The Changing Mattress Business - 2591 Words

Changes in the global environment, in conjunction with the deepest and most prolonged economic downturn since the Great Depression, have started a sea change in the domestic mattress industry. The end of conspicuous consumption for big-ticket items such as mattresses and foundations, is the result of declining new home sales, tightening of consumer credit, the consumer confidence index still well below pre-recessionary levels (Wang, 2010), and unemployment hovering near 10%. In order to remain viable in rapidly changing global and task environments, mattress manufacturers will need to lower material and manufacturing costs, develop products that differentiate them from their competitors, or develop new channels of distribution for their†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, senior management has developed and implemented organizational systems to create tighter financial controls while implementing processes that require its executives to produce individual sales objectives, str ategies, and action plans. In addition, in order to create an environment of cooperation, trust, and, motivation for both King Koil and its licensees, the Executive Vice President at King Koil has directed the executive sales team to establish a â€Å"big brother system† where each sales team member has the assignment of working directly with two of the domestic licensees. As such, each sales team member has begun the process of fostering a harmonious working relationship with the sales executives from their assigned licensees. For the first time in the history of the licensee-licensor relationship, there are now defined strategies and objectives that both parties are tackling together. This is a new initiative for King Koil, and one that is necessary to foster the creation of a synergistic approach to mutual growth. Each of King Koil’s sale team members now have eight personal objectives, strategies, and action plans, as do each of the licensee-based sales managers w ho have been assigned to work cooperatively with King Koil’s executive sales team. The result of this initiative is that as a total company, King Koil now has approximately 120 total objectives and strategies for 2011. The framework of management by objective (MBO) is now in place.Show MoreRelated Analysis of Pleasant Dreams Mattress Company1325 Words   |  6 Pagesmore intense and is affecting businesses in almost every part of the world. Those domestic companies who have been doing business in a specific region for decades to concentrate in only one area of the market are now finding foreign competitors at their competition and having more market recognition because of their regional presence. The Product Pleasant Dream Mattress offers a wide range of household products and is among the market leaders in the American market. In marketing terms, itRead MoreThe Impact On The World Trade Center Towers On September 11th1694 Words   |  7 Pages Simmons is a 130-year-old mattress manufacturer that was hit hard by the economic downturn caused by the attacks on the World Trade Center towers on September 11th. The economic downturn had caused three of the furniture company’s best customers, Montgomery Ward, Heilig Meyers, and HomeLife, to go out of business. This group represented roughly 17% of the revenue for Simmons. To make matters worse, the foam Simmons used for its bed cushioning began to give off a malodorous smell when it was usedRead MoreCase Study : Four Star Industries Singapore1197 Words   |  5 PagesIndustries is a mattress manufacturer and distributor based in Singapore. Founded in 1966 by a carpenter, the company had grown rapidly and experienced years of relatively unabated success (Viswanathan Allampalli, 2010). The founder, Neo Gim Sin, helped build the company through his carpentry experience and familiarity with the machines provided by European manufacturers. This gave the company an early comp etitive advantage within the Singapore market, and Sin s continual strategic business decisionsRead MoreSWOT Analysis : Magm Case Study Analysis1115 Words   |  5 Pagesof the specialty advertising business since its first debut in 1967. As the forefront of the industry, this becomes a strength for the company to being set apart from the competitors. Also, being the forefront means greater opportunity to derive trust from customers. †¢ Strong brand reputation Sigma is being well-known as a vendor of custom calendars as a marketing tool for other businesses. Sigma has numerous of loyal customers from large companies such as Serta Mattress, Domino Sugar, Borden, IncRead MoreEssay on Huawei Culture1297 Words   |  6 Pagesharmony from directing the mind to a state of constant equilibrium. This concept here represents moderation in business competition both within the organization and with other companies. Here we take a careful look at Huawei’s â€Å"Wolf culture† deficiency and what they did to improve. Detailed characteristics of the â€Å"wolf culture† and their flaws ï ¼Ë†1ï ¼â€° Mattress culture The well-known â€Å"mattress† culture encourages employees to work overtime. However this tradition is not suitable for a established companyRead MoreEssay on Music Video Critique1357 Words   |  6 Pagessetting fade in and out as the camera changes angles. The music video continues, but at the end Ondrasik is singing alone in the woods. As the camera moves above him looking down, the woman and baby are revealed laying on a mattress by his feet. He lays down with them on the mattress in the woods as the song ends. This opening and closing gives a bit more of Ondrasik’s exact point in life. He has a woman (presumably