Jean-Louis David and Jean-Jacques Rousseau Essay -- History Art Artwor

Jean-Louis David + Jean-Jacques Rousseau Question : In what ways and to what extent is an understanding of historical context important in approaching the works of (a) David and (b) Rousseau? "The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons", is a painting by the French artist Jean-Louis David in 1789. Having led the fight which overthrew the monarchy and established the Roman Republic. Brutus tragically saw his sons participate in a plot to restore the monarchy. As a judge, he was called upon to render the verdict, and without hesitation condemned his two sons to death. The full title of this work is "Brutus Returning Home after having Sentenced his Sons for Plotting a Tarquinian Restoration and Conspiring against Roman Freedom; the Lictors brint there Bodies to be Buried." In 1789, for Jean-Louis David to bring up such a subject was majorly controversial and reveals how deeply committed the artist was to the new ideas and enlightement principals. Indeed, had the revolution not occured, this picture could never have been exhibited publicly. After the fall of the bastille, David's pictures were seen as a republican manifesto, and greatly raised David's reputation In order to fully understand David's artwork, it is important to posess a certain amount of historical knowledge on the various events that took place during the artists career, mainly the French Revolution. Behind each of his paintings is a story of historical importance. However, it is also very likely that David's paintings were often misinterpreted simply due to the fact that someone didn't fully grasp the significance of the artwork. Like "The Lictors Returning to Brutus the Bodies of his Sons", as recorded by the Roman historian Livy, David's paintings covered many different historical era's. "The Death of Marat", 1793, is more simplistic and intense. David was in active sympathy with the Revolution, his majestic historical paintings, ("The Oath of Horatii", "Death of Socrates", and "Brutus's sons") were hailed as artistic demands for political action. He orchestrated the great festival of the people on 14 July 1790, and designed uniforms, banners, triumphal arches, and inspirational props for the Jacobin club's propaganda. David was president of the Jacobin club on the day that his good friend and fellow Jacobin, Jean-Paul Marat was killed by a young Royalist who... ...y as Jean-Louis David and his paintings. Both these influential people helped to ignite a passion amongst the French general public and change French politics. Looking at Rousseau's idea for government seems unacceptable or impossible to us, however, his idea, which was prominent in the revolution, that sovereignty resides with the people, that "man is born free". Both Rousseau and democracy preserve the idea that government is legitimate only if it emerges from us. Jean-Louis David's form of neoclassical paintings which are difficult to seperate from their political and social context, were very different from the traditional paintings of the era. When looking at David's artwork one must acknowledge how artistic concerns were bound up with broader social issues. Many of his paintings bear strong symbolic political references. In order to read, think like Rousseau or understand the true meaning behind David's artwork one must possess, from a historical context, knowledge on the French Revolution, how different French society and culture was and information regarding each artists background, for example, who they were, and what they meant to the general public of that time.

Dangerous Animals of the Great Barrier Reef :: Ecology Nature Zoology Essays

Dangerous Animals of the Great Barrier Reef According to Dennis Fulkerson, one of the Australia Explorers (1996), the Great Barrier Reef is "God's underwater playground." Indeed, everyone in the group seemed to have a fabulous time exploring the reef. However, many of the group expressed some amount of fear about snorkelling on the reef, far away from the mainland. I began to wonder if there was really that much to be afraid of. We were only told that it was not box jellyfish season, and, more importantly, not to touch anything. According to Ryan (p 167), "In general, animals of the reef are benign; only a hungry shark or a mentally defective barracuda is likely to attack unprovoked." Nevertheless, there are a few creatures of which to be aware. Sea snakes, jellyfish, and certain varieties of sea urchins, coral, worms, starfish, mollusks, and fish possess defense and/or feeding mechanisms which can render them harmful if handled by humans. Bristle Worms Bristle worms possess numerous razor-sharp calcium carbonate bristles (setae) which the animal may raise if threatened. These bristles penetrate the skin easily and cause intense itching and sometimes infections. Bristles should be removed with forceps and a local anesthetic and ointment may be applied. The worm may also bite (Ryan, p 170). Sea Urchins Sea urchins, along with heart urchins and sand dollars, belong to the class Echinoidea, which is in the phylum Echinodermata. Echinoids possess numerous spines, which are used for locomotion and defense, and pedicellariae, tiny, pincer-like structures which are used in feeding. The spines, interestingly, consist of a single crystal of calcium carbonate "that would be as brittle as chalk if not for certain glycoproteins in it" (Harris, p 718). Some urchins have venomous spines which can cause severe pain. For example, according to Lutz (p 679), "Some sea urchins, especially those living on coral reefs, have hollow spines that contain a poison; the pacific Asthenoma has needle-sharp spines that can easily penetrate the skin, break off, and release a poison that is extremely painful and dangerous to humans." The flower urchin, Toxopneustes pileolus, (Figure 1) has poisonous pedicellariae which can potentially kill a human. Toxic material can also be contained in the layer of skin coveri ng the spines, so injection of a spine itself is enough to cause intense pain (Endean, p256). As for treatment, Ryan (p170) recommends removing all spines from affected area with forceps, as long as this can be accomplished without breaking the spine and thus releasing more of the poison.

