Difference Between General Law and Special Law

Legal Notes Conflict between special and general law By Judge Gabriel T. Ingles Cebu Daily News First Posted 11:59:00 10/12/2007 Filed Under: Laws Reprint this articleSend as an e-mailPost a commentRelated ArticlesPelaez gets court reliefEsperon dares coup plotters: Tell truth in courtCalifornia bans smoking in cars with child passengers Also in this sectionGestaltwerte pa si PB Member TebanPartnership for better infrastructureWorthy TanodbayanJoavan’s comeuppanceBulls are backWhen deeds speakIn need of creativityHealing the waterLimiting, not eliminating fatNo idling ordinance a must Advertisement Vinzons-Chato vs. Fortune Tobacco Corporation, G. R. No. 141309, June 19, 2007 – A general statute is one which embraces a class of subjects or places and does not omit any subject or place naturally belonging to such class. A special statute, as the term is generally understood, is one which relates to particular persons or things of a class or to a particular portion or section of the state only. A general law and a special law on the same subject are statutes in pari materia and should, accordingly, be read together and harmonized, if possible, with a view to giving effect to both.The rule is that where there are two acts, one of which is special and particular and the other general which, if standing alone, would include the same matter and thus conflict with the special act, the special law must prevail since it evinces the legislative intent more clearly than that of a general statute and must not be taken as intended to affect the more particular and specific provisions of the earlier act, unless it is absolutely necessary so to construe it in order to give its words any meaning at all. The circumstance that the special law is passed before or after the general act does not change the principle.Where the special law is later, it will be regarded as an exception to, or a qualification of, the prior general act; and where the general act is later, the special statute will be construed as remaining an exception to its terms, unless repealed expressly or by necessary implicati on. 22 Thus, in City of Manila v. Teotico, the Court held that Article 2189 of the Civil Code which holds provinces, cities, and municipalities civilly liable for death or injuries by reason of defective conditions of roads and other public works, is a special provision and should prevail over Section 4 of Republic Act No. 09, the Charter of Manila, in determining the liability for defective street conditions. Under said Charter, the city shall not be held for damages or injuries arising from the failure of the local officials to enforce the provision of the charter, law, or ordinance, or from negligence while enforcing or attempting to enforce the same. As explained by the Court: Manila maintains that the former provision should prevail over the latter, because Republic Act 409 is a special law, intended exclusively for the City of Manila, whereas the Civil Code is a general law, applicable to the entire Philippines.The Court of Appeals, however, applied the Civil Code, and, we thi nk, correctly. It is true that, insofar as its territorial application is concerned, Republic Act No. 409 is a special law and the Civil Code a general legislation; but, as regards the subject matter of the provisions above quoted, Section 4 of Republic Act 409 establishes a general rule regulating the liability of the City of Manila for ? damages or injury to persons or property arising from the failure of? city officers ? to enforce the provisions of? said Act ? or any other law or ordinance, or from negligence? of the city ?Mayor, Municipal Board, or other officers while enforcing or attempting to enforce said provisions.? Upon the other hand, Article 2189 of the Civil Code constitutes a particular prescription making ? provinces, cities and municipalities . . . liable for damages for the death of, or injury suffered by, any person by reason? ? specifically ? ?of the defective condition of roads, streets, bridges, public buildings, and other public works under their control or su pervision.? In other words, said section 4 refers to liability arising from negligence, in general, regardless of the object thereof, whereas Article 2189 governs liability due to ? efective streets,? in particular. Since the present action is based upon the alleged defective condition of a road, said Article 2189 is decisive thereon. In the case of Bagatsing v. Ramirez, the issue was which law should govern the publication of a tax ordinance, the City Charter of Manila, a special act which treats ordinances in general and which requires their publication before enactment and after 23 approval, or the Tax Code, a general law, which deals in particular with ? ordinances levying or imposing taxes, fees or other charges,? nd which demands publication only after approval. In holding that it is the Tax Code which should prevail, the Court elucidated that: There is no question that the Revised Charter of the City of Manila is a special act since it relates only to the City of Manila, wher eas the Local Tax Code is a general law because it applies universally to all local governments. Blackstone defines general law as a universal rule affecting the entire community and special law as one relating to particular persons or things of a class.And the rule commonly said is that a prior special law is not ordinarily repealed by a subsequent general law. The fact that one is special and the other general creates a presumption that the special is to be considered as remaining an exception of the general, one as a general law of the land, the other as the law of a particular case. However, the rule readily yields to a situation where the special statute refers to a subject in general, which the general statute treats in particular. Th[is] exactly is the circumstance obtaining in the case at bar.Section 17 of the Revised Charter of the City of Manila speaks of ? ordinance? in general, i. e. , irrespective of the nature and scope thereof, whereas, Section 43 of the Local Tax Cod e relates to ? ordinances levying or imposing taxes, fees or other charges? in particular. In regard, therefore, to ordinances in general, the Revised Charter of the City of Manila is doubtless dominant, but, that dominant force loses its continuity when it approaches the realm of ? ordinances levying or imposing taxes, fees or other charges? in particular. There, the Local Tax Code controls.Here, as always, a general provision must give way to a particular provision. Conflict Between Special and General Law Category: Persons and Family Relations Conflict Between Special and General Law What are the rules when a conflict arises between a special and a general law? 1. If the general law was enacted first, the special law is considered the exception to the general law. Therefore the general law remains a good law, and there is no repeal (Lichauco v. Apostol, 44 Phil 138), except insofar as the exception or special law is concerned.However if there are inconsistencies with the general law it is considered as a repeal to the general law. 2. If the special law was enacted first, both special law and general law are good laws unless: a. There is an express declaration to tho contrary. b. Or the is a clear , necessary and unreconcilable conflict (Cia General v. Coll. of Customs, 46 Phil. Cool c. Or unless the subsequent general law covers the whole subject and is clearly intended to replace the special law on the matter. (Joaquin v. Navarro, 81 Phil. 373)

Neural Markers of Categorization

In 2006, University of Delaware’s Paul C. Quinn and Harvard Medical School’s Alissa Westerlund, and Charles A. Nelson study titled â€Å"Neural Markers of Categorization in 6-Month-Old Infants† was published in Psychological Science. The study was motivated by the lack of existing literature on neural markers in infants. These neural markers have been seen as critical in developing an underpinning concept-formation in infants which in turn influences perception and cognitive development. Despite the importance of the neural markers of categorization to various fields of study, there is limited existing literature about it. Furthermore, existing literatures have not yet determined the neural markers and conditional determinants that can be associated with category formation. Most studies on infants have focused on the use of novel stimuli or the use of behavioral indicators to indicate categorization or concept formation. Study Objectives The main objective of the study was to identify neural activity involved in concept-formation in infants. By analyzing learning a category during familiarization, behavioral performance preference for a novel category global-level category learning, neural determinants will be identified. This will then enhance existing methodologies and research regarding concept formation, in particular, category-learning processes in infants. In doing so, the study will be able to not only further knowledge in neural markers and development but also serve as a means to verify conclusions regarding the topic determined outside of neural indicators (Quinn et al 58). Furthermore, the study is to serve as a foundation for further studies focusing on infant development and learning. Methodology Ten infants were included in the study that was selected from an original group of twenty one. Criteria for inclusion included were the child’s ability to stay focused on the stimuli and behavior. The mean age of participants was 198.8 days and 70% of the selected participant were female (60). The stimuli used for testing were colored photos featuring various breeds of cats and dogs assuming different postures. Luminosity of the photographs was based from analysis of the pictures using Adobe Photoshop: luminosity of the pictures ranged from 225.54 to 248.42 for pictures depicting dogs, for cats 226.05 to 249.57. Shape values ranged from 20.03 to 56.88 for cats and 24.28 to 61.65 for dogs. While the area and perimeter of the pictures was based on LASICO 1281 Area/Line Meter. Testing procedures included event-related potential (ERP) Testing, ERP Waveform Analysis and Behavioral Testing. ERP Testing was conducted in an acoustically shielded and light-controlled room. The infants sat with a respective parent in front of a monitor measuring 48 centimeters across and 31 centimeters tall. The infants viewed the pictures randomly from a distance of 60 centimeters with each picture being flashed for 500 ms. Adjustments were made based on observations on the child through video monitors. The results were then recorded and amplified onto a vertex reference at 0.1- to 100-Hz band-pass filtering and digitized at 250-Hz. Electroencephalographic data was handled through NetStation 4.0.1. Adjustments were made as baseline correction to 100-ms prestimulus recording interval. Final phase of testing was done to determine behavioral evidences for category learning. Two 5-s test trials during which a novel cat was paired with a novel dog in a left-right arrangement with two independent observers, both blind to the lateral position of the animals shown to the infant. Results The study concluded that infants, in the processes of learning a category, exhibited higher negative amplitude on left occipital-parietal scalp in response indicating initial experience with category exemplars with the first cat pictures 1 to 18 and novel dogs. Furthermore, comparisons of average amplitude of ERP signals between 1,000 and 1,500 ms after each picture was shown did not vary in cats 1 to 18. this indicates that neural instantiation of are key behavioral indicants of categorization implying that the infants respond to the novel as something familiar. With regards to novel categories, the results indicated the infants’ preference for such (61). This was indicated by the infants’ response to the novel dogs: negative amplitude over left-central became more pronounced. The implications is that Nc component or negative central component of the ERP  waveform can be e a neural marker of infants’ novel-category preference. Behavioral Performance tests from the looking-time data recorded when paired-preference was conducted indicated the infants’ preference for the novel dog versus the novel cat. The infants also showed novel-category preference by 62.52%. Since this value exceeds probability thresholds which in the study are divided equally between cats and dogs, the researchers are confident in concluding that the infants learned category representation for cats that included novel cats without the exclusion of the dogs. The results also yielded conclusions regarding global-level category learning. The researches believe that global-coding nodes are quickly learned as a means to represent or map large differences when there are a limited number of attributes that distinguished the global level Significance and Implications The discrimination of entities categorically is believed to have its roots during development. Therefore, determining the mechanism of category representations develop together with knowledge structures, vocabulary development and expressions that influence cognition, thus, the importance of measuring infants’ visual timing and recognition when presented with both realistic and abstract figures. This will allow for insights to not only in visual and cognitive development but also provide critical information in the overall development mapping of an individual (59). However, since there are no previous studies existing to evaluate the conclusions of the study to, the determination made by the paper will need further research, a constraint that the researchers themselves recognized (61). Despite this constraint, the study was able to provided significant evidence using neural markers using ERP and brain wave mapping that infants learning a category through the process of familiarization have a preference for novel category and respond to category exemplars at multiple levels of inclusiveness. Therefore, neural architecture required for object categorization processes is present in infants aged six months and below which in turn is giving greater insight to the neurological developments critical to learning and development. Work Cited Quinn, Paul C., Westerlund, Alissa and Nelson, Charles A. Neural Markers of Categorization in  6-Month-Old Infants. Psychological Science 17 (1) (2006), 59–66.

