What Was the Qing Dynasty

Qing means bright or clear in Chinese, but the Qing Dynasty was the final dynasty of the Chinese Empire, ruling from 1644 to 1912 and made up of ethnic Manchus of the Aisin Gioro clan from the northern Chinese region of  Manchuria. Although these clans took control of the empire in the 17th century, by the early 20th century, the Qing rulers were being undermined by aggressive foreign powers, rural unrest, and military weakness. The Qing Dynasty was anything but bright — it did not pacify all of China until 1683, some nineteen years after they officially took power in Beijing and the Last Emperor, 6-year-old Puyi, abdicated in February of 1912. Brief History The Qing dynasty was central to East  and  Southeast Asian history and leadership during its reign, which started when Manchus clans defeated the last of the Ming rulers and claimed control of imperial China. Extended Chinas vast history of imperial reign, the Qing military dominated East Asia after it finally managed to unify the entire country under Qing rule in 1683.   During much of this time, China was a superpower in the region, with Korea, Vietnam, and Japan trying in vain to establish power at the start of Qing rule. However, with the invasion of England and France in the early 1800s, the Qing dynasty had to begin reinforcing its borders and defending its power from more sides. The Opium Wars  of 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 also devastated much of Qing Chinas military might. The first saw the Qing lose over 18,000 soldiers and yield five ports to British use while the second awarded extraterritorial rights to France and Britain and resulted in up to 30,000 Qing casualties. No longer alone in the East, the Qing Dynasty and imperial control in China was heading for the end. Fall of an Empire By 1900, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Japan had begun to attack the dynasty as well, establishing influence along its coast to assume control over trade and military advantages. Foreign powers began taking over much of Qings outer regions and the Qing had to try desperately to maintain its power. To make matters slightly easier for the emperor, a group of Chinese peasants held the Boxer Rebellion against foreign powers in 1900 — which initially opposed the ruling family as well as European threats, but had to unite in order to eventually throw out the foreign attackers and take back Qing territory.   During the years of 1911 to 1912, the royal family made a desperate cling for power, appointing a 6-year-old as the last Emperor of Chinas thousand-year imperial rule. When the Qing Dynasty fell  in 1912, it marked the end of this history and the beginning of republic and socialist rule.

American Revolution Accelerated evolution vs Cataclysmic...

The American Revolution was an accelerated evolution rather than a cataclysmic revolution to a certain point. An accelerated evolution is a rapid process of growth and change, while a cataclysmic revolution is a sudden and violent event that brings great changes. The extent to which the American Revolution was an accelerated evolution was during events that completely disregarded the government. When considered politically, economically and socially the extent to which the American Revolution was an accelerated evolution, instead of a cataclysmic revolution is shown. Politically, the American Revolution was more of an accelerated evolution, despite some drastic choices that indicate a cataclysmic revolution. The political causes for†¦show more content†¦The colonists call for self-rule increased with each new act passed. Instead of listening to the American colonists, Britain kept passing new acts. An example that shows the extent to which politically the American Revol ution can be called an accelerated evolution rather than a cataclysmic revolution are the battles of Lexington and Concord. The increased want for independence led the colonists to create a continental army and begin their fight for change. In 1775, Massachusetts was proclaimed to be in an open rebellion and British General Thomas Gage was ordered to put a stop to it. On April 18, 1775 General Gage dispatched 700 soldiers to capture colonial leaders and supplies at Concord. Fortunately, Paul Revere and other riders were able to warn the patriots of the attack and at dawn militiamen confronted the British troops first at Lexington and then Concord. After these battles 73 British soldiers were dead, 174 wounded and 26 were missing. Americans suffered too with 49 Massachusetts militiamen killed and 39 wounded. The battles at Lexington and Concord show a more radical way that the colonists chose to achieve independence from Britain. Due to violence and a want for rapid change, the batt les of Lexington and Concord show politically how the American Revolution can almost be a cataclysmic revolution. The American Revolution did not happen suddenly, but built up more as each new actShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesand Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M. Scobey, Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape Gerda Lerner, Fireweed: A Political Autobiography Allida M. Black, ed., Modern American Queer History Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past Sharon Hartman Strom, Political Woman: Florence Luscomb and the Legacy of Radical Reform Read MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesforms for a new millennium? Postmodernism as a philosophy: the ultimate challenge to organization theory? Reflective organization theory: symbols, meanings and interpretations Reflexive organization theory: critical theory and psychoanalysis The evolution of management as reflected through the lens of modernist organization theory Perspectives and challenges 2 54 100 148 198 242 282 330 382 432 . . Contents Preface List of figures List of tables Acknowledgements xiii xvii xix xx Read MoreMetz Film Language a Semiotics of the Cinema PDF100902 Words   |  316 PagesC1P The French edition of Christian Metz s Essais sur la signification au cinema, volume 1, was published by Editions Klincksieck in 1971,  © Editions Klincksieck, 1968. ÃŽËœThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. To George Blin, Profesor at the Collà ¨ge de France, whithout whom none of these pages would have been started. CONTENTS A Note on

Functionalist Perspective Free Essays

Functionalist Perspective on Family Meeting The significant event I have chosen to observe using my new sociological lenses from a functionalist perspective is our family meeting due to preparations for Aunty Mal’s 21st birthday party. All age groups from grandparents to parents and children have gathered here at Opa and Oma’s house for one purpose and that is to plan and host the most fun and memorable birthday party. Our grandparents decided to have the party at their house seeing that it holds all our childhood memories, is easy to find, has enough space for our large amount of gathering family and friends and they also wanted to show off their newly renovated two-storey house. We will write a custom essay sample on Functionalist Perspective or any similar topic only for you Order Now Everyone has been divided into groups and given certain roles to play and contributions to make. I will express my experience from these preparations and the celebration of one of our family member’s special day of her life. Turning 21 comes with expectations, it is the age where you are given a key and the key symbolises the ‘beginning or entering’ to a new matured world† or so the elder’s say. The first point I will talk about is the roles played by each family member. Secondly are the interactions between individuals within the groups, interactions between different groups and the interactions between the groups and guests. Lastly is the outcome of this experience. So by the end of my essay I hope you have an idea or you have managed to see through my sociological lenses of my experience from a functionalist perspective. First of all there were six groups we had been divided into. There was the children’s group, who were to choose games to play or movies to watch to keep them entertained and out of the grown-ups area. Then there was the girl’s group (I was in this group) who were given the role of decorations including cleaning up the house, setting up the tables which must have matching plates and cups and wrapping the chairs when they arrived. The boy’s group were given the role of setting the lights, chairs, clearing out the backyard and providing the sound system including the DJ and by requests of the elderly people, they were to mix it up and have both old and modern music played. The men’s group were given the role of providing drinks and ice. The women’s group were obviously given the role of preparing the food and having all our mothers there, they had an advantage of knowing what we wanted to eat. Finally there was the elderly people’s group who were in charge of the guest list, tasting the food and nsuring everything is done and was in place. Secondly I witnessed interactions between individuals within groups. Through laughter individuals hit it off well seeing that they were within their own age groups and having the same idea or similar makes it easier to connect with each other. There was the interaction between different groups and then the problem started e. g. there was a disagree ment between the girls and boys group about what songs are played, whether by a female or male artist. We came to an agreement that satisfied both groups. There was also the interaction between groups and guests. Serving with a smile by individuals in groups and cheerful compliments from guests on one side while catching up on gossips or mocking whoever is the night’s victim on the other. Endless conversations between duos, groups of threesome or more people interacting and moving from one circle to another meant that they were enjoying each other’s company and wanted to get to know others. Lastly as the night came to an end, the birthday girl said a little speech and she touched up on ‘importance of family and how seeing family and friends enjoying themselves and each other’s company makes puts a smile on her face’. She thanked her family and friends for being there to help celebrate her 21st birthday. She also mentioned ‘the night being fun and memorable and wherever she goes she will cherish the moments with her family and friends. The celebration would not have been possible if not for the hard work and input of her family. She is the woman she is today thanks to her family and she would not ask for anything else as she has everything she needs or wants in them. She is happy, so is everyone else and they are pleased with themselves and without everyone having a function the night would not have ended well. To conclude, due to individuals and groups putting in, playing a role or having a function to contribute to, the night has turned out to be successful. With each individual in groups playing their roles it has resulted in a smooth fun party and cherished memories. Without the interactions of individuals or groups the night would have been lame and boring and even though there was one misunderstanding they managed to make both sides satisfied. If one group had not played their role there would have been a conflict and the whole family preparation would have been ruined. The main point is that from my functionalist perspective, the purpose was achieved, that is to have a fun and memorable party. Socialising and interaction between individuals and groups contributed to the smoothly planned nights guest’s departing happily and all functions have been played accordingly. Thank you How to cite Functionalist Perspective, Papers