Knowledge Value Chain

The model consists of knowledge infrastructure (knowledge worker acquirement, knowledge storage capacity, customer/supplier relationship and COOK and management), the process of KM (knowledge acquisition, knowledge innovation, knowledge protection, knowledge integration, and knowledge dissemination), and the interaction among those components resulting in knowledge performance. Further to the discussion of knowledge value chain (C.V.), the following viewpoint was proposed: KM guides the way a corporation performs individual knowledge activities and organizes its entire C.V..It was suggested that competitive advantage grows out of he way corporations organize and perform discrete activities in knowledge value chain which should be measured by the core competence of corporation. This article also provides a cross-reference for e-commerce researchers and practitioners. Knowledge and knowledge management Knowledge vs. information Knowledge refers to an observer's distinction of ‘ à ¢â‚¬Ëœobjects† through which he brings forth from the background of experience a coherent and self-consistent set of coordinated actions (Selene, 1987).Through the process of distinction, individual pieces of data and information become connected with one another in a network of elation. Knowledge then is contained in the overall organizational pattern of the network and not in any of the components. Knowledge is more than information. Information is data organized into meaningful patterns. Information is transformed into knowledge when a person reads, understands, interprets, and applies the information to a specific work function. Knowledge becomes visible when experienced persons put into practice lessons learned over time.One person's knowledge can be another person's information. If a person cannot understand and apply the information to anything, it remains Just information. However, another individual can take that same information, understand it and interpret it in the context of previous experience, and apply the newly acquired knowledge to make business decisions or redefine a laboratory procedure. Yet a third person may take the same pieces of information, and through his unique personal experiences or lessons learned, apply knowledge in ways that the second person may never have even considered.Information is a component part but not the whole of knowledge (Michael, 1982). Knowledge itself is a much more all-encompassing term that incorporates the concept of beliefs based on information (Dressed, 1981). It also depends on the commitment and understanding of the individual holding these beliefs, which are affected by people's interaction and the development of judgment, behavior and attitude (Berger and Lackawanna, 1967). Journal of Management Development, Volvo. 19 NO. 9, 2000, up. 783-793. MAC university press, 0262-1711 Journal of Management Development 19,9 784 Tacit vs. explicit Tacit knowledge is that knowledge which cannot be explicated fully even by an expert and can be transferred from one person to another only through a long process of apprenticeship (Poland, 1962). Payola's famous dictum, ‘We know more than we can ell†, points to the phenomenon in which much that constitutes human skill remains unarticulated and known only to the person who has that skill. Tacit knowledge is the skills and ‘know-how† we have inside each of us that cannot be easily shared (Limit, 1999).In fact, both of the definitions have the same meaning. In contrast, explicit knowledge is relatively easily to articulate and communicate and, thus, transfer between individuals and organizations. Explicit knowledge resides in formulae, textbooks, or technical documents. Analogous to the tacit and explicit dichotomy, Goff (1989) sakes a distinction between embodied or action-centered, skills and intellective skills. Action-centered skills are developed through actual performance (learning by doing).In contrast, intellect ive skills combine abstraction, explicit reference, and procedural reasoning, which makes them easily representatives as symbols and, therefore, easily transferable. The conceptual distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge also appears in Reed et al. ‘s (1996) discussion of causally ambiguous competencies. They describe tactics as residing in the inability of even a skilled individual to spell out explicitly the session rules and protocols that form the basis of performance. Obduracy (1991) conceives of tacit knowledge as existing in individuals or groups of individuals.He refers to such knowledge in individuals and social groups as embedded knowledge. Similar distinctions between explicit and largely tacit knowledge in organizations have been made by Scribner's (1986), Monika (1988), Huddled (1994), and Bonn (1994). Explicit knowledge is the knowledge that can be easily captured artificially through manuals and standard operations, and then shared with others either th rough Hough courses or through books for slandering. In an organization, tangible knowledge takes the form of Job procedures as well as the company's philosophy and strategy.Knowledge management Information is becoming ever more important in our economy, and most corporations see that knowledge can confer competitive advantage. But corporations are already flooded with information, and most of us have more of it than we can handle. Knowledge management (KM) tries to resolve the troublesome paradox (Anthem, 1998). A common definition of KM is: ‘The collection of processes that govern the creation, assimilation and leveraging of knowledge to fulfill organizational objectives†.KM is an emerging set of organizational design and operational principles, processes, organizational structures, applications and technologies that helps knowledge workers dramatically leverage their creativity and ability to deliver business value. In fact, KM is about people and the processes they u se to share information and build knowledge (Hanley, 1999). Marshall (1997) considered that KM refers to the harnessing of ‘ ‘intellectual capital† within an organization.KM theory discusses accessing and using all information within an institution, enabling individuals to apply pertinent information to what they already know, in order to create knowledge. The theory recognizes that knowledge, not simply information, is the greatest asset to an institution. It includes the strategies and processes for identifying, capturing, sharing, and leveraging the knowledge required