his wife) and (also assuming) a child with another one on the way. Ondrasik has all thisRead More The Changing Mattress Industry in America2517 Words   |  11 PagesThe Changing Mattress Industry in America Changes in the global environment in conjunction with the deepest and most prolonged economic downturn since the Great Depression have started what I believe is a sea change in the domestic mattress industry. Factors such as declining new home sales, tightening of consumer credit, the consumer confidence index still well below pre-recessionary levels (Wang, 2010) and unemployment hovering near 10% have all contributed to the end of conspicuous consumptionRead MoreJames Sinegal Bio, The Chief Executive Officer, And Director Of The Low Price Membership Essay976 Words   |  4 Pagesmade a life changing decision, that decision was to take a job at Fed-Mart in 1954 as a mattress unloader(Businessinsider). Sinegal constant hard work and dedication did not go unnoticed. Fed Mart’s chairman, Sol Price took interest and gave Sinegal the chance of a lifetime through promotions, eventually landing Sinegal as the executive vice president of Fed-Mart. This opportunity allowed Singal to w ork with Sol Price and another executive to invent the big box warehouse concept ( business insider)Read MoreMoving Company Katy : Professionals Helping For The Moving Process1030 Words   |  5 Pages The cost will be higher than other moving service and it also depends on the weight of the goods and the distance. So if you are moving to distant locations contact these types of agencies. †¢ Commercial moving companies: These companies deal in business or commercial forms of relocations. The charging rates are costly but flexible as the shifting is crucial and complex than other types of moving. This is the reason why many companies don’t offer these services. Moving is a complex process and itRead MoreCell Phones Are A Influential Way Of Communication923 Words   |  4 Pagescell phones are a prominent way of communication. They have become so influential in peoples’ everyday lives that many can not imagine life without a cell phone. Cell phones are not necessarily a bad tool, when used in moderation. Cell phones are changing the way people communicate and the way they live their everyday lives. Cell phones have changed the communication game forever, for better or for worse. With the presence of cell phones, distance is no longer a communication barrier. Talking to family

The Legacy Of Andrew Jackson - 1086 Words

Introduction Some Americans accused President Andrew Jackson him of using absolute control to redistribute wealth after his veto of the National Bank. Others saw the act as an act of patriotism defending the state from a corrupt system that only favoured the rich . However, after the devastation of colonial taxation, taxation by the government not only became a sore spot for many Americans but also a lesson to monitor the actions of the government. Andrew Jackson was an accomplished and educated man he was a lawyer, general, and slaveholder making him a knowledgeable man of the rule of law and the devastations of war when it is not upheld. This bank was designed to stabilize the American economy, but also have a hefty profit for†¦show more content†¦Lastly, Jackson illustrates his compassion for the state as the whole and his dedication to reaching the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. Love of the constitution Guided by the opinion of constitution, Jackson had a genuine desire to discharge faithfully the duties and responsibilities of his post. Jackson uses the constitution to examine the authority of congress and remind them that the bank would be unauthorized under the constitution. In the speech he announces that congress only has exclusive power to grant monopolies or privileges to promote progress of science and useful arts. Furthermore, it appears that Jackson is using this speech to put congress in its place and remind everyone in congress what principles this state was founded on. His statement â€Å"Liberty and Union will be preserved† best exemplifies this . It is short and simple, but reminds congress of the power he holds and is willing to use to preserve the state. Jackson’s word choice in the speech calls on those that he is addressing to question their values. His use of â€Å"wisdom†, â€Å"proper†, â€Å"constitution† , forces congress into a dilemma where if they wish to continue to support the bill for the bank they appear to the public to lack wisdom, are improper, and are against the constitution of the state. Consequently, this tactic

Community Development Free Essays

Community Development (CD) is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities. Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people by providing them with the skills they need to effect change in their own communities. These skills are often created through the formation of large social groups working for a common agenda. We will write a custom essay sample on Community Development or any similar topic only for you Order Now Community developers must understand both how to work with individuals and how to affect communities’ positions within the context of larger social institutions. There are a myriad of job titles for CD workers and their employers include public authorities and voluntary or non-governmental organisations, funded by the state and by independent grant making bodies. Since the nineteen seventies the prefix word ‘community’ has also been adopted by several other occupations from the police and health workers to planners and architects, who work with more disadvantaged groups and communities