Atomic Essay Example For Students

Atomic Essay BombThen a tremendous flash of light cut across the sky . Mr. Tanimotohas a distinct recollection that it traveled from east to west, from the citytoward the hills. It seemed like a sheet of sun. à John Hersey, fromHiroshima, pp.8 On August 6, 1945, the world changed forever. On that day theUnited States of America detonated an atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Never before had mankind seen anything like. Here was something that wasslightly bigger than an ordinary bomb, yet could cause infinitely moredestruction. It could rip through walls and tear down houses like the devilswrecking ball. In Hiroshima it killed 100,000 people, most non-militarycivilians. Three days later in Nagasaki it killed roughly 40,000 . The immediateeffects of these bombings were simple. The Japanese government surrendered,unconditionally, to the United States. The rest of the world rejoiced as themost destructive war in the history of mankind came to an end . All while thesurvivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki tried to piece together what was left oftheir lives, families and homes. Over the course of the next forty years, thesetwo bombings, and the nuclear arms race that followed them, would come to have adirect or indirect effect on almost every man, woman and child on this Earth,including people in the United States. The atomic bomb would penetrate everyfabric of Ame rican existence. From our politics to our educational system. Ourindustry and our art. Historians have gone so far as to call this period in ourhistory the Ã’atomic ageÓ for the way it has shaped and guided worldpolitics, relations and culture. The entire history behind the bomb itself isrooted in Twentieth Century physics. At the time of the bombing the science ofphysics had been undergoing a revolution for the past thirty-odd years. Scientists now had a clear picture of what the atomic world was like. They newthe structure and particle makeup of atoms, as well as how they behaved. Duringthe 1930Õs it became apparent that there was a immense amount of energythat would be released atoms of Gioielli 2certain elements were split, or takenapart. Scientists began to realize that if harnessed, this energy could besomething of a magnitude not before seen to human eyes. They also saw that thisenergy could possibly be harnessed into a weapon of amazing power. And with theadvent of World War Two, this became an ever increasing concern. In the earlyfall of 1939, the same time that the Germans invaded Poland, President Rooseveltreceived a letter from Albert Einstein, informing him about the certainpossibilities of creating a controlled nuclear chain reaction, and thatharnessing such a reaction could produce a bomb of formidable strength. Hewrote: This new phenomena would lead also lead to the construction of bombs, andit is conceivable, though much less certain-that extremely powerful bombs of anew type may thus be constructed (Clark 556-557).The letter goes on to encouragethe president to increase government and military involvement in suchexperiments, and to encourage the experimental work of the scientists with theallocation of funds, facilities and equipment that might be necessary. Thisletter ultimately led to the Manhattan Project, the effort that involvedbillions of dollars and tens of thousands of people to produce the atomic bomb. During the time after the war, until just recently the American psyche has beenbranded with the threat of a nuclear holocaust. Here was something so powerful,yet so diminutive. A bomb that could obliterate our nations capital, and thatwas as big as somebodies backyard grill. For the first time in the history ofhuman existence here was something capable of wiping us off the face of theEarth. And most people had no control over that destiny. It seemed like peopleslives, the life of everything on this planet, was resting in the hands of acouple men in Northern Virginia and some guys over in Russia. The atomic bomband the amazing power it held over us had a tremendous influence on AmericanCulture, including a profound effect on American Literature. After the war, thefirst real piece of literature about the bombings came in 1946. The workHiroshima, by Jon Hersey, from which the opening quote is taken, first appearedas a long article in the New Yorker, then shortly after in book form. The bookis a non-fiction account of the bombing of Hiroshima and the immediateaftermath. It is told from the point-of-view of six hibakusha, or Ã’survivorsÓof the atomic blast. In four chapters Hersey traces how the these peoplesurvived the blast, and what they did in following weeks and months to pulltheir lives together Gioielli 3and save their families. The book takes on a toneof sympathy and of miraculous survival à that these people were luckyenough to survive the blast. He focuses not on the suffering of the victims buton their courage (Stone, 7). The following passage from the first chapter showsthis:A hundred thousand people were killed by the bomb, and these six were amongthe survivors. They still wonder why they lived when so many others died. Eachof the counts many small items of chance or volitionà a step taken in time,a decision to go indoors, catching one streetcar instead of the nextà thatspared him. And each that in the act of survival he lived a dozen lives and sawmore death than he ever thought he would see. At the time, none of them knewanything (4). Hersey was attempting to chronicle what had happened at Hiroshima,and to do so fairly. And in emphasizing the survival instead of the suffering hedoes not make his book anti-American or something that condemns the dropping ofthe bomb. He simply gives these peoples accounts of how they survived in a tonethat is more journalistic than sensationalistic. The book empathizes with theirplight while it also gives an American explanation for the bombing (Stone, 7). That it was an act of war to end the war as quickly and as easily as possible,and to save more lives in the long run. Hersey did all this to provide what heconsidered an evenhanded portrayal of the event, but he also did not want tocause much controversy. Although it could be criticized for not giving a moredetailed account of the suffering that occurred, and that it reads more like ahistory book than a piece of literature, HerseyÕs book was the first ofits kind when it was published. Up until then all accounts of the Hiroshimabombing writings about it took the slant that Japanese had Ã’deserved whatwe had given themÓ, and that we were good people for doing so. Theseaccounts were extremely prejudicial and racist. (Stone, 4) Hersey was the firstto take the point of view of those who had actually experienced the event. Andhis work was the transition between works that glorified thedropping of theatomic bomb, to those that focused on its amazing destructive powers, and whatth ey could do to our world. During the period immediately after the war, notmuch information was available to general public concerning what kind ofdestruction the atomic bombs had actually caused in Japan. But starting withHerseyÕs book and continuing with other non-fiction works, such as DavidBradleys No Place To Hide, which concerned the Bikini Island nuclear tests,Americans really began to get a picture of the awesome power and destructivenessof nuclear weapons. They saw that these really Gioielli 4were doomsday devices. Weapons that could change everything in an instant, and turn things into nothingin a moment. It was this realization that had a startling effect on Americanculture and literature. Some Americans began to say Ã’At any time we couldall be shadows in the blast wave, so whatÕs the point?Ó. Thisviewpoint manifested itself in literature in something called the Ã’apocalyptictemperÓ; an attitude or a tone dealing with a forthcoming end to theworld. Also, many people, because of this realization of our impending death,were beginning to say that maybe their was something inherently wrong with allof this. That nuclear weapons are dangerous to everyone, no matter what yourpolitical views or where you live, and that we should do away with all of them. They have no value to society and should be destroyed. This apocalyptic temperand social activism was effected greatly in the early Sixties by the CubanMissile Crisis. When Americans saw, on television, that they could be undernuclear attack in under twenty minutes, a new anxiety about the cold warsurfaced that had not been present since the days of McCarthy. And this newanxiety was evidenced in works that took on a much more satirical tone. And oneof the works that shows this satiric apocalyptic temper and cynicism is KurtVonneguts Cats Cradle. Vonnegut, considered by many to be one of Americasforemost living authors, was himself a veteran of World War Two. He, as aprisoner of war, was one of the few survivors of the fire-bombing of Dresden. InDresden he saw what many believe was a more horrible tragedy than Hiroshima. Theallied bombs destroyed the entire city and killed as many people, if not more,than were killed in Hiroshima. He would eventually write about this experiencein the semi-autobiographical Slaughterhouse-Five. This novel, like Cats Cradle,takes a very strong anti-war stance. But along with being an Anti-war book, CatsCradle is an excellent satire of the Atomic Age. It is essentially the story ofone man, an author by the name of John (or Jonah) and the research he is doingfor a book on the day the bomb exploded in Hiroshima. This involves him withmembers of the Dr. Felix Hoenikker familyà the genius who helped build thebombà and their adventures. In the book Vonnegut paints an imaginary worldwhere things might not seem to make any Gioielli 5sense. But there is in fact anamazing amount of symbolism, as well as satire. Dr. Hoenikker is an extremelyeccentric scientist who spends most of his time in the lab at his company. He isinterested in very few things, his children not among them. His children arealmost afraid of him. One of the few times he does try to play with his childrenis when he tries to teach the game of cats cradle to his youngest s on, Newt. Interchangeable Parts EssayBut the one, plane piloted by Major Ã’KingÓ Kong, does get through,and it drops its bombload. This is where Kubrick tries to show the futility ofeverything. The governments of both the worlds superpowers have thousands ofsafeguards and security precautions for their nuclear weapons. But one manmanages to get a nuclear warhead to be hit its target. And this warhead hits theÃ’Doomsday DeviceÓ. The Doomsday device is the ultimate deterrent,because if you try to disarm it it will go off. It has the capability to destroyevery living human and animal on Earth, and it does So it is all pointless. Wehave these weapons, and no matter how hard we try to control them everyone stilldies. And so to make ourselves feel better about all this impending doom,Kubrick, like Vonnegut, satirizes the entire system. By making such moroniccharacters, like the wimpish President Mertin Muffley, Kubrick is saying,similar to Vonnegut with Dr. Hoenikker, that we are eve n worse off because theseweapons are controlled by people that are almost buffoonish and childish. General Ripper, the man who causes the end of the world, is a portrait of aMcCarthy era paranoid gone mad. He thinks the communists are infiltrating andtrying to destroy are country. And he says the most heinous communist plotagainst democracy is fluoridation of water:Like I was saying, Group Captain,fluoridation of water is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communistplot we have ever had to face . . . They pollute our precious bodily fluids!(George 97)And General Rippers personal prevention of the contamination of hisbodily fluids is equally perplexing. He drinks only Ã’ . . . distilledwater, or rain water, and only grain alcohol . . .Ó Kubrick uses this kindof absurd reasoning in his movie to show the absurd reasoning behind nuclearweapons. Both him and Vonnegut were part of the satirical side of theapocalyptic temper in the early Sixties. They laughed at our governments, ourleaders, the Cold War and the arms race, and tried to show how stupid it allreally was. Bu t as time moved on, the writers, and the entire country, startedto take a less narrow minded view of things. The counterculture of the Gioielli9sixties prompted people to take a closer look at themselves. As thinkers,teachers, lovers, parents, friends and human beings. And people concerned withnuclear weapons started to see things in a broader context as well. Nuclearweapons were something that affected our whole consciousness. The way we grewup, our relationships with others and what we did with our lives. One of theauthors who put this new perspective on things was the activist, social thinkerand poet Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg first made a name for himself in the 1950Õsas one of the foremost of the Beat writers. The Beats in the Fifties were aforerunner of the more widespread counterculture of the late Sixties and earlySeventies. And Ginsberg evolved into this. He became a devoted leader in thecounterculture, who set many precedents for the Hippie generation. He lived invarious communes, delved deeply into eastern religions and experimented withnumerous hallucinogenic drugs. In the earlier part of his life Ginsberg had beena rebel against society. He was still a rebel but now he was taking the form ofactivist. By the Seventies he was involved in many causes that promoted peaceand world harmony. What separated Ginsberg from other activists is that he wasone of the first and original members of many of these movements. Now he was thefather figure to many in the non-mainstream world. While teaching at his schoolof poetry in Naropa, Colorado, Ginsberg became involved in protests against thenearby Rock Flats Nuclear Weapons Factory. During the Summer of 1978 he wasarrested for preventing a shipment nuclear waste from reaching its destinationand for numerous other protests against the facility (Miles 474). From theseexperiences came two poems Ã’Nagasaki DaysÓ and Ã’ Plutonium OdeÓ. Both these poems exhibit Ginsbergs more mature style of writing (Miles 475). The poems are more scholarly, containing many mythological and religiousallusions. But both these characteristics show how post war apocalypticliterature had evolved. By the Seventies many writers, instead of taking thedefeatist, satirical view like Vonnegut, were beginning to take a make activiststandpoint, like Ginsberg. Apocalyptic literature also took on a more mature,scholarly tone, and was more worldly and had a broader viewpoint. This stanzafrom Ã’Nagasaki DaysÓ shows how Ginsberg is putting nuclear weaponsinto the context of the universal:2,000,000 killed in Vietnam13,000,000 refugeesin Indochina 200,000,000 years for the Galaxy to revolve on its core 24,000 theBabylonian great year24,000 half life of plutoniumGioielli 102,000 the most Iever got for a poetry reading80,000 dolphins killed in the dragnet4,000,000,000years earth been born (701)The half life of plutonium is brought together withdolphins and Indochinese refugees. Also, Ginsberg makes a reference to theBabyl onian great year, which coincides with the half life of plutonium. Thiscosmic link intrigued Ginsberg immensely. That fact alone inspired him to rightÃ’Plutonium OdeÓ. The whole poem expands on this connection toplutonium as a living part of our universe, albeit a very dangerous one. Here hementions the Great Year:Before the Year began turning its twelve signs, ereconstellations wheeled for twenty-four thousand sunny yearsslowly round theiraxis in Sagittarius, one hundred sixty-seven thousand times returning to thisnight. (702) Ginsberg is also relating the great year, and the half life ofplutonium, to the life of the Earth. The life of the Earth is approximately fourbillion years, which is 24,000 times 167,000 (Ginsberg 796) In Ã’PlutoniumOdeÓ, Ginsberg talks to plutonium. By establishing a dialogue he gives theplutonium almost human characteristics. It is something, and is near us everyday, and is deadly. In this passage he is asking how long before it kills usall:I enter your secret places with my mind, I speak with your presence, I roamyour lion roar with mortal mouth.One microgram inspired to one lung, ten poundsof heavy metal dust, adrift slowly motion over gray Alpsthe breadth of theplanet, how long before your radiance speeds blight and death to sentientbeings. (703) In putting his nuclear fears and worries on the table, and sayingthat these things have pertinence to us because they affect how we live ourlives and the entire the universe, Ginsberg is showing how intrigued he is withplutonium in this poem. By the time Ginsberg was publishing these poems in late1978, post war literature had evolved immensely. At first people had no ideaabout the bomb and its capabilities. Then, as more information came out aboutwhat the bomb could do, they began to began to start to live in real fear ofnuclear weapons. The power of it, a creation by man that could destroy theworld, that was terrifying. Then some artists and writers began to see theabsurdity of it all. They saw that we were under control by people we did not,or should not, trust, and were a constant state of nuclear Gioielli 11fear. Sothey satirized the system unmercifully, and were very apocalyptic in their tone. But then things evolved from these narrow minded viewpoints, and people began toenvision nuclear weapons in the context of our world and our lives. The atomicbomb and nuclear proliferation affected all facets of our lifestyle, includingwhat we read. Literature is a reflection of a countryÕs culture andfeelings. And literature affected Americans curiosity, horror, anxiety, cynicismand hope concerning nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons raised questions that noone had dare ever asked before, and had given them answers that they were afraidto hear. They have made us think about our place in the universe, and what itall means. BibliographyBartter, Martha A. The Way to Ground Zero. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988. Dewey, Joseph. In a Dark Time. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press, 1990.Dr. Strangelove. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. With Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and SlimPickens. Highland Films Ltd., 1966.(This is a novelization of the movie. Allqoutations from the movie were transribed form this book) Einstein, Albert. Ã’SirÓ (a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt) Einstein: TheLife and Times. Ronald W. Clark. New York: World Publishing, 1971. 556-557.George, Peter. Dr. Strangelove. Boston: Gregg Press, 1979.Ginsberg,Allen. Ã’Nagasaki DaysÓ and Ã’Plutonium Ode.Ó CollectedPoems: 1947à 1980. Ed. Allen Ginsberg. New York: Harper and Row, 1984. 699-705. Gleick, James. Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman. NewYork :Vintage Books, 1992.Hersey, John. Hiroshima. New York: Alfred A. Knopf,1985.Miles, Barry. Ginsberg: A Biography. New York: Harper Perennial,1989.Stone, Albert E. Literary Aftershocks: American Writers, Readers and theBomb. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994.Vonnegut, Kurt. CatÕs Cradle. NewYork:Dell, 1963.