to survive and compete successfully into the twenty-first century (Gatchis, 1999). KM focuses on ‘doing the right thing† instead of ‘ ‘doing things right†.In our thinking, KM is a framework within which the organization views all its processes as knowledge processes. Knowledge value chain model Differences among competitor value chains are a key source of competitive a dvantage. In competitive terms, value is the amount customers are willing to pay for what a corporation provides them. Value is measured by total revenue, a reflection of the price a corporation's product commands and the units it can sell. A firm is profitable if the value it commands exceeds the costs involved in creating the product (Porter, 1985).Creating value for customers that exceeds the cost of doing so is the goal of any competitive strategy. Value, instead of cost, must be used in analyzing nominative position since corporations often deliberately raise their cost in order to command a premium price via differentiation. Employing Porter's value chain analysis approach, we developed a knowledge value chain model. Knowledge value chain consists of KM infrastructure and the KM process's activities and knowledge performance. These infrastructure components and activities are the building blocks by which a corporation creates a product or provides service valuable to its custo mers.Knowledge performance can be measured in two categories (van Burden, 1999). One is financial performance. However, financial assessments such as ROI are particularly difficult to make for KM activities. The other is non-financial measures including operating performance outcomes and direct measures of learning. Examples of operating performance measures include lead times, customer satisfaction, and employee productivity. Learning measures include such items as the number of participants in communities of practice, employees trained, and customers affected by the use of knowledge.All the non-financial measures can be regarded as the reflection of core competence of corporation. The KM process's activities are listed along the bottom of Figure 1 . In any corporation, the KM process can be divided into the five categories shown in Figure 1. KM infrastructure supports the KM process activities. The dotted lines reflect the fact that customer/supplier relationship, knowledge storag e capacity, and knowledge worker recruitment can be associated with 785 786 Figure 1. Model specific KM process activities as well as support the entire chain.COOK and management are not associated with particular KM process activities but support the entire chain. Components of KM infrastructure Knowledge worker recruitment The term knowledge worker refers to the worker who possesses competencies, knowledge, and skills in the organization such as computer engineers, accountants, etc. If a person leaves the organization, their knowledge goes with them. Knowledge is acquirable and renewable. It is the source of innovation and creativity. This is the traditional focus of many training and education programs.In the knowledge economy, knowledge permeates through everything important Ð’Â ± people, products organizations. There have always been people who worked with their minds rather than their hands. In knowledge era, these are the majority of the workforce. Already, almost 60 per cent of American workers are knowledge workers. Recruiting knowledge workers in organizations is a key activity in the long term. Knowledge storage capacity Knowledge storage capacity is organizational memory and capabilities for people to store and reuse information and knowledge.It involves the organization's routine operations and structures that support employees' quests for optimum intellectual performance and, therefore, overall business performance. An individual can have a high level of knowledge, but if the organization has poor systems and procedures by which to track his or her actions, the overall knowledge resource will not reach its fullest potential. Knowledge storage capacity is owned by the organization. It is retained by the organization when employees leave. There exist two organizational structures, formal and informal.In formal organizations, people easily access explicit knowledge. Informal organizations are rich in tacit knowledge, which usually is the source of innovation. It is difficult to articulate in writing and is acquired through personal experience. It is shared by intensive face-to-face communication. To keep the costs of knowledge transfer low, angers try to turn inherently tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge. There are different approaches to implement KM, it depends on what kind of knowledge your people rely on to solve problem.When employees rely on explicit knowledge to do their work, the people-documents approach makes the most sense. When people use tacit knowledge most often to solve problems, the person-to-person approach works best. Customer/supplier relationship Customer/supplier relationship refers to the organization's relationships with its customers/suppliers. It might include customer/supplier loyalty for services or reduces, the purchasing/sale patterns of different customer/supplier groups, customer/supplier service reputation, warranties and undertakings by customer/ supplier, and database for customer/su pplier.The relationship between a corporation and its suppliers is very important and can be regarded as a intangible and agile asset of the corporation. It enables corporation to meet the needs of customers at a lower cost. Owning more stable and closer relationship with suppliers than its competitors means that the corporation has gained a superior competitive position over its competitors. In other words, the applier relationship is mainly for cost control purposes. Understanding better than anyone else what customers want in a product or a service is what makes someone a business leader as opposed to a follower.Turning knowledge into new customized products and services will maximize a corporation's market value. COOK and management As a corporation undertakes a KM program, the position of chief knowledge officer (COOK) is emerging to coordinate the KM infrastructure components and KM activities. The COOK is entrusted with the role of transforming intellectual property into a bu siness value. In other words, The COOK is responsible for the overall knowledge assets of a company and for defining the area in which the knowledge capabilities of