Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Monetary Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words
Monetary Policy - Essay Example Specifically, a core committee within the central bank is tasked to design and undertake monetary policies based on their assessment of economic conditions and objectives to be achieved. This paper compares the operations and mandates of the three most influential monetary policy-making bodies, namely the US-Federal Open Market Committee, Bank of England-Monetary Policy Committee and European Central Bank-Governing Council. The FOMC is considered as the foremost policy-making body of the US Federal Reserve. It primary function is to formulate monetary policies which serve to promote economic growth, full employment level, stable price level and sustainable pattern of international trade (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). This aim is achieved by making key decisions pertaining to the conduct of open market operations, i.e. the selling and purchasing of US Government and Federal Agency securities. Open market operations mainly affect the provision of reserves to banks and other depository institutions. In this regard, open market operations impact the cost and availability of money and credit in the economy of the US (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). As a background, the FOMC is composed of seven members of the Board of Governors and five Reserve Bank Presidents, who must meet at least four times a year in Washington D.C. as mandated by law. It is during these committee meetings that FOMC decides on the policies to be carried out through voting. In view of the monetary decisions it has to make, the FOMC takes into account vital economic factors such as trends in prices, wages, employment, production, consumption, investments, foreign exchange markets, interest rates, and fiscal policies among others. It should be noted that the monetary policies are implemented with primary focus on supplying level of reserves which is congruent with the economic objectives of the US, both in the short-run and long-run (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). This means that the control of open market operations is FOMC's major tool to directly influence the money supply in the economy. The movement in money supply will then affect the other economic factors based on the economic objectives of the nation. Bank of England-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) The MPC's main function is to regulate prevailing interest rates at an appropriate level in order to attain the inflation target over a period of two years. This committee primarily considers the economic performance of the country and determines whether this is accompanied by the risk of acceleration in overall price levels ("Bank of England"). The MPC, which is chaired by the Governor of the Bank of England, consists of five members from the Bank of England and four external members appointed by the chancellor (Bank of England). The setting of interest rates is decided based on the conditions of domestic monetary market, foreign exchange market, production market and labor market ("Bank of England"). To curb inflation, the MPC's primary tool is the setting of interest rates. Should the MPC determine that aggregate demand is expanding and exerting upward pressure on prices, the committee will decide to raise the interest rates in order to control the growth of investment
Monday, October 28, 2019
Project Plan- Risk and Quality Requirements Essay Example for Free
Project Plan- Risk and Quality Requirements Essay IT Project Plan IT projects are complex in nature. A proper plan gives not only maps the elements of the project but also ensures that the progress of project is going in the desired direction. In other terms, a project plan reduces the risk of project failure or over runs and improves the quality of the project. Project plan is the initial step in executing the project management. Project management strives to meet the expectations of the project stakeholders in terms of cost, quality, delivery and operations.  Project management is a crucial process that involves, people, process, price, infrastructure and cost. Project management should balance the interests of different stakeholders of the project like Project team members, management of the working group, client parameters, industry practices and the budget restrictions. In IT industry, it becomes the responsibility of project manager to look after the co-ordination of the above aspects. Project plan becomes an essential helping tool to the project management in directing the project requirements to the people and system. The project plan aligns the activities with the project life cycle and gives visibility to different phases of the project. IT will be like indicating the stakeholders of the project like client and project team to act upon the different activities of the project like, development, testing, rollout, training and implementation. The project plan is developed in connection with Organizational plan, Risk plan, Cost plan, Test plan, Roll out plan, Quality plan, Maintenance plan etc., So it is evident that Risk identification and Quality parameters act as forecasters for the project phase activities and does have a great significance in the successful implementation. However project plan includes the The Project Plan provides complete overview on how and when a projects objectives are to be achieved, by expressing different activities to resources to achieve targets at different milestones The major elements of the project plan are as following: Description of the project or an over view of the project plan. Project specifications and requirements of the client Project Initiation plan and requirements in terms of technology, budget and people Project dependencies- external, internal Project milestones like Analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and training Identification and specification of project assumptions like availability of resources, technical inputs, skills and competency requirements. Project plan with work break down structure through Gantt chart or bar chart and control points at different levels. Project level activity specifications for different stakeholders like client team,, analysis team, design team etc., Project level resource specifications Project budget and cost plan Project tolerance, through put and capacity in terms of users and boundaries Technology to be implemented with constrains and rationale for the usage. Network contingency plans and infrastructure layout plans to be required for the project work out Risk identification and risk tolerance specifications of he system Quality framework under which the project is expected to execute Risk Risk can be termed as the possible loss or damage to a process. Risk identification is the estimation of possible potential dangers that can occur or hinder the progress of the project. Risk in IT project management is a major component to consider even before the project execution, as the unidentified risks not only obstruct the progress but also may turn the entire project into loss. A risk will have a probability something above 0%. And there is an identified chance to happen, which other wise is not a risk. So a deliberate approach to identify and mitigate the risks is highly appreciable from the project learning from decades. According to Dr. Barry W. Boehm, (as cited in kjordan) the top 10 identified software risks are as follows: Personal Shortfalls in perception of risk and resources Unrealistic schedules and budgets Developing the wrong functions and properties Developing the wrong user interface Gold-plating Continuing stream of requirements changes Shortfalls in externally furnished components Shortfalls in externally performed tasks Real-time performance shortfalls Straining computer-science capabilities So, IT projects do have a risk management process that is expressed through the risk management plan. The risk management plan contains the four major areas to observe in the plan: Risk Identification: The project manager or risk management personnel will identify the possible potential threats to the project management before well in advance. Eg; Shortage of workforce due to the withdrawal of people from the team; this can be from different reasons like, maternity leave, transfers to other projects or contract termination etc., Risk Quantification: The risk identified should be quantifiable, other wise which it is will not be of much useful. Eg; What percentage of people are going to be placed on another major project or percentage of testers that may not be available on project A. Risk Response: The consequences of risk should be specified, in the sense, sometimes the system may be less altered with certain types of risks. With this, the low response of system indicates and attributes the risk as a less priority risk. And the risks that may cause major alterations to the process will be given high priority by the project plan to address them and mitigate them. Risk Monitoring and Control: Risk monitoring and controlling involves the risk mitigation tools and practices for the easy execution of the project. Eg: Training the new people to fill the gaps on attrition by the time they leave or to be transferred from the current project process. The common risk scenarios in IT projects are as follows: Schedule Risk This is the highly possible risks in IT projects, when projects over run with scheduled times or slip the release schedules or the client priorities and queries are not answered Schedule risks alters the project phases and disturbs many dependencies. Other project dependencies like testing schedules, release schedules and infrastructure costing etc., can be altered and result in excessive costing and losses. Schedule risk can happened due to the following reasons: Inappropriate or wrong project time estimation Poor tracking and monitoring of work break down plan with the resources. Over estimation of system functionality and through put. Eg: When the existing system support only 50 resources to work, scheduling of 60 or 65 may result in non availability of proper infrastructure. Wrong estimation of effort or skills. Eg: the project with low skilled work force or low effort estimation may take much time compared with the scenario of experienced people on task. Failure to specify or identify complex functionalities or requirements that emerge and become stumbling blocks for the progress execution, takes longer time to resolve and them to continue with the projected phases. Unexpected project scope expansions: These can happen due to the poor business analysis and feasibility guidelines. Budget Risk All the above schedule risks can ultimately result in increase in resource cost. In addition to this, the following at the initial project plan phase also result in budget risks Wrong budget estimation: When the cost of resources is going to be increased in future, adaptation of old compensation rates will ask for more funds to meet the project execution after some time. Cost overruns: These will arise when the project activities are not aligning with the planned activities Project scope expansion: Wrong specification of requirement may lead to extra budgets.      Eg: Some IT projects fail to define the project scope very specifically in terms of design,      development, training (on site), installation, maintenance, and support. A project that fails        to differentiate between on site training support and training support through    documentation like user guide and admin guide has to face a situation in which the      company has to bear the traveling and expenses of training resource when on-site training      is demanded in the last moment. Operational Risks Operational risks arises due to non specification of appropriate project methodology and non implementation of project processes like daily meetings (scrums), communication reports, Change requirement reports. Such risks will again result in over runs in operational schedules and results in high costs. Some causes of Operational risks are as follows: Failure to address priority conflicts: when tasks and conflicts are not nor prioritized, people sit on unnecessary or low priority tasks resulting the operational delays. Failure to resolve the responsibilities: The non-defined roles and responsibilities work on the similar operations or raise conflicts at some point of time in the operations. Insufficient resources : A project with in sufficient resources may execute poor operational performance and may result in operational delay.  No proper subject training : When the project stakeholders are not given project training at consecutive levels, there will be no direction and clarity in the project operations.  