Are woman in the Arab world oppressed Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Are woman in the Arab world oppressed - Essay Example Souheila (2006) is of the firm opinion that Arab women are breaking down barriers to gain greater freedom. They should not be judged by the veil that they adorn. The veil is merely a requirement of the Islamic religion to hide the contours of the body so as not to attract the opposite sex. The west considers the veil as a symbol of religious cruelty or oppression. Our Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan once said, â€Å"I am afraid we are seeing that trend today in the tensions between East and West, with each side encumbered by stereotypes of what the other must be like. To hear some in the West, all Arab women are backward and oppressed†¦.† While woman in the Arab world are seen to be oppressed, they do enjoy political and social rights, and the media should be showing the other side of the Arab woman in our world today. The role of woman varies from one country to the other. In Kuwait women have participated in the country’s elections for the first time ever (Souheila). As far back as 1979 cabinet, the first female minister was appointed in Jordan. In the field of education, about 55% of the college graduates in Saudi Arabia are women while 57% of the university-age women in Tunisia are enrolled for college education. In Syria, women make 15% of lawyers and 13% of judges apart from 20% of university professors. Women hold 34% of all private sector businesses in Riyadh and 25.6% in Jeddah (Ahmed, n.d.). Four thousand Saudi business women hold bank accounts worth $11.5 billion and Saudi women also hold 20% public company shares. A Saudi woman has also been appointed head of an UN agency. According to the Jordanian Constitution, all Jordanians are equal before the law, have the right to assume public office and the right to work. The government of Jordan signed the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in December 1980, which was

Types And Characteristics Of WANs Information Technology Essay

Types And Characteristics Of WANs Information Technology Essay A Wan is a large area network that expands in a geographical area, such as a country or a continent. It is known also as a communication system that connects computer networks such as LANs (local area network) and MANs (metro area network). The connections go through local, national or international areas public or privately, using generally phones lines, referred to as POST, or employing PSTN (public switched telephone network) or fibre optics, creating the link between networks located in different facilities. A WAN differs from a LAN in several important ways. Most WANs (like the Internet) are not owned by any one organization but rather exist under collective or distributed ownership and management. WANs tend to use technology like ATM, Frame Relay and X.25 for connectivity over the longer distances. These networks contain a collection of machines to execute some programs which are called hosts. These are connected to networks that have communication through routers with each LAN and a WAN interface. Remote access is something vital for the companies and users because it allows you to have mobility and work through different areas. Also it gives the benefit to get better business out of your area. Basically a WAN generates new applications viable, and some of them can cause important effects in whole society. In order to give some idea of important uses, some of them they are already commented before, we can see emphasize: The access to remote programs. The access to remote data bases. Facilities of added value communication. The principal components are routers, switches and modems. Devices on the subscriber premises are called customer premises equipment (CPE). The subscriber owns the CPE or leases the CPE from the service provider. A copper or fibre cable connects the CPE to the service providers nearest exchange or central office. This cabling is often called the local loop, or last-mile. Then Devices that put data on the local loop are called data circuit-terminating equipment, or data communications equipment (DCE). The customer devices that pass the data to the DCE are called data terminal equipment (DTE). The DCE primarily provides an interface for the DTE into the communication link on the WAN cloud. Types and characteristics of WANs: The local area networks (LAN) are significantly different from the wide area network (WAN). The LANà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ sector is one of the fastest growths in the industry of the communications. The local area networks own the following characteristics. Generally, the channels are property of the user or company. The connections are lines (from 1 Mbps to 200 Mbps). The DTEs is connected to the network via channels of low speed (from 600 bits to 56 Kbits). The DTEs are near to each other, generally in a same building. A DCE can be used to exchange between different configurations, but they are not as frequently as in the WAN. The lines in LANs are better quality than the channels in the WAN, because to the differences between the local area networks and the wide network area, their topologies can take very different forms. The structure of the WAN tends to be more irregular, due to the necessity to connect many terminals, computers and switching centres. Circuit Switching: The circuit switching is a WAN switching method which establishes, maintains and ends dedicated physical circuit through a carrying network for each session of communication. The switching circuit, which is used widely in the networks of the telephone companies, operates of form similar to one circuit, which is widely used in telephone company networks, operates similar to a normal telephone call. ISDN is an example of a circuit-switched WAN technology. Connections circuit switched one site to another are triggered when necessary and generally require low bandwidth band. The circuit switched connections are used primarily to connect remote users and mobile users to the corporate LAN. Also it is used as backup lines to circuit higher speeds, such as Frame Relay and other dedicated lines. One advantage is it is highly reliable for its function. A disadvantage is all the time spends to set up the channel and also there is the single point failure which can cause a dis ruption in communications. Message Switching: a computer is in charge to accept connected traffic of networks to him. The computer examines the direction that appears in the head of the message towards the DTE that must receive it. This technology allows recording the information to take care of it later. The user can erase, store, route or answer the message of automatic form. Picture taken from technet.microsoft.com Packet Switching: In this type of network the data of the users are disturbed in smaller pieces. These fragments or packages, you are inserted within information of the protocol and cross the network like independent organizations. Connectionless and Connection-Oriented Services: they happen directly of the free situation to the way to transfer data. These networks do not offer confirmations, flow control and neither recovery of errors applicable to the entire network, although these functions if they exist for each particular connection. An example of this type of network is Internet. In connection-Oriented packets switched, the multiplexing concept exists in channels and ports are known as virtual circuit or channel. The user pretends to have a dedicated resource, when he shares with another one then what it happens is that they take care of bursts of traffic of different users. General routing issues Congestion is about too much presence of packages in a part of one subnet. In cases of extreme congestion, routers start to reject packages, decreasing the system performance. The reasons of congestion are many, some of them are: If in 4 lines, the information arrives to him at router and all needs the same line of exit, it exists competition. Insufficient amount of memory in routers. But if you add more memory, this just helps until certain point because the time to arrive at first from the queue can be so long. Slow processors in routers. The analyse process of the packages are expensive, so slow processors can cause congestion. In that way the congestion propagates to the others routersà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ ¦ The flow control and the control of congestion are not the same: Flow control: is in charge of a fast emitter does not saturate to a slow receiver. Control of Congestion: its function is to try to avoid that the network is overloaded. The solutions for the problem of congestion can be divided in two classes: Open Loop: They try to solve the problem with a good design. They use algorithms to decide when to accept more packages, when to discard them, etc. But they do not use the actual situation of the network. Closed Loop: The solution in this case is based on the feedback of the line. Generally they have three parts: 1. The system is monitored to detect when and where it happens the congestion. 2. This information goes towards where actions can be taken. 3. The operation parameters of the system adjust to correct the problems. Several measures of the performance can be used to measure the congestion. The main measures used are: % of discarded packages, Queue length, Number of packages that makes timed out and/or relayed, the average delay of the packages. 3. Addressing and routing It is necessary that any machine or host have one address, in order to get the information to the network. In the case of Internet, this are called IP address, and to each machine of the Network is assigned one. An IP address is a 32 bit number represented as four octets. Each of these four octets is in the range between 0 to 255. Class A: 10.0.0.0 a 10.255.255.255 (8 bits red, 24 bits hosts) Class B: 172.16.0.0 a 172.31.255.255 (16 bits red, 16 bits hosts) Class C: 192.168.0.0 a 192.168.255.255 (24 bits red, 8 bits hosts) Class D addresses are used for multicasting Class E is for experimental purposes. PTO Switched Services

An Evaluation of the Work of Jan Svankmajer :: essays research papers

An Evaluation of the Work of Jan Svankmajer Jan Svankmajer is an animator like no other that I know of. Surrealist in style, his artistic work encompasses a broad range of mediums- film, sculpture, painting, graphic design, prose and poetry. His filmic work often involves a combination of animation, puppetry and live action- a challenging style for any filmmaker to use effectively. Svankmajer films are by trademark dark and macabre tales, told not for the sake of aesthetic or technique, but always to serve a very personal purpose, which I will talk about shortly. In this essay, I will deal mainly with the work that Svankmajer created as an animator. To put it in context, however, I will first give a rough overview of his background and the work for which he is best known. Svankmajer was born in Czechoslovakia in 1934. His parents were both artistically inclined; his father was a window dresser while his mother was a dressmaker. After studying puppet theatre for four years in Prague, Svankmajer began his career as a director, designer and puppeteer at the State Puppet Theatre in Liberec. During the Early 1960s he collaborated with several different theatre companies in Prague to stage a variety of plays. In 1964 his interests turned to filmmaking. In this medium he felt that more would be possible technically, and that his work would reach a wider audience. After creating various award-winning short films like The Last Trick, his work underwent a decisive transition from Mannerism to Surrealism in 1968. As a surrealist Svankmajer would create many highly acclaimed films involving animation and live action. Svankmajer’s work became surrounded by political controversy with the making of the film Antonio’s Diary (1972). The film was not intended to have political meaning, but the Czech authorities banned him from making films for seven years simply because it contained unauthorised footage depicting everyday Czech life. Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) became his best-known short, and won several international awards. Like Antonio’s Diary, however, it was banned in Czechoslovakia, and was also shown to the ideology commission of the Central Committee of the Czechoslovak Communist Party as an example of the kind of film that should not be made. Alice (1985-87), based on the book by Lewis Carol, was Svankmajer’s first feature film, and his first to reach an American audience. Since then he has made two more feature-length films: Faust (1993) and Conspirators of Pleasure (1996).