Achieving Happiness

Nowadays we believe that if we are wealthy and have material possessions we would be happy and content with our lives. Is this really the case, how does money and materialistic items help us achieve happiness? If we look at celebrities, athletes, or individuals who possess large sums of wealth and material possessions we believe they are the happiest individuals; that they have everything and buy anything. However, are they really content with their lives? In Gretchen Rubin’s book The Happiness Project, she explains that to be happy it must come from inside oneself; you must do the things you love, have fun, freedom, be positive, and most important that inner drive to push you on the right track in becoming happy. Rubin realizing she was in danger of wasting her life gave herself a year to conduct a happiness project; to not only become happier, but also to be more satisfied and content with every life. Every month she completed a different set of resolutions to help her along the way. Nonetheless, Rubin was innately motivated to achieve true happiness and had that inner drive to change old habits and create new ones. Moreover, the methods Rubin used to become happy relates to Daniel H. Pink’s book Drive. Pink helps us understand whether or not happiness comes from outside sources or is it within oneself to make the change. His study on extrinsic forces such as money or material possession implies that these only keeps people happy for a short period of time; on the other hand intrinsic forces such as ones inner drive is a greater force than outside influences. Rubin also used intrinsic motivation to commit to her happiness project and commit to her daily habits. Charles Duhigg defines habit as â€Å" Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit explains how we human beings can change addictive habits or create new and healthy ones. Rubin created and changed habits such as, keeping a low temper, and having more fun. Her overwhelming happiness rubbed off on others and ultimately changed the atmosphere around her house and friends. This emotional contagion relates to Lauren Slater’s text book Opening Skinners Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century where she explains two cientists John Darley and Bibb Latane’s who conducted an experiment to test the reaction of a naive subject; and if that naive subject attempted to aid themselves or others when something disastrous or out of the ordinary occurred. Rubin’s intrinsic motivation based on Drive, her creation of her habit loop and changing of habits explained by Duhigg, and social imitation based on Darley and Latane’s smoke experiment motivated her to change her habits, and become happier and content with her life. Gretchen Rubin was a mother of two young beautiful daughters, seven-year old Eliza and one-year old Eleanor. She was married to a handsome man named Jamie who loved her as much as she did. Rubin lived in New York City and was a full time writer. However, one April morning Rubin was sitting on a bus looking through rain spattered windows when realized she was in danger of wasting her life. She did not feel happy; she had everything: a loving husband, a loving family, two beautiful kids, friends, wealth, but she did not feel happy. Rubin describes â€Å"I wasn’t depressed and I wasn’t having a midlife crisis, but I was suffering from midlife malaise† (2). This midlife malaise was a sense of discontent and feeling of disbelief that she could not do and accomplish anything. As a result of being frustrated and unhappy, Rubin started her own happiness project; every month she set out 4 to 5 resolutions she wished to accomplish by the end of the month for one whole year. These goals led her to intrinsically motivate herself to start a long and dedicated track towards happiness. During the month of January she was dedicated to boost her energy and vitality; she had five resolutions to accomplish during that month: going to sleep earlier, exercising better, organizing her entire house, tackling a nagging task, and acting more energetic. Furthermore, these resolutions had to rely on being intrinsically motivated to complete them. Pink defines intrinsic motivation as â€Å"that enjoyment-based intrinsic motivation, namely how creative a person feels when working on the project, is the strongest and pervasive driver† (21). Her 2nd goal during January was to exercise better; however, her father used extrinsic motivation to try to make her exercise. Rubin says â€Å"with extrinsic motivation, people act to win external rewards or avoid external punishments† (22). As a result Rubin never became too fond of exercising on her own; only when someone forced her to she would. However, with this exercising goal, she inertly motivated herself to try to exercise every day; she did this to make herself feel better, boost energy, and look better. Studies show that when someone feels and looks better; they will be much happier with the way they look and feel. At the end of January Rubin was off to a promising start; she had been intrinsically motivated to become happier and rewarded herself with a check mark on her resolution chart, which made it easier for her to be motivated and stick with her happiness project. All the resolutions Rubin followed during every month were mostly habits that had to be developed. During the month of April, one of her resolutions was to sing in the morning. This was where instead of lashing out on her kids or husband as she used to do, she would try to sing their mistakes or complaints and make them laugh. This took extreme discipline for Rubin, because it was a habit of hers to attain a quick temper and lash out on her kids or husband. This is where the habit loop and golden rule of habit change comes into play. Duhigg defines the habit loop as â€Å"a loop which consists of the cue, routine, reward; cute, routine, reward becomes more and more automatic† (19). The cue is the trigger that tells your brain to go into instinctive mode and which habits to use† (19). Secondly, the routine is the action or addiction itself, it can be done mentally, emotionally, or physically (Duhigg 19). Lastly the reward is the pleasure and satisfaction in executing a habit. Rubin’s cue before her habit change was when her husband or kids complained about anything such as, when Rubin was changing Eleanor’s diaper and Eliza was complaining that she had not eaten her breakfast (Rubin 95). Her routine whenever this complaining occurred was lashing out or getting upset and lastly her reward was silence or the job getting done. According to Duhigg, the â€Å"golden rule of habit change is only achievable if you use the same cue; provide the same reward, but modify the routine to successfully change the habit† (62). Her new habit to sing in the morning changed her previous routine of lashing out to sing her child’s or husbands complaint and make them laugh and have silence. The cue was still the complaining and the reward was still silence or getting the job done. Rubin describes â€Å" One morning Eliza whined ‘why do I have to go to class today? I don’t want to go to tae kwon do ,’ I wanted to snap back, ‘ you always say you don’t want to go, but then you have fun,’ or ‘I don’t like to hear all this grumbling. ’ instead, even thou it wasn’t easy, I sang out ‘ I on’t want to go tae kwon do’† (96). This type of mentality in dealing with kids or spouses increases happiness and helps marital and child relations. This habit change allowed Rubin to not only deal with problems in a positive way, but also allowed her to spread happiness in an easy, but effective manner. Moreover, another habit that Rub in changed was during the month of June; she always had a problem with gossiping. However, one of her resolutions for that month was to stop gossiping all together. To obtain long term happiness, you must give up something that brings short term happiness; such as gossiping (Rubin 155). This short term happiness of gossiping is increasingly fun for social functions, but it is not a nice thing to do and whenever you say critical things about other people the spontaneous trait transference occurs. The spontaneous trait transference is a psychological phenomenon where people unintentionally transfer traits to the people who ascribe them (Rubin 156). For instance, if I was to tell Josh that Bill is ignorant; Josh would believe I was also ignorant. As a result Rubin wished to stop. Furthermore, her cue before stopping was an urge or a juicy story, the routine was talking excessively about it and lastly the reward was the happiness and satisfaction she gossiped. Moreover, she stopped her gossiping by replacing the routine with either walking away or defending the person individuals were talking about. Rubin shares an experience â€Å"I was at a meeting when someone mentioned of mutual acquaintances, ‘I heard that their marriage was in trouble. ’ ‘I hadn’t heard that,’ someone replied. So fill us in was the implication of her tone. ‘Oh I don’t think that’s true,’ I said dismissively. Let’s not talk about that was the implication of my tone† (155). Furthermore, two scientists John Darley and Bibb Latane conducted an experiment to test whether or not human beings are driven by social imitation. To test this they brought in three college students; two as actors and one as a naive subject and told them to fill out a questionnaire on college life. A few minutes into the experiment, nonhazardous smoke began to flow out from vents and captivate the room. The two actors continued to fill out the form, but the naive subject was more interested in the heavy smoke pouring out like cream. Slater describes â€Å"The confederates were instructed to keep filling out their forms, to display no fear. They did. The smoke started pouring like cream, coming faster, heavier, smearing the air and blotting out figures, faces. The smoke was an irritant and caused one to cough. Each time, the naive subject looked alarmed, looked at the smoke going from wisp to waft, looked at the calm confederates, and then, clearly confused, went back to filling out the questionnaire†(104). The results were extraordinary; the naive subject imitated the actors in the room, doing nothing about the smoke. Slater described â€Å"we are driven by imitation† (IDK). This experiment shows that we are driven by social imitation; copying other people to please ourselves and feel comfortable rather than feeling out of place. However, can this be related to happiness? Rubin described â€Å"a phenomenon called ‘emotional contagion’ is unconsciously catching emotions from other peoplewhether good moods or bad ones (127). Thus, social imitation and emotional contagion are the same; For example, we all have that friend that has a â€Å"contagious laughter†. Why do you think that is? Well, because of that friend’s continuous laughter, everyone else in the group may start to inexplicably feel the same way, sometimes without even realizing what is causing their reaction. During May, one of Rubin’s resolutions was to take time to be silly. Even though controlling her temper by singing complaints had done wonders, Rubin wanted even more happiness around her home. She wanted to create a happy atmosphere. One day while putting groceries away, Rubin used two clementine’s to make goggle eyes at her two daughters; not only making her laugh, but her whole family as well. Since, Eleanor and Eliza saw her mother laughing at her silly joke, they also joined in. This was exactly how the naive subject reacted when he saw the two confederates ignoring the smoke. Instead of reporting the smoke as an emergency, the naive subject also ignored the smoke. Moreover, social imitation or emotional contagion also played a role during the month of June when one of her resolutions was to make three new friends.

