Human Resources Management Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Human Resources Management Report - Essay Example In 2005 a survey was conducted and it was reported by the management of the company that they had over 275 million hits on their website. The motto of the company is that they are trying to create a better life for many people through their products and the business idea of the company also supports the vision of the company and that is it provides furniture at reasonable and affordable prices so that many people can afford their products. The objectives it to make profit and as well as serve the society and the environment. The turnover for IKEA in 2007 was $26.1 billion. The objective of this paper is to show that how can IKEA increase its market share in the industry through the effective use of human resource management. As we know that this paper is about how to increase market share of IKEA in the furniture industry through effective human resources management. IKEA is a privately owned, international based company. It is an international retail store that sells flat pack furniture, bathrooms, accessories and kitchens all over the world. The company when it started off, it used to sell flat pack designed furniture at reasonable prices but now it is considered to be the world's largest manufacturer of furniture. IKEA has somewhere around 278 outlets in 36 countries, most of the outlets are based in Europe, United States, Australia, Canada and Asia. ... IKEA has somewhere around 278 outlets in 36 countries, most of the outlets are based in Europe, United States, Australia, Canada and Asia. In 2006 IKEA had opened around 16 more stores and by 2008 they plan to at least 30 more outlets or relocate them. The company has somewhere around 12,000 products available on their website, which is very near to their products range. In 2005 a survey was conducted and it was reported by the management of the company that they had over 275 million hits on their website. The motto of the company is that they are trying to create a better life for people all over the world through their products and the business idea of the company also supports the vision of the company and that is it provides furniture at reasonable and affordable prices so that many people can afford their products. The turnover for IKEA in 2007 was $26.1 billion. Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in Almhult, Sweden by in 1943, when he only a boy of 17 years. The word IKEA is the abbreviation of Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. The company first started out by selling all kinds of products like pens, runners, wallets, picture frames, watches, jewelry, furniture and stockings etc. anything that Kamprad thought that would sell at a reduced but reasonable price. It is the business idea of IKEA that they offer a wide range of home furnishing products at process which are affordable by many people. (IKEA) In 1948 IKEA introduced furniture in their range. The furniture was produced by the local manufactures in the forest closest to Ingvar Kamprad's home. The response to the furniture was a positive one. Kamprad first started to sell the products out of his home and then he used mail order to deliver the products to his

Role of Banks in the Economic Development Essay Example for Free

Role of Banks in the Economic Development Essay Bank: An organization, usually a corporation, chartered by a state or federal government, which does most or all of the following: receives demand deposits and time deposits, honors instruments drawn on them, and pays interest on them; discounts notes, makes loans, and invests in securities; collects checks,drafts, and notes; certifies depositors checks; and issues drafts and cashiers checks. Features of Bank: †¢ Money Dealing †¢ Acceptance of Deposit †¢ Grant of loan and advances †¢ Payment and withdrawal of deposits †¢ Transfer of funds †¢ Portfolio management †¢ Foreign Exchange dealing Banking; In general terms, the business activity of accepting and safeguarding money owned by other individuals and entity and then lending out this money in order to earn a profit. Banking is a business of accepting deposits and lending money. It is carried out by financial intermediaries, which performs the functions of safeguarding deposits and providing loans to the public. In other words, Banking means accepting for the purpose of lending or investment of deposits of money from public repayable on demand and can be withdrawn by checks, draft order and so on. Banking Company: Any company, which transacts the business of banking Banking System: Banking System is a principal mechanism through which the money supply of the country is created and controlled. The banking system enables us to understand Commercial Banks, Secondary Banks, Central Banks, Merchant Bank or Accepting Houses and Discount Houses but to exclude the Saving Banks and Investment and other intermediaries. Number and types of Banks: The number of banks in all now stands at 49 in Bangladesh. Out of the 49 banks, four are Nationalized Commercial Banks (NCBs), 28 local private commercial banks, 12 foreign banks and the rest five are Development Financial Institutions (DFIs). Sonali Bank is the largest among the NCBs while Pubali is leading in the private ones. Among the 12 foreign banks, Standard Chartered has become the largest in the country. Besides the scheduled banks, Samabai (Cooperative) Bank, Ansar-VDP Bank, Karmasansthan (Employment) Bank and Grameen bank are functioning in the financial sector. The number of total branches of all scheduled banks is 6,038 as of June 2000. Of the branches, 39.95 per cent (2,412) are located in the urban areas and 60.05 per cent (3,626) in the rural areas. Of the branches NCBs hold 3,616, private commercial banks 1,214, foreign banks 31 and specialized banks 1,177. Bangladesh Bank (BB) regulates and supervises the activities of all banks. The BB is now carrying out a reform program to ensure quality services by the banks. Commercial Bank: A bank offering checking accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, personal and business loans, and other, similar services. Commercial banks charge fees and/or interest for many of their services, though they may pay interest on other services. A retail bank is often an individual branch of a commercial bank where one may procure these services. The main functions of commercial banks: The main functions of commercial banks are accepting deposits from the public and advancing them loans. However, besides these functions there are many other functions which these banks perform. All these functions can be divided under the following heads: 1. Accepting Deposits: The most important function of commercial banks is to accept deposits from the public. Various sections of society, according to their needs and economic condition, deposit their savings with the banks. For example, fixed and low income group people deposit their savings in small amounts from the points of view of security, income and saving promotion. On the other hand, traders and businessmen deposit their savings in the banks for the convenience of payment. 3. Over-Draft: Banks advance loans to its customer’s up-to a certain amount through over-drafts, if there are no deposits in the current account. For this banks demand a security from the customers and charge very high rate of interest. 4. Discounting of Bills of Exchange: This is the most prevalent and important method of advancing loans to the traders for short-term purposes. Under this system, banks advance loans to the traders and business firms by discounting their bills. In this way, businessmen get loans on the basis of their bills of exchange before the time of their maturity. 5. Investment of Funds: The banks invest their surplus funds in three types of securities—Government securities, other approved securities and other securities. Government securities include both, central and state governments, such as treasury bills, national savings certificate etc. Other securities include securities of state associated bodies like electricity boards, housing boards, debentures of Land Development Banks units of UTI, shares of Regional Rural banks etc. 6. Agency Functions: Banks function in the form of agents and representatives of their customers. Customers give their consent for performing such functions. The important functions of these types are as follows: 1. Banks collect checks, drafts, bills of exchange and dividends of the shares for their customers. 2. Banks make payment for their clients and at times accept the bills of exchange: of their customers for which payment is made at the fixed time. 3. Banks pay insurance premium of their customers. Besides this, they also deposit loan installments, income-tax, interest etc. as per directions. 4. Banks purchase and sell securities, shares and debentures on behalf of their customers. 5. Banks arrange to send money from one place to another for the convenience of their customers. 7. Miscellaneous Functions: Besides the functions mentioned above, banks perform many other functions of general utility which are as follows: 1. Banks make arrangement of lockers for the safe custody of valuable assets of their customers such as gold, silver, legal documents etc. 2. Banks give reference for their customers. 3. Banks collect necessary and useful statistics relating to trade and industry. 4. For facilitating foreign trade, banks undertake to sell and purchase foreign exchange. 5. Banks advise their clients relating to investment decisions as specialist 6. Bank does the under-writing of shares and debentures also. 7. Banks issue letters of credit. 8. During natural calamities, banks are highly useful in mobilizing funds and donations. 9. Banks provide loans for consumer durables like Car, Air-conditioner, and Fridge etc. Central Bank: The entity responsible for overseeing the monetary system for a nation (or group of nations). Central banks have a wide range of responsibilities, from overseeing monetary policy to implementing specific goals such as currency stability, low inflation and full employment. Central banks also generally issue currency, function as the bank of the government, regulate the credit system, oversee commercial banks, manage exchange reserves and act as a lender of last resort. Function of Central Bank: In the monetary and banking setup of a country, central bank occupies central position and perhaps, it is because of this fact that this called as the central bank. In this way, this bank works as an institution whose main objective is to control and regulate money supply keeping in view the welfare of the people. Central bank is an institution that fulfills the credit needs of banks and other credit institution, which woks as banker to the banks and the government and which work for the economic interest of the country. 1. Monopoly of note issue: Note issue primarily is the main function of a central bank in every country. These days, in all the countries where there is a central bank generally it has got the monopoly of the sole right of note issue. In the beginning this was not the function of central bank, but gradually all the central bank gas acquires this function. There are many advantages of the note issue by central banks some important ones are as follow: 1. Central bank controls the credit creating power of commercial bank. By controlling the amount of currency in circulation, the volume of credit can be controlled to quite a large extent. 2. People have more confidence in the currency issued by the control bank because it has the protection and recognition of the government. 3. In the event of monopoly of note issue of central bank, there will be uniformity in the currency system in the country. 4. The currency of the country will be flexible if the central bank of the country has the monopoly of note issue because central bank can bring about changes very early in the volume of paper money according to the needs of business, industry and messes. 5. The system of note issue has some advantages. If the central bank of the country has the monopoly of note issue, all such advantages will accrue to the government. 2. Bankers, Agent and Adviser to the Government: As banker to the government, central bank provides all those service and facilities to the government which public gets from the ordinary banks. It operates the account of the public enterprise. It mangers government departmental undertaking and government funds and where there is a need gives loan to the government. From time to time, central bank advice the government on monetary, banking and financial matters. 3. Custodian of Cash Reserve of Commercial Bank: Central bank is the bank of banks. This signifies that it has the same relationship with the commercial banks in the country that they gave with their customers. It provides security to their cash reserves, give them loan at the time of need, gives them advice on financial and economic matter and work as clearing house among various members bank. 4. Custodian of Nation’s Reserve of International: Central bank is the custodian of the foreign currency obtained from various countries. This has become an important function of central bank. These days, because with its help it can stabilize the external value of the currency. 5. Lender of The Last Resort: Central bank works as lender of the last resort for commercial banks because in the time of need it provides them financial assistance and accommodation. Whenever a commercial bank faces financial crisis, central bank as lender of the last resort comes to its rescue by advancing loans and the bank is saved from being failed. 6. Clearing House Function: All commercial bank have their accounts with the central bank. Therefore, central bank settles the mutual transactions of banks and thus saves all banks controlling each other individually for setting their individual transaction. 7. Credit Control: These days, the most important function of a central bank is to control the volume of credit for bringing about stability in the general price level and accomplishing various other socio economic objectives. The significance of this function has increased so much that for property understanding it. The central bank has acquired the rights and powers of controlling the entire banking. A central bank can adopt various quantitative and qualitative methods for credit control such as bank rate, open market operation, changes in reserve ratio selective controls, moral situation etc. Other functions Besides the 7 functions explained above, central banks perform many other functions that are as follows: 8. Collection of Data: Central banks in almost all the countries collects statistical data regularly relating to economic aspects of money, credit, foreign exchange, banking etc. from time to time, committees and commission are appointed for studying various aspects relating to the aforesaid problem. 9. Central Banking in Developing Countries: The basic problem of underdeveloped countries is the problem of lack of capital formation whose main causes are lack of saving and investment. Therefore, central bank can play an important role by promoting capital formation through mobilizing saving s and encouraging investment. Role of banks in the Economic development: There should be no anonymity as about the importance of Banking in the Economic development of a developing country like Bangladesh. Banks performs some vital role that are conducive to economic development are as follows:- 1. To create generate capital market. 2. To play effective role in the Economy by supplying capital. 3. To persuade quench, bill of exchange etc. for easy mode of exchange 4. Financing of industries. 5. Financing of Trade and Commerce and rendering services to its chants. 6. Financing of Agriculture. 7. To maintain balance of foreign trade and to check price hike in the market by controlling credit.

