Tuesday, December 31, 2019

List of Platinum Group Metals or PGMs

The platinum group metals or PGMs are a set of six transition metals that share similar properties. They may be considered a subset of the precious metals. The platinum group metals are clustered together on the periodic table, plus these metals tend to be found together in minerals. The list of PGMs is: Iridium  (Ir)Osmium  (Os)Palladium  (Pd)Platinum  (Pt)Rhodium  (Rh)Ruthenium  (Ru) Alternate Names: The platinum group metals are also known as: PGMs, platinum group, platinum metals, platinoids, platinum group elements or PGEs, platinides, platidises, platinum family Key Takeaways: Platinum Group Metals The platinum group metals or PGMs are a set of six precious metals that are clustered together on the periodic table around the element platinum.The elements share certain desirable properties with platinum. All are noble metals and transition metals in the d-block of the periodic table.The platinum group metals are widely used as catalysts, corrosion-resistant materials, and fine jewelry. Properties of the Platinum Group Metals The six PGMs share similar properties, including: Extremely high density (densest element is a PGM)Highly resistant to wear or tarnishResist corrosion or chemical attackCatalytic propertiesStable electrical propertiesStable at high temperatures Uses of PGMs Several of the platinum group metals are used in jewelry. In particular, platinum, rhodium, and iridium are popular. Because of the price of these metals, they are often used as coatings over softer, more reactive metals, such as silver.PGMs are important catalysts. Platinum catalysts are important in the petrochemical industry. Platinum or platinum-rhodium alloy are used to catalyze partial oxidation of ammonia to produce nitric oxide, an important raw material in chemical production. PGMS are also used as catalysts for organic chemical reactions. The automotive industry uses platinum, palladium, and rhodium in catalytic converters to treat exhaust emissions.Platinum group metals are used as alloying additives.PGMs may be used to make crucibles used to grow single crystals, particularly of oxides.Platinum group metal alloys are used to make electrical contacts, electrodes, thermocouples, and circuits.Iridium and platinum are used in medical implants and pacemakers. Sources of Platinum Group Metals Platinum gets its name from platina, meaning little silver, because the Spaniards considered it an unwanted impurity in silver mining operations in Colombia. For the most part, PGMs are found together in ores. Ultramafic and mafic igneous rocks contain high levels of platinum group metals, the granites contain a low percentage of the metals. The richest deposits include mafic layered intrusions, such as Bushveld Complex. Platinum metals are found in the Ural Mountains, North and South America, Ontario, and other places. Platinum metals are also produced as a by-product of nickel mining and processing. Additionally, the light platinum group metals (ruthenium, rhodium, palladium) form as fission products in nuclear reactors. Extraction Platinum metal extraction processes are typically trade secrets. First, the sample is dissolved in acid. Aqua regia is most often used for this purpose. This produces a solution of metal complexes. Basically, isolation uses the different solubilities and reactivities of the different elements in various solvents. While recovering noble metals from reactors is expensive, the escalating price of the metals has made spent nuclear fuel a viable source of the elements. History Platinum and its alloys occur in native form and were known by pre-Columbian Americans. Despite its early use, platinum does not appear in literature until the 16th century. In 1557, Italian Julius Caesar Scalinger wrote of a mysterious metal found in Central America that was unknown to Europeans. Fun Fact Iron, nickel, and cobalt are three transition metals located above the platinum group metals on the periodic table. They are the only transition metals that are ferromagnetic! Sources Kolarik, Zdenek; Renard, Edouard V. (2005). Potential Applications of Fission Platinoids in Industry. Platinum Metals Review. 49 (2): 79. doi:10.1595/147106705X35263Renner, H.; Schlamp, G.; Kleinwà ¤chter, I.; Drost, E.; Là ¼schow, H. M.; Tews, P.; Panster, P.; Diehl, M.; et al. (2002). Platinum group metals and compounds. Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Wiley. doi:10.1002/14356007.a21_075Weeks, M. E. (1968). Discovery of the Elements (7 ed.). Journal of Chemical Education. pp. 385–407. ISBN 0-8486-8579-2.Woods, Ian (2004). The Elements: Platinum. Benchmark Books. ISBN 978-0-7614-1550-3.Xiao, Z.; Laplante, A. R. (2004). Characterizing and recovering the platinum group minerals—a review. Minerals Engineering. 17 (9–10): 961–979. doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2004.04.001

Monday, December 23, 2019

Walter Lippmanns Views on Presidential Ability to Make...

Walter Lippmanns Views on Presidential Ability to Make U.S. Foreign Policy In his book entitled Public Opinion Walter Lippmann presents some very profound arguments on how public opinion is formed and how mach value it has. He describes in great detail the decision making process and how our own stereotypes affect our perception of events. Lippmann expresses his disillusionment with mass democracy, his concerns about propaganda and how the press could not be trusted to provide unbiased information. Contrary to what one would expect form someone holding such views Lippmann also questions the trustworthiness of the chief executive to make good foreign policy, even when he has all of the inside information and knows the true nature†¦show more content†¦However there are plenty of examples which show that Lippmann has hit on a key point here. One such example is the bombing of Nagasaki (second atomic bomb) and President Harry Truman. It has long been debated whether the second atomic bomb was really necessary to bring World War II to an end. Th ere has been much evidence that the Japanese had indicated a desire to surrender prior to the bombing but with the only condition that they be allowed to keep their emperor. An important clue was the diary of President Truman. The following is an excerpt from his diary concerning the use of the atomic bomb: Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. When the official order for using the bombs was given there was no mention of sparing cities or civilian targets. The cities were the targets themselves. The point is that Trumans own personal stereotypes of the Japanese are evident in this entry. The entry can be interpreted as Truman viewing the Japanese as being less than human. When one views another group as being less than human it becomes much less difficult to give an order which will end the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. So it is quite possible that his own personal stereotypes played a role along with the argument that the bombs would expedite the end of the war and