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What is the stated purpose of Canadian multicultural policy Has Essay

What is the stated purpose of Canadian multicultural policy Has multiculturalism been successful for whom - Essay Example This study now seeks to establish the stated purpose of the Canadian multicultural policy. It also seeks to answer whether or not multiculturalism has been successful, and if it has, for whom it has been a success. This study is being undertaken in order to establish a comprehensive understanding of Canada’s multicultural policy, including its impact and its implications in the current trends of globalization. The purpose of the multiculturalism policy of Canada is to â€Å"recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism reflects the cultural and racial diversity of Canadian society and that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity† (National Capital Commission, n.d, p. 1). In effect, the policy also aims to call on federal institutions to carry out their programs and projects in due consideration of multiculturalism; and to implement various activities with a modicum of sensitivity and in response to the multicultural setting of Canada (National Capital Commission, n.d). In more detail, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act sets forth that the Canadian government acknowledges and supports the fact that multiculturalism expresses the cultural and ethnic diversity of their society and recognizes the right of the people to preserve and share their heritage (Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1988). Their policy also acknowledges and supports the understanding that multiculturalism is a major characteristic of Canada’s society and that it helps shape the future of Canadian society. The policy also supports the holistic and equal participation of the people from various ethnicities in all aspects of Canadian society, assisting them in eradicating barriers to participation (Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1988). The purpose of the act is also to recognize that various

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Ethical Research Practice - Essay Example There is considerable concern about consent issues in relation to groups perceived as 'vulnerable', i.e., where individuals have difficulties in giving initial and continued informed consent because of issues of 'competence'. Groups who are perceived as vulnerable include children and young people, people with mental health problems and people with learning disability. Ethics Committees generally ask that special consideration is given to the ways in which 'vulnerable groups' are accessed and give consent to participate in research to ensure that they understand what participation involves and are not coerced into taking part. The expectation is generally that the researcher should justify the importance of the research and the need to include 'vulnerable' populations and should identify the means whereby informed consent will be obtained - in many cases there will be an expectation that proxy consent (from a parent or relative) may be used to supplement the consent or assent from th e individual who is not seen as competent to give consent in their own right (Baez 2002). It has been argued that researchers should seek consent each time they collect data from a study participant to ensure that they are aware that data are being collected and that they are willing to continue participating in the study.

The law and special education ( Discipline ) Essay

The law and special education ( Discipline ) - Essay Example Whether or not the students are disabled, disciplinary action is necessary in learning institutions. Prescribed procedures however need to be adopted during discipline. The 4th and 14th amendments of the US Constitution state these regulations. Correct procedure includes fairness of the disciplinary actions, while substantive process ensures protection student rights from being violated by school officials and ensures that the discipline is reasonable, regardless of the physical condition of the student. Disabled students are cushioned from discriminatory disciplinary action by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973). Procedure ought to be followed to avoid such discrimination. First, there has to be same procedure for discipline, regardless of the child’s condition. Second, school officials have to conduct the manifestation determination in order to assess any relations between student disabilities and their misconduct, before applying any actions such as long-term suspension, expulsion or placement changes. Third, school officials have to ensure the teachers are conversant with the provisions under section 504. The law categorically emphasizes on the adoption of positive behavioral interventions, support programs and provision of specialized services for students with disabilities. School officials and teachers are expected to discipline students in a non-discriminatory manner. The other underlying point is that discipline has to be addressed with the IEP process in mind. The student’s IEP team shall consider the strategies such as support programs and positive behavioral interventions to address the problem of the student. If the problem is historical, has been persistent or is anticipated, then the student’s IEP has to address the behavior. Student problem behaviors be addressed by conducting a functional

Corporate governance approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Corporate governance approaches - Essay Example Due to the many reported business failures, combined with the low profits generated, the credibility and efficiency of corporate structures has been doubted thus the need to assess the accountability and responsibility of such leadership. This kind of system is based on the assumption that the holders of wealth or those who have exclusively invested capital in the business own it. That means the owners are entitled to the profits accruing from the enterprise since they have put their money at risk. In the case, the shareholders manage and control the activities and values in the organization at sometimes the expense of workers, customers and the public interests for instance, in the case of job outsourcing and the tax evasion experienced by the firms. This system of governance puts together all the parties that contribute to the success of the enterprise by recognizing and empowering such parties. It includes not only the owners but also other players such as the managers, suppliers, customers, distributors, employees and the public (Appleyard, Alfred and Steven 261). The system is actually consumer, suppliers and employees oriented. The stakeholders are included in the board of governors and play an active role in the policy making process The main distinguishing figure between the two systems of capitalism is in the approach to the type of environment in which firms develop including the labor and capital. Under stakeholder capitalism, the total reward system of remuneration is used and support towards productivity through education, training and research is accorded. Labor is secured through promotion of employer relationship thus low turnover rates at work making the labor market to be less flexible. Shareholder capitalism, on the other hand, puts a lot of weight and priority to shareholders interests. This cause labor mismanagement and also reduces the return to labor. There is too much external and internal