Significance of the USA in the 20th Century Essays -

Significance of the USA in the 20th Century The United States of America has been an influential superpower since the beginning of the 20th Century. They lead the world in education, aviation, medicine, and economic prosperity. Throughout the 20th century their role would shift from a more passive, isolated stance, to an aggressive, almost warmongering one. Before WWI the USA was referred to as the "sleeping giant" by many European nations. This was because the USA practiced a system of isolationism, taking care of all it's needs locally, and only sparingly trading with it's neighbors. That started to change when the US answered the call of war, and sent troops to support the Allies. Even though the American people didn't like the idea of fighting a European war, the support of the US did tilt the war in favour of the Allies. After the war ended, the US went back to it's old ways of isolationism, albeit with more contact to the rest of the world. Since the US was fighting so far away from home, it didn't take that hard of a hit on its resources, and because of that, the she flourished as the rest of the world was rebuilding. When charming man with a moustache (Adolf Hitler) decided to expand Germany's borders under a totalitarian regime, the world went to war once more. As they did with the first world war, the USA decided not to send troops to fight in Europe. All they did was offer financial aid to those affected by the war. That was until Pearl Harbour (1941). After the Japanese bombed the American fleet at Pearl Harbour, the people of the USA decided enough was enough. They sent troops to both fight the Japanese on the Pacific, and help the Allies get the German army back into Germany. With the help from the US, the Allies won WWII, and America looked amazing again. After Adolf Hitler died and the war ended, the focus turned on to the communist land of the USSR. America, being the extremely capitalist nation they are, naturally didn't like communism or those who practised it. The Cold War (1947-1991) was when America started going downhill. The US government didn't like how fast communism was spreading over in Europe, and did everything outside of starting a war to stop it. In this time US's media was flooded with pro American propaganda. Tensions only rose between the US and the USSR with events like the Cuban Missile Crisis, where America almost did start a war with Cuba, due to Russian missiles given to them by the USSR. In the end, Russia took its missiles back, and a war didn't break out, not for a lack of trying though. As the years progressed, and communism became more popular in Asia, the US set their sights on Vietnam. They had sent military advisors to South Vietnam to train the local forces. However the government eventually gave the order to deploy active combat units in order to fight the Vietcong and the NVA. The Vietnam war was the first time that America wasn't doing so hot in a war. The enemy was hard to distinguish, and knew the terrain better than the American forces. Because of this, there was unbelieveably low morale, and shockingly high levels of PTSD. Eventually the Americans evacuated all their ground forces, and just stuck to launching strikes from the air, with extremely limited success. After a while the Vietcong and NVA took over South Vietnam and the Americans had lost the war. This was a sort of wake up call for the US, reminding them that they can still lose a war. Over history the US has always had a spotlight on it. They were innovators in business and science, and had a culture revolving around the production of consumer goods. In the first half of the 20th century, they were the ones who started to throw away restricting traditions and start fully embracing the idea of freedom and prosperity. The US has seen many civil rights movements, such as the women's suffrage movement, to black rights movements. They're a good example of a nation which accepts change based on

Temperate, Torrid, and Frigid Zones

Temperate, Torrid, and Frigid Zones In one of the first attempts at climate classification, the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle hypothesized that the earth was divided into three types of climatic zones, each based on distance from the equator. Though we know that Aristotles theory was vastly oversimplified, it persists, unfortunately, to this day. Aristotles Theory Believing that the area near the equator was too hot for habitation, Aristotle dubbed the region from the Tropic of Cancer (23.5Â °) in the north, through the equator (0Â °), to the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5Â °) in the south as the Torrid Zone. Despite Aristotles beliefs, great civilizations arose in the Torrid Zone, such as those in Latin America, India, and Southeast Asia. Aristotle reasoned that the area north of the Arctic Circle (66.5Â ° north) and south of the Antarctic Circle (66.5Â ° south) was permanently frozen. He called this uninhabitable zone the Frigid Zone. We know that areas north of the Arctic Circle are indeed habitable. For instance, the worlds largest city north of the Arctic Circle, Murmansk, Russia, is home to almost half a million people. Due to months without sunlight, residents of the city live under artificial sunlight but yet the city still lies in the Frigid Zone. The only area that Aristotle believed was habitable and capable of allowing human civilization to flourish was the Temperate Zone. The two Temperate Zones were suggested to lie between the Tropics and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. Aristotles belief that the Temperate Zone was the most habitable likely came from the fact that he lived in that zone. Since Then Since Aristotles time, others have attempted to classify regions of the earth based on climate and probably the most successful classification was that of German climatologist Wladimir Koppen. Koppens multiple-category classification system has been slightly modified since his final classification in 1936 but it is still the classification used most frequently and most widely accepted today.

