Classification of Barbeque Styles - 1618 Words

Abstract This paper discusses five styles of barbecue. The categories are North Carolina style, Kansas City style, Memphis style, Texas style, and St. Louis style. Each style is defined by the type of meat, the method of cooking, and the seasonings applied to the meat. Each style has a unique flavor which is determined by the factors mentioned above. Classification of Barbecue Styles North Carolina Style Objective Characteristics Whole hog (pork) Cooked over open fire Sauce vinegar red pepper black pepper sugar hot pepper Subjective Characteristics Tangy Juicy Kansas City Style A. Objective Characteristics All meats including fish and turkey Sauce Tomato Molasses Smoked slowly over hickory Subjective Characteristics Best portions are burnt ends Best sauce Sweet Spicy Memphis style A. Objective Characteristics Any meat No sauce (dry rub) Slow smoked Subjective Characteristics Moist and delicious Smoky flavor enhanced by dry rub Texas Style A. Objective Characteristics Many meats but mainly beef brisket Dry rub (no sauce) Very slow smoked over pecan or mesquite Pecan wood Mesquite wood Subjective Characteristics Nothing better than barbecued beef brisket Meat melts in the mouth St. Louis Style A. Objective Characteristics Mainly pork Cooked directly over open flame Sauce Tangy Sweet Subjective Characteristics Pork steak not right for barbecue Not as flavorful Classification and Analysis In America, thereShow MoreRelatedThe Major Styles of Barbeque in the USA1144 Words   |  5 Pagesare five major styles of barbecue in the U.S.A. which are defined by method of cooking, seasonings, and types of meat used in the cooking process. These styles are North Carolina, Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, and St. Louis. North Carolina Style Whole hog (pork) Cooked over open fire Sauce has vinegar, red pepper, black pepper, sugar, and hot pepper sauce. Kansas City Style All meats including fish and turkey Sauce is tomato and molasses Smoked slowly over hickory Memphis style Any meat NoRead MoreEssay on Portraying the New Negro in Art1388 Words   |  6 Pagesartist created portraits with themes depicting the New Negro’s in there American community. During the 1930s Paris is where Archibald Motley drew a lot of his art work from the devastations and triumphs in the black community. As seen in the 1930s Barbeque portrait Blacks are more sophisticated and refine looking, the 1930s was a more gentile times. But in his painting called the picnic in 1929 a highly controversial portrait, because of it expressing a cinema theme with cropped close ups, panoramicRead MoreMkc1 Study Guid3211 Words   |  13 Pagesproducts by using the product classification system. This will allow them to see exactly where their product is at regarding the competition and from there are able to work our any issues or make changes to enhance their products and surpass the competition. 4. What is product cannibalization? Product cannibalization is when a new product takes sales away from the same company’s existing product. 5. Name and explain four categories in the consumer product classification system? Convenience Offerings-lowRead MoreMarketing Management7427 Words   |  30 PagesHospital, WA Brewers Association, Fremantle Arts Festival and Fremantle Environmental Research Centre (Little Creatures 2011). There restaurant-brewery is a crucial part of the Little Creatures identity and positioning with its communal great hall style dining, open brewery, fresh food and personable staff it further promotes little creatures as a quality local community establishment (Your Restaurants 2011). Through Little Creatures association with RSPCA they have furthered gained goodwill throughRead MoreChevalier: Food and Restaurant13293 Words   |  54 Pagesb, accounting and maintenance etc. Lo1 understand the operational and economic characteristics of hospitality operations. Nature of the product and services areas Buffet service A Buffet Service is a self-service serving style where the guests serve themselves. This style is a great method for feeding large numbers of people with minimal help. The dinner buffet is the most practical and congenial way in which to care for your guests. There can be many variations of the Buffet Service. It can beRead MoreChapter 6 – Analyzing Business Markets23838 Words   |  96 Pages geoclustering (moderate) p. 120 c. demographic segmentation d. behavioral segmentation e. psychographic segmentation 34. When the parent company introduced Southern Belles magazine, it was described as â€Å"a new publication that covers female style and southern life.† From this statement, you should be able to describe the segmentation strategy used for the magazines as __________. a. benefits segmentation b. geoclustering (moderate) p. 120 c. demographic segmentation d. behavioral segmentation Read MoreKfc Marketing Strategies20155 Words   |  81 Pageswill be released in coming months. Franchise laws in IndiaBased in Louisville, KY, KFC Corporation is the world’s most popular chicken franchise specializing in Original Recipe ®, Kentucky Grilled Chickenâ„ ¢ and The Colonel’s Crispy Strips with home-style sides, Honey BBQ Wings and freshly made chicken sandwiches. KFC has been serving customers complete, freshly prepared, family meals since Colonel Harland Sanders founded the concept in 1952.   Famous for its Original Recipe ® fried chicken, whichRead Moremkt311 tb chap922235 Words   |  89 Pagesdata. B.   internal secondary data. C.   data mining. D.   syndicated data. E.   all of these.    50. Jalel is marketing manager for moderately well-known rock band. He wants to know more about industry trends including sales by different musical styles, online downloads, and concert attendance. Jalel will most likely use __________ to gather this type of data.      A.   focus groups B.   observation C.   syndicated data D.   sales invoices E.   census data    51. Once a marketing researcher is readyRead MoreOrganisational Behavioure23151 Words   |  93 Pagesof personal and work i need to get done are getting to me.† Although sometimes we thrive on stress, for most of us, like this blogger, stress begins to take its toll on our mood.45 Social Activities Do you tend to be happiest when you are at a barbeque with friends or out to dinner to celebrate a family member’s birthday? For most people, social activities increase positive mood and have little effect on negative mood. But do people in positive moods seek out social interactions, or do social Read MoreAccounting Information System Chapter 1137115 Words   |  549 Pagesequity or summary drawing accounts. Instead, have a fund balances section for each type of fund. Student loans are an asset; student deposits are a liability. Bank  ·  · No inventory  · Customer accounts would be liabilities.  · Classification of revenue would be among loans, investments, service charges, etc.  · c. Loans to customers would be an asset, some current others noncurrent, depending upon the length of the loan. No cost of goods sold. Government Unit  · No

Coaching and Development - 5354 Words

Coaching and development Abstract Becoming an effective leader is about more than gaining experience and developing appropriate skills. It is also a developmental journey to increasingly complex world views which create new options for effective leadership. We look at the different stages through which leaders can pass as they travel on this journey of development and how these different stages evoke different coaching interventions. We relate this journey to our Renewal model. We also reflect on the implications of our model for coaching practice. Introduction Mentoring and Coaching Coaching and mentoring are both ‘helping’ activities, employed either as distinct interventions or together as part of a package of personal†¦show more content†¦This is one quite valid and common type of coaching, though it is unlikely to be useful in the workplace in a sustainable way.A second common perception of coaching is the coach as director, the person who says how things need to be done, like the theatre director as coach, tennis coach or driving school instructor. Again these ideas are in common usage so they tend to be dominant in people s minds. The perception is that the coach knows a lot of the detail of how the coachee needs to perform, and is there to show them how, to direct them, to observe what they do wrong and help them improve. Again there is an important role for this type of coaching, however it is not the most useful template for the workplace. The coach as expert is too similar to a directive management style. It can be too easy for th e coach in the organisation to impart knowledge and catch people doing things wrong, instead of the more effective means of facilitating learning available through other styles of coaching.A third common perception is that of the counsellor. Many people see the coach as the therapist, someone to tell your problems to that will help you work them all out. This type of coach exists, and while there is a placeShow MoreRelatedCoaching Vs. Private Development Essay1584 Words   |  7 PagesCoaching is a widely-used term with various meanings, depending on the situation. The term work usually refers to ways of serving to others to enhance, develop, learn new skills, and notice personal success, reach aims and to manage life amendment and private challenges. Work ordinarily addresses attitudes, behaviors, and data, in addition as skills, and may additionally specialize in physical and religious development too. This work article focuses on work and therefore the work role for workRead MoreLeadership Coaching Development Plan4980 Words   |  20 PagesLEADERSHIP COACHING DEVELOPMENT PLAN A practical experience assessment By OLANIRAN OLUGBENGA JIDE 1 ABSTRACT This assessment paper digs deep into the dynamics of peer coaching (PC) in developing leadership and managerial competency. It relates my experience and performance as a participant in the peer coaching scheme set up under the managerial effectiveness course unit of Curtin university school of business. In this PC process, I was a peer coach to Simpson and I acted both as a coach andRead MoreBusiness Development, Coaching And Sales1793 Words   |  8 PagesLeaders in Legal Business Chapter: Business Development, Coaching and Sales Author: Silvia L. Coulter, Principal Consultant and Chair, Business Development Practice, LawVision Group LLC Firms are faced with many challenges from a mature and changing industry. While some may say disruption is now happening to the legal industry, it’s been slow and steady for 20 years and is now approaching the tipping point. Law firms have been challenged to find new ways to maintain profitability; to increaseRead MoreThe Literacy Coaching As A Procedure Of Professional Development1576 Words   |  7 PagesAlthough literacy coaching may be new to some schools, using peer coaching as a procedure of professional development is not offered in many districts across America. A significant amount of research has been circulated on its effectiveness (Joyce Showers 1982, 2002). According to Vygotsky (1981), learning is deeply rooted within the culture and social relationships, making these relationships key components of learning. Accepting professional development from a Vygotsky’s point of view has manyRead MoreManagerial Coaching Is An Important Approach For Employee Dev elopment1845 Words   |  8 PagesOrganisational coaching is an important approach to employee development, therefore over the last few years, organisational coaching has received increased attention epitomised by a literature review of the popularity and application of coaching practices (Kampa-Kokesch and Anderson, 2001). Coaching has been identified as being â€Å"responsible for enhancing morale, motivating and increasing productivity reducing staff turnover as individuals feel valued and connected with their organisation† (GrimsonRead MoreThe Effect Of Emotion Coaching On Children And Children With Their Left Brain For Healthy Development Of Emotion Essay1213 Words   |  5 PagesParent emotion coaching helps children to integrate their right brain with their left-brain for healthy development of emotion regulation. However, parents are required to be self-aware of their own emotions for positive results when emotion coaching their children. Emotion coaching improves children’s ability to self-calm and label their feelings; in addition, it fosters emotional health as parents teach their children to express emotions especially when facing conflicting and difficult situationsRead MoreCoaching Across Cultures : A Paradigm Shift1426 Words   |  6 PagesCulture Coaching across cultures is a paradigm shift, an enlargement of coaching that adapts a broader view to help leaders be successful in a global environment (Rosinski, 2003). An organizations culture represents its unique characteristics e.g. observable behaviors, unrealized norms, values and beliefs. Schein (1985) defines organizational culture as: The deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously, and that defineRead MoreThe Benefits And Possibilities Of Coaching And Teacher Mentoring Essay1325 Words   |  6 Pagesand possibilities of coaching and teacher mentoring, as well as to familiarize you with an overview of three specific coaching models. These will include cognitive coaching, literacy coaching, and differentiated coaching, each of which have their own unique set of strengths and weaknesses. The coaching process and experience can help the school in countless ways, starting with the teachers and trickling down to the students. According to (Mentoring, 2016, p. 1), â€Å"Peer coaching can bring about a betterRead More1 Introduction. This Literature Review Contributes To The1652 Words   |  7 Pagesreview contributes to the activities of the coaching process in ‘EXT 8888’ Medical Device Company by reviewing current good practice i n coaching and will cover the following: Background and development of coaching, key areas of coaching, coaching methodologies, coaching models, coaching and leadership development, best practice in the areas of workplace coaching. The output of this review will examine the relevance of coaching in the context of people development and will contribute to the knowledge ofRead MoreManaging Management : Managing And Coaching1444 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction It is not unusual to encounter the term managing and coaching used in place of one another. Those who understand the difference might cringe a bit inside when this occurs because it is likely they have worked for, or with, a manager who certainly was not a coach, and consequently ineffective. More succinctly, coaching is a function of managing that every respectable leader of others must be able to do well. Regrettably, too many managers lack this success because they