and have been influenced by CD approaches. CD practitioners have over many years developed a range of skills and approaches for working within local communities and in particular with disadvantaged people. These include less formal educational methods, community organising and group work skills. Since the nineteen sixties and seventies through the various anti poverty programmes in both developed and developing countries, CD practitioners have been influenced by structural analyses as to the causes of disadvantage and poverty i.e. inequalities in the distribution of wealth, income, land etc and especially political power and the need to mobilise people power to affect social change. Thus the influence of such educators as Paulo Friere and his focus upon this work also being about politicising the poor. Other key people who have influenced this field are Saul Alinsky (Rules for Radicals) and EF Schumacher (Small is Beautiful). The UK currently hosts the main international body representing community development, the International Association for Community Development. IACD  was started in the USA in 1953, moved to Belgium in the seventies and to the UK (Scotland) in 1998. Community development as a term has taken off widely in anglophone countries i.e. the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand and other countries in the Commonwealth. It is also used in some countries in eastern Europe with active CD associations in Hungary and Romania. The International Community Development Journal, published by Oxford University Press, and set up in 1967 has been the major forum for research and dissemination of international CD theory and practice. Community development approaches are recognised internationally. These methods and approaches have been acknowledged as significant for local social, economic, cultural, environmental and political development by such organisations as the UN, WHO, OECD, World Bank, Council of Europe and EU. How to cite Community Development, Papers Community Development Free Essays Community Development Planning Lecture 1: Understanding the key concepts of Community, Community Development Economic Development Course Learning Outcomes †¢ Explain the key concepts of social infrastructure in spatial planning †¢ Analyze social infrastructure issues in spatial planning †¢ Identify the various challenges of social infrastructure in spatial planning practices Community †¢ Various definitions: ? People who live within a geographically defined area and who have social and psychological ties with each other and with the place where they live (Mattessich and Monsey, 2004) ? A grouping of people who live close to one another and are united by common interests and mutual aids (National Research Council 1975) †¢ These definitions refer to people and the ties that bind them, then only to geographic locations †¢ It means, without people and the connections/ties, community will be only a collections of buildings and streets. †¢ However community does not necessarily means â€Å"living physically close to one another†. It also refers to social connections at other than living place such as workplace, sports centre, clubs or groups, or political affiliations. We will write a custom essay sample on Community Development or any similar topic only for you Order Now †¢ Community can also be created through special interest or conditions such as disability, gender, belief †¢ In this era of social media (such as FB, Twitter) madness, communities can be created on virtual platform. Community Development (CD) †¢ Community Development is defined and described as.. – the process of developing stronger communities of people and the social and psychological ties they share. The educational process to enable citizens to address problems by group decision-making – Involvement in a process to achieve improvement in some aspect of community life – All these processes will result in an outcome which is the improvement of community capital. Community Capital Human Capital †¢ Labour supply, skills, experience, capabilities Physical Capital †¢ Buildings, streets, infrastructure Financial Capital †¢ Community financial institutions, micro loan funds, community development banks Environmental Capital †¢ Natural resources, weather, recreational opportunities Social Capital Social Capital †¢ Social Capital refers to the ability of residents to organize and mobilize their resources for the accomplishment of consensual defined goals †¢ It refers to the extent to which members of a community can work together effectively to develop and sustain strong relationships, solve problems and make group decisions, and collaborate effectively to achieve common goals Social Capital †¢ Some scholars make distinction between bonding capital and bridging capital †¢ Bonding capital refers to ties within homogenous groups (e. g. races, gender, people with the same economic background) †¢ Bridging capital refers to ties among different groups Community development chains Capacity building process Developing the ability to act Social capital Ability to act Community development outcome Taking action Community improvement Development ready community Economic development †¢ Community development and economic development is highly sinergistic. †¢ Community development – a planned effort to produce assets that increase the capacity of residents to improve their quality of life. The assets include: physical, human, social, financial, environmental †¢ Economic development – the process of creating wealth through the mobilization of human, financial, capital, physical and natural resources to generate marketable goods and services. The