The evolution of the smartphone markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The evolution of the smartphone markets - Essay Example This paper aims to discuss the evolution of Smartphone markets with reference to the model of monopolistic competition as it deals with the differentiated products. On the other hand discussion will cover the theory of network externalities because different Smartphone companies are offering entirely different operating platforms. More specifically the paper will discuss questions pertaining to the current competition in the Smartphone market and its potential to evolve in future. How Smartphone manufacturing firms will be competing over the time, what would be their business strategies, which of the firms are expected to rule the Smartphone market and how firms will generate profits in the long run? Markets of differentiated products are primarily dominated by competition over simple features and functions. However, over the time the nature of competition transforms and hence the competitors have to advance the operating platforms so as to gain competitive edge (Barrows, 2009:110). In broader terms it can be said that the evolution of Smartphone markets underwent two phases, for instance, the competition started with variations in the physical features and then it led to the significant changes in operating systems. Thus it is important to analyze this subject with respect to the above mentioned questions. In order to do this secondary data sources are used including books, journals and websites. Initially the type of market for which Smartphones are manufactured is specified. This is followed by the critical analysis with the help of economic models. The Monopolistic Competition Model It basically defines the first stage of the evolution of Smartphone market. It refers to particular economic setting where companies manufacture similar products with slight variations (Barrows, 2009:110). For instance, Smartphones are differentiated on the basis of functions, features, color, design etc. however, their fundamental purpose is to connect people and smooth the com munication channels. Hence in this way the consumers are given an advantage of using the comparable products with some differences (Himmelsbach, 2013:3). One of the factors influencing monopolistic competition is elasticity which actually plays a major role in the overall evolution of Smartphone market. The demand cross price elasticity of two unrelated products is either zero or near to zero, for example, the increase in demand of water will have no impact over the demand of shoes. But when the nature of products is differentiated then the cross price elasticity has significantly positive results (Barrows, 2009:110). For example, the demand of Android phones impact the demand of iOS Smartphones. This can be further substantiated on the basis of the fact that differentiated products can be used as substituted and therefore the demand of one product directly influences the demand of its close substitute. The Theory of Network Externalitie

Punitive Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Punitive Law - Essay Example There are three fundamental ways in which punitive damages promote justice. Firstly, punitive damages discourage an individual, agency or a company from cutting the corners or displaying gross negligence. Punitive damages provide the concerned parties with adequate incentives that they may utilize to produce such goods and services that are safe for their clients. When the vendors know that there is a possibility of implication of large monetary penalties against the production of defective goods and services, they tend to improve the quality of their work and thus, promote public safety. Secondly, punitive damages encapsulate a very important punishment function. Punitive damages tend to hold the individuals, agencies or companies accountable for their acts when they cause harm to individuals in the society either by gross negligence or intentionally. Punishment is essential in order to forbid people from committing the same crime in the future. Where there is accountability, there is responsibility and peace. Punitive damages impose larger awards upon the guilty in order to make them take the charge seriously and amend their ways accordingly. Thirdly, punitive damages assume a compensatory function. They play a big role in compensating for the intangible harms. Punitive damages are estimated with a view to providing the incentives that are required to commence the civil suits that are desirable for the society. In the circumstances when compensatory damages are not enough a reward for the promotion of commencement of legal action by the sufferer, and yet there is great need of admonishing the behavior of the defendant, incentives do the job well. Punitive damages serve the purpose by becoming the source of required incentive for the initiation of the action. Justice is thus, indirectly promoted as the people working against the public good are affected. Punitive damages not only encourage civil suits, but also promote socially desirable safety levels, and thu s promote justice. This claim is grounded in the perception that levels of safety are not adequately generated by basing the safety decisions’ cost-benefit analysis upon the price needed to compensate the sufferer. Payment of punitive damages and the costs associated with the compensation of the sufferer gives rise to a cost-benefit analysis that is conducive for the generation of adequate levels of safety for the sufferer. Quite often, it so happens that the benefit given to the defendant as a result of the loss-causing incident does not weight equal to the harm that the plaintiff has caused. Therefore, if increase in the levels of safety has to be the reference for the establishment of justice, punitive damages play a big role in promoting justice in the society. Opponents of the punitive damages say that punitive damages should be terminated because they are too large for companies to bear particularly in the contemporary age of financial crisis. This is not a valid argume nt against punitive damages because if the amount of punishment is belittled, individuals, agencies and companies who are charged with the damages would not take the charges seriously and would continue with their unethical practices considering the charges, a necessary cost of running the business. Larger

Sweeney Todd by Tim Burton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sweeney Todd by Tim Burton - Essay Example   Burton, in his bid to ensure that the film retained its most critical aspects consulted heavily with Sondiem, the latter giving as much advice as possible throughout the process.I find that the film has continued to follow Sondiem’s plot while at the same time attempting to make it as short as possible so that it can retain the basic length of motion pictures. Sondiem’s influence can be seen throughout the film, starting from the costumes worn by the actors to the music being performed and this shows that despite the play being adapted to film, it remains faithful to its roots on stage. Furthermore, Burton is able to put his own mark on the film through his ensuring that it is not only dark, but it also includes those roles that different actors play extremely well, hence the film has a natural feel to it. In this way, it is possible to find that the different actors are actually quite comfortable in their roles, hence making the film more natural as it moves from o ne scene to another.However, I find that while the main plot of the play is retained in the film, the latter does not completely remain loyal to the script as seen where the roles of some characters is diminished in favor of others. I believe that this might be as a result of the shorter length of the film when compared to the play which is actually quite long and the original plot cannot be included. I have come to notice that the roles of some of the minor characters are completely removed and that some of their lines are given to other characters.  

Marketing Communication Tools for Apple

Marketing Communication Tools for Apple In the past two decates it become a common practice for companies to spend millions and billions of money in advertisement (see Table 1, due to lack of any further evidence the numbers should be taken under suspicion). Most of us think that they spent all this money just to make us buy more and more but is not only that. Their ultimate goal is to make as aware of their presence, they want to gain more and more market share and they also use various methods and ways to attract new customers that they have not yet consider them as an option. In order to do that they have to use some tools and means. These tools are known as Marketing Communication Tools and they consist from five principles -also known as marketing communication mix- advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing (Armstrong, Kotler, Harker, Brennan, 2009, p398). Not all of the tools are been used from the companies, some of them are used less some of them more. This is dependable on the strategy the company wants to follow, at this assignment I will try to critically assess and evaluate two key marketing communication tools that Apple Inc. uses. Apple Inc. founded in 1976 and is one the largest corporation across the world that designs computers, electronics and computer software. It became known by been one of the first companies to mass produce and sell Personal Computers, in 1976 Apple 1 and in 1977 Apple II. Since then they become one of the leading companies both in innovation and sales this is the reason why I choose this particular brand in my assignment. One of the most common marketing tools used by Apple Inc. is direct marketing and as Chris Fill (2005, 4th) defines the companies level in his book Apple Inc. is a type four hybrid company. This means that they see direct marketing as brand vehicle and use direct marketing to exploit market space opportunities (Chris Fill 2005, 4th, p.738). The main tool they use for their strategy is the internet and web-mail since the evolution of technology helps direct marketing to prosper and grow. Apple Inc. exploited that by using huge storage databases to keep track of their customers data and preferences. Their main goal is to build a strong and long-term relationship with their customers by forming a community and to define the word I used I mean dedicated customers that follow Apple Inc. products blindly. This growing community is the power of company; it consisted by dedicated customers that are tied to the company mainly for sentimental reasons slowing rising as a cult. Even if the products sometimes do not meet their expectations or the products are left to die from the company they still follow them as a cult current slowly rising. As an example we can relate to that cult is the Abandoned Apple Newton Brand Community as explained at Albert M. Muniz Jr and Hope Jensen Schau research Religiosity in the Abandoned Apple Newton Brand Community published in the Journal of Consumer Research mentioning how customers off different brands turn their favorite brands into a religion and giving the products supernatural and magical motifs because they believe they are consisted from some kind of magic and will survive through time and at some point they even might rise again like the phoenix from the ashes. From a consumer point of view their strategy is not as effective as it could be; mainly because direct marketing should be more about feedback and customer profile based. From that prospective they should focus more on how they can use effectively their recourses to be more customer-friendly and diverse, they need to give you the opportunity to feedback and give your own advices, after all this are a way of saying to the customer that you care about his opinion and the customer feel that they contribute to their favorite brand. In 2001 Apple Inc. decided to add one more communication tool missing so far from their arsenal, as a result from that they launched their very own retail stores aiming to get higher market share and to bring joy to millions of dedicated customers around the globe. At this moment Apple Inc. counts 324 stores around the world, their philosophy is simple, they want customers to be able to found everything around their technology in one store. The goal is simple, the company tries to be more diverse more interactive and more two-way communication with their customers, this is what personal selling is all about this is what they aimed at. They want existing customers to interact with new customers and sales personnel to interact with both of them. This is the way they make their bond with the dedicated customers even stronger, due to human interaction and tow-way communication the customers do not only attach to the brand but they evolve a special relationship with the personnel that serves them in a way that the selling personnel influence the buying decision of the customer and the customer has someone that knows what his needs and wants are. Personal selling is a great way to learn about what your customers think for your brand, because is a two-way communication and the feedback is faster than from the one you have with research or direct marketing. Is more specific, more consumer-oriented and more flexible than other communication tools but not without a cost. The main weakness is the high cost, the cost for each contact is very high and thus less time consuming methods should be introduced and used for each customer from the sales manager, as an example Germanos ( http://www.e-germanos.gr/ the pioneers in phone selling in Greece) has evolved a very effective and less time consuming model of personal selling, it is called the 5 minutes rule in which each sales personnel has 5 minutes to identify the customer, identify their needs, propose, take him to the counter and closure. Additionally there is always the possibility of misunderstanding due to the human factor involved in the whole process although human factor is a n important part of this process is also the one part that sometimes causes most of the problems the reasons may vary from cultural and religion beliefs to differences in the social status. As a conclusion after doing research for the strategy that Apple Inc. uses we came across equivocal results, despite Apple Inc. market share status (one of the pioneers at their market) and their total revenue their main goal is their loyal customers, perhaps giving more attention on building stronger and life-lasting relationships with their existing customers than introducing the company to new customers. We cannot get a clear conclusion if their strategy is either bad or good, the only thing we can assume is that what they do, they do it to keep the brand image at a level to justify that their brand is for the few and not for the many. Bottom line despite their strategy or their agenda we need to respect Apple Inc. but always have in mind that we need to be critical and analyze everything to see the hidden truth and what is going on behind the scenes. At the end I want to include a part of an interview given in the September of 2010 from the founder of Accer Inc. , Stan Shih, Apple has to be respected. He said that the company and CEO has always been using a different strategy in the computer industry. According to Shih, Apple is looking for revolution, while other PC brands are evolving naturally.