Audi Superbowl Commercial Analysis free essay sample

The advertisement depicts Audi’s flagship supercar in a scene that clearly recalls the famous â€Å"horse head† scene from the popular movie The Godfather. The Audi commercial from Super Bowl XLII is an effective way of drawing attention to Audi products and the R8 supercar in particular. Because the R8 is the only product pictured in the ad, it is clear Audi is trying to draw attention to this new product in particular. I will take an in depth look into the advertisement to determine whether or not this was an effective advertising campaign and define the target audience of the advertisement. The Audi R8 advertisement is an effective advertising campaign that captures the attention of Audi’s target audience while conveying widely held societal values of our time. The Audi R8 Super Bowl commercial is an effective advertisement to the target audience to which Audi is trying to appeal to. We will write a custom essay sample on Audi Superbowl Commercial Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the advertisement, the scene opens in the back yard of a mansion. We then see a bedroom with a man in bed asleep. The man awakens and seems startled and somewhat confused. He discovers that he has oil on his hands and body then he peels back the bed sheets. When the bed sheets have been removed from the bed he discovers the grille of his Rolls Royce at his feet. He the lets out four loud screams then the R8 supercar is pictured in front of the mansion. The car’s engine starts, revs, and then the car takes off and speeds down the driveway. This is an effective advertising campaign that the audience Audi was reaching out to will enjoy and understand. Because the intended audience is mostly males in the baby boomer generation, that demographic group will relate to, and enjoy, the advertisement. That is due, in part, to the fact that the audience of The Godfather was a mostly male group. Because the R8 supercar is aimed at an older male audience, the scene from the movie is an effective way to target that age group. In the scene, actor Alex Rocco plays Moe Greene. Greene was a main character in The Godfather and was loosely based on the real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel. In the advertisement, we see Greene wake up to discover the front grille of his Rolls Royce in his bed and he is covered in oil. This recalls the famous horse head† scene from The Godfather in which Hollywood producer Jack Woltz wakes to find his prized horse’s head, Khartoum, in the bed at his feet. This ad appeals to many that are in the baby boomer generation because that age group connects with the theme of the commercial and understands the scenario due to the fact that The Godfather was one of the more prominent and historical movies of that generation. In addition, Audi uses this theme to c onnect with that generation because in large part, that is the age group that has the ability to spend $125,000 on a supercar. Because those in the baby boomer generation have been working for many years and many hold positions as professionals, they have the ability to spend money on luxury items such as supercars, whereas younger individuals in their twenties and thirties have not been working for many years and do not have the ability at their young age to spend large amounts of money on luxury items. The target audience of the commercial is males in the mid-forties all the way through the mid-sixties. That does not mean, however, that this advertisement campaign will not appeal to those outside of this spectrum. There are many fans of the movie, The Godfather around the world. This advertisement would certainly appeal to those who enjoy the movie even if they are not in the baby boomer generation. This commercial would effectively market Audi’s product to those people as well. In addition, there are individuals that may be enamored with Audi’s products in general. This ad campaign would also appeal to that group of people, which would probably be a mostly male audience, because males tend to be more interested in automobiles and fast cars than females. There is also a group of young individuals that have the means to go and spend this type of money on an automobile. This advertisement would appeal to that crowd because it showcases the cars’, in my opinion, masculine, powerful, and sporty looks which also give insight into the performance-oriented roots of the car. Also the car can be an â€Å"image booster. † In today’s society many think of cars as a status symbol and see the car one drives as a window into the owner’s personality. Many people today associate what a person drives with how successful they are and what type of person they are. This is in some cases not a good way of judging a person because many people leave beyond their means or find ways to obtain material possessions they cannot actually afford. When the audience hears the car start and speed down the driveway of the mansion, one would assume that this is a performance-oriented car. This would be of interest to those on the younger end of the audience’s spectrum because they are more interested in what the car represents and what it brings to them. These two elements are shown at the end of the commercial when the car is parked in front of the mansion. The car then starts, revs its engine, and speeds down the driveway towards the entrance to the mansion. This would certainly make any car fan excited about the product that is being offered in the commercial due solely to the fact that the car sounds aggressive and fast when its engine starts and it speeds down the driveway. This commercial could also appeal to a female audience, whether it’s females who relate to the movie theme or females who are into cars and enjoy luxury items such as this car. The only words in the advertisement appear on the screen three quarters of the way through the ad. It states, â€Å"Old luxury just got put on notice†. In my opinion this is effective marketing. By placing the Rolls Royce grille in the bed and making it appear as if it has been killed, Audi is saying there is a new standard in luxury. The Rolls Royce grille is used because Rolls Royce motorcars are know the world over as being the most opulent and luxurious automobiles available for purchase. Also, when individuals see the Rolls Royce grille in the bed, those that recognize what the grille is will immediately think of luxury automobiles. This may not work for some, however, those who do not recognize Rolls Royce or who do not know about cars, but Audi assumes that the target audience of the commercial will. I believe that the individuals with who this connects will be able to make that connection almost immediately. This ad campaign by Audi is effective for several reasons. First it is marketing the product to those that are really interested in luxury items such as the Audi R8. Second, it uses the theme from The Godfather to connect with that target audience of baby boomers. Because the buyers of the car are going to be in that range for the most part, Audi made a smart decision when they decided to use that theme to appeal to the target audience. If they had used something that was more current or perhaps something related to pop culture, the advertisement campaign would not have been as effective due to the fact that it would not capture the attention of those who are actually interested in these types of offerings from companies.

Junie B. Jones free essay sample

Jones sang the wrong lyrics to be funny. She sang jingle bells batman smells, robin laid an egg, bat mobile lost his wheel, and joker got away. Everybody laughed at that. I thought it was funny. Junie B. Jones is doing a secret Santa. She gets the last name in the bag and the name was May. She hated May but she had to get a present for May or else she wouldn’t get a present from her secret Santa. Mr. Scary told Junie B. Jones is counting on her to get a present. Junie B. Jones changed her mind and said she going to get her secret Santa a gift. They all went to the holiday shop so they can see what they can get for there secret Santa’s. May told Junie B. Jones that it is nicer to give then to receive. Junie B. Jones didn’t listen to May because she was going to get everybody in her family a gift for Christmas. We will write a custom essay sample on Junie B. Jones or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Everybody thought that Lucille burped. It was actually just a toy called the squeeze a burp. Everybody started to laugh. Junie B. Jones asked her great grand Miller for five more dollars for the squeeze a burp. Her grand Miller said no because she gave her five dollars already. Junie B. Jones started to cry and she got the five dollars. I think that grand Miller should have never gave Junie B. Jones the five dollars even if she cried. The next day Junie B. Jones went to the holiday shop to get there secret Santa’s gift. Junie B. Jones bought the squeeze a burp. She was going to give May Coal for her gift. She wanted May to have the worst gift because she didn’t like May. She thought about it. It was time for everybody to give there secret Santa there gift. Junie B. Jones decided to give May her squeeze a burp. May was so happy when she got the squeeze a burp. She skipped all around the room squeezing the squeeze a burp. Everybody laughed. Junie B. Jones got crayons. That’s what she wanted all along. She always will complain to be the last to use the crayons because they were always broken or not pointy. Junie B. Jones was happy she did the right think. Know May and Junie B. Jones are friends. Best friends!!!! P. S. 114 Nashawna Browne Class:4-211 January 8th,2010 ?

A Discussion on Multimedia Essays - Digital Technology, Free Essays

A Discussion on Multimedia Essays - Digital Technology, Free Essays A Discussion on Multimedia Nic Singh December 96 A Discussion on Multimedia Multimedia, or mixed-media, systems offer presentations that integrate effects existing in a variety of formats, including text, graphics, animation, audio, and video. Such presentations first became commercially available in very primitive form in the early 1980s, as a result of advances that have been made in digital compression technology particularly the difficult area of image compression. Multimedia online services are obtainable through telephone/computer or television links, multimedia hardware and software exist for personal computers, networks, the internet, interactive kiosks and multimedia presentations are available on CD-ROMs and various other mediums. The use of multimedia in our society has it benefits and its drawbacks, most defiantly. Some of the more computer-related uses of multimedia, such as electronic publishing, the internet, and computers in education will be discussed in depth thought this paper. Electronic publishing is the publishing of material in a computer-accessible medium, such as on a CD-ROM or on the Internet. In a broader sense of the term it could also include paper products published with the aid of a desktop publishing program, or any form of printing that involves the use of a computer. Reference works became available in the mid-1980s both in CD-ROM format and online. Increasingly, in the 1990s, magazines, journals, books, and newspapers have become available in an electronic format, and some are appearing in that format only. Companies that publish technical manuals to accompany their other products have also been turning to electronic publishing. Electronic books have been recently introduced to the world as a whole. This new concept is the use of internet or otherwise computer technology to electronically convert books to a digital, readable format viewed on a television set or computer screen. This would most likely be done by scanning in individual pages in a book, arrange them in orderly fashion, and have users be able to cycle back and forth between the photo-identical pages. This method would be very quick, and very easy to accomplish- that is- scanning pages as opposed to re-typing millions of words is preferred. This brings us to another method in electronic book production- the interactive method. In digital format, the books pages can only be viewed, just like a book. If a reader would want to take notes from a book, he/she would have to write down the notes by hand, or would be forced to photo-copy the page(s). If the book was typed out entirely as would be done by an electronic word processor such as Microsoft Word, users would greatly benefit. The ability for the computer to recognize the words on the screen as actual words as opposed to mere bitmaps is often unrealized to the computer non-familiar. This recognition allows the page to be edited with complete interactivity and ease- again like Microsoft Word. Books can be updated or corrected in real time, without having to re-upload corrected pages, or compensate for unalignment in words and page breaks. Perhaps the most beneficial to the user is the interactivity- the ability to interact with the words in the book. By highlighting letters on the page, copying them, and pasting them in personal clipboards or other word processing programs, the tedious task of note-taking can be eliminated. This idea, on the other hand, can raise issues with the author and publisher of the book. Plagiarism, already a problem, would run wild in this area. Users would theoretically be able to copy entire books or magazines to their personal files, and be able to use them as their own reports or writings. Additionally, the ability to view a book and its contents at no charge obviously will not agree with some publishers. This also brings up the idea of charging people for time online. Users could be charged money for use of electronic books/magazines on a time basis. This, however, will not go over well in the public domain. We would rather take on the trouble of taking manual notes than be charged for something that is otherwise free at a library. In a very short time the Internet has become a major vehicle of worldwide communication and an unrivaled source of information. One of the Internet's fascinations is that its resources are limited only by the number of computers participating in the World Wide Web and the imaginations of their users. The Internet is an international web of interconnected government, education, and business computer networks- in essence, a network of networks. From a thousand or so networks in the mid-1980s, the Internet had grown to about 30,000 connected networks in mid-1994. By

