Homeland of the Free

In the poem â€Å"Let American Be America Again† by Langston Hughes, the author portrays America as a place where people try to escape their old life of oppression and struggles to this so called â€Å"American Dream†. But, what they find is â€Å"the same old stupid plan of dog eat dog†. Hughes sees that American is being seen as a ideal utopia while he actually views America as a place where there are too many obstacles in the way to achieve the American Dream. The dream is only stood in the way by the obstacles we create.For the dream to come true, change must happen. â€Å"The dream that’s almost dead today†. The dream is not what it is but, the dream is what you want it to be. The dream pushes down other people when also, the people who are degrading others are no better. Hughes believes the dream is made out of three things: liberty, equality, and opportunity. He hopes that United States will be the dream where â€Å"opportunity is real, and life is free†. Obstacles that we create are made by our selfishness by being tangled in the â€Å"ancient endless chain Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land! . We discriminate against each other which makes it harder to achieve our goals and dreams. Because of the hatred between each other to certain people makes it that, The Homeland of the free was never The Homeland of the free to them.In the text Hughes states that change is needed if we are to achieve this dream. Hughes says that the U. S. A. has never been the dream it should be. Yet, it must be the dream where it is â€Å"the land where everyman is free. That the land is everyone, the people who made America, â€Å"the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—†. We have to work hard to â€Å"bring back our mighty dream again. † The vision of America that Hughes shows is that the U. S. A. is not what it should be. He shows it as a place where America is no different from anywhere else, and that the same things happen. How can America be a utopia if it is made out of imperfect people? He also shows that even though America has not achieved this dream yet, it must become this dream, because America is the dream.

10 Tips for Choosing a Suitable Graduate Thesis Essay

Some Graduate Students Take over Two Years to Choose Their Thesis Topic Although selecting a topic suitable for your thesis might seem to be simple and easy, the prevailing research on this issue finds that some graduate students take over two years to complete this task — this does not have to be you. Understand that the longer you take to complete this task — the more money the university makes on your continuous registration. Hence, educational institutions are not encouraged to help you figure the thesis process out. Don’t wait until you are finished with your qualifying/comprehensive exams to start thinking about idea for your thesis topic. See more: Ethnic groups and racism essay Use your graduate courses to pursue a possible topic. Procrastination in selecting a topic can sometimes cause gridlock in your graduate career. Without a topic, you cannot proceed to writing or defending the proposal phase; and more importantly, you cannot begin researching or writing your thesis. I have provided 10 tips to help you develop thesis ideas and start moving toward your goal of completing your degree: 1. Don’t Panic — Keep Things in Perspective Let’s face it, not too many people will read a masters thesis. A thesis is not the type of document that piques the general public’s interest mainly because of its academic rigor and writing style. The topic is generally of interest only to the student, experts in the field and the student’s advisor and committee members. 2. Be Organized — Maximize Your Research Efforts In order to maximize your research efforts, you must be organized and efficient in your search efforts. The more organized you are in the beginning, the more time you will have to write your thesis. Be diligent about keeping track of your files in the early phases of your research to reduce your stress levels later on when your enthusiasm begins to wane. If you have to back track on your research efforts, being organized from the beginning will help make the process less painful. 3. Choose a Subject Area First — Then a Topic for Your Thesis The more information you consume in your broad subject area, the more patterns will emerge. In your coursework readings, you may notice repeated results and conclusions by more than one  source, or facts that favor one view more than another. Paying attention to these patterns should help you become more conversant with the relevant literature as well as help you to narrow your focus. Narrowing your topic should be done with help from your advisor and committee members. 4. Consider Expanding a Masters Thesis Into a Dissertation If you’re working towards a PhD and you wrote a Masters thesis, consider expanding on that topic for your dissertation. You already are familiar with the topic and much of the research is done. This approach can accelerate your progress towards your goal: Completion! 5. Make Sure Your Thesis Topic Is Interesting It is imperative that both you and your advisor are interested in your thesis topic. Some advisors are reluctant to suggest topics because of the implicit responsibilities associated with guiding a student through the process from start to completion. Your advisor’s enthusiasm for your topic will determine his or her willingness to read, support, fund, and provide timely feedback and direction to your work. 6. Choose a Solvable And Manageable Research Problem It is important to select a problem that is narrow enough that you can address it or solve it in a reasonable period of time. You should select a topic that can be completed within a two-year time frame. A longer time frame could allow many unexpected and competing events to occur. If you find yourself spending an exorbitant amount of time pursuing and identifying a research problem, it is possible that the problem is not solvable. With a longer time frame, you also run the risk of someone else identifying and solving the problem before you do. Hence, the concept of â€Å"original† contribution to the field is lost and you might have to start over. Moreover, you run the risk of your enthusiasm diminishing. 7. The Research Problem Must Be Worthy Of Your Time Choosing a topic that is compelling enough to sustain further research is critical. Employers evaluate potential employees based on the student’s ability to not only finish the thesis but also make future contributions to  the field. 8. Make Your Research Topic Original- Has It Been Done Before? The prerequisite for finding a new research topic is to be informed because most things have been studied before. Staying on top of the current debates in your academic field puts you in a position to identify the gaps in knowledge. After identifying the gaps, all you need to figure out is what kinds of information will fill these gaps. 9. Hone Your Research Skills One way to evaluate your research skills and make sure they are up to par is to pursue a potential topic in your Research Methods or Statistics courses where you can get immediate feedback from an instructor. You can use these courses to work out potential problems in your methodology or your review of the literature; thus allowing you to work out any kinks earlier in your academic career rather than later. 10. As You Read — Ask the Following Questions. What is the Research Question in the Study? Did the Researcher Focus on the Wrong Group/subjects? Did the Research Leave Some Group/Something Out? Is the Methodology Faulty? Were the Findings Faulty? Can I Pursue the Author’s Recommendation for Future Research? What Are the Limitations of the Study?