No resource planning : If the resource allocation is not properly planned, conflict arises between the different activities of the system  No communication in team: poor communication is the major hindrance for smooth project execution. Excessive communication and less communication will also alter the project schedules. Non -defining the desired level and form of communication hampers the information flow . eg: Non-maintenance of Change request forms from the client may result in wastage of work on the old configuration of modules by the developers and may result in project over runs. Technical risks Technical risks are the most unidentified risks with great damage and result in failure of functionality and performance. The causes of technical risks are: Continuous changing requirements: The initial technical specifications may require different technology platform to the technology that is appropriate for the recently added requirements Poor suggestion of technology: Lack of technical expertise of resources may result in compatibility problems. Some advanced features that may not be ready by the time of release, or that may not be compatible with the already developed functionalities will hamper the project execution. Product is complex to implement: When the product development is too complex and there is a dearth of skill and expertise in the market, the project needs to suffer delay or failure. Difficult project modules integration: When different modules are products are to be integrated, incompatibility problem arises between them that result in re work or failure. External Risks  These are the external risks beyond the boundaries of project management. These are all uncertain and may result of the following: Shortage of fund. Market Changes: Transferred demand Changing customer product strategy and priority Government rule changes. Quality Requirements of Project Quality refers to the delivery of projects and products that meet the expectations of all the stakeholders. A project that may meet all the specification of the client, but may over run the project schedule is not termed as a quality project, as it has resulted in extra cost to the management. So in order to bring down the risk, IT projects adopt different Quality models. For example Software design and development projects adopt quality models like CMMI, ISO, BSI, etc., he quality model frames a risk management plan and ensures the system to adhere to the planned project activities until the successful implementation. Usually the quality models identify some risk areas and constantly work on controlling the risk areas. The parameters that are commonly observed by different Quality models for IT systems are as follows: Correctness, Reliability, Integrity, Usability, Efficiency, Maintainability, Testability, Interoperability, Flexibility, Reusability, Portability, Clarity, Modifiability, Documentation, Schedule, Validity, Functionality, Generality and Economy. The quality management department or manager will ensure the project that it is being executed properly as per the plan. All the stakeholders monitor the project activities according to the quality parameters and control the error or risk as per the risk mitigation guidelines. Project Quality Plan defines the expectation of the stakeholders in terms of project specifications, schedule time, technology inputs, dependencies etc., and also maps the process to ensure the system to balance. A Project Quality management supports the following through quality plans and system guidelines: Defining organizational and project level quality objectives and parameters Customer requirements and expectations in terms of functionality, delivery Acceptance criteria of the IT product, which is a prioritized list of criteria for the customer to accept the final product. Roles and responsibilities of Quality management team. Functionality boundaries of the project quality system Reference to Industry practices or standards to be met The quality-control and audit processes to be applied to project management Quality-control and audit process parameters and requirements Change management procedures in case of scope change in project Configuration management plan Validation and verification controls Quality control and Assurance plan and procedures By adopting quality monitoring procedures Defining test lab procedures like- test documentation, testing resources, Test cases, scenarios, error logs and other testing documentation Metrics for quality analysis System guidelines for quality management procedures Maintenance of configuration management and change control requirements Conclusion For the Successful IT Project implementation, the project plan must address the risk issues and Quality requirements to mitigate the risk issues. Effective project planning, quality control, and monitoring will ensure the quality assurance of the project mitigating the identified risks. References Elizabeth and Richard Larson, How to Create a Clear Project Plan, Retrieved February 2,          2008 from www.projectmanagement.ittoolbox.com/documents/industry-articles/how-to           create-a-clear-project-plan-844 26k – EPA Requirements for Quality Assurance Project Plans (EPA QA/R-5), Retrieved February     2, 2008 from http://www.epa.gov/QUALITY/qs-docs/r5-final.pdf kjordan, Introduction to Software Risk Risk Management, Retrieved February 2,2008           from            http://baz.com/kjordan/swse625/intro.html Hyatt L. Rosenberg, A Software Quality Model and Metrics for Identifying Project Risks and Assessing Software Quality, http://satc.gsfc.nasa.gov/support/STC_APR96/qualtiy/stc_qual.html Project Management Planning, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from            http://www.cio.ca.gov/itpolicy/pdf/PM3.2_Planning_Process_and_Plan.pdf Project Quality Plan , Retrieved February 2, 2008 from            http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_project_quality_plan.asp Project plan, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from      http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_project_plan_.asp QUALITY ASSURANCE PROJECT PLAN REQUIREMENTS, Retrieved February 2,            2008   from            http://www.wipp.energy.gov/library/CRA/BaselineTool/Documents/Appendices/            WAP%           2010.PDF Quality Assurance Planning, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from            http://www.chesapeakebay.net/info/qa_planning.cfm Risk management strategy, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from            http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_strateg           y_.asp Risk management framework, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from            http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_framew         ork_.as p Risk management strategy, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from      http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_management_strateg           y_.asp Risk log (risk register) Retrieved February 2, 2008 from      http://www.ogc.gov.uk/documentation_and_templates_risk_log_risk_register.asp Types of Risks in Software Projects, Retrieved February 2, 2008 from      http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/types-of-risks-in-software-projects/
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Analysis of William Wordsworths Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tinte
Analysis of William Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey William Wordsworth poem 'Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey'; was included as the last item in his Lyrical Ballads. The general meaning of the poem relates to his having lost the inspiration nature provided him in childhood. Nature seems to have made Wordsworth human.The significance of the abbey is Wordsworth's love of nature. Tintern Abbey representes a safe haven for Wordsworth that perhaps symbolizes a everlasting connection that man will share with it's surroundings. Wordsworth would also remember it for bringing out the part of him that makes him a 'A worshipper of Nature'; (Line 153). Five different situations are suggested in "Lines" each divided into separate sections. The first section details the landscape around the abbey, as Wordsworth remembers it from five years ago. The second section describes the five-year lapse between visits to the abbey, during which he has thought often of his experience there. The third section specifies Wordsworth's attempt to use nature to see inside his inner self. The fourth section shows Wordsworth exerting his efforts from the preceding stanza to the landscape, discovering and remembering the refined state of mind the abbey provided him with. In the final section, Wordsworth searches for a means by which he can carry the experiences with him and maintain himself and his love for nature. . In the first stanza, Wordsworth lets you know he is seeing the abbey for a second time by using phrases such as "again I hear," "again do I behold," and "again I see. He describes the natural landscape as unchanged and he describes it in descending order of importance beginning with with the 'lofty cliffs'; (Line 5) dominantly overlooking the abbey. After the cliffs comes the river, , then the forests, and hedgerows of the cottages that once surrounded the abbey but have since been abandoned. After the cottages, is the vagrant hermit who sits alone in his cave, perhaps symbolizing the effects being away from the abbey has had on Wordsworth. Wordsworth professes to "sensations sweet / Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart" (lines 28-29) which the memories of nature can inspire when he is lonely, just as the hermit is lonely. Wordsworth desires nature only because of his separateness, and the more isolated he feels the mor... ...ame more involved with human concerns. He has become more thoughtful and sees nature in the light of those thoughts. He has traded the boundless energy for maturity and the "still, sad music of humanity" (line 92). Wordsworth ends the poem with the fifth stanza, a farewell to the abbey and the inspiration it has given him. He realizes that there may come a time when he may no longer be able to inspire himself with life-changing situations, and that he will not be able to run back to Tintern Abbey to find himself again. He does what he can, though. He will also be able to rely on his sister, who shared these experiences with him and in whose voice "I catch the language of my former heart, and read my former pleasures in the shooting lights of thy wild eyes" (lines 117-120). Eventually even these may fail him, and in the closing lines of the poem he consoles himself that he and his sister will be able to look back fondly and at least remember their shared time together. Works Cited: Wordsworth, William. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. Vol. 2. M. H. Abrams Gen. ed. New York, London: Norton. 2 vols. 1993.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Study the short stories of both Raymond Carver and John Cheever
It is my intention within this essay to study the short stories of both Raymond Carver and John Cheever, in doing so I propose to address the theme of masculinity which runs throughout both of the author's stories. I shall do this by considering, among other things, such subjects as Post Modernism, Dirty Realism and social climate and how these are applied to the texts Boxes and Elephant, by Carver and The Season of Divorce by Cheever. The background in which both Carver and Cheever write, is very significant to the way in which both writer's male characters are emasculated within the stories. Carver was writing in the decade of the eighties, and as such Reaganite economics had much to do with the way in which the men lost their grip on the hunter gatherer stereotype which had preceded. The traditional role of the male shifted from heavy industrial work to more emasculated work, such as secretarial/office roles, and domestic captivity therefore diminishing their agency. On top of this many men became jobless due to redundancies concerned with this shift from a blue-collar society to a white-collar society, and so this domestic captivity was enhanced. It is such men who Carver writes about in his short stories. The men who have slipped out of this â€Å"traditional male breadwinning world†Cheever again, writes men relevant to the political climate in which he both lived and set his stories in. In the post war era of the fifties, the male role had begun to become redundant, as during the war women were compelled to do work which had been traditionally thought of as male, and as such the myth that women were not equipped to cope with such jobs, was dispelled. Therefore in the post war when all of the men came back from war, there was a new air of female liberation, which they had not had to deal with previously. Given this fact men became emasculated by the new found power of the female. We can see this treatment of masculinity within Raymond Carvers short story Boxes. The narrator, who unsurprisingly is never named within the story is captive within a suburban world of women and sears catalogues, in which he seems a spectator to his own life. This can be seen through the style of the narrative, in which there seems to be a collapse of male agency. Throughout the story the narrator, seems to be completely inexpressive of his feelings: â€Å"I don't know why, but it's then I recall the affectionate name my dad used sometimes†¦ (p. 25) The use of the statement â€Å"I don't know†permeates the text, and shows the narrators lack of voice compared with the expressiveness of the women who seems to surround his life. Contrary to a narrator's role, he seems to say or think very little, and it is in fact his girlfriend, Jill who has all of the active verbs in the story: â€Å"†¦ â€Å"this is what we want†, she says. â€Å"This is more like what I had in mind. Look at this, will you†but I don't look. I don't care five cents for curtains. â€Å"what is it you see out there, honey? †Jill says. â€Å"Tell me. (p. 25) This is one of the rare occasions when the narrator expresses how he feels about the situation, but he expresses it only to the reader, and again within the story itself he has no voice. Jill's use of the word â€Å"we†expresses her dominance over the narrators character, as it shows that she makes his decisions for him and that he is not his own person but has inescapably become part of a couple, from which he can no longer be distinguished, and as it is Jill who is in the driving seat, the narrator seems to have lost his identity altogether. It should also be noted that the way in which Jill addresses the narrator seems more befitting a pet or a dog than it does someone of equal stature and respect. We can see however through this that she does not regard him as of an equal stature to herself within the relationship, or even his life as a whole. Throughout the story the narrator has no contact with anyone of the same gender at all, except those who he sees through his window. It is significant that the men, whom he watches from a distance, always stand in stark contrast to himself. I. e. he is on the inside confined by a â€Å"five roomed cottage of his very own†(Boyd), and the real men are on the outside where they are free of the constraints of domestication. Also they are always doing something masculine, whereas when he is watching them he is always doing something feminine or is feminised in some way, for example a man changes the oil in his car while he, attempts to do something masculine by finding a roach and trying to smoke it while drinking a ginger ale. This scene is highly feminised in that he tries to do something masculine but falls short, because he simply has lost the ability to be male. So where a man would smoke a roach and drink a beer, he only attempts to smoke and drinks a ginger ale instead. The theme of feminisation permeates this novel and there are many other ways in which the narrator is disempowered, which I shall not go into. The image of suburbia however, is significant to this disempowerment as the surroundings represent, among other things the bland depredation of the characters lives. It also represents a highly feminised culture. One in which the sears catalogue is the coffee table equivalent of the bible, it is second nature to be house proud and for miles around there is no refuge from the reminder of the life, in which the characters