Overview of the Op Art Movement

Overview of the Op Art Movement Op Art (short for Optical Art) is an art movement that emerged in the 1960s. It is a distinct style of art that creates the illusion of movement. Through the use of precision and mathematics, stark contrast, and abstract shapes, these sharp  pieces of artwork have a three-dimensional quality that is not seen in other styles of art. Op Art Emerges in the 1960s Flashback to 1964. In the United States, we were still reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, encapsulated in the Civil Rights movement, and being invaded by British pop/rock music. Many people were also over the notion of achieving the idyllic lifestyles that were so prevalent in the 1950s. It was a perfect time for a new artistic movement to burst on the scene.   In October of 1964, in an article describing this new style of art, Time Magazine coined the phrase Optical Art (or Op Art, as its more commonly known). The term referenced the fact that Op Art is comprised of illusion and often appears to the human eye to be moving or breathing due to its precise, mathematically-based composition. After (and because of) a major 1965 exhibition of Op Art entitled The Responsive Eye, the public became enraptured with the movement. As a result, one began to see Op Art everywhere: in print and television advertising, as LP album art, and as a fashion motif in clothing and interior design. Although the term was coined and the exhibition held in the mid-1960s, most people who have studied these things agree that Victor Vasarely pioneered the movement with his 1938 painting Zebra. M. C. Eschers style has sometimes caused him to be listed as an Op artist as well, though they dont quite fit the definition. Many of his best-known works were created in the 1930s and include amazing perspectives and use of tessellations (shapes in close arrangements). These two certainly helped point the way for others. It can also be argued that none of Op Art would have been possible- let alone embraced by the public- without the prior Abstract and Expressionist movements. These led the way by de-emphasizing (or, in many cases, eliminating) representational subject matter. Op Art Remains Popular As an official movement, Op Art has been given a lifespan of around three years. This doesnt mean, however, that every artist ceased employing Op Art as their style by 1969. Bridget Riley is one noteworthy artist who has moved from achromatic to chromatic pieces but has steadfastly created Op Art from its beginning to the present day. Additionally, anyone who has gone through a post-secondary fine arts program probably has a tale or two of Op-ish projects created during color theory studies. Its also worth mentioning that, in the digital age, Op Art is sometimes viewed with bemusement. Perhaps you, too, have heard the (rather snide, some would say) comment, A child with the proper graphic design software could produce this stuff. Quite true, a gifted child with a computer and the proper software at her disposal could certainly create Op Art in the 21st century. This certainly wasnt the case in the early 1960s, and the 1938 date of Vasarelys Zebra speaks for itself in this regard. Op Art represents a great deal of math, planning and technical skill, as none of it came freshly-inked out of a computer peripheral. Original, hand-created Op Art deserves respect, at the very least. What Are the Characteristics of Op Art? Op Art exists to fool the eye. Op compositions create a sort of visual tension in the viewers mind that gives works the illusion of movement. For example, concentrate on Bridget Rileys Dominance Portfolio, Blue (1977) for even a few seconds and it begins to dance and wave in front of your eyes. Realistically, you know  that any Op Art piece is flat, static, and two-dimensional. Your eye, however, begins sending your brain the message that what its seeing has begun to oscillate, flicker, throb and any other verb one can employ to mean, Yikes! This painting is moving! Op Art is not meant to  represent reality.  Due to its geometrically-based nature, Op Art is, almost without exception, non-representational. Artists do not attempt to depict anything we know in real life. Instead, it is more like abstract art in which composition, movement, and shape dominate. Op Art is not created by chance. The elements employed in a piece of Op Art are carefully chosen to achieve maximum effect. In order for the illusion to work, each color,  line,  and shape must contribute to the overall composition. It takes a great deal of forethought to successfully create artwork in the Op Art style. Op Art relies on two specific techniques. The critical techniques used in Op Art are perspective and careful juxtaposition of color. The color may be chromatic (identifiable hues) or achromatic (black, white, or gray). Even when color is used, they tend to be very bold and can be either complementary or high-contrast.   Op Art typically does not include the blending of colors. The lines and shapes of this style are very well defined. Artists do not use shading when transitioning from one color to the next and quite often two high-contrast colors are placed next to each other. This harsh shift is a key part of what disturbs and tricks your eye into seeing movement where there is none. Op Art embraces negative space. In Op Art- as in perhaps no other artistic school- positive and negative spaces in a composition are of equal importance. The illusion could not be created without both, so Op artists tend to focus just as much on the negative space as they do the positive.

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 12

Economics - Essay Example The second step entails getting training that may help an entrepreneur to identify the most suitable sources of business financing (U.S.Small Business Administration, 2013). Therefore, Sonny Erriccsson phone was identified as a product of study, whereby, its life cycle and future market scope has been discussed under the following subheadings. a). Specifically identify the product; its life cycle and the initial and future scope of the market intend to serve. The product in this case entails Sonny Erriccsson phone, this product falls under electronic and communication industry. Sonny Erriccsson phone entails five phases of product life cycle development namely; development phase, introduction phase, growth phase, maturity phase and finally, decline phase. The introduction phases focuses at creating awareness to both new and existing customers about the existence of Sonny Erriccsson phones. However, this stage tends to experience numerous challenges such as low sales volumes, low prof its, higher marketing and advertising expenses. On the contrary, is the growth phase, this phase involves creation of brand preference and market share. In addition, sales and profits tend to be higher in this phase as compared to the introduction stage (Grieves & Michael, 2006). In the fourth phase (maturity phase), marketers focuses at maintaining the already established market share through modification of Sonny Erriccsson phones to make its product more competitive. The final phase is declining phase whereby, the market has become saturated and the product start losing customer causing a decline in sales volume and profitability to decline significantly. Therefore, marketing managers may respond to this stage by either selling the business to a market niche or carryout phase withdraw before incurring losses (Grieves & Michael, 2006). b). Recognize and evaluate the market structure, degree of competition and the availability of substitutes initially and in the future, locally and globally for the proposed product. Sonny Erriccsson mobile is a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company known as Sonny Corporation. Sonny mobile become part of Sonny Company through acquisition of Telefonaktiebolagate shares on 15th February 2012. The market structure for Sonny Erriccsson has been highly restructured with an aim of increasing future operational efficiency. For example, Sonny moved its operation structure from Sweden to Tokyo Japan. Additionally, the company CEO announced that sonny his company had integrated all its subsidiaries located in different regions to increase market share as well as to reduce operating cost. The CEO further issued a notification that to the Sony authorities in Sweden that the company was aiming to enhance efficiency by eliminating redundancy in the entire company (Sony Inc, 2012). The degree of competition in this market tend to be very stiff due to globalization and new scientific innovation hence, making different phone manufactur ers such Samsung, LG, Nokia, Motorola among other competitors who are continuously modify their products by adding more features to make their products more attractive before the eyes of the customers. In addition, there are numerous substitutes available in the market that can serve the same purpose as Sonny Erriccsson phones. For example; I pads, I phones and Samsung galaxy phones may act as a good substitute. The above substitute may not only serve the local meets but also

Social Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Capital - Essay Example Parents have been known to use their wealth to gain social capital for their children over the years through various ways such as donating large amounts of funds to the school that their children attend among others. The question remains however whether this is right or wrong and should be acceptable within the society. The answer to this can be derived from looking at the pros and cons of this subject. There are a number of arguments that can be used to defend this act. One of them is the fact that by attaining this social capital for their children, the parents are ensuring a better future for them as they are guaranteed help with the trials they may face in the future (Putnam, 2006). Ensuring a better future for one’s offspring can be considered to be the right of every parent and is expected off them. Another pro is that the social capital gained by these children technically does not hurt anyone although it may give them an advantage over others in certain situations, it is not against the law to cultivate relationships that will be beneficial to an individual (McNamee & Miller, 2009). As there are two sides to every coin, there are also cons in assisting one’s child in gaining social capital. The main con can be considered to be the fact that by doing this, the child will not learn essential values such as the importance of independence and the virtue of hard work as they will not have to struggle for the things that they want (Doob, 2013). This can be considered to be a sort of negative education on the part of the parent as it does not help in building up a child’s character. Another con is found in the fact that by teaching a child that what they want can be achieved by money, they risk instilling a devious/delinquent attitude within the child as they are aware that the social capital gained will get them out of trouble (Brown & Iyengar, 2008). For example, a child

