culture myths. In the book Spiderman the hero of Stan Lee’s novels, Spiderman tries to achieve security and stability for his community. Hercules is driven to serve the society because of his guilt while Spiderman serves the society willingly, which shows the difference between the Greek and modern idea about serving the society. The guilt that drives Hercules and the effort to make the society a better place drives Spiderman, shows that the idea of atonement has faded away in modern myths. Greek heroes such as Hercules show heroism that is not displayed in modern day myths. Heroes such as Hercules do many things without thinking such as, encountering many creatures and performing tasks they would have never thought possible. For example, as Hercules tries to achieve atonement for the horrible acts that he has committed against his family and he must complete twelve tasks, one of which involves going down into the underworld: â€Å"His task was to bring Cerberus, the three-headed dog, up from Hades† (Hamilton 174). This task requires a lot of strength and courage as mentioned by Hamilton, â€Å"He lifted him and carried him all the way up to earth and on to Mycenae† (Hamilton 174). Without Hercules this task could not be accomplished by anyone. All twelve of the tasks that Hercules was to perform didn’t not require much intelligence or cleverness, just strength. In many Greek myths there are no brains involved in the deed or action executed, just senseless killing and other tests of strength. On the other hand Spiderman performs his heroic acts with not only with his strength but also with intelligence. By using intelligence Spiderman has a much better chance of accomplishing his duty. For example, while the Green Goblin tied up Spiderman he was, â€Å"†¦to quickly think how to escape† (Lee 87). Greek myths have evolved form heroes performing actions brainlessly to heroes performing action with intellectual aid. Many Greek heroes perform lawful acts for their community that modern day heroes do not perform. Many Greek heroes serve their community because they want to achieve atonement for the acts that they have performed. In the case of Hercules, â€Å"†¦a wrong who has sent the madness upon him† (Hamilton 169). Hercules had gone mad after his wife, Megara has borne him three sons, â€Å"He killed his children and Megara, too, as she tried to protect the youngest (Hamilton 169). As the story continues to go on Hercules lives the rest of his life wanting to avenge his own life for the awful act that he has committed. As Hercules rushes out to kill himself his friend Theseus stood before him telling him why he shouldn’t kill himself: â€Å"Even so, suffer and be strong,† (Hamilton 170). Theseus is implying that that Hercules should be strong and wait for death because, â€Å"†¦ he rejected the idea that a man could be guilty of a murder when he had not known what he was doing† (Hamilton 170). And so Hercules went on to his cousin Eurystheus and there his cousin gave him twelve tasks that he must perform in order to achieve death. As Hercules performs this action, he almost accomplishes them with ease and after finishing all of the tasks no death had been brought upon him so he brought death upon himself, and therefore avenged his actions against his family. In the case of Spiderman, he serves his community in order to have a safe and secure community for himself and for the city. Spiderman willingly risks his life to keep the community in which he lives a safe place. Clearly myths and stories have evolved from serving the community in order to achieve eternal piece to thinking about others and performing deeds for others. In conclusion, Hercules and Spiderman have many differences but their biggest difference is that Hercules performs his duties and heroic acts brainlessly, while Spiderman performs his heroic duties with intelligence and strategy. Our modern day myths no longer have the idea of atonement instead, the heroes serve their community willingly. This is what makes a hero a true hero.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The Economic Reform of China Essay Example for Free

The Economic Reform of China Essay In the late 1970s, China initiated a full-scale economic reform in rural and urban parts of the country, because of the economic reform China has transformed itself from a centrally planned economy to an emerging market economy and at the same time its economy has achieved nearly a 9.5 percent average growth rate. The pace of China’s growth is not unique — Korea, Singapore and other economies in East Asia grew as fast in the 1970s and 1980s. What is unprecedented historically is its scale. The size of China’s population, market and geography, and the dynamism that flowed from economic reform and transformation are what define its impact on the rest of the world. Despite a still relatively low per capita income, the sheer size of the Chinese economy has made China a significant player in world production, consumption, trade and increasingly international finance and the environment. The historic decision on â€Å"reform and opening-up† made at the Third Plenum of the CCP Eleventh Party Congress on December 18-22, 1978, marked the beginning of China’s reform era. At the time, China had a clear desire to increase productivity and raise living standards by reforming its economic system and structure, but it did not have a clear objective of what the new system would be like. Furthermore, the reform did not have a well-designed strategy or policy measures. China’s economic reform was often distinguished from the market reform of the Soviet Union and many former socialist countries in Eastern Europe. First, unlike the case of the Soviet Union, China did not change its political system and was able