Erving Goffman Focuses on Form of Social Interaction

Examine the view that Erving Goffman’s work focuses on forms of social interaction but ignores social structure. Erving Goffman was born on the 11th June 1922 in Mannville, Canada. In 1939, Goffman enrolled at the University of Manitoba where he pursued an undergraduate degree in chemistry; however he then took an interest for sociology while working temporarily at the National Film Board in Ottawa.This was the motivation that he then needed to go on and enrol at the University of Toronto where he studied anthropology and sociology, then after graduating with a degree he began a masters in sociology at the University of Chicago, which was one of the centres’ of sociological research in the United States. In the decade from 1959-1969 Goffman published seven significant books, this was a remarkable achievement, and so has been considered as the most influential sociologist of the twentieth century. The focus of his work was the organisation of observable, everyday behavio ur, usually but not always among unacquainted in urban settings.He used a variety of qualitative methods; he then developed classifications of the different elements of social interaction. The assumption of this approach was that these classifications were heuristic, simplifying tools for sociological analysis that did not capture the complexity of lived experience. Goffman was heavily influenced by George Mead and Herbert Blumer in his theoretical framework, and went on to pioneer the study of face-to-face interaction, elaborate the â€Å"dramaturgical approach† to human interaction, and develop numerous concepts that would have massive influence.Goffman mainly concentrated on the detailed analysis of encounters and the norms governing these encounters, therefore the evaluation of face-to-face interactions, paying close attention to the small details of these interactions and discovering things that may seem insignificant yet actually are what structure behaviour and behavio ur norms. In doing so, Goffman investigated gestures, such as shaking hands or placing a hand on someone else’s shoulder and facial expressions during interactions. These types of gestures came to be known as ‘grammatical structures’ of social interactions.Social interactions create the world to be a predictable place and saw interactions as rituals, in the sense that ‘interaction order’ as Goffman called it is a social order, when we disrupt interaction we disrupt society. Goffman argued that our interactions give us a sense of our social belonging and our sense of inviolability of people. When discussing social interaction Goffman uses notions from the theatre in his analyses. The concept of social role originated in a theatrical setting. Roles are socially defined expectations that a person in a given status, or social position, follows.Goffman sees social life as though played out by actors on a stage, as how people act depends on the roles that they are playing at that time. Goffman then suggests that social life is divided into regions and back regions. The front regions are social occasions or encounters in which individuals act out formal roles; they are essentially, ‘on stage performances’. An example of this would be within the family between a husband and wife who may take care to conceal their quarrels from their children, preserving a front harmony, only to fight bitterly once the children are safely tucked up in bed.The back regions may resemble the backstage of the theatre, where people can relax and open up about their feelings and styles of behaviour they keep in check when on stage. Back regions permit ‘profanities, open sexual remarks, elaborate griping, use of dialect or substandard speech’. (Goffman, 1959). Thus, a waitress may be the soul of quiet courtesy when serving a customer, but become loud and aggressive once behind the swing doors of the kitchen. Goffman (1959) argued that performance teams routinely use backstage regions for such purposes.This approach by Goffman is usually described as ‘dramaturgical’; that is, it is an approach based on an analogy with the theatre, with its front and backstage regions. However, Goffman is not suggesting that the social world really is a stage, but that, using the dramaturgical analogy, we can study certain aspects of it and learn more about why people behave in ways they do. (Giddens: 268: 2009). In The Presentation of Everyday Life (1959), Goffman outlined a conceptual framework in which any occasion of face-to-face interaction can be interpreted as a theatrical performance.Expanding the ideas of Kenneth Burke, who pioneered a ‘dramatist’ approach. Burke identifies five elements that have to be taken account of in any discussion or analysis of social interaction. The first being act, which refers to what is done. Typical acts such as telling jokes, drinking a cup of coffee and so on are all interpreted, all symbolic displays communicating to the audience of what’s going on. Then the scene, it is the situation, the context, the setting and the props and it is what the actors relate to. The agent relates to the ndividual that carries out the action, they act but with an identity, with an image of self that is presented to the audience. Burke argues image of self is going to relate to the acts that have been carried out and the context in which the act is being carried out. He states that self’s are not things which are not fixed, they are something presented to the audience. Purpose, why do people do things? One reason being because they have motives, they are taken very seriously and are the reason for people’s behaviour. Purposes are not fixed; they depend on what is being carried out.Finally the last element which Burke discusses is agency which is the theoretical points, he claims that the whole lot is realised through language. From these el ements Goffman then went on to develop his own ‘dramaturgical’ investigations based on six themes: the performance, the team, the region, discrepant roles, communication out of the character and impression management. Nothing of Goffman’s dramaturgical world is quite what it seems. Rather, people are all portrayed as performers enacting rehearsed lines and roles in places that are carefully constructed in order to maximise the potential of deception.He then goes on to suggest that as performers people both ‘give’ and ‘give off’ impressions. It has been suggested that Goffman’s dramaturgical world is thus one of misdirection in which general suspicion is necessary; he developed an interest in espionage practices mainly because he recognised these as extensions of everyday behaviour. Goffman then went on to identify five moves in social interaction which are the ‘unwitting’, the ‘naive’, the ‘covering ’, the ‘uncovering’ and finally the ‘counter uncovering’ move (1959: 11-27).Each of these moves is designed either to achieve some advantage directly, or to reveal the strategies of other players. These moves are used in social worlds, or as Goffman called them, ‘situated activity systems’. Each is regulated by adopted norms known by system’s members. Rather than concentrating on the production of meanings, the definition of the situation and relevant symbols, as Bulmer advocated, Goffman proposed the study of ‘strategic interaction’ using the vocabulary outlined above.However, for reasons which are uncertain, neither Goffman nor anyone else developed this proposal, and the relationship between symbolic interactionism and strategic interaction has been largely ignored. For Goffman, the concern between the individual and society was through ritual. Goffman’s use of ritual was indebted to Durkheim; arguing that t he ‘self’ in modern society becomes a sacred object in the same way that the collective symbols of more primitive societies, operated in Durkheim’s â€Å"The Elementary Forms of Religious Life†.The ‘self’ as â€Å"sacred object must be treated with proper ritual care and in turn must be presented in a proper light to others† (1967:87). The rituals of modern social life that individuals perform for each to maintain, â€Å"civility and good will on the performer’s part† and acknowledge the â€Å"small patrimony of sacredness† possessed by the recipient are ‘stand ins’ for the power of supernatural entities described by Durkheim (Goffman, 1961:62).As Goffman put it, â€Å"Many gods have been done away with, but the individual himself stubbornly remains as a deity of considerable importance† (1967:95). In Asylums (1961), Goffman analysed the extreme backstages of society, such as the schizophrenic wa rds of mental hospitals. He proposed the concept of â€Å"total instituations† for places where all aspects of life are subject to all encompssing authority that allows no private backstages for the individuals.Goffman argued that patients engage in resistance through bizarre behaviour which is beyond insitutional controls. Thus, the official social processing of persons as deviant tends to promote further deviance. Mental illness, in Goffman’s view, is not a characteristic of the individual so much as a social enactment, a spiral of violations of the ritual properties of everyday life. Therefore Goffman drew upon his fieldwork to make a point that one becomes labeled as mentally ill because one persistently violates minor standards of ritual proriety.He claims that these mentally ill patients are deprieved of backstage privacy, props for situational self-presentation, and most of the other resources by which people under ordinary conditions are allowed to show their w ell demeaned selves and their ability to take part in the reciprocity of giving ritual deference to others. This research is familiar to that of Durkheim’s research on suicide, not so much to show why people kill themselves but to reveal the normal conditions that keep up social solidarity and give meaning to life. George Simmel was another major influence for Goffman.Goffman looked at the details of everyday life not simply as illustrations or data for theoretical abstractions, but to provide an accurate description of the social world. Simmel’s concept of â€Å"pure sociation† established the study of interaction as basic to sociological analysis. Goffman continued this tradition in his insistence that face-to-face interaction comprised an independent area of sociological analysis. â€Å"My concern over the years has been to promote acceptance of this face to face domainas an analytically viable one† (1983b:1).These methods that Gofman has used of incor porating the Simmelian micro level of interaction and the macro level analysis of Durkheimian ritual behaviour have been described as empirically electric, for example, in his book â€Å"Behaviour in Public Place†, Goffman noted that the data which he used came from different studies which he had carried, they included ones of a mental hospital, a study of a Shetland Island community and even some from manuals of etiquette which he had kept in a file of quotations that he found interesting. 1963:4). His approach was basically identifying the ways in which individuals in a variety of social contexts accomplished interaction. Thus, he paid attention to speech as well as silence. Goffman expected Frame Analysis (1974) to be his crowning achievement. In this book he stated that he was concerned with â€Å"the structure of experience individuals has at any moment of their lives† and made â€Å"no claim whatsoever to be talking about the core matters of sociology-social org anisation and social structure† (1974:13).However, this does not mean that Goffman or integrationists generally ignore society and social structures. Goffman’s position was that the nature of society and its structures or institutions is discovered in the behaviours of individuals. He suggested, â€Å"If persons have a universal human nature, they themselves are not to be looked to for an explanation of it. One must look rather to the fact societies everywhere, if they are to be societies, must mobilise their members as self-regulating participants in social encounters. Fundamentally what Goffman is saying is that society frames interaction, but interaction is not dependant on macrostructures. Furthermore, interaction can have a transformative impact on social structures. There is a key point in Goffman’s work, which is that he rejected the classical sociological opposition between the individual and social structure that still retains credibility in current soc iological theory. For Goffman, â€Å"individual and social structure are not competing entities; they are joint products of an interaction order sui generis† (Rawls 1987:138).As people in their daily life spend in the presence of others, people are then socially situated and so this social situatedness gives rise to â€Å"indicators, expressions or symptoms of social structures such as relationships, informed groups, age grades, gender, ethnic minorities, social classes and the like†, these ‘effects’ should be treated as â€Å"data in their own terms† (1983b:2). Furthermore, social structures are â€Å"dependent upon, and vulnerable to, what occurs in face-to-face encounters† (1983:246).Although social structures don’t determine displays such as rituals and ceremonies, they do however â€Å"help select from the available repertoire of them† (1983b:251). Thus, there is a sense of â€Å"loose coupling† that lies between tha t of interaction and social structure. An example which can be used to explain this is that of a small number of males, â€Å"such as junior executives who have to wait and hang on others’ words† in a manner similar to that of women involved in informal cross-sexed interaction (1983:252).What this observation allows Goffman to do is create a role category of subordination that â€Å"women and junior executives share† (1983b:252). It can be said that Goffman does not intentionally ignore social structure; he just does not provide any definition of it, other than to point out their constructed and framing nature. Frames can be seen as basic assumptions enabling people to understand what is going on in any encounter or situation and the interaction enabling the individual to respond appropriately.Frame Analysis is an investigation of what occurs when individuals ask themselves and others, â€Å"what is going on here? † (1974:153). Meaning that Goffman is not dealing with the structure of social life but with the structure of experience that individuals have at any moment of their social lives, when they believe they understand â€Å"what is going on†, they will â€Å"fit their actions to this understanding and ordinarily find that the on-going world supports this fitting† (1974:158). Goffman believes that everyday activities carried out by individuals are â€Å"framed† in different ways, although they are performed sequentially.In conclusion it can be said that Goffman’s work cannot be easily â€Å"placed† in any on theoretical tradition. His work was and remains a constant source of renewal in many different directions for sociological theory, which have been discussed throughout the duration on this essay. Goffman described his work as the promotion of the â€Å"face-to-face domain as an analytically viable one-a domain which might be titled†¦the interaction order- a domain whose preferred met hod of study is microanalysis† (1983b:2).However, Anthony Giddens (1984) pointed out that Goffman’s sociological analysis still needs to bridge the divide between the micro and macro, between face-to-face interactions and social structures. As his contribution to social theory consists in the idea of an interaction order sui generis this derives its order from constraints imposed by the needs of a presentational self rather than social structure. There are errors in the interpretation of Goffman’s work which have contributed to the misunderstanding of this contribution.Firstly, while the notion of presentational self has presumably been understood, it has nevertheless been re-embedded in the traditional dichotomy between agency and social structure. Consequently Goffman has been interpreted as documenting the struggle between the two; secondly, because of the attention Goffman gave to strategic action, it is assumed that Goffman considered this to be the basic fo rm of action.Thirdly, Goffman has been interpreted as focusing on the details of the interactional negotiation of social structure and fourthly, Goffman is thought to have ignored the important issues such as inequality and institutional constraint. Bibliography * Durkheim E. 1912. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. * Goffman E. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. * Goffman E. 1961. Asylums Harmondsworth: Penguin. * Goffman E. 1963. Behavior in Public Places: Notes on the Social Organization of Gatherings * Goffman E. 1971. Relations in Public: Microstudies of the Public Order Basic Books: New York. Goffman E. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience, Harper and Row, New York. * Goffman E. 1983b. ‘The Interaction Order’ American Sociological Review Vol. 48. * Goffman, Erving. 1967. Interaction Ritual: Essays in Face-to-Face Behavior. Chicago: Aldine. * Giddens A. 1984. The Constitution of Society. Berkeley: University Of Califor na Press. * Giddens A. 2009. Sociology 6th Addition. * Rawls Warfield A. 1987. The Interaction Order Sui Generis: Goffman’s Contribution to Social Theory. Sociological Theory, Volume 5, Issue (Autumn,1987).