The Tibetan Book of the Dead Essay Example for Free

The Tibetan Book of the Dead Essay Introduction All the teaching of Buddha, known all over the world as Buddhism, is based on the ideas of karma and reincarnation. Buddhists believe that after death the person is reborn and gets another incarnations in order to pay his karmic debts and get a chance to become enlightened of liberated. That is the reason they regard death as nothing but a pass to another physical incarnation and try to use this chance to get better conditions of life. The Bardo Thodol, also known as the Tibetan Book of the Dead belongs to the secrete texts of Buddhism and describes the experience of the death and gives guidelines how to pass from one incarnation to another. The name Bardo means the period between the death and next birth. The Tibetan Book of the Dead contains practical guidelines on the way to the next incarnation. In addition to ancient rituals and rites, it also contains main philosophical doctrines of Buddhism. The study of this book can give a better understanding of fundamental ideas of Buddhism and key concepts of this religion. General features of Tibetan Buddhism Buddhism is one of three major world religions. It was founded about 2.500 years ago by Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. Its main idea is a salvation from the world sufferings with the help of meditation. There are more than 350 million of followers of Buddhism in the modern world. Most followers of Buddhism live in India, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Tibet. Buddhism came to Tibet and 12 centuries later it appeared in India. It became widespread in Tibet beginning from the 7th century. It came in conflict with local religion called Bon, despite their main concepts agreed on many points. Tibetian Buddism assimilated a lot from Bon and The Tibetan book of The Dead is a perfect example of synthesis of these two religions. Buddhist term for awakening is nirvana. Nirvana means liberation from samsara – cycle of rebirth and entering another mode of existence. Buddhism states that all human beings are born in life full of sufferings and pain. Desires make people unhappy, as our mind can’t be satisfied with anything it gets and always asks for more. Making true one wish people start longing for something else and this vicious circle never ends. Existence full of sufferings and pain doesn’t stop after death as Buddhists believe in rebirth – the repeated process of life and death conditioned by the karma law. The only way out of this misery and pain is nirvana, which can be achieved through meditation and following the principles of Buddhism and to achieve the enlightenment or awakening of selfhood. Reaching enlightenment means reunion with one’s true Self. The state of nirvana is hard to define, as it lies beyond words and notions, but the most appropriate categories used to define it are emptiness, space and openness. In other words, reaching the state of nirvana means realization the emptiness of the true Self. Buddha is a Sanskrit term that means â€Å"awakened one† and it describes Buddha’s nature. Buddha was the first person who achieved liberation or awakening and could pass his experience to other people. He teaches people that all of them have the potential to become Buddha, reaching the state of nirvana. Tibetan Perspectives on Death and Dying The concept of death accepted in Buddhism is fundamentally different from the one, which exists on the West. Eastern people believe in reincarnation and that is why the death for them is not an end of existence but just an interesting journey and great opportunity. Buddhist teaching pays special attention to the death experience as a transitional state from one incarnation to another. Death rituals, described in the Book of the Dead derive from Bonism, traditional Tibetan religions, which preceded Buddhism. Ideas from Bonism naturally supplement new Buddhism concepts and together they combine an organic combination of religion, philosophy and practical rituals. The concept of death in Buddhism has two meanings and The Book of the Death speaks about two of them. In the first interpretation the death is regarded as a physical death, the cease of earthy existence. The first part of the Book of the Dead, The First Bardo deals with this death. Another meaning of death is a death of ego. It’s an esoteric meaning of death and it stands for inner transformation. This inner transformation is the ultimate goal of Buddhism and The Book of Dead deals with this kind of death too. As Tibetan Lama Govinda states in his introduction to this book, It is a book for the living as well as for the dying. (The Tibetan Book of the Dead: or, The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdups English Rendering) The book contains a lot of layers of meaning and can have several levels of interpretation. For centuries this book was kept in secret and only separate religious authorities could access it. Bardo Thodol – the Guidance for the Death and Life The Bardo Thodol was used by lamas. Literary translation of the name of the book means â€Å"liberation while hearing being in the intermediate state†. Lamas use this intermediate state as a mean to appeal to the true self of the person, when his physical body is passing away and thus give him an opportunity to stop the endless chain of births and deaths and get final liberation, or nirvana. There are three intermediate states described in the Book of the Dead. They are: the chikhai bardo, or bardo of the moment of death; the Chonyid bardo, or bardo of experiencing of reality; and the sidpa bardo, or bardo of rebirth. (The Book of the Dead) The Chikhai bardo makes the person ready to meet the very moment of the death. This moment is very important because the moment when vital force leaves the body and last directions if heard in time can help the person to pass the intermediate state correctly. As the Book of the Dead states, â€Å"When the expiration hath ceased, the vital-force will have sunk into the nerve-center of Wisdom and the Knower will be experiencing the Clear Light of the natural condition . Then the vital force, being thrown backwards and flying downwards through the right and left nerves the Intermediate State (Bardo) momentarily dawns.â€Å" (The Book of The Dead) In his commentaries, to The Tibetan Book of the Dead Evans-Wentz explains that â€Å"never centers† mentioned in the book mean psychic centers or cakras and the Center of Wisdom mentioned in the book is located in anahata cakra in the center of the chest. (Evans-Wentz) The Knower mentioned in the same passage stands for the mind in the state of impartial observer. The Chikhai bardo explains the changes in the energetic structure of the body with the coming of death. It doesn’t only describe physical changes, which occur in the body and the way energy leaves the body, but also stresses on the necessity to remain in the state of observer, in order to get the liberation. As Detlef Ingo Lauf states in his commentaries to the Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Book of Dead â€Å"This is the very content and substance of the state of liberation, if only the soul can recognize it and act in a way to remain in that state.† (Lauf, 254) Special words, repeated several times, must help the dying person to fulfil the main purpose of his pass and help him find the right way in Bardo, where â€Å"wherein all things are like the void and cloudless sky, and the naked, spotless intellect is like unto a transparent vacuum without circumference or centre.† (The Book of the Dead) During the reading lama must change the body position of the dying person in order to create the right flow of energy in the body. The main purpose of all rites and ceremonies, described in The Book of the Dead, is to make the person stay conscious during the very moment of the death. This will enable him to remain conscious in the Bardo, and this way â€Å"From the union of the two states of mind, or consciousness, is born the state of Perfect Enlightenment, Buddhahood. The Dharma-Kaya (Body of Truth) symbolizes the purest and the highest state of being, a state of supramundane consciousness (The Book of the Dead). The person should overcome fear and his own egoistic desires and meet the moment of death pure and full of compassion to all living beings. The Book of Dead states that most of the people fail to remain consciousness at the very moment of the death. This can be explained by the weight of their past karma, fear and selfishness. â€Å"According to the wisdom of Buddha, we can actually use our lives to prepare for death† and that is why this moment is so important ( Ringpoche, 45) In this case they fail to see â€Å"Clear Light of Ultimate Reality† and should pass to the next stage. The Bardo Thodol gradually describes next steps of the process of passing away and stresses on the different opportunities to get liberation on the different stages. Conclusion The main message of The Bardo Thodol is to be conscious at the moment of death. The book describes different techniques used by lama in order to â€Å"awake† the person at the very moment of death or afterwards. At the same time, if we think about our life carefully, we will understand that we approach death with every second of our life; and being conscious in everyday life can be also the way to get liberation. As Sogyal Rinpoche states in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: â€Å"In the Buddhist approach, life and death are seen as one whole, where death is the beginning of another chapter of life. Death is a mirror in which the entire meaning of life is reflected.† (Rinpoche, 45) This holistic approach peculiar to Orinatal religions and philosophical systems illustrates their attitude to the death as a natural continuation of life and vice versa. Sources Rinpoche, Sogyal. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1992. Sogyal Rinpoche is a Tibetan Teacher. He did a perfect job adapting ancient texts, which compose â€Å"The Book of the Dead† for the modern reader. Original book even with commentaries and comments was very hard to comprehend for the unprepared reader. Sogyal Rinpoche made this text easy to read. At the same time he managed to write his book in such a way that the text did not lose its original meaning and those, who are interested in studying sacred Buddhist text, can read â€Å"The Book of the Dead†, which is one of central texts of Tibetan Buddhism in easy and comprehensive interpretation. The book investigates the topics of death and dying, which are central notions of Buddhism. The author introduces Buddhist concepts of karma, mediation, reincarnation and bardo in interesting and understandable manner. The book also contains practical guideline of dealing with the death. Reading this book transforms one’s attitude to the question of death and to life. Overcoming the fear of death can become that turning point, which changes the whole life, and Rinpoche’s book helps to deal with this fear. The author gives practical advice, which can help both – experienced seekers and people, who only start their acquaintance with Buddhism. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: or, The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdups English Rendering. Ed. W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Oxford University Press, 1949 This book gives Buddhist vision of the process of death and dying. This book teaches not only the process of dying, it also centers on the process of living and uncovers new levels of meaning of our earthy existence. The text produced in this addition is Lama Kazi Dawa Sammdup’s interpretation of the Bardo Thodol edited by the famous specialist in this field and first translator of this book to English Evans-Wentz. Their creative tandem gave birth to new interpretation of classical text. Commentaries of C.G. Jung, the representative of the New School† psychology helps Western people to get prepared for dealing with such complicated issues as death and dying, which is a very difficult topic for Westerners. Introduction written by Lama Anagarika Govinda, a modern religious authority, helps to understand the ancient texts. All those, who contributed to this book, made a great job by making an ancient Orintal wisdom understandable for western audience. General information about Buddhism, which makes the third part, can be useful for those, who want to penetrate deeper into this religious teaching. Comments and commentaries presented in the book make it not only ancient classics, but also a comprehensive book about self-improvement and coming in terms with your life. Detlef Ingo Lauf. Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead. (Trans. by Graham Parkes) Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1989. Detlef Lauf is a famous German religious scholar and Tibetologist. In his â€Å"Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead† he provides his own commentaries about the famous text. He introduces different variants of The Book of the Dead and uncovers their deep symbolism. Religious concepts are supplemented by historical information, which makes their comprehension easier. The book written by Detlef Ingo Lauf is a necessary addition to the information, presented in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The book is a deep survey of Buddhist and pre-Buddhist relations’ teachings, which attributed to the Buddhist concepts of death and dying. The author makes a research of the different deities, Buddhist doctrines and principles created a necessary basis for the right understanding of the classical texts of the Bardo Thodol or the Book of the Dead. The author goes even further and compares the concepts of death discovered in the Book of the Dead with views on death applied in different religious doctrines of Rome, Greece, Eqypt, India and Persia. Information about the death and dying received by modern Western scholars help to understand the basic ideas of the book. References 1. Evans-Wentz, W.Y. (ed.) The Tibetan Book of the Dead. London/Oxford/New York; Oxford University 1960. (Trans. by Graham Parkes) Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1989. 2. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: or, The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lama Kazi Dawa-Samdups English Rendering. Ed. W. Y. Evans-Wentz, Oxford University Press, 1949 3. Rinpoche, Sogyal. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1992. 4. The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo. By Guru Rinpoche according to Karma-Lingpa. (Translated Francesca Fremantle, Chogyam Trungpa). Boston and London: Shambhala Pocket Classics, 1992. 4. Detlef Ingo Lauf. Secret Doctrines of the Tibetan Books of the Dead.