of Carver's stories live. Within another of Carver's stories Elephant, we can see masculinity and the role of the male portrayed from the point of view of a man desperately trying to hold on to the shred of power which he has, rather than succumb to powerlessness as the narrator of Boxes did. The main theme of Elephant is that of the breadwinner, however within the story this role is taken for granted, as all of his family emasculate the narrator by taking advantage of every male role that he could be classed under, as husband, father, brother, and son. Each of his family guilt trips him into giving them money except his ex wife, who doesn't need to, because it is the law that she gets his money. â€Å"That's four people, right? Not counting my brother, who wasn't a regular yet. I was going crazy with it. I worried night and day. I couldn't sleep over it. I was paying out nearly as much as I was bringing in. You don't have to be a genius, or know anything about economics to understand that this state of affairs couldn't keep on. I had to get a loan to keep up my end of things. That was another monthly payment†(p. 80) We can see from this that the narrator refuses to let his grasp of the role of breadwinner go easily, even although he does not have the ability to sustain such a role. It is the fact that the narrator is trying so hard to maintain some sort of control, that his family are taking for granted, and conversely it is this â€Å"control†which is emasculating him. The brother, plays a very important role within the story, and as such I believe that this is why Carver chose to make him stand out from the rest of his family, as more obnoxious and more amoral than the rest of the narrator's family, the reason being twofold. Of all of the narrator's family the brother is the only male to whom he is not obliged to help, and therefore the narrator grudges him more than the others. He has been emasculated by all of the women in the story, and his children, however his brother seems more than anyone to have picked up on this and be jumping on the bandwagon, and this creates a tension as the narrator feels that as a male adult he should also be a breadwinner. More importantly, however is the fact that his brother epitomises the failure of the traditional male position in life, which he fears more than anything, and as such he resents being confronted with his worst fear. Within this story, we are not given so strong a representation of suburbia, as we are within Boxes, however what we are given is a post modern minimalist image of the narrators life, in which there is very little reference to his surroundings at all. When we are given a glimpse of his surroundings however, it is a very sparse image: â€Å"I didn't bother to lock the door. I remembered what had happened to my daughter but decided I didn't have anything worth stealing anyway†¦ I had a TV but I was sick of watching TV. They'd be doing me a favour if they broke in and took it off my hands†(p. 8). The strength and impact of the story lies in the fact that there is very little to say about the narrators own life. It is empty and devoid of meaning so in order to have some use in life he feels the need to continue on his breadwinning path to destruction. The narrator lives in an emotional suburbia. Through this use of Dirty Realism to create an image of a life so futile and empty that it is barely worth living it at all. But the characters do, and it is because of this futility that many of them attach importance to minor things, such as the type of curtains they want to put up. As I have said earlier, like Carver, Cheever also portrays a portrait of the suburban American man as defeated and emasculated, and we can see this well within his short story The Season of Divorce. Within this short story traditional American masculinity, and the freedom to be a sexual predator, is displaced by the role of the husband and father and commitments to family life. The first two words in the story are â€Å"my wife†and this sets a trend for the rest of the story, in which the narrator is first and foremost part of the family unit, and secondly, if at all, a man. The main plot of the story, is about the way in which the narrator deals with another man attempting to usurp his position as husband, however the way in which Cheever has portrayed these events, creates a reversal of roles, as the man who tries to usurp his position is not put across as very predatory, and it is the narrators wife who is in the position of power. She is flattered by the attention and allows the situation to escalate. It seems that Ethel is in the male gendered role and both her husband and her suitor portray the female reaction to such occurrences: â€Å"At nine o'clock the doorbell rang†¦ e seemed distraught and exhilarated when he appeared†¦ ‘I know that you don't like me here, I respect your feelings†¦ I respect your home, I respect your marriage, I respect your children†¦ I've come here to tell you that I love your wife'†¦ ‘get out' I said. ‘you've got to listen to me'†¦ ‘I know that there are problems with custody and property and things like that to be settled'†¦ ‘get out of her, get the hell out of here' He started for the door. There was a potted geranium on the mantelpiece, and I threw this across the room at him, hitting him in the small of the back†¦ (p. 190) We can see from this passage that the reactions of both of the men, Trencher coming to talk rationally to him, and the narrator screaming and throwing a potted plant at Trencher, are both instinctively female reactions to such a situation. I believe that it is through the suburban surroundings in which they have been immersed that they have come to lose sight of what it is to be male and as such have become homogenised to the femininity of a suburban life, in which all that really exists is a home life. In conclusion, it seems that each of the central male characters within these stories, all seems to have the same fleeting moment of epiphany, in which they realise the futility of their life, but then they forget what it meant and continue on with their lives, convincing themselves that they are happy. In a typically post modern manner both authors seem to draw heavy reference from their own lives and I believe that it is because of this that both Cheever and Carver seem to be protesting against this feminisation and downfall of the traditional American male. Carver however, I believe is much more negative about the downfall of the male role, as he always ends his stories with the feeling that there is no hope: â€Å"what is there to tell?†¦ they leave the light burning. Then they remember, and it goes out. †(p. 26) Whereas Cheever in the end always reverts to a blissful ignorance on the part of the male character, and everyone lives happily ever after†¦ or do they?
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
The Lord of the Flies Continues to Fly A Socio-Historical Look At Its Banning and Sustained Popularity
Henry Reichman, in his research titled Censorship and Selection, Issues and Answers for Schools. Censorship defines censorship as the â€Å"the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic or educational materials †¦ on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in light of the standards applied by the censor†(Cromwell, 2005) . Often, the judging of the books as unfit for public or classroom consumption is done unilaterally by an authorized policymaking body tasked with oversight functions.This has adverse impact to the teachers’ exercise of academic and creative freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment that protects â€Å"the students’ right to know and the teachers’ right to academic freedom†(Shupe, 2004). Throughout the history of literature, censorship of literary texts and judging them as unfit for public consumption has always provoked social and political debates. The offensive advocates who pose themselves as guardians of morality and social order insist that the society needs protection from destructive elements that may damage its moral and social fibers.The defensive side, on the other hand, promotes the upholding of constitutional rights for free expression, criticizing censorship us a curtailment of this basic human right. Ironically, banning the books from public consumption has proven to have done the opposite. The public becomes even more curious, finds creative ways to get hold of these banned books and discover for themselves that the very reason of the banning should be the same reason why the public should read them in the first place.For instance, while Mark Twain’s â€Å"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn†was challenged because of its racial slur, many in the academic circles believe that it should all the more be read by the public to learn about racism and its adverse social impact (Shupe, 2004). Restraining the public from reading a lit erary text that reflects this social reality does not and cannot shield itself from seeing this happening in real life. Unsurprisingly therefore, these banned books or literary texts whose subjects are deemed taboos by the authorities became all-time best sellers continually being â€Å"consumed†by the public.The public’s curiosity has been sustained by the authority’s persistent efforts to dictate what the public can and cannot read defying the provisions of the First Amendments that enshrines creative and academic freedom (Shupe, 2004). This has all the more invigorated the public’s tendency to rebel against repressive authorities. Banning the reading of what the public considered acclaimed literature seems not just illogical but unwarranted. This has made acclaimed banned books like the Lord of the Flies sustained its popularity generations after generations.I. The Lord of the Flies Restrained from Flying To understand the â€Å"restraint flight†of the novel, it may be deemed necessary to trace its roots from its conception to publication, illuminating the tumultuous routes it has taken before it reached the public eye. William Gerald Golding wrote the novel less than ten years after World War II after serving in the Royal Navy from 1940-1945 where he saw man’s unnerving capacity for atrocities. As it is commonly believed, war brings the worst and the best of man’s human nature.But expectedly so, Golding identified more on the evil side of man, owing to his background as a disillusioned advocate of rationalism, championed by his father Alec Golding, a school teacher and ardent believer of rationalism. In his writing about his wartime experience, he wrote: â€Å"Man produces evil as a bee produces honey†(Gyllensten, 1983). He felt that the atrocities committed by the Nazis in such magnitude could be committed just as well by any other nations owing to humankind’s innately evil nature.He wrote the book at a time of Cold War, fresh from the hostilities of the Holocaust, the widespread dehumanizing aftereffects of atomic bombs, and the threat of the so-called â€Å"Reds†behind the Iron Curtain. These conditions all found their way to the book, making it a good study of the political and ideological underpinnings of this milieu. From its pre-publication to its promotion to the public, the Lord of the Flies has undergone a turbulent path. Rejected by publishers a record of 21 times, the book was adjudged as â€Å"absurd and uninteresting†¦rubbish and dull†(Conrad, 2009).Conrad (2009) recalls that the book seemed to have reached a dead end, until a former lawyer hired as editor from the Faber publishing house, Charles Monteith, resurrected the book from its near oblivion and convinced his colleagues at Faber to publish the book at a measly sum of ? 60. As it turned out, Monteith’s business instinct earned Faber millions of pounds as the book sold mi llions of copies worldwide and continues to do so up to this time prompting the author of the book to retort that he considers the royalty income as â€Å"Monopoly money†(Conrad, 2009).The book’s huge commercial success can be attributed to two things: first, it has a good narrative filled with thrilling action and a theme that amplifies the endless battle between good and evil; and second, it has been continually challenged by certain school authorities making it all the more attractive to readers. The more it has become controversial, the more it has gathered cult following, assuming celebrity status as a literary text. The thesis of the book underscores the tendency of man for violence.In the novel, a group of British schoolboys are trapped in a tropical island after the plane that would take them to someplace safer from the nuclear war crashed. Initially acting in a more civilized way, these schoolboys form some sort of a social group with a leader and sets of rul es. As they discover the difficulties of such an arrangement within the uncertainty that surrounds them in that tropical island, they begin to question the existence of that social order and start to defy its conventions.The â€Å"good force†is led by Ralph who symbolizes man’s adherence to civilization and proper social decorum; while Jack leads the â€Å"evil forces†symbolizing man’s innate evil nature that manifests with proper environmental stimuli engendered by the harsh realities of life such as surviving in a jungle. As the story progresses and the uncertainty of being rescued become remote, Jack begins to reconfigure the composition of the social order initiated by Ralph. Within these contesting ideologies, Jack starts to emerge as the leader of choice by the majority of the group.Deciding that Jack’s aggressive stunts and hunting skills are the necessary skills of a leader in such a harsh environment, the majority of the boys shift their allegiance to him and leave the â€Å"orderly†and â€Å"civilized†leadership of Ralph. With Jack’s leadership, the boys undergo a downward spiral and turn to horrific violence to dismantle civilized social constructs in the name of survival. In so doing, two boys are killed and they would have continued to slide down to ultimate self-destruction had their eventual rescue failed to come just in time.Published in 1954 and written by Golding, the Lord of the Flies has been constantly challenged and banned from school curricula in the United States and other parts of the world. The Nettverksgruppa (1996) or NVG, an association of students and staff at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim recounts that the following academic institutions challenged this novel for its so-called â€Å"demoralizing effect that implies that man is little more than an animal†:
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
The history of Olavinlinna Castle in Finland.