The drama that follows Essay Example for Free

The drama that follows Essay In this essay I am going to talk about the opening of the play An Inspector calls helps to prove the drama of play to follow. The play An Inspector Calls was written in 1945 after the 2nd world war when the industrial revolution began. The play is set in 1912 just before the 1st world war began. The impact of this is immense because of the higher class system was still in place and the industrial and technology was still reforming. This is also the time of the welfare state. The only characters of the play are the basic seven characters of the play, these characters are Mr Birling, the head the house, Mrs Birling, Mr Birlings wife, Sheila, their daughter, Gerald, Sheilas fianci , Eric, their son, the inspector and finally Edna, their maid. The few characters mean that at the beginning of the play you can get to know all of them and their traits. The characters all develop throughout the play this means that at the beginning you know them as they originally are and learn about who is the good guy in the play and who is stuck up. First of all I am going to talk about the staging in act 1 and the influence and how much you can tell about the family from this room. The play is set in one room so there is not a lot of change so that you can focus on the play itself and not the setting. The items in the room tell you a lot about the characters and their lives. In the room there is one armchair symbolising that the family does not spend much time together and do not get on? The armchair tells us that the family tend to sit alone and not together telling us that they do not know much about each other which comes out when the inspector arrives. Around the room are tasteless pictures that influence their richness because the Birlings would buy paintings by famous artists that they have not heard of so that when they invite higher-class citizens around it will impress them. This shows that the Birlings buy their items around the home to impress and not to make their home look nice, this would also boost their egos and make them feel better about themselves. This is also true about their silverware, Tantalus, candlesticks, and champagne cooler. The room has a telephone in it that also shows their money off because not many people of that time would have telephones, as they would have been very expensive. The telephone is in the centre of the room near the fireplace because it is central to their lives and also central to the plot later on in the play. This is because when the inspector leaves the house after his closing speech, Mr Birling phones the infirmary to check on Eva Smith. Then he hangs up the phone to find another inspector to be coming to the house because they havent learnt their lesson when the fake inspector leaves. The fireplace in the room that is used in the play is not lit this indicates a sense of a not welcoming or warm family. The fireplace indicates that they are not a very close family and are not together as much as they should be. The next aspect of the play I will talk about is the theatricality of the play. This means the setting and room used in the play. This also includes the use of flashbacks in the film of an Inspector calls. Because only one room is used in the play this makes us get to now the cast more and keep us centred on the one room and not looking around new settings. The use of the one room helps us to find out more about the characters by looking at the setting. And it means we will look at the room in more detail and it will help us look in the objects in the room in more detail so we find out more about their lives and lifestyles. The room only contains one door this means that the characters and actors are limited to one exit, this indicates no exit for them so they cannot escape. In the setting there is an oval table used which means that the table has no head of the house and cannot determine who is the head of the household. In this part of my essay I will talk about Birling who is the man of the house, he is married to Mrs Birling. I will talk about how Mrs Birling treats him and how he thinks himself to be in society and in his family. Mr Birling is very self centred in that he only thinks of himself and does not care about his family. For example I think a knighthood should be coming along soon. This means that he only cares of his status in society, and only wants his knighthood so that his business will do well. When he talks to Geralds family he seems to think that they will like him more if he is higher in society as he worked his way to success. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE J. B.

Multimedia Courseware Shell Proposal Essay Example for Free

Multimedia Courseware Shell Proposal Essay A new experimental degree program, the Bachelor of Applied Business Program (BAB), was launched Spring Quarter 1994 by Continuing Education and Extension. BAB is a practitioners’ degree for the working adult student. The emphasis in the program is on learning skills and accessing information to apply to solving practical workplace problems in a rapidly changing business world. The program was developed with substantial involvement of the Inver Hills Community College, the business community in the Twin Cities area, and the University of Minnesota’s Continuing Education and Extension (CEE) unit. This is the first degree program offered by CEE, and—if successful—it will serve as a model for redefining â€Å"outreach† in the urban corridor to fulfill part of the land grant mission of the University of Minnesota. We are currently in the process of developing the course materials and selecting faculty to teach in the program for Fall Quarter 1994. Note that the three distinguishing features of the BAB program include a number of technical features, graphic elements, or applications that could be significantly enhanced by multimedia courseware: †¢ Courses are being designed with substantial involvement of area businesses to give students â€Å"hands on† experience, including leading and participating in group work; skills for managing upward and downward business relationships; storing, accessing, and retrieving information; creating and implementing budgets, operations flowcharts, schedules, and staffing plans. †¢ Learning outcomes will be specified for each course and applications-related competencies will be integrated into courses across the curriculum. These will include emphases on writing, speaking, and visual communication; using technology and information management techniques, engaging in applied problem-solving and critical thinking skills, working in teams, quality in the workplace, ethics, and the dynamics and management of a diverse workforce. †¢ Practicum/project work will also be an important aspect of the BAB curriculum and students will be encouraged to develop and maintain a portfolio of their coursework and practical experiences which can later be used as evidence of the competencies that they have developed. Our business partners stressed that the BAB upper division courses must be applied and skills-oriented, making use of interactive learning modules that model actual workplace situations. Moreover, the courses must integrate both medium and message into a fast-paced, electronically connected, multimedia learning environment that requires that students take the initiative and work on real projects with limited supervision. Project Description Under an earlier MinneMac grant the principal investigator, Elizabeth Michaels, collaborated with Deborah Henderson and Ann Douglas to create WAC (Writing Across the Curriculum), a courseware shell, for delivering instruction in writing, pharmacy, and business courses. This shell has been used extensively in the English Department since 1990, at Grace High School since 1991, and for the past two years, in five Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The major shortcomings of WAC are its lack of graphics or visual capabilities and its lack of integration with other software packages. However, if we could integrate the basic principles of text delivery that we have already developed in WAC with the capabilities of the PowerMac 7100—specifically with its AV Video, CD-ROM, and color display, we could develop a powerful multimedia component that will teach students how to manage a business â€Å"from their desktops.† Moreover, by linking to other programs, like Microsoft Projectâ„ ¢, Excelâ„ ¢, or Directorâ„ ¢, we can create a multi-functional learning tool that can be used in labs and for distance learning throughout Minnesota. The multimedia courseware shell we propose to develop will provide an innovative and easily updated method of delivering timely, practical, high quality business courses to working adults. The PowerMac 7100 which we are requesting will be used initially by the multimedia courseware development team: Elizabeth Michaels, Principal Investigator (English); Mr. Pat Lingren, Program Director (CEE); and our project consultant, William Rudel (Carlson School of Management). After the courseware has been developed and alpha tested, faculty designing the target courses will be trained in the use of the courseware shell to develop their own multimedia course modules. The project we propose, therefore, is to design an interactive, multimedia courseware shell, initially for four key courses in the curriculum. The BAB MultiMedia Courseware shell (BAB-MMC) will enable us (1) to develop multimedia case studies and (2) to create course materials which will enable students to integrate various project planning, database, spreadsheet, business graphics, and electronic mail packages with textual information in their classes. The BAB-MMC will serve two purposes: as a training tool for innovative and experimental curriculum development for BAB faculty and as a teaching/learning tool for BAB students. The following is a description of the four courses and how we will use the BAB-MMC in each of them. 1. Planning and Implementing at the Business Unit Level (4 cr.) This course focuses on creating and implementing plans such as operations flowcharts, budgets, schedules, and staffing plans at the business unit level. The BAB-MMC will integrate these flowcharts, budgets, schedules, and staffing plans as well as the presentational software for creating written and oral briefings for presenting, monitoring, and revising these plans. It will also contain strategic planning instruction and forecasting techniques. Moreover, the course will make use of multimedia case studies to give students practice in solving real logistics and planning problems. 2. Project Management in Practice (4 cr.) This course has two objectives: (1) to teach students about project management and the various tools and techniques available to the project lead in such areas as scheduling, coordinating, allocating resources, and monitoring project activities; and (2) to provide students with the opportunity to carry out a field project and put the tools of project management into practice. These projects will be carried out in teams whenever possible. The BAB-MMC will integrate into the course a number of the abovementioned project management tools which will then be used by the students in recording and reporting on their field experiences. The students will also communicate electronically with the instructor and regularly post messages to a class bulletin board as a means of communicating progress and requesting help with problems. 3. Accessing and Using Information Effectively (4 cr.) This course begins with a conceptualization of the role of information in business operations including information systems and data management. The BAB-MMC will serve as a tool for developing short case studies and exercises, which include data-based, text-based, oral, written, and multimedia elements. Students will learn to access external information for the firm through library resources, information search services, CD-ROMs, and periodicals and internal information through desktop database systems, e-mail, or computer conferencing. 4. Practicum (4 cr.) Two of the three forms the practicum could take are (1) to develop a business plan for a new venture or (2) to complete a portfolio of projects which demonstrate transferable skills from previous courses or fieldwork. The BAB-MMC will take the current course materials that we have developed for the business plan and convert them into self-study units which will integrate spreadsheet, cash flow analysis, financial analysis, and graphics packages capable of creating organizational charts and other business graphics to enhance and simplify the preparation of a complete business plan and its pro formas. The third form a practicum could take is a supervised project at the student’s workplace or at another location. For this option, the BAB-MMC will set up a course Website where the students report electronically to the instructor and other students. This will minimize the need for site visits and enable one professor to manage and respond to the individual need s of six to eight students who are enrolled in the practicum in any quarter more efficiently. Evaluation The BAB-MMC will be evaluated by the developers conducting user testing on the shell and sample modules and by instructors developing modules for their courses to determine its ease of use and effectiveness as a classroom tool. Students will be asked to evaluate the BAB-MMC as part of their regular course evaluations at the end of each quarter. We will also have two representatives of the Digital Media Center conduct an independent evaluation of the multimedia courseware shell as a teaching/learning tool. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected.