Images of Beauty Essay

Beauty is among all of us, both women and men yet women and men are looked upon differently, causing a negative impact on themselves and society, targeting the young generations that can be very harmful to them emotionally and psychically. In the images of beauty, when men and women are promoted in magazines, movies, billboards and many other different kinds of medians, we all see those images differently depending how we want ourselves to be as. The media played a powerful role in our society influencing and using the models attractiveness and body image to catch the people’s attention. In doing that, media had successfully bombarded the young children’s minds with images of skinny and muscular models that lead to negative consequences such as body dissatisfaction, emotional feelings and sexual relations. Body dissatisfaction is a huge issue among adolescent men and women that can cause severe health problems by starving themselves and allowing them to do things that will harm their body such as taking drugs or getting a plastic surgery. If someone has a poor body image, he or she would most likely try to do anything or any method to change the looks of its body, even if it means restricting food or taking potentially harmful substances. For a woman, they will think that their body is too heavy and as for men, their thoughts are divided into two parts: overweight and underweight. For example, what is actually considered an ideal body for a man is when they have a low body fat, lots of muscles, narrow waist, large shoulders, and body with a V-shaped torso. When another man sees this kind of image, they will say that this is the kind of body they want to have. This kind of negative influence can encourage, especially the young teenagers and adults to starve themselves, take diet pills and by doing that it can cause anorexia, a type of eating disorder or many other types of health problems. For example, when a children look at the models they might think that the only way to look like them is to go on a diet. Although I may have to agree that it is the easy way to become thin, but knowing that it can cause many harms to the body itself. Even though exercise is much harder and takes longer to practices, but it provides many varieties of benefits. Diet pills is also another fast and easy way to manage their weight; however, diet pills also contain diuretics or stimulants, which can cause sleeping problems, seizures, high blood pressure and more.In addition, when men and women are dissatisfied with their body and starts doing all sorts of stuff that causes health problems, they then starts to feel depressed and have low self-esteem. An unhealthy body may increase the changes in an individual’s behavior and attitude. This can also allow them to experience in the state of anger and anxiety due to the fact that they are not satisfied with size and shape of their body. Furthermore, the young teens regarding the entertainment media as the number one source of information about sexuality and sexual health, allowing easy access for children at a young age to be engage into sexual relations. Being open about sex and how they talk to their girlfriends or boyfriends, it is largely because of what they see, hear and learn.