Fiancial Problems :: essays research papers

Money? Can money buy everything? Can money buy love? I have a dilemma that I can't seem to figure out. I’m so confuse and don’t know what to do now. Things happened so fast that I wish I could freeze the hand of time so that I can think for a while. I remember I have been with someone for 6 months. Before we met each other many of my friends been talking about her. When I first saw her I have this weird feeling inside of me and for the first time in my life I felt in love. So we talked and a couple days later we got hooked up. We were very happy and truly in love with one another, but unfortunately ever since we hooked up, both of our luck has gradually went down. She was worst than mine. I mean we were really in bad lucks, which created trouble and problems for us and mostly financial problems. Even though we knew we love each other a lot but we fought almost everyday for the past month or two because of the problems that we have to deal with that stressed us out. She told me to leave her because she didn't want me to stay with her and be poor and miserable. She told me she felt useless since she couldn't even take good care of me. She would like it better if I was to be with someone whom can take better care of me. I know what she meant but the thing was that I didn’t want to go. I can't just leave in when she's down knowing that I do love her. This entire problem is eating up inside of me. I haven’t been happy for a long time. I just hope that all these bad lucks will disappear soon. But when? When will things be normal again? I am so weak but yet I still want to be with her. What should I do? I think I should stay with her; although life may be tough but at least we are both happy. On the other hand, I know there is someone out there that cares for me a lot and she has money. I did like her too for a short period of time. If I hook up with her money won't be an issue anymore, but I don't love her.

Brooks’ Universal Issues and the Appeal to a Broad Audience Essay

Brooks’ poetry, so rich in personal detail and authenticity, often does not have to justify the moral side of issues like other poems usually do. Her work, for me, seems less confessional and more like realistic humanity, a difficult feat to accomplish when so much of the material speaks of inner turmoil, lost loves, and wistful sadness. Honest in tone and filled with common and often disturbing themes, the poems were ones I was able to connect with. â€Å"The Mother† and â€Å"The Sundays of Satin Legs Smith† are two poems that speak to me in terms of universal longing and pain. I have never had an abortion, but I know several people who have. In fact, last year I had an 11th-grade student who was pregnant, and I told her that I would gladly adopt the baby. She said she would consider it, but she ended up having the abortion. For a couple weeks after she got back, I kept wondering what that child would have been like; but then, I had to force myself to put it out of my mind. â€Å"The Mother† brought back all the joys of having a child and all the disappointments of not having a second one. â€Å"The Sundays of Satin Legs Smith† reminds me of that sinking feeling when you realize that the man you are with is not who you thought he was. You still love him, which makes the pain of a failed relationship that much harder to accept. I think of a couple specific men I dated before I got married (thank God I did not marry them), and I wonder at the decisions of women – the willingness to overlook the bad things because they are desperate to have somebody – anybody to fill the void. In â€Å"The Mother,† the speaker’s obvious pain and regret comes close to excusing her from the act of killing a child (for some readers it might exonerate her completely). In line one, the speaker confesses to a horrific action while simultaneously, with the pronoun you, imploring the reader to mentally relate to her experience. When the speaker remarks that, â€Å"Abortions will not let you forget,† she makes her abortion the readers’ abortion. Because of the personal pronoun â€Å"you,† readers must imagine themselves in the midst of one of the most painful decisions a woman can make. This simple choice of diction allows Brooks to comment on the universally-felt consequences of abortion: people never forget. The sentence structure in the irst line also serves to take the blame off the speaker and transfer it to the action. By writing that â€Å"abortions will not let you forget† and making the actual abortion the subject of the first sentence, Brooks makes the action of abortion that which will not let mothers forget, not the actual decision to get an abortion (made by the mother) the primary cause of the pain. By distancing herself from the act, Brooks allows the speaker to reflect on the consequences of the abortion without addressing the moral issues of the decision. With the usage of the 2nd person voice throughout the first stanza, Brooks continues to pull her readers into her (or the speaker’s) story, thus eliminating blame and creating a bond between reader and speaker. Using rich details to show readers what they will not experience because of an abortion, Brooks recounts several instances that typify the first year of a baby’s life: â€Å"You remember the children you got that you did not get, /The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair, / The singers and workers that never handled the air† (2-4). By stating that a mother who aborted a child did not â€Å"get† that child, Brooks creates a tone of one longing for a prize lost, as if the mother did not choose the abortion but rather was forced by someone else to make that decision. The speaker tells readers that they remember the child they did not get; as a result, the reader can picture facing the awful decision that the speaker and so many other woman have faced. The blame, then, dissipates into the possibility that all people must face difficult decisions in their lives. In the last three lines of the 1st stanza, Brooks’ choice in diction reveals the genuine love the speaker feels for the lost children. Although it seems paradoxical to love someone and then kill him, Brooks makes it easy for readers to believe that this is what the speaker actually did. She writes of those special moments that only a mother can understand: â€Å"scuttle off ghosts†¦control [the mother’s] luscious sigh†¦return for a snack of them with gobbling mother-eye† (8-10). A mother will brave ghosts and monsters (real or imagined) for her child, and sometimes it takes amazing self-control to simply stop staring in disbelief at the beauty of the child you have created. When my son was a baby, I used to sit behind him and just breathe in his lavender baby-smell. I felt like I could â€Å"gobble him up,† and I still do – but he, of course, won’t let me now. At 8-years-old he is a â€Å"big boy. † Brooks has somehow made the reader remember and re-live the good and beautiful aspects of having a baby; and yet, the poem is about abortion. By creating such a nostalgic mood in the reader, Brooks again takes the focus off of the terrible act of murder and waits until the second stanza to address the speaker’s regrets. With the nostalgic mood carrying over from stanza-one, the shift in stanza two works because the reader has already forgiven the persona for her sins. And yet, in answer to the readers who still have a difficult time accepting the harsh reality of the poem, Brooks makes a convincing argument in this second stanza, claiming that she still thinks about her babies, she regrets what she has done, and that she mourns the lives her dead children will never live. The first line of the stanza serves as the primary claim: â€Å"I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children† (11). The speaker still thinks of her dead children; and like the wind that comes and goes, so too does the sorrow. There are times when people can forget about a loss, but then, like a strong gust of wind or even a gentle breeze, the memory will come back. This universal reaction to loss again puts the reader and the speaker in a similar position. Although the reader may not have gone through an abortion, there are bound to be issues that the reader wishes to forget and simply cannot. In lines 15-22, Brooks’ use of the word â€Å"if† escalates the tension in the poem by creating uncertainty about the speaker’s intentions. Most people would feel comfortable blaming the speaker for murdering an innocent life; however, with that first subordinating conjunction, the reader must accept the possibility that the speaker is not to blame for the murder: I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized/ Your luck/ And your lives from your unfinished reach, If I stole your births and your names, Your straight baby tears and your games If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths When the speaker asks â€Å"if [she] has sinned,† she subtly implies that perhaps she did not do anything wrong. While not actually justifying her actions, her simple questioning of guilt reveals more in what it doesn’t say than in what it says, like the directing of a conversation or an order from a restaurant. When the bartender wants the patron to order top-shelf liquor, he will give the patron two choices, both of which are top-shelf. The patron has no other option (or so she thinks) but to order one of the two liquors the bartender has suggested. Brooks, then, gives the reader two choices where before, there was only one. The first choice is to believe that the speaker is fully to blame; the second is to question whether or not the speaker has done anything wrong. The next â€Å"if† sends a blatant and almost defiant message. â€Å"If I seized your luck† would imply that the speaker did exactly that; and yet, with the â€Å"if† in front of the action, the speaker recognizes the wrongdoing but justifies the action: she took the ability to have luck, and thus to experience life, from her unborn children. The â€Å"if† adds an element of inevitability. The speaker may recognize her mistakes, but she also suggests to the reader that something higher (or more powerful) than herself ultimately caused that action. With the juxtaposition of the words seized and if, Brooks creates a universal paradox: one of freedom of choice and yet helplessness. With assertive verbs like stole and poisoned, the speaker abandons this helplessness and continues her tones of defiance. Whereas the previous instances of the usage of â€Å"if† encourage the questioning of guilt and the possibility of speaker justification, the verbs stole and poisoned admit to a wrongdoing – albeit still with a sense of regret.