The Red Tent: My Reaction :: essays research papers

In her book, The Red Tent, Anita Diamant attempts to expound upon the foundations laid by the Torah by way of midrashim. In doing so, parts of her stories tend to stray from the original biblical text. The following essay will explore this and several other aspects of the book as they relate to the Torah and modern midrash.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the first differences I recognized was the description of Leah’s eyes. In Genesis 29:17, Leah’s eyes are described as weak. Diamant dispels this ‘rumor’, saying that Leah’s eyes, one blue and one green, â€Å"made others weak† because most people had difficulty looking her in the face. By making this small adjustment, Diamant is able to create a connection between Jacob and Leah that the Bible neglects. The Bible says only that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, which tends to give the impression that Leah was unloved. Diamant says that Jacob was able to look Leah in the eye without any trouble and never made any comment regarding them. This is significant because it shows that Jacob overlooked a flaw in Leah that most others seemed unable to ignore, and the physical attraction between them that she later addressed in the seven days following their marriage (which was a single night in the Bible) seems to make more s ense. In addition, their discussion in the tent concluding that Jacob was to emerge after the week â€Å"feigning anger â€Å" is a midrash provides an explanation as to why Jacob slept with Leah and still complained to Laban that he had been tricked. Diamant makes Jacob appear to be more of a gentleman than the Bible does, and thus, a more likeable main character in her novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In The Red Tent, Diamant created people not mentioned in the Torah. One such person was Ruti, Laban’s last wife. Laban beat Ruti badly and frequently for no apparent reason. In Diamant’s book, Ruti’s fairly small role serves as a clear reason for the reader to dislike Laban. Until Ruti is introduced, besides being a drunk and making love to sheep, we find Laban to be little more than pathetic. Including Ruti in the story adds another dimesion to Laban’s character; one of cruelty and aggression. At this point, Diamant makes Laban begin to fit the novelistic â€Å"bad guy† mold quite well, and the reader finds him more repulsive than ever before. His daughters pay little attention to Ruti and ignore the evidence of their father’s abusiveness because Ruti is â€Å"the mother of their sons’ rivals, their material enemy.

John Locke Paper

Throughout the 17th century, John Locke presented society with his teachings and theories that clarified the order of natural law and fulfilled humanity’s divine purpose for living. It all began in 1647, as a young boy when he attended the prestigious Westminster School in London under the sponsorship of Alexander Popham. During his years at the Westminster School, he found the work of modern philosophers more interesting than the material being taught at the university.Much of Locke's influence and later work was characterized by opposition to authoritarianism, which focused on both the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. Locke wanted each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. He wanted us to proportion go along with the proposition to the evidence for them. Locke came to the conclusion that there must be a balance and mutual under standing between individuality and social institutions where society will not feel suppressed under man made law and restrictions.John Locke believed that all knowledge comes from experience. Experience is composed of two parts: external and internal. External experiences are ideas of supposed external objects. These objects enter our minds through sensation. Examples of sensations would be hot, cold, red, yellow, hard, soft, sweet and bitter. Internal experiences are reflections that make us understand the operation on the objects of sensation. Examples of reflections are thinking, willing, believing, doubting, affirming, denying, and comparing.Once again Locke goes back to his foundation of principles by reaffirming that in order to achieve success and sensation there must be a working relationship between individual goals and the law of society. Sensation and reflection are called the two fountains of knowledge. All of our ideas we can naturally have or have so already come from these two experiences. Sensible qualities convey into the mind, and they produce most of the perceptions and most of the great sources of ideas we have.Sensation and reflection differ from each other because sensation is what happens outside the body, and reflection has to do what happens inside the body with our mind. Also reflection has to do with the ideas it affords being such only as the mind gets by reflecting on its own operations within itself, the mind takes over its own operations and the manner of them. Besides having sensible qualities one also contains primary and secondary qualities. Locke explains that these qualities are two kinds of properties that an object could have.Primary qualities contain solidity, figure, extension, motion and number. They are properties that are objective and independent on senses. On the other hand, secondary qualities consist of color, smell, taste, sound and touch. They are properties that are subjectively perceived. In Locke’s, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he states, â€Å"sensible qualities; which, whatever reality we by mistake attribute to them, are in truth nothing in the objects themselves, but powers to produce various sensations in us†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (John Locke, 77).In other words, secondary qualities are dependent on the primary qualities. According to Locke, ideas are anything that is â€Å"the immediate object of perception, thought, or understanding† (William Lawhead, 91). Locke states that sensation and reflection are classified as simple and complex ideas. Simple ideas are red, yellow, hard, soft, etc and for example, you touch an ice cube, your mind is telling you its cold and it’s hard, you learn that from experience. Locke believed that the mind cannot know an inexperienced idea or create a new simple idea.Although the mind cannot create simple ideas, it can process them into complex ideas. Complex ideas are made up of several simple ideas, such as beauty, gratitude, a man, an army, the universe. Complex ideas are also broken down into three parts: ideas of substance which is a constant collection of simple ideas, ideas of mode which is a combination of several ideas, which form a mode, like a triangle, last but not least ideas of relationship, which is a comparison of one idea to another.From experience it goes to sensation and reflection, and those are based on simple ideas and that’s all contained in the passive mind, after simple ideas it goes to complex ideas and that’s located in the active mind. Overall in Locke’s theory he uses epistemological dualism, which is the mind that consists of knowing and its ideas. He also states the object in the external world is known by ideas, and our ideas represent those objects. After researching about Locke’s theory of knowledge I would have to agree with what he has stated.Locke states that you go through an internal and external experience and I feel that today’s y outh do go through the motions of the internal and external experiences. As a result the youth are able to gain the knowledge from those experiences by allowing the mind to willingly accept these new ideas. For example, when I was younger I put my hand near a hot stove and from the heat irritating and pressuring my hand my mind told me it was a negative stimuli and it was essential to remove my hand from the stove and to keep that memory as a basic instinct.Society goes through experiences throughout life of internal and external and eventually gains knowledge through these experiences. John Locke also stated that the mind does all the knowing and its ideas are known. I agree with what he is saying because your mind is always working, it’s always active, we receive ideas internally through our mind and we receive ideas from the outside that goes into our mind. The balance is necessary between internal and external factors to keep society and individuals stable and yet progres sive to adapt to new changes that rise up.