A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel

Known for her outstanding achievement in educational policy, Dr. Betty Lentz Siegel was the longest serving female president at Kennesaw State University. In 1981, she assumed the position at Kennesaw State University, which then was a four-year college institution with 4,000 students and 15 baccalaureate degree programs. Under her tutelage, Kennesaw State University achieved its university status with more than 18,000 student enrollees and 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs (online Golden Key International Honour Society International).It was her vision and leadership that brought the educational institution to its current university status focusing on teamwork through the creation of strong administrative teams and group interaction. With her guidance, the institution implemented several initiatives and high profile activities that created opportunities and recognition of the institution in the local and state communities. In the book Searching for Academic Excellence: T wenty Colleges and Universities on the Move and their Leaders, Dr.Siegel was in a limelight in her accomplishment for Kennesaw State University (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). In her 25 years of service in the institution, Kennesaw State University received numerous recognition and awards for its outstanding achievements (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). Its awards are as follows: †¢ 1987, chosen as one of the top three college colleges and universities in its nationwide competition focusing on â€Å"The President and the Public† by the Council of Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)†¢ 1989 – 1991, Kennesaw State also caught public attention as the US News and World Report acknowledges Kennesaw State’s exemplary programs in minority recruitment and retention, leadership programs for faculty, staff, administrators and students, and international initiatives. US News and World Report di stinguishes Kennesaw State as the country’s â€Å"up and comers† and â€Å"rising stars† in the South’s regional institutions. †¢ 2003, KSU received recognition to become one of twelve founding institution included in the program entitled Foundation of Excellence in the First College Year of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.In addition, this recognition also gave KSU the needed funding to pursue the projects of the RTM Institute for Leadership, Ethics Characters, which Dr. Siegel is the Endowed Chair. †¢ 2006, US News and World Report ranked KSU as number one among the 25 educational institution known for their learning community programs. In addition, the magazine highlights the school’s first year freshman experience program. Academic Background Behind the outstanding accomplishment of KSU is Dr. Siegel’s utmost leadership, dedication, and commitment to education. Dr. Siegel’s academic areas of e xpertise include child psychology and administration.Her outstanding academic achievement also marks her commitment for continuous learning. She received her Ph. D from Florida State University, A Masters in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a B. A. n English and History from Wake Forest University and an Associate of Arts from Cumberland College. She also has received her two-year post-doctoral study in Clinical Child Psychology at Indiana University. She holds honorary doctorates from Cumberland College in Kentucky, Miami University in Ohio, Eastern Kentucky University, Lynchburg College, Morehead State University, and Southern Connecticut State University.Professional accomplishments Dr. Siegel had been an accomplished educational administrator even before coming to Kennesaw State. She started as a faculty member for several universities such as Indiana University and Lenoir-Rhyne College. And in 1967, she taught at the University of Florida. In 1971 , she became the first woman Dean of Academic Affairs for Continuing Education at the University of Florida. She moved to Western Carolina University in the School of Education and Psychology in 1976 and was also the first woman to hold the position of academic dean for the University.In 1981, she came to Kennesaw State where she has started several programs and later became the first female president. Dr. Siegel was also co-founded and co-directed a non-profit organization chartered in North Carolina since 1982. She worked with an esteemed colleague Dr. William Purkey in establishing International Alliance for Invitational Education. The organization currently has more than 12,000 members of different professionals from over twelve countries, who seek to apply the concepts of invitational education to their personal and professional lives (online International Alliance of Invitational Education).In 1999, the Center for Invitational Leadership was created to advance the model of inv itational education by offering opportunities for professional to participate in leadership development programs. Its mission is to â€Å"to enhance lifelong learning, to promote positive change in organizations, to cultivate the personal and professional growth and satisfaction of educators and allied professionals, and to enrich the lives of human beings, personally and professionally. † (online Radford University’s Center for Invitation Leadership). Moreover, with the high-regards to the accomplishments of Dr.Siegel, she has delivered keynote addresses at hundreds of national, regional, and state conferences throughout United States, Puerto Rico and ten other foreign countries and has lectured for over 120 colleges and universities around the world. She is an internationally- and nationally-known lecturer and motivational speaker on leadership, educational issues, and the concerns of women. She has also served as a consultant to a wide range of businesses such as ed ucational institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, health-care services, government and socio-civic groups (online Golden Key International Honour Society International).Public Service Dr. Siegel has also worked in community improvement programs of the government. In 1997, Governor Zell Miller appointed Dr. Siegel to represent the State of Georgia on the Southern Growth Policies Board’s 1998 Commission on the Future of the South. Prior to that, she also represented Governor Miller at the Presidents’ Summit of America’s Future held at Philadelphia in 1997. Currently, she has been appointed as to serve as member of Governor Perdue’s Commission for a New Georgia.Her work in the commission was largely publicized as she was the driving force behind the establishment of the Cobb Education Consortium. The Cobb Education Consortium was created to form a collaborative organization among the public educational institution â€Å"to combine the resources, energies, and talents of the member institutions to address areas of common concern in moving public education in Cobb Country from its current level of excellence to the exemplary level which will be needed to prepare students to become responsible leaders, capable workers, and well-rounded human beings.† (online Cobb Education Consortium) In addition, she also served as a chair of subcommittee on post-secondary options for the Georgia P-16 initiative. The initiative aims to a comprehensive and collaborative statewide effort aimed at raising expectations and ensuring student success from pre-school through post-secondary education. The initiative is different than other educational reform efforts because it impacts the entire educational spectrum—not just the parts. (online University System of Georgia)Lastly, she initiated the Northwest Crescent Alliance between the three private colleges and three public institutions. The alliance was formed to develop programs of c ollaboration in economic development, enhancement of the arts, the preservation of Southern/Appalachian culture and history, and the development and promotion of community leadership. (online Northwest Crescent Leadership Alliance) Publications Dr. Siegel has recently co-published with Dr. Purkey entitled Becoming an Invitational Leader. The book offers a fresh and innovative model based on a single theoretical framework.It deviates from the traditional control and dominance model of leadership to one that focuses on connectedness, cooperation and communication. This model has been adopted in the International Alliance for Invitational Education and had been applied in numerous fields including administration, business, nursing, dentistry, counseling, and other professions. Purpose of the Study Successful and well-established teacher on leadership, Dr. Siegel’s life history has been a model for many aspiring leaders. She not only teaches about leadership, but she has embodied what she has taught.Her success has led to many researchers to examine what leadership truly is. Indeed, many have published life-stories and lessons on management’s leadership, but many have looked into it in lens following the theoretical framework of industrial management. The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions of people surrounding the leadership during the tenure of Dr. Siegel at Kennesaw State University. We will looked at what people think within and outside Kennesaw State University’s phenomenal growth in relation to Dr. Siegel’s leadership.By examining the perceptions of Dr. Siegel in her tenure at Kennesaw State University, trends may emerge regarding leadership attitudes and/or leadership style. In undertaking this study using narrative inquiry, we hope to answer the following questions: 1. What are events and influences that formed Dr. Siegel’s mental model and invitational leadership theory? 2. What are the factors attracted and the perceptions students and alumni with Dr. Siegel’s leadership? 3. What is the value and contribution of Dr. Siegel to the understanding of leadership? Review of Related LiteratureIn the book Telling Women’s Lives: Narrative Inquiries in the history of Women’s Education, Weiler and Middleton (1999) explored the broader questions of gender and power through education. They have in discussing the stories of women as teachers come across on topics of education bureaucracies, material condition of women teachers, and the ways concepts of gender and sexuality have shaped experiences of men and women in the educational state. Indeed, women had not been fairly represented in the leadership of educational institution. Dr. Siegel has been an exception and as our purpose is to understand the success of Dr.Siegel’s, we looked at it in a different lens of leadership framework. We undertake this study using narrative inquiry to understand further the leadership model of Dr. Siegel. General Presupposition on Narrative Inquiry Stories have always been a way to pass on tradition and history of a nation. People love to tell and listen to stories. It is way we communicate and more importantly a way we understand people and events. Hardy (1986) has described narrative as a basic mode of thought, and Brunner (1986) described it as a way of organizing knowledge.Cultures are created and traditions are transferred from generation to generation through narratives. It is through narratives that individuals and society expresses their world views and provide models of identity and agency to their members (Brunner 1996). Narrative inquiry differs from more traditional uses of narrative education, that is, from didactic and strategic uses of narrative. Conle et al. (2000) argues that narrative inquiry retains these qualities in two areas: (1) for research, and (2) for professional development. Narrative in ResearchPolkinghorne (1988) defined narrative as the process that humans use to make sense of their experiences. It is through the application of language and personal reflection that people are able to continually construct and reconstruct significant events in their life and gain a deeper insight of their experiences. Atkinson (1998) argues that people arrange their experiences in a manner that make sense of the events and places the seemingly chaotic world in a coherent order. Thus, narratives are the process by which people make meaning of their own experiences. Denzin (1989) describes narratives as simply stories.Polkinghorne (1988) suggests that these stories convey the organizational scheme used to make meaning out of experiences. Very similar to any story, narratives are thematically organized around a central plot. It in the theme, organization, and the play of language of story that meaning and knowledge is drawn out. That is, we learn and gain insights in the temporal relational nature of the author’s reconstruc tion of events (Polkinghorne 1995). Narratives convey an understanding of environmental and interpersonal context, temporal sequence, and affective domain of the story.Polkinghorne (1995) offered the simple example of the sentence: â€Å"The king died; the price cried. † Taken in isolation, each adequately describes an event. Understood as a narrative story, with a temporal relationship and context, these two sentences describe a son’s response to the loss of his father. They convey emotion and evoke empathy. Conle (2000) describes the two purposes of narratives: (1) to convey meaning to others from unrelated events into a thematic story (Polkinghorne 1995), and (2) to convey norms and values to newcomers on a cultural or community level (Mattingly 1991).Narratives, therefore, are both the process of constructing and reconstructing events into organized schemes and the resulting that conveys the scheme (Polkinghorne 1988). Further, Polkinghorne (1988) explains that nar ratives can be used to either describe or explain an event. Descriptive narrative inquiry reports and interprets existing narratives. Descriptive narrative research describes what underlies the values and assumptions of people within a community by examining several narratives for similarities and themes.Explanatory narratives seek to explain why something happened or to explain an event. It, thus, looks narrative accounts for connections between events and actions that led to a particular occurrence. To put it more succinctly, it looks for casual connection between antecedents and events. Narrative research uses linguistic data in attempt to understand empirical reality from the perspective of the teller. It uses the resulting story to understand the organizational scheme the teller used to make sense of his or her world.In narrative research, then, it is not only the content of the story that helps in understanding the experience, but the way the story is constructed that reveals more about the experience. It therefore looks at the study of ways humans experience the world (Connelly and Clandinin 1990). Thus, narrative research begins with the narrator’s story, but moves the research toward interpretation. Denzin (1989) suggests that interpretation allows researchers to look for and connects patterns of meaning and experience in the respondent’s narratives.Bloom (1998) furthers this discussion by asserting that by connecting patterns and meaning and experiences of respondents, the researcher are able to draw from a wide array of theories to set forth his/her interpretation. Furthermore, Atkinson (1998) advises researchers to examine the respondent’s narratives for ordering of events. Context is revealed by understanding the emotions and values conveyed in the narrative. However, Feldman et al. (1990) cautions researchers on the need to scrutinize the respondent’s use of metaphors, irony, and other rhetorical devices as it may resu lt to misinterpretation.It is therefore, important to understand and gain insight into the mental state of the respondent in order to fully interpret the story. More importantly, the end result should be a synthesis of several stories into one thematic narrative. Interest in the use of narrative research has strong precedents in other fields such as in Psychology, Anthropology, and Educational Research. They use narrative as a medium of data representation and as a guide in the development of methodologies, if they did not want to lose the temporal quality and contextual detail of what they were studying (Fenstermacher 1994).They view narratives as a metaphor for human conduct (Sarbin 1986). Narrative, thus, did not stay confined to data representation, but became an entire mode of inquiry where data analysis and final documents did not have to relinquish their narrative quality. Dewey’s work on time, experience, and sociality had been central for narrative inquiry, which con sists of experiential stories that combine the social and the personal (Dewey 1904).It is these experiential stories without abandoning the particular, the contextual, and the complex events that the inquiry attempts to give voice to tacitly held personal knowledge of the respondents (Polanyi 1966; Schwab 1970). This personal knowledge has practical function or serves as an instrument in order for the researcher to evaluate and explain previously determined outcomes on the subject’s deliberations, intuitive decisions, daily action and moral wisdom. Narrative inquiry, therefore works best in getting such ‘practical knowledge’.In fact, MacIntyre (1981) promotes narratives for the study of practices, of lives and of traditions. The methodology allows the researcher to recover the moral qualities of all aspects of the subject’s contemporary lives, qualities that he sees as practically and theoretically lost. Micheal Connelly’s concept of personal, pract ical knowledge (Connelly and Diennes 1982) combined Polanyi’s sense of the personal with Schwab’s notion of the practical and MacIntyre’s moral intent.Connelly later saw the construction of narrative accounts of experiences as the perfect medium for the study of personal practical knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin 1982). Benefits Narrative Inquiry Conle (1997) notes that the most important contribution that narrative inquiry is a language that implicitly forces the issues of open-ended meanings and of the ‘constitutedness’ of identities, both ethnic and narrator’s identities. Narratives are about temporal events and tell us where and when something happens, in which contexts, who said what to whom, with which feelings and in what mood, and under which moral constraints.Such contextualization on the surface seems to convey facts, but it also potentially subjuntivizes these ‘facts’. If generalization do not accompany the specifics, narrative contextualization limits the factual to the ‘once only’ and to the reliability of observation made by a specific observer at one particular time. If the temporal quality of narrative inquiry is heeded, the tentativeness of conclusions and the open-endedness of stories will prevail. These are much-needed qualities in pluralist societies.It is the open-endedness that allows readers the ability to further interpret and understand the contextual framework of such actions (Conle 2000). Nonetheless, Berstein (1992) cautions that it is equally crucial for a narrative inquiry not to contribute to the rampant relativism, especially more moral relativism and should not deviate against reason. Such relativism can reduce the instrumental rationality of the research and can hinder the ability to draw insights especially in intercultural settings.