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Lego Free Essays

Lego Lego is a line of plastic toys that can be constructed into specific sets, characters from movies or books, and anything you want it to be. The Lego Group started out in 1932 and today it’s one of the world’s leading toy companies, In 2016 alone, Lego made 12.4 billion dollars from only lego sets. We will write a custom essay sample on Lego or any similar topic only for you Order Now Today they also have amusement parks with lego rides, stores, and statues made out of legos, such as a pirate ship, Hulkbuster, and Hulk. The man who started the lego group was known as Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who grew up with five brothers and five sisters. By the age of seven he was working for a local smallholder, then a few months later he began to work at a nearby farm. In the year 1903 he was apprenticed as a carpenter with his brother, and worked hard until 1911 when he completed his training. Ole Kirk Kristiansen buys Billund Maskinsnedkeri for DKK 10,000 when the area is just a bunch of small farms and store fronts. This factory manufactures doors, windows, kitchen cabinets, cupboards, coffins, chests of drawers, and tools for digging peat. They also contributed for larger projects, such as fixing farm machinery or constructing buildings, such as the local church. With this skill set and the help of a local architect, he built a new house for him, his wife, and his kids all while paying little to nothing.During the great economic crisis, Ole Kirk Kristiansen was still trying to sell carpentry, but almost nobody could afford his works, forcing him out of work. After that, his wife left him with 4 kids and no money to take care of them. To make easy money during the crisis, Ole Kirk Kristiansen began to make toys, first wooden cars, then airplanes and yoyos. After that he began to make ironing boards, ladders, and christmas tree stands. This did get him through the crisis, but he doesn’t make any real profit and his family doesn’t think his store is very important. Kristiansen asked his brothers and sisters to be guarantors for a loan that would secure his company’s future, they asked him,† Can’t you find something better to do?†Ole Kirk Kristiansen ended up having kids during the 1920s, but the kid who had the most effect on the family company was the third son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen. He was helping his dad in the shop when he was only four years old. He always said his first memory in there was when they turned on the glue heater, and some wood shavings caught fire and burned the whole place down. The reason Ole Kirk Kristiansen and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen have different beginnings to their names is because people pronounced the name with the â€Å"Ch† and when casually spelling out the name they would use the â€Å"Ch† as well. Ole Kirk Kristiansen never minded the confusion but Godtfred was bothered by it so he had it legally changed to Christiansen.After World War II, Ole Kirk Kristiansen noticed that a new material for making toys was becoming more and more popular; plastic. Plastic was less more malleable than wood and could be acquired easier. Ole Kirk Kristiansen and other Danish toy manufacturers attended a demonstration of an injection-moulding machine in June of 1946, and the machine impressed Kristiansen so he made an order for an injection-moulding machine for his own shop. Ole Kirk Kristiansen’s sons, who were all involved in the family company at the time, collectively disagreed with their fathers decision to invest money into this new technology. They thought while plastic could be used to make prettier toys, wood was the better material because it was the stronger of the two. Their father argued that if they got it right; they could produce toys for the whole world.In 1949, the first of the plastic lego bricks had begun production. They were known as Automatic Binding Bricks, but in 1951, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen changed the name to LEGO Mursten, or LEGO Bricks to further spread popularity of LEGO.By 1953 the LEGO company was ready to go international, starting with the Nordic countries, such as Sweden and Iceland. After that they turned to Europe; starting with Germany. At the time, Germany was the world’s epicenter of toy production. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen during this time often said, â€Å"If we can conquer Germany, we can conquer the world!† In the end they did get to the whole world, but it did take them a while. In 1961, LEGO finally licensed an American company which would begin to sell around the country and in Canada. Once LEGO began to make a name for itself across the entire world, other people and companies started competition with LEGO, giving them a hard time. In 1960. Godtfred Kirk Kristiansen laid down the company rule: following the crucial decision to concentrate all efforts into the LEGO system, saying â€Å"No one must be able to do this better than us.† He also outlines all of their development so far, like this,†We know our idea is a good one. We want only the best †¦ we must make better bricks from even better material on even better machinery. We must get the best people that money can buy for our company.† In 1962, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen’s cousin, Dagny Holm, joined the company and showed a very immense potential for model building with a skilled eye that seemed like it could make anything out of those bricks. She made buildings, castles, animals, people, and furniture. Her skill attracted the public eye and inspired anybody who worked with the LEGO product, making the company’s golden age. Godtfred Kirk Christiansen came up with the idea to use his cousin’s skill to make a display of LEGO models and contacted a few friends to startup the first LEGOLand. Thousands of pounds of earth and vegetation were removed to make ever-changing landscapes in the Miniland. The final product included a train, puppet theater, Native American camp, driving school, neighborhood, windmill, and church, all created by Dagny Holm and her creative team. Within the year of the first LEGOland’s opening, around 625,000 people visit it to see the models or play with the thousands of LEGO bricks around the property.The LEGO company continued to expand and grow until today, where it is still achieving new things and breaking records every day. Almost everybody grew up playing with legos, either building the sets that they sell, playing with friends or making their own creations just for fun. You can ask almost anyone and they can tell you a few memories they have of playing with legos, whether it’s going to Legoland to stepping on them getting out of bed. Today LEGO makes things called Lego Sets. They are meant to be little figurines or models from real life, movies, books, TV shows, and video games. Some examples of these Lego Sets are: hospitals, The Millenium Falcon, Helms Deep, The Death Star, and Space Ships. These sets are sold in boxes, which contain bags of pieces, big and small. Some of the are just meant to be walls, but some of the pieces are doors, stairs, cups, and windows. The sets always have a different number of pieces, depending on the size of the set. Sometimes the piece count is 50, other times it is over 1000. The box also contains a book of instructions, telling the builder where to put the pieces and when to move to other parts. People use these sets for many things. Some people put them up for observation in their rooms, other people play with them until they break, and a very special few people wait several years until that specific set isn’t sold anymore and they sell it for a big price. How to cite Lego, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Literacy in Pakistan for Theory and Practice- MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theLiteracy in Pakistan for Theory and Practice. Answer: Introduction Literacy is the ability to understand text used in written media such as newspapers and capacity to perform simple arithmetic calculation such as subtraction, addition, and counting. Education is the lifeline of developing countries, and high literacy levels often mean high development in any country. The job market is changing, and it demands skills which can only be attained by learning. To develop their nations, countries around the world are striving to have a literate population so as to catch up with developed nations. Pakistan is a relatively new country having been formed in 1947. Four years after its formation, Pakistan had a literacy level of around 20 percent. While this number was expected to drop as the country became stable, the illiteracy level has risen to new heights, and it is still growing (UNESCO Islamabad, 2012). For a country which was formed on the promise of new opportunities, the literacy level is worrying. Many aspects have been blamed for the low literacy l evels: from poor policy to lack of resource allocation to the education sector to population burst, the message is clear that there is a need for change. Pakistan has a literacy rate of 56 per cent which makes it one of the lowest in the world. Half of the population is illiterate, and the dropout rate is over 30 percent(Das, Pandey, Zajonc, 2006). Literacy levels are worrying in all the sexes and people of all ages. A literate population leads to social, political, cultural and personal development in a country. For Pakistan to realize any meaningful development, it must ensure that emphasizes on educating its population. The country should realize the value of education in development. Literacy is a boost to the development of a country. Firstly, being illiterate does not affect the individual alone, it affects the society as a whole. Institutions which are crucial for the country such as the political institution are affected in a society where most of the population are illiterate. Illiteracy causes dependence and deprives the citizens of the country of attaining any meaningful development. In a country where more than half of the population have never attended school, Pakistans development has been substantially impaired (Iqbal, Haque, Niazi, 2002). This shocking literacy rate has taken a terrible toll on the political, social, and economic sectors in the country. The wealth of a country is the sum of its citizens wealth. Illiterate citizens do not have the necessary skills to fend for themselves. This inability to provide for themselves impairs the developments of a country. Also, high illiteracy in adults means that they cannot afford to educate their children hence it leads to a cycle of illiteracy in a countr y. Further, low literacy levels mean that a country lags behind in development in comparison with its neighbors (UNESCO Islamabad, 2012). However, the worst result of low literacy levels to development is due to its effect on the democracy of a country. Illiterate citizens are not able to make political decisions, and hence they are not well represented. Pakistan often faces political instability due to the high illiteracy among the voters who are not able to make informed decisions. Development is the collective effort of all citizens and improving literacy levels will ensure that the country attains many forms of development. Combination of factors often causes low literacy levels. In Pakistan, their literacy level which is below 60 percent is caused by financial constraints and poor policies. Poor resource allocation often hampers the development of education. Allocation to the education sector in Pakistan is often less than three percent of the gross domestic product (Choudhry, 2005). Furthermore, a lack of policy and an absence of structure result in low literacy levels. The policies which are often set are not implemented. This lack of commitment from the government and the stakeholders have greatly contributed to the low literacy levels. These cause and effect of aspects of poverty, high population, and poor policies lead to a grim future in a country. Leaders should be committed and take an interest in improving the literacy levels (Street, 2003). The leaders should push for agendas which will lead to social change by improving the literacy levels. Additionally, the policy gaps should be reduced. Th e stakeholders involved in improving the literacy levels to should be willing and open to ideas which will transform the education sector. There should be organizational structures which are aimed at improving literacy, and such organizations should be well funded. Not spending on education of its citizens has grave implications on the future of Pakistan (Das et al., 2006). Adults should be educated so that they can be empowered to educate their children hence stopping the cycle of illiteracy. Further, rural areas should be targeted in literacy programs as most of the illiterate are accumulated in rural places. Pakistan should address the factors which cause high illiteracy so that it can achieve developmental goals. Literacy levels in Pakistan are low, and the country should seek to improve so as to achieve development. Pakistan should ensure that children are schooled when they are young. Those who have attained the age of going to school should be given full access to formal education which will increase literacy. Education is a basic human right and Pakistan should be committed to fulfill this international pledge. There should be active approaches and establishment of literacy programs all over the country. The result of having low literacy levels in a country are many, and they jeopardize a countrys effort of achieving development, the sooner a country improves its literacy level, the sooner it achieves development. Adult literacy programs should be started and stakeholders should be committed to tackle challenges to improving the literacy levels. The improvement of literacy levels in citizens through formal education is a constant factor for the betterment of a country. Illiteracy blocks a ny meaningful development in a country and hampers with the progress of a society. Low literacy levels also impede the progress of a countrys institutions. References Choudhry, M. A. (2005). Pakistan?: where and who are the world s illiterates Literacy for Life, 114. Das, J., Pandey, P., Zajonc, T. (2006). Learning levels and gaps in Pakistan. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, No. 4067, 147. https://doi.org/February 23, 2015 Iqbal, Z., Haque, A. R., Niazi, H. K. (2002). Literacy Trends in Pakistan. Islamabad. Street, B. (2003). Whats new in New Literacy Studies?: Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education, 5(2), 7791. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.02.026 UNESCO Islamabad. (2012). Why Paksitan Needs a Literacy Movement? Islamabad.

Friday, November 29, 2019

The Solid Agricultural Company Essay Essay Example

The Solid Agricultural Company Essay Essay There are at least as many manners of direction as there are directors ; however. most direction manners fall into one of a few wide classs. Every manager’s manner includes some agencies of doing determinations and some agencies of associating to subsidiaries. Below are the five most common direction manners. Autocratic: Autocratic or autocratic directors lead one-sidedly. They make determinations based on their ain sentiments and experience without taking the sentiments of subsidiaries into history. Although autocratic directors do non be given to be popular with employees. they make determinations rapidly and expeditiously. On the other manus. if an bossy director makes an mistake. the deficiency of input from others can do the effects terrible. Autocratic direction tends to be successful in industries that rely on unskilled workers and have plentifulness of turnover. such as nutrient service and retail. Highly skilled and personally motivated employees tend to gall under this type of direction. We will write a custom essay sample on The Solid Agricultural Company Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Solid Agricultural Company Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Solid Agricultural Company Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Advisory: Like bossy directors. advisory directors make determinations more or less one-sidedly. Unlike bossy directors. these leaders prioritize communicating with employees and take their demands into history alongside the demands of the concern. Consultative direction still allows the director to do determinations expeditiously ; in add-on. the accent on employee interaction tends to increase employee trueness and cut down turnover. However. employees tend to go extremely dependent on their director. Advisory directors tend to be most successful in concerns that hope to retain employees for long periods of clip. Many of the best office directors use this manner. Persuasive: Persuasive directors maintain control over every facet of the concern indirectly. Alternatively of giving orders. these directors operate by explicating why undertakings need to be carried out in a certain manner. Employees tend to experience more involved in the decision-making procedure under this manner ; however. ultimate authorization still rests with the director entirely. Persuasive direction is a peculiarly helpful manner when complicated undertakings need to be carried out in the workplace. However. directors who rely excessively to a great extent on explicating every undertaking in item may see their concerns decelerate to a crawl. Democratic: While a persuasive director explains every facet of the decision-making procedure to his subsidiaries. a democratic director really includes his subsidiaries in the procedure. Democratic direction relies to a great extent on bipartisan communicating between direction and employees. This manner is peculiarly helpful when a determination requires specialized cognition that the director lacks ; for case. when doing an IT-related determination. a director may necessitate to inquire an IT specializer for input. Including employees in decision-making tends to better occupation satisfaction and cut down turnover. Trusting on employee input for every determination. though. can greatly cut down the efficiency of the concern. Laissez-faire: In a â€Å"hands-off† direction manner. the director acts as a incentive. wise man and usher to his subsidiaries. Individual employees manage their ain subdivisions of the concern with minimum supervising. Possibly surprisingly. this direction manner demands the most personal accomplishment from the director: If he can efficaciously pass on a strong vision for the concern and steer his subsidiaries with wide expertness. a individualistic director can convey out the best in his workers. Highly professional. self-motivated employees. such as salesmen and applied scientists. can profit greatly from this manner. Although most directors tend to fall into one of these five classs. the most successful troughs can pull from several manners depending on the state of affairs. Within a individual office. some fortunes may name for an bossy determination. others may name for democratic engagement from subsidiaries and still others may necessitate a hands-off attack. Directors who make an attempt to larn all five manners can win in any scene.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Learn the Many French Expressions Using Bien