Gerontology and Social Exchange Theory Essay

Introduction The fundamental biological problem that all theories of aging seek to explain was stated very elegantly in 1957 by Williams when he wrote, â€Å"It is indeed remarkable that after a seemingly miraculous feat of morphogenesis, a complex metazoan should be unable to perform the much simpler task of merely maintaining what is already formed.† The difficulty in attempting to establish an understanding of aging is that it is not a single physiological process. It is multifaceted and hierarchical in its expression with subtle changes occurring simultaneously at the molecular, cellular, tissue and organ levels. The variety of characterizes many species, particularly humans, and the complexity of environmental interactions results in an enormous phenotypic variability being associated with aging. This variability is frequently confounded by the symptoms of underlying pathology and invariably increases between individuals with aging. First Transformation of Theory The beginning of social gerontology began as general perspectives on aging rather than as actual scientific theories. Prior to 1961, social gerontology attempted to explain how individuals adjusted to aging from role and activity perspectives. Growing old was seen as an inevitable process that led to the development of problems an individual experienced overtime. It wasn’t until 1961, with the development of disengagement theory, that there was an actual theory being used as a basis for scientific research. A basic assumption of the theory was that all societies have to transfer power from an aging population to a younger one. Disengagement attempted to explain this process of power transfer and complimented gerotrancendence, another theory from what is considered to be the first transformation of theory. Gerotrancendence follows the beliefs of Jung and Erikson that as a person ages, they withdraw from the external world to an internal world focused on spirituality, wisdom, se lf-acceptance and purpose. Both disengagement and gerotrancendence theories attempted to explain what social gerontologists thought aging should be. They did not try to develop a universal theory to explain the variety of experiences of people as they age (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). In the case of disengagement, this withdrawal from power was  believed to be a universal experience that transcended gender and culture. Death was inevitable; decline in abilities was probably. It was only natural that others would have lowered expectations for aging individuals. In the case of gerotrancendence, this withdrawal resulted from an individual not achieving ego identity. An individual would either attain this ego identity, a positive regard for their life, or withdraw as a symptom of despair (Andrus Gerontology Center; University of Southern California, 2005) A third theory of the time period was continuity theory, which postulated that â€Å"individuals tend to maintain a consistent pattern of behavior as they age, substituting similar types of roles for lost ones and keeping typical ways of adapting to the environment† (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 319). Individual satisfaction was dependent on how consistent a person was able to maintain the same patterns of behavior. Though attempting to challenge previous theories based on activity and disengagement perspectives, it also did not address any personality differences among aging individuals, nor did it address any political, social, historical or cultural influences on the experience of aging (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). It is interesting to note that though continuity theory attempted to challenge the activity theory, it was similar to the activity perspective that that was a positive relationship between social roles and life satisfaction (Howe, 1987). Alternative Theoretical Perspectives Alternative theories based on a symbolic interaction perspective were developed to address external issues affecting aging while also attempting to connect the disparate theories of activity and disengagement. Symbolic interaction perspective is based on the premise that as an individual interacts with his environment; his experiences of aging are shaped by these interactions. Three of these alternative theories are: age stratification theory, social exchange theory, and the political economy of aging. There are many similarities and differences between these theories. Age stratification and political economy theories are based on the belief that as people age, the differences in their aging experience is significantly influenced by stratification. Age stratification acknowledges the differences experienced by those sharing a similar history. Similarities among life events and societal changes experienced by these historical  cohorts affect these individuals in similar ways. In contrast, political economy theory rejects all previous theories and posits that differences between individual experiences of aging are determined by social class. Socioeconomic and political factors determine the disparity between different groups in an aging population. Social exchange theory is based on an economic cost-benefit model of social interaction. It could be said that there is a similarity between social exchange and political economy in that disparities experienced are social in nature. Whereas in social exchange theory, an individual is thought to be able to influence or change one’s environment as one adapts, political economy believes that inequalities are built into the political system. Political economy critiques the current system which lulls the individual into believing one has to adapt to circumstances, rather than changing society’s structural inequalities. Of the alternative theories, social exchange is the only one to address the influence of culture on the experience of aging. Social exchange theory believes that people interact with those whom they believe the rewards outweigh the costs of the relationship (Taylor, Peplau, & Sears, 2006). Though social exchange theory acknowledges that though a person may no longer have the same economic value when older, that the older individual possesses other non-materialistic assets such as wisdom, love, and time for service. As our society modernized, these assets have been overlooked by a culture that now places importance on efficiency and productivity (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011). The Second Transformation The second transformation was developed in the early 1980’s. This transformation includes the following approaches: social phenomenology, social constructivism, and social constructionism. Both of which discuss the influence of social perceptions, rather than actual facts. Social phenomenology is an interpretative approach to an individual’s social life on a day to day basis. The purpose is to gain a better understanding of the aging process and how it is influenced by social definitions and social structures. This approach can be a very helpful guide when gaining understanding of an individual’s social life, depending on how the information is obtained. The outcomes for this approach will be solely based on the interpretations of the individual (s) obtaining this information. Not  everyone has the same social definition and or social structures, which could result in numerous interpretations (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). Social Constructionism and Social Constructiv ism are both phenomenological approaches that focus on social phenomena development, but are very different. Social constructionism is the sociological perspective and focuses on the social contexts and structural development. This approach would view how an individual structures their life which shapes their old age experiences. Social constructivism is interpreting the meaning of an individual’s social context, psychologically. From this approach the researchers want to know more information on why a person chooses a specific context and how an individual does decide a specific social context (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). Critical Theory and Feminist Perspectives are also influenced by phenomenology. Critical theory refers to the biomedical model of aging, but focuses on structural and institution factors. This theory is suggesting that those (older people) participating in research studies should be allowed to come up with the questions they are requested to answer. For instance, research conducted regarding retirement would recommend a series of questions complied by other retirees (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). The Feminist Theory concludes that age related research outcomes involve inequalities against wom en. This theory suggests that women haven’t been included in research studies as they should be. It’s even been stated that men have been favored over women. Due to these inequalities all other theories of aging are insufficient. These inequalities also include gender with race, social class, sexual orientation, and disabilities, all of which aren’t discussed as much as they should be (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). These theories are all based on assumptions, rather than actual facts. The text states, â€Å"To positivist, phenomenological theories may seem impossible to test and closer to assumptions about meanings than propositions that can be proved or disprove† (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 326).Society has a huge impact on our perceptions of life, which aren’t consistent and change over time. A huge factor of perception is that it’s not necessarily reality and lacks proven facts. If the information being evaluated isn’t consistent, lacks factual information, and is based on assumptions it shouldn’t be used for practice, but could be a beneficial guiding tool (Hooyman& Kiyak, 2011). Postmodernist Theory Postmodernist theory represents a decisive break with modernity or a positivist scientific approach to an â€Å"objective† truth (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 331). Postmodernism focuses on how our world appears today, rather than focusing on how an individual wishes for the world to be seen. Postmodernist theory reviews the whole of a person’s experiences during their life time and examines the body not from a biological standpoint, but rather by everyday social and cultural practices built overtime to construct the identity of the individual. The individual will physically change overtime, but their essential identity develops based on achievements and future goals. An area that continues to develop in postmodernist theory focuses on biomedical technology that can provide options for reconstructing failing body parts to slow the process of aging. Postmodernist and social constructivist theories share the link of knowledge as a socially constructed element and each indivi dual’s social life events create who they are. This diversity of perspectives alerts social gerontologists to be concerned with the connections between scientific inquiry and the social milieu at particular influential points in time (Putney, Alley, & Bengston, 2005, p. 95). Both areas focus on an individual’s construct based on a cultural framework of customs, traditions, and beliefs. Social constructionism and postmodernist take into account how individual experiences alter an individual’s aging process allowing the person to develop their own reality. Each area stresses the importance of the individual’s social framework to help sustain their self-worth as they age. In contrast to political economy of aging, postmodernists focus on the well-being of an individual not from a social class or political standing, but from their life experiences. Structural factors of gender, sexual orientation, functional ability, race, age and class can have negative effects that limit an individual’s later opportunities. According to Hooyman & Kiyak (2011), these structural factors—often institutionalized and reinforced by public policy—limit the opportunities and choices of later life, resulting in cumulative disadvantages in o ld age, which are further exacerbated by retirement (Hooyman & Kiyak, 2011, p. 323). These differences force aging individuals to change themselves and their lifestyles to fit income, health and physical care policy constraints forced  on them. Increased reduction in public health and social services creates a barrier for individuals to affectively age and receive proper care. Postmodernist theory follows the same framework of individual aging. It develops with the individual to meet their needs on a personal level and takes into consideration what the body and mind have both gone through as they have aged. According to Powell (2011), older people are usually ‘fixed’ to roles without resources which does not do justice to the richness of their individual experiences and multi-facets of their personalities (Powell, 2001, p. 6). Postmodernism clearly focuses on the importance of an individual’s ability to develop overtime through experience and uses biomedicine to provide options for maintaining an individual’s physical body. This provides a solid framework for aging that meets the needs of an individual from both physical and mental capacities. Conclusion While these are the dominant theories, many other theories are in varying stages of development. In addition, theories are constantly being tested and modified as new data from aging research emerges. It is only in the last half-century that researchers have begun to focus their attention on older adults as a population worthy of special consideration. While earlier theories of aging were few in number, narrowly focused, and generally negative, recent theories have emerged that establish aging as a multidimensional process. These theories view aging as characterized by positive as well as negative qualities and are more interactive in nature. They emphasize the interaction of biological, physical, and social factors in each individual’s age trajectory, and attempt to explain how older adults can minimize the negative and maximize the positive aspects of aging, in order to more fully enjoy the increased life span that comes with living in the 21st century. References Andrus Gerontology Center; University of Southern California. (2005). The Psychology of Aging: Lecture Part II. Retrieved from http://gero.usc.edu/AgeWorks/core_courses/gero500_core/psychology_lect/index_a.htm Hooyman, N. R., & Kiyak, H. A. (2011). Social Gerontology, ninth edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Howe, C. Z. (1987). Selected Social Gerontology Theories and Older Adult Leisure Involvement: A Review of the

5 Arabic Words in the News

5 Arabic Words in the News 5 Arabic Words in the News 5 Arabic Words in the News By Daniel Scocco An article in this morning’s newspaper contained the following Arabic words: bidoon djellabah Salafists Shiite Sunni â€Å"He was identified as a member of the country’s large stateless population known as bidoon.† 1. bidoon The word does not appear in either the OED or M-W. I found this definition in an article at PBS: Bidoon refers to a diverse group of people [in Kuwait] who at the time of independence were not given Kuwaiti nationality. The term comes from the Arabic phrase  bidoon jinsiya, â€Å"without nationality.† A Wikipedia article spells the word Bedoon and defines it as â€Å"an ethnic group in Gulf Arab states and Iraq.† â€Å"[He] was wearing jeans, a knee-length djellabah robe [sic] and a loose towel over his head† 2. djellabah I didn’t find this word in either the OED or M-W, but I did find it at Dictionary.com: djellabah: a loose hooded cloak, typically woolen, of a kind traditionally worn by men in North Africa. â€Å"French authorities say Salhi had links to radical Salafists- who preach an ultraconservative form of Islam† 3. Salafists A Salafist is an adherent of Salafism. I found this definition of Salafism in an article at PBS: Salafism  is an ideology that posits that Islam has strayed from its origins. The word salaf is Arabic for â€Å"ancient one† and refers to the companions of the Prophet Mohammed. Arguing that the faith has become decadent over the centuries, Salafists call for the restoration of authentic Islam as expressed by an adherence to its original teachings and texts. â€Å"The Sunni extremists of Islamic State consider Shiites to be heretics† 4. Sunni The OED defines Sunni this way: The orthodox Muslims who accept the Sunna as of equal authority with the Quran, considered collectively. Note: The OED defines Sunna as â€Å"the body of traditional sayings and customs attributed to Muhammad and supplementing the Quran.† â€Å"Authorities said he flew into Kuwait’s international airport at dawn on the day of the noontime attack at one of the emirate’s oldest Shiite mosques.† 5. Shiite In this sentence, Shiite is the adjective form of Shia, a Muslim sect whose name derives from Shiat Ali, â€Å"the party of Ali.† When Muhammad died in 632 CE without naming a political successor, some of his followers thought his son-in-law Ali should be their leader; others declared for his father-in-law, Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr served as the first caliph (632-634); Ali served as the fourth caliph (656- 661). Today, the majority of Muslims are Sunnis- somewhere between 85% and 90%. Shiites represent only about 10% of Muslims, but in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan, they are in the majority.   Note: Caliph is from an Arabic word meaning successor. After the death of Muhammad, it became the title given in Muslim countries to the chief civil and religious ruler. The last caliph in Istanbul was killed by Mongol conquerors in 1258. The Ottoman caliphate was abolished by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:List of 50 Great Word Games for Kids and Adults50 Musical Terms Used in Nonmusical Senses

Pachycephalosaurs - The Bone-Headed Dinosaurs

Pachycephalosaurs - The Bone-Headed Dinosaurs Pachycephalosaurs (Greek for thick-headed lizards) were an unusually small family of dinosaurs with an unusually high entertainment value. As you can guess from their name, these two-legged herbivores were distinguished by their skulls, which ranged from the mildly thick (in early genera like Wannanosaurus) to the truly dense (in later genera like Stegoceras). Some later pachycephalosaurs sported almost a foot of solid, albeit slightly porous, bone on top of their heads! (See a gallery of bone-headed dinosaur pictures and profiles.) However, its important to understand that big heads, in this case, didnt translate into equally big brains. Pachycephalosaurs were about as bright as the other plant-eating dinosaurs of the late Cretaceous period (which is a polite way of saying not very); their closest relatives, the ceratopsians, or horned, frilled dinosaurs, werent exactly natures A students, either. So of all the possible reasons pachycephalosaurs evolved such thick skulls, protecting their extra-big brains certainly wasnt one of them. Pachycephalosaur Evolution Based on the available fossil evidence, paleontologists believe that the very first pachycephalosaurssuch as Wannanosaurus and Goyocephalearose in Asia about 85 million years ago, only 20 million years before the dinosaurs went extinct. As is the case with most progenitor species, these early bone-headed dinosaurs were fairly small, with only slightly thickened skulls, and they may have roamed in herds as protection against hungry raptors and tyrannosaurs. Pachycephalosaur evolution really seems to have taken off when these early genera crossed the land bridge that (back during the late Cretaceous period) connected Eurasia and North America. The largest boneheads with the thickest skullsStegoceras, Stygimoloch and Sphaerotholusall roamed the woodlands of western North America, as did Dracorex hogwartsia, the only dinosaur ever to be named after the Harry Potter books. By the way, its especially difficult for experts to untangle the details of pachycephalosaur evolution, for the simple reason that so few complete fossil specimens have ever been discovered. As you might expect, these thick-skulled dinosaurs tend to be represented in the geological record mainly by their heads, their less-robust vertebrae, femurs and other bones having long since been scattered to the winds. Pachycephalosaur Behavior and Lifestyles Now we get to the million-dollar question: why did pachycephalosaurs have such thick skulls? Most paleontologists believe male boneheads head-butted each other for dominance in the herd and the right to mate with females, a behavior that can be seen in (for example) modern-day bighorn sheep. Some enterprising researchers have even conducted computer simulations, showing that two moderately sized pachycephalosaurs could ram each others noggins at high speed and live to tell the tale. Not everyone is convinced, though. Some people insist that high-speed head-butting would have produced too many casualties, and speculate that pachycephalosaurs instead used their heads to butt the flanks of competitors within the herd (or even smaller predators). However, it does seem odd that nature would evolve extra-thick skulls for this purpose, since non-pachycephalosaur dinosaurs could easily (and safely) butt each others flanks with their normal, non-thickened skulls. (The recent discovery of Texacephale, a small North American pachycephalosaur with shock-absorbing grooves on either side of its skull, lends some support to the head-butting-for-dominance theory.) By the way, the evolutionary relationships among different genera of pachycephalosaurs are still being sorted out, as are the growth stages of these strange dinosaurs. According to new research, its likely that two supposedly separate pachycephalosaur generaStygimoloch and Dracorexin fact represent earlier growth stages of the much bigger Pachycephalosaurus. If the skulls of these dinosaurs changed shape as they aged, that may mean that additional genera have been classified improperly, and were in fact species (or individuals) of existing dinosaurs.