Tactics Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tactics Paper - Essay Example How could a group of colonies spread out over a vast region with no central government or treasury and an army that was inadequately trained and equipped possibly defeat the British who were the most powerful military force at that time? Britain had ruled over the thirteen colonies in America for more than 200 years prior to the Revolution. By the beginning of the Revolution, the wars against France fought on both sides of the Atlantic had burdened Britain with a massive national debt. To ease the national debt, Parliament imposed taxes on the colonists believing it only fair that they bear part of the expenses incurred by the British military in protecting them from Indian attacks and French invasions. The Stamp Act taxed paper goods sent to the colonies. It was the first of these laws while, with the tea tax, was one of the most infamous of these laws. The colonists thought taxation without representation in the British government to be unjust and openly protested these laws which led to hostilities between British troops and the Massachusetts Minutemen in 1775. This and other conflicts with the ‘Red Coats’ led to colonists forming the Continental Congress which immediately created the Continental Arm y and in 1776, signed the Declaration of Independence. The Americans, outmatched by more than three-to-one, were predictably defeated in the majority of battles that occurred during the war’s first year. However, the Americans’ fortune began to change following the victories at Saratoga and Germantown in 1777. These important first triumphs gave increased credibility to what had previously been widely considered as an unorganized, minor uprising certain to be vanquished by the mighty British army. By 1778, France had become convinced that Britain stood the chance of being defeated. Wanting nothing more than this, America’s first formal alliance was

Auditing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Auditing - Essay Example As the report declares the evolution of auditing ethical standards has abdicated the powers governing ethical issues of objectivity from the institutes and placed it in the hands of the ASB, this doesn’t seem to enough to properly control the behaviour of auditors in terms of objectivity and independence. In some cases, the Auditor becomes too financially dependent on the client that it cannot afford to give negative reports regarding the company for fear of losing his/her job. After all, good paying clients are becoming quite scarce nowadays. Other auditors are also providing very profitable advisory services to the client and even go to the extent of deciding for the company instead of merely advising the same. This discussion stresses that standards be set and properly instituted through statutes to provide effective deterrent to potential violators. The low cost auditing services proves to be a major reason why most auditors are resorting to unethical practices of the profession to augment their income. Standards have to be upgraded in terms of professional fees for auditors to prevent them from becoming too financially dependent to the clients. The decision rendered by the Court on the Caparo Industries plc v Dickman case, it if now very difficult to prosecute the auditor. Two provisions of Civil Law can be used to sue auditors for breach of contract, where the client sues the auditor for giving clean report which the client subsequently feels unjustified, and for tort which can be brought to court by anybody other than the client being audited for breaching their duty.

Evaluate the key factors that should be considered by management when Essay

Evaluate the key factors that should be considered by management when deciding upon a particular capital structure - Essay Example More often than not, managers rely on the principles of financial planning and avoid sticking to any particular capital structure theory. Capital structure can be defined as â€Å"the composition or make-up of the company’s capitalization and includes all long-term capital resources, i.e., loans, reserves, shares and bonds† (Patra 2006, p.237). The importance of capital structure decisions cannot be overestimated, since firms are willing to utilize available business growth opportunities even when they lack sufficient financial resources to meet their strategic targets. What factors are the most important when considering capital structure decisions is difficult to define. The current state of literature of theoretical and empirical literature does not provide a single, comprehensive answer to the problem of capital structure decisions and the aspects, which influence them. It would be fair to assume that key aspects, which influence capital structure decisions, will va ry across firms and depend on the circumstances of each particular decision. However, managers must be able to create a complete picture of internal, external, and other factors affecting every single capital structure decision. Capital structure decisions: What do managers think? Contemporary scholars are increasingly interested in the relationship between capital structure decisions and various factors affecting them. ... Earnings per share dilution and financial flexibility are the two most important factors of capital structure decisions among European managers (Bancel & Mittoo 2004). Hedging considerations play an important role in how managers decide to manage firms’ financial capital (Bancel & Mittoo 2004). â€Å"Financial planning principles dominate specific capital structure models in governing financial decisions for the firms† (Pinegar & Wilbricht 1989, p.87). Mean industry leverage and financial risks are considered, too (Goyal & Frank 2004). The significance of financial structure decisions and knowledge of the aspects influencing them are justified by the fact that the prevailing majority of managers (82%) are willing to depart from the existing capital structure and leverage new resources, whenever they are presented with attractive growth opportunities (Pinegar & Wilbricht 1989). That managers do not stick to one particular capital structure model is further explained by t he fact that â€Å"there is actually no universal capital structure theory, and there is no reason to expect one† (Myers 2001). Obviously, managers taking capital structure decisions must take into consideration a variety of factors and influences. What exactly matters will depend upon the conditions and circumstances of each particular capital structure decision. Capital structure determinants and factors affecting capital structure decisions The determinants of capital structure decisions are numerous and varied. Collateral value of assets is believed to have defined effects on how managers manage firms’ capital. Simply stated, â€Å"capital structure decisions are heavily

Main differences between perfect competition and monopoly market Essay - 2

Main differences between perfect competition and monopoly market structures - Essay Example Additionally, the firms already in perfect competition have no way of exploiting customers, because other firms can entre and compete with them. Furthermore, firms in this market structure have good price information because buyers or consumers have to know the prices so that they can compare with other firms before they buy a product. On the other hand, suppliers have to know the prices so that they can merge them with others (OConnor 2004). Based on the above analysis of firms in perfect competition, the following assumptions can be deduced from the firms. The firms offer homogenous products meaning that products are differentiated in terms of packaging or branding so as to beat competition and stay in business. Buyers and sellers in this market are many, and this means that exit of seller in the market has no effect on the prices. This further indicates that both buyers and sellers have no influence on price hence price is determined by market (Chakra arty 2009). Firms under perfect competition have no influence on the price therefore they are the price takers. Because of existence of many firms in the market each firm charges the price determined by the demand and market supply. In the short-run, firms under perfect competition make supernormal profits or loss. Because of no barriers to entry or exit from market structures under perfect competition, other firms join into the market and if they make losses, firms making losses exit the market. In the long run, due to the many firms that have joined the market influenced by super-normal profits made by other firms, the supply in the market will be more hence supply curve shifts to the right to the point where super-normal profits are no more (Khanna, 2008). Additionally, in the long run supply has more influence on the price than the demand. The first graph represents market of many suppliers and many

Nonverbal Communication Communication-Impacts on Small Business Research Paper

Nonverbal Communication Communication-Impacts on Small Business - Research Paper Example Words can have no or insignificant effect if they are not supported by nonverbal communication. By learning how to interpret the nonverbal communication and practicing the tactics, the business would not only create good communicators but also be having good businesspersons, which is essential for a business to reach its goals. People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation; thus it is no surprise to find that at the root of a large number of organizational problems is poor communications. Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external levels. Non-verbal communication consists of all the messages other than words that are used in communication. In oral communication, these symbolic messages are transferred by means of intonation, the tone of voice, vocally produced noises, body posture, body gestures, facial expressions or pauses. Small business owners should possess the ability to read the many nonverbal cues employees, customers, and suppliers may communicate. If you observe gestures, facial expressions, tone variation, etc., the probability of effective communications is significantly increased. This breakdown indicates that effective nonverbal communication skills are essential. ... There is nothing worse than delivering a speech about how well your organization is doing while at the same time, shrugging, frowning and turning away from the audience. You would be sending mixed messages and based on the above scale no one in the audience will believe that the company is actually performing well. Effective communication is the combined harmony of verbal and nonverbal actions. Nonverbal communication consists of body movement, facial expressions, and eye movement. Body Movement indicates attitude, conveys feelings serves as illustrators and regulators. Illustrators are nonverbal movements that accompany and illustrate verbal communication. Regulators are nonverbal cues that monitor or control the speaking of another individual. While listening to a person you nod your head to indicate that you understand and are in agreement with the speaker. You look away or yawn to indicate that you are bored or would like for the speaker to stop talking. You frown or raise your eyebrows to indicate to the speaker that you either don't believe they are that you don't understand. Non-verbal behavior predates verbal communication because of individuals, since birth, rely first on non-verbal means to express themselves. This innate character of non-verbal behavior is important in communication. Even before a sentence is uttered, the hearer observes the body gestures and facial expressions of the speaker, trying to make sense of these symbolic messages. They seem to be trustable because they are mostly unconscious and part of every-day behavior. People assume that non-verbal actions do not lie and therefore they tend to believe the non-verbal message when a verbal message contradicts it. Â  