to maintain political stability. Second, China’s reform process did not have a blueprint. Each step was taken after drawing the experience of the previous step. As Deng put it, the process was like a person walking across the river by feeling the rocks in each step. This characteristic was necessitated by the lack of knowledge of what kind of market economy was suitable for China on the part of the leaders. They had  to learn by experimentation. Secondly, experimentation helped convince the party members of the validity of the new institutions. The slogan â€Å"to build an economic system with Chinese characteristics† was introduced in the early 1980’s and remains in constant use in the early 2000’s. â€Å"Chinese characteristics† mean the results of experimentation that are shown to work for China. This slogan also implies that the Chinese leaders are pragmatic and not confined to a set of old Communist ideology. Recall Deng Xiaoping’s famous statement, â€Å"it does not matter whether a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice.† Pragmatism over ideology is an important trait of China’s reform process. China’s reform measures that resulted from experimentation include the â€Å"household responsibility system† in agriculture, autonomy and the †contract responsibility system† for state industrial enterprises, the free economic zones as experiments for foreign trade and investment policies, and the introduction of share-holding companies in Jiang Zemin’s report of September 1997 partly as a result of the successful experience of some small and medium sized state enterprises that was initiated by the individual enterprises themselves. One advantage of China’s economic condition over that of the Soviet Union at the early stage of reform was that the Chinese farmers knew how to farm as private farmers. Collective farming was introduced under the Commune System only in 1958, twenty years before the reform. The farmers still remembered how to farm and they also had some practice in 1963-1965 during the president of Liu Shaoqi who introduced some elements of private farming after the economic collapse of the Great Leap Forward Movement of 1958-62. On the other hand collective farming had been introduced in the 1930’s, sixty years before the reform of the Soviet economy in the early 1990’s. Russian farmers did not know how to farm as individual farmers. The large increase of agricultural productivity in China served as the basis for further economic growth and reform. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping made it clear that performance should be the main consideration in the economic and social advancement of individuals. In  other words, professionalism and results should count. Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of academics and scientists for the future of the economic development and the international standing of China. He thought that this should be more widely recognized by the Chinese people. During 1978, Deng Xiaoping’s reform philosophy gained growing support in the CCP and its desirability was accepted in December 1978 at the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee. This session proved to be a turning point in the direction of China’s policies for its economic and social development. It was decided at this meeting that the system and methods of economic management in China would be transformed; economic co-operation with other countries would be expanded; special efforts would be made to adopt the world’s advanced technologies and equipment; and that scientific and educational work would be greatly strengthened to meet the needs of modernization. The importance of the four modernizations (modernizing agriculture, industry, national defense, science and technology) was emphasized. 2.0. Meaning of reform 2.1. Agriculture Beginning in 1978 several major institutional reforms have been undertaken. First is the adoption of the household responsibility system in agriculture. Collective farming under the Commune system introduced by Mao in 1958 in the Great Leap Forward Movement was being practiced. Farmers worked as a team consisting of some forty persons. A farmer could not get extra reward by working harder because all members of the team would share the additional output due to his additional labor. Chinese farmers deserved credit for initiating reform in agriculture. Some farmers realized that if they farmed separately the team could produce more in total and still delivered the same amount of output required by the procurement system for government distribution of agricultural products in the economy. The Commune system was changed as the team was reorganized by distributing its land to individual households to farm separately, each getting the additional reward for additional labor after delivering a fixed amount of  output to the team for delivery to the government procurement agencies. Such practice was introduced and spread in many areas of the country. In 1978, Deng recognized its beneficial effects and adopted it as a national policy and called it the â€Å"household responsibility system.† Agricultural output increased rapidly in China. The farmers became richer. The success of reform in agriculture served as the foundation of reform in other sectors not only by increasing the supply of food but also by changing the ideological thinking of Communist Party members in support of a market economy. 