Assessment of the Overall Impact of Colonialism in the Philippines Research Proposal

Assessment of the Overall Impact of Colonialism in the Philippines - Research Proposal Example The strong resistance of the Filipinos to colonial rule paved the way to its national independence in 1946 from the American rule (Weightman 483). Today, the Philippines remarkably is trying to run its own government under a democratic procedure which gives more freedom for all Filipinos to exercise their right for citizenship. Today, 65 years passed after the Philippine independence from American rule, it is still important to look at the following aspects as a particular way to assess the overall impact of colonialism in the Philippines: leadership in governance, political, economic and culture. In 1972, Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed martial law which placed the entire nation under the military authority. Once again, Filipinos had proven that oppression is a significant triggering factor as far as their level of resistance is concerned. Based on these, it is clear that the Philippines together with its people have remarkable characteristics that are in line with its momentous history particularly its experience with colonialism. It is therefore important to asses at this point the level of impact colonialism brought to the Philippines particularly in the country’s leadership in governance, politics, economy, and culture. For instance, corruption in the Philippines is something Filipinos observed from Spaniards, which today became its major and significant problem. In fact, to alleviate if not eliminate it is the very goal of the recent administration.  

Financial Analysis about PepsiCo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Analysis about PepsiCo - Essay Example Today the PepsiCo has a wide and diverse range of edible products and it is one of the largest multinational corporations of the world. As per the financial statements of the company for the financial year 2011, the company has more than 22 mega brands which accounts for more than $1 billion each in annual retail sales. The company has been working diligently on focusing on its strategic targets and has been able to add several brands in the last decade. During the financial year 2011 the company was able to post revenue of 14 percent through its food and average business. The global snack portfolio of the company accounts for around $34 billion. In this particular niche, the company has been able to diverse immensely and through active innovation, the company has been able to add new products such as bread snacks and refrigerated dips. In addition, Lays, one of the world’s leading brands is also owned by PepsiCo and accounted for $9 billion in sales during the financial year 2011.On the other hand, the global beverage portfolio of the company amounts for $34 billion which has shown an impressive increase of 5% growth from the previous financial year. Considering the current strategies and innovation, the company is actively working on brining new experiences to its customers all across the globe. The fact that the company is committed in expanding its operations all across the globe can be identified from the fact that during the 2011 financial year 50% of the revenue of the company came from outside of the America. The company has actively started marketing one of its major beverages Gatorade and Pepsi MAX outside of the America. ... rands is also owned by PepsiCo and accounted for $9 billion in sales during the financial year 2011.On the other hand, the global beverage portfolio of the company amounts for $34 billion which has shown an impressive increase of 5% growth from the previous financial year. Considering the current strategies and innovation, the company is actively working on brining new experiences to its customers all across the globe. The fact that the company is committed in expanding its operations all across the globe can be identified from the fact that during the 2011 financial year 50% of the revenue of the company came from outside of the America. The company has actively started marketing one of its major beverages Gatorade and Pepsi MAX outside of the America. No matter how strong the asset base of a company is and how prudent and effective the management of its resources is, there are always certain business risk lurking. As per the latest financial statement of the company, a great quantu m of its sales pertains to outside of America to countries such as Mexico, United Kingdom, China, India etc. However, the markets in these countries are still emerging and there is no certainty and surety that the products manufactured by the company will be accepted in the coming future. In addition, the political instability or severe economic meltdown can cause serious affect on the profitability of the company. Serious competition from any of the local brand in the aforementioned countries can also give difficult time to the company in achieving its desired sales target and revenue level. Change in the legal and regulatory requirement in any of the country can adversely affect the operations of the company. The overseas operations and conduct of the business including production,

Critical perspectives on Management (this is not the topic of essay) Essay

Critical perspectives on Management (this is not the topic of ) - Essay Example Though management has improved over a period, most things have remained the same. Management theory and practice have been touted as the most important as one of the important strategies however the scientific management and theories and practice differs a lot. In that the scientific theories that we learned from Fall to what really is on the ground brings out its main difference. Whether it’s because of its objectivity, cost or even expertise if fails in achieving its core objective. The focus of this study will be the critical issues about the assumptions in business and also why a lot of careful consideration has to be done and why management theory and practice is not after all the most effective management tool. The practice employed might be realistic it is not enough to administer the same theories over and over. It is easy to describe though some theories have been very important to the world of business they have brought about negative examples to the business industry and it is therefore important to analyze what does not work for the firm and management. The assumption of scientific theories help in managing business not forgetting that they are expensive to incur and set up for any firm and sometimes they are not tailor made for the organization. The critics of this ponder just because a feature like a decentralization worked in company X that is a multinational does not make it a must to work in company Y. Thus, it will not be realistic to assign one organization on the mere fact it worked in another (Schweiger(1991). Though the scientific management theory focused more on employee it failed to realize that sometimes the challenges may not be an employee but the resources and expertise accorded to him/her. It also focused on the human behavior only in the workplace and not everywhere the employee would visit (Schein, E.H. (1980). The other theory is the, general administrative theory which

