The play The Merchant of Venice is described as Romantic Comedy Essay Example

The play The Merchant of Venice is described as Romantic Comedy Paper One aspect of Romantic Comedy is that it should contain Romance. This is evident in the fictional romance of Portias marriage lottery in the Three Casket Story. Another aspect of Romantic comedy is evident when the central character Antonio is saved from Death and Disaster. The rule of comedy is that however serious the conflict may be, it should all end well in a resolution. As the Italian poet Dante (1256-1326) wrote: A comedy is journey through hell to purgatory and up to heavens which ends well, but does not make the readers laugh. We will write a custom essay sample on The play The Merchant of Venice is described as Romantic Comedy specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The play The Merchant of Venice is described as Romantic Comedy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The play The Merchant of Venice is described as Romantic Comedy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The play is described, as a comedy obeying all the conventions its settings is urban in Venice and countryside in Belmont, its characters middle class. It uses prose and iambic pentameter, there is a clownish comic servant (Lancelot) and a jester (Gratiano) Plot confusion arises from disguise and disaster is avoided, complications are resolved, marriage concluded. The main thematic and structural elements of the play all belong to the category of Romantic comedy rather than tragedy or history. The basic action of the play is moved by two interconnecting stories: 1. Bassanios courtship to a wealthy heiress of Belmont, Portia, which is straightforward romance. 2. The story of the flesh bond is an ancient time narrative known to Shakespeare by II Pecorone (1558) set by Ser Giovanni Fiorentini and the Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlow. I think to a modern day audience it is hard to classify the merchant of Venice as a comedy because the modern day audience would feel that the plot was designed tragically. Elements of harsh reality includes- the sinister and ruthless plan of Shylock also; his total and crushing defeat at the end, which brings the play more close to a tragedy rather than comedy. The play has been turned away from the conventions of Romantic comedy by the union of the, lovers in Act 3 the middle of the play, a modern day audience would have expected to see the romance of Portia earlier. The love of Portia and Bassanio is not comic, it comes about through a test devised by Portias father to safe guard her against unsuitable suitors. This kind of romance is normal to Elizabethan Audience because there is no alive interfering adult, however a modern day audience would consider this kind of courtship not leading freely to choose a marriage partner as it is through a attached condition of choosing the right casket. Portia and Bassanios love is outwards looking (by choosing the right casket), self-sacrificing, comprehensive and mature unlike the mad love normally associated with romantic comedy. Bassanio is helped in every way toward this marriage. Portia is naturally attracted towards Bassanio and Portia does not go against her fathers will to win him. She values her fathers will more than her love. But news of Antonio being in danger meant postponing of the honeymoon meant the harmonious society promised by the conventions of Romantic comedy is not fulfilled, and Portia suffer financially and emotionally. As later in the play Lorenzo comments on this sacrifice for love: You have a noble and true conceit of god like enmity, which appears most strongly in the bearing thus the absence of your lord. No modern day heiress as a bride would do that. I think modern day theatregoers will consider this disturbing and class it tragic rather than comedy. However the play ends on a suitably romantic comic note as Gratiano, the most humorous of the lovers promises a good life for his wife and shadow of Shylock has passed and Antonio is safely in Belmont and atmosphere is of love and Friendship. The plot is tied together by friendship and love of Antonio and Bassanio, which becomes the story of hatred and revenge (Antonio versus Shylock). Bassanios need for money to marry Portia, leads him to borrow from Antonio, who in turn borrows from Jewish moneylender, a usurer, Shylock. Shylock is a member of racial and religious minority of Venice, where Christians are in majority, Shylock hates Christians in general and Antonio in particular for the racial and economic enmity towards him and his business of money lending. Seeing an opportunity to gain advantage over Antonio, Shylock proposes the flesh bond, which Antonio agrees to. If the debt is not repaid in the said period, shylock will be permitted to cut off a pound of his flesh. In this we see revenge tragedy in commercial Venice is counteracted by romance in magical Belmont. The fiction of three-casket story in magical Belmont where Portia a wealthy heiress peruses her fathers will to choose her marriage partner by a successful suitor, who chooses correctly from the three caskets. This courtship romance works out perfectly for Portia, two suitors rejected for choosing incorrectly and eventually meeting her wanted suitor Bassanio, who chooses correctly. Thus ending the fairy tail courtship romance produces the perfect result for Portia. Immediately after the resolution of the romance plot between Portia and Basssanio, the news of Antonios disaster comes his loss of ships at sea, resulting in the forfeit of the bond. Shylock proceeds with his deadly suit against Antonio; according to the Venetian Law moneylender shylock has an answerable case. Bassanio not only has won a rich heiress as a bride but also Portia is more enterprising and intelligent than him. She disguises herself as a lawyer and defends Antonios case skilfully and legally by producing statutes, which not only stops Shylock from proceeding with the case but also Shylock is defeated, he becomes vulnerable to death penalty for conspiring against Antonios life. The Jew is then offered a merciful settlement his life is spared on condition that he becomes a Christian, and that half of his wealth is handed over to Antonio who will keep it in trust for the benefit of Shylocks runaway daughter Jessica. The emotional power of the Shylocks story overshadows the love of Portia and Bassanio. Therefore for the modern theatregoers overall effect is tragic rather than comic, because through T.V, cinema and video modern day audience take comic as funny and tending to laughter rather than social resolution typically ending in marriage. The three main characters that I think play a very important role in this play are Antonio, Bassanio and Shylock. Character of Antonio is used to show the relationship of love and friendship with Bassanio. In the beginning of the play, we meet Antonio who is a rich merchant suffering from depression, In sooth I know not why I am so sad. We have been introduced to a great centre of Venice, Rialto through the merchant Antonio, who is shy, anxious and lacking in confidence and who is deeply involved in his personal thoughts and naivety relying on his argosies with portly sails/ like signors rich burghers on the flood. He is trying to secure a credit for his friend Bassanio to send him to a Secret Pilgrimage and ignoring the perils at sea. We hear of spices scattered on the sea, enrobed with silk, which is the foreshadowing of the disaster at sea which will endanger his life. Antonio is in a deep crisis of identity, I have much a do to know myself. The impression we get from other characters in the play such as Shylock, who refers to Antonio as a good man. But on the other hand, another character and a friend of Antonio interrupt Shylock, Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? Shylock quickly rephrases his remarks,my meaning is that he is good man to have you understand me that he is sufficient. Which meant that he is credit worthy. Infact Shylock was not looking for his credit worthiness he is looking for an advantage over him. Antonio unstintingly helps to raise money for his friend Bassanio is to the extent that he is ready to put his life onto the hands of his enemy. Antonio is a loyal friend but has a vicious side to his character as well, he is a bully hiding behind the law, we learn from Shylocks aside that Antonio is racist, He hates our sacred nation Antonios judgement of Shylock is blinded by the intense desire to help his friend Bassanio, regardless of any cost. Bassanio can see the danger in borrowing money from Shylock unlike Antonio, I like not fair terms and A Villains mind. Antonio is gullible cannot see the ulterior motive of Shylock, by readily lending the money. He is taking revenge from Antonio because Antonio has mistreated him called him a misbeliever, cut throat dog, and spat on his Jewish gabardine. Not only this, Antonio promised to continue his racial hatred. I am as likely to call thee so again, spat on thee again, to spurn thee to which reinforces the Jewish case against Christians. Antonio faces the trial with resignation, I am the tainted weather of the flock, which gives us the cue as to see him this way, but does not reveal his character. At the end of the trial, after the crushing defeat of Shylock, Antonio shows no mercy by converting him into a Christian and giving the money to his run away daughter. Antonios behaviour shows he is no better than Shylock in taking revenge. However the Christian law supports him. Bassanio has accumulated debts mainly from Antonio. He is keeping up the lifestyle Showing a more swelling port/ than my faint means would grant continence His behaviour is prodigal because he has borrowed money to establish a social and economic status. Bassanio is describing to Antonio the Wondrous virtues of Portia to go on Sacred Pilgrimage, not only to gain a virtuous and loving wife but also to settle all the debts by marring a lady richly left. What he explains to Antonio is not courtship but more of a business plan, To shoot another arrow that self way which you did shoot the first/ I do not doubt, as I will watch the aim or to find both, or bring you back again, and I thankfully rest debtor for first. I think a modern day bank manager will see this kind of approach of Bassanio to pay debts as a Credit risk than being credit worthy. Nerissa describes him as a Scholar and soldier because his thinking type of attitude made him choose the right casket. I think he is more of a fortune hunter than as a suitor for a beautiful wife. Bassanios character develops toward the end of the play when he is honest in his love for Portia, which over takes his earlier sentiment: To pay all the debts I owe. His love for Antonio brings him back to Venice where he offers his own life: The Jew shall have my flesh, blood bones and all/ Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. The character development emphasises that love and friendship are superior to his Earlier self-centred greed. Shylock is the most memorable character in the play. His name is equated with greed and miser ness. He is lonely and isolated figure, unloved even by his own daughter Jessica who implies, our house is hell. She is ashamed to be his fathers child! But though I am a daughter to his blood/ I am not to his manners. Jessica elopes due to her authoritative father Shylock and ends her strive, becomes a Christian and a loving wife of Lorenzo. Shylock is target of vicious mockery by Gratiano; he is a victim member of the oppressed minority in Venice where Christian are in majority. Shylock creates a sense of his different ethnic identity by his speech habits, he speaks of our tribe (Jews), and he will not eat with you (Christians). The Christians in turn call him a dog, spurn him with their feet, spat on him, so to the Christian is a cur, a wolf, a devil, and subhuman. Shylock reminds them of the physical basis of their common humanity if you prick us do we not bleed. In return he wants blood. Shylock is full of hatred and desire for revenge against Antonio because the environment he lives in years of ill treatment by the Christian is indicated in his outburst against the insensitivity that Christian represented in the form of anti-Semitic behaviour of Antonio: He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my loses, mocked at my gain, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies- and