2.2. State-owned Enterprises Reform of Chinese state enterprises is an example of a gradual approach to economic reform through experimentation. The first was to give state enterprises some autonomy in production, marketing and investment decisions rather than simply carrying out the decisions under a system of central planning. The experiment began in late 1978 with six enterprises in Sichuan Province. By the end of June 1980, 6,600 industrial enterprises that were allowed to make such autonomous decisions produced about 45 percent of the total output of all state industrial enterprises. The second was to make them financially independent, allowing them to keep the earnings as their own profits after paying taxes to the state, rather than as revenue belonging to the government. The third was to introduce a responsibility system similar to the household responsibility system in agriculture, first to selected parts of the enterprise under the important reform Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in October 1984, and later to an enterprise in 1987. Under the responsibility system, a part of an enterprise was allowed to keep the remaining profit after surrendering a fixed amount to the enterprise controlling it. In 1987, further reform of the state enterprises was carried out under the â€Å"contract responsibility system.† After paying a fixed tax to the government having jurisdiction over it, each state enterprise was allowed to keep the remaining profit for distribution to its staff and workers and for capital investment. Within one year in 1987, almost all state enterprises were under the new â€Å"contract responsibility system.† The idea of such a system sounded appealing to the economic officials who designed it, as witnessed by the  author who participated at meetings with these officials. However, the incentives provided under the system turned out to be less impressive than expected. First, the so-called fixed levy to each enterprise was not really fixed but was subject to change depending on the profits of the enterprise. The tax was increased when the profits were higher than expected. This partly destroyed the incentives provided by a fixed levy, which would not interfere with the optimal marginal cost and benefit calculations of the enterprise. Secondly, the additional revenue was not put into good use. The managers could not receive sufficient compensation because a high salary to management was socially and ideologically unacceptable. When profits were high the workers received additional compensation in the form of durable goods such as color TV sets and refrigerators because money wage had to follow a fixed scale nationally. The additional reward was not dependent on additional effort. Third, investment policy might not be optimal in the sense that risk taking by a manager was not sufficiently compensated. Forth, the quality of the managers was poor in general because they were not trained under a free market system. Bureaucracy and personal connections determined the selection of manager to a considerable extent. Significant steps on state enterprise reform were taken in the late 1990’s as stated in the important report of Jiang Zemin to the Congress of the Communist Party in September 1997. China government was to give up ownership and control of small and medium sized state enterprises while keeping the control of large enterprises. Shares were issued for a small or medium enterprise, to be purchased by its managers and staff. The state would give up most of its shares. This would help an infusion of capital to the enterprise. In many instances, the incentives provided to the workers who share a part of the profits were significant. The large enterprises can be transformed to various forms depending on the circumstances, but most of these enterprises were to become shareholding companies of one kind or another, with the state controlling the majority shares. From my point of view, changing the form of ownership on paper alone could not and does not make the enterprise efficient. First, the management itself may not be improved. The lack of qualified managers of modern corporations in China cannot be resolved by such reform. Second, many managers were still selected  by personal connections under the Chinese bureaucratic system. One manager told the author that the new system did not change the supervision and authority his former bosses. These same people now became members of the board under the new system. Some managers also complained that the time spent on committee and board meetings increased under the new system. In some instances, the government was willing to sell the entire enterprise to a foreign investor, especially a person of Chinese decent living in Hong Kong or a South Eastern Asian country. There are examples of successful transformation of large state enterprises. 2.3. The Banking and Financial Sector When the planning system was being changed from â€Å"compulsory† planning to â€Å"guidance† planning as stipulated by the October 1984 Decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party a macro-economic control mechanism was to be introduced which required a more modern banking system. Before economic reform, the People’s Bank was a mono-bank that had branches to accept deposits from the public. Its other functions were to issue currency and to extend loans to state enterprises according to the need specified and approved by the planning authority. It had no authority to decide on these loans. Commercial banks did not exist in the sense of being able to extend credits to enterprises according to the criterion of profitability. In 1983 the People’s Bank was nominally transformed into a central bank. Specialized banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and the People’s Construction Bank of China, were established and given some autonomy in the extension of credits in the early 1980’s in the same way that state industrial enterprises were given autonomy to make production decisions. This led to the rapid increase in the supply of currency in 1984 by 50% and an inflation rate of 