Forrest Gump Essay -- Movie Film Forrest Gump Essays

Forrest Gump â€Å"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.† Forrest Gump is the portrayal of a man that has been alienated from society, not because he is unintelligent or dimwitted, but rather because he is not restricted by the conventional ideals which are embedded within his culture; thus, Forrest challenges the conformities and principals that most people are accustomed to. The contrast that Robert Zemeckis, director of the film, is attempting to convey through the character of Forrest Gump is how most people are too smart for there own good; and thus, try to escape the realities and actualities of life. While other characters in the story are suppressed by society’s conflicts, Forrest remains blinded to all; hence, he is able to live in the moment, rather than evading what is real. Forrest’s unique selflessness and compelled nature to do what is right, as opposed to what is easy, are what our society incorrectly labels stupidity o r futility. Zemeckis is obviously pointing out that an individual has no control over his or her own destiny and in order to live a noble life, must accept life as it is. I think it is very appropriate that Zemeckis begins his movie with the scene in which he does. Approaching Forrest’s worn out and dirty shoes with a fluid camera shot of a feather floating on the breeze foregrounds the entire movie. It is an obvious symbol for Forrrest and the way he just casually makes his way through the worst of times without being harmed. The feather is many years old and has been through so much, yet it still remains clean and pure; exactly like Gump. Moreover, the coloring of the feather is very significant. It is white with black marks, giving off a inkling that there might be a union of bad experiences with innocence. Zemeckis challenges the viewer to examine why Gump is able to remain so pure, and at the same time surpassing the restrictions of society and its controversies. Gump is able, throughout his entire life to remain as we all are as children. To Gump, it doesn’t make sense to break a promise, or give only ninety percent. Such an irony is carried throughout the entire film. Gump, thought by most to be incapable of succeeding, does great things, and moreover; he helps those who would, in our society, be thought more likely to be helping him. The viewers, through Gump’s misunderstandings of l... ...nt feather continues to float and so will that lost innocence. Even though Forrest Gump appears as such a simpleton, he is very complex. He had a way of looking at people, incidents, history, animals, and nature in ways that no one had ever quite seen the world before. The movie is so influential because Forrest is a little of everyone, or at least a little of what everyone wishes they can be. What I took away from this movie, as does most of the audience, is that life is a mystery that, until revealed in its entirety, doesn’t make much sense. However, it is not something to be scared from or run from, but rather something to be interested in and to be accepted. The audience accepts Gump as a character, but more importantly, they accept his way of life, just like Lieutenant Dan and Jenny did. Robert Zemeckis is well known for his concoctions of pop culture references, period nostalgia, comedy, and romance that captured the hearts of the film going public. He, in ways that not many others can do, is able to convey his ideas about life in a humorous manner that lets the audience accept it. That is why the movie was so successful and why it was the recipient of such high awards.

Allen Ginsberg :: essays research papers

Allen Ginsberg started his infamous life as a revolutionary and poet of the beat generation when he began attending Colombia University. While at Colombia Ginsberg met friend and mentor Jack Kerouac whom he would later join to form the School of Disembodied Poets. During his education at Colombia University Ginsberg started his highly political and opinionated poems, which would become his signature for the beat generation. The poetry he produced would become the basis of protest and due to this and his strong political presence Ginsberg earned himself a spot on the FBI’s dangerous list.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ginsberg’s poems were that of a revolutionary and showed his dislikes of American Society and the Injustices throughout America. Ginsberg’s most recognized and an earliest poem was Howl and other poems written in 1956 (Ostriker 4). Howl being one of Ginsberg’s most infamous poems has been translated to the T. In Alicia Ostriker’s criticism of Howl she relates Ginsberg’s â€Å"Meloch† in part two of Howl to many of the evils that befall this nation today (5). Ostriker states, â€Å"Ginsberg’s mind forged Meloch likewise as oppressiveness of a modern industrial and military state, excluded from reason. Ginsberg’s Meloch is also the modern version of Mammon, the capitalism of unobtainable dollars†¦ running money†¦ electricity and banks. (7).† Howl records in veiled fashion, the humiliation and crippling of a population of immigrants to shores, which promised, hope and produced despair (3). In th e poem Howl’s (1956) first lines, â€Å" I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked dragging themselves through the Negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix. (Ginsberg, Howl)† Ginsberg is speaking of the destruction that drugs have caused in American Society and America’s addiction to drugs. Ginsberg also describes the members of his community: Who distributed supercommunist pamphlets in Union Square and undressing while the sirens of Los Alomos wailed them down, and wailed down Wall, and the Staten Island Ferry also wailed, who broke down crying in white gymnasiums naked and trembling before the machinery of other skeletons, Who bit detectives in the neck and shrieked with delight in police cars for committing no crime but their own wild cooking pederasty and intoxication (Ginsberg, Howl)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Levi Asher’s review of Howl he describes these lines as Ginsberg’s fellow travelers, the crazy, lonely members of his community of misunderstood poet artists, unpublished novelists, psychotics, radicals, pranksters, sexual deviants, and junkies (Asher 1).

Murdering of Innocents

Chapter Two begins with the introduction of Thomas Gradgrind, â€Å"a man of realitiesSfacts and calculations. † He always introduces himself as Mr. Gradgrind and spends his time in constant cogitation. He is the Speaker, previously unnamed and he now takes it as his duty to educate the children (â€Å"little pitchers before him†). He identifies a student, called Girl number twenty, who replies that her name is Sissy Jupe. Gradgrind corrects her that her name is Cecilia regardless of what her father calls her. Jupe's father is involved in a horse-riding circus and this is not respectable†¹in Gradgrind's opinion. He advises Cecilia to refer to her father as a â€Å"farrier† (the person who shoes a horse) or perhaps, a â€Å"veterinary surgeon. † The lesson continues with Gradgrind's command: â€Å"Give me your definition of a horse. † While Girl number twenty knows what a horse is, she is unable to define one. Another child in the class, a boy called Bitzer, easily defines the animal by means of biological classifications (quadruped, graminivorous, etc. ). After this, the third gentleman steps forward. He is a government officer as well as a famous boxer and he is known for his alert belligerence. His job is to remove â€Å"fancy† and â€Å"imagination† from the minds of the children. They learn that it is nonsense to decorate a room with representations of horses because horses do not walk up and down the sides of rooms in reality. Sissy Jupe is a slow learner, among the group of stragglers who admit that they would dare to carpet a room with representations of flowers because she is â€Å"fond† of them. Sissy is taught that she must not â€Å"fancy† and that she is â€Å"to be in all things regulated and governed by fact. † After the gentleman finishes his speech, the schoolteacher, Mr. M'Choakumchild, begins his instruction. He has been trained in a schoolteacher-factory and has been conditioned to be dry, inflexible and uninspiring†¹but full of hard facts. His primary job in these preparatory lessons is to find â€Å"Fancy† in the minds of the children and eradicate it. Analysis: â€Å"Murdering the Innocents† replaces the suspense of the previous chapter by establishing names and identities for the previously anonymous social roles that were presented earlier. As is to be expected from Dickens, the names of the characters are emblematic of their personality; usually, Dickens' haracters can be described as innocent, villainous or unaware of the moral dilemmas of the story that surrounds them. The characters' names are almost always an immediate indication of where the character fits on Dickens' moral spectrum. Thomas Gradgrind, â€Å"a man of realities† is a hard educator who grinds his students through a factory-like process, hoping to produce graduates (grads). Additionally, Gradgrind is a â€Å"doubting Thomas†Ã¢â‚¬ ¹much like the Biblical apostle who resisted belief in the resurrection, this Thomas urges that students depend exclusively upon the evidence in sight. He dismisses faith, fancy, belief, emotion and trust at once. Mr. M'Choakumchild is plainly villainous and he resembles the sort of fantastic ogres he'd prefer students took no stock in. Cecilia (Sissy) Jupe is unlike the other characters in almost every possible way. While there are other female students, she is the only female identified thus far in the novel. Unlike the boy â€Å"Bitzer† (who has the name of a horse), Sissy has a nickname and at least in this chapter, she is the lone embodiment of â€Å"fancy† at the same time that she is the single female presented as a contrast to the row of hardened mathematical men. Her character is, of course, a romanticized figure. Despite the political critique of Dickens' simplification and over-idealization of females and children (and girls, especially), Cecilia's character does have some depth that allows her development later in the novel. Her last name, â€Å"Jupe,† comes from the French word for â€Å"skirts† and her first name, Cecilia, represents the sainted patroness of music. Especially as she is a member of a traveling circus, we can expect Cecilia to represent â€Å"Art† and â€Å"Fancy† in contrast to M'Choakumchild, one of 141 schoolmasters who â€Å"had been lately turned at the same time, in the same factory, on the same principles, like so many pianoforte legs. Besides the allusion to St. Cecilia, Dickens alludes to Morgiana, a character in the classic story † Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves†Ã¢â‚¬ ¹one of the Arabian Nights tales. The reader should always note the irony in Dickens' allusions: while Dickens' characters argue against fanciful literature, Dickens' is relying upon it to compose his story. In this case, Dickens' simile presents M'Choakumchild's search for â€Å"the robber Fancy† in terms of Morgiana's searching for (and hiding of) the thieves in â€Å"Ali Baba. The metaphor of the children as eager â€Å"vessels† is made explicit when the â€Å"vessels† before M'Choakumchild become the â€Å"jars† before Morgiana. And the motif of robbers and villains is finalized when we remember that Ali Baba and the forty thieves were more hero than criminal. M'Choakumchild is labeled â€Å"gentleman† but his intention to seek and destroy â€Å"the robber Fancy lurking within† makes â€Å"the robber Fancy† (childish imagination) a more noble personification. Instead, the teachers are the ones who seem criminal. The most important allusion of the chapter is the title: â€Å"Murdering the Innocents. † The reader should expect Dickens work to be full of Biblical and Christian allusions as he is writing to a largely sentimental popular audience. While the reference may be more inaccessible, erudite or unrecognizable for modern young readers, Dickens' 1854 British audience immediately saw the reference to King Herod. Soon after the birth of Christ, Herod fears for his throne and has all of the male babies in Bethlehem executed (in the hopes of murdering the Christ child). In literary circles, the phrase â€Å"murder of the innocents† is exclusively used to describe this Biblical story. While the students are not literally danger (M'Choakumchild), their childish imagination has been targeted for annihilation. This completes the archetype of youth vs. age, and foreshadows that whoever is being targeted and singled out (Cecilia Jupe and her imagination) will ultimately escape this tyrant, but other innocents will be less fortunate (Bitzer). But we might expect as much from the same author who had written A Christmas Carol a decade before. The major theme of the chapter can be easily inferred from Dickens' description of Cecilia in the classroom. The â€Å"horses† and carpeted â€Å"flowers† are all double symbols of her femininity and youth, but most important, Cecilia represents Art in opposition to mechanization. Dickens is not arguing against education, science or progress. He is arguing against a mode of factory-style, mind-numbing, grad-grinding production that takes the fun out of life. But even worse than the loss of â€Å"fun† or â€Å"leisure,† Dickens is arguing that art requires an inquisitive and desiring mind. Especially as Dickens is known to have read and enjoyed Arabian Nights in his youth, we can see a bit of autobiography in his tender treatment of Cecilia†¹perhaps if he had come under a Mr. M'Choakumchild, he would have proved incapable of becoming an artist. The life of modern mankind is presented very negatively and ignorantly by Matthew Arnold in the poem Dover Beach by the fact that religious faith evanesce with the Industrial Revolution. Arnold creates the image of the dark future for the people without unwavering faith or religion. Modern men are bastardised with the thought that new the Industrial Revolution will give them advantage over nature. This thought of gaining superiority made humans arrogant by which this appearance is broken by the reality of nature’s dominance. People also seem ignorant with the wishful thought. These pebbles which ‘the waves draw back, and fling’ are completely powerless and are thrown around by the waves that move these â€Å"pebbles† at ease. Arnold uses pebbles as a metaphor for humans to show the inferiority in comparison to nature. The ignorance of humans is emphasised by the historical allusion to Peloponnesian War. In the dark, soldiers could not differentiate between their own army and the opponents; and so they killed their own soldiers. This is used by the poet to show the stupidity of modern man throwing away the religion which was everything to people before the Industrial Revolution; something to believe and rely on when people prayed. However, this old belief is thrown away and Arnold sees it as a very naive decision. The Industrial Revolution gave the source of arrogance and confidence which took place among the Western countries. This revolution was revolutionary itself; humans could mass produce, with improved quality, and at ease. These machineries became the limbs of human society. What came with the industrial revolution was the idea of realism. People could nearly produce goods to near-original standards, all thanks to improved technologies and science, and hence began to doubt the existence of God and supernatural beings. Realism contrasts the theology which is all about belief without questioning that God exists; and people believed it before the times of the machineries. It gave people hope and modesty under the mighty existence of God. However both hope and modesty disappeared with the Industrial Revolution which Arnold laments for. Bitterness is suggested when Arnold exclaims ‘Ah, love’ to show that in this changing world, one can only rely on the partner, and be trustful and true. Sarcasm is used to describe the modern world as a ‘land of dreams’ as there is no more hope for the world, as there is no more faith. As the poem proceeds, the transition of mood is noticeable as the grief of the loss of faith extends to a sense of resignation towards the end and having a sarcastic, sour approach to the ssue. The ‘tremulous cadence slow’ helps to convey the gradual process of the wane of doctrine which adds to the idea that the change of people’s lives is almost unnoticeable. This gradual process hurts Arnold because people are caught unaware of the changes taking place and so do not think it is particularly wrong and sinful. Arnold presents his sorrow with the historical al lusion to Sophocles who, was a Greek playwright, had heard the sound of waves crashing as the ‘eternal note of sadness’. The ‘sadness’ of the mankind turning away from religious beliefs is a parallel to the ‘melancholy†¦ withdrawing roar†¦retreating’ of the waves. Before the development of science and technology, people had truly believed in the religion and thought that they were in total control of god. The metaphor ‘Sea of Faith’ which presents the religious faith people have, used to be ‘full and round Earth’s shore’ but now is ‘retreating†¦ down the vast edges’ which shows the decreasing religious beliefs. Arnold points out that, without faith, humans are ‘naked’ and have no protection and defence which reflects the vulnerability of man and their lives. With carefully chosen words, Arnold presents the uncertainty of the future of humans. The new industrialised world seems â€Å"so various, so beautiful, so new† but it is again a mere appearance. The reality is that this mechanic, stiff world will have â€Å"neither joy, nor love, nor light† because this mechanics cannot feel love, hence no joy, and no vision as humans need love and the warm characteristics of humanity. It is thus deducible that the future will have no â€Å"certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain† which are the essentialities of humans. Humans can only survive the harsh world when everybody believes and trusts each other, and this will be broken with the introduction of industrialisation. This change of the world will bring â€Å"confused alarms on struggle and flight† which creates an imagery of a â€Å"darkling plain†; a dark vision for humans. Furthermore, the â€Å"turbid† ebb and flow shows the cloudy, uncertain future of ‘ebb and flow’ which is the repetitive cycles of nature. Can humans only survive when they make harmony with the nature, and to go against the natural cycles can only mean extinction of humans. The ‘cliffs’ of England ‘gleams’ and ‘glimmers’; gleams and glimmers have a sense of shakiness, precariousness and unknown which echoes the uncertain modern man. Also the alliteration of ‘g’ and ‘m’ creates a stuttering tone which adds to the idea of uncertainty. This imagery portrays the withering away of cliffs as a decline of religious beliefs and whatsmore, deterioration of the Earth itself as humans exploit resources out of the Earth which the modern development enabled men to do. The flaws of modernism and realism are expressed in this poem. The flow of the poem is cut off by uses of caesura which is a parallel to the imperfect modern world. Arnold gives a hint that modernization of the world will have some flaws which will inevitably bring loss of faith and result in loss of equilibrium. In science, there is no hope; everything is measured out and exact. Hence in the modern world reality there can be no hope as it looks vain. Again, Arnold sympathises with the loss of hope in reality. In a different sense, the calm, naturalistic description of a beach at night in the first stanza is the appearance which contrasts to the reality that is sad, unhopeful, ‘retreating’ and ‘tremulous’. Human beings are inferior over nature and the spiritual beliefs as to an extent that people cannot control anything. The abandonment of the doctrine of religion with the help of the Industrial Revolution is only a vain act against the power overwhelming nature. Religion and faith should remain in humanity and ignoring it should result in the uncertainty and vulnerability of modern man.