MEMO FORMAT - Marketing - Management. Proposal Essay

MEMO FORMAT - Marketing - Management. Proposal - Essay Example Some of the other desirable features of the Fiat 500 are its highly recommended sporting ability ("2012 fiat 500 consumer reviews," 2012). Older models of the same make have broken world speed records on racing heritage. The car is relatively cheap and is characterized by a one-point four-litre turbo engine. The car is among the smallest in the US and fits very well in crowded cities. Additionally, the 2012 fiat 500 comes with interior furnishing and adequate front space to give the driver a lot of room. Statistics collected by researchers in the US have verified that since its launch, sales have registered an upward trend. This started with 3,227 in the first month. Vehicle dealers have embarked on informative campaigns to create awareness. Fiat motors will have to come up with a strategy better than other motor firms if it is to impact the American market. The market strategy adopted must be backed up by an effective corporate strategy dedicated towards meeting the shareholders’ investment objectives. The strategy to be adopted ought to compete effectively with other motor models already in the market. This memorandum recommends that congruent with the specific strategic business intentions and the desire to make an immediate impact in the American market, that a commercial for the 2012 Fiat 500 be placed in the Super Bowl. It is recognized that the cost of a 30 second slot in the 2011 Super Bowl was $3,000,000 (Damiano 2012). With such a steep price tag it is recognized that the commercial must make a significant impact. Last year’s Super Bowl commercial involved a nerdy man approached by a gorgeous woman only to discover he was actually looking at a Fiat. For next year’s advertisement it is recommended that an external advertising agency be contracted. While the specific creative angle will be their domain, it is recommended that a narrative be built from the past

Most effective Leadership & Management Styles & approaches Coursework - 4

Most effective Leadership & Management Styles & approaches - Coursework Example Leadership and management styles take different forms depending on changes faced by an organization, demand of the people and the current business situation (Young, 2013, p. 52). Consequently, there is need for various dynamisms affecting their business and assurance of most effective leadership and managerial styles. There are various leadership skills applied by various leaders to enhance success of an organization. These includes visionary, pace setting, commanding, coaching, and democratic leadership styles (Jiang, 2014 p. 51). Steve Jobs is one of the cofounders of Apple Company together with Wozniak. Apple grew from a small electronic company to a worldwide giant company. Steve Job emerged as one of the world’s top CEOs through application of visionary leadership style. Job created ambitious objectives and planned for better future of the company (Mankiw, 2013, p, 21). He dedicated himself to the set objectives that spurred Apple Inc. to its current international state. H relied more on his innovative wits and entrepreneurial skills to realize his dreams for Apple Company. He envisioned and materialized products that suited best his current and prospective customers. Job is recognized as a team player since he organized skilful workforce into his team with a clear vision of the company. Subsequently, it resulted into workers motivation and enhanced innovation and productivity. Leadership requires effective management skills and good team organization that will ensure communication of set goals and generation of ideas from members. Good managing skills have several potential advantages for both the group and the manager. The affiliative style of management is considered more effective since it involves the whole team (Teepapal, 2013, p. 11). Through the style, members are allowed to contribute ideas and discuss issues at hand. Harmony is created amongst the team and diversity is never an issue. Training programmes are organized to help improve

The U.S. Civil War was more about State rights than the liberation of Essay

The U.S. Civil War was more about State rights than the liberation of slaves - Essay Example 2). 1 To a large extent, The American Civil can be regarded as a war directed more towards State rights than the liberation of slaves. This is because the ensuing dispute between some states in the South and others in the North regarding taxation of cotton exports, as well as conflicts about the issue of slavery, precipitated the war. Although President Lincoln had tried to make both sides unite, they turned down a treaty called â€Å"The Pickwick Papers.† The Confederate states of the South included California, Florida, and Kansas while the Union States in North comprised of New York, Tennessee, Delaware, Alaska, and Oregon. Based on this, therefore, the paper will provide concrete arguments as to why the American Civil War is considered as war for State rights. The main Objectives of the Union Army at the beginning of the war President Lincoln At the beginning of the war, the main objective that Abraham Lincoln had was to preserve the Union and prevent the Southern states fr om seceding. He had the goal of bringing the seceding states back to the union as soon as it could be possibly done. His adoption of the Winfield Scott’s â€Å"Anaconda† Plan reinforced his efforts to prevent the secession of states. This plan agitated for a blockade of all ports in the south, as well as dividing of the Confederacy through controlling Mississippi. Lincoln was determined to see that the seceding states joined the Union since he saw the secession as a threat to his presidency. The secession of the states in the South marked the beginning of the civil war and this happened at a time when Lincoln assumed the office of the president. As such, his determination was to overcome the challenge posed by the secession (Burlingame 2011, p. 10).2 Union Generals2 At the onset of the Civil War in the United States, the army comprised of 16, 367 officers, 4 artillery regiments, and 198 line companies, 5 mounted regiments and infantry, comprising of 10 regiments. The m ajor objective of the Union Army Generals was to maintain the status quo by discouraging the secession of states. This portrays that the Union army believed that the Union had to be maintained so that the states no changes could be witnessed in the states. At the beginning of the war, the Union Generals strived to discriminate against and segregate the blacks. The Generals did not accept the commissioning of black officers in the army, with only one hundred of the blacks being commissioned at the start of the war (Barney 2011, p. 6).3 Union Soldiers/Wives/Citizens/Blacks At the beginning of the civil war, the Union Soldiers fought with the main objective of subduing the seceding states. The war against the South aimed at blocking all the ports in the seceding states. Troops of Union Soldiers advanced towards the South with the main objective being capturing the Confederate states. At the start of the civil war, the objective of the blacks was to see an end to slavery. They had the d etermination to fight against the conditions of servitude, segregation and discrimination that they had faced over the years. African Americans joined the army with the hope that they would help their fellow blacks overcome the slave-like conditions that they had endured for many years (Cimballa & Miller, 2002).3 The main Objectives of the Confederate Army at the beginning of the war. President Davis At the beginning of the Civil War,3 Jefferson Davis used to be the president of the Confederate

James Baldwin Essay Example for Free

James Baldwin Essay Has writing ever changed your life? Have you wondered about the author of the amazing work? James Baldwin was the author of books, plays, and essays that broke literary ground. His work explored social and racial issues regarding discrimination. James Arthur Baldwin was born in Harlem, New York in August 2, 1924 to Emma Berdis Jones and an unknown father. His stepfather was David Baldwin, a Baptist preacher and a factory worker. Baldwin grew up with an abusive father and a poor family with eight siblings. He wrote and edited the school magazine at his middle school, Frederic Douglass Junior High, at the age of 11. At the ages of 14 through 16, Baldwin was a Pentecostal preacher at Pentecostal Church, delivered by the difficulties of life, as well as his abusive stepfather, who was also a preacher. At the age of 15, a running buddy, Emile Capouya, recommended the young Baldwin to meet Beauford Delaney, an American modernist painter. Delaney became Baldwin’s mentor, living proof that African-American artists exist and that he could become one himself. You might be wondering what Baldwin achieved in young adulthood as he matured into the revolutionary writer he became. After attending high school, Baldwin started a string of ill paid jobs, self-study, but earned a literary apprenticeship in New York City. Around the age of 20, Baldwin moved to Greenwich Village, New York a popular home of African American artists and writers. While in New York, he befriended Richard Wright, a fellow African-American writer. At the age of 21, Baldwin landed a fellowship through Wright. He started to publish his first essays and short stories (ex: The Nation, Partisan Review, and Commentary). Three years later, at the age of 24, Baldwin moved to Paris on another fellowship. His personal life was lonely. He once loved Lucien Happersberg, a Swiss artist that he lived with while he stayed in Switzerland. He was single and had no children. His personal hobbies included writing and reading which lead to his writing career. He enjoyed writing poems, essays, short stories, and plays that were against discrimination. Baldwin was one of the leading voices in the civil rights movement. His work broke literary ground by influencing others. Maya Angelou called Baldwin her friend and brother and was greatly influenced by his work. He was especially well known for his essays on the black experience in America. He provided an unflinching look at the black experience in America through his work. Nobody Knows My Name, one of Baldwin’s touching books, hit the best-sellers list, selling more than a million copies. Early on December 1, 1987, Baldwin died of esophageal cancer in Saint-Paul-de-Venice, France. He was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, near New York City. Baldwin was cheerful and active days before his death, hosting a Thanksgiving dinner. He had continued to write until his death at the age of 63. He had finished Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings, and had published The Price of the Ticket in 1985, just two years from his death. James Baldwin was an influential person. I learned that anyone can change things within and without your reach with determination. I was impressed that he was eager to change people’s perspectives of the world around them. The lesson that I learned from him was that one should do the right thing in bad situations. James Baldwin was a truly amazing person.