Learn the Many French Expressions Using Bien The French word bien  means well or good and is used in many idioms that express several forms of speech, from nouns to verbs and exclamations. But bien by itself is usually an adverb. Learn how to say good and evil, real estate, well see, to do a good job, and more with these fun expressions using  bien. Remember not to confuse bien and its close sibling bon. Bon  and  bien  are often confused, because they have similar meanings and because both can function as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. Common French Expressions Using Bien Avoir la langue bien pendue – To be a facile talker; to have the gift of gab Bel et bien – Altogether; truly; really Bien au contraire – On the contrary; quite the opposite Bien dans sa peau – Comfortable in ones own skin / with oneself Bien entendu – Of course; obviously Le bien et le mal – Good and evil Le bien public – Public good Le bien dhumanità © – The good of humanity Les biens dun magasin – A stores goods Les biens immobiliers – Real estate Bien sà »r – Of course Bien sà »r que non – Of course not Dire du bien de – To speak well of Être bien mal – To be close to death Faire du bien quelquun – To do someone good Faire le bien – To do good On verra bien ! – Well see! Prendre la chose bien – To take something well Rendre le bien pour le mal – To return good for evil Sy prendre bien – To do a good job; handle something the right way

Friday, November 22, 2019

Patient access, data mining and PHI Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Patient access, data mining and PHI - Essay Example However, the primary concern about the system is its ability to support use by people at different levels including patients without compromising the confidentiality of the patients’ data. Interoperability in the IT system also forms the primary concern in the success of the health information technology in US. Interoperability is the ability of the systems and devices to share information and interpret the shared information. There is a need to agree on system standards for them to be interoperable at any level (Melvin, 2009). Health IT vendors in US use system that are not interoperable. One of the causes of interoperability problem is databases being unable to share the information with different types of applications (Vidyarthi, 2012). The system used by health IT vendor is in a proprietary format limiting access and transfer of information between the various providers. The model used in the systems is not standard, and they use different coded languages making it hard to share the needed health information. Even when there is sharing of information, terminologies used may be incompatible with applications used. The systems inability to share information effectively makes it very hard to address medical care fragmentation and solve error issues arising due to lack of necessary

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

A New Saxophone Music Style Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A New Saxophone Music Style - Essay Example This "A New Saxophone Music Style" describes the versatility of this instrument. The saxophone acceptation into the classical music is limited, since the orchestras were fully developed before the invention of saxophone. Some pieces by important composers –like Berlioz– were composed for saxophone, but its importance as a jazz instrument is undeniable. For saxophonists, it is important to study both jazz and classical styles, in order to become more versatile performers. By means of the art of improvisation, saxophone was developed as an unbeatable instrument for jazz solos. The versatility of saxophone can establish a remarkable difference between jazz and classical styles. In a concert band or orchestra, the jazz-oriented player may sound too loud and raucous, while the classically-oriented player may be considered rigid in the jazz ensemble. According to Walsh (1-2), classical and jazz styles differentiate in the notation of articulations. Classical music tends to be meticulously notated, and performers should reproduce the articulations shown in the sheet music. â€Å"Notated jazz, on the other hand, often features a string of eighth notes under a long slur or with no markings whatsoever†. In the case of jazz, performers are expected to play the articulation they find stylistically appropriate, rather than just focusing on the page. Other differences in both styles depend on the use of fundamental elements in saxophone playing, e.g. tone colour, vibrato, articulation, accents, scoops, glissandi and ghost notes, among others.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Women's Suffrage Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Women's Suffrage Discussion - Essay Example As much as these two pushed for suffrage movements, there was a difference in the way they approached the movement and pushed for women rights. Professor Kulhman viewed women suffrage approaches that are constitutional. That is, she only wanted the changes to be brought constitutionally, unlike, Woodswarth Ney who believed that, nothing was satisfying enough other than action in the push for women’s right. Thus, it could be pursued through all means including the organization motto, words and deeds (Foner, 360). Other than the right to vote, they also sought for the women rights to old offices like their male counterparts. They believed that, women were equal and capable leaders albeit the view that they were weaker. In addition, Professor Kulhman, Woodsworth-Ney and Foner noted the need to narrow the women voting gap. This is because, most women shied away from polling. According to Professor Kulhman and Woodsworth Ney, granting women the right to vote was progressive. This is because, the women suffrages favored reforms. Besides, reforms took time to implement. In addition, women suffrage movement took place during the progressive era, thus, women right to vote must be

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Life And Work Of George Gershwin Music Essay

Life And Work Of George Gershwin Music Essay The name of George Gershwin linked one of the most interesting periods of music history of the United States. One hundred years after his birth, George Gershwin is the most widely remembered of the songwriters who dominated African popular music between the end of World War I and the rise of rock-and-roll (Teachout 46). George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. His parents were immigrants from Russia. He did not receive systematic music education and began to study to play the piano with the help of a famous music teacher Hambitzer in 14 years old. Then, already a famous author, he took lessons in composition and harmony. Since 1913 he worked as a pianist-accompanist at the music store and began to write songs in the style of I. Berlin (1888-1989) and D. Kern (1885-1945). Soon he achieved a success in musicals. Many of the songs from the musicals have become extremely popular with the crowds. The most popular musicals written by Gershwin are the following ones: Ladies, please, Funny Face, Crazy and many of his songs. The real fame came to Gershwin in 1924, after writing Rhapsody in blue for the piano and orchestra, performed by the author with the orchestra conducted by P. Whiteman. Thus, in this paper we are going to discuss and examine biographical information about this composer, to explore musical styles and forms which he is famous for, and to describe one of the major works of George Gershwin that is called Rhapsody in blue. Biographical information about George Gershwin Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898 in New Yorks block of Brooklyn. He was a son of Jewish immigrants from Russia. His father was a native of St. Petersburg. The real name of the famous composer was Jacob Gershowitz. Since childhood, absorbing jazz culture (they say, that Gershwinhas heard jazz music at age 6), he was a lover of jazz concerts. In 12 years old, George began to learn to play the piano himself. Much later, as a famous composer, Gershwin has never ceased to learn, and improve his technique. During these lessons, he became acquainted with unique American composers of those years Henry Cowell, Wallingford Constantine Rieggerand Russian Professor Joseph Schillinger (Joseph was famous for the fact that he approached to the process of composing music with a mathematical position, trying to develop a universal algorithm). In 1914, Gershwin began to play music professionally, working as an accompanist in the company of Jerome Remick. Two years later, the first authors work of George Gershwin was presented to the audience. Despite the fact that this work had not much success with the crowds, some well-known and famous Broadway producers and directors paid attention to a talented composer. For example, Sigmund Romberg happily included music of Gershwin in his operetta The Passing Show of 1916. In those years, Gershwin, playing the piano and mastering harmony and orchestration, earned extra money as a pianist in different restaurants. In 1918-1919, on Broadway there were a lot of works of Gershwin: Swanee entered the musical Sinbad and had a resounding success in the performance of Al Jolson. In 1919, a famous performance La, La Lucille was entirely based on the works of Gershwin. In 1920-1924, George Gershwin created several dozens of works for George Whites Scandals, and in 1922, he even wrote a real opera, which was named Blue Monday (also known as 135th Street). After the premiere, he was invited by Whiteman to a jazz band as a composer. George wrote especially for Whiteman a real pearl of his work Rhapsody in Blue. In 1924, Gershwin created his famous musical Lady, Be Good! that had much success and brought a composer the first wide popularity on Broadway. In this performance, Gershwin first worked with his brother Ira Gershwin, who wrote all the lyrics. The next decade, this creative union was one of the most productive and popular unions on Broadway. The most successful show was Of Thee I Sing, 1931.They r eceived the Pulitzer Prize, first awarded to a musical performance, for this show. The most extensive and ambitious work in the biography of George Gershwin was a folk opera Porgy and Bess, 1935, staged on the novel by Edwin DuBose Heyward, who took part in writing the libretto for that opera. According to Crawford, Gershwins Porgy and Bess (libretto by DuBose Heyward with help from Ira Gershwin)-the stage work that has come to at the Great American Opera tag (minus Kahns stenographers and subways) perhaps better than any other-opened in New York (697).In early 1937,Gershwin was diagnosed with symptoms of a brain tumor. Gershwin was placed in Leben-Clinic, where he died on July 11, 1937in Los Angeles without regaining consciousness after cancer surgery to remove a tumor. Musical styles and forms of Gershwins masterpieces The musical styles and forms of Gershwins works are well-known and can be characterized as dynamic contrast images, humor or satirical grotesque combinations of traditional African-American folk and jazz music with the principles of symphonism. The melodies of Gershwins songs are unique for their combinations of identity and almost complete dissolution of African-American melodies and harmonies. Sometimes, his music is influenced by cantorial singing, though the Jewish theme is virtually absent in his work. It is interesting to know that Gershwin not only composed and created light music. By 1919, he wrote a string quartet that was called Lullaby. This composition represented a very high-style opus, written in the genre of light blues, but it had a resemblance to elegant music of Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky. Gershwin joined the classic means with intonations of jazz in the opera music. All compositions and works that were written by Gershwin, permeated by a common idea to make music accessible to everyone, do not break away from everyday life, do not turn away from the sound arrogant streets, dancing, do not erect the adamantine walls between classical and popular music. This idea led George Gershwin to the creation of his works included in a music custom all over the world, which raised American music to the level of classics. Rhapsody in Blue Rhapsody in Blue is one of the most famous and successful works of George Gershwin. Rhapsody was first performed by the author on February 12, 1924 in New York, accompanied by the orchestra of Paul Wightman. This work was ordered by Wightman on January 5, 1923, as an experiment to create a new musical style that combines jazz and classical music. Initially, that product was called An American Rhapsody. The well-known name of this work was suggested by the composers brother Ira Gershwin, after visiting an art exhibition of James McNeill Whistler. Rhapsody in Blue became a masterpiece of classical music and jazz, and, in various interpretations, played by musicians in different fields of music. This composition that includes elements of jazz, the Negro folk music and light music are combined with a brilliant piano writing in the style of Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff. This work was a kind of bridge between the so-called light and academic music. Rhapsody is one of the most freque ntly performed concertos for the piano and orchestra (along with the concerts by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, etc.) and the repertoire of the finest pianists in the world. Music is characterized by vivid signs of early American jazz: a syncopated rhythm, a sense of improvisation, etc. However, the development of the main themes goes on within the strict framework of sonata form, the author uses a classic orchestra, and solo piano reminds a romantic style of Liszt and Rachmaninoff. In this musical composition, the themes are based on the blues scale that consists of major and minor thirds and lowered sevenths. There are significant differences in presentation styles of each theme. The harmonic structure of this composition is difficult to express and analyze. One thing can be said that the piece of Rhapsody begins and consequently ends in B flat. Different contemporary styles and jazz are present in this masterpiece. The tempos of Rhapsody in Blue vary directly and widely. There is an extreme use of rubato in a lot of places throughout this composition. According to Howard, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Rhapsody is irresistible still, with its syncopated rhythmic vibrancy, its abandoned, impudent flair that tells more about the roaring twenties than could a thousand words, and its genuine melodic beauty colored a deep, jazzy blue by the flatted sevenths and thirds that had their origins in the Negro slave songs (par. 3).In addition, Schiff stated that Rhapsody in Blue is an enduring monument to the love affair of Americans and people around the world with the African-American idiom that became the most influential language of twentieth-century music (3). Conclusion Taking the above-stated information into consideration, it is possible to draw a conclusion that George Gershwin was one of the most famous and talented American composers in the first half of the XX century. In his work, he has managed to combine seemingly incompatible phenomena: the European late romantic music, jazz and pop. The composers creative experience is unique and no one could repeat it exactly. However, a style found by Gershwin (a combination of different spheres of music), proved to be fruitful and prosperous for American culture and led to wonderful phenomena, such as musicals of Leonard Bernstein. Many critics noted that Gershwin mixed folk and classical music. However, it was a common thing for a lot of great composers. Music of ordinary people finds its place in symphonic music with the majestic compositions. Gershwins creativity is distinguished by a great emotional and original melodic, harmonic and rhythmic language, enriched with folk motifs of African-American songs. Harmony and characteristic rhythms of swing and jazz were influenced by the music of George Gershwin. Despite ingenious rhythms and beautiful lyrical melody, his music arises primarily from his own harmonic structure. After Gershwin, the development of jazz can be mostly attributed to the expansion and complication of harmony.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Arranged Marriages Essay -- essays research papers fc