Short Grammar Activities for ESL Classes

Short Grammar Activities for ESL Classes These easy to implement and quick to execute grammar exercises are perfect to use in the ESL classroom when youre short on time but need to get your lesson across.   Jumbled Sentences Purpose: Word Order / Review Choose a number of sentences from the last few chapters (pages) that you have been working on in class. Make sure to choose a nice mixture including adverbs of frequency, time signifiers, adjectives, and adverbs, as well as multiple clauses for more advanced classes. Type (or write on the board) jumbled versions of the sentences and ask the students to reassemble them. Variation:  If you are focusing on specific grammar points, have the students explain why certain words are placed in certain places in a sentence. Example: If you are working on adverbs of frequency, ask students why often is placed as it is in the following negative sentence: He doesnt often go to the cinema. Finishing the Sentence Purpose: Tense Review Ask students to take a piece of paper out for a dictation. Ask students to finish the sentences that you begin. Students should complete the sentence you begin in a logical manner. Its best if you use connecting words to show cause and effect, conditional sentences are also a good idea. Examples: I like watching television because...Despite the cold weather,...If I were you,...I wish he... Listening for Mistakes Purpose: Improving Students Listening Abilities/Review Make up a story on the spot (or read something you have at hand). Tell students that they will hear a few grammatical errors during the story. Ask them to raise their hand when they hear an error made and correct the errors. Intentionally introduce errors into the story, but read the story as if the errors were perfectly correct. Variation:  Have students write down the mistakes you make and check the mistakes as a class when finished. Question Tag Interviews Purpose: Focus on Auxiliary Verbs Ask students to pair up with another student they feel they know reasonably well. Ask each student to prepare a set of ten different questions using question tags about that person based on what they know about him/her. Make the exercise more challenging by asking that each question is in a different tense (or that five tenses are used, etc.). Ask students to respond with short answers only. Examples: Youre married, arent you? - Yes, I am.You came to school yesterday, didnt you? - Yes, I did.You havent been to Paris, have you? - No, I havent.

Please Write 1 Page About (two Ways To Belong In America Bharati

Please Write 1 Page About (two Ways To Belong In America Bharati Please Write 1 Page About (two Ways To Belong In America Bharati Mukherjee – Book Report/Review Example Bharati Mukherjee illustrates how the adaptation of the American culture impacts an individual’s identity in the essay "Two Ways to Belong in America." The essay revolves around Mukherjee and her sister who grew up in Calcutta, India; held same values as taught and nurtured be same family, held similar goals and were almost identical in physical appearance and attitude. With their stay in America, their attitudes, lifestyles, future plans and views on a myriad of topics are totally different. Mukherjee adopted the American culture and she says "America spoke to me-I married it" (455) while the sister Mira argues "some kind of irrational attachment to India that I dont to America (455). According to Mukherjee, Mira is a pleasant well educated woman that has deliberately not adopted the American culture, despite the posed requirements on immigrants. She states that the sister is "professionally generous and creative, socially courteous and gracious,   (455) but, "thats as far as her Americanization can go. She is here to maintain an identity, not to transform it. (455).The importance of the essay is that, despite the fact that Mira felt to the American dream, she remained true to what she was and never lost the Indian background. The author presents struggles faced by immigrants in their quest for an American dream. The tone of the essay is reflective and sympathetic while the style adopted is anecdote. Mukherjee reflects her life and compares it to the sister’s through a persuasive voice intended to convince the people to vote against the decision by the congress. The author also adopts pathos to achieve the emotional appeal in the essay. From the essay, we learn that we can vehemently disagree over an issue but through a civilized discussion we learn to respect others opinion even if we don’t accept them. I have also appreciated the impact of community’s speech on social connections, culture, language, dialects, ethnicity, politic s and lifestyles. Bharati Mukherjee Crossings Culture - Boston, New York City - Houghton Mifflin Compnay - 2008 - Vol. 7

Learning About Starfish

Learning About Starfish Starfish are fascinating creatures. With their   bumpy, five-armed bodies, its easy to see how they got their  name, but did you know that starfish arent really fish at all? Scientists dont call these ocean-dwelling  creatures starfish. They call them sea stars because they arent fish. They dont have gills, scales, or backbones like fish do. Instead, starfish are invertebrate  marine organisms tbhat  are part of the family known as  echinoderms. One feature that all echinoderms have in common is that their body parts are arranged symmetrically around a center point. For starfish, those body  parts are their arms. Each arm has suckers that help starfish, who dont swim, move along and capture prey. Most of the 2,000 species of starfish have the five arms that inspired their name, but some have as many as 40 arms! Starfish can regrow an arm if they lose one. Thats because their vital organs are located in their arms. In fact, as long as an arm has part of the starfishs central disc, it can regenerate an entire starfish. At the end of each of a starfishs five to forty arms is  an eye that helps them locate food. Starfish eat things like clams, snails, and small fish. Their stomachs are located on the underside of their central body part. Did you know that a starfishs stomach can come out of its body to envelop its prey? Another striking fact about starfish is that they dont have brains or blood! Instead of blood, they have a water vascular system that helps them breathe, move, and expel waste. Instead of a brain, they have a complex system of light - and temperature-sensitive nerves. Starfish  live only in saltwater habitats but are found in all Earths oceans. They vary in sized based on the species but are usually between 4 and 11 inches in diameter and can weigh up to 11 pounds. The lifespan of a starfish also varies by species, but many live up to 35 years. They can be found in a variety of colors such as brown, red, purple, yellow, or pink. If you are fortunate enough to find a starfish in a  tide pool or the ocean, you can safely pick it  up. Just be very careful not to harm the starfish and make sure to return it to its home. Learning About Starfish To learn more about sea stars, try some of these excellent books: Starfish by Edith Thacher Hurd is a Lets-Read-and-Find-Out About story about starfish  and how they live in the deep blue sea. One Shining Starfish by Lori Flying Fish is a colorful counting book featuring starfish and other ocean-dwelling creatures.   Star of the Sea: A Day in the Life of a Starfish by  Janet Halfmann is a beautifully-illustrated book that weaves facts about starfish into a delightfully captivating tale. Seashells, Crabs and Sea Stars: Take-Along Guide by Christiane Kump Tibbitts introduces a variety of marine life, including starfish. It includes tips for identifying several marine-dwelling creatures and features fun activities to try. Spiny Sea Star: A Tale of Seeing Stars by Suzanne Tate provides easily-accessible facts about starfish with adorable illustrations. Sea Star Wishes: Poems from the Coast by Eric Ode is a collection of  ocean-themed poems, including those about starfish. Memorize a starfish poem or two as you study sea stars. Resources and Activities for Learning About Starfish Spend some time researching and learning about starfish using your library, the Internet, or local resources. Try some of these ideas: Learn more about how starfish see with the eyes at the end of each of their arms.Research starfish anatomy. Learn how they eat, breathe, and move.Visit an aquarium or a fish store to see live starfish up close.If you live near a beach, look for starfish in the tide pools.Make a diorama featuring starfish, their habitat, and their prey.Create an ABC book about starfish.Do some research to find out what creatures other than starfish are members of the  echinoderm family.Learn about the dangers,  such as predators and pollution, that starfish face. Starfish, or sea stars, are enchanting creatures who play an important role in their environment. Have fun learning more about them! Updated by Kris Bales