Authenticity of Installation Art

Authenticity of Installation Art Artistic value is achieved only when an artwork expresses the authentic values of its maker, especially when those values are shared by the artists immediate community (Tolstoy). In early December 2010 I went to an exhibition of French artist Louise Bourgeois in Hauser Wirth gallery in London. What fascinated me immensely in that exhibition was the way in which the installation was set up. I knew for a fact that Louise Bourgeois passed away earlier in the year. I wondered, regarding the installations in particular, how it had been possible for the curator and gallery staff to recreate the pieces in such a way that would speak truthfully to the original intention of the artist. It is not an easy task for a curator to bring out in a show authenticity to the audience, however regarding installation art without the artists physical presence or mediation, I had to ask myself the question how much can a curator intervene without the art work losing its authenticity? Since the very nature of installation demands dismounting and recreating, does the art work become a duplicate or a replica of the artists work, or does it become the curators art? Is the work still authentic when copied from its original site into the exhibition space of a museum? Inevitably, Installation art, being so different in appearance and relation to its audience than traditional art, has to challenge old concepts of conservation and authenticity. In this essay, I will investigate whether installation art, without the artists presence or intervention, is authentic according to the definition of authenticity. Furthermore, this will address whether the notion of authenticity needs to be rethought in order to fit in with more recent methods in contemporary art, such as installation. A curator encompasses many areas being the interphase between artists, institutions and the public. Whereas, an artist works hard to express and experiment with feelings, emotions and viewpoints through various medium that can influence and enlighten people. Together, both need to work in close proximity when coordinating an art project, event or an exhibition to remain as authentic and truthful as possible to the work of the artist. The task of the curator is challenging being the intermediate between the artist and the viewer, therefore it is important that the exhibition brings out the artists originality, intention and authenticity to the viewer. how much can he/she intervene without the art works losing its authenticity? The problem of defining authenticity in the arts has been a controversial topic amongst art critics and experts for decades, especially regarding representation and preservation in art works. The task of a curator can be challenging being the interphase between artists, institutions and the public. He needs to work in close proximity to the artist who works hard to express and experiment with feelings, emotions and viewpoints through various medium that can influence and enlighten people. When coordinating an exhibition it is important that the curator ensures that the exhibition brings out the artists originality, innovation and intention just as the artist perceives it.- how much can he/she intervene without the art works losing its authenticity? The problem of defining authenticity in the arts has been a controversial topic amongst art critics and experts for decades, especially regarding representation and preservation in art works. In early December 2010 I went to an exhibition of French artist Louise Bourgeois in Hauser Wirth gallery in London. What fascinated me immensely in that exhibition was the way in which the installation was set up. I knew for a fact that Louise Bourgeois passed away earlier in the year. I wondered, regarding the installations in particular, how it had been possible for the curator and gallery staff to recreate the pieces in such a way that would speak truthfully to the original intention of the artist. It is not an easy task for a curator to bring out in a show authenticity to the audience, however regarding installation art without the artists physical presence or mediation, I had to ask myself the question how much can a curator intervene without the art work losing its authenticity? Since the very nature of installation demands dismounting and recreating, does the art work become a duplicate or a replica of the artists work, or does it become the curators art? Is the work still au thentic when copied from its original site into the exhibition space of a museum? Inevitably, Installation art, being so different in appearance and relation to its audience than traditional art, has to challenge old concepts of conservation and authenticity. In this essay, I will investigate whether installation art, without the artists presence or intervention, is authentic according to the definition of authenticity. Furthermore, this might stress whether the old notion of authenticity needs to be rethought in order to fit in with more recent methods in contemporary art, such as installation. If one takes the meaning behind authenticity seriously the need to be genuine, original, truthful..etc. is it then possible in an installation to be authentic if it is not the artist himself who has constructed the art work? Is a part of an installation art work not the experience of constructing it itself? In order to become authentic, is it the right for an artist to make the installation? Surely the artist has his own right to do so and mind you, some artists even prefer that, but what if it is physically impossible due to the scale of the installation object? And What if the artist no longer exists, such as in the case of Louise Bourgeois. Is it then better not to reconstruct her art installations? Perhaps the notion of authenticity does not apply to installation art, as long as the intention behind the artist work is intact, who cares? Is authenticity in the art dead? Installation Art A Change in representing art What characterizes it? How is it different to the tradiational art form? By the 1960s the art world flourished with Minimalism, Dada, Happenings and Installation art. Much different to traditional art, installation art brought about new complications when dealing with conservation and presentation for museums, galleries and private patrons. The traditional relation between the viewer and the object had shifted where space, time and location became more inherent in the art work (Bishop, 2005, p. 10). Despite the difficulties in exhibiting installation art, it proved to be popular in the succeeding eras and flourished in galleries and museums around the world. However, methods of conservation and presentation are a different story when it comes to installation art. A quite coherent and clearly represented overview of different models and kinds of installation is given by Claire Bishop in her book Installation Art A Critical History, written in 2005. Her book is divided in four chapters, each presenting a different model of installation. The term installation in conjunction with art and art exhibitions is not new. However, the term was originally used in a slightly different manner. It referred to the exhibition space rather than being an independent art movement, as also indicated by Michael Archer in Installation Art written in 1996, the term installation was traditionally referred to as the process of hanging the exhibited works: In the early 1960 the terms assemblage and environment were most commonly employed to describe work in which the artist had brought together a host of materials in order to fill a given space. At that time, installation referred to nothing more than how an exhibition had been hung (Archer Petry Oliveira Oxley, 1996, p.11). A similar point is made by Julie H. Reiss in her book From Margin to Center The Spaces of Installation Art, written in 2001. She suggests that the term Installation art is post-enforced on room engulfing installations. She indicates that the term Installation art for room-size multimedia works developed from Allan Kaprows Environments that was used for these kinds of works in the 1950s. Later, it became synonymous for exhibition, therefore still referring to the exhibition space rather than a form of art. Only later the meaning of Installation for an independent art movement developed, however hard to pin down: Although the term Installation art has become widely used, it is relatively nonspecific. It refers to a wide range of artistic practices, and at times overlaps with other interrelated areas including Fluxus, Earth art, Minimalism, video art, Performance art, Conceptual art and Process art, Site specificity, institutional critique, temporality, and ephemerality are issues shared by many practitioners of these genres (Reiss, 1999, p. xiii) According to Bishop, the term installation for an art form that explored the space it is positioned in, came from the photographic documentation of an exhibition; usually referred to as exhibition shot. Therefore, the installation of art and Installation art, both, deal with the position of an art object in regard to its space and audience. However, the difference between the old term and the new art is the relation of space and work. Whereas the installation of art is secondary to the piece itself, Installation art and its site become a symbiosis, in other words they become an inseparable unity. (Bishop, 2005). Also because of this blurring in terminology and the wide span of different art objects, a correct definition of Installation art is somewhat hard to provide. Nevertheless, the next paragraphs will give deeper insights into the features and core characteristics of Installation art. The first kind of Installations art as described by Claire Bishop (2005) is the total installation. Here, the viewer is able to physically enter the artwork. Instead of using paint on canvas in order to create an illusion of three dimensional spaces, the viewer is, one could almost say, able to step into the painting, experiencing it from the inside: Installation art therefore differs from traditional media (sculpture, painting, photography, video) in that it addresses the viewer directly as a liberal presence in the space. Rather than imagining the viewer as a pair of disembodied eyes that survey the work from a distance, installation art presupposes an embodied viewer whose sense of touch, smell and sound are heightened their sense of vision (Bishop, 2005, p. 6). As indicated in the quote above, one of the most profound innovations of Installation art was a new relation between object viewer and space. This new perception of artworks are connected to Freuds psychoanalytical method of interpreting dreams; the free association method. According to Freud, the interpretation, the making sense of our dreams, so to speak, consists of three steps: the visual images and sometimes auditory fragments (the dream itself), the analysis by free association and the expression in words or syllables. Citing the Russian artist Ilya Kabakov, Bishop suggests: These three features the sensory immediacy of conscious perception, a composite structure, and the elucidation of meaning through free-association precisely correspond to a model of viewing experience found in the total installation as described by Kabakov. We imaginatively project ourselves into an immersive scene that requires creative free association in order to articulate its meaning; in order to do this, the installations assemblage elements are taken one by one and read symbolically as metonymic part of a narrative (Bishop, 2005, p. 16). The work of art becomes a kaleidoscope, consisting of many paintings. By absorbing the viewer into the artwork it challenged the old fixed and traditional perspective of the viewer, suggesting that multiple perspectives are possible. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] various forms of institutional critique and conceptual art developed a different model of site-specificity that implicitly challenged the innocence of space and the accompanying presumption of a universal viewing subject[à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Kwon, 2002, p.13). Also, this first theatrical form of installation art posed severe problems and difficulties to the traditional treatment of art and seemed somewhat hostile towards popular cultural institutions. The size that expanded common exhibition space and use of seemingly useless components suggested a critical position towards the assumption that all objects in a museum have to be considered art. (Bishop 2005, p. 33-34). Another form of Installation art was inspired and resolved from the movement of Minimalism in the 1960s; even though minimalist sculptures were different in their relation to the exhibition space itself: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the fact that the exhibition comprised several sculptures did not mean that it was an environment, because there are seven separate pieces (Judd in Bishop, 2005, p. 55). However, it took over core characteristics of this movement, by stressing the awareness of the relationship between artwork and the space in which it is exhibited as much as the viewers perception of it. The piece of work and the perceiving individual became inseparable. Although similar in their appearance, installations, different than minimalistic works, attempt to focus on the relationship between light and space; taking the space they are exhibited in into consideration: Like Minimalist sculpture, Ashers installation focused attention on the viewer, and on how he received and perceive any given space. Unlike Minimalism, it also showed how the white gallery space was not a timeless constant but subject to contingent flux: the installation was accessible day and night, so that the exterior light, sound and air became a permanent part of the exhibition (Bishop, 2005, p. 60). By focusing on flux and other constantly changing factors; daylight for example, the artists suggest that the perception of an object depends and is determined by the position and the period of time the perceiver observes the object; indicating our partial perception and questioning the objectivity of our perception of reality. This visitors heightened awareness of the work within its exhibition space and awareness that perception is bound to many different factors was taken to another level by involving the viewer directly with the artwork by recording or monitoring them. In the installations of Dan Graham (b.1942) made in the 1970s, mirrors and video feedback are used to stage perceptual experiments for the viewer that demonstrated how our awareness of the world is dependent on interaction with others. Grahams work is therefore a crucial consideration for this type of installation art, since the status of the viewer preoccupies his thinking throughout his decade (Bischop, 2005, p.72) This new awareness of perception also plays a crucial part in the next category of Installation art. However, it deals with this perception in a different, if not oppositional manner. With the help of different devices, engulfing darkness or colours, mirrors, sounds or assimilating environment artists tried to dislodge or annihilate the perception of the viewer. Even though done in a different oppositional way (dislodging instead of heightening the viewers perception), the visitor is forced to reflect on once position within society and history. The installations [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] do not seek to increase perceptual awareness of the body but rather to reduce it, by assimilating the viewer in various ways to the surrounding space[à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Bishop, 2005, p. 101). The last of Bishops categories of different installation addresses and activates the viewer in a totally different and new manner. This last form of installation activates the spectator in opposition to most other installation because he actively participates. This form could be described as a Happening, an installation where artist and visitors act together upon a specific situation. The audience of this work is therefore envisaged as plural: rather than a one-to-one relationship between work of art and viewer, relational art sets up situation in which viewer are addressed as a collective, social mass; moreover, in many of these works we are given the structure to create a community, however temporary and utopian this might be (Bishop, 2005, 116). One of the most precursor and representative for these action or life installations are, so Bishop, the German artist Joseph Beuys and the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija born in South America to Thai parents. Beuys works were quite political constituting a mixture of installation and performance. On group exhibitions or art fairs, such as the Documenta in Kassel, he put forward political campaigns in the form of art (The Bureau for Direct Democracy, 1972), where everybody could discuss about issues, such as democracy. Tiravanija, as another example for this category of installations organized collective cooking session in a museum or gallery; conveying a communion between individuals. In his installation Untitled (tomorrow is another day) from 1996 he rebuilt his apartment at the Kà ¶lnischer Kunstverein in Cologne so visitors could cook in his kitchen or socialize in his livening room. (Bishop, 2005, p. 102-199). Though, it is hard to give a full overview of Installation art because to many different works can be included into the notion of Installation art, the short overview above intends to give a rough outline of the major categories of installation art. As it became apparent from the examples already, the new appearance of Installation art gave rise to a couple of difficulties, especially concerning conservation and reinstallation of the works. In contrary to traditional forms of art, Installation art changed the perception and position or point of view of the viewer. Because of their disarming character the works disperse or decentre the traditional or fixed point of view by either heightening or dissolute the viewers perception. Most importantly, however for the further chapters if this paper is the caducity or time and place specificity seemingly inherent to this new form of art. They all rely on the literal presence of the viewer in that particular moment of being and demanding the v iewers first hand experience. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the art work] articulate and define itself through properties, qualities or meaning produced in specific relationships between and object or event and a position it occupies (Kaye, 2000, p.1). All of them seem to be linked to their time and place that makes a reconstruction at another place (another museum or gallery for example) impossible without loosing its original meaning. This or a similar point is also made by Miwon Kwon in her book One Place after Another Site-specific Art and Locational Identity, written in 2004 as much as in her article One Place After Another: Notes on Site-Specificity published by Erika Suderburg ( 2000) in Space, Site Intervention, Situating Installation Art. In her writings on installations, she stresses the importance and influence of the site and location the work was intended for by the artist. Because of this site-specificity the first-hand experience of the viewer remains, also for her, a crucial point in the acquaintance of Installation Art: The (neo-avant-garde) aspiration to exceed the limitations of traditional media, like paintings and sculpture, as well as their institutional setting; the epistemological challenge to relocate meaning from within the art object to the contingencies of its context; the radical restructuring of the subject from an old Cartesian model to a phenomological one of lived bodily experience [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] all these imperatives came together in arts new attachments to the actuality of site (Suderburg, 2000, p. 39) Therefore, Installation art, being another step within the development or the search of art for its limits, led to a type of art that took its environment into consideration, to an extend that the actual presence of the viewer was of crucial importance. Moreover, Kwon suggests that the new kind of art inherent another characteristic that gave rise to difficulties for cultural institutions, such as museums. Maybe influenced by Conceptual art, as well the artists of installations increasingly blurred the borderline between art and non-art. This came to the fore when the installations were accompanied by debates and discussions (like the works of Joseph Beuys and Rirkrit Tiravanija presented above). This way, the first-hand experience became even more crucial because the bases of art became increasingly fluid and virtual. (Suderburg, 2004, Ch.2). Since some of the works could not be moved from its original site, either because they were too big or they emerged with the site (like wall paintings, for example, Richard Serra Splashing, installation at Catelli Warehouse, 1968), reproduction became a common means to transfer the art objects into institutionalized exhibition space. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the re-creations come to coexist with or replace the old, functioning as new originals (some even finding homes in permanent collections of museums) (Kwon, 2004, p. 48). Clearly, there are a multitude of problems concerning Installation art. Most of the works seem as if they could not be preserved for future generations at all. Should these objects that are so much bound to a time and place art all be exhibited? How can one possibly exhibit an action that took place at a certain time and place performed by a certain group of people? Without doubt there are and have been exhibitions of artist such as Joseph Beuys in museums all around th e world? How can his works be preserved or re-experienced in a totally different place by totally different people? However, the next chapters of this paper will focus on the problems of authenticity and authorship regarding the conservation and re-building of installations. If an installations has to be re-installed or material has to be protected from decline conservators, curators and sometimes even the artist are confronted with the question in how far they are allowed to engage into the original artwork without loosing its meaning or originality. Much of the materials used are subject to enormous change and mortality, such as media technology, natural products or other time bound devices. What kind of problems of authenticity evolve and how are these problems solved and recognized in every-day practice?