whats his reason? I am a Jew. Hath no the Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? (Act 3 S 1) This uncovers understandable motive for his revengeful behaviour, which brings sympathies of audience for him, but when he insists the bond, the audience takes this sympathy back. However, a person who has no feelings will be the only one not to move by the plight of Shylock at the hands of Christian in the end, when he is utterly crushed and leaves the courtroom in anguish. Shylock becomes the victim of his own stubborn cruelty; he loses everything even his faith. I think few of us will feel for Shylock that he got what he deserved in the end but others will see him as a victim of his environment made cruel by the years of ill treatment by the Christians. He is driven by hatred to the extend that he tried to use Christian law against Christians: To have the due and forfeit of my bond, if you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter and your cities freedom. The victimised character aspect of him exposes hypocrisy of Christians and the modern day audience would sympathise with him but again when the audience learns about his attitude towards saving 9000 ducats, then 3000 ducats, when all attempts failed his dignity. I think it will bring laughter from the audience rather than sympathy. Two important themes in the play are appearance/reality and money/wealth. The main theme of The Merchant of Venice is appearance vs. reality. Bassanio had borrowed, and is borrowing more, money from Antonio so he can look and live on a higher level than his own income can sustain. Later, in Belmont, Bassanio must choose between caskets of gold, silver, or lead to win Portia, who he wants to marry. It turns out that lead is the correct choice. This shows that what may appear to be invaluable, can yield the best results is another example of appearance vs. reality. Yet, another example of this theme is when Shylock is lending money to Antonio without interest, but if Antonio fails to pay back on time, he loses a pound of flesh. Shylock offers this in a way that seems generous and jokingly, but really wants to use the situation to get back at Antonio for past humiliations: Were he (Antonio) out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will When Portia appears in the trial scene she is not what she appears to be, yet provides the play with the most interesting and tense scene when she defends Antonio against shylocks attempts to gain his pound of flesh. The second theme in the play is Money/Wealth. Money is the theme of the love plot as well as the hate plot of the Merchant of Venice. Bassanios need for money to win a rich heiress Portia as a bride, a lady richly left is what puts Antonio in the power of Shylock. Antonio and Shylock are very different merchants, yet both trying to make money. Jessica brings lots of money, when she elopes with Lorenzo, she throws down a casket. She then spends extravagantly the money her father had earned so carefully. Attitudes to the getting and spending of money are the important themes of the play, wealth does not make Portia happy, By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world. She needs to love and beloved, spending money is more fun than getting it, generosity is better than meanness yet generosity is not the word for a Jessica who exchanged a turquoise ring for a monkey and spent four score ducats in a night. Life with Shylock must have been grim but the ring Jessica steals and then exchanges for monkey was the ring her mother gave to her father. To a modern day audience the play is very anti-Semitic because Shakespeare age based their prejudice on religious grounds as the Elizabethan inherited the fiction, fabricated by the early Church, that the Jews murdered Christ and were therefore in league with the devil and were actively working to subvert spread of Christianity. The religious grounds of this anti-Semitism means that if a Jew converted to Christianity, as Shylock is forced to do in The Merchant of Venice, then all will be forgiven as the repentant Jew is embraced by the arms of the all merciful Christian God of love. In fact, some Christian believed-as do some fundamentalist sects today, that the coming of the Kingdom of God was aided by converting the Jews to Christianity. When the abuse of the Jew as usurer is combined with the Christian religious bias against Jewishness that marked Elizabethan England, this leads to a natural result in the demonisation of the Jew. This demonisation quickly leads to the image of the Jew as a wanton murderer, and is clearly revealed in the accusation of blood libel that arose against the Jews during their year before exile from England. In The Merchant Of Venice the central conflict is common enough, and decidedly the stuff of romantic comedy a young man borrows money to finance his pursuit of a beautiful and wealthy woman. But the devil is in the details as Shylock, and the details of this play are troubling, ambiguous, and risky. The borrower is a Christian, the moneylender a Jew. The merry bond, a pound of flesh, has overtones of the crucifixion of Christ, and in a Venetian courtroom, justice and mercy get so entangled that the final verdict seems neither just nor merciful. Therefore interpreted by a modern day audience as anti-Semitic, also because of the effects of more recent events of 20th Century such as the horrors of the holocaust, the very names of the WWII concentration camps such as Auschwitz, Dachau, and Belson remains the symbols of persecution of the Jews by Nazis. The part of the play I would like to highlight is the trial scene; I have chosen it because of its dramatic tension, who will win the court case? Will the judge really have to let Shylock carve a pound of flesh from Antonios body? Portia disguised as a man, how would she intensify the drama through the theme of appearance and reality. The evil of Shylock hidden behind the mask of friendship: I would be friends with you and have your love, kind offer is sealed as the dreadful bond. The language used in the many speeches can be staged to highlight the conflict and rivalry between Antonio and Shylock. The trial scene in The Merchant of Venice is one of the great scenes in Shakespeare. In the early stages of the play Shylocks deal with Antonio seems so silly that it does not make any sense. However, when Antonio is unable to pay his debts to Shylock the conditions of the deal assume a terrifying quality, I will have my bond! Speak not against it! What Shylock actually wants to do here is to kill Antonio and make it legitimate by using the idea of the contract. This, of course, is a viciously cruel punishment for the non- payment of debt, no matter how much Shylock hated Antonio. It is therefore necessary for Shylocks cruelty to be contained and this, of course, is where Portia, disguised as Balthasar comes in. Her brilliant probing attack on Shylock completely destroys his position and this is quite acceptable, given what Shylock actually deserved. However, Shylock is stripped of his wealth for his attempted murder of a Venetian, which in the full balance of things seems harsh. The court itself, after the request of Antonio, then shows some mercy to Shylock. He will lose only half his wealth, provided he converts to Christianity. The stage: will be an arena type in the round where audience would be sitting is semi circle around the stage in a stadium type seating arrangement for a fuller view of the court room scene for every one. The trial scene does not need to be changed so the curtain is not needed. The Set: to make it an informal court room scene where I would be highlighting the speeches I have chosen an uncluttered room with minimum furniture and props, an oval table with some chairs around it, few chairs at the side walls for Bassanio and others. The Dukes chair would be with arms and pen holder in front of him. Another square table and a chair with a computer to record the proceedings for the Clark of the judge. The walls of the room would be fitted with bookshelves full of law reference books and some upright filling cabinets in one corner. Costumes: Shylock dressed as modern Jew with a pinned stripped dark suit with three buttons, a Jewish skull cap, enters holding a leather briefcase containing a box of surgical instrument and digital weighing scales. Antonio dressed up in a dark blue suit with a light blue shirt, white collars and cuffs with Christian Dior cufflinks. Duke wearing a judges wig and a robe. Bassanio and others wearing Next suits. Portia and Nersissa disguised as men with moustaches wearing black gowns and white collars. Sound system: all actors wearing small microphones. Sound effects: through electronic tape players. I would want Shylock to deliver this speech with strong emotions. Now Shylock look at the Duke and answer him, what judgement shall I dread doing no wrong. Now with quivering muscles and altered tones move in a semi circle and point with his arms towards every one sitting in the court, You have among you many a puchasd slaves, you use in abject and in slavish parts, because you bought them. Now turn towards the Duke and say in a high pitched voice Let them be free, marry them to your heirs? Why seat they under brethrens? Let their beds be made as soft as your: Now, Shylock put your hands towards your mouth and let their palates be seasond with such viands: At this stage wave your arms and beat your chest with your arms and you will answer the slaves are ours. In a very angry tone, so do I answer you? Shylock, looking at Antonio moves towards him, the pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought, this is mine and I will have it. Turn towards the Duke and in a loud and angry tone there is no force in decrees of Venice: I stand for judgement, answer. Stress on shall and say, Shall I have it. Portia, now with your back towards the Duke looking at Shylock say in an eloquent way without overstressing on the word straind speak with two syllable without distracting affect and start moving in a rapid speech form, giving it as much energy as possible, The quality of mercy is not straind, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest Gods. When mercy seasons justice. Portia start urging Shylock to offer mercy to Antonio in a pleading tone, When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us. Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; and that same prayer doth teach us all to render. The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much, to mitigate the justice of thy plea; which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice. Looking towards Antonio with anxiety and says Must needs give sentence gainst the merchant there. Antonio stand tall like a tower at the kneeling body of Shylock with a steady joyousness, addressing the Duke and all the court, To quit the fine for one half of his goods, I am content so he will let me have, the other half in use, looking down at Shylock Antonio now strike a harder blow, upon his death, tauntingly on that lately stole his daughter, and in a triumphant tone two things provided more, that for this favour, he presently become a Christian, the other that he do record a gift here in the court of all he dies possessd, unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter. I believe the play is of great relevance to contemporary society. Although the play was written and performed in England in the 16th Century, the theme of prejudice and religious intolerance is still very relevant today, in the 21st Century as it was in the Shakespeares time. Many recent productions have focused upon the treatment of the Jews and have used ideas from this period of history. The Oscar winning Spielberg film Schindlers List gives an account of Jewish Persecution under the Nazis and contains similar ideas at times to those in the play. The existence of Apartheid in South Africa was the recent reminder of the behaviour like that of Antonios does not go away, it simply changes where it happens. Even after 400 hundred years of this play someone, somewhere will behave like the characters of The Merchant of Venice. For a modern day audience it is not possible to remain neutral about the situation, such as in Merchant of Venice, it does arouse our response and encourages the need to identify and combat anti-Semitism and all other forms of racial prejudices in our contemporary society.