8.8% by the overall retail price index in 1985. Reforms of the banking system to serve a market economy (as the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party declared China’s economy to be a socialist market economy in October 1992) progressed gradually in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. In November 1993, the Third Plenum of the 14th Central Committee of the Communist Party decided to accelerate reform of the financial sector by giving more independence to the People’s Bank as a central bank and transforming the specialized banks to  commercial banks. Two significant dates are March 18, and May 10, 1995, when the People’s Congress passed respectively the Law on The People’s Bank of China and the Commercial Banking Law. Although there the provisions of these laws were not actually carried out in practice, the laws provide a blueprint for the banking system and serve as a convenient framework for us to understand the working of the system. Banking reform is one important example to demonstrate the rule that institutions cannot be changed by legislation alone. Besides the banking system, other financial institutions were changed. In 1981 the government formed the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) to attract foreign capital. Similar investment trusts under the sponsorship of provincial governments followed. Stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen were established in the early 1990s. As pensions were provided under a new social security system, pension funds became an important source for savings and investment. The domestic insurance business, after being suspended for over twenty years, was reopened. Foreign insurance companies have been allowed to operate in China. The financial sector can be expected to expand further as foreign companies enter under the provisions of the WTO. 2.4. Education system Concerning the education system, while China had a combination of private and public schools at all levels before 1949, the education system was drastically changed in the early 1950’s. All schools were brought under government control, with private schools and universities taken over by public educational organizations. Higher education was modeled after the Soviet education system. Universities were broken up into colleges specializing in technical training. The special technical schools were administered by the government units requiring the services of their graduates. The operation of the education system was seriously interrupted by the Cultural Revolution, with many colleges and universities closed and school enrollment drastically reduced. Ever since economic reform started China’s educational system quickly returned to normal and began to improve. Universities were opened after the interruptions of the Cultural Revolution. Students were given opportunities to take examinations to enter universities and graduate schools. Intellectuals who had been criticized and mistreated were restored to their previous status and given due respect. People were eager to learn. Students seized upon their educational opportunities and studied diligently. The population as a whole wanted to absorb new ideas and knowledge from the outside world since they had been deprived of such knowledge when China was closed to the outside world. Foreign scholars and professionals of all kinds were invited to China to lecture, in schedules so full that even enthusiastic lecturers became exhausted. The Ministry of Education and the State Education Commission from 1985 to 1998, sponsored programs to cooperate with foreign educational institutions to improve education in China. At the same time individual universities were given the freedom to invite foreign scholars to lecture and they did so effectively. Students were sent abroad to study, and were permitted to go abroad by their own initiatives. Modern textbooks were adopted in university courses. Efforts were made to translate modern texts into Chinese and to write new texts in Chinese. As time went on, the skill in modern languages especially English improved rapidly and texts in English began to be adopted. 3.0. Conclusion In summary economic reform consisted of changes in agriculture system, reform of state enterprises, reform of banking and financial sector, and education system, which the changes taking place step by step depending on the results of and experience gained in previous steps. Many shortcomings of the China’s economic reform remain, but rapid economic growth continues. China’s economic development cannot be understood without taking into account its historical, political and cultural background. Based on the above discussion, we may learn seven major lessons from Chinese economic reforms. First, the most important principle for a successful transition from a planned economy to a market economy is pragmatism. Second, the incremental approach generates the momentum from earlier reform success and thus provides a political basis for the further reforms. Third, successful reforms rely on political support, which in turn depend on delivering tangible benefits to a large majority of the population. In addition, there are high international hopes that China will continue to be an engine  contributing to global economic growth for some time to come and signs of economic recovery in China have strengthened global economic confidence in recovery from the current economic recession.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Ways To Overcome Plagiarism