the organization should evolve, based on its ongoing mission and vision.The COOK has the ultimate corporation-wide responsibility for the controlled vocabulary and knowledge directory and tackles the difficult issues associated with cross-department or cross-corporation processes that have unique knowledge-sharing requirements. The COOK also is responsible for ensuring that an appropriate technology infrastructure is in place for effective KM. The COOK has two principle design competencies: He is a technologist or environmentalist. Breadth of career experience, familiarity with his organization, and infectious enthusiasm for his mission are characteristic of the COOK. 87 788 In this research, both the COOK and management can be considered as support not only for the other three infrastructure components, but also for the entire process of Process of knowledge management As noted in Figure 1, the process of KM consists of five activities Ð’Â ± knowledge acquisition, integration, innovation, protection, and dissemination. Knowledge acquisition In order to do something we need to track down and analyze all the information and explicit knowledge that is available.This will lead to beginning the process of knowledge acquisition via knowledge management infrastructure. We will discuss two processes through which organizations acquire information or knowledge: searching and organizational learning. Organizational information acquisition through searching can be viewed as occurring in three forms (Huber, 1991): (1) scanning; (2) focused search; and (3) performance monitoring. Scanning refers to the relatively wide-ranging sensing of the organization's external environment.Focused searching occurs when organizational members or units actively search in a narrow segment of the organization's internal or external environment, often in response to actual or suspected problems or opportunities. Performance monitoring is used to mean both focused and withdrawing sensing of the organization's effectiveness in fulfilling its own practicalities goals or the requirements of stakeholders. Noticing is the unintended acquisition of information about the organization's external environment, internal conditions, or performance.Organizational learning plays a vital role in knowledge acquisition. The need for organizations to change continuously, which was emphasized by Trucker, has long been the central concern of organizational learning theorists. Just as with individuals, organizations must always confront novel aspects of their circumstances (Cohen, 1991). It is widely agreed that learning consists of two kinds of activity. The first kind of learning is obtaining know-how in order to solve specific problems based upon existing premises.The second kind of learning is establishing new premises (paradigms, schemata, mental models, or perspectives) to override the existing ones. These two kinds of learning have been referred to as ‘ ‘Learning l† and â€Å"Learning II† (Battens, 1972) or ‘single-loop learning† and ‘double-loop learning† (Argils and Chon, 1978). From our viewpoint, knowledge acquisition and knowledge innovation certainly involve interaction between these two kinds of learning, which forms a kind of dynamic spiral. Sense (1990) recognized that many organizations suffer from ‘learning disabilities†.To cure the diseases and enhance the organization's capacity to learn, he proposed the ‘ ‘learning organization† as a practical model. He argued that the learning organization has the capacity for both generative learning (I. E. Active) and adaptive learning (I. E. Passive) as the sustainable sources of competitive advantage. Knowledge innovation In a strict sense, knowledge is created onl y by individuals. An organization cannot create knowledge without individuals. The organization supports creative individuals or provides contexts for them to create knowledge.Organizational knowledge innovation, therefore, should be understood as a process that ‘ ‘organizationally† amplifies the knowledge created by individuals and crystallizes it as a part of the knowledge network of the organization. There are actually three levels of knowledge- creating entities including individual, group, and organization. On the other hand, the conversion of tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge is a key process in creating new knowledge. A knowledge-innovation spiral emerges when the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge is elevated dynamically from a lower level knowledgeableness entity to higher levels.The assumption that knowledge is created through the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge leads to four different modes of knowledge conversion. The four modes actually are four realizations: (1) from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge, which is called colonization; (2) from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge, or sterilization; (3) from explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge, or combination; and (4) from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, or naturalization. Knowledge protection Protection of knowledge is important because it protects creativity and the interests of knowledge-owners.In legal systems protection of knowledge means protection of Intellectual Property Rights (PR) such as copyrights and patents, which includes revision for a right of legal action against infringes of PR and provisions detailing persons or corporations empowered to authorize the commercial use of PR and allowing the owner of PR to charge fees for such commercial uses. In a sophisticated information technology (IT) system, knowledge will be protected by filename, by surname, by password, etc. So that knowledge can be reused when it receives a r equest and checks against the standard file-sharing users and group table to determine what rights the user has. In addition to legal and IT protection, corporations should contract with employees guarding confidential information and their tenure in case of they 789 790 leave, and should also develop other protocols and policy guidelines which recognize and promote rights of knowledge, and then implement them by staff awareness and education campaigns.Knowledge integration Latest advances of information technology can facilitate the processes such as acquiring and disseminating knowledge; however, the final burden is on people deciding how to translate this raw knowledge into actionable knowledge by means of an