Strategies for Urban Studies Essay Writing

Strategies for Urban Studies Essay Writing When students hear the words urban studies, they think about issues affecting urban centers and their development. Admittedly, the development of urban centers and issues affecting urban settlements is part of the elements that characterize urban studies. The discipline concerns exploration of why people move or live in cities, the physical environmental features that influence their behavior, the history of suburb development from an architectural point of view, intractable issues that result from urban development, and possible solutions to the problems. Urban studies is an important area of study, but one that would not pickle the curiosity of every student. Consequently, lecturers assign students urban studies essays as they seek to not only assess their knowledge of the subject before and after exposure to content but also trigger their curiosity on the subject. Moreover, the essay writing assignments help in improving your writing skills and analytical abilities. When professors ask you to write an urban studies essay, they are simply asking you to ponder on: your understanding of the urban studies field of study; your ability to select and explore appropriate urban studies topics; your ability to relate theoretical concepts to issues in urban development; your ability to explore concepts in urban studies and draw conclusions. When writing your urban studies essay, keep in mind the above elements to guide you in writing essays that meet your instructor’s expectations and help you to gain effective writing skills. This urban studies essay writing guide provides tips that will help you in your writing process, from preparation to the writing aspects, to the post writing part of essay crafting. Pre-Writing Tips: Let’s Get It Started! Writing an essay is a process. Thus, it is time to alter your expectations if you think you can come up with a well-written essay after spending one or two hours on your computer. Writing high-quality essays in urban studies involves several steps. Prewriting tips denote the things you should engage in before writing down the first draft of your essay. The pre-writing steps that will be helpful in the writing process are as listed below. Topic selection. Selecting a topic for your essay is the most important aspect of prewriting. Conduct preliminary research before settling for an essay topic and select topics you are familiar with and interested in. Brainstorming. This involves recollecting your memory on issues associated with urban development and other areas of urban studies and associating thoughts, ideas, and knowledge on the subject with the essay task. At this point, you do not sort the ideas. Rather, write down any ideas that come up to help you in structuring concepts and making inquiries regarding issues pertaining to topics in urban studies. Researching. Conducting research comes after brainstorming, and it involves investigating information relating to ideas you came up with during the brainstorming phase, as well as summarizing, and interpreting the searched information. The research should be purposeful and should focus on the theme of your chosen field of study. Note taking. Focus your efforts and research approach on the essay’s subject matter and take sufficient notes when reading through the researched articles. Taking notes lays down the important elements of your topics and saves you considerable time when writing the essay. Making an outline. Now that you have a general idea of what to write about, the topic of your essay, and the materials you need to incorporate in your essay, you should make an outline of what content should be added in the introduction, the body part of the essay, and the conclusion. Importantly, create an outline that helps develop various themes of the essay. Outlining helps you in thought and idea organization in a logical manner. Outlining ideas forms the structured part of the prewriting process. Working On Your Urban Studies Essay Topic: Tips from Our Top Freelance Academic Writers Chances are the topic for your urban studies essay has been selected and handed to you by your professor. In such a case, part of the essay writing process has been eliminated for you, which indicates that you can jump to the next steps. However, you need to analyze the general outline of the given topic to understand whether the topic requires you to analyze, apply, or evaluate a certain aspect of urban planning and urban studies. If you feel the topic is too narrow or too broad, discuss it with your supervisor to come up with a manageable topic. On numerous occasions, professors provide you with an opportunity to select a topic within the urban studies scope of study for your essay. Although the idea of beginning the writing process with topic selection may appear intimidating, it provides you with the required flexibility to select an urban studies topic that interests and challenges you. Follow the step below to understand the process of topic selection. Define your essay’s purpose. Before settling on a topic, think about the objective of your essay. Does your essay aim at analyzing, informing, persuading, evaluating, or applying concepts into daily practice? In this case, ask yourself if your purpose is to persuade people to adopt certain practices to mitigate risks associated with urban development, or explain to the reader the history of city development from an architectural perspective, or to educate them on the interactions they have with their physical environment. Brainstorm on topics of interest. Write down some topics in the urban studies field of study that interest you after defining the purpose of your essay. In case you face problems coming up with suitable topics, think about your surroundings and things that interest you and are in line with subjects in urban studies. Do not evaluate the topics you come up with yet. Evaluate each potential topic. Evaluation of the topics you come up with occurs at this stage. Consider each topic individually and evaluate which of them fits your purpose, the scope, availability of sources, and your interest in the topic and ability to tackle it. Base the topic selection on the number of ideas you have and availability of literature. The examples below provide you with an overview of urban studies essay topics: Affordable Housing for Low-Income Families; Sustainable Development Practices Suitable in Reducing Urbanization Problems; History of Sustainable Urban Development in Canada; Economic Forces that Influence the Development of Cities; Methods Used in Measuring Characteristics of Urban Centers. The Main Terms that Define Urban Studies Essays Urban studies essays can be written for analysis, application, or evaluation of urban practices and architectural elements that characterize the growth of urban centers. Analysis. In urban studies, the term denotes the actual definition that entails breaking down a concept into smaller parts to see how it works. During essays analysis, you need to think about each part of the topic and how it contributes to the success of the whole concept. In analyzing urban planning, for instance, analysis involves thinking about all factors that constitute the development of urban centers, from the engineering part to social aspects, political elements, and architectural dynamics. In such case, ensure the essay provides statements that can be explained step-by-step. An analysis of urban studies essay should answer the why and how questions rather than what, which is common in the summary-based essays. Application. Whether the essay is purely based on application or analysis, the instructor will always look for your ability to apply concepts of your field of study into your essay. In this regard, you need to take your urban studies knowledge and apply it in practice, which is within the topic that you are going to explore in your writing. Therefore, you need to understand terms, concepts, and their definitions, and theories and how they can be used in practice. Evaluation. Evaluation type of essays requires you to participate in the writing and research process completely. Ensure you provide the wider context of the chosen urban studies topic and assess the ability of specific elements that define the topic to apply in different situations. Include arguments and counter-arguments and state facts and evidence that influenced your categorization of concepts as either positive or negative for the essay. Persuasion. Some essay topics will require you to persuade the general population, engineers, or architects to adopt sustainable practices for urban development. To write such as paper, you need to structure the essay in such a way that you use and provide evidence and arguments that convince the reader to agree with your point of view on urban sustainability. For a persuasive essay, ask yourself the following questions: Do I have the right type of information needed to convince the readers about sustainable urban practices? What type of statistics, evidence, and facts do I need to present to my audience? Responses to the noted questions will help in determining the keywords you need to use in the essay and during the search process. Appropriate Structure for an Urban Studies Essay A proper outline of the urban studies essay should have at least three main parts: an introduction, main body, and a conclusion. The outline should appear as indicated below: Introduction. The introduction should take about 10% of the essay, and it should explain how you interpret the essay title, issues that the essay will explore, the main focus of the essay, and an outline of other parts of the essay. The thesis statement and the purpose statement should also be written towards the last sentences of the introduction. Essay body. The main body of the essay should take up 80% of the essay. It is the main part of the essay, and it contains numerous paragraphs depending on the number of ideas you intend to explore concerning the essay themes. Each paragraph should develop and explore your major arguments. Moreover, present evidence that supports the claims you make in each paragraph. The number of paragraphs you write depends on the length of the essay and the number of major claims you intend to discuss. Ask yourself the following questions when writing each paragraph: What does the paragraph discuss? What argument am I presenting in this paragraph? What evidence do I have to support the claims I make and what is its implication? How does the paragraph link to the essay topic and title? Conclusion. Similar to the introduction, the concluding part of the essay should constitute approximately 10% of the essay. At this point, do not introduce any new idea or theme because the section is meant to summarize your major arguments. You should: restate your thesis statement, summarize the essay, describe why your essay is significant, make recommendations were necessary. In some cases, the recommendation is written as a stand-alone text after the conclusion. The conclusion and recommendation should link to the essays title. While some students prefer writing the sections as they appear in the final draft, some prefer writing the body, followed by the introduction and finally the conclusion segment. Post Writing Tips to Ensure You Actually Did It! Proofreading and referencing constitute the most important elements that ensure your essay is appropriate and capable of helping you attain a high grade. Proofreading. Proofreading involves going through the essay several times to eliminate grammar mistake and other errors. Follow the steps below on how to proofread your essay: Take a break. Do not engage in proofreading immediately after writing the essay. Taking a one-hour or two-hour break will make mistakes more apparent, and proofreading will be easier. Minimize distractions. Once you are back from the break, mute your phone and ensure you are in a quiet environment to provide the proofreading session undivided attention. However, some people work best in noisy environments. Read Aloud. Reading aloud allows you to vocalize the written words. The process will provide you with an opportunity to hear and see any sentence structure, grammar, and content coherence flaws. In this case, missing commas and full stops are readily visible when reading through the essay. Referencing. Ensure you acknowledge every borrowed idea using the appropriate referencing methods.

What Leadership Looks Like in Different Cultures Essays

What Leadership Looks Like in Different Cultures Essays What Leadership Looks Like in Different Cultures HYPERLINK "https://hbr.org/search?term=tomas+chamorro-premuzic" Tomas Chamorro- Premuzic Michael Sanger MAY 06, 2016 What makes a great leader? Although the core ingredients of leadership are universal (good judgment, integrity, and people skills), the full recipe for successful leadership requires culture-specific condiments. The main reason for this is that cultures differ in their implicit theories of leadership, the lay beliefs about the qualities that individuals need to display to be considered leaders. Depending on the cultural context, your typical style and behavioral tendencies may be an asset or a weakness. In other words, good leadership is largely personality in the right place . Research has shown that leaders' decision making , communication style, and dark-side tendencies are influenced by the geographical region in which they operate . Below we review six major leadership types that illustrate some of these findings. Decision Making The synchronized leader. Follow-through is key to being seen as leadership material in regions such asNortheast Asia (e.g., Mainland China, South Korea, and Japan), Indonesia, Thailand, the UAE, and much of Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile). In order to ascend the organizational ranks, such leaders must seek consensus on decisions and drive others through a keen process orientation.Business cycles can take longer as a result. But once all stakeholders are onboard, the deal needs to close fast or there is risk of jeopardizing the agreement. Synchronized leaders tend to be prudent and are more focused on potential threats than rewards. The opportunistic leader. Leaders who self-initiate and demonstrate flexibility on how to achieve a goal tend to be more desirable in Germanic and Nordic Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway), the UK, Western countries on which the UK had substantial cultural influence (the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand), and Asian countries that based their governing and economic institutions on theBritish model(India, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong). More or less individualistic, these leaders thrive in ambiguity. However, checking in frequently with team members is advised to ensure others keep up with changing plans. Opportunistic leaders tend to be ambitious risk takers. Communication Style The straight-shooting leader. In some regions employees expect their leaders to confront issues straightforwardly . In Northeast Asia and countries like the Netherlands, excessive communication is less appealing in the leadership ranks people just want you to get to the point. Accordingly, task-oriented leaders are preferred. Impromptu performance review meetings with direct reports occur more commonly in these locations, and leaders address undesirable behaviors from team members as soon as they are observed.Straight-shooting leaders tend to be less interpersonally sensitive. The diplomatic leader. In certain countries communication finesse and careful messaging are important not only to getting along but also to getting ahead. In places like New Zealand, Sweden, Canada, and much of Latin America, employees prefer to work for bosses who are able to keep business conversations pleasant and friendly.Constructive confrontation needs to be handled with empathy. Leaders in these locations are expected to continuously gauge audience reactions during negotiations and meetings. These types of managers adjust their messaging to keep the discussion affable; direct communication is seen as unnecessarily harsh. Diplomatic leaders tend to be polite and agreeable. Dark-side tendencies The "kiss up/kick down" leader. When organizations emphasize rank, emerging leaders tend to develop unique coping skills. It is a leader's job to implement mandates from above with lower-level employees. If overused, this strength can lead to a "kiss up/kick down" leadership style, characterized by excessive deference or sudden attention to detail when reporting up, and issuing fiery directives or refusing to compromise when commanding subordinates. Though never a good thing, this derailer is tolerated more in certain countries, such as Western Asia (Turkey, India, UAE), Serbia, Greece, Kenya, and South Korea. "Kiss up/kick down" leaders tend to be diligent and dutiful with their bosses but intense and dominating with their reports. The passive-aggressive leader. Some leaders become cynical, mistrusting, and eventually covertly resistant, particularly under stress. These reactions usually occur when the individual is forced to pursue an objective or carry out a task without being won over or in theabsence of sound rationale. Though being overtly cooperative while maintaining a level of skepticism can be beneficial ingroup settings, these behaviors

The Meaning of Vive la France!