Arranged Marriages What is an arranged marriage? Well in the Webster’s dictionary it is defined as a marriage where the marital partners are chosen by others based on considerations other than the pre-existing mutual attraction of the partners. This habit has been very common in noble families, especially in reigning ones, at the scope of combining and perhaps enforcing the respective strengths of originary families (and kingdoms) of the spouses. A relevant part of history has been influenced by these unions. Arranged marriage is also the marriage concluded with the help of a middleman, once frequent in less cultivated social classes. In some areas it is the man who chooses his wife, often paying some money for her, to her family and was common in many countries until the 19th century (and is still the habit in use in some areas), but an increasing number of young people today refuse arranged marriage. Now that some of the basic history of arranged marriages has been defined and taken care of, let’s move onto localized areas of arranged marriages Japan - In modern Japan, more than 70% of all marriages are referred to as "love marriages," the rest are the more traditional arranged marriages (omiai). When an arranged marriage is desired, the man and woman, who are seeking a marriage partner, enlist the help of a go-between (nakodo). This allows the couple to meet and get to know each other and decide if a marriage is suitable. It is quite common for the parents of the man and woman to be present at the first meeting. Afterwards the couple meets socially over a period of time and then decides, if both are acceptable, to marry. This may seem a little clinical in the west, but in Japan, with its high work ethic, and large population, it is hard for some people to meet someone of the opposite sex. Now some may believe that these types of marriages does not last when in fact they have a higher success rate then those who go out and find someone to date and then get to know and marry. The success rates of a tradition arrang e marriage is around 80% more likely to succeed then in a love marriage. England – For England we will refer to mid-evil England as to current time arranged marriages are not held in such high regard as it did then, even the current kings and princesses of England are not based on arranged marriage but of a process that narrows down... ... Webster Dictionary Definition of â€Å"Arranged Marriage† Arranged Marriage http://www.askasia.org/frclasrm/readings/r000153.htm Naomi's Omiai http://www.amsnet.co.jp/user/john/essays/naomi01.html OMIAI by Yuriko Takayama http://ellserver3.njcu.edu/courses/haber/4aOmiai.html Marriage with the proper stranger: arranged marriage in metropolitan Japan. http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5000282486 Defying arranged marriage becomes a life-and-death decision http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/08/15/MNGGR876O91.DTL Arranged Vs Love Marriage http://www.boloji.com/women/0072.htm Legal Commentary - Forced Marriage http://www.legalday.co.uk/current/practice/lawsociety/lawsoc260304.htm How to find a compatible match - Looking for love in all the right places http://www.thedesertsun.com/news/stories2004/advertorial/20040527120331.shtml Women in Anglo-Saxon England http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projf20004g/womenAnglo.html Marriage – arranged and forced http://www.whatnow.co.uk/html/info_zone/relationships.asp?record=222 Marriages http://www.routledge-ny.com/religionandsociety/Rites/marriage.pdf A Choice by Right http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/fminsert.pdf

Monday, November 11, 2019

The Yellow Wallpaper Analysis Paper

Individuality and the importance of upholding women’s rights, such as viewing a woman as a respectable, free-willed human being, are the essential truths established in Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper. † Through the development of the narrator Gilman uses symbolism and imagery to awaken the reader to the reality of what a woman’s life was like in the 1800’s. Analysis of the symbolism throughout the story reveals that the author was not only testifying to the social status of the women in society but specifically giving insight into her personal life, and what she was subjected to. What appeared to be a mere, contrite story to many readers, was actually a successful strike at the wrong mindset that society possessed at that time. The narrator was a woman who experienced these difficulties. Living in a house with her husband, John, she was confined to a spacious, sunlit room that contained hideous yellow wallpaper that she despised. Against her better judgment she was not permitted to write, draw, or work, but simply rest. Soon the wallpaper she detested became her only stimulus. She examined it by day and night, and began to see patterns develop and figures form. The vague figures took the shape of a woman trapped behind bars, constantly searching for a way out. The narrator sympathized with the enslaved woman, and began to contemplate ways to save her. The narrator becomes paranoid around her husband and the babysitter who she thinks are also trying to unmask the wallpapers true meaning. Finally the narrator becomes frantic and is reduced to a state of disillusion. The author draws the story to an end, with the narrator tearing down the wallpaper and exclaiming that she finally released the woman behind it. The wallpaper itself was not the cause of the narrator’s madness. Her husband thought that she was suffering from a nervous depression and concluded that it was in her best interest to be prescribed the rest cure, confined to a room and isolated from her normal activities. This confinement and lack of freedom to live a normal life drove the narrator to examine the wallpaper, which was her only individual freedom left. Because of the narrator’s madness, she was unable to make the connection between the woman behind the wallpaper and herself. The narrator felt trapped, like the woman in the wallpaper, due to her domineering husband, her lack of individuality and personal freedom of choice, as well as the prejudices suppressing her from society at large. The narrator’s life was parallel to the author’s life. Gilman, like the narrator was subject to a confinement, cut off from society. She found individuality and freedom through her writing but it was abruptly ended by a doctor’s diagnosis stating that these activities were not healthy. The doctor prescribed the rest cure for Gilman; she was to live â€Å" as domestic a life as far as possible, to have but two hours intellectual life a day, and to never touch a pencil, brush or pencil again. † She went home and followed the doctor’s orders for 3 months, and became even more mentally unstable than before. Soon she decided to break the doctors orders, and began to work again, and to continue her previous routine of everyday life. Gilman’s decision to exert her God- given ability to choose what she thought best resulted in her becoming a strong individual. She wrote the â€Å"Yellow Wallpaper† as an attempt to change the way women were viewed and to express the importance of individuality. Her purpose â€Å"was not intended to drive people crazy, but to save people from being driven crazy. † The author succeeded in her attempt to convey the need for individuality. Several times throughout the story, the narrator expressed her want to write, work, spend leisure times outdoors, and to leave the room. Her failure to carryout her desires resulted in insanity. Not only did she have her husband working against her, but she also had society’s opinion at large to her disadvantage. During the 1800s, the only â€Å"right† workplace for women was at home. Women were viewed as incompetent, and as beings that were not able to think for themselves. The narrator in the â€Å"Yellow Wallpaper† knew nothing in her husband’s eyes. Her feelings were not relevant, but were instead pushed aside and counted worthless. Although the narrator never came to grips with the need for individuality, the reader can imagine how different the circumstances may have been if she had exercised her right to think and act freely. Thinking and acting freely was a rare occurrence in the women at large in the 1800s. In the first part of the short story on page 437, the narrator states â€Å"Personally I disagree with their ideas. Personally I believe that congenial work, with excitement, and change, would do me good. But what is one to do? † The narrator reveals her lack of confidence and of individuality when she remarks â€Å" But what is one to do? † She constantly discounts her feelings and continually discredits herself of any self- confidence she has left within her. Further down the page she articulates her hatred for the room and expresses her desire to move to another room downstairs, but once again places her feelings aside by saying â€Å"But John would not hear of it. † The author also succeeded tremendously with the symbolism of the woman trapped behind the wallpaper. The woman trapped behind the yellow wallpaper symbolizes the narrator’s fear of confronting her husband with her opinions and feelings, and also the desire to escape the room she finds herself in. Many women during this time had similar feelings to that of the narrator in the â€Å"Yellow Wallpaper. † The author set out to alter the mindset in women during her time. In this short story the woman trapped behind the wallpaper not only represents the narrator, but the majority of women in that time. On page 444, the author writes â€Å"Sometimes I think there are a great many women behind the wallpaper, and sometimes only one†¦ And she is all the time trying to climb through. But nobody could climb through that pattern- it strangles so. I think that is why it has so many heads. † This excerpt symbolizes the way women felt in her time. The way of thinking about women in that time was so strong, that not one woman thought they could escape the false stereotype that they had adopted unwillingly. In the author’s opinion, many women felt trapped and depressed, but felt that they could do nothing about it. It is evident that the author urged all of her women readers to escape the spirit of the opinions and notions of her time period, and to be an individual who expressed their feelings freely. Charlotte Perkins Gilman sought to communicate that women should be respected on the same level as men, and that women also had the ability to think rationally and independently. Thorough examination of the symbolism found in this short story finds that individuality is of utter necessity in overcoming difficult obstacles. The author’s attempt to teach women this principle succeeded in one of the greatest ways possible. Women of the past and present have escaped the stereotype of a typical 1800s woman and have created for themselves a workplace outside the home.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