The history of Olavinlinna Castle in Finland. "Olavinlinna Castle"Olavinlinna castle is located in Finland. It is near the town of Savonlinna, which many people confuse to be part of it. The castle is found in the southeastern part of Finland. The castle is within the swift strait of KyrÂÆ'Â ¶nsalmi, (it is surround by water on three sides).Olavinlinna was created in 1475 by Erik Axelsson Tott. He was a Danish knight in the fifteenth century. He named his castle Olavinlinna after the patron saint of all knights, St. Olaf. St. Olaf was an eleventh century crusader from Norway. He was one of the more famous crusaders of his time. Erik was born during the year 1430. His father's name was Axel Ericsson KURCK. His mother's name was Christina Somme Abrahamsson.The history of Olavinlinna stretches across a fairly wide expanse of time. It was first built in 1475 to repel attacks from the east and to take more control of the Savo region for the Swedish Crown.Olavinlinna in Savonlinna, Finland Suomi: Olavinli...There were never any atta cks from the east. Olavinlinna served as a Swedish eastern border until the start of the eighteenth century. When the Great Northern War broke out, Olavinlinna fought but eventually had to surrender to the Russians during the year 1714. The castle had to surrender because there was no food left or munitions left in the castle. The Russian control was over by 1721 when a peace treaty moved the borderline so that the Swedes could have their castle back. After the peace treaty of Turku the Russians got the castle back and it was still under military use until 1809. The Russians still stayed in the castle until the year1847. Then in the 1850's Olavinlinna served as a prison in Finland. During the 1860's two fires broke out and caused major damage.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Clay essays
Clay essays On July 2, 1881, two shots were fired into the back of President Garfield as he walked through the waiting room of the Baltimore and Potomac depot in Washington. The president lingered for seventy-nine days, succumbing finally on September 29. The assassin, a megalomaniac politician named Charles Julius Guiteau, had been disappointed at not getting the consulship he expected as the reward for a speech written during Garfield's campaign. GuOn July 2, 1881, two shots were fired into the back of President Garfield as he walked through the waiting room of the Baltimore and Potomac depot in Washington. The president lingered for seventy-nine days, succumbing finally on September 29. The assassin, a megalomaniac politician named Charles Julius Guiteau, had been disappointed at not getting the consulship he expected as the reward for a speech written during Garfield's campaign. Guiteau pleaded insanity at his noisily sensational trial, but was found guilty and hanged in the early afternoon of June 20, 1882. The ugly revelations of political jobbery made during Guiteau's trial are credited by the historian Charles Beard with having prompted the creation of the Civil Service Commission. Guiteau's goodnight is based on a New York broadside, "The Lamentation of James Rodgers," a murderer executed on November 12, 1858.... A popular goodnight of the 1870s, "My Name It Is John T. Williams," also borrowed lines and motives from the Rodgers piece. Writers unfamiliar with the goodnight conventions have suggested that Guiteau himself wrote the ballad bearing his name. It happens that Guiteau did write verses in prison, but they were more religiose and belligerent than the ballad that keeps his notoriety alive. No broadside copy of "Charles Guiteau" survives, though such a sheet may well have been the ancestor of the versions collected from oral tradition in the South and Midwest. iteau pleaded insanity at his noisily sensational trial, but was fo...
Sunday, October 20, 2019
The Caribbean Islands of Greater and Lesser Antilles
The Caribbean Islands of Greater and Lesser Antilles The Caribbean Sea is filled with tropical islands. They are popular tourist destinations and many people refer to the Antilles when speaking of certain islands in the archipelago. But what are the Antilles and what is the difference between the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles? The Antilles Are Part of the West Indies You probably know them as the Caribbean Islands. The small islands that scatter the waters between Central America and the Atlantic Ocean are also known as the West Indies. Trivia Time: The West Indies received its name because Christopher Columbus thought he had reached the Pacific islands near Asia (known as the East Indies at the time) when he sailed west from Spain. Of course, he was famously mistaken, though the name has remained. Within this large collection of islands are three main groups: the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. The Bahamas include over 3,000 islands and reefs on the north and east side of the Caribbean Sea, beginning just off the coast of Florida. To the south are the islands of the Antilles. The name Antilles refers to a semi-mythical land called Antilia which can be found on many medieval maps. This was before Europeans traveled all the way across the Atlantic, but they did have an idea that some land was across the seas to the west, though it was often depicted as a large continent or island. When Columbus reached the West Indies, the name Antilles was adopted for some of the islands. The Caribbean Sea is also known as the Sea of the Antilles. What Are the Greater Antilles? The Greater Antilles are the four largest islands in the northwestern portion of the Caribbean Sea. This includes Cuba, Hispaniola (the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. In total, the Greater Antilles make up almost 90% of the land in the West Indies. Cuba is the largest single island in the Caribbean.During the colonial period, the island of Hispaniola was known as Santo Domingo, named for the capital city of what is now the Dominican Republic. What Are the Lesser Antilles? The Lesser Antilles include the smaller islands of the Caribbean to the south and east of the Great Antilles. It begins just off the coast of Puerto Rico with the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and extends south to Grenada. Trinidad and Tobago, just off the Venezuelan coast, are also included, as is the east-west chain of islands that stretches to Aruba. The Lesser Antilles are further divided into two groups: the Windward Islands and the Leeward Islands.Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao are known as the ABC islands and are territories of the Netherlands.A number of the Lesser Antilles islands are dependent on or territories of larger countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and France.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Traits of a successful Byzantine emperor from the perspective of Research Paper
Traits of a successful Byzantine emperor from the perspective of Michael Psellus - Research Paper Example In his historical works, he describes the attributes of the various emperors (it is notable that he had shifted his political alignment numerous times during his lifetime, thus implying that he had assessed Emperors and shifted allegiances when he perceived that an Emperor was weak). Thus, one can make the argument that Psellus was a pragmatists and a proto-Machiavellian figure, as evidenced by his political career, and the standards by which he assessed politicians and emperors. From reading Psellus’ Chronographia, one can arrive to the conclusion that Psellus’ ideas on what constituted a successful emperor were derived from the earlier Byzantine history (since the notorious â€Å"dirty power politics†that one can observe throughout the late Byzantine history can be traced to the earlier Roman times). Therefore, the traits that would make one a good Byzantine emperor were theorized by Psellus at a time when the Byzantine Empire was enjoying a century of success , stability and expansion (while also going through difficult times later on). Thus, Psellus himself was a high-class Byzantine political figure who was actively involved with the court politics of the Byzantine Emperors . Since Psellus had specialized in court politics, his perspective is inseparable from the Constantinopolitan political culture. Various political events that took place in Psellus’ time and the reigns of various emperors that greatly differed from each other provided Psellus with a wide-range of political experience to derive his assessment model from, since he always had the opportunity to observe how the imperial court had functioned under different emperors. Michael Psellus Traits of a Successful Byzantine Emperor In his book, the Fourteen Byzantine Rulers, Psellus provides a first-hand account that includes observations of blatant mismanagement, unethical political practices, incompetence, as well as successful or exemplary incidents that he attributes t o various Byzantine emperors and politicians. Since Psellus was a member of the Byzantine court for nearly a quarter century, he was able to not only observe but also interact with various emperors. This enabled him to better comprehend the various traits and ruling-styles of different emperors and thus form connections between the traits of a particular emperor and how those traits related to economic growth, military success, or the general well-being of the Empire at different instances throughout his career3. It should be noted though, that Psellus’ views were undoubtedly influenced by the norms of his time. Thus, Psellus’ political assessments also have a historical touch to it, apart from only concerning the discipline of political science. From the first to the last of the fourteen emperors, Psellus provides the following traits as being necessary for Byzantine Emperor to be a successful ruler4. Alertness, thoughtfulness and Intelligence The notion that these se ries of traits are necessary for an emperor to be successful is evidenced by the after-math of the demise of John Tzimisces. The legible heirs to the throne were Basil and Constantine, and both of them had been gaining political power prior to the death of Tzimisces. Michael Psellus explains that the two heirs had different political
Friday, October 18, 2019
Marketing and Consumers Priorities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Marketing and Consumers Priorities - Essay Example I can get the information regarding new courses as well as happenings and I can contact my overseas friends through e-mail. I can use the computer for chatting with my friends. I know the information and news through websites. I use the computer and it's accessories to see the news papers and news portals and scan as well as download the required images and content. Using a printer I can take printouts of the content I need for my job. I can keep myself and my company connected to different news agencies so that they keep us update with the latest news. I can design a greeting card of my own in my computer and hence I can use it for commercial purposes. With the computer we can do the audio, video mixing and get the compact discs and DVDs of my own. Reading books through internet can help in reducing the burden of purchasing them though we cannot avoid the purchasing of all the books. Being connected with libraries and universities, one can get access to lot of amount of literature t hrough electronic libraries. The brand of the computer I have brought is Compaq and the printer belongs to Hewlett Packard. The scanner also belongs to Hewlett Packard. ... The needs of other customers differ from that of mine and they differ in case of personal use as well as commercial ones. They use the same computer to produce some advanced and innovative products and they develop the business through computerizing their activities. For example, the banking sector, telecommunications, travelling and tourism, medical sector, Video games, washing machines, aero planes, cruise services, planning and scheduling, weather analysis also find applications with computers and accessories. For Example a tour operator uses the computer for reservations and booking of hotel rooms, train, and aeroplane tickets through computer. The telecommunication sector is also utilizing the computerized and now a days the presence of number of telephone operators created a competition between them to provide different services to the people. Internet service providers, internet cafes use the computers for amusement like video games as well as for other purposes. Bankers utili ze computers for their daily banking activities. By using computers they need not to refer the big ledgers and registers and this reduces their work burden and saves time. Bankers can know all details of customers by a click of a mouse. Money can be transferred from one account to another without any trouble. The ATM network of the banks works the basis of computers and other electronic appliances. Every industry is using computerization for developing knowledge and to improve their business. The automatic washing machines also work with the help of computerized mechanism (Buzzle.com, 2009). The Needs of the Customers who buy Other Products from the Same Manufacturer I have bought a desktop from Compaq and some other customers may buy a note book or laptop
Modelling Unknown System 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words