Sanskrit

Sanskrit Sanskrit is an ancient Indo-European language, the root of many modern Indian languages, and it remains one of Indias 22 official languages to this day.   Sanskrit also functions as the primary liturgical language of Hinduism and Jainism, and it plays an important role in the Buddhist scripture as well.   Where did Sanskrit come from?   Why is it controversial in India? The word Sanskrit means sanctified or refined.   The earliest known work in Sanskrit is the Rigveda, a collection of Brahmanical texts, which dates to c. 1500 to 1200 BCE.   (Brahmanism was the early precursor to Hinduism.)   The Sanskrit language developed out of proto-Indo-European, which is the root of most languages in Europe, Persia (Iran), and India.   Its closest cousins are Old Persian, and Avestan, which is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. Pre-Classical Sanskrit, including the language of the Rigveda, is called Vedic Sanskrit.   A later form, called Classical Sanskrit, is distinguished by the grammar standards laid out by a scholar called Panini, writing in the 4th century BCE.   Panini defined a bewildering 3,996 rules for syntax, semantics, and morphology in Sanskrit. Classical Sanskrit spawned the majority of the hundreds of modern languages spoken across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka today.   Some of its daughter languages include Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Nepali, Balochi, Gujarati, Sinhalese, and Bengali. The array of spoken languages that arose from Sanskrit is matched by the vast number of different scripts in which Sanskrit can be written.   Most commonly, people use the Devanagari alphabet.   However, almost every other Indic alphabet has been used to write in Sanskrit at one time or another.   The Siddham, Sharda, and Grantha alphabets are used exclusively for Sanskrit, and the language is also written in scripts from other countries, such as Thai, Khmer, and Tibetan. As of the most recent census, only 14,000 people out of 1,252,000,000 in India speak Sanskrit as their primary language.   It is used widely in religious ceremonies; thousands of Hindu hymns and mantras are recited in Sanskrit.   In addition, many of the oldest Buddhist scriptures are written in Sanskrit, and Buddhist chants also commonly feature the liturgical language that was familiar to Siddhartha Gautama, the Indian price who became the Buddha.   However, many of the Brahmins and Buddhist monks who chant in Sanskrit today do not understand the actual meaning of the words they speak.   Most linguists thus consider Sanskrit a dead language.   A movement in modern India is seeking to revive Sanskrit as a spoken language for everyday use.   This movement is tied to Indian nationalism, but is opposed by speakers of non-Indo-European languages including the Dravidic-language speakers of southern India, such as the Tamils.   Given the antiquity of the language, its relative rarity in daily use today, and its lack of universality, the fact that it remains one of Indias official languages is somewhat odd.   Its as if the European Union made Latin an official language of all of its member-states.

The Rainbow Essays

The Rainbow Essays The Rainbow Essay The Rainbow Essay it is emphasised that the women looked outwards, removing themselves figuratively from the blind intercourse of farm-life, to the spoken world beyond. (42). With this description, Lawrence suggests that the women were discontent with assuming a position of participation amongst the blind intercourse of unconscious activities that were assumed of them, and that the men were content with practicing. It was enough for the men, that the earth heaved and opened its furrow to them (42) The men are described as their senses being full fed and being unable to turn around (43), in contrast to the women, who had in a sense, opened themselves to the world and what she had to offer, by no longer being passive Brangwen female participants of farm-life, by being aware of the lips and the mind of the world speaking and giving utterance, they heard the sound in the distance, and they strained to listen. (42). The Brangwen women at moments, seem to inhabit different houses and/or worlds from the men, Her house faced out from the farm-buildings and fields, looked out to the road and the village with church and Hall and the world beyond. (43), whereas the Brangwen men are described in a fashion portraying their satisfaction with farm life and activities, it was enough that they helped the cow in labour, or ferreted the rats from under the barn, or broke the back of the rabbit . While it seems a strange metaphor, it is the woman who looks out to the active scope of men, and who is concerned with government, education and progress in a magic land to her, where secrets were made known and desires fulfilled. (43). The Brangwen women are depicted as looking at the children of the upper classes and wondering why their children are disadvantaged. Lawrence portrays the women as deciding that the difference is not money, nor even class. It was education and experience, she decided. (44). Thus, education becomes not a means of social progress for working class children, but rather a thing of inherent value, a higher form of being, which is why the Brangwen women want it for their own children. The Brangwen women are portrayed according to their developing being, she craved to know. She craved to achieve this higher being, if not in herself, then in her children(44) and aspirations of striving beyond herself, towards the further life of the finer woman, towards the extended being she revealed, as a traveller in his self-contained manner reveals far-off countries present in himself. (45). The Brangwen woman contemplating her childs potential advance, deciding that it is a question of knowledge, as well as the allusion used by her, of the vicars power over Tom Brangwen on a desert island, his soul was master of the other mans (44), shares a common trait, in terms of relating these metaphorical descriptions to the essence of what Lawrence wished to achieve: the stages of the advance of consciousness in terms of knowledge, suggesting that this stage is both important and temporary; the creative and evolving being unable to be contented with contemplation of what is known, but rather has to discover what is new also. 18). Thus, ironically, it is the women in The Rainbow who, whilst her husband looked out to the back at sky and harvest and beast and land, she strained her eyes to see what man had done in fighting outwards to knowledge her deepest desire hung on the battle that she heard far off, being waged on the edge of the unknown. She also wanted to know, and to be of the fighting host. (43), provides for the reader the departure point of Lawrences masterfully depicted journey into discovering a history of the relation between man and what lies beyond him, and the history of the struggle of men to become conscious and to become themselves.

What factors have led to HSBS's offshoring policy What benefits does Assignment

What factors have led to HSBS's offshoring policy What benefits does HSBC gain from this - Assignment Example The operating profit of the group was $5,298 million during 2009, with a reduction of 30.7% from 2008. HSBC has become largely involved in the process of offshoring with an aim to decrease costs of labor. (Data Monitor. 2010) This paper will focus on the issues relating to offshoring by one of the globally known financial service provider HSBC. It will mainly discuss the factors that have led to the company’s offshoring policies and what kinds of benefits are being derived by HSBC Holdings from its offshoring activities. A brief note about Offshoring; Exporting jobs that is commonly known to be as offshoring has become widespread across the world. Companies based in developed regions are getting involved in offshoring to low cost regions of the world. Offshoring mainly implies relocation of jobs with the purpose of reducing costs of production. India and China have become the most important service providers. From the macroeconomic perspectives, there has been a huge debate ov er whether it offshoring is good or bad for the economy of the exporting countries as well as to the economy of the importing countries. Particularly, major concern has been raised regarding the impacts of offshoring on the economy of the importing nations, like USA, UK, other European nations, Australia, etc. A huge number of highly recognized and highly profitable companies of these nations are involved in offshoring. (Abramovsky et al. ... (CORPORAT E PARTNERS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. n.d) The labor available in UK and other European countries are quite expensive compared to the labor available in countries like China and India. Many people have expressed their concern over the effect of offshoring on the domestic economy and domestic productivity of UK, but this concern has not quite affected one of the largest financial service providers of the country. In fact, the extent of offshoring has been increased by HSBC to reduce their fixed and variable costs of production. Major motivational factors behind offshoring: Major motivational factors that have played crucial role in adopting the path of offshoring by HSBC can be as follows: First, a financial service provide generally gets the opportunity to of investing in global securities by adopting the path of offshoring. Very often many top performing securities are not available to the citizens of the UK and thus the investors of this country generally does not get the option of investing in these securities that provide lucrative returns. But offshoring makes it possible to make these global top performing securities accessible to the investors. (Clark, 2009; CORPORAT E PARTNERS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. n.d) Second, a banking service provider that opts for offshoring becomes able to provide its banking account holders the opportunity of accessing all those banking products that would not be available otherwise in the domestic market. (Clark, 2009; CORPORAT E PARTNERS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. n.d) Third, the level of confidentiality is much higher in case of offshoring banking services and hence investors become more interested to purchase

Migration Impact on the UK's Economy between 2005 and 2015 Dissertation

Migration Impact on the UK's Economy between 2005 and 2015 - Dissertation Example Interpretation of the findings will help the researcher to draw inference to the research questions or the main agenda of the research and accordingly arrive at the conclusion. Chapter 2: Literature Review World migration and economic growth is considered to be an ever-researched subject in the contemporary economics. S. P. Kerr and W. R. Kerr have defined net migration in an economy during a particular period of time as the difference between total number of immigrants and emigrants within the economy within that specified time period. In this context, immigrants are defined as the individuals who migrate or shift to another country whereas emigrants of an economy are those who shift from other economies to a particular economy within the specified time period. In this chapter, global migration and the tendency behind this, the effect of migration on a particular economy and finally, the consequences faced by the economy of United Kingdom will be analysed in the light of theoretical framework and economic models. 2.1. Economic Factors Influencing Migration According to the economists, economic migration occurs mostly due to the influence of two discrete factors. These are as follows: 2.1.1. Push Factors Many economists such as Boyle, Halfacree and Robinson have identified that lack of economic opportunities, scope for higher education, quality jobs in both technical and non-technical sectors act as push factors and drives individuals to migrate in other part of the world.

The challenge of human resource management. Theories of motivation Essay

The challenge of human resource management. Theories of motivation - Essay Example The concept of motivation is often viewed as complicated and fascinating by different leaders but a closer analysis of the operations of any given organisation shows that this is an indispensable component which can ensure viability of any particular company in the face of competition. Thus, effective leaders ought to understand motivation and there are numerous theories of motivation that exist to try and help the managers as well as the leaders to understand the needs as well as goals of their employees in a bid to sustain certain actions while at the same time attempting to stop some unbecoming behaviour (Werner 2007). Against this background, this essay seeks to critically compare and contrast two theories of motivation. These are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs which is a content theory as well as Locke and Latham’s goal setting theory which is a process theory. The essay starts by explaining the meaning of the key term which is motivation then followed by outlining th e similarities as well as the differences that may exist between the two. The last part will specifically focus on suggestions about how a team leader might use these theories to motivate their team. Basically, motivation is loosely defined as â€Å"a state arising in processes that are internal and external to the individual, in which the person perceives that it is appropriate to pursue a certain course of action aimed at achieving a specified outcome and in which the person chooses to pursue those outcomes with a degree of commitment and persistence (Robins, Odendaal & Roodt 2001). Thus, motivation is basically concerned with arousing, directing and sustaining our behaviour. Theories of motivation fall into two basic groups: content theories as well as process theories. According to Finchman & Rhodes (2005), content theories of motivation focus on what motivates an individual. They are typically concerned with determining the specific needs that motivate people. On the other han d, process theories attempt to describe and analyse how people are motivated, that is, how behaviour is aroused, directed and sustained. Process theories of motivation in this case posit to the effect that there is no individual who can give the other person satisfaction that is related with accomplishing especially a challenging job, but it is self derived (Carrell et al 1995). Overally, motivation is influenced by needs, goals, expectations, motives as well as drives and these play different roles in motivation as going to be explained briefly below. According to (Brewster et al 2003), a need is something that is basic to life such as food and shelter and once it is satisfied a person is motivated. A goal is a certain target that an individual wants to attain and once achieved, that person is motivated. An expectation is primarily concerned with promises to be fulfilled say after performing a task and if these are fulfilled the person is motivated. A motive is an intention of acti ng in a certain way or doing something and it also affects motivation. Lastly, a drive is a push factor that pushes someone to act in a particular manner and if there is promise of reward that person would be motivated to pursue that drive. These are some of the major factors that motivate people to act or behave in particular ways. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is perhaps the most appealing theory of motivation. Thus, according to Maslow, when a need occurs, motivational tension develops and is directed towards satisfaction of that need (Carrel 1995). The hierarchy comprises of five levels of needs namely physiological, security, social, self esteem and self actualisation needs. These needs build from grassroots levels up to the point where some skilled workers feel that they should be rewarded on the basis of their importance, coupled with their performance to the company. As far as company growth is concerned, there is need for the workers to feel that their needs are satisf ied. According to (Maslow 1970 as cited in Werner 2007), as each of these needs is satisfied, they cease to