The Meaning of 'Vive la France!' Vive la France! is an expression used in France to show patriotism. It’s difficult to translate the term literally into English, but it generally means â€Å"long live France!† or â€Å"hurray for France!† The phrase has its roots in  Bastille Day, a  French national holiday commemorating the storming of the Bastille, which took place on July 14, 1789, and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. Patriotic Phrase â€Å"Vive la France!† is mostly used by politicians, but you will also hear this patriotic expression bandied about during national celebrations, such as Bastille Day, around French elections, during sporting events, and, sadly, at times of crisis as a way to invoke patriotic feelings. La Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the monarchy in late 18th century France. By capturing the historic structure, the citizenry signaled  that it now held the power to rule the country. Bastille Day was declared a French national holiday on July 6, 1880, on politician Benjamin Raspails recommendation, when the  Third Republic  was firmly entrenched. The Third Republic was a period in France that lasted from 1870 to 1940. Bastille Day has such a strong signification for the French because the holiday symbolizes the birth of the republic. The related phrase Vive le 14 juillet! (literally â€Å"Long live the 14th of July!†) has been associated with the historic event for centuries. The key term in the phrase is vive,  an interjection that literally means long live. The Grammar Behind Vive la France French grammar can be tricky. The term vive  is no exception. Vive  comes from the irregular verb â€Å"vivre,† which means to live. Vive is the subjunctive. So, an example sentence might  be: Nous souhaitons, nous espà ©rons que la France vive longtemps, heureusement. This translates to: We hope that France will live for a long time, fortunately. Note, that the verb is vive and not viva, as in Viva Las Vegas, and it is pronounced veev, where the final e is silent. Other Uses for Vive The expression vive is very common in French to show enthusiasm for many different things, such as: Vive les vacances!   Hurray for the vacation! Vive les soldes! Hurray for the sales season! Vive moi! Yeah me! Vive  is also used in a number of other contexts that are not related to the famous phrase but still important in the French language. Examples include: On ne voyait à ¢me qui vive. There wasnt a living soul to be seen. Etre sur le qui-vive. To be on the alert. La vive- eau Spring tide Vivement Brusquely, sharply While the saying Vive la France is deeply rooted in French culture, history, and politics, the full slogan is generally invoked only on historical occasions and during political events. By contrast, the key term in the phrase, vive, is widely used by the French to express joy and happiness on many occasions. So, the next time youre in France (or find yourself among French-speakers who happen to use this famous phrase), impress them with your deep knowledge of French history. Source The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Bastille Day. Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The Dark Side of Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Dark Side of Literature - Essay Example "London" is a short poem of four stanzas in which Blake laments the fact that "marks of weakness, marks of woe" can be seen in every face he meets in the city. In "every cry of every Man", in the "Infant's cry of fear", and in every other voice, the freedom-loving poet hears the "mind-forg'd manacles." The poet makes a specific attack on the twin arms of power-the Church and the Crown: Plainly, the poet is of the view that the blight has entered into the very heart of the London, for harlots are used and abused not by the high and mighty alone, but by every man who thinks he can get his money's worth from them-be the sum a few pence or more than a few guineas. It is the curse of the harlot that engenders the "Infant's cry of fear" and makes marriage a farce that begins and ends as a hearse that transports men and women from the plagues of Earth to the plagues of Hell. If "London" appears dark, "The Human Abstract" is quite unrelentingly, black in its round and full condemnation of the 'Human Brain'-not just the brain of politician or monarch or demagogue, but the human brain. The poet reveals the selfish foundation of even seemingly benevolent emotions such as 'Pity' and 'Mercy': Pity would be no more If we did not make somebody Poor; And Mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we. In such a context, it is only "mutual fear" that brings peace till selfishness waxes too great. Then, "Cruelty knits a snare/And spreads his baits with care." "Holy fears" soon "water...the ground with tears." This is all that it takes for "Humility" to take root beneath the cruel foot. The "dismal shade/ of Mystery" then drops over his head and "the Catterpiller and Fly/ Feed on the Mystery." The fruit of this tree appears "Ruddy and sweet to eat" but it has a canker at its core and it is the "fruit of Deceit." The Gods of earth and sea may search for this tree and its fruit through all Nature, but the search would be "in vain" for the tree grows not in Nature, but in Man-"in the Human Brain." If in "London" Blake had seemed to sympathize with "Chimney sweeper", with "hapless soldier" or "youthful Harlot", in "The Human Abstract" the poison tree is revealed as one that can flourish in any human brain. While the oppression of Church and the State will be condemned and rightly so, the poet's task is not to be populist or to strive to be popular-he has to shine the light of his poetry into the cracks and crevices of every human heart and soul and brain. This should lead to a transformation-but such a change can occur only if the need for change is manifest, and that, surely, is what a poet like Blake is trying to achieve. In

If time travel were possible, to what time period and place in history Essay

If time travel were possible, to what time period and place in history would you return to live Give reasons for your decision to live in this period and locat - Essay Example It is during this time that one of the world's greatest writers originated, William Shakespeare. It was not only an era of romance but also one of reality. The poor of the country were treated well and their well being was thought of. Even though peace was not absolute but it was general. When Queen Elizabeth inherited the throne, the country was bankrupt. It was her policies that restored some of the huge debts that the country was under and increased prosperity. In terms of economic development, the first stock exchange was developed during this period by Sir Thomas Gresham. Before this period, witches were prosecuted and torture was common for all types of crimes. Once Elizabeth came to power, such events became rare, although they did take place but not on such a scale to be noticed. There was much research in science and technology. Most of these achievements were in the field of navigation. There were many small and insignificant inventions as well. Bottled beer, one of the things we take for granted was invented during this era in 1568. Among other things were the flush toilet, knitting machine, telescope, pencil and pocket watch. The first time the English tried to settle in North America was during this era. Women were brought up to believe that they were inferior to men and that their job was to obey the men in their household.

CRJS410 Unit 2IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CRJS410 Unit 2IP - Research Paper Example that every unit (city, town, county or state) whose data has been made availed is unique and faces unique challenges so that it is unfair and not empirical, to compare two different and incomparable units. Conversely, the warning is also issued because the public has the proclivity to make comparative assessments by comparing statistical data of different units. These units neither factor the complex-whole because information gathering has to be limited to certain objectives nor do members of the public consider the overlooking of the complex-whole in the war on crime. The import of this is that the public is bound to make wrong conclusions in their assessments, since they had wrong premises fed by inadequate information. The overall impact of the foregoing can take a multifaceted look as the public is bound to make wrong conclusions to the effect that a unit is ineffective or moribund in the war on crime. The culmination of this may be the straining of the police/law-enforcement-public/community relations (Hayes, 2005). This is a widely held and oversimplified conception about a thing, a person or a group of people. An action such as an arrest that may be informed by this widely held and oversimplified conception toward a person may also be referred to as stereotyping. Racism is an action that is informed by the unfounded belief that members of each race have abilities, inadequacies and characteristics that are specific to the given race, as a way of distinguish the race as being superior or inferior to other races or another race (Philip and Tilman, 2007). The term institutional support refers to a part of the economic environment of law enforcement which comprises institutions and authorities whose active support and decisions (such as law, financial and non-financial logistics and regulations determine the functioning of any law enforcement organ. Social categorization refers to the process or the act of classifying people into groups according to similar

Behavioural Studies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Behavioural Studies - Essay Example The definition highlights that organisational stakeholders will have similar overall goals and objectives but there will be some key differences not only in the importance placed on each but also how the organisation achieves them. An organisation's stakeholders can include an almost endless list of employee's, suppliers, customers, shareholders etc that can be broken down and sorted into various groups with independent goals and objectives designed to meet their own view of effective organisational behaviour. An example of stakeholder conflict can be seen at The Countryside Agency, a government body with the aim of 'improving the quality of the Countryside for those who use it and the quality of life for people in rural communities'. Simply by dissecting the aim of the body it is possible to see that there are clearly conflicting interests at an organisational level because it is trying to satisfy two major external groups at the outset by balancing the needs of those who live in Th e Countryside with those who visit it. Internal stakeholders such as the finance department view their role as ensuring that any public money that has been spent was justifiable and recorded and stored accurately. This is often to the annoyance of the Policy work areas who feel stronger about improving the countryside than the bureaucratic process of justifying and recording public spending often seeing the financial procedures as a time consuming hindrance. This conflict means that each stakeholder will have a different view of whether the organisation is successful or not and will have different solutions to what they individually see as being the key obstacles to success. When looking at how the management of people can contribute to effective organisational behaviour, development and good health through leadership it is important to establish the differences between management and leadership. Some theorists hold the opinion that leadership is one area of the management role and in order to be a successful manager they must possess some leadership skills by default. The argument for differentiating between leaders and managers was started by Zaleznik (1977, 2004) in 'Manager and Leaders: Are they different' where he argued "the difference between managers and leaders lies in the conceptions they hold, deep in their psyches, of chaos and order". A more recent argument suggests that "a manager can be regarded as someone who by definition is assigned a position of leadership in an organisation" (Buchanan and Huczynski, 1985). This definition suggests that managers are in positions of leadership but may not necessarily be leaders. The definition therefore suggests that leadership is in some way an extension of the management function. In 'what leaders really do' Kotter (1990, 2001) argues that "Leadership is not necessarily better than management. Rather leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of action. Each has its own function and characteristic activities". In the article Kotter identifies what he sees as the key functions of leadership and management. Management roles are concerned with "bringing a degree of order and consistency to key dimensions like the quality and profitability of products" (Kotter, 1990, 2001). Key aspects of the management