Modelling Unknown System 2 - Essay Example There are various design methods of IIR filter used, with the analogue reference prototype filter being the most commonly used method, as it is suitable for the design of low pass filters, high pass, band stop filters and band pass filters. Reference type, analog prototype filter, to be used is specified according to its requirements and specification then there is design of the analog prototype filter. Scaling of the analog prototype filter into the required frequency range succeeds the design phase. The scaling process converts the analogue prototype into an analog filter. The last step is the conversion from analog to digital filter. Bilinear transformation method converts analogue filters to digital filters. The resulting filter, obtained is always stable, but, instability of the resulting filter may only be caused by the finite word-length side-effect [1]. The design process of the desirable IIR filter commences with the specification and requirements. The reference prototype analogue filter is chosen based on the specification. Scaling of the analogue prototype filter frequency into the desired range succeeds the design phase. The prototype filter is, thus, converted into an analogue filter. The final step is the conversion to digital filter from the analogue filter type by the use of the bilinear transformation method for conversion. The conversion process achieves a stable filter though instability may result from finite word length side effects [1]. Finite impulse response filter equalizes the natural channel response into a partial response target to reduce the complexity of the corresponding maximum sequence detector in magnetic recording. The natural channel response may vary due to changes such as variation in the head medium separation, therefore, requiring the adaptation of finite impulse response. LMS algorithm based adaptation can also be used. It should be known that conflicting interactions among the LMS loop, the AGC (automatic gain control)
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Prevalence and impact of alcohol misuse in the American, British and Dissertation
Prevalence and impact of alcohol misuse in the American, British and Canadian Armed Forces - Dissertation Example I am really thankful to them. In addition, I would also like to thank my parents and friends for their help in the execution and finishing of this project within the limited time. I am making this project not only for academic purposes but also to increase my knowledge on this public health issues. DECLARATION: I DECLARE THAT THIS DISSERTATION IS MY OWN WORK AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN PRESENTED AT ANY OTHER UNIVERSITY OR INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING. List of Tables Table 1-Nationality of participants Table 2-Region of service Table 3-Element Table 4-Work Status Table 5-Gender Table 6-Nature of deployment Table 7-Causes and Effects of Alcohol abuse in armed forces Table 8-Summary of participant remarks Abstract Alcohol misuse has been part of military life since historical times. Study findings and literature reviews attest to the high prevalence of this problem not only among active-duty soldiers but also among veterans returning home. Studies also show several disparities in the preval ence and effects of alcohol abuse among military officers. First, younger officers of age 18-25 are found to suffer more alcohol abuse and related disorders than their older colleagues. Second, male soldiers are more likely to indulge in binge drinking compared to their female colleagues. Third, soldiers on active combat duties report more cases of alcohol abuse that their non-combat experienced colleagues do. This latter disparity could be explained by the traumatic experiences and events encountered in wars. For the US, UK, and Canada, veterans of the Iraqi and Afghani wars are outstanding examples of samples used to establish the extent to which traumatic combat and non-combat experiences and events promote alcohol misuse in armed forces. Although these countries’ defense departments have initiated various interventions and designed policy statements to curb alcohol abuse in military camps and among veterans, a lot still need to be done since the responses to this problem have been rather lackluster. In fact, recommendations by concerned agencies and individual researchers have largely been ignored by authorities. The negative effects of alcohol abuse on soldiers, their friends, families, and the profession in clued mental health disorders, violence, marriage breakages, unproductively, cardiovascular diseases, and death. These effects highlight the efficiency and the urgency with which alcohol misuse should be addressed. As the authorities seek answers to this problem, soldiers are also encouraged to seek alternative treatments to the disorders that military life expose them to rather than resorting to binge drinking for immediate and short-term solutions but never really solve the underlying issues. Introduction In the current society, many people are reported to keep their consumption of alcohol within the confines of the recommended levels. These drinkers have rather low risks of alcohol-related metal, physical, physiological, and
Marketing Communication Strategy - Sales Promotion Assignment
Marketing Communication Strategy - Sales Promotion - Assignment Example  Direct marketing is a channel form of advertising that helps business as well as non-profit organisations to directly communicate with the customers with the help of various advertising techniques like online display of ads, catalogue distribution, mobile messaging, promotional letters etc. Advertising is a form of communication that helps to persuade the audience to take some action. The action would be to purchase the product or service. An efficient and effective marketing communication mix is essential otherwise the company will not survive in the competitive marketplace. Effective marketing communication with customers is essential in order to generate profits and sales. Now in the context of the project, the two companies that have been chosen to demonstrate the usage of the mentioned communication mixes are KFC and McDonalds. Both KFC, as well as McDonald's, hugely invest in their communication strategy. The report will begin by providing a brief introduction to the chosen companies as it will help to relate the subject more efficiently. The report will also highlight the 3 major marketing communication mixes used by them in the marketplace. Apart from that, the report will also emphasize the importance and scope of the mentioned communication mix. In the context of the project, the following three major elements used as the promotional elements are advertisements, sales promotion and public relation. The effectiveness and efficiency of marketing communication strategies of KFC and McDonalds are:- Sales Promotion: - Sales promotion is amongst the seven elements of the promotional mix. Examples of sales promotion include the contest, discount coupons, product samples and various other freebies (Gartner and Bellamy, 2009, p.350). Now in the context of the project, KFC makes use of sales promotion to a large extent. The company uses the following tools in order to further improve the sales. It includes coupons, premiums and entertainment. Every outlet of KFC offers the different type of incentives such as coupons, the free add-on, and the free meal to the customers for the purpose of selling. Â
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Prevalence and impact of alcohol misuse in the American, British and Dissertation
Prevalence and impact of alcohol misuse in the American, British and Canadian Armed Forces - Dissertation Example I am really thankful to them. In addition, I would also like to thank my parents and friends for their help in the execution and finishing of this project within the limited time. I am making this project not only for academic purposes but also to increase my knowledge on this public health issues. DECLARATION: I DECLARE THAT THIS DISSERTATION IS MY OWN WORK AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN PRESENTED AT ANY OTHER UNIVERSITY OR INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING. List of Tables Table 1-Nationality of participants Table 2-Region of service Table 3-Element Table 4-Work Status Table 5-Gender Table 6-Nature of deployment Table 7-Causes and Effects of Alcohol abuse in armed forces Table 8-Summary of participant remarks Abstract Alcohol misuse has been part of military life since historical times. Study findings and literature reviews attest to the high prevalence of this problem not only among active-duty soldiers but also among veterans returning home. Studies also show several disparities in the preval ence and effects of alcohol abuse among military officers. First, younger officers of age 18-25 are found to suffer more alcohol abuse and related disorders than their older colleagues. Second, male soldiers are more likely to indulge in binge drinking compared to their female colleagues. Third, soldiers on active combat duties report more cases of alcohol abuse that their non-combat experienced colleagues do. This latter disparity could be explained by the traumatic experiences and events encountered in wars. For the US, UK, and Canada, veterans of the Iraqi and Afghani wars are outstanding examples of samples used to establish the extent to which traumatic combat and non-combat experiences and events promote alcohol misuse in armed forces. Although these countries’ defense departments have initiated various interventions and designed policy statements to curb alcohol abuse in military camps and among veterans, a lot still need to be done since the responses to this problem have been rather lackluster. In fact, recommendations by concerned agencies and individual researchers have largely been ignored by authorities. The negative effects of alcohol abuse on soldiers, their friends, families, and the profession in clued mental health disorders, violence, marriage breakages, unproductively, cardiovascular diseases, and death. These effects highlight the efficiency and the urgency with which alcohol misuse should be addressed. As the authorities seek answers to this problem, soldiers are also encouraged to seek alternative treatments to the disorders that military life expose them to rather than resorting to binge drinking for immediate and short-term solutions but never really solve the underlying issues. Introduction In the current society, many people are reported to keep their consumption of alcohol within the confines of the recommended levels. These drinkers have rather low risks of alcohol-related metal, physical, physiological, and
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 34
Essay Example Their movement is by hopping making them the largest animals to use such a locomotive mode. For them to hop properly they have long hide legs that make long jumps. At times they use their tails and the fore limbs to do crawl walking. They can reach a top speed of 70 kilometres per hour and when using moderate speed of e.g. 40 km/hr, they can go up to 2 kilometres (Judith 8 – 22). These animals have a pouch that they use in carrying their young ones for a period of about nine months. Kangaroos are of different types and they live in different habitats. There are the eastern gray ones that live in the east of Australia. They are particularly the heaviest and are mostly seen at night more than they are during the day. There is the red type that is found in almost all parts of Australia making it the most widely known. The other type is the ones in the west of Australia that are also gray (Knox 42 – 100). They are however smaller than their eastern counterparts and they are notably loud, slim and have males that have a distinct odour. They are therefore unique animals that need to be well taken care of especially their habitats. Civil rights in the USA and especially rights in reference to black people were the major centres of concern for Martin Luther King, Jr. (Kirk 2005). He is known to have championed the rights and freedom of the black people in the United States. he started his education in Georgia and after high school he went ahead to attain a Bachelor of Arts degree from a college where his father and grandfather also went through; Morehouse College in 1948. Luther later went to study theology for three years and later went to Boston University for a doctorate which saw him awarded a degree in 1955. Luther by 1955 had become a top official of the NAACP; an association that had been formed to champion the rights and freedoms of coloured people. He played a key role in the bus boycott that went for 382 days and that saw the segregation rule
Monday, October 14, 2019
About the United States Constitution Essay Example for Free