Choosing one perspective, either interpretivist or positivist, explain Essay

Choosing one perspective, either interpretivist or positivist, explain and critically evaluate the impact of adopting this pe - Essay Example Methodology refers to the specific methods that can be used to understand the world. Both epistemology and methodology are closely related, the former refers to the philosophy of how we come to know the world and the latter involves the practice (Trochim). Positivism assumes an objective world hence it often searches for facts conceived in terms of specified correlations and associations among variables (Gephart). Positivism is a position that holds that the goal of knowledge is simply to describe the phenomena that we experience (Trochim). The purpose of science according to positivists is to observe and measure. According to positivists, science is the method to get truth, to understand the world, to predict and control the world. The universe is deterministic and they are governed by the rules of cause and effect. This could be understood by using the scientific method. In positivism, deductive method is used for postulating theories. Based on the results, theory is revised to bet ter predict reality (Trochim). The positivists emphasised on empiricism -- the idea that observation and measurement was the core of the scientific endeavour (Trochim). They believed that natural laws could be discerned through direct manipulation and observation. The positivists believe that a phenomenon could be observed and described without interfering with it. They also believe that the observations are repeatable. This is possible by manipulation of reality with variations in only a single independent variable so as to identify regularities in, and to form relationships between, some of the constituent elements of the social world (Chapter Three: Research Methodology). Predictions can also be made on the basis of previous observations and interrelationships between variables. The six tenets of positivism are the following (Positivism) Tenet Meaning Naturalism The principles of the natural sciences should be used for social science. Phenomenalism Only observable phenomena provi de valid information. Nominalism Words of scientific value have fixed and single meanings. The existence of a word does not imply the existence of what it describes. Atomism Things can be studied by reducing them to their smallest parts (and the whole is the sum of the parts). Scientific laws The goal of science is to create generalised laws (which are useful for such as prediction). Facts and values Facts are to sought. Values have no meaning for science. Â  Positivism has a long historical tradition. Often, knowledge not based on positivist thought is not accepted as correct. Most of the empirical studies are based on positivist approach. Positivism was a great success in physical and natural sciences. Positivist tradition can be traced to ancient Greek thinkers Plato and Aristotle. After dark periods in European history, the renaissance came in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Well known positivists were Bacon, Descartes, Mill, Durkheim, Russell and Popper. Positivism gives emphasis on experiments. Experiments help the researcher to identify the relationship between variables. By using quantitative analytical techniques, generalisations can also be made that reflect real life situation. Surveys help researcher to collect data at one point of time. Information about various practices or views can be collected through questionnaires and interviews. To draw inferences

Hospital Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hospital Scenario - Essay Example This happened wrong-patient-wrong-medication happened because I did not ensure the Five Rights, which are the right medication, the right dose, the right patient, the right route and the right time. I did not check the patient’s identity and double-check her medications. I became too complacent and did not verify the patient’s name, date of birth, allergies, a unit record number and ID arm-band with the date on the patient’s medication chart (Crisp & Taylor, 2005). I also failed to inform the patient of the name of the medication that the doctor gave her. I was too preoccupied at the right time she should take the medicine that I lost track of the right medication for the patient. I also did not ensure the right procedure of preparing a medication. I missed comparing the label of the medication with the prescription on the medication chart when getting the Daonil tablets. I even forgot to wash my hands prior to the preparation of the medication. In addition, I sh ould have checked Miss Irwin’s medication chart as soon as the patient requested to have her Daonil tablets because patients are usually familiar with their medication (Galbraith, Bullock & Manias, 2003). Although at this point, I should have checked with the doctor because the patient is asking for a different medication from the one on the medication chart.  To understand the situation better, I need to know how to manage and prevent mistakes in giving the right medication for the right patient at the right time.... In addition, I should have checked Miss Irwin's medication chart as soon as the patient requested to have her Daonil tablets because patients are usually familiar with their medication (Galbraith, Bullock & Manias, 2003). Although at this point, I should have checked with the doctor because the patient is asking for a different medication from the one on the medication chart. What information do I need in order to understand the situation better Why is this information relevant and to whom (collect and analyse relevant data) To understand the situation better, I need to know how to manage and prevent mistakes in giving the right medication for the right patient at the right time. First, the five rights is the most important way to prevent mistakes in giving medication since medication errors tend to occur when a nurse pays little attention to the five rights (Dennison, 2005; O'Shea, 1999). Right patient: Always check the patient's identity, such as the patient's name, date of birth, allergies, unit record number and ID arm-band comparing this with the data on the patient's medication chart (Galbraith, Bullock & Manias, 2003; Ignatavicius, 2000). Right drug: Double-check the label and the right dosage of medication and any particular order in the medication; compare this with the data on the medication chart. Inform the patient of the name of the medication and should the doctor fail to explain why this is given to her, the attending nurse should be ready and able to give details as to why this is given. This gives a patient a chance to prevent or inform the nurse about a possible medication error. A nurse should also have enough information on medications, such as the effect, adverse reactions

PRSP as an Indicator of Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

PRSP as an Indicator of Change - Essay Example The PRSP approach has five principles--country driven, results-oriented, comprehensive, partnership-oriented, and long-term perspectives. The intention of these papers was to give developing countries the opportunity to become involved in their own poverty reduction strategies. As of 2002, an overview of the papers indicated that more monitoring was needed for the studies. Instead of being nationally derived, content across countries showed little variation, with external advice from outside sources and, in this respect, was not very different from the previous SAPs. The report called for more engagement between government and civil society. In addition, it was noted that countries were concerned primarily with stabilisation and only secondary with growth ("Overview"). Critics note that the similarities between SAPs and PRSPs show that the banks, and the countries that fund them, are still overly involved in the policy making process. It is difficult to determine the success or failure of PRSP as an instrument of significant change within the International Financial Institutions without exploring the various areas covered by PRSP as well as defining poverty as it affects the world. The Eldis Poverty Resource Guide supports analyses of poverty and related implications of social and economic policies within Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where large pockets of poverty exist. The focus of this essay will be on these three areas plus Eastern Europe to determine whether any significant change has been noted in the fight against poverty. Some areas explored by Eldis are urban poverty, rural poverty, human resources and education, as well as second generational poverty. Poverty, however, cannot be measured primarily in income or expenditure terms. It has multiple dimensions and different levels, as follows ("World Bank"): Monetary poverty - The World Bank regularly estimates poverty based on the $1 a day poverty line, converted to local currency at latest exchange rates. Income and consumption are examples of monetary indicators of poverty. Illiteracy - Lack of education as a precursor to poverty is one of the dimensions to be considered in a study of poverty. Skilled workers are more apt to be hired than unskilled workers, who have trouble finding secure employment. In a society more and more dependent on information technology, lack of education is very much a part of the poverty overview. Social exclusion - Those excluded from development and forced to live on the margins of society. When a country has been excluded for a long period of time, it is difficult to change attitudes which have led to that exclusion. Absolute poverty - This can be defined as the number of people living below a certain income level, based on a specific poverty line. Relative poverty - It measures the extent to which a household's financial resources fall below an average income threshold for the economy. Objective - Indicates people's access to different kinds of resources. Subjective - Indicates standard of living people actually enjoy. Each facet of poverty needs a different approach and, depending on type of poverty, each phase of financial assistance for individuals falls under different or multiple

The Association between War Crime and Nori Films Essay

The Association between War Crime and Nori Films - Essay Example The relations between war and the noir phenomenon As pointed out, the world wars shattered the dreams of millions of human beings and led them towards the drastic effects of the same. Besides, national identity became under crisis and unity beyond borders became a myth. During this time, the Noir film genre began to portray the postwar problems. Basically, Noir film dealt with the problems faced by individuals in the postwar society. This is utmost important because the unity during wartime underwent rapid change and transformed into the visible moral problems in the postwar society. This socio-political background deeply influenced the close relation between war and Noir phenomenon. Within this scenario, the film directors related to Noir film genre began to provide ample importance to the anxieties of the mass. One can easily identify the fact that material wealth cannot reduce human anxiety, but close examination of the grass-root level reasons of the problem can. Most of the Noir films deal with the disillusionment in human life, especially related to wars. ... Paul Meehan makes clear that, â€Å"As the film begins, Teddy and fellow marshal Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are riding the ferry out to Shutter Island, a barren rock 11 miles out to sea from Boston that houses a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane† (274). In the film, the protagonist and the inmates face helplessness, which is an important problem portrayed in Noir film genre. One can easily identify that both these problems are closely related to the problems faced the people in a postwar society. So, the Noir film genre deals with the crises related war in a postwar society. Noir Films reflect emotional trauma faced by war hero As the Noir films are related to the crises faced by the human beings, emotional trauma is an important element that differentiates the same from other genres. On the other side, heroism related to war is an important element of war films. One can see that the Noir films that deal with the theme of war are symbolic of emotional trauma faced by the heroes. To be specific, the disillusionment faced by war heroes after wartime, especially unemployment and alienation, are inculcated in Noir films. From a different angle of view, wars force soldiers and other officers to face emotional trauma and eventually leads them to emotional problems. When a war hero returns to his locality, he is forced to face a different situation. Within this context, war is not a reality, but a past experience. Gradually, the war hero feels that his heroism is limited to the context of warfront, not to the mainstream society. Besides, he cannot expose his heroism in the society and detachment from the role of a reputed soldier/officer to a civilian leads to emotional problems. For instance, the protagonist

Select one of the locations of the assigned multinational corporation( Essay

Select one of the locations of the assigned multinational corporation( NOKIA) and discuss it in terms of the form of its interna - Essay Example The main aim of the company is to maintain the position in the world in spite of huge competition from both Google as well as Microsoft. They have a strong brand with which they may have great future plans. The company is offering excellent service and comprehensible software to the billions of customers along with operators in the world (Nokia, n.d.). The new strategies have been developed by the company which are related to the transformation of operational structure along with leadership in order to facilitate the company to accelerate in competitive environment. Their main strategies include developing a new wining ecosystem of mobile they have intended to make a strategic partnership along with Microsoft. They have developed the strategy to make investment in the disruptive technologies of subsequent generations. To make a good focus on result, accountability as well as speed, they build an effective organisational structure along with efficient leadership team (Nokia Connecting People, 2011). The company is concerned with developing, manufacturing as well as designing of communication devices. They offer internet service in order to facilitate various facilities such as video, music, and games to the users. The company operates in three reportable segments which include ‘Devices and Services’, ‘Nokia Siemens Networks’ and ‘NAVTEQ’. Devices and Services consist of Multimedia, Enterprise Solutions and Mobile Phones. Under NAVTEQ, it provides services and digital maps related information along with location based content (Docstoc, 2010). In 1985, Nokia first started its operation in Australia with a view to build the telecommunication network of the country. Nokia Mobile phones were first used by Australian customers in the year 1993. In 2000, Nokia Internet Communications began its operations with the purpose of providing products for internet security along with solutions for ventures. In Australia, the company has ga ined wonderful success with its developed brand and became the market leader with its mobile technology, network infrastructure as well as services and products of the enterprise. The company also achieved ‘National Best Employer’ of â€Å"Best Employer to Work for in Australia Awards† in 2002. The new technologies with its Future Lab facility are also developed in Sydney. The Future Lab is a mutual project between Nokia and Optus which has been designed in order to develop mobile technologies, applications and services and then delivery to the market. Besides these Nokia Australia participates enthusiastically in the community with a view of supporting numerous charities. They are also involved in participating in Land Care; as well as Coast Care initiatives in Australia (Nokia Connecting People, 2011). In Australia, Nokia Australia Pty Limited is recognised as a ‘foreign owned private company’. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Nokia Corporati ons. It’s headquarter is located in Pyrmont in New South Wales. Nokia Australia Pty Limited offers various products as well as services. The mobile devices which include phones along with accessories are sold and marketed to both domestic as well as