Management studies Essay Example for Free

Management studies Essay Introduction Since starting the DMS in September I have found the workshop programme very useful. I have learnt many styles and techniques of management and from this have applied to my workplace with very effective results, also using my workplace as an experimental ground for practising my new techniques. From this, I have learnt from my mistakes and errors and rectified them to continually improve my own performance, and thus improve the performance of my department within the business. From leaving school with four o levels, I started my working career as an engineer; attaining an apprenticeship at Phillips Components. After four years of completing this, along with a higher national certificate in computer aided engineering, I acquired a position of Toolmaker in the Toolroom. I then continued working as a Toolmaker for the next eleven years without ever considering a managerial position. After many years of Toolmaking I acquired the position of Improvement Technician within the Sub-components department (press shop) and after Twelve months was offered the position of Shift Leader within this department. From taking the leap from Engineering to production/people management it was recommended that I returned to college to complete a Diploma in Management Studies to gain the academic qualifications to compliment my new role. Learning Style and Teamwork Theory One of the first workshop sessions was based on learning style and teamwork theory. For this we completed questionnaires on learning style and the Belbin self perception inventory, a questionnaire based on individuals team role profile. The learning style questionnaire was designed to understand your preferred learning style and help you pinpoint your learning preferences so that you are in a better position to select learning experiences that suit your style. The results are broke down into four different styles: Activists, Reflectors, Theorists and Pragmatists. After scoring myself on the questionnaire, the results suggested that I had a very strong preference towards being an Activist, a strong preference towards a reflector and moderate preference towards Theorist and Pragmatist. An Activist is a person who is very open-minded and enthusiastic about new ideas or experiences. They tend to act first and consider the consequences later. They tackle problems by brainstorming and thrive on the challenge of new experiences. They are gregarious people constantly involving themselves with others but, in doing so, they seek to centre all activities around themselves. With the learning style of an Activist I find it very hard work to sit down and study, I also find it very difficult reading a book as I tend to find my mind wandering off on to other activities I could be doing. Analysing my learning style within the workplace, I would tend to agree with these results. I have a reputation at work for being very enthusiastic and passionate about my department and also about the company I work for, also preferring to physically get stuck in with problems we encounter, rather than sitting down and discussing them. Within each learning style there is a set path we need to progress through in order to get the most out of any learning experience, these are as follows: Step one, having an experience In step one there are two easy in which we can have an experience; one is to be passive and allow the experience to happen and you needing to react, two is to deliberately seek them out in a proactive manner. Step two, reviewing the experience I tend to think this is the one we most often miss out on, we tend to jump this one and come to a conclusion before weve reviewed an experience in a none judgemental manner (with an open mind and no preconceptions). Time needs to be taken out to properly review any experience to gain anything from it. Step three, conclusions from the experience This involves looking at the reviewed experience step to understand and see what lessons can be learnt. Step four, planning the next step There would be little point in reviewing or coming up with any conclusions from the experience if we did not apply this newly gained knowledge to future events. The Self Perception Inventory The Belbin self perception inventory specifies nine roles for the efficient working of a team. Once the questionnaire is completed, a team role profile is then calculated for the individual and a counselling report is created. The chart below shows how I scored: Roles and Descriptions Team-Role Contribution Percentage Score Specialist 93% Plant 81% Resource Investigator 73% Shaper 69% Complete Finisher 63% Monitor Evaluator 50% Team Worker 25% Co-Coordinator 9% Implementer 2% My profile shows that I gain great intrinsic satisfaction from the nature of work in which I am engaged. For me work is like a hobby, offering me a chance to exercise my creative disposition and achieving professionalism all at the same time. As far as the outside world is concerned, I will be known and respected for my knowledge and special skills and for the fact that I am in the forefront of most new developments. My limitations I may have to accept apply to my administrative and managerial skills. I may have to make a conscious choice in terms of the direction of my career. A wider arena would offer broader prospects of advancement, but would also face stiffer competition, with the chance of me loosing some of my professional expertise. The alternative would be to build up my personal reputation in my own special area and carve out my own job within it. Reflecting on my results from the self perception inventory, I must realise that to become a better team player, I must understand my allowable weaknesses from the roles I scored high in. Also I must work on increasing the lower end scores, by becoming a better co-ordinator and implementer, also increasing my team worker skills. Residential To start the course off, our first learning experience of working within teams was the residential activity at Dove Nest. After a brief introduction (and cup o tea) we were soon split into four groups and given the mine field activity to complete. This being a perfect ice-breaker to the course, testing our teamwork skills and also a perfect opportunity to get to know other students. Instantly, different individuals personalities and trends were noticed and within minutes different traits were easily recognised as some members co-ordinated whilst others problem solved or challenged ideas. Our team decided it would be an advantage to amalgamate with the adjacent team to create a synergy were by we would attain greater power due to the creation of synthetic energy, i.e. the understanding that to join forces more than twice the power of each individual team would be achieved. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Although we did manage to complete task, we didnt accomplish it in the fast est time. Before to long we were soon split into other groups and given different tasks to complete with goals clearly set. One task I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from was a task where all team members had to run up a hill (about 20 metres) to a square marked out on the floor (approx 3m sq.). Inside the square was 18 randomly spaced tags pinned to the ground, numbered 1 to 18. Our task was for all team members to run up to the square, then all the tags had to be touched, respectively from 1 to 18, but only one member was allowed into the square at any one time. Once this was complete, all the team then had to run back to the start point and cross this point within a specified time. We were given an allocated time to plan the task and also only given three timed attempts to achieve our target. Instantly we conducted a brainstorming session to assess all our different options. Then after heated debate about which ideas we thought would be the most efficient we then decided to perform what we thought would be the fastest trials. After timing each option we then chose the fastest and analysed this to see if we could improve on the practiced times. Once we thought we couldnt improve any more we then attempted to reach our goal. Of the three timed events, the first one was about twenty seconds overtime, the second just under, but by the third attempt we had shaved about forty seconds off our original time, also clearly beating the goal set. We achieved this through everybody committing to the teams needs to achieve the goal set, where everybody knew their place within the team, even though everybody did not agree with some of the decisions. A great sense of satisfaction and camaraderie was achieved by the conquering of this task, with all the team thoroughly motivated and geared up, ready for the next task. Finally on day one we were given the task of running our own business, the final goal, to manufacture and sail a raft on Lake Windermere. Different roles of team members soon developed, one person accounting, another designing, whilst others negotiated with opposing teams to acquire either more money or materials. Once enough materials were obtained, the raft was ready to be manufactured. Again, different team roles were seen, as some members built the raft whilst others delegated different tasks, and others stood back, saying thatll never float, youll not get me on that, only to be proved wrong once the race got underway. For me, there were many learning points from Dove Nest even though at this point we had not covered these techniques at college. It was an excellent opportunity to improve my listening and negotiating skills, as well as improving my delegating techniques. The best learning experiences for me were teamwork and motivation. Working within teams were nobody knew other peoples knowledge or capabilities, or what specialities they may possess created an atmosphere were by to achieve the goals set, individuals roles had to be rapidly appointed. I also found the problem solving activities very stimulating, probably through my engineering background. Dove nest was also an excellent starting point to the course as many students (myself included) were novices to the styles and theories ahead, thus giving everybody a perfect foundation to the year ahead. Reflecting on how each team member performed on the residential, I think it would be an excellent idea to perform a similar residential exercise at the end of the year to recognise the improvement of individuals performance. Presentation Skills A great learning point for me was the workshop on presentation skills. When confronted with the task of presenting to the group I was keen to improve my ability as presentations are a key role in my position at work, whether presenting a fortnightly team brief or a project presentation to senior Management. Previous to workshop I have encountered some bad experiences in the workplace, due to inadequate planning beyond my control. After watching the video on presentations, I came away with a greater knowledge of what creates a good presentation. The key learning points for me being preparation, content and delivery. What is the purpose of the presentation and why? Know your subject do your homework. Know your audience, the objective being to keep them interested. A good presentation should have a suitable introduction, main theme and conclusion. The delivery is also essential, confidence being the key, keep to a specified time and remember that you are the person presenting and the effect of it is upon your audience. I found it very beneficial to be able to watch and judge peoples presentation skills reflecting with the rest of the group on how to improve these skills, not feeling under any pressure whilst doing so; an option not available at work. The experience of having someone give feedback to a presentation allowed me to fully focus myself on the need to learn from, and understand my shortcomings, is also gave me the opportunity to scrutinise the way in which I should deliver a presentation. As I have a learning style of an Activist, and therefore wanting to try anything once to gain a new experience, I chose to give my presentation on a non-work related matter. I decided to give my presentation on what I labelled The Millionaire Lifestyle Weekend a presentation on how to live a millionaire lifestyle for the weekend working within a budget that most people would find affordable. Fortunately I wasnt presenting until the third week, which gave me plenty of time to plan my presentation. Also gaining more knowledge on this subject through analysing other students presentations and making observations as to how their presentation could be improved. A key observation from myself was never apologise when presenting as this may come across as being negative. Also, try to keep the audience interested and keep within the time specified. Provide a handout for any important information, but dont distribute until the end of the presentation. When the time came to delivering my presentation, I was at first nervous, due to previous experiences, but after the first two slides I felt more at ease due to the environment in which the workshop was held and also due to the fact that I felt confident about what I was presenting thanks to sufficient planning and preparation. I think another added contribution was the fact that the first couple of slides grabbed peoples attention and instantly they were thinking this looks interesting, a very important learning point, grasp peoples attention on the first two slides. I realised that in doing this, people sit up and listen, thus giving the presenter more confidence in what he/she is presenting. I also learnt that the rehearsal of a presentation is extremely important; I practiced this presentation about Ten to Fifteen at home in front of the mirror, finding this to be a great benefit to delivering a good presentation. Overall it gave value to me as I now know how to structure presentations. I felt, as did the others in the group that their subject would be boring for anyone else but to the contrary, as I listened to other presentations they were entertaining, informative, and all had flow to them. This tells me that if the subject to be presented is put over in the way we have been shown then the information within it is retained by the audience. Since this workshop, I have presented to management at work and felt a lot more at ease, having greater confidence in myself by understanding the correct way to performing a successful presentation, understanding the emphasis on planning as well as delivery. I have now learnt to improve my presentation skills at work a lot more by watching and analysing others present in the workplace. Time Management The time management workshop was also of great use to me with respect to my position at work. I am responsible for the production of nine different sub-components all used in the manufacture of a cathode, with present cathode production running at 300k per day, although due to losses on automation, with some components I have to produce 160 good components to make 100 good cathodes. I am responsible for a workforce of 45 people as well as providing assistance in other departments as and when required. I find myself in a position where I am constantly fire-fighting on a daily basis, going home feeling that I have taken two steps back rather than one step forward. When we had the workshop on time management I was instantly keen to increase my knowledge on this subject as time at work is sparse. I found the video a great learning tool, by watching the situation with the manager who never seemed to have any time. I instantly related issues on the video to my workplace and started to understand the important factors of managing time efficiently. Learning to identify, and then change, any bad practices such as taking on too much work that I could possibly delegate out to others, or failing to plan and organise my day correctly, understanding the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. The key points of time wasting have stayed fresh in my mind since this session understanding that I need to prioritise, delegate, plan and communicate more effectively. From watching the video, I returned to work ready to try out my latest technique. Understanding that to manage my time for that day I must spend the first five to ten minutes planning my day a head, prioritising what jobs have to be done, what jobs should be done, what jobs need not be done and what jobs I could delegate out to others. Also deciding which jobs are important, urgent, urgent and important and so on. Once I have done this, I then write a priority list in order of which jobs I shall do when, ranging from must do to least important. Since doing this on a daily basis I have found that I get through a lot more issues at work and seem to find a lot more time to take on extra tasks without the worry of not being able to complete in the required time. This has taken a large amount of pressure of my working day. Although I am sometimes still rushed off my feet, at least Im not leaving for home with my head in a spin. Conclusion When first discussing the DMS to work colleagues, who had once been students on the course. They described the workshop sessions to me, explaining about peoples learning styles and teamwork theory and I have to admit I was very sceptical about the whole thing, not understanding about Activists and pragmatists, etc. But since attending workshop I have realised that what we have learnt is true to life and have found very useful. I do have the opinion that people who become successful managers do have that special gift and that managers are born and not trained. My opinion is that to be successful not only must you have that gift but you must also learn the different techniques learnt on workshop and understand how and when to apply them to daily life. I have found that a lot of what I have learnt a necessity in the role I am in at work. I also realise that not all situations in the workplace are the same, as peoples attitudes and characteristics all vary, some on a daily basis, and to be able to handle any situation without causing upset to the individual or the business is a skill only acquired over time. Dealing with issues can be a very delicate and tricky art, but with the correct personality, integrity and knowledge gained from the workshop, success is a not such a fantasy as a nearby reality. Bibliography. KELLET, P. (2002) Presentation Skills Workshop lecture notes KELLET, P. (2002) Effective Teamwork Workshop lecture notes KELLET, P. (2002) Time Management Workshop lecture notes KELLET, P. (2002) How to Improve Your Learning Style Learning style questionnaire BELBIN (2002) Self Perception Inventory Mk2 BELBIN (2002) Self Perception Team Role Profile