The Paradox in US-China Relations

The Paradox in US-China Relations The Paradox in the US-China Relations: A Commentary Almost a decade and half ago, one of the leading thinker and strategic expert on China; Gerald Segal prophetically described the implications of Chinese power especially in the East Asian region. He argued, â€Å"There is no more weighty uncertainty for East Asia, than the future of China. If China staggers amid leadership struggles and perhaps even disintegrates as a state, the region will fear mass migration and spreading chaos, if China forges ahead with a double digit growth, East Asia will fear the implications of Chinese power[1] Segal in the concluding remarks of his article titled, â€Å"Tying China into International System† (Survival; 1999) presented few assumptions. He foresaw that the uncontrolled economic growth in China would result in an increasing need and desire to trade with the outside world and China needs to be tied into the international system on the basis of these assumption about China’s future. One of them was a) that it will not disintegrate in chaos, will have a looser political system b) second that East Asian region will fail to develop any serious multilateralelism. There will be much talk in the region about the need to work more closely at the ASEAN and CSAP forum on the security of the region, however no real action was perceived. Surprisingly the East Asian region will have ramification of the Chinese power and the lead in dealing with China in the coming years would not be initiated by the East Asian countries. This would leave China unchallenged in the region. He a lso asserted that China would also likely to have a major long term adversarial relationship with the west. The aforementioned analysis describes some of the reality of the Chinese rise as of today. Beijing has certainly not disintegrated into chaos, through a steady projection of its influence, it has established that it is indeed a rising power and would continue to do so. The West especially the US may not have a direct adversarial relationship with China but all that is not hunky-dory in the Sino-US relationship. Interestingly this becomes evident when the trajectory of the bilateral relations is analysed at a profound level. Both the US and China are ambitious countries as far as projecting their influence is concerned. China is the only country which has directly challenged the US hegemony after Soviet Union. In the post-Cold War era of multipolarity the decline of the West (US) has also been juxtaposed with the rise of the rest (China) even by American scholars. (Zakaria; 2008). While the US was preoccupied with the global war on terror campaign and entangled itself in Iraq and Afghanistan; the People’s Republic effectively utilised this opportune moment of US occupation to its advantage by extending its international interactions and maximised its inventory of allies in the international political system. The Chinese influence in the international politics was regarded significant to such an extent that US too responded to the emerging threat discourse with an accommodating view. In a Congressional Report (2008) and the US Quadrennial Defense review (QDR-2001), the US administration was counselled to adopt ‘engagement’ as the best way to integrate China into prevailing global system. Today, China is engaging itself with the international community like never before by crafting a multitude of bilateral agreements and partnerships. Beijing has sought trade agreements, oil and gas contracts, scientific and technological cooperation, and de-facto multilateral security arrangements with countries both around its periphery and around the world such as Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It has also extracted oil and gas exploration contracts with Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, and Cuba; and with Central Asian states such as Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan; in search to satiate its hungers for energy security International Negotiations Diplomacy The emergence of multiple centres of power in the international politics have not only declined the pre-eminence of the American power but have also made space for China to exerts it influence in various spheres such as international economy, international negotiations on significant issues such as climate change, the South East China Seas and even in the nuclear realm. On all these issues China has taken a powerful stand. For instance on the issues of currency, China maintains a low exchange rate of its currency for its economic growth. Financial experts from both US and Europe have called China to allow its currency to rise. This sentiment was resonated even by the US President himself during his first visit to China in 2009. The same year Presidents of major banks like Europen Central Bank; Jean-Claude Trichet, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn; the former managing director of the IMF have also called for a stronger yuan but China did not adjust its currency in response to a foreign pressure.[2] China has boldly stood up against the US on the issue of Climate Change too. It is referred as the world’s largest Green House Gases (GHGs) emitter and suffers from a poor record as far as environment issues are concerned. In-fact China occupies a unique position in the Climate Change negotiations. It is one of the largest emitters of Co2 but it is also a developing country and possesses a valid claim of right to further develop like the US. It is one of the major voices in the Climate Change talks and some experts has suggested that it was China that blocked the last Copenhagen (2009) talks by asking for an appalling deal such that western leaders can walk away and thus creating a stalemate. At the Copenhagen it not only insisted on removing the binding targets for itself but also for other countries.[3] The strange power play by the Chinese delegation can also be viewed as an effort to weaken the Climate Change regulation regime. Very recently the UN Climate Summit at New York was concluded in which both the US and China seems to have agreed on reaching an agreement on reducing emission from 26 to 28 percent for the United State by 2025 and China to reach the emissions warming peak by 2030 or earlier[4]. Being a top emitter of Co2 China’s budge towards a substantial position on emission cuts ; only after the US has promised to take a step ahead on emission reflects nothing but geopolitics manifesting at the negotiation table. Nuclear Relations A similar Chinese behaviour of pushing the US to do its bit first can also be seen in the realm of nuclear security as well. Nuclear capability symbolises power in international politics. While China is far away from matching the US inventory of nuclear weapons, it cannot be ignored that being the only P-5 that is increasing its nuclear arsenal; China’s potential in influencing the nuclear debate at the international multilateral forum remains strong. It is interesting to note here that the official Chinese position on nuclear arms race is that, â€Å" the nuclear-weapon states with the biggest stockpiles should undertake special responsibility for nuclear disarmament and take lead in reducing their nuclear arsenals and delivery systems,†[5] China expects the US to first pave way for the other nuclear-weapon states to join the nuclear disarmament process. Furthermore the 2013 nuclear notebook of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists describes the Chinese nuclear capability as growing slowly and increasing in capability. Many in the US presume that the growing Chinese nuclear capability especially the long range missiles which includes as many as many as 60 LRBMs can reach some portion of the United States. In-fact according to the US intelligence community prediction by the mid-2020s, China could have more than 100 missiles capable of threatening the US.[6] In-fact the American experts for nuclear issues believe that there is a need to maintain a long term stability in the US-China nuclear relations even though the nuclear dynamics between the two countries are relatively stable at the present. The exponents of such idea have based their judgement on the US concerns about the Chinese expansion of the quality and quantity of its nuclear arsenal. The analysis of US-China nuclear relations by the working group reveals a possible intensification of strategic arms race between the two countries. This might manifest in increasing the uncertainties about the nuclear deterrence and thus crisis management between the two must take effect. In-fact it is advised to the US government to take up informal ways to shape China’s nuclear decision making.[7] Geopolitical Ends at the Asia Pacific Region The current Chinese Ambassador to the US; John Kerry in his remarks described the bilateral relations as â€Å"the most important as well as the most sensitive, the most comprehensive as well as the most complex, and the most promising as well as the most challenging †[8] and referred it as the most consequential one determining the shape of the 21st century world. While officials from the White House have diversified adjectives to describe beautifully the US-China synergies, they have also acknowledged the difference the two countries have a two distinguished countries. Moreover, these two distinguished countries also have comparable power interests in the same geographical entity called the Asian Pacific region. For both the countries the region is a crucial one and the most promising as far as security is concerned. The US has blatantly announced its pivot to Asia Pacific in order to execute its rebalancing strategy. One must reckon that in the recent years China too has started looking at the region more prominently. The US has categorically announced its reservations on the Chinese assertive foreign policy behaviour in the South and East China Seas region. Even though the US is not directly related to any of the South China Sea dispute; the United States maintains a strong position on the Chinese claims on the South China Sea Vis-a-Vis claims of other littoral states. The South-China Sea region is a strategic pass way containing critical sea lanes of communications. It is also a region through which half of the world’s oil transport passes through. The sea connects the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean it has utility for major naval power. It must be reckon that the United States considers itself as a influential player in the Asian Pacific region and it has sustained its pre-eminence over this region for over six decades. [9]The region not only has a symbolic utility for the United States but it is also practically being used as a transit point and an operating area for its Navy and Air Force to shuttle between the military bases in Asia the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. Similarly on the East China Sea, the similarity of ambitions and the difference in policy approaches towards the region also appear to be clear. Very recently the US deepened its commitment to the East Asian region and invited Japan and Australia for a military co-operation towards collectively working on strengthening maritime security in the Asia-Pacific region. It is noteworthy that in the same platform revealed President Obama’s subtle hint to China that aggressive acts on territorial disputes concerning the region might, â€Å"spiral into a confrontation†.