About the United States Constitution Essay Essay 1 The Constitution of the United States created the form of government known as federalism. The national and state governments each have specific powers and functions, while also sharing some of the same powers. The Constitution made the agreement that any laws passed under the constitution would be the supreme law of the land. Three separate branches were created; the legislative, executive, and judicial. **********The new Constitution resolved the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation to the extent that it created a new system of government that was equipped with the necessary powers needed to implement changes through compromises, the passing of laws, and the levying of taxes. During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates met in Philadelphia to discuss the difficult problems the new nation faced. The Framers decided that in order to facilitate change within the nation, the Articles of Confederation needed to be replaced with a new plan for government that would give the federal government more power to implement the changes necessary for the progression of the nation. The next step was to devise a plan for the government that would be accepted by the people of the nation. A series of compromises, known as the Three-Fifths Compromise, and the Great Compromise, were created. The Virginia Plan, created by James Madison, included an executive branch, courts, and a bicameral legislature where representation in each house of Congress would be based on each state’s population. This plan enticed delegates from heavily populated states such as, New York; however, the small states feared a government subjugated by the large states would give them no say. The New Jersey Plan, devised by delegates from the smaller states, included a unicameral legislature in which states would have equal representation. Within this plan, Congress had the power to set taxes and regulate trade, which were powers it did not have under the Articles of Confederation. The New Jersey Plan was not accepted because ******larger states thought they should have more power. After six rigorous weeks, *the delegates came to a compromise later known as the Great Compromise. The compromise proposed that Congress have two houses, a Senate and a House of Representatives, in which the Senate granted equal representation and the House granted representation based on population. In the Articles of Confederation, there was only *one vote per state. To pass laws, nine out of the thirteen colonies had to be in favor of it and to make amendments; all thirteen colonies had to be in favor of the idea. The Great Compromise included that two thirds of the Senate and the House had to agree on a law or an amendment for it to be passed which was much easier. The compromise pleased both groups, but they were not completely satisfied. The Great Compromise directly dealt with the weaknesses within the Articles of Confederation and for this reason it gained popularity. The Three-Fifths Compromise came about after the Great Compromise which answered some of the remaining questions such as, who could vote. The compromise stated that every five enslaved persons counted for three free persons therefore, three-fifths of the slave population in each state would be used in determining representation in Congress. Americans were not all in favor of the Constitution at first, they were known as Anti-Federalists. They thought that the document would take away their liberties that Americans had fought hard to win from Great Britain. Their main argument was the new Constitution would create a strong, federal government and ignore the states and it lacked a bill of rights to protect individual freedoms. Those who were supporters of the document called themselves Federalists. They believed the Constitution would create a system of federalism, a form of government in which power is divided between the federal government and the states. The Federalist Papers, written by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, was what won the Anti-Federalist’s support of the document. In a series of essays, they argued that the United States wouldn’t survive without a strong federal government and reassured the document would protect their nation. Both the Anti-Federalists and the Federalists came to the conclusion that if the Constitution was adopted, the new government would add a bill of rights. The Constitution was completely ratified in 1790 which made the thirteen independent states a united nation, The United States of America. The new Constitution created a framework for the government, which was the something the Articles of Confederation lacked. Three branches within the legislative were created to make sure the federal government would stay stable. Each branch had specific powers while also having the ability to check the powers of the other two branches. The legislative branch, also known as Congre ss, made the laws. The executive branch enforced the laws and is headed by a president and vice president. The judicial system was created in which the supreme court of the U.S would have the final say as to the constitutionality of laws. In order to avoid one of the branches from gaining too much power, the Framers included a system of checks and balances. This system allowed each branch of government to limit the power of the others. Therefore, the new Constitution resolved the weaknesses of the articles of confederation to the extent that it created a new system of government that was equipped with the necessary powers needed to implement changes through compromises, the passing of laws, and the levying of taxes. The government was able to tax and secure individual freedoms. The thirteen independent states became one nation, The United States of America. Although, not all of the problems of the Articles of Confederation were resolved, the new Constitution created a foundation for our government today.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
A Guest Experience Based Upon Hospitality Marketing Essay
A Guest Experience Based Upon Hospitality Marketing Essay The rewards are the opportunity to create a guest experience based upon hospitality rather than efficiency, to implement customer service that makes memories rather than horror stories, to truly be in touch with guests rather than seeking to avoid them because a guest contact usually indicates a problem. Because of their size, small boutique properties often do not have the clout in the market to recruit and retain good line employees. Seasonality can have the happy retired hotelier making beds, doing laundry and unstopping toilets in the off-season when he/she has had to lay off the seasonal staff. Any furloughs due to seasonality pretty well guarantee that the quality labour in the market will go to a property with the mass to offer them year round employment. Operational Performance Objective: Flexibility Personal Approach LOCATION (segment market) COST (budget) Demand Service process Keep on changing customer Taste The four houses of quality function deployment connect customer needs with engineering design characteristics, components production processes, and associated control parameters http://www.naukrihub.com/india/hospitality/overview/challenges/ http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2006_4th/Nov06_ISHC.html http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3656/is_200612/ai_n17190382/ Q3 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2007_April_3/ai_n27189784/?tag=rbxcra.2.a.22 .http://www.managingchange.com/masscust/overview.htm http://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/ChiangMaiJun00/CustomizationHospitality.html#1 IMPORTANT http://www.smthacker.co.uk/postponement_mass_customisation.htm http://www.madeforone.com/Articles/index.php/page/2/ http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/03/weekend-reading-mass-customization-round-up.php http://www.igi-global.com/bookstore/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleId=743DetailsType=Preface http://www.sideroad.com/Customer_Service/measuring-customer-loyalty.html http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/210546/hotels_and_hostels/new_trends_at_boutique_hotels.html 1. Shortage of skilled employees: One of the greatest challenges plaguing the hospitality industry is the unavailability of quality workforce in different skill levels. The hospitality industry has failed to retain good professionals. 2. Retaining quality workforce: Retention of the workforce through training and development in the hotel industry is a problem and attrition levels are too high. One of the reasons for this is unattractive wage packages. Though there is boom in the service sector, most of the hotel management graduates are joining other sectors like retail and aviation. Personalization and Design by Own Individualism (demand) Peoples lives today are more turbulent and diversified. The one size fits all model is out-of-date. Individuals now want to be seen and treated as individuals and many are prepared to pay for this. They are better educated and informed; able and willing to make their own decisions. http://www.streetdirectory.com/travel_guide/210548/hotels_and_hostels/unique_features_with_new_boutique_hotel_resort_trends.html _ boutique hotel http://www.hotel-online.com/Trends/ChiangMaiJun00/CustomizationHospitality.html Davis, Stan, Future Perfect, 10th anniversary edition, Addison-Wesley Pub Co, Harlow, England, 1996, ISBN: 020159045X Gilmore, James H. Pine, B. Joseph II 1997, The four faces of mass customization, in Gilmore, James H. Pine, B. Joseph II (eds.), Markets of One, President and Fellows of Harvard College, Boston MA, U.S.A. pp. 115-132 Introduction Boutique hotels are believed to have been invented in the early 1980s. (Anhar,L,2001) There is no single definition of a boutique hotel but most of the boutique hotels do share some common characteristics. The first, boutique hotels put more emphasis on design and architecture than traditional chain hotels. (Anhar.L.2001) Creating unique design with additional lifestyle amenities in order make hotel guest feel something special than others. For example each guest room in Blakes Hotel in South Kensington, London was designed by celebrity stylist Anouska Hempel. This kind of hotel is very individual and focuses on their look. (Jones.P,2002) The aim is to create an environment with sense of style, warmth and distinction which they are willing to pay premium room rates. Second, the common feature of boutique hotel is superior personal service.(Drayton.P Rodwell.K,2001) Providing personal service guide to hotel guests is importance to enhance guest experience rather than efficiency, to t ruly be in touch with hotel guests rather than ignorance them when they faced to problem, to makes guest with unforgettable memories will come back on next time rather than terrible service that not return again. Furthermore, boutique hotel tend to provide a higher quality and wider range of guest amenities; such as pillow menu, complimentary candies and nuts. (Reich.M Ho Jung Kim) The third feature is the number of rooms. The number of room should not exceed 150 rooms to maintain the intimacy between the guests and the hotel staff, and the personalized attention by the staff. (Anthar.L,2001) However, there seems to be not upper limit on the maximum number of room; for example among properties operated by Ian Schrager, Pramount Hotel has 594 rooms and Hudson Hotel has 821 rooms. (Ibid) The last common feature of boutique hotel is the target market. The middle to upper income group of people tend to be target market of boutique hotel. In addition, the image of boutique hotel is major element for promoting through media, fashion, entertainment and advertising companies that are attracted to the trendy design and lively atmosphere.(Jones Lang Lasalle report) Location of the boutique hotel can be classified into two types. The first is the city destination hotels. () Accordingly, most existing city boutique hotels are located in urban edgy and chic neighbourhoods in major cities like New York, London, San Francisco, and Miami. (Anthar) Nevertheless, more companies are targeting less cosmopolitan cities. Location of traditional hotels often seeks for convenience to their customer but for boutique hotel, they are often located in cities with big fashion capitals to best attract their target market. The second type of boutique hotel is located in generally well-hidden, tucked always in deserted corners of the island or the mountains. Each boutique resort hotels promote the non-existence of electronics and communication devices in guestrooms as a competitive advantage. () Q1 Every company will face problemà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ challenges Boutique hotel tend to serve their guest with high degree of service quality therefore the greater of customer contact, the greater degree of interaction between the service system and the customer. (Jacobs.R,Chase.R,2008) Service systems with high degree of customer contact are more difficult to control and rationalize rather than low degree of customer contact. In high-contact systems, the customer can affect the time of demand, the exact nature of the service, and the quality, or perceived quality of service because the hotel guests are involved in the process. (Jacobs.R,Chase.R,2008) This is reason why boutique hotel manager should take into account on this particular area of service design process. This is not easy as all customers are different and have different expectations of what the service will provide. Perhaps a boutique hotel guest tend to wait for too long to check-in at resulted he or she might not come again due with the expectation on their speed of their service provided was disappointment. Hence, boutique hotel can offers several counters with different type of function such as registration check-in, check-out counter, and complaint counter to shorten the time of waiting by other guests. Flexibility approach take part on this challenges, Service process must be short and accurate in order to SOA(219) Service Blueprinting 211 As mentioned above, for boutique hotel the customer indeed is greater extent involved in the actual delivery of the service. The service employees by boutique hotel have frequently work together with their customer thus the behaviour if employees is likely to have a major effect on the customers perceived level of service quality.