3 Cases of Improving Writing Through Combination

3 Cases of Improving Writing Through Combination 3 Cases of Improving Writing Through Combination 3 Cases of Improving Writing Through Combination By Mark Nichol In each of the following pairs of clauses, an ineffectual presentation of information is strengthened by altering sentence structure through combination. Discussion and revision follow each example. 1. Only about 7,500 fans attended the game, and about two-thirds of them had not paid for their tickets. What is intended to be a modestly dramatic admission seems to be attached offhandedly to the end of this sentence. The revelation of the means by which the game’s attendance was boosted would be better presented by inserting it parenthetically into the main clause: â€Å"Only about 7,500 fans, about two-thirds of whom had not paid for their tickets, attended the game.† It can be argued that this revision weakens the impact of the sentence, which in the context from which it was excised emphasized that a sports team had to give away most of the tickets for a game to ensure even a half-full basketball arena. To successfully punch up the end of the sentence with this admission, it would be better to revise the sentence to be more emphatic: â€Å"Only about 7,500 fans attended the game- and two-thirds of them had to be lured in with free tickets.† 2. This strategy can also be one of the more difficult to scope and plan. This is due to the challenges that can come with the reporting process. This sentence benefits from the approach employed in the previous example: â€Å"This strategy can also, because of the challenges that can come with the reporting process, be one of the more difficult to scope and plan.† This revision also eliminates the weak expletive â€Å"this is† at the head of the second sentence. 3. The executive team and the board of directors should ensure that there is a passionate focus on improving stakeholder experiences. Stakeholder experiences are the accumulation of day-to-day interactions. Here, an awkward immediate reiteration, at the head of the second sentence, of the phrase that ends the first sentence is easily avoided by subsuming the second sentence into the first as a subordinate clause: â€Å"The executive team and the board of directors should ensure that there is a passionate focus on improving stakeholder experiences, which are the accumulation of day-to-day interactions.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Great Similes from Literature to Inspire YouThe Six Spellings of "Long E"Woof or Weft?