Family Healthcare Assessment

Family Healthcare Assessment Courtney Poole   Identifying Data The family consists of four members, the mother, TM, who is a thirty six years old Caucasian female and was born August of 1980 in the state of Nebraska and is employed as an engineer with her masters degree. TM is married to the father, JM who is a fifty two years old Caucasian male and was born in June of 1964 in the state of Delaware and is currently employed as a technician lead and attended technical school. TM and JM have two twin foster children who are two years old and both of which are Caucasian males. KL and IL were born in October of 2014 in the state of Georgia. The family of four attends Evangelical Christian attending a Pentecostal Church where the Bible is recognized as the inspired word of God and provides the rule for faith and practice. The family is a member of the middle class social. The family spends their recreational and leisure time playing outside while doing things like hiking, swimming, and riding bikes. During the weekends they enjoy watching family movies and spending time with their family dog and cat. They also spend quality time with their extended family and supporting one another in attending sporting or school events. Developmental and Environmental Data The familys current development stage according to, Marcia Stanhope and Jeanette Lancaster is, Family with Preschool Children. The three main developmental tasks that the family is currently presuming are, Understanding growth and development, this includes discipline, coping with energy depletion, and arranging for individual time, family time, and couple time (Stanhope Lancaster, 2014, p. 313). The familys nuclear history consists of TM and JM who have been married for ten years since April 29th of 2006. JM the male spouse has had one previous marriage. During this time he had two children, JM who is a thirty two years old Caucasian male and was born in 1985, and AM who is a twenty eight year old Caucasian female born in 1989. TM and JM the married couple, currently have no biological children together, but are fostering to adopt two year old twin boys. The father, JM came from a very large family where he is the youngest of eight children, consisting of four males and four females. Both of his parents are deceased. His family valued hard work and respect for one another. The mother, TM also comes from a large family and is the third out of four children, consisting of three females and one male. Her father was in the Air Force and her mother primarily stayed at home as a homemaker when TM was little, but later she went back to work as the children become older. The family moved around several times as the Air Force relocated them, which in return taught them to depend on one another and seek support and friendship from their siblings. TM and JM home is a place where they want to nurture love and respect. They like to enjoy the outdoors on their twelve acre farm and also kick their feet up and watch movies and play games. Today all of TM family of origin lives nearby and they see them several times a week between attending church, getting together for family celebrations, such as, birthdays and holidays, and just everyday play dates. JM oldest brother serves as the head of the family and JM talks with him on a regular basis. For their family that is not local they will typically see them for graduations and weddings. The social media network, Facebook, has allowed them to stay in touch with all family members even those that live far away, and although Facebook is often seen as a source of entertainment, a vast majority of individuals use media devices as a means of communicating or connecting with others (Villegas, 2013). Social medic is a popular and affective form of communication today because it is a lightweight and informal form of communication. TM and JM see social media as an , important resource for upholding family relationships and a platform for socialization with physically distant family members (Villegas, 2013). Family Structure and Family Functions The family talks several times throughout the day to discuss simple things like, who will picking up the kids and what will we fix for dinner, to more serious issues like buying cars and applying for jobs. The family uses several forms of communication such as, face to face, phone, text messages, and facetime. If time is permits, for big decisions they like to talk about it, and give each other time to think on the subject, pray about it and research it if needed, and then come back to one another to discuss matters again and then decide what needs to be done. JM likes conversations to be more short and to the point. Where on the other hand TM will give as much detail as possible and if you interrupt, in return TM will then have to start all over again from the very beginning. Extended family, friends, and church also influence how family decisions are made and how both TM and JM view different situations. With JM being sixteen years older than TM and having more life experience JM t ypically stays calm and doesnt get concerned over things that TM might at times. TM and JM generally take on traditional roles in the family and around the home. Where JM takes care of most outside chores and TM takes care of indoor chores. However, some things the couple share responsibility for such as cooking. Then based on their strengths the couple may decide which one is more suited to deal with certain tasks. For example, TM tend to the bank account and take responsibility to pay for the bills, however, JM deals with getting the taxes done. They both discuss major purchases or if they need to move large amounts of money around and how that might affect other things they want to do later on. Together their most important family values are showing love, respect others, work hard, and taking care of your things. Showing love and respect are the most important values within their family because they believe if you love and respect people, animals and things in your life you will work hard to take care of them properly. These values have been passed down to TM and JM from their families of origin, religious beliefs, and learned throughout life experience. Both TM and JM come from fairly traditional families and entered their marriage with the same value set. By keeping their values and living by them they are able to address problems and conflict with less stress. Their communication style has allowed them to deal with very stressful situations as they have come up and ultimately the love and respect they share for each other allows them to consider things they may not have thought about once before. Keeping the stress in their life low allows them to sleep well at night. To the family children are seen as a blessing and they look to raise KL and IL to be independent and productive as adults. TM and JM strive to help them identify their talents, gifts, and abilities; helping them to grow in areas they are good in and helping to direct them to careers that fall in line with their personal strengths. They like to provide the opportunity for their children to participate in sports and extracurricular activities as their budgets and time will allow them to. In addition they do a lot of activities at church to help them grow spiritually and emotionally. As parents they provide and teach their children how to take care of themselves through healthy eating habits and hygiene practices, to how to interact and treat other people. Teaching their children how to be responsible and to respect one another and being consistent with boundaries and discipline are keys to raising their children. As a family, which includes their extended family, support one another in celebrations like birthdays and holidays and sporting/school events. Also they talk via phone or social media several times a day. TM and JM talk over their personal schedules to make sure they both know who can cook dinner that night and who might have errands to run. They both feel like they have a happy, healthy, and functional family that is willing to pitch in to help when the need arises. TM and JM talk daily and discuss even the smallest of decisions. When choosing to adopt the boys their extended family has been nothing but supportive throughout the entire process. As a family TM and JM have had their fair share of stress dealing with different agencies trying to adopt and also the loss of loved ones over the years. The couple has found that they can rely on each others strength. JM has a steady and logical view of things and is able to remain calm and collected. TMs strength comes in by being able to organize and complete a plan to help get through a stressful situations. As things have changed very quickly for them over the last few months they have had to adapt to being a family of four with two toddlers. They have quickly figured out that there is no need to worry about the small stuff anymore. Their concerns now are to, take care of the two boys, and help them feel like they are a part of the family and the other things will fall into place and be completed whe n necessary. From time to time they deal with stress by getting away for a little while by themselves, to read, pray, or think. Other times they might talk through things right then. A good nights sleep and physical activity always help relieve stress for both of them. Prayer is a common way for Christians to deal with stress throughout their life, and those employing prayer for health concerns are also more likely to take steps to ensure their health by engaging in health protective behaviors (Wachholtz Sambamthoori, 2012). There for it is important for nurses to know the importance prayer can have on a patients physical and mental health. Respecting this religious and spiritual behavior has a huge impact on the quality of care moving forward. Health Care Function In regards to their family healthcare beliefs, values, and behaviors the family believes it is important to stay healthy and fit. Their Christian beliefs teach them to take care of their bodies. They know that by eating right and being active they can prevent some sickness throughout their life. Their house is a caffeine free zone. TM noticed how days where she had several caffeinated drinks that she would be very restless at night, so it has been roughly three years now that they have not had any caffeine. This allows them to get better rest throughout the night. They also reduce the amount of sugar that is within their diet as well. Overall they feel that they are pretty healthy. The only family member who takes medicating on a daily basis is the father to treat his diabetes and thyroid disorder. Within the familys health history, JM had thyroid cancer over fifteen years ago and is currently managing his diabetes mellitus, and the mother has no major health history to report. They generally do not like going to a doctor, but they do know there is a time and place to use health services. They do not want to be the kind of people that run to the doctor for every little thing that comes up. They trust the advice, guidance and diagnosis provided by the physicians, but they prefer to use more natural relief verses pharmacological medication if they have the choice of doing so. Family Stress and coping and Summary Short term family stressors include legal hurtles that come along with adopting their foster kids and dealing with questions that come up from the kids and other people as well. Long term stressors are like career and job planning and advancement, raising the kids to have faith in God and to be independent as they grow up, and retirement planning. These things include trying to be healthy now to avoid illnesses that can affect you has you get older. Their family strength is that they support each other and that they have lots of support for extended family, friends, and church. Some of the coping strategies the family has used are praying, walking, and completing other tasks to get their mind off of the bringing about a new perspective, talking through the issues and worries with each other or family members and close friends. Sometimes they choose to seek council from someone who has gone through a similar situation before. They have found that most of the things they tend to worry about are worse in their mind then the reality of when the event takes place. TM tries to keep her mind from jumping to the very worst case scenario before knowing all the information. Then they are able to keep things from becoming bigger then they need to be. Sometimes it is just taking one day at a time and praying through a tough situation. In the couples earlier years in marriage if was easy to use dysfunctional techniques and means of coping with stress as they adapted to their new life with one another. At times TM and JM experienced denial of their existing problems and would use displacement to cope with the issue, but as their relationship continued to grow and they continued to actively seek God in times of need these negative and dysfunctional techniques because an issue of the past. The family has successful coping strategies that they know works well for them, and have learned to solve problems to the best of their abilities. The family provided a lot of information to where the nurse would be able to create an affective plan of action for the family. By using all the assessment tools available a detailed image of the family was able to be illustrated, and although some of the information may have overlapped at times, it was all taken into consideration to created an appropriate plan of care for the entire family. According to the objective data gathered the family demonstrates excellent means of coping with stress in their life, and equally balancing and taking responsibility between the two spouses to create a less stressful and chaotic environment for the new parents. It is important that TM and JM take time needed out of their busy schedule to also focus on themselves to prevent unnecessary stressors that could occur in the future. It would be important to form an intervention and accurately assess and discourse with the parents their current stress level and how they are currently coping and dealing with that stressor to create a positive outcome and prevent negative coping mechanism hobbits from the past occurring again. Seeing as TM and JM are new parents to two preschool aged children it is important to discuss with them who they see as their main supporter throughout this process and if they feel like they can affective depend on them in times of need. It is vital to take the time to assess the familys structure of life and in order to formulate an effective nursing plan of care. Getting to know your patients family is an essential role in caring for each of your patients regardless of what area of nursing in health care you reside in. A family assessment can help you learn about different strengths and barriers the family presents. By taking the time to listen to your patient you are completing one of the most important tasks as a nurse, forming a trusting relationship between your patient and the family. References: Stanhope, M., Lancaster, J. (2014). Foundations of Nursing in the Community: Community- Oriented Practice (4th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby/Elsevier. Wachholtz, A. B., Sambamthoori, U. (2012). National Trends in Prayer Use as a Coping Mechanism for Depression: Changes from 2002 to 2007. Journal of Religion and Health, 1356-1368. doi:10.1007/s10943-012-9649-y Villegas, A. (2013, October 17). The Influence of Technology on Family Dynamics [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the New York State Communication Association, Vol. 2012. Retrieved from http://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1062context=nyscaproceedings