“Connected, but Alone” TED Talk

The TED talk, â€Å"Connected, but alone† by Sherry Turkle talks about how big of an influence technology had become in our generation and how it changed our social interaction. Sherry Turkle talked about how we turn to our phones or other gadgets to have a feeling of acceptance, companionship and interaction. She elucidated in her speech that people nowadays neglect social interaction with others around them and would rather tap away on their phones. She ended her speech hoping that technology can bring people back to the real world and connect us all with each other. I do agree that technology connected us to the world enabling us to learn more about the things around but in the long run, cultivated a feeling of isolation in us. Technology had connected us to the rest of the world but not with each other. At this day and age, technology had become a primary necessity for us. Professionals, students, employees or anyone rely mostly on technology to make their work easier for them. It is continuously developing and improving to make new inventions or improve old ones. Technology has done a lot of good things for us especially for Filipinos. It is not new for Filipinos to have at least one family member as an OFW and we find it hard to communicate with them regularly which is one of the problems that technology has fixed. Now, we can talk to anyone in the world no matter how far they are for us, for free. But even with these good benefits, we often tend to isolate ourselves from the real world and ignore the things or people around us. I can relate to this because as a teenager who grew up with computers and gadgets, I also feel that sometimes, since I can do everything in the internet, I would just stay in the house and tap away on my phone. Sometimes people would attend parties or other formal gatherings to interact with friends or family but now, some are just doing it to take pictures to post on Facebook or Instagram, flaunting their outfits to get a lot of â€Å"likes† which has now become a measure of confidence for some people. Families would sit around the dining table but instead of talking to each other about how their days went, everyone would be on their gadgets. We are also introduced to â€Å"virtual friends†, or people we find online and chat with them. While this is also a good example of how technology has made communication easier for us, when we actually feel the need to talk to someone personally and want to be around people, we feel lonely because we spent too much time online instead going out and meet up with friends. Sherry Turkle ended the TED talk by saying that we need to focus on the ways that technology can lead us back to our real lives. While technology brought about a lot of innovations to make work easier for humans, we must not completely rely on it and we must experience the world in real life and not just through a screen. Overall, the TED talk was effective and accurately describes how our generation utilizes technology for communication. I hope that this TED talk may serve as a wake-up call to not lose our connection with people in the real world and use technology to further improve communication without completely disregarding actual and real-life interaction.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Law of Acceleration Essays