Should gay marriage be legal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Should gay marriage be legal - Essay Example I think not. Legalizing gay marriage is not simply about protecting the rights of homosexuals. It’s not about treating fairly the so addressed minority of the population, the mythic 3 percent figure of Americans (Cameron 12). Gay marriages will arouse deep structural changes by transforming beliefs, questioning values, and institutionally proclaiming something that has long been rejected by human nature as valid, accepted and official. In this essay I am not trying to be a moralist, saying what people should or should not believe in. I simply want to question a change that is so unnatural and intrusive to me, that the argument saying â€Å"it’s their inherent human right† is not strong enough to accept it. Today the world is changing so fast and many core values are simply swept away by fashion, carelessness and eccentricity. The civil rights activists once playing the important part for this society to overcome racial or female intolerance have now shifted their efforts into new directions, pleading for further liberation of sexist rights. Now, that the so widely proclaimed same-sex marriages are in the limelight, it pays to stop and think, will their legalization really create added value to society or, on the contrary, will it actually cause harm by undermining the institution of marriage. Marriage represents a legal bondage, an institution that is recognized by church, and society. This is the couple’s official declaration for long-term commitment to one another. Marriage is a unique contract, different from simply sharing property or setting up a new business; it establishes a relationship that does not exist for people who are simply living together (Cline). When people get married, they become a social unit with strong kinship ties regarded by society as one unity. When gay couples want to contract a marriage, they actually ask for society’s

International Business- Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

International Business- Culture - Essay Example For example; GlaxoSmithKline, a pharmaceutical giant has an intensive training program for managers and other employees in international assignments, which is better termed as AI (Wolper, 2004). The AI program has been strategically designed to ensure employees relocating to foreign countries are well aware of the new cultures; AI prepares them for any difficulties that would be encountered. The incentives are offered to encourage them to take the new assignments because; a research by Oudenhoven & De Boer (1995) observed that managers tend to have a stronger preference for doing business in countries with similar cultures to avoid such stresses of dealing with diverse cultures, which has been defined as a problem in current management of multinationals. The company has therefore to undergo an added cost to ensure such managers are motivated in taking their new assignments in such new environments. Language and aesthetics Language barriers in communication refer to the different lang uages and dialectics used in different countries and by different communities. ... er it refers to understanding the meaning of different symbolic behaviors by different people when communicating and how such symbolic meanings refer to which mostly is a challenge faced by managers in International business. Learning to communicate effectively and decoding symbolic communication in many cultures is necessary to enhance effective communication. Communication effectiveness depends on two aspects; high and low context communication (Schneider & Barsoux, 2002). High context communication implies that message will not require any background information, while in a low context communication , more information has to be given in the message for it to be effective (Schneider & Barsoux, 2002). Countries that exhibit more individualism as Hooker elaborates have low context communicant, while countries that exhibit collectivism have high context communication. In low context communication, the people will need signs and other images to remind them, or to communicate of a parti cular message, while in low context cultures, such is not required as individuals have values that enable them to assimilate such communication as a norm. Behavioral norms are more entrenched in such high context communication such that all are supposed to know and understand their norms to avoid breaking them and getting to the wrong side of the law. As explained earlier, Mexicans are a masculine society that finds more pleasure in saving face especially for a male employee. Direct confrontation with such people is therefore not appreciated; communication has to be in such a way that the individual will feel respected and save their face. Likewise Malays are a people who observe culture and exhibit high context communication. For example, using the left hand to give something or point

Employment Relations in the Innovative Electronics Case Study

Employment Relations in the Innovative Electronics - Case Study Example Subsequently, these problems affected diverse business areas within the company besides affecting the stakeholders. The customers could not get their needs and demands met by the products of Innovative and hence walked away. The parent company reduced resources to the subsidiaries, affecting the motivation and reward system negatively. The management structure and the policies that the senior managers used caused mistrust and cynicism and failed to address the problems of the company since coherence and teamwork were affected negatively. Innovative Electronics is a company that operates in Europe and produces sophisticated electronic control equipment used by other big companies in testing and measuring laboratory instruments, mobile phones, and chemicals. The Innovative business has experienced constant problems in the past five years, resulting in a patchy performance because of the economic turmoil that rocked the world’s market for some of its important products. This paper is an integrative case study analysis of Innovative electronics in which the problem is discussed, the case data analyzed, and the main problems facing the company identified and analyzed. In addition, recommendations are made to help improve the situation that the company is in, in future. The Innovative Electronics is experiencing poor and low performance in its business for the last five years because of the market depression for some of its main products. The company, which had been thriving on the power of technological innovations for its business success, is also facing increased threats from its new competitors in the market because of less innovative developments that can neither attract new customers nor retain the existing ones.