acute understanding of their business context. This is a internal knowledge integration process. Corporations have always had some process to synthesize their experience and integrate it with knowledge acquired from outside sources (e. G. Inventions, purchased patents).A cor poration acquires knowledge from years of experience in such things as manufacturing, sales, and service. This cumulative experience from different departments, together with information gathered from outside sources, can be integrated into the C.V. of the organization, which is a inter- sub-C.V. integration process, eventually being the base of KM infrastructure. Knowledge dissemination The most effective way to disseminate knowledge and best practice is through systematic transfer. That is, to create a knowledge-sharing environment.It is no coincidence that IT has blossomed at the same time that knowledge is becoming recognized as the most valuable of a corporation's assets. Explicit knowledge can be shared through an IT system. However, tacit knowledge is best shared through people. The more ‘valuable† the knowledge, the less sophisticated the technology that supports it. Dissemination of tacit knowledge is a social process. People must contribute knowledge to become part of a knowledge network. IT alone will not remove significant KM barriers.IT will not change people's behaviors, increase management's commitment, nor create a shared understanding of its strategy or its implementation. To show its commitment for sharing knowledge, an organization should foster the employee's willingness to share and contribute to the knowledge base. This may be the most difficult obstacle to overcome. Current performance and rewards systems exemplify an individual's personal achievement and rarely take into account an individual's contribution to or participation in formal collaboration efforts.Reward structures and performance metrics need to be created which benefit those individuals who contribute to and use a shared knowledge base. Those who excel at knowledge sharing should be recognized in public forums such as newsletters and e- mails. By effective communication, the knowledge disseminated flows to the acquirers who are searching for and learning knowled ge or information they need. Employees must be made to understand that the success and advancement in their career will be based on KM principles.KM skills must be seen to be as important to career advancement as continuing education and communication skills. C.V., business value chain, and competitive strategy As the value chain itself implies, each element of activity can create value and then all the value flows to the endpoint of the business value chain and Joins together, forming the overall value of business, which is usually expressed as a margin (see Figure 2). Probing deeply, we can find that the added value comes from the competence of element activity itself, which in turn comes from specific suburb of itself.For example, sub-C.V. in inbound logistics (IL) activity enables business to gain the inbound logistics competence, and then the added value follows. The same process occurs in other activities including operations (POP), outbound logistics (OLL), marketing and sale s (MS), and service (SE). Finally, all 791 Figure 2. Relationship between business value chain and C.V. 792 the sub-Kvass are integrated together into the whole C.V.. In the process of knowledge integration, the competence of knowledge infrastructure is gradually forming. In the end, corporation competence follows C.V..By analyzing the above, we might note that competence is after all the measurement of each sub-C.V.. That is the reason why we feel that the core competence of the corporation should be employed as the key non- uncial measure of knowledge performance. In the whole process of KM, the innovation activity fits the product differentiation strategy, which can enable corporation gains the competitive advantage, as mentioned before (see Figure 3), while reusing knowledge fits low cost strategy, by which competitive advantage gained again.In consulting corporations, it's Just like building with bricks: consultants reuse existing bricks while applying their skills to construct something new. The reuse of knowledge saves work, reduces communication costs, and allows a company to take on more projects. A case study of KM by Hansen et al. (1999) noted that, as a consequence, corporations such as Andersen Consulting and Ernst & Young have been able to grow at rates of 20 per cent or more in recent years. Ernst & Young worldwide consulting revenues, for example, increased from $1. Billion in 1995 to $2. 7 billion in 1997. Generally, managing knowledge assets should, like patents, trademarks and licenses, even add knowledge to the balance sheet. Conclusion and further discussion Knowledge is information plus causal links that help to make sense of this information. KM is a process that transforms information into knowledge. KM guides the way a corporation performs individual knowledge activities and organizes its entire knowledge value chain.It is suggested that competitive advantage grows out of the way corporations organize and perform discrete activities in the knowledge value chain, which should be measured by the core competence of the corporation. In the end, we would raise another assumption for further discussion, so that for KM to ‘ ‘open the black box† of a corporation and examine its intricate details. We assumed that the corporation should be treated more or less as a box of tricks reducing the predictable outputs of knowledge-based products and services from specific inputs of information or/and knowledge.

Over Consumption in America Essay