[10] In addition to this President Obama categorically conveyed his idea of an effective security order in Asia that ought to be based on alliances of mutual security and driven by international norms and laws instead of spheres of influences or driven by acts of intimidation of big nations ( such as China)[11] Cyber Space It is a known fact that the United States was the progenitor of what we know today as the world wide web/internet. The internet owes its birth to the US Department of Defense in the 1960’s where it was developed and used for defence communication. Today the commercialised internet has grown so big and forms part of much bigger virtual domain known as cyber space. This cyber space in its totality is, practically out of a complete control of one singular country let alone the United States, which ironically gave birth to it. The cyber space has escalated itself in international politics as a powerful domain. It is regarded as one of the battle domain for future wars among countries. China is notorious for practicing all forms of cyber theft, hacking, cyber terrorism, etc. towards the United States. China is an increasingly growing player in the Cyber security realm. It is the only Asian country with one of the most internet users, which is state controlled. While the domestic environment of China’s internet is largely defined as strict; externally China is identified by the United States as real cyber threat for other countries. According to the US reports on China uses cyber warfare for data gathering, to constrain an adversary’s effective communications etc.[12] United States has suffered the most out of these evil intentions of China. Many instances of cyber-attacks such as ‘Titan Rain’ from China have been reported. In-fact it was revealed in 2004-2005 that the Chinese hackers have compromised the computers of NASA and other military and technological centres across the United States. Not only have the Chinese denied all these allegations as baseless, but have also refused to cooperate with the American investigations. The White House has recognised cyber security as linked to America’s economic prosperity national security, and individual liberties. Indeed the cyber space touches the American lives closely on a daily basis and to safeguard the security in this realm, the US has been evolving a policy to shape the future Cyber security regime. It starts from domestic ownership of critical infrastructure combined with an improved reporting of incident and response. Since the Cyber domain involves virtually all countries with no boundaries any cyber policy would only be effective if international partners are engaged effectively. Under this context the co-opting of China becomes really critical. The United States seeks to build a consensus based approach as far as implementing international cyber norms are concerned[13]. The American concern for the on growing Chinese Cyber warfare capabilities appears evident from the statement of a former US Defense Secretary; Leon Panetta two years ago have reiterated the need for both the countries to work together in the realm of cyber security as both of them have developed technological capabilities in this arena to a great extent. [14] Concluding Observations: China too has registered its presence as influential players in the international politics. Interestingly it has raised concerns in the US about its ramifications upon the American goal of sustaining its pre-eminence. Indeed China continues to ameliorate its presence in the strategic calculus of the US almost daily with the American strategic narrative painted with the shades of Sino-US Strategic partnership, competition, bilateral ties, cooperation etc. There are number of American experts such as Selig Harrison, Aron Friedberg, David Lampton etc who have predicted a rise of a peer competitor in Beijing especially bearing in mind the Chinese power influence in the Asian region. These experts have categorically highlighted the prospects of a regional threat to the US from China. The China watchers in the US; even after a decade have analysed that China would look outward as its foreign policy ambitions are as aggressive as the United States. [15] The US views on China could be assessed from various perspectives such as realist and liberal and each lens is likely to put forward a conflicting rudimentary divide between the two countries. This is clear from the analysis of former Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs; Aron Friedberd and even the greatest practitioner of diplomacy in America; Henry Kissinger himself. While Friedberg argues that both countries have locked themselves in an increasingly intense struggles for power and influence; Kissinger have put forward his advice to the US in dealing with China and have insisted that both sides should be open to convincing of each other’s activities as a normal part of international life. He further argued that, â€Å"the inevitable tendency to impinge on each other should not be equated with a conscious drive to contain or dominate†[16] The US-China interaction in international politics cover so many arenas that is has become rather tricky for scholars to identify one set of variable to describe the bilateral relations that both share. In the most recent times the labels for US-China relations have ranged from business-partnership, strategic partnership, strategic competitors and even Sino-US cold confrontation.[17] Finally, the graph of US- China relation s that started officially with the US Secretary’s ‘open door’ notes have fluctuated from being estranged countries to strategic partnership and today have become the one of the most significant bilateral relations defining the shape of the international politics. A saying about history suggests that it repeats itself. It is ironical that several decades ago the United States was driven to China for trade prospects so much so that; the Chinese silk, tea can be credited with bringing the first set of millionaires in America. The American fascination for the oriental products dates back to the year 1784 when a commercial (US flagged) vessel ‘Empress of China’[18] sailed the Chinese seas. It was the trade issues that normalised the US-China relation during the 1970’s. While the US cut the Chinese melon into sphere of influence for economic benefits, today it is the American markets flooded with Chinese goods . Moreover, it is the American ‘Apple’ that is now reverse engineered in China. The United States in the first part of its relationship with China dominated the terms but today China has turn the dynamic of relations into a partnership. It may not be incorrect to suggest that history indeed might be repeating itself in reverse. [1] Segal Gerald, (1999) â€Å"Tying China Into International System†, Survival, Vol.37, No 2, p .60 [2]â€Å"Chinas Exchange-Rate Policy: A Yuan-Sided Argument† 19 November 2009, The Economist, at http://www.economist.com/node/14921327 , accessed on 21 November 2014 [3] Mark Lynas, â€Å"How Do I Know China Wrecked The Copenhagen Deal? I Was In the Room†, The Guardian, December 22 2009 , at http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/dec/22/copenhagen-climate-change-mark-lynas, accessed on November 25, 2014 [4]Laura Barron-Lopez, November14 2014, â€Å" US Climate Envoy: China Deal Boosts Paris Talks, But Uncertainty Remains† The Hill, at http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/225206-us-climate-envoy-china-deal-boosted-paris-talks-but-uncertainty , accessed on 24 November 2014 [5] â€Å"Chinas Contributions To Nuclear Disarmament†, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Ãƒ £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€š ¬Peoples Republic Of China, at http://www.china.org.cn/e-caijun/e-caijun1.htm, accessed on December 1, 2014 [6] Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, (2013), â€Å"The Chinese Nuclear Forces†, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Vol. 69, No. 6, pp. 79-85 and Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, (2014) â€Å" US Nuclear Forces, 2014, Bulletin of Atomic Scientist, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.85-93 [7] John K. Warden, Elbridge Colby Abraham Denmark, (201p, â€Å" Nuclear Weapons and US-China Relations: A Way Forward† Report by PONI by a Working Group on US-China Nuclear Dynamics, Centre for Strategic and International Studies [8] John Kerry, 4 November 2014, Remarks on U.S.-China Relations, at http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2014/11/233705.htm, accessed on 23 November 2014 [9] Hina Pandey, (2011), â€Å" Recent Developments in the South China Sea: US China Confrontation†, World Focus ,pp. 261-268 [10] [11] Jamie Smyth, (2014), â€Å"US, Japan and Australia to Deepen Alliance† The Financial Times, at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a34e028-6cb3-11e4-b125-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3KuFyTEkN, accessed on 3 December 2014 [12] E. Dilipraj, (2014), â€Å"Mapping the Cyber Dragon: China’s Conduct of Terror in the Cyber World†, Defence and Diplomacy, Vol.3, No.4, July- September, pp. 85-97. [13] Cybersecurity, 4 December 2014, at http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/cybersecurity , accessed on 4 December , 2014 [14]  David Alexander, (2012), â€Å"US- China Must Work to Avoid Cyber Conflict: Panetta†, Reuters, at http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/08/net-us-usa-china-defense-idUSBRE84700Q20120508 , accessed on 4 December 2014 [15] Selig Harrison, (2000), â€Å"China And The US in Asia: The Threat Perception in Asia† cited in â€Å" China’s Future: Constructive Partner or Emerging Threat† in Carpenter and James A. Don, CATO Institute, pp.109. and Robert Kaplan, (2010),â€Å"The Geography Of The Chinese Power: How Far Can Beijing Reach On Land And At Sea?† Foreign Affairs, May/June 2010 [16] Friedberg L. Aaron, â€Å"The Future of U.S. China Relations: Is conflict inevitable?† ,International Security, Vol. 30, No. 2, Fall 2005, pp7-45 and Henry A. Kissinger,(2012) â€Å"The Future of US-Chinese Relations: Conflict Is a Choice, Not a Necessity†, Foreign Affairs, Vol.91, No.2, p.44 [17] Chintamani Mahapatra (2014), â€Å"US-China Cold Confrontation: New Paradigm of Asian Security†, Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, at http://www.ipcs.org/article/us-south-asia/us-china-cold-confrontation-new-paradigm-of-asian-security-4333.html , accessed on 1 August 2014 [18] Song Yuwu (2009), Empress, â€Å"Encyclopedia of Sino-US Relations,† McFarland Co., p. 99.