Measuring Depression for Individuals with Chronic Illness

Measuring Depression for Individuals with Chronic Illness The main intend of present study was to develop a reliable self-report indigenous measure of depression in people with chronic illnesses. Early detection of depression may decrease the risk of increment of disease burden and may provide insight for future coping skills to manage diseases in patients with chronic illnesses. Currently used scales for screening depression in Pakistan originated in Western countries. These scales are used as in original version, translated and/or in adaptive version (Naeem, 1990). Regardless of the high reliability and validity of the scales, there have been certain limitations in their capacity to identify depressive symptoms in Pakistani population. That is because of many cultural and regional differences that have an effect on mental disorders. These limitations of presently used Western scales possibly will increase the risk of mislaid symptoms in local population. By keeping these reviews in mind, it becomes visible that there is need to develop a new measure to assess depression in people with chronic illnesses with multivariate psychometric properties. That enables the clinician or researcher to measure the depression and its complicated effects on various chronic illnesses or vice-versa. Therefore this study attempted to develop a culturally receptive scale to measure depression as well as the assessment of validity and reliability of this scale named Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale (DCIS). The Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale is a 31-item, four points rating scale. Results ascertain Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale as a reliable and valid apparatus with significant psychometric properties such as high internal consistency, test re-test reliability, sufficient convergent validity with other similar constructs and adequate discriminant validity with non-clinical population. The DCIS require respondents to report feelings that they experienced in last six months. Item number 10, 18, 26 and 31 are an Urdu adaptation of Beck Depression Inventory- (1961). The DCIS subjected to principal axis factor analysis. Factor analysis is most important method of test development because it provides the dimensionality of the factors and reveals underlying factors of the data (Field 2005; Widaman Floyed, 1995; Guilford, 1948). Consistency of the factor analysis reliant on the attribute of data that have to be checked its aptness before analyzing, and sample size is one of them. Sizes of the sample may vary according to the requirement (Field, 2005). Sample size of more than 200 cases is sufficient for the factor analysis (Guilford, 1956). Whereas another decisive factor for factor analysis is communalities after extraction will be greater than .5 (Field 2005). The present study fulfills these requirements (Table 2). Table 2 indicates that most of the items show communalities greater than .5. To test the sample adequacy and Sphericity, KMO and Bartlett’s test was also carried out. The acceptable range of KMO value must be greater than .5 (F ield, 2005). In present study the KMO value is .8 (Table 1) which falls within the moderate range (Field, 2005) and fulfill the requirement to produce reliable and distinct factors while analyzing. Finally Bartlett’s test of Sphericity is also highly significant (p Factor analysis was carried out to estimate the strength of the relationship of individual items with the concepts and to determine the possible essential structures of Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale. Factor analysis quickly enables to take decision regarding item retention on the basis of good indicator of the construct and item deletion on the basis of poor indicator of the construct. After the assessment of decision making for factor analysis, specific criteria has been used that guide factor analytic decision making. That is based on the magnitude of the factor structure loading of one item on a factor opposed to another. When an item loaded on more than one factor the difference between the loadings must be at least .10 and an item needed .30 factors loading to be retained for further analysis (Nunnally, 1978). For the present study table 3 and 4 shows six distinct factors with Eigen Value greater than 1, whereas one strong factor with an eigen value of 11.01 that is expl aining 35.5% of the variance in the items. All items showed high loading on factor one ranging from .42 to .79. On the other hand rotation of factors extracted six factors by using Varimax Rotation Method. Though most of the items including items 1 (hopelessness), 2 (sadness), 3 (worthlessness), 4 (feeling of being rejected), 8 (pessimism), 12 (self-criticalness), 22 (hopelessness) are loaded on factor one which fall within the category of negative thinking. While items 5 (loss of energy), 6 (fatigue), 7 (fatigue), 17 (loss of pleasure) and 21 (loss of sleep) are loaded on factor two which is the category of lack of motivation. On the other hand third factor regret feelings comprised of item 9 (past failure), 18 (loss of pleasure) 28 (feeling of punishment) and 29 (loneliness). While item 10 (worry), 11(self dislike), 14 (hesitant), 15 (lack of confidence), 16 (uncertainty) and 19 (inability to make decision) are loaded on factor four fall within the category of indecisiveness. Whil e item 13 (feebleness), 20 (obsessed thoughts), 25 (crying), 26 (despondent) and 30 (self criticalness) are loaded on Factor five and this category is labeled as helplessness. While item 23(agitation), 24 (anger), 25 (crying), 27 (loss of appetite) and 31 (criticalness) are loaded on factor six and fall within the category of irritability. In present study item 25 (crying) loaded on factor five (helplessness) and factor six (irritability) simultaneously because the content of this item related to both factors. Almost all the item-total correlations of Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale (Table 6) are highly positive within the suggested range of .30–.70 (Ferketich, 1991). Item number 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30 and 31 showed strong positive correlation with the total scores. Their correlations with the total scores ranging between .5 to .7 and considered to be better-quality items for assessing depression in chronically ill patients. Item number 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 16, 19, 21, 26 and 27 showed moderate positive correlation with the total score. Their correlations with the total scores ranged in between .49- .39. The reasonably high levels of item-total correlation suggest that the items are sufficiently related. Inter-item correlations of Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale are also calculated. Result indicates that item 1 (hopelessness) is highly correlated with worthlessness to feeling of being rejected to pessimism to past failures to self criticalness to feebleness to lack of confidence to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to obsessed thoughts to loss of sleep to anger to crying to feeling of punishment to loneliness and to criticalness. Furthermore item 2 (sadness) is significantly correlated with worthlessness to feeling of being rejected to pessimism to past failure to self criticalness to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to obsessed thought hopelessness to agitation to crying to despondent and to feeling of punishment. Item number three worthlessness significantly related to feeling of being rejected to pessimism to past failure to worry to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to inability to make decision to obsessed thoughts hopelessness to agitation to anger to crying to feeling of puni shment to loneliness to guilt. Item 4 feeling of being rejected is highly correlated with pessimism to past failure to worry to self criticalness to feebleness to lack of confidence to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to feeling of punishment to loneliness. Item 5 loss of energy is related to fatigue to feebleness to loss of pleasure to loss of sleep to feeling of punishment. Item 6 fatigue is highly related to feebleness to loss of pleasure to loss of sleep to feeling of punishment. Item 7 fatigue is highly related to self dislike to feebleness to loss of pleasure to loss of sleep to hopelessness to feeling of punishment. Item 8 is related to past failure significantly related to past failures to worry to self dislike to self criticalness to feebleness to lack of confidence to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to inability to make decisions to obsessed thoughts to hopelessness to agitation to crying to feeling of punishment to loneliness. Item 9 past failures is highly related to worr y to self dislike to self criticalness to feebleness to lack of confidence to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to inability to make decisions to obsessed thoughts to loss of sleep to hopelessness to agitation to crying to despondent to loss of appetite to loneliness to feeling of punishment. On the other hand self dislike, self criticalness, hesitant, lack of confidence, uncertainty, loss of pleasure, inability to make decisions, hopelessness, crying, feeling of punishment and loneliness are significantly relates with item 10 worry. Item 11 self dislike relates with hesitant to lack of confidence to loss of pleasure to obsessed thoughts to loss of sleep to hopelessness to agitation to loss of appetite to feeling of punishment. Item 12 self criticalness is highly related to feebleness to hesitant to lack of confidence to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to loss of sleep to hopelessness to agitation crying to loss of appetite to feeling of punishment. Item 13 feebleness is highly relate d with hesitant to lack of pleasure to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to inability to make decision to obsessed thoughts to hopelessness to agitation to anger to crying to despondent to loneliness to feeling of punishment. Item 14 hesitant is significantly related to lack of confidence to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to inability to make decision to hopelessness to agitation to anger to crying to despondent to loneliness. Item 15 lack of confidence is related to uncertainty to loss of pleasure to inability to make decision to hopelessness to agitation anger to crying to loneliness. Item 16 uncertainty is significantly related to loss of pleasure to inability to make decision to crying. Item 17 loss of pleasure is significantly related to inability to make decision to obsessed thoughts to loss of sleep to hopelessness to agitation to anger to crying to despondent to loss of appetite to feeling of punishment to loneliness. Loss of pleasure (item 18) is moderately related to inabil ity to make decision to loss of sleep to hopelessness to agitation to anger to crying to loss of appetite to feeling of punishment to loneliness. Item 19 inability to make decisions are related crying and despondent. Item 20 is highly related to hopelessness to agitation to anger to crying to loneliness to criticalness. Loss of sleep (item 21) is significantly related hopelessness to agitation to anger to loss of appetite to feeling of punishment to self-criticalness. Hopelessness (22) is significantly related to agitation to anger to crying to feeling of punishment despondent to loneliness. Anger is significantly related to crying to feeling of punishment to loneliness. Crying and despondent are more closely linked with self punishment and self-criticalness. Moreover feeling of punishment made its significant link with loneliness and self-criticalness. Link can be explained in the way that feeling of punishment arises when people have critical attitude for self and others and this attitude inculcate more criticalness towards self and the person entrap in vicious circle. Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale displayed its strength by providing significant test re-test reliability (table 8). Test re-test reliability was estimated by administration of Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale twice with the interval of one week between two administrations. Result establishes a high temporal stability of the scale i.e. a significantly high Pearson Product Moment Correlation of .716. It represents that the people with chronic illnesses maintain their relative position over a given period of time. Another reason of high test re-test reliability is those items that have significant item-total correlation in the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale. Because those items momentously contribute in enhancing reliability of the scale. In addition people with depression usually consistent with their opinion about the feelings, experiences and illness. For estimation of internal consistency of the Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and split half reliability were computed. Cronbach’s alpha and split half reliability of Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale was found to be .902 and .875 respectively indicate that Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale highly internally consistent. Moreover high alpha range indicate that every single item of the scale assess the same construct as the total does. Therefore Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale provides an excellent support for measuring depression in chronic illnesses. Convergent validity is demonstrated by high positive correlations between different measures of the same traits (Campbell Fisk, 1959; Domino Domino, 2006). The Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale indicated good convergent validity in that it revealed significant and strong correlations with previously validated scales such as the CES-D i.e. .823 and HRDS i.e. .718 (table 9). To assess convergent validity, scores of the DCIS were compared to the scores of CES-D and HRSD scales. A positive correlation was expected between these three scales because of the superior clinical relevance of the CES-D and HRSD. A positive correlation between the DCIS, CES-D and HRSD provides an empirical support of the convergent validity of the newly established scale. Discriminant validity of a scale corresponds to the extent to which a test does not correlate considerably with that variable from which it ought to diverge (Campbell Fisk, 1959; Domino Domino, 2006). In order to explore discriminant validity, means, standard deviations and correlations between the scores of clinical population and non-clinical population were assessed (table 10, 11). The results demonstrated that there is a considerable difference in the means and standard deviations for both groups. The results further demonstrated significantly poor correlations between them, suggested that the DCIS can discriminate well between patients with chronic illness and normal peoples. Conclusion Depression in Chronic Illnesses Scale is constructing to provide a psychometrically reliable and valid self-report indigenous screening test for depression in people with chronic illnesses. There was no validated measure for screening the depression in chronically ill patients’ available indigenously. To fill that gap, the Depression in Chronic Illness Scale developed and is the first indigenous test which is culturally sensitive for screening depression in chronic illnesses. Findings of the study suggested that the DCIS captures several important areas of depression in patients with chronic illnesses. The scale will help clinician and primary care practioners to diagnose unnoticed depression missed due to the chronic disease burden. The scale has demonstrated good psychometric properties. Internal consistency for the overall scale was .902 falling within the recommended range, suggesting the scale is internally highly reliable. The factor analysis also supported the concept of depression as a multidimensional construct and consistent with the literature review. Significant input from chronically ill patients and health care professionals that guided in scale development. The scale is of four point likert type response system with high test retest reliability and sufficient convergent validity with Centre of Epidemiologic Study-Depression and Hamilton Rating Scale for depression. DCIS is a 31 items and 4 point likert type scale where each item scores on 0-3 rating system such as strongly agree 3, agree 2, disagree 1 and strongly disagree rated as 0. The collective sum of score is 93. The administration of the scale do not required much time i.e. five to ten minutes. Classificatory indices of the scores are, 0-30 indicates minimal depression, 31-41 indicates mild depression, 42-55 indicates moderate depression and more than 55 points indicates severe level of depression. The language of the DCIS is understandable and concise and does not require specific educational level. The only requirement is understanding and comprehension of Urdu language. Instructions of the scale are clearly stated without any ambiguity. The administration and scoring of DCIS does not need a skilled and trained interviewer. DCIS has hand scoring with little time consuming. In general, the DCIS is a useful test to provide a quick and proficient approach to assess depression in people with chronic illnesses. Furthermore, DCIS can also be use in research settings and will be as useful as in clinical settings. There are certain limitations that have a tendency to cloud the issue. The sample is to some extent small, containing only 220 chronically ill patients and the socioeconomic status of the participants is not accounted. However, as the DCIS was developed and validated only in Karachi, further studies need to evaluate its applicability in more demographically and culturally diverse samples of Pakistan. Gender differences may exist in terms of depression but present study did not address the issue. Future studies have to explore this possible gender difference. Another limitation of DCIS could be its applicability that is solely dependent on respondent’s mutual aid and their comprehension regarding Urdu language. Future studies can develop and validate the DCIS clinician rating scale to address this issue. There is need to control false positive and false negative responses from patients and the present study does not cater this issue. Further studies have to explore and control this issue.