Law of Acceleration Essays Law of Acceleration Essay Law of Acceleration Essay Images are not arguments, rarely even lead to proof, but the mind craves them, and, of late more than ever, the keenest experimenters find twenty images better than one, especially if contradictory; since the human mind has already learned to deal in contradictions. The image needed here is that of a new center, or preponderating mass, artificially introduced on earth in the midst of a system of attractive forces that previously made their own quilibrium, and constantly induced to accelerate its motion till it shall establish a new equilibrium. A dynamic theory would begin by assuming that all history, terrestrial or cosmic, mechanical or intellectual, would be reducible to this formula if we knew the facts. For convenience, the most familiar image should come first; and this is probably that of the comet, or meteoric streams, like the Leonids and Perseids; a complex of minute mechanical agencies, reacting within and without, and guided by the sum of forces at tracting or deflecting it.Nothing forbids one to assume that the man-meteorite might grow, as an acorn does, absorbing light, heat, electricity,or thought; for, in recent times, such transference of energy has become a familiar idea; but the simplest figure, at first, is that of a perfect comet,say that of 1843,which drops from space, in a straight line, at the regular acceleration of speed, directly into the sun, and after wheeling sharply about it, in heat that ought to dissipate any known substance, turns back unharmed, in defiance of law, by the path on which it came.The mind, by analogy, may figure as such a comet, the better because it also defies law. Motion is the ultimate object of science, and measures of motion are many; but with thought as with matter, the true measure is mass in its astronomic sense- the sum or difference of attractive forces. Science has quite enough trouble in measuring its material motions without volunteering help to the historian, but the historian needs not much help to measure some kinds of social movement; and especially in the nineteenth century, society by common accord agreed in measuring its progress by the coal-output.The ratio of increase in the volume of coal-power may serve as dynamometer. The coal-output of the world, speaking roughly, doubled every ten years between 1840 and 1900, in the form of utilized power, for the ton of coal yielded three or four times as much power in 1900 as in 1840. Rapid as this rate of acceleration in volume seems, it may be tested in a thousand ways without greatly reducing it.Perhaps the ocean steamer is nearest unity and easiest to measure, for any one might hire, in 1905, for a small sum of money, the use of 30,000 steam-horse-power to cross the ocean, and by halving this figure every ten years, he got back to 234 horse-power for 1835, which was accuracy enough for his purposes. In truth, his chief trouble came not from the ratio in volume of heat, but from the intensity, since he could get no basis for a ratio there.All ages of history have known high intensities, like the iron-furnace, the burning-glass, the blow-pipe; but no society has ever used high intensities on any large scale till now, nor can a mere bystander decide what range of temperature is now in common use. Loosely guessing that science controls habitually the whole range from absolute zero to 3000 ° Centigrade, one might assume, for convenience, that the ten-year ratio for volume could be used temporarily for intensity; and still there remained a ratio to be guessed for other forces than heat.Since 1800 scores of new forces had been discovered; old forces had been raised to higher powers, as could be measured in the navy-gun; great regions of chemistry had been opened up, and connected with other regions of physics. Within ten years a new universe of force had been revealed in radiation. Complexity had extended itself on immense horizons, and arithmetical ratios were useless for any attempt at accuracy. The force evolved seemed more like explosion than gravitation, and followed closely the curve of steam; but, at all events, the ten-year ratio seemed carefully conservative.Unless the calculator was prepared to be instantly overwhelmed by physical force and mental complexity, he must stop there. Thus, taking the year 1900 as the starting point for carrying back the series, nothing was easier than to assume a ten-year period of retardation as far back as 1820, but beyond that point the statistician failed, and only the mathematician could help. Laplace would have found it child’s-play to fix a ratio of progression in mathematical science between Descartes, Leibnitz, Newton, and himself. Watt could have given in pounds the increase of power between Newcomen’s engines and his own.Volta and Benjamin Franklin would have stated their progress as absolute creation of power. Dalton could have measured minutely his advance on Boerhave. Napoleon I must have had a d istinct notion of his own numerical relation to Louis XIV. No one in 1789 doubted the progress of force, least of all those who were to lose their heads by it. Pending agreement between these authorities, theory may assume what it likes- say a fifty, or even a five-and-twenty-year period of reduplication for the eighteenth century, for the period matters little until the acceleration itself is admitted.The subject is even more amusing in the seventeenth than in the eighteenth century, because Galileo and Kepler, Descartes, Huygens, and Isaac Newton took vast pains to fix the laws of acceleration for moving bodies, while Lord Bacon and William Harvey were content with showing experimentally the fact of acceleration in knowledge; but from their combined results a historian might be tempted to maintain a similar rate of movement back to 1600, subject to correction from the historians of mathematics. The mathematicians might carry their calculations back as far as the fourteenth century when algebra seems to have become for the first time the tandard measure of mechanical progress in western Europe; for not only Copernicus and Tycho Brahe, but even artists like Leonardo, Michael Angelo, and Albert Durer worked by mathematical processes, and their testimony would probably give results more exact than that of Montaigne or Shakespeare; but, to save trouble, one might tentatively carry back the same ratio of acceleration, or retardation, to the year 1400, with the help of Columbus and Gutenberg, so taking a uniform rate during the whole four centuries (1400–1800), and leaving to statisticians the task of correcting it.Or better, one might, for convenience, use the formula of squares to serve for a law of mind. Any other formula would do as well, either of chemical explosion, or electrolysis, or vegetable growth, or of expansion or contraction in innumerable forms; but this happens to be simple and convenient. Its force increases in the direct ratio of its squar es. As the human meteoroid approached the sun or center of attractive force, the attraction of one century squared itself to give the measure of attraction in the next.Behind the year 1400, the process certainly went on, but the progress became so slight as to be hardly measurable. What was gained in the east or elsewhere, cannot be known; but forces, called loosely Greek fire and gunpowder, came into use in the west in the thirteenth century, as well as instruments like the compass, the blow-pipe, clocks and spectacles, and materials like paper; Arabic notation and algebra were introduced, while metaphysics and theology acted as violent stimulants to mind. An architect might detect a sequence between the Church of St.Peter’s at Rome, the Amiens Cathedral, the Duomo at Pisa, San Marco at Venice, Sancta Sofia at Constantinople and the churches at Ravenna. All the historian dares affirm is that a sequence is manifestly there, and he has a right to carry back his ratio, to repre sent the fact, without assuming its numerical correctness. On the human mind as a moving body, the break in acceleration in the middle-ages is only apparent; the attraction worked through shifting forms of force, as the sun works by light or heat, electricity, gravitation, or what not, on different organs with different sensibilities, but with invariable law.The science of prehistoric man has no value except to prove that the law went back into indefinite antiquity. A stone arrowhead is as convincing as a steam-engine. The values were as clear a hundred thousand years ago as now, and extended equally over the whole world. The motion at last became infinitely slight, but cannot be proved to have stopped. The motion of Newton’s comet at aphelion may be equally slight. To evolutionists may be left the processes of evolution; to historians the single interest is the law of reaction between force and force,between mind and nature,the law of progress.The great division of history i nto phases by Turgot and Comte first affirmed this law in its outlines by asserting the unity of progress, for a mere phase interrupts no growth, and nature shows innumerable such phases. The development of coal-power in the nineteenth century furnished the first means of assigning closer values to the elements; and the appearance of supersensual forces towards 1900 made this calculation a pressing necessity; since the next step became infinitely serious.A law of acceleration, definite and constant as any law of mechanics, cannot be supposed to relax its energy to suit the convenience of man. No one is likely to suggest a theory that man’s convenience had been consulted by Nature at any time, or that Nature has consulted the convenience of any of her creations, except perhaps the Terebratula. In every age man has bitterly and justly complained that Nature hurried and hustled him, for inertia almost invariably has ended in tragedy. Resistance is its law, and resistance to supe rior mass is futile and fatal.Fifty years ago, science took for granted that the rate of acceleration could not last. The world forgets quickly, but even today the habit remains of founding statistics on the faith that consumption will continue nearly stationary. Two generations, with John Stuart Mill, talked of this stationary period, which was to follow the explosion of new power. All the men who were elderly in the forties died in this faith, and other men grew old nursing the same conviction, and happy in it; while science, for fifty ears, permitted, or encouraged, society to think that force would prove to be limited in supply. This mental inertia of science lasted through the eighties before showing signs of breaking up; and nothing short of radium fairly wakened men to the fact, long since evident, that force was inexhaustible. Even then the scientific authorities vehemently resisted. Nothing so revolutionary had happened since the year 300. Thought had more than once been up set, but never caught and whirled about in the vortex of infinite forces.Power leaped from every atom, and enough of it to supply the stellar universe showed itself running to waste at every pore of matter. Man could no longer hold it off. Forces grasped his wrists and flung him about as though he had hold of a live wire or a runaway automobile; which was very nearly the exact truth for the purposes of an elderly and timid single gentleman in Paris, who never drove down the Champs Elysees without expecting an accident, and commonly witnessing one; or found himself in the neighborhood of an official without calculating the chances of a bomb.So long as the rates of progress held good, these bombs would double in force and number every ten years. Impossibilities no longer stood in the way. One’s life had fattened on impossibilities. Before the boy was six years old, he had seen four impossibilities made actual,the ocean-steamer, the railway, the electric telegraph, and the Dague rreotype; nor could he ever learn which of the four had most hurried others to come. He had seen the coal-output of the United States grow from nothing to three hundred million tons or more.What was far more serious, he had seen the number of minds, engaged in pursuing forcethe truest measure of its attractionincrease from a few scores or hundreds, in 1838, to many thousands in 1905, trained to sharpness never before reached, and armed with instruments amounting to new senses of indefinite power and accuracy, while they chased force into hiding-places where Nature herself had never known it to be, making analyses that contradicted being, and syntheses that endangered the elements.No one could say that the social mind now failed to respond to new force, even when the new force annoyed it horribly. Every day Nature violently revolted, causing so-called accidents with enormous destruction of property and life, while plainly laughing at man, who helplessly groaned and shrieked and shudd ered, but never for a single instant could stop. The railways alone approached the carnage of war; automobiles and fire-arms ravaged society, until an earthquake became almost a nervous relaxation.An immense volume of force had detached itself from the unknown universe of energy, while still vaster reservoirs, supposed to be infinite, steadily revealed themselves, attracting mankind with more compulsive course than all the Pontic Seas or Gods or Gold that ever existed, and feeling still less of retiring ebb. In 1850, science would have smiled at such a romance as this, but, in 1900, as far as history could learn, few men of science thought it a laughing matter. If a perplexed but laborious follower could venture to guess their drift, it seemed in their minds a toss-up between anarchy and order.Unless they should be more honest with themselves in the future than ever they were in the past, they would be more astonished than their followers when they reached the end. If Karl Pearsonâ €™s notions of the universe were sound, men like Galileo, Descartes, Leibnitz, and Newton should have stopped the progress of science before 1700, supposing them to have been honest in the religious convictions they expressed. In 1900 they were plainly forced back on faith in a unity unproved and an order they had themselves disproved.They had reduced their universe to a series of relations to themselves. They had reduced themselves to motion in a universe of motions, with an acceleration, in their own case of vertiginous violence. With the correctness of their science, history had no right to meddle, since their science now lay in a plane where scarcely one or two hundred minds in the world could follow its mathematical processes; but bombs educate vigorously, and even wireless telegraphy or airships might require the reconstruction of society.If any analogy whatever existed between the human mind, on one side, and the laws of motion, on the other, the mind had already entered a field of attraction so violent that it must immediately pass beyond, into new equilibrium, like the Comet of Newton, to suffer dissipation altogether, like meteoroids in the earth’s atmosphere. If it behaved like an explosive, it must rapidly recover equilibrium; if it behaved like a vegetable, it must reach its limits of growth; and even if it acted like the earlier creations of energy,the Saurians and Sharks,it must have nearly reached the limits of its expansion.If science were to go on doubling or quadrupling its complexities every ten years, even mathematics would soon succumb. An average mind had succumbed already in 1850; it could no longer understand the problem in 1900. Fortunately, a student of history had no responsibility for the problem; he took it as science gave it, and waited only to be taught. With science or with society, he had no quarrel and claimed no share of authority. He had never been able to acquire knowledge, still less to impart it; and if he had , at times, felt serious differences with the American of the nineteenth century, he felt none with the American of the twentieth.For this new creation, born since 1900, a historian asked no longer to be teacher or even friend; he asked only to be a pupil, and promised to be docile, for once, even though trodden under foot; for he could see that the new American,the child of incalculable coal-power, chemical power, electric power, and radiating energy, as well as of new forces yet undetermined,must be a sort of God compared with any former creation of nature. At the rate of progress since 1800, every American who lived into the year 2000 would know how to control unlimited power.He would think in complexities unimaginable to an earlier mind. He would deal with problems altogether beyond the range of earlier society. To him the nineteenth century would stand on the same plane with the fourth,equally childlike,and he would only wonder how both of them, knowing so little, and so weak i n force, should have done so much. Perhaps even he might go back, in 1964, to sit with Gibbon on the steps of Ara Coeli. Meanwhile he was getting education. With that, a teacher who had failed to educate even the generation of 1870, dared not interfere.The new forces would educate. History saw few lessons in the past that would be useful in the future; but one, at least, it did see. The attempt of the American of 1800 to educate the American of 1900 had not often been surpassed for folly; and since 1800 the forces and their complications had increased a thousand times or more. The attempt of the American of 1900 to educate the American of 2000, must be even blinder than that of the Congressman of 1800, except so far as he had learned his ignorance. During a million or two of years, very generation in turn had toiled with endless agony to attain and apply power, all the while betraying the deepest alarm and horror at the power they created. The teacher of 1900, if foolhardy, might st imulate; if foolish, might resist; if intelligent, might balance, as wise and foolish have often tried to do from the beginning; but the forces would continue to educate, and the mind would continue to react. All the teacher could hope was to teach it reaction. Even there his difficulty was extreme. The most elementary books of science betrayed the inadequacy of old implements of thought.Chapter after chapter closed with phrases such as one never met in older literature:The cause of this phenomenon is not understood; science no longer ventures to explain causes; the first step towards a causal explanation still remains to be taken; opinions are very much divided; in spite of the contradictions involved; science gets on only by adopting different theories, sometimes contradictory. Evidently the new American would need to think in contradictions, and instead of Kant’s famous four antinomies, the new universe would know no law that could not be proved by its anti-law.To educate oneself to begin withhad been the effort of one’s life for sixty years; and the difficulties of education had gone on doubling with the coal output, until the prospect of waiting another ten years, in order to face a seventh doubling of complexities, allured one’s imagination but slightly. The law of acceleration was definite, and did not require ten years more study except to show whether it held good. No scheme could be suggested to the new American, and no fault needed to be found, or complaint made; but the next great influx of new forces seemed near at hand, and its style of education promised to be violently coercive.The movement from unity into multiplicity, between 1200 and 1900, was unbroken in sequence, and rapid in acceleration. Prolonged one generation longer, it would require a new social mind. As though thought were common salt in indefinite solution it must enter a new phase subject to new laws. Thus far, since five or ten thousand years, the mind had su ccessfully reacted, and nothing yet proved that it would fail to react,but it would need to jump. The Education of Henry Adams  was published in 1907. A Centennial Version, edited by Edward Chalfant and Conrad Edick Wright, was published by the Massachusetts Historical Society in January 2007.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Certifications information security professionals. (job search) Essay