Benjamin Franklin and Henry David Thoreaus Religions Essay -- Frankli

Benjamin Franklin and Henry David Thoreau's Religions Benjamin Franklin and Henry David Thoreau are by no means religious in any traditional sense of the word. If, however, â€Å"religious† is taken to mean the â€Å"belief in any sort of supreme being...that obliges ethical or moral conduct†, then both Franklin and Thoreau fall into this category. Though the two are strikingly opposite in their manner and social interaction, they are both held to a religious and personal standard. Their individual spiritual beliefs, ethical codes, and their â€Å"quality of life†show that all of their actions and thoughts are held by themselves to a higher standard. Both men have specific beliefs about the existence of God and man’s place in the world. Franklin is a self-proscribed â€Å"deist†, one who believes in God but not church, because of its nature. His attitude was that man runs the church, it’s the beliefs that are important, the praising and honoring of God on a daily basis, not the institution. Throughout the Autobiography, he mentions his prayers and the fact that he enjoyed going to non-formal sermons. He also supported the church monetarily for the benefit of others. Thoreau did none of these things, but he was still a highly spiritual individual. He did not proscribe to any particular religion but did hold the belief in one supreme being who created the universe. He believed that one should have a true experience with the world according to how it was made and that man was endowed with common sense by the creator. He says that humans â€Å"no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven†( Thoreau 25). This is why he believed societ... ...reets of Philadelphia. This is consistent with his religious views. Thoreau on the other hand was anti- machine, almost anti-society. He said that there are â€Å"a thousand [people] hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root† (Thoreau 51). He believed society would be better off not through inventions but if every individual took it upon themselves to find their own true path. Though differing, these two views express the same idea: leading humanity towards what is right. Regardless of their differences, Franklin and Thoreau are focused on a spiritual, humanist, non-shallow viewing of the world. Both don’t just do things because it is the thing to do or out of fear, but because of their beliefs. They feel obliged to a higher conduct because of their religious views of the world, whether â€Å"religious† or not.

Shelley and the Quest for Knowledge :: Biography Biographies Essays

Shelley and the Quest for Knowledge      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, was the daughter of the radical feminist, Mary Wollstonecraft, and the political philosopher, William Godwin, and the wife of the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Through these familial affiliations, she was also acquainted with Lord Byron, Samuel T. Coleridge, and other literary figures such as Charles and Mary Lamb. Surrounded by such influential literary and political figures of the Romantic Age, it is not surprising that as an adolescent, at the age of 19, she wrote Frankenstein. Though critically a failure, (British Critic,1818 and Monthly Review, 1818) the novel has never been out of print and has been translated into numerous languages. What is surprising, however, is the enormous body of knowledge contained in the novel. The novel contains references to the fields of literature, poetry, science, education, politics, history, and mythology. How did such a young girl, living a life considered morally objectionable to society and harassed by family and financial burdens, acquire such a vast amount of knowledge in all fields of study that encompassed the important issues of her day? Through examination of biographical information and Mary Shelley's journal entries, we will be able to answer this question. Following, I also plan to highlight Mary Shelley's knowledge of literature with primary emphasis on the works studied by the monster in relation to his origins as well as Mary Shelley's.    Mary Shelley was born with notoriety simply by being named Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. Her parents were well known and somewhat suspect individuals due to their radical political beliefs and writings, such as Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Women and Godwin's Enquiry Concerning the Nature of Political Justice. Mary Shelley's mother died from complications shortly after giving birth to Mary. The infamy of her existence was heightened by her father's subsequent publication of Memoirs of the Author of the Rights of Women. In this work, William Godwin described many aspects of Mary Wollstonecraft's existence in great detail such as; her relationship with an American and subsequent birth of an illegitimate daughter, her suicide attempts, and the fact that she was already pregnant with Mary when William Godwin married her. To our late 20th Century sensibilities we may not approve of these behaviors but we certainly don't consider then shocking or extraordinary. The above ment ioned events, however, occurred in the late 1700's and were not morally acceptable, were abhorrent to the conventions of society, and were certainly not to be discussed or published in a memoir.

Monsignor Quixote: Unleashed

Graham Greene is known in recent years as the â€Å"old master† as a writer. He had already accumulated tremendous achievements which led him in having an expertise in writing. Because of the freedom that he exudes in writing, his subject matter, intensity and tone of writing style is quite extended significantly. Greene’s works were usually focused in pity, doom and the impenetrability of God’s will. In his work entitled â€Å"The Human Factor† (1978), he talks about the protagonist victim trapped in a twist of betrayal and spying. In his another book entitled â€Å"Dr. Fisher of Geneva, or The Bomb party† (1980), tells about he chilling story of a wealthy man who plays God sadistically with his poor assistants who tried to entertain him and humiliate and hurt them in return. However, another masterpiece from the old master, the gentlest among Greene’s works, has introduced a worthwhile read entitled â€Å"Monsignor Quixote†. â€Å"Monsignor Quixote† is an offshoot of Cervantes’s work (Greene, 1990). In this version, the readers are opened to the idea of Catholic faith and Communist sympathy conflict. The setting is in Spain in the late 1960’s were the end of the Second Vatican Council and of the end of the Latin Mass happened. This novel tells the story of a humble and kind priest who believes that himself that he was a descendant of Don Quixote, the famous Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance. After such belligerent, he was promoted as Monsignor and later forces Father Quixote from his parish in El Toboso wherein such promotion had been made by a powerful Italian bishop whom Quixote helped in fixing his car and providing him with a sumptuous lunch. Outrage of a local bishop in El Toboso arises and requested him of leave of absence to go to Madrid and buy purple socks and bib as the new Monsignor. Father Quixote’s cavalry will soon emerge. This book teaches valuable reflections about authority, hope and despair, love and selfishness (Greene, 1990). However, the rejection of dogmatic authority in the church and state is the focused of the book. Greene emphasizes the value of the spirit and not in the letter (system). Greene was said to be intertwined between two systems which requires utmost obedience and submission to the adherents. He delves onto the human weaknesses rather than uprightness. Doubt is seen as a paradox, which it is in human nature to doubt for humans are intrinsic and can control their instincts. Decisions made from incomplete information arises the matter of doubt. Greene’s inclusion of the Catholic faith as a background is hope in the most extreme situations. Monsignor Quixote and Sancho Plaza had congruent hopes on such event, thus, Monsignor hopes for Sancho, being a Communist to convert into being a Catholic while Sancho hopes for Monsignor to be a Marxist. And these hopes did not end triumphantly which lead to despair. In the book, their hopes arise through the books they read: Sancho’s preference in Marx’s works and Monsignor’s in religious books. Sancho is a materialist while Monsignor is selfless and do care for the world’s salvation. Considerably, the greatest virtue amongst all is Love. Greene knew that there is hope because there is love in it. In this regard, Sancho was faced in a conflict if he will rescue his friend from El Toboso or seek refuge form his fellow Communists. But because of love and loyalty, Sancho did not cross the frontier and instead went to El Toboso to save his friend. His loyalty and love for his friend is more important than his safety. In Greene’s works, usually there are borders which are not meant to be crossed. Love is eternal. Sancho’s reflections on the nature of love, that hate is finished through revenge, still love persists after death. Monsignor realized that Sancho would not abandon him, because he saw in him love and unselfishness (Greene, 1990) . â€Å"Monsignor Quixote† is an inspirational read, a book which greatly exemplified the humble characteristics of its author, Graham Greene. References: Greene, G. (1990). Monsignor Quixote (Reissue ed.): Pocket. Towers, Robert.   (1982, September 19).   An Amiable Graham Greene.   The New York Times on the Web.   Retrieved July 13 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/20/specials/greene-quixote.html      

Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” Essay

In Homer’s epic poem, â€Å"The Odyssey,† the protagonist, Odysseus, has spent ten years fighting in the Trojan War. Due to the gods’ anger against Odysseus, he is destined to have a very long and difficult journey home. Odysseus proves to be brave because he overcomes both external and internal conflicts on this long journey home. The external conflicts that Odysseus overcomes show that he is highly courageous. For example, the episode with the Cyclops proves he is clever because he tricked Polyphemus into thinking that his men were sheep. Another example of Odysseus’ braveness was his encounter with the suitors. He was very strong and confident which caused him to fight the hundreds of suitors and win even though it was only he and his son against the other men. These external conflicts prove Odysseus’ strength and cleverness, and show how strong and brave he is. Odysseus also had to deal with internal conflicts that affected him personally. For instance, when Odysseus had to pass Charybdis, he knew he would lose some of his men. This hurt Odysseus because him an his men became close during their journey home, so he had to struggle with the fact that he’d have to leave some people behind. Secondly, when Odysseus finally returned home, he didn’t want to tell his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, who he was right away. He felt that they would not believe him and he wanted to see if they could figure out who he was on their own. These are examples of conflicts Odysseus dealt with within himself, and prove that he is brave. These facts show that Odysseus is fearless and courageous during his external and internal conflicts. He knows how to deal with his troubles, and is a very strong person. Odysseus had many problems on his long journey home, but he made it through and accomplished his main goal; to return to his family and home in Ithaca.