Over the past 50 years, the standard of living for American families has doubled. Most of these families live in a two-income household in order to acquire the money needed to live up to these standards (Pierce). This change has enabled Americans to own more material possessions and has also caused them to want even more. It is this concept of â€Å"wanting† that is leading to the growing problem of over consumption in America. People are contributing to the problem by eating more and buying more and more â€Å"non-essentials† such as TVs, computers, and cars. People find themselves wanting more and more material things in order to become happy, when in actuality it may be having the reverse effect because it is not possible to ever obtain everything that he/she wants (Easterbrook 124). By living more simply we can become happier by spending more time with our families and communities and also by helping others. In the past, TV was thought to be a way to bring the family together. However, today, more than three quarters of American families own two or more televisions. Having multiple sets causes family members to watch different programs, in separate rooms, pulling the family apart as opposed to bringing them together. Even some children have TV sets in their rooms. Instead of playing outside, kids are spending hour in front of the television (Winn 465-66) Children are also being affected by other new electronics. High-tech children’s toys are becoming more and more common. Instead of playing outside with other kids, children in our society play video games or play on a computer. Even educational toys are being made electronic. Special laptops are being made for children as young as preschool or kindergarten. This is becoming all that children know. Their generation is growing up reliant on computers. In the future they might not have a choice to relax and live more simply because the high tech world is all they know (Kalson). Another issue contributing to the problem of over consumption is cars. For some people, owning a car can be necessary. For others, public transportation is an option. Owning one or more cars can also affect the  community by using unnecessary amounts of fuel and by polluting. The car also allows us to live a high-speed life. Americans are constantly traveling or working and are not taking the time to relax as we did in the past. America’s fast paced lifestyle is part of the reason we don’t spend as much time with our families and friends as in other cultures (Wilson). Americans also contribute to over consumption by the amount of food we eat. Obesity is a growing issue in American society today. Twenty percent of children are overweight. If this problem persists, the next generation could be the first in 200 years to have a shorter life expectancy than the last. The greatest issue of this problem is fast food and the portions of it. Instead of eating healthy, home cooked meals, Americans are replacing them with fat and calorie loaded fast foods and precooked meals. This problem is leading towards more health problems. 30 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls born in the year 2000 are expected to have diabetes at some point in their life. Americans can fight this problem by trying to live more like people in other countries by eating healthier foods, smaller portions, and teaching children how to eat right (Mieszkowski). Part of the reason that Americans have such a large role in this problem might possibly be because of advertising. Because our media is so widely spread and easily accessed, Americans can be more easily persuaded. This issue can also relate back to the problem of watching too much TV. Because the United States has no regulations on advertising, anyone can be affected by any amount of advertising. Children, who are more susceptible, can be manipulated into thinking that they need something that they really don’t. This problem could possibly solved by restricting the amount of advertising or where advertising is aloud. We can also resist this problem being more aware of it. By judging each ad to see if it is coercive, deceptive, or manipulative, we can remove the emotional appeal of the commercial and make a more rational decision (Hirschberg 61-68). However some people think that over consumption is not the problem: †¦(S)quandering money on big screen TVs, McMansions, restaurant meals,  oversized cars and luxury vacations†¦ (are not to blame) for insolvency and all those maxed-out credit cards. Instead†¦ (it is)†¦ the high cost of housing and education†¦ (F)ixed expenses that can quickly create a sea of red ink when families face layoffs, illness, or divorce. Skyrocketing health-care costs add to the problem (Gardner). If Americans started to live more simply, we could not only gain happiness by relaxing and spending more time with our families, but we could also give some of our extra money or belongings to charity. Helping those in need can give us a sense of self worth that could not be obtained by living as we do now. Linda Pierce argues that â€Å"simplicity values† are important to enrich a persons life. She states that Limiting material possessions, Meaningful work weather paid or volunteer, relationships with friends and family, pleasurable leisure activities, and a connection to community are good values to strive for in order to live simply (Pierce). Over consumption is affection all Americans’ lives, especially the lives of children, the next generation: TV and video games have vanquished running around outside. Kids in the city have too few places to play. And (sic) ids in the suburbs have no sidewalks to walk on, much less places to walk to. Fewer kids walk or ride their bikes to school, either because there’s no safe route, or it’s simply too far. At school, phys ed and recess have been shortened or eliminated, through the double whammy of budget cuts and he renewed emphasis on academic testing. And (sic) many schools sells junk food to kids in the cafeteria in attempt to subsidize shrinking budgets through soft drink and candy bar revenue (Mieszkowski). The longer this problem goes unsolved, the harder it will be to overcome it. It is important to overcome this problem to gain happiness by gaining leisure time and spending more time with their families and communities and also by helping others in need. If we can accomplish this, Americans can stop associating a â€Å"good life† with material possessions but with personal happiness instead. Gardner, Marilyn. Do two incomes mean deeper debt?. 5 Dec. 2005 http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CollegeandFamily/P61852.asp. Easterbrook, Gregg. The Progress Paradox. New York: Random House, 2003. Hirschberg, Stuart. The Rhetoric of Advertising . Kalson, Sally. â€Å"Study finds toddlers immersed in electronic media.† Pittsburgh Post Gazette. 29 Oct. 2003: D1. Mieszkowski, Katharine. â€Å"Growing Up Too Fat.† Salon 4 pp. 5 Dec. 2005 http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2005/04/16/kids_obesity/index3.html. Pierce, Linda Breen. The Simplicity Resource Guide. 5 Dec. 2005 http://www.gallagherpress.com/pierce/overview.htmhttp://www.gallagherpress.com/pierce/overview.htm. Wilson, James Q. Cars and Theirs Enemies. Winn, Marie. Television: The Plug-In Drug.