Certifications information security professionals. (job search) - Essay Example The availability of the certification ensures that the organisations do not have to undertake an extensive vetting for the candidates to assess their capabilities. The certifications and the job advertisement requirements do have significant differences in terms of the activities which ascertain the capabilities. While the accreditation is required for both of these jobs, further technical skills are also required to facilitate the selected nominee to carry out all the activities involved in the job. The technical knowledge and skill of an individual cannot be ascertained through the certification (Frank & Werner, 2011). The technical skills of the individuals are not assessed before certification, but the employers require ascertaining the technical skill to perform different activities which are not involved in the certification process. As a consequence of the evaluation of the job advertisement requirements and the certification requirements, an element of doubt arises upon the certification process. This is because despite the presence of certification, the job opportunities which are available have more requirements than the

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Accounting coursework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Accounting coursework - Essay Example In addition, it will explain how the companies have managed their working capital for the accounting periods. This will further analyse and explain the financing activities of the two companies. Task 4 will comment on the overall strategy being observed by the two companies based on their cash inflows and outflows based on analysis made on earlier tasks. A determination of which was able to manage its cash better will be made with reasons. The net profit generated from operations by the business may not be equal to the cash generated by operations by the same period because net profit includes non-cash items recognized as income and expenses but they do not necessarily involve cash. The reason for this is that revenues and expenses in the income statement are generally prepared under the accrual method of accounting (Kieso et, al, 2007) while Net Cash from operations, has taken this fact in consideration and this is the reason that certain items are added and subtracted to the net profit to arrive at the operating cash flow from operations. Thus there is need to add back to the net income, prepared under the accrual method, the non-cash deductions like amortizations and depreciations expenses. There is also need to deduct non-cash revenues like gains on sale of properties and investments and other adjustments. To illustrate, an example of the adjustments to the net income is shown in appendix A. Note that the net profit of $200,000 is lower than the net cash from operations of P246,700. An adjustment amounting $46,700 basically included added back depreciation, subtracted gains from sales and/or revaluation and change in working capital.

Thursday, October 31, 2019

2nd Degree Murder Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

2nd Degree Murder - Essay Example Some individuals are overly sensitive to some conditions that would be generally harmless to other people. In such a situation, it is easy to deliver justice since accidental cases would be remedied accordingly under the other homicide classifications. In New Jersey, the 62nd State’s General Assembly of 1837 deliberated and passed among other important resolutions that the State would need to be governed, the punishment of death. In the homicide intricacies that the General Assembly had to deal with, as observed above was to distinguish the various classes or degrees of homicide. Three general classifications were found to be definitive of the challenge earlier highlighted of the actual case parameters such as the intent of causing death and general threat to the entire population. Legislation effected later had a considerable reliance on the resolution passed in the General Assembly sitting of 1838. Alternatively, comparisons were made to consolidate the postulates of the American law with the prevalent common law practices. Contained in this discussion is the legislation in New Jersey and the common law position of homicide category of second degree of murder. In light of the elements of the two sets of law and usages, th e changes that have occurred in the circles of legal practice regarding homicide cases of the specified nature are also discussed. According to Lanning and Vroom (2005), general statutes of the State of New Jersey provide that there shall be two degrees of murder distinguished by the intention of the perpetrator at the time of occurrence of the death. The authors provide the Supplement 271 among other General Statutes of the State of New Jersey which provides for the first degree of murder to constitute such death caused by actions of an individual who commits the crime willfully, deliberately and in a premeditated account. The Supplement 271 continues to state that the other forms of murder fall under the second degree of

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Siddharta Essay Essay Example for Free

Siddharta Essay Essay Teachers are important figures in everyone’s life: they prepare for future events teaching lessons and giving suggestions. The book Siddhartha, written by the German author Herman Hesse, shows a perfect example of education and understanding given by different types of instructors. The protagonist, Siddhartha, is the son of a Brahmin, and he has an assured future as a religious figure. He is unhappy and unsatisfied in the beginning of the novel: he can’t find the right answer to his questions. He distrusts teachers, because they didn’t teach him the life lessons he wanted. He doesn’t think his actual life can lead him to nirvana, the maximum status of joy and understanding of the self. The following quote proves this statement: Siddhartha had started to nurse discontent in himself; he had started to feel that the love of his father and the love of his mother, and also the love of his friend, Govinda, would not bring him joy for ever and ever, would not nurse him, feed him, satisfy him. (Hesse 5). He decides to embark in a journey to reach enlightenment, and during this spiritual path he learns some life lessons through persons considered nontraditional teachers, people who influenced his life, and taught him indirectly, such as Govinda, Kamala and Kamaswami. The first instructor that Siddhartha acquires knowledge from is Govinda, one of the most influential characters in the novel: Siddhartha’s best friend, companion and disciple. He is unlikely to be a teacher, mostly because of his follower behavior, but despite the reader’s opinion of him in the beginning, he reveals himself as one of the most important nontraditional teachers. The main feature of Govinda is the fact that he doesn’t choose his own path, he always is a follower. Hesse emphasizes Govinda’s status by defining him as a shadow: â€Å"Govinda wanted to follow him as a friend, his companion, his servant, his lance bearer, his shadow† (4-5). Initially he assists Siddhartha in his quest for enlightenment, but when he encounters another master, Buddha (an enlightened person with a group of followers), he decides to apply his philosophy and to become one of his disciples. This character is really important for Siddhartha, because, in the moment of his friend’s worst depression, the climax of his journey, he saves him. A clear evidence of this fact is the  following quote: â€Å"I saw you lying and sleeping in a place where is dangerous to sleep. Therefore I sought to wake you up oh sir† (67). This shows how Govinda cares about his friend and takes the role of a nontraditional teacher. Another quote that proves the fact that Govinda has a savior role is the following one: â€Å"Once, O worthy one, many years ago, you came to this river and found a man sleeping there. You sat beside him to guard him while he slept, but you did not recognize the sleeping man, Govinda† (95). The main teaching he taught to Siddhartha is that he has to find his own path; he has to embark on his own journey to reach the understanding of the self. This character will remain important even in the end of the story, because the novel finishes with his word s, meaning that Siddhartha has become a teacher, the figure he distrusted. The second influent person in the protagonist’s is Kamala: she is an attractive courtesan that makes the protagonist fall in love with her. Before Siddhartha met Kamala all he knew was thinking, waiting, and fasting(46). The main character meets her during a period on his life where he tries to focus on material things; he tries to find a different way to understand the self. Kamala represents Siddhartha’s entering into the world of greed and lust. She is considered a teacher because she teaches him some important life lessons; she shows him the best of what the material world has to offer. This quote proves her status as a teacher: â€Å"If it doesn’t displease you, Kamala, I would like to ask you to be my friend and teacher, for I know nothing yet of that art which you have mastered in the highest degree† (50). Kamala makes Siddhartha realize that the material world isn’t enough to satisfy him, it isn’t the right choice for his path and the right way to reach nirvana. He learned from her that he could not expect to receive love unless he gave it first. She taught him the the value and the meaning of the life in which he was living and the moments he had spent with her are considered good. She instructs Siddhartha in the art of physical love: In addition to being Siddhartha’s lover, Kamala helps him to leave his ascetic life as a Samana behind. When he met her, he had some ideas and principles of his previous ascetic group, in fact he was a simple Samana from the forest(45). Siddhartha, thanks to the beautiful courtesan, understands what love is, and after some time they give birth to a son. Her teachings include also exterior aspect and clothes: â€Å"I am beginning to learn from you. I already  learned something yesterday. Already got rid of my beard, I have combed and oiled my hair. There is not much more that is lacking, most excellent lady: fine clothes, fine shoes and money in my purse† (54). Her goal is to educate him about sex and human passions. Although Siddhartha becomes disillusioned in the end, because of the emptiness of his life in the material world, he cites Kamala as one of his primary teachers on his journey to find nirvana. The third important teacher is Siddhartha’s journey is Kamaswami, an older businessman who represents an instructive figure mainly because he teaches him the art of business. The protagonist, referred by Kamala, puts himself in the old man’s hands. Under his guidance, Siddhartha successfully enters into the society of city-dwellers: â€Å"When Kamaswami came to him to complain about his troubles or to take him to task over some business deal, he would listen with good humor and interest, marveling over him, trying to understand him. He would allow him to think he was right to the extent that he seemed to require and then would move on to the next person who sought his attention† (75). Kamaswami tries to teach Siddhartha about business life. He shows him the accounts, the goods and warehouses (65). While Siddhartha is working for him, he realizes that business doesn’t satisfy him, it doesn’t create any interest; more particularly, it does not stir his heart (66). Another quote that proves the statement is His heart was not indeed in business (69). Material things do not interest Siddhartha, in fact he hears a voice inside him, telling him that business and money are a game: Kamaswami conducted his business with care and often with passion, but Siddhartha regarded it all as a game (66). The old man, as a wealthy merchant, has qualities that Siddhartha refuses as a Samana. The businessman is obsessed with wealth, so there is a noticeable contrast between them. The life lesson he learns from Kamaswami is that material things create unhappiness. He realizes that money and business are not important: they are just temporary things. During his journey, Siddhartha learns some life lessons from different teachers like Govinda, Kamala and Kamaswami. All these instructive figures contribute to his accomplishment, contribute to the achievement of enlightenment and were indispensable to his spiritual mutation. Throughout  Siddhartha condemns and left his teachers, in the end he becomes one. For his whole journey he is the one who learns, and all his past experience leads him to become the one who teaches. Thanks to those teachers, he finally finds what he has been looking for, after all the sacrifices he did and all the difficulties he has been through.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