Ways To Overcome Plagiarism As we know, plagiarism has becoming part of life among colledge student. They cannot live without doing plagiarism because of it is easy way for them to do their assingment. Almost al the fresh graduate nowdays is not in high quality because of their plagiarism while their studying. They doenst really understand what they been studied and this will affected when they started to work. Their perfomance are poor because of no experiences and understanding while studying. Employers will complaints and not satiesfied of their work and this will increasing the number of unemployed people. However, there are many ways have been found to solve this plagiarized problem. For example colledge have reacted to this situation with writing rule which is student convicted of plagiarism will go through application to graduate school,job application later with one word clear that is plagiarised. There also have been created a program that can detected that the report or work is a plagiarized or not. This program are known as Turnitin that can detect that the report is a plagiarized or not. This program work to identify the passage or paragraph and it will tell you where it have been found. With this report I have been listed what is plagiarism and plagiarism that happen among student. I also suggested some ways that we can used in order to overcome this problem. SIX HATS WHITE HAT (INFORMATION, FACTS) Professor Amrin got a complaint from the industry about a percentage of gardutes from EITM does not perform well in their work. After he got the complaint, Professor Amrin had do a random check on their previous work. From the result he found that, the majority of studentd got the element of plagiarism because from their works had some same point. In this case, professor amrin expected that its will be give impact to the whole process being a genuine graduates. From that case, he found that plagiarism have many type. Some types of plagiarism is: Total / partial copying When you submit an assigment, report or project that you have copied totally or partially from a website, a friends work, or some other sources without acknowledgement, this is plagiarism besause: You did not do any original research or writing. The work is created by someone else and yet you put your name on it. If you were to change a few words or substitute some words / phrases in the original text with your own, you would still be plagiarizing. Plagiarized text with word changes. Qualitative research is an approach to research methodology in social sciences. Qualitative research involves a deep understanding of human behaviour and the reason that control human. It relies on reasons behind various aspects of behaviour. Cut and paste Another type of plagiarism involves copying large chunks of text from one or more original sources and inserting them into the assignment. For example, suppose you are doing the above assignment on Qualitative Research and you include a few sentences from the wikipedia website. Unless you present the sentences as a quote with full citation, you are committing plagiarism. Inappropriate paraphrase A more subtle type of plagiarism is the Inappropriate Paraphase. In this form of plagiarism, the quoted text is: Altered only slightly from the original and no acknowledgement of the original author is given. Extensively paraphrased but with acknowledgement of the original author. GREEN HAT (CREATIVITY,NEW IDEAS,SUGGESTION) Professor Amrin suggest and generate new ideas. The ideas include what to do and what not to do. Quotation A quotation is a word for word presentation of what is said or written in someone elses work. Its presented by using quotation mark (.). The sourceof the quote must be cited in the text and reference list. Sometimes quotation referred to as a Direct Quote. What To Do: Quote only when necessary the quoted part should only be supplementary to your own work. Copy the sentence(s) exactly the same as the original. Emti is committed to the fight against plagiarism. Use quotation marks () At the beginning and the end of the quote (for a long quote, use an indented block set off from the main text. Identify every source of the quote; write its author, title of article / journal / book, volume number, year and place of publication, publisher, page number, website address, etc. What Not To Do: Substituting just a few words in the original text and passing it off as your own also borrowing large portions of the original work. Manage your time If you have to meet a deadline, start work early. So you have plenty of time to research and write. Lack of time is one reason many people, especially stressed-out students, intentionally or unintentionally plagiarize. Paraphase A paraphase is a restatement of what someone else wrote or said (in your own words). What To Do: Use you own words. Your paraphased text can be shorter oe longer than the source. The source of the paraphase must be cited in the text and reference list. What Not To Do: Use the original words, phases and expression. There than that omit details of the original source. The third way, lose the original sense of the source and replace only a few words in the original. Then rearrange the order of words or sentences. Reference List / Bibliography At the end of your work, you need to acknowledge the information that you have referred in your text by providing a list of all your sources. This reference list or bibliography should be based on whichever particular style your faculty uses. Once you are familiar with the references style, you need to note that all references in the references list must be cited in the text and the site of the references must be include in the reference list. Therefore it should start with a new page. The title of the list should be Reference / Bibliography, centre at the top of the page and the references are listed in alphabetical order by authors surname, while the reference list should be double spaced with a hanging indent for the second and