(Greasley.A,2009) Unlike tangible products, technology can be replaced the workforce on certain jobs but in services, it is difficult to replace the element of human interaction completely. (Greasley.A,2009) For service industry, the service operation for boutique hotel greater front office tasks by adding value to their customer both input and output of the operation while back office task is lesser. (Figure 1.1)(Greasley.A, 2009) Boutique hotel as a mass customization operate at high volume and high variety because the customer require high levels of contact with the service provider and a customized service. Human resource development: Some of the service s required in the tourism and hotel industries are highly personalized, and no amount of automation can substitute for personal service providers. India is focusing more on white collar jobs than blue collar jobs. The shortage of blue collar employees will pose various threats to the industry Lack of skilled hotel employees can become an issue for boutique hotel that tend to provide superior personal service. STANDARD The hotel boutique employees are expected to know their guests needs very well with caring, polite, friendly, and etc. Hence, the manager of Boutique hotel has to invest on a series of training program in order to maintain the quality of the service provided by their employee especially front-line employees which interact with customer most of the time. Assume a boutique hotel employees does not know well about a potential customer whose is vegetarians, but sending meal with chicken to the customer. This in the result, the potential customer will feel very disappointed on the careless of service provider by particular boutique hotel. The customer definitely switches to other brand of boutique hotel and not to return again if there is no a good service recover to resolve the problem. Service is unlike product that can be easier to argue back but in service industry especially with high service quality provided by boutique hotel, customers tend to be correct most of the time. Quality is a particular challenge for boutique hotel in both the tangible and intangible aspects, for example the quality of the food served, the quality of the mattress in the room and service of the staff must meet quality standards in order to retain customer. However, intangible service may be difficult to measure and often depends on an unpredictable interaction between the service provider and customer. (Greasley.A, 2009) The boutique employees cannot predict what the next will be happen thus they have to get ready to resolve problem at anytime. However, there are three authors; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) define the quality in service with five principal dimensions that customers use to judge service quality which is Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy and Tangible based on a comparison between expectations and perceptions of the service quality. Marketing strategy: For the side of marketing view of point on boutique hotel, the image is very important to enhance the quality of the hotel itself to their target market. What are so special about boutique hotel compare to other hotel chain without paying high price of room rate? This is why Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) gets involved to work together to promote the brand and image of boutique hotel. A good service cannot be successful without the demand in a market. To open a new boutique hotel in a market place obviously is very fresh on the particular brand. Hence, branding can become one of the challenges to a new boutique hotel. At that point, the new brands that were ill-conceived and lacking clear definition and marketability ultimately become the weaker performers which are then often absorbed by the stronger ones.( ISHC Annual Conference,2007)Investing on brand proliferation to attract consumer interest toward the new boutique hotel. Marketing research effort s hould not be neglected by collecting information on favourable design of hotel room, service encounter and etc. By doing marketing research better performance outcome in order to meet customer needs. Virtual advertising can be useful to let customer know more information about the boutique hotel. An addition, online booking hotel becomes more convenience to customer in the purchase processes. A system that can let customer choose the theme or design of the room that they prefer including the menu of pillow, type of food to serve and etc. Public relation is also a powerful tool to get useful public opinion from the public. Distribution channel renovation : In 2006, it is estimated that $24 billion worth of hotel rooms in the US alone will be booked through internet sites representing 27% of US hotel industry room revenues up from $15.5 billion just two years ago. (INSH,2007) Meanwhile, this is current challenge of distribution management, manage and market to the consumer in the online world. Without understanding online consumers buying behaviour, the possible investment on marketing will be wasted. Buying process change rapidly nowadays with advancement of technology device support. Brick and Motor Directors of Sales Marketing and Directors of Revenue Management must understand at least the basics of search engine optimization, pay-per-click marketing, link popularity strategies and web traffic analysis. (INSH,2007) Connection between the service provider and their potential customer is linked. Expanding distribution revolution preserves the relationship with their customer. (INSH,2007) Click and M ortar approach can be applied on boutique hotel strategy in order to serve the best quality by using online or offline form of service provided. Construction cost: To build up a new boutique hotel, cost definitely has to take into account because it involved a huge amount of money on constructing, furniture, equipments and labour cost. The cost of raw materials for construction such as wood, steel, sand and so on is categorized as dramatically changes according the demand of the world. For example steel prices experienced a 48.8-percent increase in 2004, which was preceded by significant increases in scrap iron and steel prices in 2002 and 2003.(INSH,2007) By constantly monitoring changes in the markets for both construction materials and labor costs, a developer has to ensure that a project has a better than even chance of being completed on time and on budget.(INSH,2007) Adoptability and Knowledgeable on new technology system: In this 21th century with all digital-based of world with high-technology advancement that can improving the effectively and efficiently of doing things. The research and development (RD) department have to gone through emphasis on the design of the room in boutique hotel. Supply and demand service capacity : skilled employees or unskilled employeesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Training Demand of the market : middle to upper class. Fashion ,media Finance Q2 Mass processes that produce high-volume and low variety products are termed line or mass processes. Because of the high volumes of product it is cost-effective to use specialized labour and equipment. Because of the low variety, setting up of equipment is minimized and utilization of equipment is high. Examples of mass process included automobile plant, television factory, vehicle manufacturing, DVD production and food processes. (pg78) Customization processes is special customized to the need of the customer. High variety of product but low volume. This customization processes can be applied on goods such as big size shoes, special design for wedding cake and while service on or services like facial treatment, cosmetic, and hair style that can meet individual needs. The target market is niche market with a small group of people with the similar needs. High degree of customization, in order to meet individual customer needs. For exampleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Because the need of specialized, time-consuming to finish on certain number (usually with low quantity) However, the variety is very low for mass processes, customer could not have much choices. Meanwhile, with the customization goods and services the price is trend to expensive. It is difficult to meet individual needs with low cost. It can be either want to pay higher price to meet individual price or low price but no choice. Based on the statement above, the trend of the layout process changed to Mass customization. What is mass customization? Mass customization is processes that combine the Mass and Customization feature in one which mean high volume and high variety at a relatively. (Figure 1.2) An attempt to combine high-variety and hiagh-volume output to provide the customer with customized products at a relatively low price. ( Greasley.A,2009)was typothie si s For example, Dell is the worlds largest volume producer of personal computers yet allows each customer to design (albeit in a limited sense) their own configuration. (Slack et al, 2007,pg47) Customer can select the feature of specification of the computer that they wanted after that make an order. Once Dell received the order, they will make customized computer requirement by the customer and delivery to them within two weeks. Another example on Land à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Feel different from others. Repeat buyer. Capture their interest and follow up by sending greeting card to welcome back to the boutique hotel interested like music. Event singing competition. Live band Designà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Flexibilityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ act quickly , fast, information or data tranformation
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Mending Wall Essay -- essays research papers
What is so important about mending a wall? Robert frost a down to earth, phenomenon has used his supernatural skills to write a poem which may seem to be a simple, ordinary poem, yet what lays hidden behind the veils may be unraveled. That is the spiritual world that you and me may learn to understand the philosophical basis of human nature that provokes the human revolution. Believe it or not this poem was ingeniously devised by Robert Frost to articulately open up a world of ideas that acumen imagination and its complexities. That is what I will be elaborating on in terms of textual evidence. Like many of Frost’s poems, ‘mending wall’ involves a journey. We are introduced to two farmers in an annual meeting at the wall that separates their properties. They walk the length of the wall, repairing damage that has been done during the year. This process allows Frost to probe the whole question of communication or, more precisely, the way we put up walls and create barriers between ourselves. As happens in this poem, Frost moves in his thinking from a basic, natural setting to an abstract consideration of human behavior. The very first word of the poem establishes the sense of that which colours its entire atmosphere. This opening line establishes a mystery; there is ‘something’ that doesn’t want the wall to be there. Whatever it is, it is a powerful force: it creates a ‘frozen grounds swell’ that attacks the wall from the base, forcing the boulders on the top to tumble off. Wintertime is when the destroyer does its work. The effect is not a small one, but a gap contrived is as wide as two people are. The question is ‘what has caused them?’ In this stanza, he breaks from his consideration of this mysterious wall-hater for the moment to discount hunters as culprits. He knows that hunters damage walls. He has repaired the damage they have done. They cause a lot of damage to let the dogs get at rabbits that hide amongst the rocks of the wall. The hunting image becomes, however, but a dramatic aside to the main concern of the poem. A more earthly consideration of an expression of that force which is responsible for the unexplained gaps which seasonally and mysteriously appear in the wall and await discovery in the spring with all the patience of the cosmos. We return to the air of mystery. These gaps that appear just seem to have happened, with no one seei... ... not go behind this saying to test whether it has any validity. Frost has tried to guide him behind it with his questioning, but to no assistance. The neighbour in fact takes pleasure in repeating this piece of derived ‘wisdom’. The poem leaves us with a somewhat comic character who like an untested saying, derived from his father, who probably derived it from his, and so on back into the ‘old-stone’ age. His neighbour ends the poem, in something of an anticlimax and wins the ‘argument’; the wall is fixed and they will meet again next year. A strong feature of Frost’s poetry is his use of symbols. He starts a story and gathers an additional meaning and significance as the poem develops. The wall represented barriers, divisions, irrational and unnatural dividers that keep people apart, nature symbolises a unifying force, the stone-age man represent unthinking man and that civilisation has passed him by while spring symbolises a new birth in nature. Changes of seasons are important on Frosts’ poem where the neighbour rejects the chance for a new start. So as you can see this poem is just a poem about mending a wall, but it has significant meaning which relate to human behaviour.
Friday, October 11, 2019
Quiroga