The Association between War Crime and Nori Films Essay

The Association between War Crime and Nori Films - Essay Example The relations between war and the noir phenomenon As pointed out, the world wars shattered the dreams of millions of human beings and led them towards the drastic effects of the same. Besides, national identity became under crisis and unity beyond borders became a myth. During this time, the Noir film genre began to portray the postwar problems. Basically, Noir film dealt with the problems faced by individuals in the postwar society. This is utmost important because the unity during wartime underwent rapid change and transformed into the visible moral problems in the postwar society. This socio-political background deeply influenced the close relation between war and Noir phenomenon. Within this scenario, the film directors related to Noir film genre began to provide ample importance to the anxieties of the mass. One can easily identify the fact that material wealth cannot reduce human anxiety, but close examination of the grass-root level reasons of the problem can. Most of the Noir films deal with the disillusionment in human life, especially related to wars. ... Paul Meehan makes clear that, â€Å"As the film begins, Teddy and fellow marshal Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are riding the ferry out to Shutter Island, a barren rock 11 miles out to sea from Boston that houses a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane† (274). In the film, the protagonist and the inmates face helplessness, which is an important problem portrayed in Noir film genre. One can easily identify that both these problems are closely related to the problems faced the people in a postwar society. So, the Noir film genre deals with the crises related war in a postwar society. Noir Films reflect emotional trauma faced by war hero As the Noir films are related to the crises faced by the human beings, emotional trauma is an important element that differentiates the same from other genres. On the other side, heroism related to war is an important element of war films. One can see that the Noir films that deal with the theme of war are symbolic of emotional trauma faced by the heroes. To be specific, the disillusionment faced by war heroes after wartime, especially unemployment and alienation, are inculcated in Noir films. From a different angle of view, wars force soldiers and other officers to face emotional trauma and eventually leads them to emotional problems. When a war hero returns to his locality, he is forced to face a different situation. Within this context, war is not a reality, but a past experience. Gradually, the war hero feels that his heroism is limited to the context of warfront, not to the mainstream society. Besides, he cannot expose his heroism in the society and detachment from the role of a reputed soldier/officer to a civilian leads to emotional problems. For instance, the protagonist

The positive and negative effects of the media on society Term Paper

The positive and negative effects of the media on society - Term Paper Example The media exists to educate people about the world around them. It is a tool of intelligence and education, and people that implement media into their daily routine find themselves gaining much insight about events and situations taking place all throughout the world. One of the greatest, positive perks of the media is how quickly the information and news are able to spread. If a terrorist attack against the United States were to be thwarted in another country, most Americans would know about it within minutes (Robinson 15). If a child were kidnapped in a small California town, the rest of California would be informed of it in the timeliest manner. Media has allowed people to be well-informed without letting time or distance get in the way of obtaining important knowledge. While media may be beneficial in keeping people filled in with up-to-date information, there are sides to media that are not as useful. Media has the ability to influence the way that people think and it has the ha bit of providing viewers, especially impressionable children and teenagers, with facts and images that are misleading and sometimes dangerous. People are presented with images of beauty and lifestyles that appear desirable, though they are really damaging.

Spiritual Diversity Essay Example for Free

Spiritual Diversity Essay Abstract ]When meeting individuals and their families with various religious and spiritual backgrounds, it is important for nurses and health care providers to be comfortable and competent in providing religious and spiritual based care. To provide holistic care, understanding the religion or spiritual background of the patient and how it impacts their health care is an important factor for their health care planning. Three religions are studied within this paper; The Baha’i Faith, Buddhism, and Jehovahs Witness, and are compared with the Christian Faith. Key points were researched, which include getting a more in-depth understanding on the various perspectives on healing, the critical components of healing, and grasping a concept of the relationship between their beliefs and that of their health care provider. The Baha’i Faith includes prayer and meditation with the combination of modern medicine, in which can be lead to healing. A peaceful environment should be provided for patients and their families to promote prayer. Buddhism individuals also practice prayer and meditation, and follow a more restrictive diet. Keeping these key points in mind when caring for a patient of the Buddhist religion can ensure a more holistic approach. Jehovahs Witness can be known to refuse specific treatments. Offering alternatives can be possible. Jehovahs Witness patients wish to have a high level of respect, without being judged of their decisions. When comparing the four religions, it is found they all have the commonality of prayer, having a peaceful healing environment, and to be respected by their caregivers. Diversity in Health Care Health care providers meet and interact with many people of different ages, race, and religious and spiritual backgrounds. Being a provider to someone with a different background than his or her own can often be a difficult task. It is often thought that caring for an individual is solely based on the physical aspect, but to provide true, holistic care to an individual, all needs must be taken into consideration. Health care is typically defined as being multidimensional, and requires a degree of depth and balance between the elements of physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual health, and the dynamics between each and all of these influence that of another (Black, Furney, Graf, Nolte, 2010, p. 244). Spirituality plays a large role on the road of healing, and a health care provider must be able to understand and incorporate their individualized needs into their care. The religious and spiritual components of three different religions will be further discussed within this paper; grasping a more in-depth understanding of the spiritual perspective on healing, critical components on healing, and the relationship between their beliefs and that of their health care provider. The Baha’i Faith, Buddhism, and Jehovah’s Witness will be studied, and compared to the Christian Faith. Education and competence is a necessity when it comes to cultural and religious aspects in the health care field. To fully grasp and understand patients’ needs while they are in a hospital setting, can be challenging. Asking open-ended questions to an individual and their family can help the physicians and nurses further individualize patient centered care. For many cultures, religion plays a large role in their day-to-day lives, and when faced with illness, continuation of their practices needs to be incorporated to assist with the healing process. Another important aspect of spiritual diversity is to fully understand and be conscious of one’s own spiritual and cultural beliefs. This can allow for a lack of bias in the care that is provided, and to assure care is truly patient centered. For members of the Baha’i faith, there is only one God, and He is believed to be the Creator of the universe. The soul of human beings is essentially the identity of each individual, and the relationship between God grows and develops through prayer, moral self-discipline, and gives a meaning to life (The Baha’i Faith, 2012). Like many religions, life is seen as a joyous, eternal process that involves the discovery and growth of spirituality. Prayer and meditation are practiced to progress spiritually, and combined with medicine; it is believed that sickness can be healed. In the health care setting, prayer and meditation is a large part in the Baha’i faith, as well as symbols or pictures of the son of the Prophet Fou nder of the Baha’i Faith, ‘Abdu I-Baha’, which should all be treated with respect. No special prayer room is needed for an individual of this religion, but assisting in giving a peaceful environment will provide a suitable environment for the patient and their family. There are no dietary restrictions for a patient of the Baha’i faith, with an exception of the Fasting period, which is March 20-21st, when members aged 15-70 do not eat or drink between dawn and sunset (The Baha’i Faith, 2012). This fasting period can have an exception to those who are ill, but that is dependent on the individual. When providing care to an individual of the Baha’i faith, it is essential to understand and respect the views of the patient, and to allow time for prayer and meditation. Being the fourth largest religion in the world, Buddhism is a religion that many nurses and health care providers may come across more often. Like Christianity, Buddhism follows the principle of reciprocity, or the â€Å"‘Golden Rule’: To do onto others as you would wish them to do onto you† (Robinson, 2009). In the Buddhist religion, Buddha offered advice to members of the religion to assist them in healing quickly and thoroughly. His recommendatio ns consisted of eating selective foods, to consume foods at the proper intervals, keep an optimistic outlook, be kind, considerate, and cooperative to those who are taking care of them, and stay in touch with the physicians and nurses. Beliefs are, following these recommendations will yield the best results from treatments (â€Å"Buddhism, Medicine, and Health† n.d). Respect between the health care providers and the patient and their family is held very high with the Buddhist religion. Treatments recommended by the physician typically have no restrictions, including blood transfusions. Most Buddhists are vegetarian or vegan, so incorporating a special diet into their care will help build a level of confidence between the patient and the health care team. Prayer and meditation also is a part of the Buddhist practice, and Buddha figurines or pictures may be brought in by family members to help look over the patient. A Christian-based religious denomination that consists of approximately 6.9 million people makes up the religious movement, Jehovah’s Witness. Members of this religious group differ from the Christian religion in many ways, such as with the refusal of many health treatments or procedures such as blood transfusions (â€Å"Jehovah’s Witness†, 2009). When taking care of a patient who is a Jehovah’s Witness, the nurse needs to keep in mind the restrictions the patient may have regarding any blood transfusions or blood products. Having knowledge of and providing options for alternatives instead of a blood product will be necessary and useful for the patient when it comes to making decisions related to this issue. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in faith healing, but will pray and reach out to their faith beliefs to guide them in the healing process. As a health care worker, having the Chaplain visit the patient and their family can help the patient feel more comfortable and gives them an additional outlet to pray and reconcile their religious beliefs during difficult times. When taking care of a patient who is a Jehovah’s Witness, the most important concept is respect and trust. Patients are trusting in modern medicine, the physicians, and nurses to help them heal, and deserve the right to refuse treatment without judgment of their decision. Receiving care from an individual who is of different religious or cultural background does not make a difference in the response of treatment, and a tr usting relationship should not be difficult to build as long as the caregiver acknowledges, respects, and does all they can to provide appropriate religious care to the patient. People who are of the Christian religion are acceptable to most medical treatments, and while there are typically no restrictions per their religion, refusal of a treatment or procedure is most often due to personal preference. While in a hospital setting, offering to have a Chaplain visit the patient on a weekly or as needed basis can create a sense of connection with the Lord, and grant some ease and comfort to the patient. Christianity places a lot of their healing in the hands of God, and believes in the power of prayer. When comparing Buddhism, Jehovah’s Witness, and the Baha’i Faith to Christianity, there are some evident similarities between them all. Each share the appreciation for the health care provider to respect and incorporate their needs and beliefs, even when their provider has a different belief or background than the patients. All four of these religions share a commonality of a higher being in which they worship and put their faith in, and who they send their prayers in times of illness or hardship. Respect is the most prevalent common factor of these religions that individuals wish from their health care providers, and is also one of the simplest ways the provider can give back to their patient. If a health care provider is unfamiliar with a religion or the way they practice, a great way to show the patient you are truly interested in the patient centered care is to actively learn their rituals or beliefs, and accommodate it into their care. Taking care of patients of a different culture or religion can often create a feeling of distress between the nurse and patient, and â€Å"misunderstandings occur because of the difference in backgrounds, experiences, mannerisms, assumptions, and expectations† (McNutt, n.d, para. 2). It is important for the health care provider to ask questions to the patient or family members in regards to diet, spiritual needs, and any special accommodations that could be incorporated into patient care. Doing so can help the patient heal in a more comfortable environment, gain trust and respect of their providers, and yield better patient outcomes and compliance. References Black, J., Furney, S., Graf, H., Nolte, A. (2010). Philosophical foundations of health education. Retrieved from Google ebookstore http://books.google.com/books?hl=enlr=id=KL_pBVZftwICoi=fndpg=PA243dq=spiritual+and+holistic+careots=sIGdQb4TzTsig=fa0-Z1gaIuc1camBWlGw3UmRobQ#v=onepageq=spiritual%20and%20holistic%20caref=false â€Å"Buddhism, Medicine, and Health†. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.blia.org/english/publications/booklet/pages/37.htm Jehovah’s Witness at a glance. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/witnesses/ataglance/glance.shtml McNutt, B. (n.d). Patients from different cultures. Retrieved from http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/patients-from-different-cultures-pplejf.html Robinson, B. (2009). Buddhism’s core beliefs. Retrieved from http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism1.htm â€Å"The Baha’i Faith†. Prayer, Meditation, and Fasting. (2012). Retrieved from http://info.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-7.html