Satoro Tanaka and Mrs. Hitara Importance in David Masumoto's and Pico Essay

Satoro Tanaka and Mrs. Hitara Importance in David Masumoto's and Pico Iyer's and Texts - Essay Example In Harvest Son Masumoto mentions how his interaction with a buckwheat farmer Satoro Tanaka comes to affect him profoundly, and how he develops a fondness for the farmer. Pico Iyer is a British-born, American-raised eminent writer of Indian descent who decided to settle in Japan. His essay â€Å"Our Lady of Lawson† is about his experiences in Japan as a foreigner who refuses to succumb to the pressure to indulge in native Japanese food. He talks about a convenience store he frequently visited and the effect it had on him, especially the interaction between him and the convenience store manager, Mrs. Hirata. The two stories therefore share the common theme of two foreigners analyzing two different characters in Japan. Discussion In Harvest Son, Masumoto forms a close attachment to a local buckwheat farm and its farmer, Satoro Tanaka, while in Eat, Memory: Our Lady of Lawson, Pico Iyer experiences the same emotional attachment to a local convenience store, Lawson’s, and it s proprietor, Mrs. Hirata. Several similar themes run through both of these narratives, starting from the similarities between both authors. First and most important, both Masumoto and Iyer can be considered as â€Å"wild† children, belonging everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Masumoto is a Japanese-American while Iyer was born in England but has been raised in the United States of America. Masumoto has journeyed back to the land of his ancestors to reconnect with their native heritage while Iyer has chosen Japan as his country of settlement. They are considered, as Masumoto puts it, â€Å"strangers†. Iyer writes of the sense of alienation due to something as basic as his entrenched American eating habits and lack of love for Japanese food; â€Å"my housemates in Japan simply shrug and see this as ultimate confirmation -- me dragging at some lasagna in a plastic box while they gobble down dried fish -- that I belong to an alien species† (Iyer, pg.1). His l ove of the convenience store further serves to solidify his characterization as an outsider who refuses to fit in, even though he insists that his love for Japan is real and on a deeper level. Having lived in the country for 12 years, he should still not be typecast as an alien, yet somehow, he still is. This he attributes mostly to his refusal to conform to Japanese food and his standing firmly by convenience-store meals. It can therefore be said of both of them that they are attempting to fit into their homeland’s culture, and understand and identify with their people. Masumoto identifies with Satoro Tanaka’s buckwheat farming while Iyer points out the specific attributes and values he considers â€Å"Japanese†: It's no easier to understand Japan in Western terms than it is to eat noodles with a knife and fork. Yet it has been evident to me for some time that the crush of the anonymous world lies out in the temple-filled streets; the heart of the familiarity, the communal sense of neighborhood, the simple kindness that brought me to Japan, lies in the convenience store.(Iyer, pg.2). The convenience store, and specifically, Mrs. Hitara, or Hitara-San, as Iyer refers to her in formal Japanese, comes to embody these values: And yet, in the 12 years I've lived on and off in my mock-California suburb, the one person who has come to embody for me all

4 questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

4 questions - Assignment Example Associate Justice Florentino Cuellar is new in office after he was sworn in on January 5, 2015. Also, Associate Justice Kruger Leondra assumed office on January 5, 2015 after she was appointed by the Governor on December 22, 2014. Los Angeles Superior Court operates multiple courthouses across the Los Angeles County. One of the court’s courthouses is located at 9355 Burton Way, Beverly Hills. The Beverly Hills courthouse opens from Monday through Friday. Metered parking on the courthouse venue is available at $8.00. Superior Court of California offers legal dispute resolutions programs at Santa Barbara County through online platforms (Smith 28). The County of Santa Barbara online program was established in July 1999, after the Dispute Resolution Committee was inaugurated into office. As of April 2005, the ODRP had a dispute resolution rate of approximately 83%. Sign ordinances are common in most city councils across the United States. Unconstitutionality of sign ordinances can be challenged when posting of signs fail to impede the flow of either vehicular traffic or pedestrians (Smith 24). Admittedly, posting campaign signs on lampposts and utility posts does not impede pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow in any way. Therefore, the court will consider whether the sign ordinance fails to provide free speech even when posting of the signs do not necessarily impede flow of traffic and pedestrians along the

Satoro Tanaka and Mrs. Hitara Importance in David Masumoto's and Pico Essay

Satoro Tanaka and Mrs. Hitara Importance in David Masumoto's and Pico Iyer's and Texts - Essay Example In Harvest Son Masumoto mentions how his interaction with a buckwheat farmer Satoro Tanaka comes to affect him profoundly, and how he develops a fondness for the farmer. Pico Iyer is a British-born, American-raised eminent writer of Indian descent who decided to settle in Japan. His essay â€Å"Our Lady of Lawson† is about his experiences in Japan as a foreigner who refuses to succumb to the pressure to indulge in native Japanese food. He talks about a convenience store he frequently visited and the effect it had on him, especially the interaction between him and the convenience store manager, Mrs. Hirata. The two stories therefore share the common theme of two foreigners analyzing two different characters in Japan. Discussion In Harvest Son, Masumoto forms a close attachment to a local buckwheat farm and its farmer, Satoro Tanaka, while in Eat, Memory: Our Lady of Lawson, Pico Iyer experiences the same emotional attachment to a local convenience store, Lawson’s, and it s proprietor, Mrs. Hirata. Several similar themes run through both of these narratives, starting from the similarities between both authors. First and most important, both Masumoto and Iyer can be considered as â€Å"wild† children, belonging everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Masumoto is a Japanese-American while Iyer was born in England but has been raised in the United States of America. Masumoto has journeyed back to the land of his ancestors to reconnect with their native heritage while Iyer has chosen Japan as his country of settlement. They are considered, as Masumoto puts it, â€Å"strangers†. Iyer writes of the sense of alienation due to something as basic as his entrenched American eating habits and lack of love for Japanese food; â€Å"my housemates in Japan simply shrug and see this as ultimate confirmation -- me dragging at some lasagna in a plastic box while they gobble down dried fish -- that I belong to an alien species† (Iyer, pg.1). His l ove of the convenience store further serves to solidify his characterization as an outsider who refuses to fit in, even though he insists that his love for Japan is real and on a deeper level. Having lived in the country for 12 years, he should still not be typecast as an alien, yet somehow, he still is. This he attributes mostly to his refusal to conform to Japanese food and his standing firmly by convenience-store meals. It can therefore be said of both of them that they are attempting to fit into their homeland’s culture, and understand and identify with their people. Masumoto identifies with Satoro Tanaka’s buckwheat farming while Iyer points out the specific attributes and values he considers â€Å"Japanese†: It's no easier to understand Japan in Western terms than it is to eat noodles with a knife and fork. Yet it has been evident to me for some time that the crush of the anonymous world lies out in the temple-filled streets; the heart of the familiarity, the communal sense of neighborhood, the simple kindness that brought me to Japan, lies in the convenience store.(Iyer, pg.2). The convenience store, and specifically, Mrs. Hitara, or Hitara-San, as Iyer refers to her in formal Japanese, comes to embody these values: And yet, in the 12 years I've lived on and off in my mock-California suburb, the one person who has come to embody for me all

Individual report Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Individual report - Coursework Example This was further aided by a comparison with competitors in the industry and how their positioning either presents threats or opportunities. The comparisons show that BMW is well placed to take advantage of the key purpose of the existence of the single market, which is for the benefit of the half-a-billion European Union citizens. The key opportunities are seen in the need for clean energy and removal of tariffs while threats are in the form of pricing, substitutes and new entrants. It is concluded that although threats occur, BMW has significant growth opportunities in the European Union’s single market. The single European market (SEM) is a trade bloc composed of European Union (EU) member states with the objectives of simplifying the existing rules of trade through the bringing down of barriers. The ultimate benefits are targeted at the over 500 million people and 21 million businesses of the 28 countries of the EU. It is founded on four strategic freedoms which include the free movement of labour (people), capital, goods and services between all the member states (Europe Economics 2013, p. 8). On the other hand, the Bavarian Motor Works (BMW), founded in 1916 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, is one of the largest companies in the EU and also among the leaders in the automotive industry (Kiley 2004, p. 21). The company still builds slightly over 50% of its products in Germany, but is also significantly present in the rest of the EU, which is supported by the fact that the largest export product in Germany is cars. This report on BMW will focus on the analysis of the business opportunities and threats in the context of the enlargement of the EU, which indicates that the company stands to gain significantly. Before presenting the report on BMW, it is imperative to briefly describe the EU business environment and how it is affected by the EU laws, treaties and policies, since the report will be based on the EU’s