subsequent lines. RED HAT (FEELING, EMOTION) Professor Amrin related his emotion and feelings on plagiarism. In this case, he feel scared about the technology because rampant plagiarism and it make very afraid what could happen. He as a professor and also as a Head of the Undergraduate Thesis Evaluation Committee feel frustrated over plagiarism. This is because that they fear they are missing a change to teach student. He also felt anger and betrayal at student who turned in work that wasnt original. YELLOW HAT (BENEFITS, SUNSHINE, POSITIVE) From the view, Professor Amrin find that the plagiarism also have some benefits. There is : Energy saving copy and paste uses far fewer resources than does thinking your own way around any subject. Time saving its quite obviously, time not spent doing your own research and your own thinking, it also can be spend in other and more worthwhile pursuits. Meanwhile in finding other people to steal from for instance. Esteem of colleagues what writer could help but admire a person who can meet the assignment deadlines with efficiency. Evolution the plagiarist will, after all and be teaching his/her children that it is perfectly acceptable to misuse the property of another, especially if you can do it without having go through pesky details such as permission. Surely the advantage to the body politic of that childs adulthood is self evident. BLACK HAT (JUDGEMENT, BAD POINT) Professor Amrin give penalties for plagiarism. He think plagiarism is a very serious academic offence, and can result in serious consequences for you as a student including: A fail grade for your work (assignment, project thesis, course). Suspension of one semester or one academic session. Expulsion from the university. Withdrawal of your degree. BLUE HAT (THINKING ABOUT THINKING, NEXT STEP) Summary A summary is a shortened version of the original source without changing the meaning. Students have clearly identify the main points and leaves out details and examples also the source of the summary must be cited. They must not to change the original meaning of the text. Citation A citation is an identification of the source of a quote, paraphrase or summary. Academic and professional writing requires a full citation that there are in text, in a bibliography at the end of the text and includes author and title of article / journal / book, volume number, year and place of publication / publisher, page number, website address and etc. Discussion College plagiarism seems to be on the increase. So we round up and decry the usual suspects. The rise of the internet and the decline of student writing. To be sure, there are term papers for sale on the internet and the vary process of surfing the web encourages looseness in borrowing and surely fewer student seem to master the art of sustained research and argument in long papers these days. Each semester a term paper time a few of the colleagues invariably seek computer help for diagnosing and tracing suspected instances of plagiarism. By then it is almost too late. For many teacher or lecture the labor of proving suspected plagiarism is a formidable obstacle to face at the end of the semester. If the plagiarism is to be combated, it must be done regularly throughout the semester and not just at the end. SCAMPER SUBTITUTE You can change the sentence of the article or journal, but it is still plagiarism. You need to do more research to get more idea and information for your summary or its more better if you use your own word and idea. Each time you choose your words, order you thoughts and convey your idea, you can improve your writing. Practise make perfect. COMBINE You may combine the new idea and more information from your friends or lecturer during discussion to your summary or thesis. One solution has many weakness but combination of many solution may overcome the weakness. It will give your summary and the thesis much stronger to avoid the plagiarism. ADAPT You cannot copy the other person idea to make it for our assignment. If the own writer know that you copy their journal, the writer can sue you in the court. You need to create by own self with elaborate that word or use more journal to classified your jounal as one jounal. MAGNIFY Now a days, people are more brilliant to make plagiarism like sham paraphrasing, illicit paraphrasing, verbatim copying, recycling, ghost writing and purloining. But we cant do it like that because it stills same we copyright someone work. It is still plagiarism. PUT TO OTHER USE You can use your current idea to the markets and industries if your idea is still not plagiarism. We need to be more creative to discover and think the new thing or method.People always measure your originality of your work and appreciate the originality that you do it than you just copy from someone else. ELIMINATE You need to read a lot of the journal or article and make your own summary that you understand from your reading. You also have do some research to more understand what you want to simplify from the article. REVERSE It is still plagiarism if you do that way even you change their word. To avoid the plagiarism, the better way that you need to do is just thinking the new idea even your idea is not much, at least you already try it. REFERENCES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Historical_Association http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/school/plagiarism.html http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Tips-to-Overcome-Plagiarism-in-Your-Essaysid=1401495 http://eduscapes.com/tap/topic24b.htm http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-can-you-prevent-plagiarism.html Aziz Yahya, Aida Nasirah Abdullah, Hazmillah Hassan, Raja Roslan Raja Abd Dahman, Critical and Creative Thingking Skills.