The Dysfunctional Family in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights Essay -- Wuther

The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Creating a haven from the cruel outside world, families ideally provide protection and support for each of their members. In Emily Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights, however, bitterness grows between the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Within these two families, siblings rival for power and parents fail to fulfill their roles as caregivers. The intertwining relationships of the Earnshaws and the Lintons are marked by physical abuse, degradation, and emotional negligence. These reduce each of the family members’ life to a lonely and meaningless journey though the cold and misty moors. Unforgiving as the moors that surround them, the Earnshaws and the Lintons often resort to physical violence when interacting with one another. When Lockwood first visits the protagonist Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights, he tries to caress one of Heathcliff’s dogs but is met with angry snarls. Heathcliff, seeing this, kicks the dog and informs his visitor: â€Å"You’d better let the dog alone. She’s not accustomed to be spoiled – not kept for a pet†(12). Like Heathcliff’s dog, no one in the Earnshaw or the Linton family is accustomed to affection. Nelly, the servant who has worked for the Earnshaws and the Lintons for many years, is considered to be a part of these two families. She has grown so accustomed to her master Hindley Earnshaw’s physical violence that she is unfazed when he sticks a knife between her teeth. Hindley tries to use physical violence as a means of re-establishing his power within his household, for he has lost his stranglehold on it when he spiralled into depression over his wife Frances’ death. An alcoholic and a gambler, Hindley is unsuccessful in obtaining his son Hareton’s a... ...s purposes. When Edgar Linton marries his beloved Catherine, Heathcliff revenges on his adoptive brother-in-law by marrying Isabella so that he may inherit the family fortune. He is only playing a game of emotions though, for he does not love Isabella at all. As Isabella laments to Nelly of her husband Heathcliff: â€Å"I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death, and flung it back to me† (168). Cruel and false, the Earnshaws and the Lintons wreck havoc with each other’s hearts. They abuse each other physically, degrade their children, and withhold affection. The family structure collapses as the spirit is crushed. These two families banish the warmth of love and care from their midst and embrace the coldness of the still, harsh moors between their two houses. WORK CITED Brontà «, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: New American Library, 1959. The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Essay -- Wuther The Dysfunctional Family in Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights Creating a haven from the cruel outside world, families ideally provide protection and support for each of their members. In Emily Brontà «Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Wuthering Heights, however, bitterness grows between the Earnshaws and the Lintons. Within these two families, siblings rival for power and parents fail to fulfill their roles as caregivers. The intertwining relationships of the Earnshaws and the Lintons are marked by physical abuse, degradation, and emotional negligence. These reduce each of the family members’ life to a lonely and meaningless journey though the cold and misty moors. Unforgiving as the moors that surround them, the Earnshaws and the Lintons often resort to physical violence when interacting with one another. When Lockwood first visits the protagonist Heathcliff at Wuthering Heights, he tries to caress one of Heathcliff’s dogs but is met with angry snarls. Heathcliff, seeing this, kicks the dog and informs his visitor: â€Å"You’d better let the dog alone. She’s not accustomed to be spoiled – not kept for a pet†(12). Like Heathcliff’s dog, no one in the Earnshaw or the Linton family is accustomed to affection. Nelly, the servant who has worked for the Earnshaws and the Lintons for many years, is considered to be a part of these two families. She has grown so accustomed to her master Hindley Earnshaw’s physical violence that she is unfazed when he sticks a knife between her teeth. Hindley tries to use physical violence as a means of re-establishing his power within his household, for he has lost his stranglehold on it when he spiralled into depression over his wife Frances’ death. An alcoholic and a gambler, Hindley is unsuccessful in obtaining his son Hareton’s a... ...s purposes. When Edgar Linton marries his beloved Catherine, Heathcliff revenges on his adoptive brother-in-law by marrying Isabella so that he may inherit the family fortune. He is only playing a game of emotions though, for he does not love Isabella at all. As Isabella laments to Nelly of her husband Heathcliff: â€Å"I gave him my heart, and he took and pinched it to death, and flung it back to me† (168). Cruel and false, the Earnshaws and the Lintons wreck havoc with each other’s hearts. They abuse each other physically, degrade their children, and withhold affection. The family structure collapses as the spirit is crushed. These two families banish the warmth of love and care from their midst and embrace the coldness of the still, harsh moors between their two houses. WORK CITED Brontà «, Emily. Wuthering Heights. New York: New American Library, 1959.

McMurphy as Hero of Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest :: One Flew Over Cuckoos Nest

McMurphy as Hero of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest A hero is considered to be any man noted for courage or nobility of Purpose; especially, one who has risked or sacrificed his life. In Ken Kesey's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the reader can see how McMurphy is a prime example of a hero. McMurphy's strength embodies a heroic devotion to the other acutes on the ward. There were no heroes on the psychiatric ward until McMurphy's arrival. McMurphy gave the patients courage to stand against a truncated concept of masculinity, such as Nurse Ratched. For example, Harding states, "No ones ever dared to come out and say it before, but there is not a man among us that does not think it. That doesn't feel just as you do about her, and the whole business feels it somewhere down deep in his sacred little soul." McMurphy did not only understand his friends/patients, but understood the enemy who portrayed evil, spite, and hatred. McMurphy is the only one who can stand against the Big Nurse's oppressive supreme power. Chief explains this by stating, "To beat her you don't have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as sson as you loose once, she's won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that." McMuprhy's struggle for hte patient's free will is a disrup tion to Nurse Ratched's social order. Though she holds down her guard she yet is incapable of controlling what McMurphy is incontrollable of , such as his friends well being, to the order of Nurse Ratched and the Combine. Even though McMurphy's own sacrifice of life is the price of his victory, he still attempts to push the ward patients to hold thier own personal opinions and fight for what is ethically right. For instinace, McMurphy states, "But I tried though,' he says. 'Goddammit, I sure as hell id that much, now didn't I?" McMurphy strains to bring the 'fellas' courage and determination in a place full of inadequacy and "perfection." McMurphy obtains a lot of courage in maintaining his own sort of personal integrity, and trying to keep the guys' intergrity and optimistic hope up.

Lies and Deceit in The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Lies and Deceit in The Great Gatsby In the world people try to hide things from each other but one way or another they find out what they are hiding. In the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the secrecy and deceit practiced by Jay, Daisy, and Myrtle leads to inevitable tragedy when the truths are revealed. Jay failed to realize that if you tell a lie most of the time they tend to come to a boil and burst. For example, "My family have been prominent, well-to-do people in this Middle Western city for three generations."....pg.2 why did he have to lie when he knew that if they really got to know him they would find out the truth. Jay gave everyone the impression that he was this kind of rich-snobbish guy. Who knows why. It is not always good to lie. In Jay's case when it came down to them finding out the truth they didn't know whether he was telling the truth or lying. So it was hard for them to believe what he was saying. Daisy was another who would lie because she thought it would keep happiness. The way she lied was different from Jay. She lied to keep the person she thought was the love of her life, Tom happy. Daisy's relationship with TOm was quite unusual. Tom was having an affair with Myrtle and Daisy really wanted to be with Tom, but not really because she only did it because she thought she had to. Daisy was really in love with Jay but because she felt like she had to be in love with Tom she would make up lies to keep them together. Tom pretty much felt the same way or he thought Daisy really liked him so he didn't want to break her heart. But for them it didn't really work out well. If they would of told each other their feelings and wouldn't of held them back from each other they could of discussed their personnal situations and they might of had a nice seperation. But since they chose to keep things back from each other and lie to each other everything went terrible. For instance when the story about Jay and

Holy Sonnet Xii Essay

John Donne is widely known to incorporate or allude to various religious symbols and concepts throughout his poems. His poem â€Å"Holy Sonnet XII: Why Are We† questions the concept of creation, humankind and all elements, exploring the ideas of the original sin and God’s relationship with man and nature. The poem also explored the concepts of human supremacy over nature. Through several language devices such as metaphors, rhyme and rhythm, repetition and tone, Donne attempts to understand the Creator’s motives for creating humans and the various elements present in the world. Donne also employed rhetoric to convince and demonstrate to readers mankind’s dominance over nature and natural elements. Donne employed an inquiring even a perplexed-sounding tone to his poem to imply a sense of injustice within the Creator. This sense of injustice revolved around subjecting animals, who are â€Å"simple, and further from corruption† and more powerful, for the convenience of man, who is corrupt and is â€Å"worse than† the animals: â€Å"Why are wee by all creatures waited on? †¦ Why brook’st thou, ignorant horse, subjection† With the inquiring tone, Donne attempted to reveal the Creator to be someone prejudiced, where he is previously believed to be all just and fair. Donne implied an idea of favouritism in the last few lines of the stanza: â€Å"You have not sinn’d, nor need to be timorous †¦ For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed.† In these lines, Donne alluded to the dying of Jesus on the Cross, suggesting that the Creator died only for humans and not for the other animals. Donne perceived this act to be unfair as humans have sinned greatly, whereas animals are more pure and have not sinned. He also alludes to the fact that the Creator had created animals and other elements of nature solely for human’s use: â€Å"Why doe the prodigal elements supply†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This action of alluding to the Creator in a rather indignant manner, questioning the Creator’s motives, is recurring through many of Donne’s poems, such as in The Flea. Throughout the poem, Donne continually diminishes the human race to be corrupt and sinful, comparing this nature with the pure, uncorrupted and simple nature of the animals and other elements of creation. By incorporating the questioning tone, readers may be more convinced of the â€Å"prejudiced† motives of the Creator, that He may not appear as just as he is said to be. The poem also explored the relationship of the Creator, sin and all the other creations through the rhyming scheme of the poem. Contrary to popular belief, Donne presented the Creator to have no correlations with sin and creations, implying that the Creator is simply a distant being. This idea was revealed in the rhyming couplet at the end of the poem: â€Å"But their Creator, whom sin, nor nature tyed, / For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed.† The rhyming couplet portrayed the Creator to have no ties with sin or nature, thus why He died for humankind. The final couplet also answers several questions and result in more ideas regarding creation and human’s relationship with the Creator: these questions include the reasoning to human dominancy and the concept of original sin, and again, favouritism. As the final couplet suggests that the Creator is distant to all other elements and creations but humankind, it also suggests that God is closer to humankind, having died to save them from their sins, thus why they appear as dominant. It also suggests that animals and other elements were created for the benefit and convenience of the human race. The concept of original sin is proposed throughout the poem at the moments Donne implied the corruption and sinning of humankind: â€Å"†¦being more pure than I, / Simple and further from corruption †¦ weaker I am, woe is mee, and worse than you / You have not sinn’d†. The concept is also implied through the querying tone and repetitive use of â€Å"why†, as Donne questioned why the Creator died for humankind, who have greatly sinned since the beginning, but subjugated animals, who are pure and not corrupt, and other resources to man’s convenience. Favouritism is also implied in the final lines as it appears that the Creator had only died for one of his Creations and not all: â€Å"For us, his Creatures, and his foes, hath dyed†. This final lines, particularly in the use of the collective word â€Å"us†, the human supremacy and separation of humans from animals become evident. As Donne used the word â€Å"us† to refer solely to humankind, it creates a sense of distance from the animals, as if the other elements were not a part of God’s creations and that humans were the Creator’s only â€Å"creatures†. The central idea of the poem, animal subjection to humans, was explored through the questioning tone but also the metaphors employed throughout the poem. In the opening line of the poem, Donne clearly presented the idea of human supremacy, stating that it is humans who are â€Å"waited on† by all other creatures, through his question. This idea of supremacy is further emphasised in the next question, â€Å"Why doe the prodigal elements supply / Life and food to mee, being more pure than I, / Simply and further from corruption?†. In this questions, it is implied that creatures seemed to have been created to prodigally supply humankind with life and food, despite humankind being closer to corruption than the animals. Through this next question, Donne creates the idea of animal constraint and the animal’s inferior nature. In the next lines, Donne implies of the stealth and strength of the animals compared to the humans, â€Å"Why brook’st thou, ignorant horse, subjection? / Why dost thou bull, and bore so seelily / Dissemble weaknesse, and by one mans stroke die, whose whole kinde you might swallow and feed upon?† The particular use of â€Å"ignorant horse† presents two meanings: the first is the literal meaning, a description of a horse as being ignorant, oblivious of man’s power over them, while the second meaning may be metaphorical. The word â€Å"horse† may refer to human race and the ignorance may be stemmed from the fact that humans believe themselves to be superior over all other creations, where in truth, they are actually weaker. In the questions presented in the poem up to this point, despite their subjects being human supremacy and animal inferiority, Donne throughout implied the better power and nature of the animals: he portrayed the strength of the animals but also presented their sinless and pure nature. By portraying animals in this light, Donne attempts for his readers to view animals as not a race inferior to humans but as a race mightier and stronger than humans. This implication may stem from Donne’s belief that it is more correct for the animals to dominate humans as humans have sinn’d and are corrupted, and therefore are not deserving of all the â€Å"prodigal elements† supplied by the other creations. By presenting the human race to be unjustly dominant, and as the animals and other elements enslaved to humans, Donne attempted to evoke a piteous feeling towards the animals from readers. Through the questioning tone and metaphors employed throughout the poem, Donne revealed that man is not as superior as first deemed and that animals are actually more stronger than what is perceived, therefore man should not be subjecting the animals and other creations for their benefit and use. Donne employed a combination of language devices such as conceit, tone, rhyme scheme and metaphors throughout the poem to explore the concept of creation and human supremacy over animals as well as the original sin and the Creator’s relationship with sin, nature and humankind. Through the inquiring tone of the poem, Donne attempted to understand the motives of the Creator, but also convince the readers of the unjust nature of the Creator.