MindTree: A Community Of Communities

MindTree: A Community Of Communities MindTree is a mid-sized 278 million Indian Information Technology firm known for its knowledge management practices, strong culture and values, and collaborative communities. Its strategy is to become a company that is consulting-led in the IT services business and intellectual property led in the RD-services business. Currently the CEO of the firm has set an ambitious goal of becoming a $1 billion company by 2014. This requires that employees innovate and create new businesses. How would you characterize the culture of MindTree? People-Centric: In an industry where all firms are assumed to possess homogenous skills, MindTree knew that, in order to succeed, it had to differentiate itself from its competitors. The company realized that culture and values were key elements that could be used as Soft Differentiators. Also, being a multicultural company, MindTree realized that it could not possibly manage all the different cultures efficiently. Instead, it decided to develop a common set of values which could be shared by people from across different cultures. The company has always strived to become an emotionally bonded organization. In this regard, the culture of MindTree can be characterized as a people-centric culture. Value-Driven: According to the MindTree senior management, Every MindTree mind is driven by CLASS Caring, Learning, Achieving, Sharing, and Social Responsibility. From this, it is evident that MindTree wanted to create a culture rich in innovation and creativity. MindTrees emphasis on aspects such as High achievement orientation and high caring further shows that MindTree aimed to promote a culture of high performance, stakeholder responsibility, cooperation and corporate citizenship. Transparent and Participative: Transparency and rich, frequent communication were cornerstones of the culture. Mindtree incorporated participative decision-making by promoting openness across organizational levels. This resulted in the companys 95-95-95 principle, which stated that 95% of the people should have 95% of the information 95% of the time. How has this culture been created and institutionalized? At MindTree, the managements belief that values drive behaviour and behaviour drives results was at the heart of all decision-making processes. Internalizing CLASS Values: Mindtree sought to internalize the CLASS values by integrating them into its recruitment, recognition, and reward systems. The process started right from hiring of a new employee, whereby the candidates were assessed on whether they would be a good fit in the organizations culture. New employees then participated in extensive sessions with the senior management, which emphasized the importance of these values in the companys culture. The process continued with performance appraisals, where each value had a clear metric and 40% weight was assigned to performance against these values. The success of MindTrees endeavours to internalize the CLASS values can be seen from the fact that 90% of the senior leaders voluntarily asked for 360o feedback on how well they were complying with the company values. Other initiatives like rechristening the HR dept. as the people function and giving stock options to its employees, have also helped MindTree in building and promoting its culture among its employees. Socialization Tactics: MindTree has also employed the use of several socialization tactics to foster and institutionalize its culture among its employees. When a new employee joins MindTree, she is given explicit information about the sequence in which she will perform new activities or occupy new roles (Sequential Role Orientation). As employees gain experience, they are allowed to pursue their interests by joining or initiating a community (Random Role Orientation). Senior employees at MindTree actively engage with new hires and act as role models (Serial Tactics). This not only helps MindTree imbibe its core values in the new employees, but also promotes the participative culture within the organization. Building Knowledge Communities: Knowledge management was another activity that supported and contributed to MindTrees culture and values. MindTree adopted a holistic, encompassing approach to KM, as it believed that KM could play an integral role in helping people perform their jobs better and develop themselves, which again reflected on its goal to be a High Achievement oriented and High Caring organization. To implement KM a work, MindTree encouraged its employees to self-organize and collaborate through communities of practice. MindTree also took a number of steps to build a supportive environment for cultivating KM. The development and contribution of the KM function has been discussed in detail later in this article. What role does culture play in MindTree Consulting? How does it contribute to strategy of the organisation? MindTree has always believed that its values are one of its core competencies and a key factor which differentiates it from its competitors. At MindTree, its values define its culture and are a cornerstone of decisions concerning future strategy. Competitive advantage: Core values such as Learning and Sharing have allowed MindTree to develop an extensive intellectual property base, which gives it a clear advantage over its competitors. MindTrees focus on building a people centric, emotionally bonded organization has allowed it to retain its employees, and has also led to higher job satisfaction levels among the employees. Together these factors have directly contributed to MindTrees success in delivering better service to its clients. Strategic Initiatives: 95-95-95 principle To ensure transparency and rich, frequent communication, two key elements of culture at MindTree, the management realized that it needed to make information available to its employees. Hence was born the 95-95-95 principle which aims at providing 95% information to 95% employees, at 95% of the time. The Gardener program As a part of this program, the leaders at MindTree actively engage with employees to develop them into future leaders of the company. The program stems directly from the companys goal to institutionalize its culture and ensure that the core values are carried forward by the next generation of leaders. The 5*50 program MindTrees participative culture and its integration with the companys strategy is best highlighted by this program. This initiative called on all MindTree Minds to offer innovative ideas for building new $50 million businesses from scratch. Knowledge Management (KM) would help in the ideation process and would provide critical IT systems support. The fact that MindTree entrusts its employees with resources and encourages them to build businesses, demonstrates the importance of culture in the companys growth strategy. What role have knowledge management practices played in developing and instilling culture at MindTree? Knowledge Management (KM) refers to the processes, activities and technologies that are specifically aimed at improving organizational performance, by acquiring, organizing, applying, sharing and renewing both the tacit and explicit knowledge of its employees. KMs role at MindTree, however, is not limited to helping employees perform their jobs better. KM plays a vital role in carrying forward the core values of the firm. KM enables knowledge creation, which leads to innovation KM enables the environment, which leads to knowledge sharing collaboration KM enables processes and practices, which helps build a knowledge culture KM directly enables changes and shifts in mind sets Knowledge Communities: MindTrees communities of practice reflect the companys socio-technical approach to KM, which emphasize social interactions as a means of enabling knowledge sharing and collaboration. A community could have members working in different departments. This ensures that the best practices and expertise of various departments go into creating the knowledge repository. It also ensures holistic development of employees who participate in the communities, through interaction with fellow members of varied expertise. Community Maturity Levels: The first level is a community of interest which is a collection of individuals who share an interest and enjoy talking about it. The main purpose here is sharing. The next level is competency building in which individuals learn from one another in face-to-face meetings. At the third level is capability building which enabled achieving better results in the company by improving existing processes, software and building relationships between communities and other organizational activities. At the highest level was capacity building in which communities would absorb knowledge from external experts and the focus would be on innovation.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Leading and Managing Change :: Organizational Development, Planned Change

Organisational development is both a professional field of social action and an area of scientific inquiry†. (Cummings and Worley, 2009, p.1). Organisational development does not have common definition; however, it has more than one definition that expresses the meaning of organisational development and change. Organisational development can be best described as a â€Å"system wide process of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, intervention, and evaluation aimed at enhancing congruence among organisational structure, process, strategy, people, and culture; developing new and creative organisational solution; and developing the organisation’s self-renewing capacity.† (Beer as cited in Cummings and Worley, 2009, p.2). It occurs through the cooperation of organisational members working with a change agent using behavioural science theory, research, and technology (Beer as cited in Cummings and Worley, 2009, p.2). Organisational development and change managem ent deal with the effective implementation of planned change (Cummings and Worley, 2009, p.3). The two terms deal with the leadership issues and the change process (Cummings and Worley, 2009, p.3). Change is very critical process for every organisation and it is a characteristic of organisational development. Change is moving from one state to another; it is the inevitable aspect of life and the essence of any organisation (sharma,2007,p.1);it is the only constant and is moving target as change pace became so rapid so it needs effective management and leadership to be successfully implemented (Cummings and Worley, 2009, p.27). Change Management: Management and change are interrelated. It is impossible to undertake a journey without addressing its purpose (Paton and Mccalman, 2008, p.3). â€Å"Managing change is about handling the complexities of change; it is about evaluating, planning, and implementing operational tactics and strategies† (Paton and Mccalman, 2008, p.3). According to Armenikas and Bedeian organisational change is greatly responsive to management; its possibility remains high as managers strive for successful and perfect change in the organisation (Paton and Mccalman, 2008, p.3). Change management is a complex, and dynamic process; it is about finding best fit for the organisation to get best results (Paton and Mccalman, 2008, p.4). The environment is rapidly changing resulting from changes in technologies, customers’ preferences, alteration in the economy and many other factors (Paton and Mccalman, 2008, p.10) so organisations have to take the journey of change to cope with the external forces facing them and that is done through management. In order to be able to manage change effectively, managers have to look to the faults and problems found in the organisation, putting alternatives and stating its pros and cons, decide on the future state of the organisation and then implement the change process (Paton and Mccalman,2008,p.