Reflexivity and Modern Works of Anthropology Essay -- Ethnography Cult

Reflexivity and Modern Works of Anthropology The role of reflexivity in Anthropology has changed a great deal over time. The effects of doing ethnography on the ethnographer was not considered an important mode of inquiry in the past. While inevitably, going to far distant lands and living with a culture so different from your own will at least cause the ethnographer to reflect on personal issues but most likely will cause profound changes in the way he or she will view the world. But in the past these changes were not important. What was necessary for the ethnographer to do in the past was to document a culture break it down structurally and quantify the observations made. The reflexive nature of his or her experiences were of little or no importance to the anthropological community. But over the years this has changed tremendously and Anthropology concerns itself more and more with the interactions between the ethnographer and his or her informants and the changes that occur in both due to the research being conducted. The sc ope of this paper will be to show this transition and also why it occurred. The role of the Anthropologist in the past has been to document other cultures in order so the colonial authorities could better know how to rule them this is apparent in Bronislaw Malinowski's essay on the Trobriand islanders. He said, "The ethnographer has in the field, according to what has just been said, the duty before him of drawing up all the rules and regularities of tribal life; all that is permanent and fixed; of giving an anatomy of their culture, of depicting the constitution of their society. But these things, though crystallized and set, are nowhere formulated. There is no written or explicitly expressed code ... ... not to say that a "scientific" documentation of the structure of the culture being studied should be forgotten about. But rather instead of being the main point of concern (as with Malinowski) it should be used to strengthen the arguments expressed by the author. Also as done with many other forms reflexivity should be able to be expressed in more abstract ways instead of just simply stating how you were effected and vice versa. But overall I think reflexivity is a good thing for Anthropological writing. In conclusion, anthropology has come long way in the past few generations, at least in the sense of the writings produced by the students of this field. But perhaps this is due to the audience who reading the works and not the anthropologists doing the research. In any case reflexivity is definitely more openly expressed in the more modern works of Anthropology.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Importance of Nick Carraway, Narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Grea

Importance of Nick Carraway, Narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby   Ã‚   In The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator, Nick Carraway, tells a story in which Jay Gatsby tries to attain happiness through wealth.   Even though the novel is titled after Gatsby, Nick analyzes the actions of others and presents the story so that the reader can comprehend the theme. Throughout the novel, Nick is the vehicle used to gather all of the pieces together to learn about Gatsby.   Nick is the only character that changes in the novel from the beginning to the end.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nick is the literary device that is employed to learn about Gatsby, which ultimately tells the theme of the story.   Throughout the novel, flashbacks are inserted, courtesy of Nick, to reveal piece by piece about the mysterious Gatsby. Nick patches the pieces of the puzzle together regarding Gatsby's past and lack of a future.  Ã‚   Nick is like the box of a puzzle; the puzzle is impossible to put together without it.   Without Nick, the reader's opinion of Gatsby would be drastically different.   The reader's opinion would be swayed by the idea that Gatsby becomes rich via bootlegging alcohol and counterfeiting bonds.   Nick persuades the observer that Gatsby is "...worth the whole damn bunch (rich class) put together"(Fitzgerald 162).   Even though Gatsby aspires to be part of the upper echelon, he, fortunately, is different from them.   Nick also analyzes Gatsby's behavior in order to provide the reader with details and a summary of the great man.   At the end of the novel, Nick comments on Gatsby's life by stating that "(Gatsby) had come a long way to this blue lawn and his dream must have seem... ...ald 172).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout the novel, Nick is instrumental as voice that tells the reader about Gatsby.   "Nick is "both within and without, never really assimilating like the rich" (Chambers 41).   Most importantly, Nick is the only character in the novel that changes.   Nick Carraway is the main character of the novel.   Without Nick, the important allegorical message would not be illustrated:   Money cannot buy love or peace of mind. Works Cited and Consulted: Berman, Ronald. "The Great Gatsby" and Fitzgerald's World of Ideas. Tuscaloosa: U of Alabama P, 1997. Chambers, John B. The Novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald. London: Macmillan/New York: St Martin's P, 1989.   deKoster, Katie, ed. Readings on "The Great Gatsby." San Diego: Greenhaven, 1998.   Fitzgerald, F. Scott.   The Great Gatsby.   Simon and Schuster Inc., New York: 1991.