Gestalt Psychology Reflection Essay

At almost the same time the behaviorist revolution was gathering strength in the United States, the Gestalt revolution was taking hold of German psychology. Gestalt theories followed the basic principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The main founders of Gestalt Psychology are Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang KÃ ¶hler. Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler worked in establishing theories of Gestalt Psychology. Kurt Koffka His main focus was in the field of cognition and psychological development. Wolfgang KÃ ¶hler also journeyed to Tenerife in the Canary Islands off Africa’ s, to study chimpanzees. KÃ ¶hler suggested that Gestalt theory was a general law of nature that should be extended to all the sciences. The six perceptual organization principles are as follows: Chapter 12 Figures 12.1 (a) (b) (c) (d) 1. Proximity: Parts that are placed close together, they tend to be perceived as a group (a), the circles in three double columns rather than as one large collection. 2. Continuity: There is a tendency in our perception to follow a direction, to connect the elements in a way that makes them seem continuous or flowing in a particular directions. (a) you tend to follow the columns of small circles from top to bottom. 3. Similarity: Similar parts tend to be seen together as forming a group. (b), the circles and the dots each appear to belong together, and you tend to perceive rows of circles and rows of dots instead of columns. 4. Simplicity: A good gestalt is symmetrical, simple and stable and cannot be made simpler. (c) are good Gestalt because they are clearly perceived as complete and organized 5. Closure: There is a tendency in our perception to complete figures, to fill in gaps. (c), you perceive three squares even though the figures are incomplete. 6. Figure/Ground: We tend to organize perceptions into the object being looked at and the background against which it appears. (d) the figure and the ground are reversible, you may see two faces or you may see a vase, depending on how your perception is organized. References Schultz, D. (2011). A history of modern psychology (10th edition) Chapter 12

Gender Issues: Macbeth Muchado

Gender issues are prevalent in Shakespeare s plays Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth. Some of the key characteristics relevant to gender issues are masculinity, feminism, honor, bravery, and ambition. These issues will be examined through the dynamics of three couples, Hero and Claudio, Beatrice and Benedict, and Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. It is important to remember that these are two different genres of plays. Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy that satirically focuses on male-female relations. While Macbeth is a tragedy, which takes a serious tone where gender issues are subtly woven into the plot. The first couple, Hero and Claudio, represent the 16th and 17th century Elizabethan norm in marriage. Claudio is the model of masculinity and a gullible romantic. Hero is the modest docile young woman. They seem to have the picture perfect expectations of marriage. This optimism combined with the cuckold fear of the times allows Claudio to be easily deceived into believing the fabricated story of Hero s infidelity. Such an action is the ultimate betrayal to Claudio s honor. Similarly, the public accusation made by Claudio is a black eye to the honor of Hero s family. But in the end, Hero was the virtuous lady everyone wanted her to be. Hero and Claudio play the foil to the pessimistic couple, Beatrice and Benedict. Beatrice and Benedict are the cynics of love and romance. Their attitudes and relationship often breaks from the gender norms. In the beginning of the play both preached that marriage is an institution not meant for either. Beatrice is a free and uninhibited strong female. She eventually consents to marriage after she expresses her objections to the traditional voiceless role of the woman in a relationship. Her constant verbal sparring with Benedict shows she will not be the typical apathetic female in the marriage. Benedict is a fanaticizer who becomes smitten with the idea of Beatrice being in love with him. Benedict also exhibits honor, bravery, and loyalty by challenging his friend Claudio to a duel after he was asked to do so by Beatrice. The courtship of Beatrice and Benedict sharply contrasts that of Hero and Claudio. Hero submitted to marriage and accepted her docile role while Beatrice chose marriage after showing her disapproval to the gender structure of marriage. The gender issues in Macbeth are often skewed. Sometimes a character will fall into the proper gender identity, but often it appears that roles are reversed between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. In the beginning Macbeth is brave man of honor. He was loyal and defended his king s honor as well as his own when he attacked the castle of the traitor, Macdonwald. Macbeth shows the masculinity of men as well as women. In Lady Macbeth it can be seen that some women are just like men in their quest for power and success. It is to the point where it seems Lady Macbeth is a man trapped in a woman s body. She is filled with greed and envy and will use any person or thing to get what she wants. When learning of the witches prophecy she feared that Macbeth was not ruthless enough to ensure the attainment of his ambitions, to full o th milk of human kindness to murder Duncan. So she took it upon herself to make things happen. She calls upon heavenly powers to unsex me here and fill her with cruelty, taking from her all natural womanly compassion. Later she reinforces this rejection of her femininity by saying she would go so far as to cast off all motherly sentiments that go with it by bashing the brains out of hew own baby to attain her goals. Lady Macbeth taunts Macbeth for his fears and ambivalence, saying he will only be a man when he commits the murder of Duncan. She sees feminine virtues as being remorseful, peaceful, kind and soft and calls Macbeth womanish. Macbeth is indecisive, he knows right and wrong, but sees his biggest flaw is not a lack of moral values but a lack of motivation and gumption. On the other hand Lady Macbath has such a vision and drive for advancement that she makes the murder happen and pushes Macbeth into doing it by pour spirits in [Macbeth s] ear. If comparisons are made between the couples in both plays it can be seen that in public Lady Macbeth and Macbeth appear to be as Hero and Claudio, but behind closed doors there is a strong minded woman swaying her influence similar to the relationship between Beatrice and Benedict. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth want to appear to be like Hero and Claudio, the flawless norm in marriage, so that they don t bring suspicion upon themselves for the murders they have committed. Like Claudio, Macbeth needs to project an image of bravery and honor if he is to be respected as a king. Although they are fundamentally different in their heart, Beatrice and Lady Macbeth are similar in that they are both strong-minded opinionated women who have certain expectations of their man. In Conclusion, Much Ado About Nothing shows two extremes of a couple, the cookie-cutter orthodox couple and the bantering couple of individuality. The couple in Macbeth has a strange and unnatural dynamic that often sways from the gender norms.