Types of Modified Starch

Types of Modified Starch Native starches are structurally too weak and limited functions for application in pharmaceutical, food and non-food technologies due to its inherent weakness of hydration, swelling and structural organization. Unprocessed starches produce weak-bodied, cohesive rubbery pastes when cooked and undesirable gels when the pastes are cooled. To enhance viscosity, texture, stability among many desired functional properties desired, starch and their derivatives are modified by chemical, physical, and enzymatic methods. Modifications are necessary to create a range of functionality. Starch modification can be introduced by altering the structure and affecting the structure including the hydrogen bonding in a controlled manner to enhance and extend their application in industrial prospective. This modification includes esterification, etherification, cross linking, acid hydrolysis, enzymatic hydrolysis heat treatment and grafting of starch. Modified starches can be found applicable practices in food industry and non-food industry. Various types of modified starches for wide applications in many industries Pregelatinized starch It is the simplest starch modification, prepared by cooking. It maintains starch integrity while providing cold water thickening which   is a process that breaks down the intermolecular bonds of  starch  molecules in the presence of  water  and heat, allowing the  hydrogen bonding  sites (the hydroxyl hydrogen and oxygen) to engage more water. Cross-linked starch Cross linking is the most important modified form that used in the food industry. It involves replacement of hydrogen bond present between starch chains by stronger, permanent covalent bonds. Distarch phosphate or, adipate are commonly used in cross-linked starch. Cross-linked starches offer acid, heat and shear stability over the native starch. Food with this type of starch processing tends to have longer shelf life. Oxidized starch The processing includes reaction with oxidizing agent such as sodium hypochlorite or peroxide. This type of starch is mainly used as surface sizing agent or coating binder and available in different viscosity grade. Oxidized starches have shorter chain lengths than native starches. It improves whiteness and reduces microbiological content. Oxidized starches are the best thickener for applications requiring gels of low rigidity. This improves adhesion in batters and breading. Cationic starch Cationic starches are produced by reacting native starches with tertiary  or, quaternary amines, using wet or dry production processes. They are mainly used in  paper forming process. Cationic starch represents high performance starch derivatives widely used by paper manufactures to increase strength and retention. Cationic starches carry a formal positive charge over the entire pH range creating their affinity towards negatively charged substrates, such as cellulose, pulp and some synthetic fibres, aqueous suspensions of minerals and slimes and biologically active macromolecules. Cationic starch is also added at the beater to improve drainage on the wire, better sheet formation, and enhancement of the sizing efficiency of an alum-rosin size. Anionic starch Anionic starches are prepared by reaction with phosphoric acid and  alkali metal phosphates or by making derivative with carboxymethyl group. Thinned starch These are produced through depolymerisation reaction by hydrochloric acid or other acids. Unmodified starches are treated with a mineral acid at temperature lower than gelatinization and results in partially hydrolyzed starch molecules. This cleaves the chain length and lower viscosity. It increases the tendency to retro gradation. The lower viscosity permits higher concentrations to be used forming rigid gels in gums pastilles and jellies. In these applications, increased set-back leading to the formation of strong gels gives these starches significant advantages over native starches. Extended applications in food industry are found by acid-thinned starch in conjunction with esterification and etherification reaction. Acetylated starch Acetylated starch (E1420)  esterification  with  acetic anhydride Starch after treatment with acetic anhydride produces starch esters which are useful in biodegradable applications. In particular, high starch acetates provide thermo plasticity, hydrophobicity and compatibility with other additives. The result of this treatment is a stability starch which will produce pastes that will withstand several freeze-thaw cycles and prevent syneresis (weeping) occurs. Wide applications are in foods as texturing agent and provide good freeze-thaw stability. Extended applications in food industry are found by acetylated starch in conjunction with cross-linked starch. Dextrin Dextrin  (E1400) is formed by  roasting the starch with  hydrochloric acid. Dextrination is the heating of powdered starch, mostly in the presence of small amounts of acids, at different temperatures and with different reaction times. Dextrin is used as adhesives in paper and textile based industry. Grafted starch Grafted starches are produced by free radical copolymerization with ethylenically unsaturated monomers. Starch grafted with synthetic polymers is most utilized   tarches from different botanical origins were grafted with 1, 3 butadiene, styrene, acrylamide, acrylonitrile and Meth acrylic acid using free redox reaction. Starch ethers Starch ethers are produced by a nucleophilic substitution reaction with an ethylenically unsaturated monomer, followed by acid-catalyzed hydrolysis for viscosity adjustment. Physically modified starch Native starch can be modified with mechanical treatment, using spray drying technique, annealing technique Enzyme modified starch Enzyme-treated starch which includes maltodextrin,  cyclodextrin Starch modified with amylase enzyme produces derivative with good adhesion property and mainly used in coating the food with colorant. APPLICATION IN FOOD INDUSTRY Frozen Food To stabilize the food products starches are used in frozen bottle foods to provide freeze-thaw stability and retrogradation. Flavor Encapsulation Modified starches are used to encapsulate or, preserve the flavour of the food products. Octenylsuccinylated derivatives and other starch hydrolyzates are used as flavour encapsulation. Dairy Products Modified starches are used in a wider way to the dairy products; it provides variety of effects, including enhanced viscosity, cut ability, mouth feel and stability. In puddings, starch is used to enhance viscosity and smoothness. Starches are used in yogurts and sour cream to control syneresis and enhance thickness. Canned Food Canning process preserves food for up to several years by achieving a temperature sufficient to destroy or inactivate food poisoning or spoilage microbes. Starch is most commonly used to thicken, stabilize and enhance the mouth feel of canned foods such as puddings, pie- fillings, soups, sauces and gravies. Highly cross-linked starches are used for this purpose.