Marketing Homework Paper

Although Amazon.com provides a wide range of services ranging from electronics to  apparels it continues to be recognized as an online bookstore. Amazon.com was a pioneer e-  commerce company established in late 1990’s; soon after its launch it became instantly  popular as a n online bookstore. Amazon’s popularity as a bookstore has put it in direct  competition with Barnes & Nobles, an old and a reputed name in book trade. Barnes & Nobles started out as small book shop in Wheaton Illinois way back in 1917.  During 1970’s Barnes & Nobles became the first American bookseller to advertise on TV and  by 1987 it had acquired the largest network of stores across the U.S.A. Barnesandnobles.com  the Barnes & Nobles e-commerce portal was established in late 1990’s at about same time as  Amazon.com (Barnesandnobles.com). Consumer profile and what influences each category of consumers  Based on customer preferences to shop from Amazon or Barnes & Nobles, several customer  profiles can be identified. Those who prefer Barnes & Noble are serious book readers who  are looking for an unconventional title, students of university prefer Barnes & Nobles  because of its reputation for maintaining an excellent inventory of college books and  moreover the bookstore is popular for its highly knowledgeable staff. Some people distrust e-  commerce so it is difficult for them to trust a company which exists only on internet, thusBarnes & Nobles is capable of winning consumer faith due to its physical presence in form of  stores at the same times it has a full-fledged internet website. Since Barnes & Nobles is an  old and established brand a greater percentage of older people over the age of 35 prefer to  buy from it. Amazon.com offers more products and services as compared to Barnes & Nobles which only  sells Books, magazines, music, DVD’s and computer games. Thus most people who shop on  Amazon are comfortable with e-commerce and use e-commerce for most of their shopping  needs. Amazon offers a range of incentives to lure customers such services include free and  free e-cards which customers can send out to their friends. Amazon pioneered the  implementation of the concept of purchaser’s community which allows consumers to interact  with other consumers who have purchased a similar product, thus facilitating exchange of  opinion among customers. Read also  Homework Solutions – Chapter 3 Amazon is an ideal destination for most young buyers who prefer  portal for the wide range of innovative products and services it offers ranging from exclusive  electronics to gift items and apparels. Amazon has superior search engine which integrates  with Google, thus a person looking for a certain book title will get the topmost listing to  Amazon straight to the page associated with the books title. This superior search feature has  made Amazon popular among avid internet users.  Consumer behavior and how it effects e-commerce  Ideally a consumer undergoes six stages of buying process which are (udel.edu)  Problem recognition (awareness of need) Information search Evaluation of alternatives Purchase decision Purchase Post purchase evaluation. The buying process begins with need recognition wherein the consumer recognizes the lack  of certain commodity. Once a need is established the consumer embarks on an information  search in order to learn about the object of desire and where and how to acquire it. The  information search provides the consumer with knowledge of alternative ways which he can  use to acquire the product. Consumer then evaluates each alternative in turn and decides upon  one alternative thus leading to a purchase decision. Consumer then purchases the commodity  and progresses to the consecutive stage of post purchase evaluation wherein the consumers  realizes whether or not he is satisfied with the purchase. Modern marketing approach is intends to create a need for a product. Most promotions and  marketing programmes are designed to create a need. When exposed to modern promotional  materials the consumer is sparked with a desire to posses the commodity. Websites of Barnes  & Nobles and Amazon are designed to inform customers of new offerings and thereby create  a need. Ecommerce sites provide consumers an environment for conducting an information  search and consumers get to thoroughly evaluate the alternatives prior to making a purchase  decision. Values and benefits offered by Barnes & Nobles and Amazon.com  Barnes & Nobles and Amazon manage to score same where pricing is concerned a search for Wilbur Smiths novel â€Å"River God† on both the sites yielded the low priced edition at $7.95.  Barnes & Nobles manages to provide larger collection owing to its own publications and  strategic links with dealers of rare, out of print and used books. Both sites provide free  delivery for orders of $25 and more to most U.S addresses under their Fast and Free delivery  scheme. Bothe companies offer a phone based customer service through their call centre. Amazon sells certain exclusive range of products under its own brand name such as the  Amazon kindle book reader and a Wi-Fi enabled SD card. Websites of both the companies  contain the book reviews by authors and other consumers which enriches the buying  experience. The sites contain special sections dedicated to popular books or movies such as  the Harry Potter. Thus the ecommerce sites are designed to create a long term relationship  with the customer. References Udel.edu   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From http://www.udel.edu/alex/chapt6.html#stages Barnes & Nobles Amazon.com   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From   www.amazon.com               

Rasmussen Surname Meaning and Family History

Rasmussen Surname Meaning and Family History Rasmussen is a patronymic surname meaning son of Rasmus, a Scandinavian form of the personal name Erasmus. Erasmus derives from the Greek ÃŽ µÃ ÃŽ ±ÃÆ'ÃŽ ¼ÃŽ ¹ÃŽ ¿Ãâ€šÃ‚  (erasmios) which means beloved.   Spellings of Rasmussen that end in -sen are most likely Danish or Norwegian in origin, while those that end in -son could be Swedish, Dutch, North German, or Norwegian. Rasmussen is the 9th most popular surname in Denmark  and the 41st most common last name in Norway. Surname Origin:  Danish, Norwegian, North German, Dutch Alternate Surname Spellings: RASMUSEN, RASMUSON, RASMUSSON, RASMUS   Famous People with the Surname RASMUSSEN: Saint Erasmus (Saint Elmo) - 4th-century martyr and patron saint of sailors.Theodore Rasmussen - Canadian neurosurgeon and scientist who gave his name to the rare disease, Rasmussens encephalitis.  