Essay --

†¢ O Insulin: O In T1D, the body does not produce insulin. O Insulin is a hormone, needed for converting sugar, starches, and other food into energy. O Insulin is a polypeptide hormone, made by the beta cells in the pancreas. These regulate the metabolism of glucose and other nutrients in the body. O Insulin causes cells in the liver, skeletal muscles, and fat tissue to absorb glucose from the blood. O Only 5% of people with diabetes have this form of the disease. O Inheritance: O Inheritance patterns in T1D are not clearly known, although they are passed down through generations in families. O Its is not known if it is dominant or recessive, because of too many variables. O T1D is both considered pleiotropic and mitochondrial. O This is a polygenetic disease; any of a group of genes that each produce a small quantitative effect on a particular characteristic of the phenotype. O Although it can be inherited, some environmental factors can lead to T1D. O Genotypes: O Certain risk factors are not known specifically, but certain variants can be identified. O Three main genes have been identified: HLA-DQA1, HLA-DQB1, and HLA-DRB1. O These genes belong to the human leukocyte antigen family, or HLA. O HLA genes separate good proteins made by the body, from bad proteins such as those made by viruses and bacteria. O Commonality: O Previously known as juvenile diabetes, Type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, but is typically diagnosed in children, teens, and young adults. O 1 in every 500 children or adolescents are diagnosed with T1D. O By age 18, 1 in 300 people develop T1D in the United states. O About 285 million people world wide suffer from diabetes. O By 2030, it is estimated that 435 million people will have been diagnosed wit... ...y injections and insulin pump therapy. O Pricking the finger several times a day monitors blood-glucose levels. O T1D patients are encouraged to eat healthy and stay active. O Food is most concerning because of how fast glucose levels can rise and fall, considering sugar content in food. O Life with Diabetes Type 1: O â€Å"Both children and adults like me who live with type 1 diabetes need to be mathematicians, physicians, personal trainers, and dietitians all rolled into one. We need to be constantly factoring and adjusting, making frequent finger sticks to check blood sugars, and giving ourselves multiple daily insulin injections just to stay alive.† O Limitations: O Food consumption! O Calories and carbs. Are calculated every day, just to try and keep vital organs from failing. O Others: Cold, sunburn, stress, and too much or too little excersize. O Organizations:

Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Learning Phetric H. Jones Grand Canyon University Educating the Exceptional Learner SPE 226 Star Smith March 10, 2013 There are many different procedures that students with disabilities must go through. Each procedure is a different step in making sure that these students have the necessary tools to promote lifelong learning. Early Intervention is a process used to service students who might be at risk of not reaching or maintaining at academic grade level. Students receive services that are designed for their special need.This program ensures that students are given an equal chance at receiving the best education that is right for them. One of the first steps that must be done is diagnosing what the developmental disability might be. A developmental disability means that a child is delayed in some area of development (Overview of Early, 2012). A developmental disability can occur in one of five areas, cognitive, physical, communication, social or emotional and adaptive. An example of developmental disability could be a language delay.This would mean that the child has problems processing information. This process could be either receptive or excessive. Another disability would be autism. A student that has autism has problems with communication or socialization. Some of these disabilities are diagnosed early in life from birth to age 2, while others are not noticed or diagnosed until they reach school during the ages of 3 to 5. Once the developmental disability is diagnosed then the next step can begin.Early intervention is a system of services that helps babies and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities (Overview of Early, 2012). Once a child enters schools they are set up on an Individualized Education Plan. However before a student can be set up on an IEP, it must be determined if they qualify for special education services or not. If it is determined that the student is eligible for services then the team of professionals including the general education teacher and special educator teachers get together to devise an educational plan that will best help the student.An IEP or Individualized Education Plan is a set of written plans developed by the special education team with input from the parent and specifies the student’s academic goals and the methods used to reach this goal (Individualized Education Plan, 2013). Things that might be included in an IEP could be that a student be given frequent breaks, extra time or information could be read to them. An IEP also identify things such as transitional arrangement as well as provide a focus for student’s learning and specific timeframes (Individualized Education Plan, 2013).Each student is different therefore making each IEP different as well. Just like with any other assessment, there are many strengths and weaknesses to assessments and interventions used in special education. Some of the assessments that are used in special education are screening tes t, adaptive behavior scales, individual academic achievement test, curriculum based test, test given at the end of a chapter and even standardized test. Some of these assessments use different data sources. These sources can be from observations, reports from parents or students, progress monitoring or response-to-intervention (RTI).One of the main strengths is that with these assessments the teacher can create lessons that are tailored to the needs of the student. Also, assessments helps to give them an early initiative into academic success. The weakness is that these assessments cannot pinpoint very specific curriculum needs (Mooney, 2013). The assessments are too broad they just provide an overview. Also, they can restrict opportunities for these students by denying them access to private or charter school and even certain enrichment programs.There are many transitional programs for students with special needs. These services are used to prepare children as they enter into the w orld of adulthood. One program that is available in Fayette County is Bridging the Gap to Success. This program provides schools the necessary infrastructure needed to provide transitional services to students with intense training and transition. Youthood. org is an online program that helps students decide what they want to do when they get older.Also, Start Early focuses on preparing and elementary and middle students for their transition to post-school activities (Dragoo, 2013). The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities formerly known as National Information Center for Handicapped Children and Youth (NICHCY) is a national information resource center that will provide information on different transitional programs. Families and older students can always check with their state’s transition coordinator to see what other programs are available.People expect for these programs to help, guide and assist them into the next area of their life. That step can be to the next grade level or into the world of adulthood. The key is for each process to be as simple and easy as possible. Each student should be able to transition from one process to another with no problem. This helps people to adjust in a timely manner. No matter what type of special need a student has, there are always programs and services available to assist with learning.Teachers must work together to provide meaningful information that will help these students overcome whatever disability they might have. By diagnosing the disability and creating a plan, students with disabilities will received the services needed reach the next level in life. We want to make sure that these students maintain and reach academic success. The ultimate goal is to provide these students with a meaningful and productive education that they will be able to use throughout life. References Dragoo, K. 2013) Transition Services for Children with Disabilities Retrieved March 12, 2013 from http://ww w. education. com/reference/article/Ref_Transition_101/ Individualized Education Plan (n. d. ) Retrieved March 8, 2013 from http://specialed. about. com/od/specialedacronyms/g/iep. htm Mooney, L. (2013) The Strengths and Weaknesses of Assessments for Early Special Education Retrieved March 11, 2012 from http://www. ehow. com/info_12158052_strengths-weaknesses-assessments-early-special-education. html What is a Developmental Delay (2012) Overview of Early

Free Essays on Denver Development

The child that I assessed is my boyfriend’s little sister. I went over to her parent’s house November 15, 2003 to perform the test, the time was about 8:15 p.m. I received prior permission from the parents over the telephone. At that time Julie Anna was told about the screening and couldn’t wait for me to come over. The test date age of Julie Anna is 5 years, 8 months and 2 days. Upon entering the Phillips’ house, Julie Anna runs to the door to see who was there. She sees that is was me and runs to me yelling, â€Å"Kelli! Kelli!† I stooped down a little to give her a hug and she jumped and put her arms around my neck.. I picked her up and she preceded to tell me about her new shoes that she gotten. She said that they were, â€Å"black boots that made her bigger.† She then ran to her room to put them on. I followed her and sat down on the bed and watched her put her boots on. She put them on the correct feet, zipped them up and stood up and said, â€Å"Look they really do make me bigger.† I started laughing at her because she looked funny wearing her boots with Barbie pajamas and said â€Å"Hopefully you won’t be wearing that to school.† She gave me one of her weird looks and said, â€Å"No silly, I’m going to wear this,† she pulled out a sweater and a skirt. â€Å"This matches,† she said. 1. The child smiled when she turned the corner and saw me at the door. 3. When Julie Anna was asked to get ready for bed she needed to be told more than once. The T.V. distracted her, since her favorite show Lizzy McGuire was on. When she finally got into the bathroom, she got her toothbrush and toothpaste out, rinsed off her toothbrush and applied a small amount of toothpaste to it. She brushed her teeth for a long time, then when she was done she put the cap back on the toothpaste and put it away. 4. The child was able to dress with no help. It seemed like every time I seen her, she had on a different outfi... Free Essays on Denver Development Free Essays on Denver Development The child that I assessed is my boyfriend’s little sister. I went over to her parent’s house November 15, 2003 to perform the test, the time was about 8:15 p.m. I received prior permission from the parents over the telephone. At that time Julie Anna was told about the screening and couldn’t wait for me to come over. The test date age of Julie Anna is 5 years, 8 months and 2 days. Upon entering the Phillips’ house, Julie Anna runs to the door to see who was there. She sees that is was me and runs to me yelling, â€Å"Kelli! Kelli!† I stooped down a little to give her a hug and she jumped and put her arms around my neck.. I picked her up and she preceded to tell me about her new shoes that she gotten. She said that they were, â€Å"black boots that made her bigger.† She then ran to her room to put them on. I followed her and sat down on the bed and watched her put her boots on. She put them on the correct feet, zipped them up and stood up and said, â€Å"Look they really do make me bigger.† I started laughing at her because she looked funny wearing her boots with Barbie pajamas and said â€Å"Hopefully you won’t be wearing that to school.† She gave me one of her weird looks and said, â€Å"No silly, I’m going to wear this,† she pulled out a sweater and a skirt. â€Å"This matches,† she said. 1. The child smiled when she turned the corner and saw me at the door. 3. When Julie Anna was asked to get ready for bed she needed to be told more than once. The T.V. distracted her, since her favorite show Lizzy McGuire was on. When she finally got into the bathroom, she got her toothbrush and toothpaste out, rinsed off her toothbrush and applied a small amount of toothpaste to it. She brushed her teeth for a long time, then when she was done she put the cap back on the toothpaste and put it away. 4. The child was able to dress with no help. It seemed like every time I seen her, she had on a different outfi...