rOscar Castorena Linda Saborio FLSP 322 15 de Noviembre de 2010 Horacio Quiroga y su vida en sus cuentos. Horacio Quiroga nacio en Salto, Uruguay en 1878 pero vivio gran parte de su vida en Argentina. Durante su vida fue cuentista, poeta, periodista, dramaturgo y novelista. Murio de cancer en una region tropical cerca de Buenos Aires, Argentina en 1937. Este lugar lo atraia por la vida primitiva que llevaba. Durante su vida sufrio enormemente por una serie de tragedias que se reflejan demasiado en sus obras literarias.La temprana muerte de su padre, el suicidio de su padrastro, mato accidentalmente a un amigo y el suicidio de su primera esposa. Estos acontecimientos reflejan en demasia la relacion de la muerte en sus cuentos, refleja el lenguaje cruel que utiliza en algunos de sus cuentos y probablemente asistieron de manera directa en su suicidio. Las obras de Quiroga llevan en si muchos temas repetitivos como la muerte, la locura la alucinacion, la tragedia y la naturaleza. Su leng uaje es muy directo y a veces muy ofensivo al referirse de sus personajes.En el cuento â€Å"El Hijo†Quiroga sigue su estilo al escribir acerca de la muerte, locura y la alucinacion. Quiroga menciona en varios de sus cuentos a grandes escritores como Edgar Allan Poe y Rudyard Kipling. En varios cuentos tomo varias caracteristicas de estos escritores como relatar terror con algunos motivos recurrentes como el amor, la muerte, lo anormal y hasta lo morbido. Incorpora tambien la admiracion de la selva, temas y personajes animales relacionados con la naturaleza. Durante su vida tambien destaco como periodista, poeta, escritor de teatro y novela, pero su fama literaria es como cuentista.Quiroga tiene varios temas recurrentes en sus obras literarias. La locura y la muerte son dos temas presentes en â€Å"El Hijo†. En este cuento se destaca el lenguaje seco y cruel de Quiroga al narrar los cuentos. El hijo es un cuento donde el tema principal es la muerte y la alucinacion. E n este cuento, como casi en todos los de Quiroga, los personajes estan marcados por la tragedia y la muerte violenta. En el cuento se caracterizan algunos temas recurrentes en los cuentos de Quiroga asi como la relacion que tiene entre la similitud con otros grandes escritores.El centro de la historia es el hombre y la naturaleza donde se realiza la tragedia, la muerte y la soledad. El cuento se basa en el padre y el hijo que estan en un monte y el hijo sale de caceria con una escopeta y varios cartuchos pensando que volvera a tiempo para el almuerzo. El padre esta confiado en que su hijo regresa a tiempo pero se percata que el hijo ya tiene tiempo fuera y no regresa. Tiempo despues el padre escucha un disparo pero no piensa nada al respecto. Transcurre mas tiempo cuando el padre decide ir en busca de su hijo.Al llegar al lugar donde esta su hijo se percata que su hijo estaba ahi, solo. Despues el padre habla con su hijo y deciden volver de regreso para almorzar. Lo que el padre no se percata es de que el hijo estaba muerto ya hace varias horas y el padre solo estaba alucinando con su hijo. El cuento nos muestra la relacion que hay entre el padre y el hijo donde claramente se ve carino y afecto entre ambos. La preocupacion del padre cuando el hijo sale de caceria nos da a entender que el amor del padre hacia el hijo era mas que una relacion familiar.Nos indica que la relacion era profunda y nos da a entender que el viaje al monte no era el primero. El relato del padre hacia el sentimiento que tiene hacia el hijo es unico porque un padre soltero tiene como a su unico hijo como guia y motivacion en la vida. Quiroga hace referencia al padre soltero dando relacion a sus fracasos matrimoniales tanto por divorcio o por el suicidio de su primera esposa. Quiroga relata que el hijo sabia el camino muy bien. Tambien relata que el hijo no era impuntual y siempre llegaba a tiempo para el almuerzo.El hijo nos da referencia del afecto que le tiene a su padre al decirle que no se preocupe por el y le da signos de confianza al tomar este riesgo de ir de caceria a pesar de su corta edad. En la historia hay varios simbolos que reflejan la vida tragica de Quiroga. El hijo lleva un arma y para acabar con la vida de un animal para que el y su padre pudieran alimentarse. Ironicamente el arma es la que acaba con su vida tras un descuido al tropezar con un alambre que estaba escondido entre la hierba del monte. Segun la critica de Acedera, la naturaleza selvatica casi siempre sale vendedora siguiendo la tragedia (p. ). El hijo, al cargar los cartuchos en su bolsillo, esta inconscientemente preparandose para la lucha con la muerte. La preocupacion por esta lucha no se manifiesta en el hijo si no en el padre. La soledad que entorna a los dos personajes despues de la partida del hijo es tambien una caracteristica del autor. El padre queda solo a la partida del hijo y se dispone de hacer cosas cotidianas y preparar lo necesario para el almuerzo. Esto refleja la sol edad que entorna a Quiroga a lo largo de su vida con las tragedias vividas.El padre tiene plena confianza en su hijo que cuando escucha el disparo piensa en nada mas que en lo normal. Su oido reconoce el arma que sigue con sus tareas. La soledad que entorna al hijo refleja la vida de Quiroga en una forma muy sutil. El hijo se encuentra solo en el monte, un lugar muy parecido al que Quiroga muere, y esta solo contra la naturaleza. El hijo es muy joven y esta separado de su padre. Quiroga tambien estaba separado de su padre a muy temprana edad, pero no por el hecho de ir de caceria sino por la muerte de su padre.El joven lleva un arma de fuego en sus manos y sufre un fatal accidente al tropezar con un alambre de puas. Segun Espinosa; â€Å"el alambre de puas es muy recurrente en sus cuentos†(p. 3). Tambien se puede tomar en cuenta que el arma de fuego se relaciona con la muerte de su padre y la muerte de su amigo que Quiroga causo tras un accidente. Quiroga relaciona estos dos tragicos momentos en su vida con la travesia del hijo y su viaje al monte. Aunque el padre e hijo son dos personajes con destinos muy distintos, las similitudes que los relacionan son muchas.Los dos personajes sufren mucho con la soledad. El padre sufre aun mas porque el ya ha sufrido la soledad con la muerte de su esposa. El padre ahora va a tener que sufrir con la soledad aun mas porque la muerte de su hijo lo toma de sorpresa y expresa su dolor con alucinaciones. Parece que el padre no toma la situacion muy bien e inconscientemente lo toma como un sueno y se hace de la idea que su hijo vive y juntos regresan a casa. El padre tiene que luchar contra estos obstaculos que la vida le da.Tal vez por su debilidad o por no querer aceptar sus problemas, la salida de los problemas del padre esta en su mente y sus alucinaciones. Por otro lado, el hijo tambien tiene que combatir con la soledad. El a temprana edad tiene que confrontar la soledad en medio de la naturaleza. Tambien sufre de l a soledad por no tener una madre que lo apoye y le de el amor materno que cualquier joven de su edad necesita. El hijo tambien tiene que luchar contra la vida de otra forma porque el se encuentra solo en medio del monte y tiene que luchar con la vida natural y los peligros que esta ofrece.El hijo tambien tiene una lucha personal consigo mismo al enfrentarse con su falta de experiencia al ir de caceria. Aunque parece que los dos estan muy unidos por el carino y afecto que se muestran en sus palabras, los dos estan muy distanciados a la hora de enfrentarse a la vida porque los dos tienen diferentes obstaculos que enfrentar, pero las situaciones o la idea de los obstaculos son muy similares. La alucinacion es lo que entorna el climax del cuento en una direccion opuesta a lo que el lector tenia en mente.El padre ya preocupado por su hijo sale a buscarlo y despues de un rato de buscarlo y ya muerto de cansancio y empapado de sudor encuentra a su hijo. El padre le empieza a hablar con pal abras en diminutivo, enfatizando una vez mas el carino y amor que tiene por su hijo. Cuando encuentra a su hijo el padre habla con el hijo y le reclama acerca de la hora. El hijo responde que se fijo en la hora pero fue en busca de unas garzas y las siguio pero no las mato. El padre, aunque muy cansado, sonrie de felicidad por haber encontrado a su hijo.Lo controversial es que el hijo esta muerto ya hace varias horas y el padre piensa que lo lleva en su hombro de regreso a casa. Lo que Quiroga quiere reflejar en esto es que la muerte ya no es una noticia tragica para el. Quiroga ve la muerte como un evento natural que no se puede controlar. Tal vez, la alucinacion del padre al ver a su hijo lleno de vida refleja la debilidad de Quiroga al enfrentar hechos muy tragicos alrededor de su vida y la a alucinacion es una forma muy inmadura y danina para lidiar con los problemas. El ambiente en el que â€Å"El Hijo†toma lugar es el ambiente preferido de Quiroga.En muchas de sus obra s usa la naturaleza y animales para reflejar el tipo de vida que a Quiroga le gustaba, una vida primitiva. El cuento es narrado por una voz neutral que simplifica la historia en demasia porque tiene un tono pasivo hacia los hechos. Tambien la voz del narrador nos da una pista que la muerte del hijo no le fue de mucho impacto emocional, como si supiera la historia y no fuese la primera vez que haya contado la historia. Los personajes son muy similares y tienen muchas cosas en comun. Tanto el padre como el hijo son muy descuidados y no ponen atencion al detalle.Los dos se quieren mutuamente como familia y llevan una buena relacion familiar, pero al transcurso del cuento, ironicamente no se pueden ayudar uno al otro porque uno esta muerto y el otro esta alucinando. Los dos quedan solos al transcurso del cuento sin saber la reaccion del otro al saber que los dos necesitan ayuda. Una ironia del cuento es que el padre se preocupa mucho por el bienestar del hijo y no se da cuenta del pelig ro que es mandar a un nino de trece anos de edad de caceria. Quiroga menciona que el hijo, aunque es muy alto para su edad, aun parece de menor edad por la pureza de sus ojos; frescos de sorpresa infantil.Quiroga relata que la mayor angustia de un padre viudo, una vez mas refleja su vida personal, es el cuidado y proteccion del hijo porque el hijo carece de fuerzas propias y hay inmensidad de ciertos peligros. Al no darse cuenta de sus propias palabras, el padre manda al hijo a cazar y despues viene la alucinacion al encontrar vivo a su hijo. Segun Victoria Eugenia Angel, Quiroga maneja sus cuentos en una forma lineal haciendolos caracteristicos de los cuentos cortos. Tambien emplea a sus personajes para dar muestra de un heroe de carne y hueso que enfrenta su destino y a las inclemencias que no puede controlar por sus propios medios.Lamentablemente, todos los heroes terminan con una muerte tragica por culpa de las adversidades que tiene, pero lo indudablemente los personajes luchan hasta el final. En el cuento â€Å"El hijo†el heroe que asumimos es el hijo, no lucha hasta el final contra la adversidad que encuentra. No se sabe si se desangra lentamente pasando por una larga y angustiosa muerte o muere en el instante al recibir el disparo. Angel hace buena referencia que los personajes llegan a su fin de una manera tragica luchando contra adversidades. Tanto el padre como el hijo tuvieron que luchar contra la naturaleza para poder sobrevivir.El padre tuvo que luchar contra el monte y a machetazos llegar hasta su hijo. El hijo por su parte lucho con un simple alambre de puas que estaba escondido entre la hierba. Angel tambien hace referencia que los cuentos de Quiroga tienen una clara conclusion y tienden a tener un final cerrado. Quiroga no da oportunidad al lector de interpretar e imaginar lo que pasa despues del cuento porque cierra el fin con una conclusion muy clara de los hechos. Segun Salvador Bueno, el final de â€Å"El hijo†le quita la explicacion final al cuento mismo.Las historias de Quiroga tienen un final cerrado para el lector dando poca o nada de imaginacion para el lector, pero una caracteristica mas de Quiroga es el elemento de sorpresa que se desarrolla al final de los cuentos en todos sus cuentos. Durante el cuento nos damos cuenta que la alucinacion del padre al encontrar a su hijo es muy caracteristica de Quiroga. Tambien podemos esperar la muerte tragica de uno de los personajes. Las alucinaciones del padre que se relatan durante el cuento nos da una idea y hace que el lector se incline por la muerte del adre porque el es el que parece enfermo o con un desequilibrio mental. El hijo es descrito como un muchacho que le falta edad para poder ser mejor aceptado como un buen cazador porque sus rastros fisicos le dilatan su corta edad y le dan una apariencia de un nino. El hijo tambien es descrito con buena apariencia fisica, una gran madurez y gran conocimiento en la caceria. Al analizar estas caracteristi cas el lector piensa que la logica de la muerte tragica sea para el padre dejando al hijo en una situacion tragica.El elemento de sorpresa aparece en el cuento y nos brinda una muerte tragica pero poco comun. El hijo se tropieza con un alambre en una zona donde conocia muy bien y la escopeta le dispara matandolo. El elemento de sorpresa crea una reaccion al lector causandole angustia y preguntandose por que el hijo tuvo que morir. Muchos criticos llaman a Horacio Quiroga como el perfecto cuentista. Los acontecimientos tragicos en su vida personal llevan a este escritor a crear obras de temas muy recurrentes, pero cada uno de sus cuentos son muy distintos que hace que el lector se encierre en sus cuentos.Quiroga usa la muerte y la lucha del ser humano contra la naturaleza como tema principal en muchas de sus obras. Tambien se caracteriza por usar la tragedia, la soledad y el sufrimiento en los personajes. Quiroga refleja sus tragedias, su sufrimiento y su tristeza en los personajes d e sus obras. Mucho cuentos reflejan en una forma u otra la vida muy tragica que este cuentista tuvo. Si tan solo Quiroga hubiera tenido una vida mas alegre y sin tragedias, el estilo de Quiroga hubiera sido muy diferente y los cuentos hubieran sido muy interesantes. El hijo†refleja muchas caracteristicas de las obras de Quiroga asi como tambien un poco de su vida personal.Bibliografia Acereda, Alberto. â€Å"Del criollismo a la urgencia existencial. Fatalidad y angustia en tres cuentos de Horacio Quiroga. †Castilla: Estudios de Literatura 26. (2001): 7-17. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. Angel, Victoria Eugenia. â€Å"La muerte alucinada como mito personal en la cuentistica de Horacio Quiroga. †Especulo: Revista de Estudios Literarios 40. (2008): MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. Espinosa Consejo, Elena. ‘El hijo' de Horacio Quiroga. †Especulo: Revista de Estudios Literarios 44. (2010): MLA Interna tional Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. Paoli, Roberto. â€Å"El perfecto cuentista: Comentario a tres textos de Horacio Quiroga. †Revista Iberoamericana 58. 160-161 (1992): 953-974. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. Salgado, Maria A. â€Å"Quiroga's ‘El Hijo': Prototype of His Art. †South Atlantic Bulletin: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to Research and Teaching in the Modern Languages and Literatures 36. 2 (1971): 24-31. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2010.
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