Knud Rasmussen - Greenlandic anthropologist and polar explorer; the first European to cross the Northwest Passage via dog sledScott Rasmussen - co-founder of the sports television network ESPNLars and Jens Rasmussen - brothers and creators of Google Maps Where is the RASMUSSEN Surname Most Common? Considering its Scandinavian origins, its not surprising that Rasmussen is most prevalent today in Denmark, where it ranks as the 8th most common surname in the country. Surname distribution data from Forebears also identifies the surnames popularity in Norway, where it ranks 41st, as well as the Faroe Islands (12th) and Greenland (10th). WorldNames PublicProfiler also indicates that Rasmussen is by far most commonly used by people living in Denmark. Norway comes in a distant second. Within Denmark, the surname is found most frequently in Fyn and Stà ¸rstrom, followed by Aarhus, Vestsjà ¦lland, Vejle, Roskilde, Frederiksborg, Kà ¸benhavn, Bornholm and Staden Kà ¸benhavn. Genealogy Resources for the Surname RASMUSSEN Rasmussen Family Crest - Its Not What You Think: Contrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Rasmussen family crest or coat of arms for the Rasmussen surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted.Rasmussen DNA Project: Rasmussen is a Scandinavian patronymic surname, meaning that your DNA matches will not necessarily (or likely) even be people named Rasmussen. This project will help you determine which Scandinavian and/or haplogroup projects are best to join for research into your Rasmussen heritage.RASMUSSEN Family Genealogy Forum: This free message board is focused on descendants of Rasmussen  ancestors around the world. Search the forum for posts about your Rasmussen ancestors, or join the forum and post your own queries.  FamilySearch - RASMUSSEN  Genealogy: Explore over 1.5  million  results from di gitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Rasmussen surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. RASMUSSEN Surname Mailing List: Free mailing list for researchers of the Rasmussen surname and its variations includes subscription details and searchable archives of past messages.GeneaNet - Rasmussen Records: GeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Rasmussen surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries.The Rasmussen Genealogy and Family Tree Page: Browse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Rasmussen surname from the website of Genealogy Today.Ancestry.com: Rasmussen Surname: Explore over 1.4  million digitized records and database entries, including census records, passenger lists, military records, land deeds, probates, wills and other records for the Rasmussen surname on the subscription-based website, Ancestry.com.

1984 Essays (1436 words) - Novels By George Orwell, Free Essays

1984 Essays (1436 words) - Novels By George Orwell, Free Essays 1984 George Orwell has been a major contributor to anticommunist literature around the World War II period. Orwell lived in England during World War II, a time when the Totalitarianism State, Nazi Germany, was at war with England and destroyed the city of London. (DISC) "I know that building' said Winston finally. It's a ruin now. It's in the middle of the street outside the Palace of Justice. 'That's right. Outside the Law Courts. It was bombed in-oh many years ago.'" (Orwell 83). The main character's being reflects Orwell's own life experiences as a citizen in war torn England and how he uses this in 1984. George Orwell is famous for two major novels, which attack totalitarianism. The first is Animal Farm a satire describing the leaders of the Soviet Union as animals on an animal farm. The second novel is 1984 a story of dictators who are in complete control of a large part of the world after the Allies lost in World War II. The government in this novel gives no! freedoms to its citizens. They live in fear because they are afraid of having bad thoughts about the government of Oceania, a crime punishable by death. By employing literary devices such as diction, foreshadowing, and symbolism, Orwell composes a novel "1984" which proves to be a gem in Orwell's collection of novels against totalitarianism. Orwell wrote 1984 as a political statement against totalitarianism. Orwell's word choice drives the plot of the story in that they introduce a new dimension, a world where everything takes place in a modern controlled society. The phrase "Newspeak" was created by Orwell to describe a derivation of the English language, which this new world uses to communicate, and to represent of authoritative dialogue which takes place throughout the novel. (Meckier) Another phrase chosen by Orwell to illustrate the new controlled society is "double-think", a word which is part of the "Newspeak" language.. He chooses to use another made up expression to further enhance the atmosphere which does not allow for an individual to "think twice" about what the government expresses. "It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." (Orwell 5) Orwell carefully selects the words for this sentence and chooses to introduce the story in the past tense, as though all things have already occurred. This suggests that the narrator has already l! ived through the actions that take place in this book and is only describing his memory. (Lawrimore) If Orwell had written this book in present tense, the opportunity to foreshadow to such an extent would have been dramatically cut down. In Orwell's above sentence, the word "thirteen" is used as an alternative to "one" to describe the time. By choosing to use the word "thirteen" Orwell portrays the society to be one which is altered and possibly of military control. "I wanted to rape you and then murder you afterwards. Two weeks ago I thought seriously of smashing your head in with a cobblestone. If you really want to know, I imagined that you had something to do with the Thought Police" (Orwell 101). The choice of words here is so very descriptive that you, the reader, can actually feel the atmosphere, which the characters dwell in. This exercises the belief that Orwell does indeed realize the power of language and words, which should never be underestimated. (Lawrimo! re) "The way something is stated can affect the connotation of the whole passage, and it is quite possible that sometime, somewhere, it will be a bright, cold day in April and the clocks will be striking thirteen." (Lawrimore) Each statement Orwell makes in this novel symbolizes a great deal more than what its face value suggests for the purpose of exhibiting his deeper, personal beliefs on totalitarianism. "It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen." (Orwell 5) 1984 begins with a powerful first sentence, which provides many hints about a demented society. This first sentence allows for the reader to make his / her opinions without further reading any additional words. Orwell chooses to use the word "thirteen" opposed to "one" to possibly suggest a military like society or even