The Marshall Plan - Rebuilding Western Europe After WW2

The Marshall Plan - Rebuilding Western Europe After WW2 The Marshall Plan was a massive program of aid from the United States to sixteen western and southern European countries, aimed at helping economic renewal and strengthening democracy after the devastation of World War II. It was started in 1948 and was officially known as the European Recovery Program, or ERP, but is more commonly known as the Marshall Plan, after the man who announced it, US Secretary of State George C. Marshall. The Need for Aid The Second World War severely damaged the economies of Europe, leaving many in a parlous state: cities and factories had been bombed, transport links had been severed and agricultural production disrupted. Populations had been moved or destroyed, and a tremendous amount of capital had been spent on weapons and related products. Its not an exaggeration to say the continent was a wreck. 1946 Britain, a former world power, was close to bankruptcy and had to pull out of international agreements while in France and Italy there was inflation and unrest and the fear of starvation. Communist parties across the continent were benefiting from this economic turmoil, and this raised the chance Stalin could conquer the west through elections and revolutions, instead of having lost the chance when Allied troops pushed the Nazis back east. It looked like the defeat of the Nazis might cause the loss of the European markets for decades. Several ideas to aid the rebuilding of Europe had been proposed, from inflicting harsh reparations on Germany- a plan that had been tried after World War I and which appeared to have failed utterly to bring peace so wasnt used again - to the US giving aid and recreating someone to trade with. The Marshall Plan The US, also terrified that communist groups would gain further power- the Cold War was emerging and Soviet domination of Europe seemed a real danger- and wishing to secure European markets, opted for a program of financial aid. Announced on June 5th, 1947 by George Marshall, the European Recovery Program, ERP, called for a system of aid and loans, at first to all nations affected by the war. However, as plans for the ERP were being formalized,  Russian leader Stalin, afraid of US economic domination, refused the initiative and pressured the nations under his control into refusing aid despite a desperate need. The Plan in Action Once a committee of sixteen countries reported back favorably, the program was signed into US law on April 3, 1948. The Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) was then created under Paul G. Hoffman, and between then and 1952, over $13 billion worth of aid was given. To assist in coordinating the program, the European nations created the Committee of European Economic Cooperation which helped form a four-year recovery program. The nations receiving were: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and West Germany. Effects During the years of the plan, receiving nations experienced economic growth of between 15%-25%. Industry was quickly renewed and agricultural production sometimes exceeded pre-war levels. This boom helped push communist groups away from power and created an economic divide between the rich west and poor communist east as clear as the political one. The shortage of foreign currency was also alleviated allowing for more imports. Views of the Plan Winston Churchill described the plan as â€Å"the most unselfish act by any great power in history† and many have been happy to stay with this altruistic impression. However, some commentators have accused the United States of practicing a form of economic imperialism, tying the western nations of Europe to them just as the Soviet Union dominated the east, partly because acceptance into the plan required those nations to be open to US markets, partly because a great deal of the aid was used to purchase imports from the US, and partly because the sale of ‘military’ items to the east was banned. The Plan has also been called an attempt to persuade European nations to act continentally, rather than as a divided group of independent nations, prefiguring the EEC and the European Union. In addition, the success of the plan has been questioned. Some historians and economists attribute great success to it, while others, such as Tyler Cowen, claim the plan had little effec t and it was simply the local restoration of sound economic policy (and an end to vast warfare) which caused the rebound.

Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Article Example In the two projects #1 and #2 the problem is well stated clearly. Project #2 addresses the scarcity of water as a result of pollution while project#1 addressing scarcity of energy in the region (Holtz 119). The information in both projects addresses the problem directly. The project #2 is clearer than project #1 because it touches on the immediate beneficiaries. While given the opportunity to add I would give extra information on the objectives that are to be met. It is the objectives that determine the activities and the budget. The list of activities that will be involved in order to accomplish the tasks would also be included in order to determine the time frame appropriately. The readers were for the beneficiaries in the two projects because they were the targeted groups. The targeted groups directly affected by the problem suffer the most. It is the pain they undergo that appeals to the reader and the reader funds the project (Baugh; Hamper 92). Once the problem of the target group is reduced the project shall have accomplished its objectives and the activities in place successfully. In relation to the context, the information in the two proposals was contextual because they addre ssed the immediate problems. Project #2 captured the whole conditions and therefore was more contextual than project#1. The context in which the project is carried out will determine the success or failure therefore the information should be intact. At this stage of the proposal I inferred that the proposal must meet the standard that is set in order to win the funding. The format depends on the guideline given by the funding agencies. Secondly the problem being addressed must be stated clearly and the target group stated in order to draft the objectives that the project intend to tackles at the end (Pearce 67). The activities in the project are systematic and procedural. They are

FUNDATEMENT OF E-BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

FUNDATEMENT OF E-BUSINESS - Essay Example This paper is divided in six main sections. The first section briefly explores the literature on the e-business and use of internet in the businesses. This is followed by the corporate information of the company. This section provides information on various aspects of the hotel in brief. The E-business evaluation section elaborates analysis on the three parameters of branding, social networking and mass customisation. The webpage section consists of general looks and feeling of the webpage and its graphical features. Recommendation section is an effort to bridge the gap identified in the current website. The last section consists of concluding remarks. 2. Business Literature on E-Business According to Boardman (2004) the origin of websites has been for different purpose altogether and it got evolved with the growth in the information need of the consumer and society. Boardman (2004) explains that initially Web was considered as a medium for handling different kinds of information. Ho wever the huge potential of the information need generated more possibilities of use of this medium. â€Å"It was not much more than rich text with the ability to turn selected portions of text into hyperlinks. It was possible to include images and to make these into hyperlinks, but because of the relatively slow download speeds of modems in the mid-1990s, web developers had to be careful about images. It was common for browsers to be configured only to load the text from a web page.  (Boardman, 2004, p. 13) There are various e-business models which companies use. These e-business models are based on internal and external data. Companies use this platform to maintain their value chain, generate business and communicate with the stakeholders. The significance of web presence in businesses has increased in many folds. "E-commerce usually refers to an online shop where customers can order, and normally pay for, products or services via the website. The customers need not be consumer s, but could be other businesses" (Collin, 2000, p. 99) This led in classification of the e-business models based on the type of stakeholders like business (B2B), consumers (B2C), employee (B2E), government (B2G) or from government to business (G2B), government (G2G), citizen (G2C), or consumer based business models like consumer to consumer (C2C) or business (C2B). E-business models allow integration of internal and external business processes. However it is very challenging to acquire consumer trust online. This trust is difficult to gain from any marketing campaign or promotions. Positive consumer experiences are the key of gaining consumer trust. Derong, Zongqing & Xiaolin (2009) focuses on the need of understanding the user requirements for a successful online application. The poor websites usually fail in understanding their target audience and their information needs. Website is convenient and provides opportunity for the fast services to the consumer. This helps in saving ti me, energy and resources of consumers by providing round the clock service and information. This provides electronic means for the companies to reach to the customers in easy and cost effective manner. â€Å"The Net is very good at bringing together large, dispersed groups of users who can meet in one place and discuss just about anything. There are three basic types of place on the Net where you can meet up and chat: ?' Web forums or discussion areas St mailing