An Analysis Of A Mergers Profitability

An Analysis Of A Mergers Profitability Abstract Introduction In the last few years we have observed a revived surge in the number of mergers. They are more often observed in countries with better accounting standards. Companies undergo mergers for a number of reasons. The primary reason is the proper allocation of resources and thus, increasing cost efficiency. A small amount of research has been done in the past years analyzing the short and long term effects of mergers in creating value for the companies. It has been seen that most mergers result in failures but not much research has been done in analyzing the reasons behind it. My research would be based on few of the biggest mergers that have taken place in the last few years. Firstly, my analysis of a mergers profitability would be based on standard event study methodology. It would take into account the return to shareholders. Secondly, it would also aim to provide evidence regarding the signalling theory and the synergistic and the agency views. This would be based on an in-depth analys is of various determinants such as the excess returns around the announcement of the merger bid and around the termination of the merger and the significant differences in the responses of firms attempting focusing versus diversifying mergers respectively. Lastly, this would be followed by a thorough analysis of the valuation effects of mergers. There have been varied views but no one conclusion has been reached. I would thus, like to investigate deeper into it 2. Literature Review and Hypotheses Analysis revealed My research concentrates on the effects of a focusing and diversifying merger on the abnormal returns around the announcement period of the merger. The study by Delong (1999) can be seen as an extension to my research. He based his research on evaluating the stock pricing behaviour of the bidder and the target in bank mergers. He further studied the abnormal returns according to the nature of the merger i.e. focusing or diversifying. In my analysis, I take into account only activity focused mergers, whereas Delong (1999) considers mergers which focus on both activity and geography. His results show an enhancement in value of a focusing firm of about 2 % to 3 % as compared to a diversifying firm irrespective of the time period. On investigating further, he found that the relative market size of the target to the bidder and the pre-merger performance of the targets show an apparent relationship with the cumulative abnormal returns so calculated. Wong and Cheung (2009) analyse the changes in the stock prices of the bidding and target firms in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, following a merger or an acquisition announcement. It can be seen from their analysis that such an announcement yields positive results for the bidding firms but does not prove to be very beneficial for the target firms. Their hypotheses considered the consequences of the mode of payment, the type of acquisition and the type of the target firm on the stock pricing. Out of them only the second variable seems to have a direct effect on the post announcement returns of the bidding firm. Huang and Walkling (1987) conducted similar research by extracting a sample of acquisitions from the Wall Street Journal which consisted of all initial front-page acquisition announcements. But this, took into account slightly different variables as compared to the other analyses discussed above. They determined the effect of tender offers vs. mergers; cash offers vs stock offers and resisted offers vs. unresisted offers. Their analysis revealed higher abnormal returns for tender offers which were quite insignificant once the effect of the extent of resistance and the payment type were isolated from it. The deals which faced resistance during a merger or tender offer showed higher abnormal returns irrespective to the mode of payment. All the results obtained above were either insignificant or marginally significant, but the effects of the third variable i.e. the form of payment showed some concrete results. The cumulative abnormal returns obtained from cash offers were radically high er than those obtained from stock offer. This research carried out by Huang and Walkling gave quite a holistic overview of the effect of the announcement of an acquisition, as it took into consideration, variables which are affected by both the bidding and target firms decisions. All the literature discussed earlier in this paper, has illustrated some positive effects of an acquisition for both the bidders and the target firms. But, the analysis conducted by Bruner (2001) showed a little variation to the above. It suggested that only the target shareholders draw upon the benefits of the acquisition. No such profitable return is observed for the bidding firms. But, the combined returns of the bidder and the target yield positive results. The approach followed by Bruner differs significantly from most of the research discussed earlier. He measures the performance of a merger and acquisition based on the investors required returns. After observing the abnormal returns of the acquirer around the announcement date of the merger as per my research, the most obvious next step would be to analyse the long term effects of the merger. Various studies have been done in order to rightfully determine the outcome .The study by Asquith (1983) showed drastic negative returns after about three years of the merger. One of the best analyses that I found was by Agrawal, Jaffe and Mandelkar (1992) in their paper ‘The Post-Merger Performance of Acquiring Firms: A Re-examination of an Anomaly. Their results are based on a thorough analysis of a number of mergers that took place from 1955 to 1987. They explored the effect of the size of the firm and its beta risk, and found a loss of 10 % in the total wealth of the acquiring firm, five years after the merger was completed. An attempt was also made to find the additional NPV which is not captured by the announcement returns analysis. But, it was seen that the modification of t he market was similar for both the announcement and post merger analyses. Cole et al (2006) Investigate a number of unsuccessful mergers in order to determine if they create or destroy value for acquirers by using mainly two approaches. Their signalling approaches show that the value of the bidding firm is reduced by a large margin in the market, which is a form of a punishment for considering the acquisition of a low NPV project. They also find that horizontal mergers yield negative CAR. Hypothesis 1: The average abnormal returns (AAR) yield positive results for all sub-periods in the event Hypothesis 2: The Cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) yield positive results for all sub-periods in the event. Hypothesis 3: The type of acquisition, kind of acquisition, the mode of payment and the type of target firms affects the value of the cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) around the announcement day t=0 in the event. Take into account focusing and diversifying 3. Methodology We begin by classifying the effective sample into two categories – Focusing and Diversifying. The classification approach has been adopted by Mann and Sicherman (1991).This can be done by comparing the two-digit SIC Codes of the acquirer and the target firm respectively. If both the firms involved in a deal have the same two-digit SIC Code, it can be classified as a focusing acquisition, whereas, if both firms have different codes, it is classified as a diversifying acquisition. Now we progress towards analysing the cumulative value created by a focusing and diversifying acquisition around the announcement date, using a standard event-study methodology described by MacKinlay (1997), Huang and Walkling (1987) and Wong and Cheung (2009). The Market Return Model is used in this case, to calculate the abnormal returns of the sample using a linear relationship between stock returns and market return. Rit = ÃŽ ±i + ÃŽ ²iRmt + ÃŽ µit (1) E (ÃŽ µit = 0) var (ÃŽ µit) = ÏÆ'ÃŽ µt2 Where: Rit : Return on security i on day t Rmt : Return on market portfolio on day t ÃŽ µit : Zero mean disturbance term ÃŽ ±i, : expected value of the difference between Ri and ÃŽ ²iRmt ÃŽ ²i : covariance between Rit and Rmt divided by the variance of Rmt ÏÆ'ÃŽ µt2 : variance of the error term We use the market model instead of the constant mean return model as it gives us a more accurate judgement of the effect of the event. This is true as it does not take into account the variation of the market return , thus, giving us more accurate abnormal returns. ( if any words remain add how to calculate rit and rmt) In order to calculate the abnormal returns, we use the market model parameter estimates. ^ ^ ARit = Rit – (ÃŽ ±i + ÃŽ ²iRmt) (2) Where: ARit : the abnormal return for security i on day t ^ ^ ÃŽ ±i and ÃŽ ²i : estimates of ÃŽ ±i and ÃŽ ²i In order to calculate the abnormal returns we use a maximum of 351 daily observations (Huang and Walkling, 1987). We start collecting data from t -300 to t +50 days, with t = 0 being the announcement date of the acquisition. These 351 days include non-trading days as well. In other words, we actually gather data from t -214 to t +36, taking only trading days into account. We use different time periods of an event for a complete comparative analysis of abnormal returns in each sub period which is described as below: Event period : day t -10 → day t +30 (41 days) Pre-announcement period : day t -10 → day t -2 ( 9 days) Announcement period : day t -1 → day t 0 ( 2 days) Post Announcement Period : day t +1 → day t +30 (30 days) diagram To analyse the effect of the event , we now calculate the average abnormal return (AAR) for all the securities for a time period t. AAR is the sum of all abnormal returns of firms on day t divided by N( the number of firms): (3) The t statistic, à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢, is calculated by dividing AARt by the standard deviation of the average abnormal returns. This is final step of the model, which helps in determining the significance of the AARt in the event period. (4) While calculating the standard error, an estimator is used to calculate the variance of the abnormal returns in the absence of but in this case we use the sample variance measure of that we derive from the market model regression. The estimator is as follows: In order to establish a more holistic viewpoint, the cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) are calculated: Where T1 to T2 is the duration of the event in which the AARt is collected. According to our hypotheses we have to calculate one more variable, the cumulative average abnormal return (CAAR) over a certain period. In order to find out the significance of CAAR we calculate its t statistic as follows: Where var(CAAR) is the variance of the cumulative average abnormal returns. We could use a variety of formulas to calculate the standard deviation and t statistic such as those described in Campbell, Lo and MacKinlay (1997) and Brown and Warner (1985). But we calculate using the method adopted by Kothari and Warner (1985): Where: : Variance of the average abnormal return for one period. L : Longer the L, the higher is the variance of CAAR To test the third hypothesis, another variable is taken into consideration the Cumulative abnormal returns (CAR). We now develop a regression model using dummy variables to test the effect of the type of acquisition, kind of acquisition, the type of the target firm and the mode of payment on the CAR of the acquirers. The control variables are the relative market size of the market value of the target to acquirer (RMV) and the market size of the acquiring firm (M) (Wong and Cheung, 2009). Where: : Cumulative abnormal return from day d1 → day d2 D1 : 1 if the type is acquisition D1 : 0 otherwise i.e. merger D2 : 1 if it is focusing D2 : 0 otherwise i.e. diversifying D3 : 1 if target firm is private D3 : 0 otherwise i.e. public D4 : 1 if mode of payment is cash D4 : 0 otherwise i.e. stock M : Market Value of the acquiring firm=Number of outstanding share *closing price on the announcement date The tests of hypotheses 1, 2 and 3 can be described as the following tests: H1 : H0 : AARt = 0 H1: AARt ≠  0 H2 : H0 : CAARt = 0 H1: CAARt ≠  0 H3 : H3i :ÃŽ ²1 = 0 (Acquisitions vs. Mergers) H3ii :ÃŽ ²2 = 0 (Focusing vs. Diversifying) H3iii :ÃŽ ²3 = 0 (Public vs. Private target firms) H3iv :ÃŽ ²4 = 0 (Cash offer vs. Share offer) 4. Data Description The number of mergers and acquisitions carried out in India has been quite extensive. Hence, certain criterion has been used to select a suitable sample. The deals carried out with Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, UBS, Deustche Bank and Citi as their financial advisors should be included. These banks have been chosen as they deal with high valued mergers which are perfect for highlighting the true effects of a focusing or diversifying merger. All deals should have been completed from January, 2003 to March, 2010. The sample consists of only 178 completed transactions. All the acquirer firms must be publicly listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange. The SIC Codes for the target and acquirer should be available in the CRSP Database. This helps in dividing the sample into focusing and diversifying mergers. Because of these restrictions, the sample reduces to 70 firms, three of which have some information missing regarding the stock returns etc and hence our effective sample is 67. It has been further classified into 44 focusing and 23 diversifying deals. Using only publicly listed firms enables us to extract information about these deals such as – announcement dates, termination dates, stock returns, market returns etc. from the Thomson One database, company websites and the Bombay Stock Exchange. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitivity Index or the BSE Sensex (30) has been used to gather the market returns of the firms.