A Brief Review Of Petronas

A Brief Review Of Petronas PETRONAS is the short for Petroliam National Berhad. As an incorporated company, it was founded on the 17th of August 1974. It was wholly owned and controlled by the government of Malaysia. PETRONAS has ventured into more than 32 countries including Argentina, Russia and Egypt. It currently employs over 30, 000 employees of 38 nationalities. PETRONAS has involved in the entire petroleum activities. From managing the sharing contractors of the foreign production, it has been changed into developing its own capabilities in the upstream sector allow it to take the lead in the exploration and production of the nations oil and gas resources. Vested with the entire oil and gas resources in Malaysia, PETRONAS is entrusted by the government to develop and add value to these resources. Besides that, it also ventured into downstream activities. It seeks to maximize value creation and strengthen of its operations all the way down the value chain. The range downstream activities of PETRONAS includes oil refining, gas processing and liquefaction, gas transmission pipeline operations, petrochemical manufacturing and marketing, property investment, shipping, marketing of liquefied natural gas, marketing and distribution of petroleum products, and trading. Internal Environment There is a high level of interdependence between an organization and its internal environment. The internal environment, also known as micro force, comprises elements that have a direct influence on the operations of the organization. They have an impact on the achievement of the organizations goals. The Micro forces of the environment are: Vision and Mission PETRONAS is a big organization and a corporation which is widely known to the world as a company that exports Malaysian oil. Being a big organization, PETRONAS has its very own vision and mission to achieve its common goal and to serve its customers the best service they can provide. As we all know vision is a long-term plan that exists in almost every company or organization. PETRONASs vision statement is to be a leading oil and gas multinational of choice. It is hoping to become a worldwide known organization and also the first choice among all other oil companies present so far. PETRONAS mission statements, on the other hand, are as follows: We are a business entity. Petroleum is our core business. Our primary responsibility is to develop and add value to this national resource. Our objective is to contribute to the well-being of the people and the nation. (PETRONAS, 2010) The mission and vision PETRONAS believes has made it grows tremendously since it was incorporated in the month of August on the 17th in the year 1974. It is now a fully-integrated oil and gas corporation which is ranked among FORTUNE Global 500s largest corporation in the world. Organizational structure Organizational structure is the internal, formal framework of a business that shows the way in which management is linked together and how authority is transmitted. (Stimpson, 2006) structure.jpg Figure 1: The Corporation Organizational Structure of PETRONAS (PETRONAS Case Study on Education, 2005) As shown in the Figure 1, PETRONAS adopts the functional organization structure. It enables specialization and allowing its employees to focus on their respective areas. There is cross functional bonds between the respective divisions and departments. It is the bond and process of specialization that has led to the success of the organization. Team work is encouraged, all the departments work together to achieve the companys goals and targets. This has proved to rewarding for the organization as a whole and the employees, customers, suppliers and the community as a whole. The line of authority is clearly drawn, orders are sent from the top most level, the president and the CEO. PETRONAS has also hired consultants to improve business and organization results. Functional Strategies Corporate Planning and development division This division plans long term and short term business strategies which lead to the development of the organization. Education division This division undertakes the responsibility of all the educational activities associated with PETRONAS. It involves the scholarships provided by University Technology PETRONAS and the education programs provided to the underserved community. Finance division The Finance division provides the company with its accounting and financial reporting backbone of the company. Its role is to identify financial sources to finance the operations of the company and to locate profitable areas where the business can invest their money to get higher returns. PETRONAS is involved in the sports world through its investment with Mercedes F1team. It has also contributed towards the development of Turkmenistan economy, by investing US dollar $ 1.8 billion in the oil and gas industries. Technical Services division This division is set up to drive and manage the technological activities of PETRONAS. Human Resource division The most important function of the human resource department is recruitment, selection and training of employees among others. PETRONAS selects the best and brightest of employees through talent searches amongst local and overseas graduate. PETRONAS trains and molds its own employees through technical training and innovative program provided in University Technology PETRONAS. Shareholders Shareholders of a firm can directly influence its policies and activities. PETRONAS shareholder is the government. It generates income and value for its shareholder. PETRONAS gave the government RM 52.3 billion from its RM86.8 billion pre-tax profit, in the form royalty, dividends, corporate tax, income tax and export duty. PETRONAS provides shareholders with the opportunity to gain first hand exposure on the Companys operations by organizing several visits to its Gas Processing Plants. Such two-way communication increases corporate transparency and helps shareholders take a longer term view of their investment based on a better understanding of the companys corporate strategy and operation. PETRONAS recognizes the importance of timely and equal dissemination of information to shareholders. Therefore they arrange the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which is a crucial mechanism in shareholders communication. Employees PETRONAS must be committed to enhancing the capability of its employees, as a corporation is only as good as the people who work for it. This phrase is from PETRONAS mission statement. Employees are the most important asset of an organization, since it is the dedication, motivation and skills of an employee that make a business successful. PETRONAS highly values its employees and understands the importance of their motivation. Therefore it arranges various programmes to encourage and support its employees by involving them in voluntary work. Programmes such as Sentuhan Kasih and Jalinan Insan allow their employees to contribute to homes for disadvantaged children and orphans in the areas of their operations. These programmes provide the employees with job satisfaction, which in return highly motivates them to perform better. Community Lord Holme and Richard Watts used the following definition. Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large The culture now is to be generous by giving back to the community. Therefore organizations have certain responsibility towards the community they work in. PETRONAS is a responsible citizen of the community, thus is has successfully imitated and supported various social, environmental and community projects. PETRONAS and Education PETRONAS is committed is developing the people and they operate in by providing education particularly in the field on science and technology. They are determined to create a skilled human resource base for Malaysia through various schemes. Scholarships University technology PETRONAS (UTP) provides hands on technical training and innovative programs to help employees build skills and competencies. PETROSAINS provides a rich and motivating environment for the public to acquire knowledge about science and technology. PETRONAS benefits from this program since they are molding their own workforce, by educating them in standards which are important to PETRONAS. PETRONAS and Environment PETRONAS recognizes the importance of conserving biological diversity in order to ensure people, animals and plants. Therefore they developed the KUALA LUMPUR CITY CENTRE (KLCC) PARK, to balance the challenging demands of growing urban populations, with the environmental conservation. A much needed public park and green lung for the city of Kuala Lumpur. External Environment External environment refers to the macro forces that happen outside the business which cannot be controlled by the business. These forces will influence the internal functions of the business and its strategies to adapt itself to the changing environment. Political Environment The Malaysian government chose to create a state company, rather than using taxes, production limits, leasing, or other familiar instruments of supervision. The government sought to assert national rights over the use of the countrys resources. A state company, having both supervisory powers over the majors and production activities of its own, was a workable compromise between allowing the majors full rein and excluding them, along with their capital and expertise, altogether. PETRONAS is given full trust by Malaysia government to conduct business independently from the government. Government holds 100% of PETRONAS and formulates and implements energy policies including oil gas. The company cooperates with the government for the common purpose to develop the country to achieve the level of advanced countries. Regarding the relationship between PETRONAS and the government, one executive in the company said, There is a world, especially in the Third World, where only the government and the government (GG) can open the first door. He claimed that there is the world which does not function well with the absence of mutual trust between the government and the national oil company. http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:pCgz92sE-H0FpM::history.sandiego.edu/cdr2/WW2Pics/04541.GIFt=1h=191w=266usg=__edWYAb0Yxd4yqnM8TXpb2ftbqK8= Legal Environment Legal concepts, principles and issues are affecting everyday business decisions of all organizations. PETRONAS is a multinational organization. Therefore the company is subjected to laws in all of its host countries. Petroleum Development Act 1974 To regulate the oil and gas industry to achieve Malaysias economic development needs, Petroleum Development Act 1974 was formulated, and PETRONAS was established under this act. Through this act, PETRONAS owns the exclusive right of ownership, exploration and production of petroleum and gas. Under the direct purview of Malaysias Prime Minister, PETRONAS is responsible for its planning, investment and regulation of all up-stream activities. Government Taxation PETRONAS is liable to pay to the Federal and State Government in terms of dividends, taxes, export duties and royalties. In the year of 2009, PETRONAS has paid RM 30.0 billion as dividends, RM20.3 billion as income tax, RM 9.1 billion as corporate income tax, RM 2.2 billion as export duties and RM 6.2 billion as royalties to the government (PETRONAS: Media Release, 2009). Laws Regarding Employee Benefits On the other hand, nearly all government pass laws to control recruitment, employment, minimum wages, health and safety at work, and trade union rights of employees. One of its aims is to protect the workers from any kind of physical injuries. It requires the working environment in PETRONAS to be safe with adequate equipment and sanitation. However, these requirements usually add up to the business cost. Consumer Rights In addition, PETRONAS has to protect consumer rights. The Consumer rights seek to protect the rights and interest of consumers, as well as to prevent them from receiving products that do not reach a reasonable level of safety. PETRONAS sternly practices this as to ensure maximum popularity amongst other oil and gas company as well as looking after customer satisfaction. Economical Environment Economical environment refers to the collective of the nature of economic system in the country. It would affect a business in terms of recession, interest rates, exchange rates and global economic factors. Recession Recession is the process when values of goods and services decline in an economy. It results in the fall of demand for certain products, as income is reduced. To keep the demand on going, the prices of products are lowered. According to an article by Jane Lee in 2009, net income of PETRONAS in the year ended March 31 dropped 14%. It was its first annual profit decline in 7 years due to sapped energy demand in global recession and high production cost. Interest rates During inflation, there will be increase in the supply of money associated to the amount of goods available. This will result in a rise in prices of goods and services in the economy over a period of time. For PETRONAS, the high interest rates and fall of purchasing power would consequently affect the cash flow of the organization. Oil Price Oil Price has strong relationship with PETRONAS sales performance. When oil price in Malaysia increase, its sales will strongly increase, and when oil price in Malaysia decrease, its sales also decrease. http://www.thegeminigeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/business-environment.jpg Technological Environment In order to adapt itself to the rapid growing technological environment, an organization has to be versatile and recognises the value of technology to its business growth. PETRONAS is a technology dependent organization that promotes and uses technology vastly for research and development. It pursues the strategic deployment and application of technology to further enhance operational excellence and maximize the potential of its existing assets and emerging opportunities. Technology in Gas Business In the Gas Business, PETRONASs technology emphasizes on mercury management. With the initiatives to remove mercury from raw condensates, the onshore mercury removal system, a technology that is among the first in the world, has been installed at PETRONAS Onshore Gas Terminal in Kertih. This system is able to treat raw condensates at the terminal, to improve operational and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) performance as well as to assure product quality. Technology in Oil Business In the Oil Business, PETRONAS continue to pursue leading edge technologies to enhance its fuels and lubricants businesses. PRIMAX 3, the unleaded petrol, was developed in-house utilizing a superior quality fuel formulation innovated by optimising base fuel properties through the addition of the Sinar G-05 additive (PETRONAS: Oil Business, 2010). While meeting environmental standards, it enhances engine performance and efficiency. In addition, PETRONAS also believes there are opportunities in alternative energy resources and continue to explore the potential of hydrocarbon resources as well as solar energy and bio-fuels. In building a long term and sustainable energy business, the company looks toward Green Technologies to prepare for the future low-carbon economy. These technologies are believed to be providing a strong competitive advantage for PETRONAS to strengthen its position in global business. Competition In any of the industry, there must be competition among organizations. An organization will try to get more customers to buy their product instead of the one offered by the competitors. The success of organizations depends on which one makes the most attractive products at lower prices. The major competitors to PETRONAS are Shell and Caltex. They produce different type and efficiency of petrol. PETRONAS PETRONAS has designed PETRONAS PRIMAX 3 to provide maximum protection and performance for your car. By formulating with unique additive components, PETRONAS PRIMAX 3 efficiently protects the engine against injector fouling and corrosion, reinstating the car to its peak performance to improve fuel economy. Shell However, Shell is the leader in developing high quality fuels. Shell Super with fuel economy formula is specially designed by Shell experts to give you extra miles at no extra cost. It is formulated with Shells Synthetic Viscous Friction Improver, designed to reduce friction in this crucial part of your engine, helping to improve its efficiency. Caltex On the other hand, all Caltex petrols now include technologically-advanced, patented fuel ingredient, Techron ®. Caltex Techron with cleaning agent is unsurpassed at keeping engines clean and cleaning up deposits to help reinstate original performance. It contains powerful detergents which help in removing deposits from fuel injectors intake ports and valves. The key benefits for using Techron ® are improved performance, enhanced reliability, smoother drive, restored fuel economy and lower emissions. Comparing these petrol brands, each of them has its own strengths. They are having a healthy competition in the petrol industry with the same goal to provide the best petrol they could produce. Social Environment Social environment refers to the factors regarding the society as well as the environment. An organization needs to have social responsibilities in order to contribute to the people of the society and to protect natural environment. Social Responsibility on Consumer Many companies are affected by society and vice-versa. For PETRONAS, it was noticed that consumers are the foundation of the entire business, and dissatisfied customer could be a warning signal to the business. Therefore, it has to take care of societal needs and safeguard human rights. For example, it concerns about the safety and health of consumers. It has to make sure that it supplies safe products to the consumers and provides product knowledge via advertisements, as well as ensures product utility and performance as advertised. Social Responsibility on Environment In undertaking its business activities, PETRONAS cares for the environment by adopting responsible environmental management practices in its operations. At the same time, it also contributes to the biodiversity and conservation of the environment for the sake of the community. PETRONAS is taking every practicable and reasonable step to prevent the risk of injuries, health hazards and damages to properties in according to international Health, Safety and Environment standards. It is also investing in community-related initiatives in environmental conservation and urban renewal, both in Malaysia and other countries. These community projects aimed to create sustainable benefit and tangible value to the communities. http://www.momisteaching.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/social-media-marketing.jpg Conclusion Over the years, PETRONASs unique experience and expertise, coupled with its technical and operational competencies have allowed it to be accepted as the preferred strategic partner by international companies and the host countries. Facing the adverse business and economic environment, PETRONAS is still able to integrate, add value and globalize its operations. These would bring the company towards the realization of its vision to become a Leading Oil and Gas Multinational of Choice. Moving forward, PETRONAS will continue to improve its business performance, strengthen its resilience and enhance its capabilities to confront the challenges in delivering a sustainable energy future for all its stakeholders. Moreover, it will guided by its objective to serve the nation and people with high standards of ethics and integrity, while at the same time maximizing shareholders returns. (3029 words)