Detection of Impurities in Nd Doped Phosphate Laser Glass

Detection of Impurities in Nd Doped Phosphate Laser Glass Detection of the impurities in Nd doped phosphate laser glass by x-ray fluorescence technique Atul Kumar*, M. P. Kamath, A. S. Joshi, P. A. Naik, P. D. Gupta Laser Plasma Division A. K. Singh, M. K. Tiwari Indus Synchrotrons Utilization Division Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452013, M.P., India *Email: [emailprotected] Introduction: The advances in laser glass composition and manufacturing have enabled the development of third generation high energy high power (HEHP) lasers like the National Ignition facility (NIF)1 that are being used as drivers for fusion energy studies. These laser glasses are phosphate based because of their low intensity dependent refractive index n2 and have a compositions equivalent to LHG-8 of M/s Hoya, Japan or LG-770 glass of M/s Schott Ltd2. The manufacturing and handling procedures introduce many unwanted impurities in these glasses, leading to lower laser induced damage threshold and lower fluorescence life time. The x-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a powerful technique3 which can identify the elemental composition of such glasses in a non-destructive manner. In the XRF process, the specimen is excited with high energy photons, which can cause individual atoms to ionize. When these atoms undergo relaxation, the electrons relocate from a high energy orbital to a lower one. During this pro cess, fluorescence radiation is emitted. The emitted radiation has lower energy compared to the incident source and it depends on the specific electron transitions of the individual elements. Thus, the resulting x-ray fluorescence spectrum bears the signature of the elements present in the specimen. In the present study, we have performed XRF analysis on different laser glass samples and raw materials used for the fabrication of these glasses namely aluminum metaphosphate (AMP), barium metaphosphate (BMP) and potassium metaphosphate (KMP). The advantage of the this study is that it can indicate to the presence of most of the impurities like transition metal impurities (of interest to us) in one measurement, if their concentrations are of the order of few ppm (by weight) or more. Our studies on the glasses and the raw materials indicate that the raw materials are pure to the desired levels but the glasses fabricated using the raw materials show many impurities. These impurities are expected to enter during handling of the raw materials and from the glass-cullet during fabrication process. This study will help in improving the quality of the glass by repeatedly doing the XRF analysis after every stage, so that faulty handling can be identified. Method of fabrication of the phosphate laser glass: A two arm HEHP Nd:phosphate glass laser chain is operational at Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore4. A joint collaborative project is undertaken with Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CGCRI), Kolkata to develop the process technology for the fabrication of the phosphate laser glasses equivalent to LHG-8 glass of M/s Hoya, to overcome the existing embargo. The phosphate laser glass is fabricated as a two step process. In the first step, the sintered raw material (AMP, BMP and KMP and Nd2O3 in appropriate fractions) is melted in a silica crucible. The glass-cullet produced as a result of melting in the silica crucible is cast. The cast glass is powdered and loaded in a bottom pouring platinum crucible for optical quality, and chemical and physical homogenization. During these steps in the fabrication, the impurities may be added to the glass at several stages, namely: a) mixing of the raw materials, b) impurities coming from the silica crucible, c) impurities coming from the glass-cullet cast, d) impurities coming from the platinum crucible, e) impurities coming during annealing and fine annealing of the glass. Six samples of laser glass (named LG-1 to LG-6) were fabricated at CGCRI for the studies. XRF analysis was done on different fabricated samples of laser glasses (LG-1 to LG-6) and raw material samples made from AMP, BMP and KMP, to identify the elemental impurities in laser glass and raw materials. In addition to this, the sensitivity of the XRF technique was also ascertained using small amounts of platinum deliberately added to the glass samples. Experiments and Methodology XRF analysis was performed at the BL-16 beamline of Indus-2 synchrotron facility5 on fabricated glass samples and the raw materials after the first step of melting in silica crucible. The glasses had platinum oxide dissolved in them because of its solubility in the laser glass. Platinum comes into the glass as an unavoidable impurity during homogenization of the glass in the platinum crucible. Metallic platinum absorbs at the lasing wavelength (1054 nm) and reduces the laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) of the laser glass. Oxygen bubbling is done in platinum crucible to reduce the OH bond impurity in the hygroscopic phosphate glass. The oxygen bubbling also oxidizes the platinum metal to its oxide, thereby reducing the metallic platinum in the glass. The other impurities occur because of the poor quality of the silica crucible and/or cast of glass-cullet in addition to poor handling during the mixing of the raw materials in the first step of melting. The glasses with different amounts of platinum oxide were: LG-1(5 ppm Pt), LG-2 (10 ppm Pt), LG-3(25 ppm Pt), LG-4 (5 ppm Pt with O2 bubbling), LG-5 (10 ppm Pt with O2 bubbling) and LG-6 (25 ppm Pt with O2 bubbling). Varying platinum oxide content helped in ascertaining the sensitivity of the technique to Pt impurity. In the experiment, an x-ray beam was incident on sample for excitation and scattered spectrum was recorded by the detector shown in Fig. 1. The samples were excited using 14 keV and 17 keV synchrotron x-rays, selected by a double-crystal monochromator system. The analyses have been done on all the raw powder materials (for qualitative analysis) and on the pallets (for quantitative analysis). 15 mm dia. pallets were formed using a semi-automatic pallet machine. One such pallet is shown in sample holder in Fig. 1. Figure 1: Raw specimens analyzed by XRF measurements The captured data was analyzed using the PyMCA software 6. The calibration of the measured fluorescence spectrum was achieved by selecting the ‘K’ lines of various elements present in the laser glass samples, and in the raw material samples. The method of spectrum calibration however needs a proper comparison with a standard doped sample as a confirmatory test to account for the variation in the actual composition of the fabricated laser glass samples and that measured with XRF. In the present study, XRF method was used to qualitatively see the presence of different impurities, strictly from the yes/no point of view, rather than the full quantitative estimation. Results and discussion: Figure 2 shows a typical spectrum of the fabricated LG-1 glasses and the raw material BMP. The impurities found in the fabricated glasses are listed in Table 1. The silicon impurity occurs because of melting in silica crucible. Sr impurity seen in BMP as Ba and Sr are chemically close to each other. For the same reason, Rb impurity was found in KMP. However, there no impurities were seen in AMP. The transition metal impurities however may come either from during handling of raw materials or through the casts of glass-cullet. This will be ascertained in future by casting the glass in casts made of different materials like graphite, aluminum, and stainless steel. The studies of impurities after the casting of the glass will give idea about its origin. In addition to this, the XRF technique was found to be sensitive to ~ 5 ppm of Pt impurities. Figure 2: a) Typical spectrum of a) LG-1 fabricated glass, and b) Barium meta-phosphate specimen (raw material) Table 1: List of the impurities present in the glass samples Summary: We have presented XRF analysis on different laser glasses (LG-1 to LG-6) and raw materials (AMP, BMP and KMP) used for the fabrication of such glasses. The impurities in these glasses may be entering during handling or coming from the silica crucible, or the cast for the glass-cullet. The XRF method was also found to be sensitive up to ~ 3 ppm of platinum, as was observed in studies of LG-4 glass. In contrast, the raw materials were found to be free from transition element impurities. Further studies to improve the quality of glass are required to be undertaken. Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the contribution of Dr. R. Sen, Dr. Annapurna and other colleagues of the glass division, CGCRI Kolkata for preparation of the phosphate laser glass samples for the XRF studies. References: L. L. Seaver, LLNL report (925) 423 (Oct. 2010) J. H. Campbell and T. I. Suratwala, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 318, 2638 (2000). M. Mantler and M. Schreiner, X-Ray Spectrum. 29, 3 (2000) A.S. Joshi et al, EPJ Web of Conferences 59, 08001 (2013). M. K. Tiwari, P. Gupta, A. K. Sinha, S. R. Kane, A. K. Singh, S. R. Garg, C. K. Garg, G. S. Lodha and S. K. Deb, J. Synchrotron Rad. 20, 386 (2013). V.A. Solà ©, E. Papillon, M. Cotte, Ph. Walter, J. Susini, Spectrochimica Acta B 62, 63 (2007)

A Comparison of My Two Speeches -- Apeech Evaluation Essays

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Comparing my self-introduction speech (my first speech), to my persuasive speech (my last speech) was interesting. They were completely different topics but with a slight improvement in speaking ability. I increased my ability to maintain eye contact while I reduced the amount of nervous body language. I saw improvements in my speech preparation and structure, as well as in the delivery of the speech.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First I am going to talk about the difference in eye contact and nervous body language between the first speech and the last speech. In my first speech my face was flushed a cherry red, I was shaking, and every time I would try to make eye contact I would lose all train of thought. In my last speech I was not nearly as nervous, you could tell by the color of my face. I was not ...

What it is like to be young and a teenager!

From when you turn from twelve to thirteen you have become a teenager; you have rights and responsibilities now!! At the age of a teenager you might think the whole world is in front of you, which it is, but there are big demands. When I became one I thought wow, I am a teenager, but now after being one for 3 and a bit years I am starting to realise that it isn't so great after all. I have heard that your teenage years are supposed to be some of the best years of your life, is that so? At the age of thirteen I have left primary school and have now faced the big girls and boys at high school. Two years passed and the work rate increased. In year nine the first of many challenges has started, your Key Stage 3 SAT's, at this time you think its ages until I sit in this same sports hall and do your real GCSE's which for some people, will be the start of a completely new chapter in the life of a teenager. So far in being a teenager all that has happened is a lot of work, but there are some privileges of being a teenager at the age of sixteen you have the right to go out and buy a packet of cigarettes legally, you are also able to have sex and even have and raise a baby, but it is not till you are eighteen that you are allowed to have a credit card, or buy alcohol legally. Are these good privileges? Or not? Just before you take the GCSE tests you have to decide what you want to do. The decision is your own and the correct one needs to be made, the pressures are now starting to become apparent and it can be a stressful time for some that feel that they have to perform well. There are others who are thinking if only I had listened that little bit or a lot extra in class instead of messing around or talking with friends, and of course there are the people who go into the hall and think I have nothing to lose I don't need many passes, because what I want to be you don't need grades and all I can do is my best. The pressure at this stage are not just on the pupils, the teachers may sometimes be as nervous, and they may be thinking did I teach the write things and did we revise the correct thing which will come up. These are all things to do with school, but you do usually spend 32 hours and 55 minutes in the place. At these ages peer pressure can become a big part of someone's life the things that stick in your head could be â€Å"Everyone's doing it†, â€Å"Its only one†, â€Å"Your such a loser†, â€Å"Chicken† and no one at this age wants to be left out and on there own. Is this really what being a teenager is like? So maybe being young isn't as good as it sounds!!

Eli Whitney and Interchangable Parts

U. S. History–Presentation for 10/25/11 on â€Å"Eli Whitney and interchangeable parts† In the late 1700s, in addition to inventing the cotton gin, Eli Whitney also came up with the idea for interchangeable parts. This was the pre-manufacturing of machinery pieces that could be quickly assembled to make a functioning piece of equipment, such as a gun. Before Whitney, each gun had to be handcrafted, and each one was different in its assembly.This meant that it took a long time for them to be made or repaired. When Congress voted for a war with France in 1797, Whitney saw an opportunity to market his idea because he knew a lot of guns would be needed to fight the war. Whitney obtained a federal grant from the government in 1798 to build 10,000 muskets for the army in 2 years, which was a ridiculous proposal for the time period.He applied the idea of interchangeable parts to the production of firearms and created a machine that could make exact copies of individual compone nts of guns. These could then be assembled faster and more efficiently, thus saving the government time and money. Although it took him eight years to complete the project instead of two, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams among others were both impressed with Whitney’s invention when he came to the Washington area to defend it.News of the success of interchangeable parts spread quickly, and by the War of 1812, the leading firearms manufactures in America were using the system to produce weapons at an alarming rate. By the 1950s, firearms manufactures around the globe had adopted interchangeable parts thanks to America’s success. Whitney’s breakthrough also affected and helped to develop other industrial activities. Cars, sewing machines, clocks, and typewriters were all being assembled with interchangeable parts. This also would lead to the rise of the assembly line.