ESD Static Electicity :: essays research papers

Every one knows what static electricity is. We have all seen static electricity in the form of lightning or even in the zap when reaching for a door knob. Sliding across the car seat or walking across the carpet can create this charge. The same types of electrical charges can have an effect on the electronic components you handle every day in class. Static electricity is an electrical charge at rest. Static electricity is most commonly created by friction and separation. Friction causes heat which excites the molecular particles of the material. When two materials are then separated, a transfer of electrons from one material to the other may take place. As electrons transfer, the loss or the addition or electrons creates an electrical field known as static electricity. The simple separation of two materials, as when tape is pulled off a roll, can also create this same transfer of electrons between materials, generating static electrical fields. The amount of static electricity gener ated depends upon the materials affected by friction or separation, the amount of friction or separation and the amount of humidity in the environment. Common plastic generally will create the most static charge. Low humidity conditions such as those created when air is heated during the winter will also cause the creation of static electricity. Many of the common activities you perform daily may generate charges on your body that are potentially harmful to components. Some of these activities include: †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walking across a carpet, 1,500 to 35,000 volts †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Walking over untreated vinyl floor, 250 to 12,000 volts †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Worker at a bench, 700 to 6,000 volts †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vinyl envelope used for work instructions, 600 to 7,000 volts †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Picking up a common plastic bag from a bench, 1,200 to 20,000 volts These activity examples were taken from www.midwestesd.com. When you feel a static shock, you are experiencing a minimum of 3,000 volts of electricity. While you can feel electrostatic discharges of 3,000 volts, smaller charges are below what the average human can feel. Unfortunately, these smaller charges can and do damage small electrical devices. Many of the components used in your computer can be damaged by charges of less than 1,000 volts.

The Struggle for Acceptance in The Cider House Rules Essay -- Cider Ho

The Struggle for Acceptance in The Cider House Rules         In The Cider House Rules, John Irving brings the orphan Homer Wells to vivid life in a rather unusual way.   Homer’s life and existence are part of a large symbolic link to the actual book itself.   Homer’s life as an orphan struggling for acceptance and to â€Å"Be of Use† is shadowed by The Cider House Rules struggle for acceptance in the mass literary market and its need to purvey its views on abortion.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After writing his first few books, Irving was left disappointed that although the literary critics embraced them, for the general masses his books fell on deaf ears.   (Hill 250) Unfortunately it is the general case that the masses and the elite are not in agreement on what is worth reading.   With this in mind, Irving set out writing The Cider House Rules with the intent of reaching not only the critics but the general populace as well.   Similarly, Homer starts life accepted only within the narrow confines of the orphanage he has grown up in.   His first several attempts have ended with failure, leaving Homer only the comfort of familiar arms.   When Homer sets out several years later, with the maturity of one who has stared life’s failures and unwanted, he hits the world head on and starts to make gradual steps toward full acceptance.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If asked, Irving will flatly deny that he had any ulterior motives in the creation of The Cider House Rules.   He will claim that the thought of abortion did not even enter the picture until he was well into the process. (Twayne’s 12)   However, like Homer, this book was purposefully designed with abortion on the mind of the nurturer.  Ã‚   Homer’s Dr Larch is a man who feels morally obliged to ... ...cs of storytelling in John Irving's 'The Cider House Rules.'." Style 15 July 1998. 1 Apr. 2003 <http://findarticles.com>. DeMott, Benjamin. "Guilt and Compassion." New York Times Book Review 26 May 1985: : I25.   Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. N.p.: n.p., 1849.   Hill, Jane B. "John Irving's Aesthetics of Accessibility: Setting Free the Novel." The South Carolina Review 16 (1983): 38-44.   Irving, John . The World According to Garp. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.   Lewis, Roger. "Larger than Life." New Statesman 109 (1985) McFadden, Maria. "The Cider House Rules - Not!" Human Life Review 2000. 13 Apr. 2003 <http://www.cinemagap.com>. The Cider House Rules. New York: Ballantine Books, 1985.   Weinkopf, Chris. "The Cider House Rots." Human Life Review 2000. 13 Apr. 2003 <http://www.cinemagap.com/>.

Medieval Ages v. Renaissance Culture

Love remained a major theme in the Medieval and Renaissance Literature but this form of romantic passion is depicted differently is both eras. In the Medieval era, its takes the form of ‘courtly love’ and was labeled as a noble passion coupled with chivalry and gallantry. In renaissance, love was also considered an ennobling phenomenon but we see concept of romantic and exalted love that has nothing to do with knightly and chivalrous qualities. In the short story of Equitan, courtly love is not depicted an immodest and lustful phenomenon but it is praised occasionally. It further shows certain other fine qualities of the contemporary culture. Equitan was not a usurper. Although being a king, he was able to keep his seneschal’s wife by force or decree but he took into account both the seneschal and his wife’s feelings over the issue. Following the tradition of courtly love, he disclosed his love for the lady and requested her hand. This clearly manifests that culture and value of time pertaining to courtly love strongly prohibited forced love. Furthermore, it shows the individual integrity and honesty within the community. It was king’s integrity and honesty that did not let him deceive his seneschal and adopt a proper way to court the lady. When Equitans disclosed his feeling for her, she requested time to ponder over the matter. This indirectly depicts the rationality level of the people in general and nobility in particular. King was not swayed by the strong emotions and lady (seneschal’s wife) was not also seduced emotionally. Loyalty and equality were other ingredients of the courtly love that portrays the values and traditions of the society as a whole. Seneschal wife says in this regard; Love is not honourable, unless it is based on equality. A poor man, if he is loyal and possess wisdom and merit, is of greater worth and his love more joyful than that of a prince or king who lacks loyalty. This further depicts that females were not considered an object of pleasure only. They have their own say in the amorous and domestic affairs. It was a two-way affair. All the short stories and primary sources clearly indicate that indulgence in courtly love was not considered a social evil but was sanctioned by the society. People used to admire knights and mistresses involved courtly affairs. Although wealth and power was taken into account while making a courtly love to a man or woman but chiefly it was beauty and merits on the part of the woman and man that were considered as the pre-requisites for courtly love. For example the Lady Love in Letters of Abelard and Heloise describes ‘two special gifts whereby to win at once the hearts of any woman’   of her male lover. Those are his ‘gifts for composing verse and song’ and his ‘manhood’. This shows that contemporary community was not too materialistic in the affairs of love. Letters of Abelard and Heloise clearly manifest that marriage was not the objective or outcome of courtly love. The objective was to involve in the fine and subtle passion and feel the delicacies of the excitement. Mistress was considered more adorable title than that of wife. The â€Å"Renaissance† was usually the Age of Idealism the concept of love was also transformed and it was associated with spirituality. However we find juxtaposing view about the concept of love in the long period of Renaissance. For example in ‘The Merchants Tale’, Chaucer does juxtapose genre of courtly love and religion against each other and mocks both of them. Different precepts of courtly love are satirized by characterization and are undermined to an extent by effective utilization of images, descriptions and tone that it seems comical and illogical. So a phenomenon, courtly love that was eulogized in the medieval period is mocked. This poem, as it were, holds a mirror to the life of Chaucer’s age and shows it manners and morals completely, so it is obvious that lovers were always disliked and condemned by their families and societies in the renaissance period. Petrarch (1304-1374) is considered â€Å"the first writer of the Renaissance† takes into account the idealized form of love. Unlike medieval concept of courtly love, romantic love of renaissance literature was devoid of sexuality and eroticism. Petrarch shows the pangs of love and labels it as deadly disease or wound. He says in this regard; Weeping I laugh, I feed on misery, by death and life so equally dismayed: for you, my lady, am I in this state.(Sonnet, 134, Translation) Beloved is an exalted female figure that has nothing to do with materialistic world. But she was a more realistically conceived and presented figure than in the literature of courtly love. So above-mentioned arguments and evidence clearly show that concept of love was different in both periods. One was based on the desires of the flesh and feelings whereas other was based on its spiritual and transcendental nature. References Brewer, Derek. Chaucer and his world. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1978. Lewis, C. S. The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964. Petrarca, Francesco. Petrarch's Songbook = Rerum Vulgarium Fragmenta. Trans. James Wyatt Cook. Binghamton: MRTS, 1995.