Reading of the modernists involved such a process of disturbance Essay

‘Modernist writers disturbed their readers by adopting complex and difficult new forms and styles’. To what extent has your reading of the modernists involved such a process of disturbance? Modernist literature flaunts difficult, often aggressive or disruptive, forms and styles; it frequently challenges traditional ‘realistic’ style and is characterised by a rejection of 19th century traditions. Literary modernism focuses on breaking away from rules and conventions, searching for new perspectives and points of view, experimenting in form and style. It breaks up and disturbs the settled state of literature and emphasises a re-structuring of literature and the experience of reality it represents. Although art always attempts to ‘imitate’ or represent reality, what changed was the understanding of what constitutes reality, and how that reality could best be represented. Modernist literature is marked by a break with the sequential, developmental, cause-and-effect presentation of the ‘reality’ of realist fiction, towards a presentation of experience as layered, allusive, and discontinuous: using, to these ends, fragmentation and juxtaposition, motif, symbol, allusion. From time to time there occurs some revolution, or sudden mutation of form and content in literature. Then, some way of writing which has been practiced for a generation or more, is found by a few people to be out of date, and no longer to respond to contemporary modes of thought, feeling and speech†¦tradition has been flouted, and chaos has come.1 This process of disturbance can be seen in the experimentation in form in order to present differently the structure, the connections, and the experience of life. The tightening of form puts an emphasis on cohesion, interrelatedness and depth in the structure of the novel. This is accomplished in part through the use of various devices such as symbolism, narrative perspectives, shifts and overlays in time and place and perspective. Woolf uses these methods to explore what lies outside the specification of the real. Woolf draws on an interior and symbolic landscape: the world is moved ‘inside’, structured symbolically and metaphorically, as opposed to the realist representations of the exterior world as a physical and historical, site of experience. The painter Jacques Raverat wrote in a correspondence to Woolf: The problem with writing is that it is essentially linear; it is almost impossible, in a sequential narrative, to express the way one’s mind responds to an idea, a word or an experience, where, like a pebble being thrown in to a pond, splashes in the outer air are accompanied under the surface by waves that follow one another into dark and forgotten corners2 Woolf felt it was precisely the task of the writer to go beyond a linear representation of reality in order to show how people think and dream. Rather than take her characters from point A to point B, Woolf gives the impression of simultaneous connections: a form patterned like waves in a pond. She reveals what is important about her characters by exploring their minds and the thoughts of those surrounding them. Such explorations lead to complex connections between people, between past and present, and between interior and exterior experience. Woolf establishes these connections through metaphors and imagery, and structures the novel using alternating images of beauty and despair, exhilaration and melancholy. These juxtapositions suggest both the impulse towards life and the impulse towards death, which makes the process of reading disconcerting and recondite. Woolf dispensed with conventional beginnings and endings, and the traditional structure of events in time, for example, Mrs Dalloway tells about one day’s experiences for two characters whose lives are not connected with each other, except by the slightest coincidence at the end. Woolf uses perceived time interwoven with clock time to create a simultaneous experience of past and present. The scene is London after the war, but also Bourton thirty years ago. In this commingling of time, the past exists on its own and in its relations to the present. Time is moved into the interior as well: it becomes psychological time, time as an innerly experienced or symbolic time, or time as it accommodates a symbolic rather than a chronological reality. Examining the intersection of time and timelessness, Woolf creates a new and disturbing novelistic structure in Mrs. Dalloway wherein her prose has blurred the distinction between dream and reality, between the past and present. An authentic human being functions in this manner, simultaneously flowing from the conscious to the unconscious, from the fantastic to the real, and from memory to the moment. Throughout Mrs Dalloway the focus continually shifts from the external world to the characters consciousness and how they perceive it. This has the disquieting effect of back grounding observable reality so the details emerge more slowly than when they are presented by an omniscient narrator. However, the London setting is established immediately, the streets and landmarks are real, this verisimilitude of setting seems to give the characters a solidity which is juxtaposed with the fluidity of the depiction of the characters thought processes. Mrs Dalloway supposes that ‘somehow in the streets of London, on the ebb and flow of things, here, there, she survived’3 The fact that the narrative takes place on a specific date is disclosed more gradually than the setting is, for example, Clarissa thinks ‘For it was the middle of June. The war was over’4 and then the narrator tells us it is Wednesday on page fifteen. Later still Peter Walsh’s thoughts reveal that it is 19235. There are also references to Gold cup day at Ascot so by naming a specific year Woolf turns what could have been a fictional fact in to a real one. Woolf implies a concept of time as a series of life conjunctures rather than impersonal. These are established by the presence of sensory phenomena in different contexts such as the sound of Big Ben, the common perceptions among unrelated observers, for instance, the prime ministers car. Also, by convergences at occasions of group activities as in Clarissa’s party. Time seems relativistic in the sense it depends on systems of measurement. The clocks divide the day into quarter hours. The loud voice of Big Ben is associated with the masculine. It is described as ‘a young man, strong, indifferent, inconsiderate, were swinging dumb-bells this way and that’6. It marks the movements of the two doctors, Peter Walsh and Sir Richard as they move through their day, making pronouncements. St Margaret’s on the other hand is the feminine. It follows Big Ben’s booming ‘leaden circles’ with ‘ring after ring of sound’ that ‘glides into the heart’ like a hostess, ‘like Clarissa herself’7 thinks Peter Walsh as he hears St Margaret’s peeling sound. Furthermore, The clocks divide time into a pattern, Shredding and slicing, dividing and subdividing, the clocks of Harley Street nibbled at the June day, counselled submission, upheld authority, and pointed out in chorus the supreme advantages of a sense of proportion†¦8 The ringing of the clock bells radiates from the centre of the city. The sound creates a design in the texture of the narrative, slicing through the characters subjective experience of time and contrasting this with objective, exterior time. In To The Lighthouse many of the characters are preoccupied with time. Mr. Ramsay worries about how his philosophical work will stand the test of time, just as Lily expects her painting to be rolled up and forgotten. The very style of the novel brings time into question as Woolf infuses even a brief moment in an everyday event, such as reading a story to a child, with an infinitude of thought and memory 9 Meanwhile days, tides, and seasons keep up their rhythms regardless of human events, while historical time brings cataclysmic change in the form of war. In addition, time brings loss as well as renewal. Mrs. Ramsay dies, while the children she has left behind continue to grow. In To the Lighthouse Woolf depicts two contrasting kinds of time, the linear and regular plodding of clock or objective time, and the reiterative, non-linear time of human experience. Her depiction of subjective time, layered and complex was, critics have observed, not unlike that of the philosopher Henri Bergson, though there is no evidence of any direct influence. It is in the ‘Time Passes’ section of the novel that Woolf’s interest in the contrasting forms of temporality is most evident. The narrative style of this part is very unusual and is unlike that of Parts I and III. Its effort to narrate from what Woolf called an ‘eyeless’ point of view is strange, it is as if she is thinking of the philosophical problem, the problem with which Mr Ramsay grapples in the novel, of how to think of the world when there is no one there. This is translated into an artistic problem, of how to narrate the passage of time when there is no one there to witness it. The scale of events in ‘Time Passes’ is much grander than the scale in ‘The Window,’ thus throughout this section Woolf employs a different method and uses parenthetical asides to impart important news. Instead of focusing on the thoughts of her characters, she keeps a tight focus on the house itself. Dramatic events such as Mrs. Ramsay’s death could not have been confronted in the style of ‘The Window.’ as the subtle, everyday quality of the interactions between events and thoughts would have been disturbed by the introduction of the tumultuous news imparted here. The ‘airs’ in this section of the novel are like time’s fingers. The constant, regular beam of the Lighthouse is closely allied with time, too, like an all-seeing and immortal eye. Puffs of air ‘detached from the body of the wind’10 pull at the loose wallpaper and the things in the house, the light from the Lighthouse guiding them through the house. Natural time is seen as objective and inhuman, it is destructive and violent in the sense that it has no concern for human purposes. Woolf’s solution to this problem is to invent a poetic style that, ironically, relies heavily upon the devices of personification and animism. The shadows of the trees ‘made obeisance on the wall’, ‘loveliness and stillness clasped hands in the bedroom’, ‘light bent to its own image in adoration on the bedroom wall’ and ‘in the heat of the summer the wind sent its spies about the house again’11. It can be questioned whether these devices are successful. It is as if Woolf wishes to fill the emptiness of inhuman nature with primitive animistic entities and malign agencies. The solution can seem oddly childlike, personification and animism being, as Freud pointed out, typical of infantile thought12. The problem illustrates, perhaps, the difficulty of avoiding images of human agency even when they a re least necessary. In Mrs Dalloway during sections of ‘mind-time’, Woolf sets various time streams loose at once, either in the mind of one character, who retreats into internal soliloquy, collapsing past, present and future, or in the simultaneous perspectives given by several characters recording a single moment. The result of either technique is that plot time stands still.13 Time is not entirely subjective and elastic in this text, however. The novel does take place within a prescribed temporal context marked ominously by the booming of Big Ben: ‘First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air.’ Throughout the novel this chronology is inescapable, cutting through the characters thoughts of the past to bring them back to the present moment Auerbach points out that To the Lighthouse marks the end of the Western tradition of realism. He argues that the novel employs a new fashion of temporality. It is the gap between the brief span of time occupied by exterior events, about two days in ‘The Window’, and the rich, dreamlike realm of consciousness. The exterior events actually lost the hegemony over subjectivity14. The novel proves the insignificance of exterior events by holding to minor, unimpressive things like stockings, while keeping in minimum the descriptions of such great events as death and marriage. To the Lighthouse is thus a disturbing turning point in literature because it discarded any claim to the organic completeness of exterior events and the chronological order. To The lighthouse employs a non-linearity and thus counteracts narrative’s usual form of depicting events in a continuous succession. Synchronicity, evident in the coexistence of multiple perspectives at the same temporal moment, disturbs the narrative’s attempt to render the story world as events in succession. And elision, evident in the stories within the story whose endings are invariably left dangling and incomplete, dissolves the narrative’s attempt to achieve completion. Together, these discordant methods undermine the conventional unfolding of narrative. Woolf’s novel employs these techniques of disruption in order to portray narrative continuity as an inescapable yet unattainable illusion. Plot is generated by the inner lives of the characters. Psychological effects are achieved through the use of imagery, symbol, and metaphor. Character unfolds by means of the ebb and flow of personal impressions, feelings, and thoughts. Thus, the inner lives of human beings and the ordinary events in their lives are made to seem extraordinary. These complex and new methods that attempt to depict the chaotic interior life appear more jumbled and perplexing than the classical realist novel and so seem disturbing. However, Woolf is attempting to create a realistic account of the inner processes of the individuals mind and an expression of the continuous flow of sense perceptions, thoughts and feelings. Woolf also employs the symbolic apprehension and comprehension of reality as a structural approach to experience. It marked a turning away from writing by observation to transforming fact into a symbol of inner experience. In her diary Woolf wrote What interests me in the last stage was the freedom and boldness with which my imagination picked up, used and tossed aside all the images, symbols which I had prepared. I am sure this is the right way of using them-not in set pieces†¦but simply as images, never making them work out; only suggest 15 To The Lighthouse assumes a structure similar to that found in the fictional scene of the painting. In a letter Woolf acknowledges the structure and its unifying symbol as enacted at the end. ‘I meant nothing by The Lighthouse. One has to have a central line down the middle of the book to hold the design together.’16 In To The Lighthouse the Lighthouse has a prominent but fluid symbolic place in the novel. It does not seem to be the key to some hidden allegory since it does not stand for just one thing, each character that contemplates the Lighthouse gives it a special meaning, its significance in the novel evolves as the sum of different parts. For the teenaged James, the Lighthouse is a stark symbol of masculinity, a phallic symbol. For Mrs. Ramsay, the Lighthouse is a watching eye sweeping through her thoughts with a regular rhythm. To Woolf, the Lighthouse seems to serve as an anchor, a unifying image that ties together the layers of time and thought she explores. Like the clock striking the hours in Mrs. Dalloway, images of the Lighthouse act as the ‘bolts of iron’17 holding the different strands of the novel together. The focus of the planned excursion is not named until page eight and from then onwards the Lighthouse always appears with a capital letter. It is conventional to capitalize words referring to abstractions, particularly in philosophical writing. This feature has the effect of elevating the significance of the place, as if ‘Lighthouse’ were an abstract concept like ‘Truth’ or ‘Death.’ The Lighthouse makes its first appearance in the text in very lyrical terms. The domestic metaphors used to describe the scene, which are perhaps Mrs. Ramsay’s associations; the island is in a ‘plateful of blue water,’ and the dunes are arranged in ‘pleats’18. The first influence of the lighthouse is the description of James’s excitement ‘The wonder to which he had looked forward, for years and years’19 The lighthouse already seems to have gained a greater significance than its mere physical existence. It is an object of desire to James. However, his reaction to Mrs Ramsey’s promise shows that there is a separation between his dream of happiness (going to the lighthouse) and his dull, everyday experience of life. Prosaically, the lighthouse is a real thing, yet James has made it into an unattainable dream, which he does not expect to come true. James seems to be in a crisis because there is a prospect that his ideal world and real world will become the same and he will go to the lighthouse. Therefore, the wondrous aura of the lighthouse is attached to mundane things. James endows a picture of a refrigerator with a ‘heavenly bliss. It was filled with joy’20 this implies that fantasies bring relief from the dullness of everyday life, as long as there is the prospect that they will come true. However, James is one of ‘that great clan’21 who live for the future but if future ideals ‘cloud’ the view of reality then there is an implicit suggestion that achieving one’s desire presents a danger in that there would be nothing left to live for. Conversely, people must have some hope of achieving their ideal, or life would become futile. Woolf’s symbol of the lighthouse expresses this paradoxical idea in that it represents both an idealised fantasy while also being a real lighthouse. It becomes a trigger, provoking the reader to think about the human tendency to live for a future fantasy, together with all the paradoxical emotions Woolf conveys as associated with that tendency. James looked at the Lighthouse. He could see the white-washed rocks; the tower, stark and straight; he could see that it was barred with black and white; he could see windows in it; he could even see washing spread on the rocks to dry. So that was the Lighthouse, was it? No, the other was also the Lighthouse. For nothing was simply one thing. The other Lighthouse was true too22 James compares the real and the ideal and decides that the Lighthouse can be both. He provides a useful key for deciphering the symbol of the Lighthouse, ‘for nothing was simply one thing’23. The Lighthouse is the object of striving, some mystical, distant entity with an all-seeing eye. At the same time it is the embodiment of isolation and sadness, linked with James’s desolate image of himself and his father as lonely and apart from other people The fact that the Lighthouse is a frequent subject for artists adds to its symbolic import. The tightening of form puts an emphasis on cohesion, interrelatedness and depth in the structure, Woolf engages both the subject of art, Lily Briscoe’s painting, for example and the aim of philosophy, in Mr. Ramsay’s work. ‘The Lighthouse was then a silvery, misty-looking tower with a yellow eye, that opened suddenly, and softly in the evening.’24 Mrs. Ramsay incorporates the Lighthouse’s regularly appearing light into the pattern of her thoughts. She recognizes that she is doing this, that she is making the things she sees part of herself, as if the Lighthouse was an eye looking at her. The light strokes also serve to highlight certain cadences in her thought, heightening their meaning by repetition The parallels developing in this section between Lily’s actions and reflections and the impending trip to the Lighthouse suggest that Lily’s revelation, her moment of clarity and ‘stability,’ is her own version of the Lighthouse, the thing toward which she has been striving 25. Woolf builds upon the same metaphors and imagery through repetition and association to give them symbolic value of their own. There are repetitions of key images: water, waves, and sea; webs, ties, and threads; and trees through the novels. In Mrs Dalloway words are used in very certain terms in relation to life. They are used repeatedly throughout the rest of the novel, and built upon as metaphors until they stand alone to symbolize life. The sense of being absorbed in the process of action is inseparable from the fear of being excluded from it and from the dread that the process is going to be interrupted. The metaphor of the ‘interrupter’ and the solemn pause, indicating a fear of being interrupted, are developed throughout the novel. Clarissa’s sewing is depicted in a rhythmic wave of building, creating, and making. These images recur throughout the novel as they gain symbolic significance. Sewing is a metaphor often used to denote women’s creative capacity and symbolizes both artistry and the creation of life. The wave provides both a sense of calm and fulfillment, yet maintains a suspenseful pause before a crash or interruption Mrs. Dalloway has an unpleasant feeling she cannot place. After taking a moment to think, she realizes this feeling is attached to ‘something Peter had said, combined with her own depression’26. She realizes it is her parties. Her unpleasant feeling is attached to the criticism she receives from both Richard and Peter about her parties. Clarissa privately defends her parties. She sees them as an offering, a term she is able to recognize as vague and goes on to define. She is offering a connection. She gives meaning to life by feeling the existence of others and offering a way to bring them together, offering them a chance of connection. While sitting on the couch, Septimus notices a shadow on the wall. ‘Fear no more the heat o’ the sun.’ This phrase, which acts as a calming device, enters his head. Suddenly, he is not afraid. He sits up and takes an interest in what Lucrezia is doing. She is making a hat. More significantly, she is creating and building Rezia’s creation of the hat, like Clarissa’s sewing, symbolizes not only the creation of life, but also more specifically, the female ability to create life ‘But this hat now. And then (it was getting late) Sir William Bradshaw’27 Woolf uses this one symbolic line as a metaphor for the transition from life, represented in the making of the hat and death, suggested by Bradshaw, the symbol of the soul’s containment and the character who ultimately provides Septimus with the impetus to kill himself. Woolf uses a great deal of imagery; her similes often begin as a straightforward comparison, which is then elaborated. This moves the ideas away from the physical reality of the narrative and towards mental events, emotions and ideas providing a bridge between the plot and the interior consciousness of the characters. The reader is shown the dilemma of how to create a meaningful sequence and the impossibility of essentially finding an explicit formal system of how to represent objects and concepts, that are assumed to exist, and the relationships between them. The cumulative effect of such repeated notions and images is to establish a systematic network of social elements, such as, human time, space, shared symbols, personal relationships, so as to arrive at a vision of modern life on a national scale. This collective existence is apprehended internally, as its participants experience it. It is both the content and the form used to portray that content which makes reading a disturbing process. The question of the reality of experience itself; the critique of the traditional values of the culture; the loss of meaning and hope in the modern world and the exploration of how this loss may be faced are all themes within Woolf’s novels. Subject matter and writing style are the two features that characterise Modernism and this applies to Mrs Dalloway. The themes of Woolf’s novels express the angst of Modernism in a precise way and Mrs Dalloway exemplifies the conflict felt in the modern society that produces this angst. The conflict is played out between two forces, one that fragments and disperses social order and causes chaos, and a more stable impulse that looks for unity. Multiple voices, fragmented narrative and stream of consciousness are the stylistic devices of Woolf that convey the themes of conflict, despair and escape in the novel. Mrs Dalloway can be seen as an attempt to critique modern life, however, the novel can seem overwhelmed by the chaos of characters struggling to find meaning in life when death is such a large presence. Another aspect of this novel that’ is Modernist and can be seen to be disturbing is its withdrawal from the epic novel, the larger historical or temporal frame found in the 19th century novel. In Mrs Dalloway, there is no organising logic from which to draw a secure and comfortable resolution to life’s struggles. The action or plot is restricted to a single day, no large epic journey is possible and while the struggle for life is apparent, there is nothing of the 19th century moral structure to contain and manage the outcomes. Death and despair overwhelm life and its purposes, the narrowness of life is suffocating, and lives are fragmented, anxious, disconnected and misrecognised. To The Lighthouse also undermines what were the conventional expectations attached to novels. Woolf speculated that she might be writing something other than a novel. ‘I have an idea that I will invent a new name for my books to supplant ‘novel’†¦But what? Elegy?’28 Her work can be seen as more poetry than fiction as it occupies itself with abstract ideas and experimentation more than with plot and character development Woolf throws into disorder readers’ expectations of how life can be represented within a novel, and she achieves this through seeking a new mode of expression. It is not that she rejects reality, but rather that she sought to develop a higher type of realism, as if more complex forms would allow for the depiction of a more complex and vivid understanding of reality.    Bibliograph. Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature / by Erich Auerbach; translated from the German by Willard Trask. New York: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1957. Bell, Q, Virginia Woolf: A Biography. London: Hogarth Press, 1972. Eliot, T.S, American Literature and American Language in Selected Essays. London: Faber, 1951. Fleishman, Avrom, Virginia Woolf: A Critical Reading. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975. Lee, Hermione, The Novels of Virginia Woolf. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1977. Naremore, James, The World Without A Self. London: Yale University Press, 1973. Schulze, Robin. G, Varieties of Mystical Experience in the Writings of Virginia Woolf in Twentieth Century Literature Vol.44. New York: Hofstra University, 1998. Woolf, Virginia. A writer’s diary: being extracts from the diary of Virginia Woolf edited by Leonard Woolf. London, Hogarth Press, 1953. Woolf. Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin, 1996. Woolf, Virginia, To The Lighthouse. London: Penguin, 1992. 1 Eliot, T.S, American Literature and American Language in Selected Essays. London: Faber, 1951.p. 73. 2 Lee, Hermione, The Novels of Virginia Woolf. New York: Holmes and Meier Publishers, 1977. p.106. 3 Woof, Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin, 1996. p.8. 4 Ibid. p.6. 5 Ibid. p.55. 6 Ibid. p.35. 7 Ibid. p.60. 8 Ibid. p.75. 9 Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature / by Erich Auerbach; translated from the German by Willard Trask. New York: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1957. p.529. 10 Woolf, Virginia, To The Lighthouse. London: Penguin, 1992, p.190 11 Ibid. pp.137-139. 12 Schulze, Robin. G, Varieties of Mystical Experience in the Writings of Virginia Woolf in Twentieth Century Literature Vol.44. New York: Hofstra University, 1998. p.3 13 Naremore, James, The World Without A Self. London: Yale University Press, 1973. p.71. 14 Auerbach, Erich, Mimesis: the representation of reality in Western literature / by Erich Auerbach; translated from the German by Willard Trask. New York: Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1957. pp. 351-355 15 Woolf, Virginia. A writer’s diary: being extracts from the diary of Virginia Woolf edited by Leonard Woolf. London, Hogarth Press, 1953. p.169 16 Bell, Q, Virginia Woolf: A Biography. London: Hogarth Press, 1972. p.168. 17 Woolf, Virginia, To The Lighthouse. London: Penguin, 1992. p.5. 18 Ibid. p.23. 19 Ibid. p.7. 20 Ibid. p.7. 21 Ibid. p.7. 22 Ibid. pp.276-277. 23 Ibid. p.277. 24 Ibid. p. 107. 25 Ibid. 270. 26 Woolf. Virginia, Mrs Dalloway. London: Penguin, 1996. p.183. 27 Ibid. p. 178. 28 Woolf, Virginia. A writer’s diary: being extracts from the diary of Virginia Woolf edited by Leonard Woolf. London, Hogarth Press, 1953. p.78.