definitions are clearly parallel : community development is to produce and improve assets, economic development is to mobilize these assets which will bring greater benefits for the community ie. more goods, services, jobs etc. †¢ Both types of development are highly dependable on each other as most businesses will look for development-ready communities that are equipped with strong and established communities, good infrastructure, abundant supply of labour, safety, tel ecommunication etc. Community and economic development chains Community development outcome Taking action Community improvement Development ready community Economic development outcome Job creation Increased income and wealth Increased standard of living Capacity building process Developing the ability to act Social capital Ability to act Economic development process Creating and maintaining ED programs Mobilizing resources The end How to cite Community Development, Essay examples

Integrated Supply Chain and Advantage †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Integrated Supply Chain and Advantage. Answer: It is an important part of business to have a set of efficient, responsive and fast supply chain. An organization can deliver better value by gaining competitive advantage. This can be done by running supply chain networks, evaluating and implementing the necessary changes which will respond to the dynamic business scenarios. Introduction of new product, changes in demand pattern, addition of new supply sources and change in tax rules and regulations are included in the dynamic business cases. Supply chain network is a strong approach which helps to provide a remarkable decrease in the supply chain costs and thus improves service levels by aligning with the supply chain strategies. As it is mentioned in the case study, the consultancy firm Accenture is able to increase the companys market capitalization above the industry average. For realization of these benefits, there are important investments done in the logistics system required at the level of supply chain networks. An efficient logistics system is essential to make the effective use of international sourcing strategies, specifically the large manufacturing capacity of Pacific Rim and China (Christopher 2016). It will be helpful for the organization to use supply chain managers in different sectors that are looking for better visibility of the whereabouts of the supply chains and access more appropriate data at a faster pace. Integrated supply chain allows a company to highlight the on those assets which would allow the organization to move forward by achieving rewards. These are considered as assets of the organization which deliver a strong impact on the revenue system. This, in turn needs to be enhanced as much as possible because it allows the companies to improve their products, gain profits and boost market share. ISC is also responsible for reducing the transactional costs. Without it, there would have been a possibility in delayed processes leading to unnecessary costs. Apart from these, supply chain also helps in ensuring quality throughout the process. Along with the financial advantages, the company will be able to fight in the competitive market and become the winner with this management (Mangan and Lalwani 2016). The disadvantages include excessive regulation where the integration of all the suppliers will become a challenge in the management of both internal and external supply. There might evolve a complex scenario where the resource can be wasted unnecessarily due to integrated supply chain management. A shortage of suppliers who will not permit in the renewal of contracts with respect to integrated supply chain management will violate the priorities of the specific business. Again, there could be damage in the balance and checks with the arrival of any kinds of lapse in the compliance checks. There are a number of key attributes involved in the logistics system. According to the case study the three significant aspects are integration, time/service and movement of product. The process of logistics interfaces and interacts with the total company and also with the external companies, vendors, customers, carriers and other stakeholders of the company. Logistics is responsible for the movement of products from the vendors to the delivery at your customers doors. This involves the moves through manufacturing facilities, warehouses, and third-parties, such as re-packagers or distributors. It is not only about shipping and receiving, nor is it traffic or warehousing but something more than that (Ross 2015). Movement of product is sometimes the way in which logistics is considered by many companies. It is considered as a complementary method of the corporate strategy, if the stress is put on the lower inventories, reduction of costs, customer service or others. Time/ service on the other hand, is a factor of competition, requirements of the customers, companys place and position in the industry and the corporate culture involved with it. Integration takes place within the company, between the company and the customers or between the customers and the vendors. It is one of the important processes in logistics. Supply chain information technology or SCIT is the prime force behind effective supply chain management activities. IT provides many opportunities for the companies to decrease the costs and enhance the responsiveness to the customers demands. Other services enabled by IT in the field of supply chain management are environment friendly and clean services; less capital intensive services; it is not dependent on location so cam be conducted from anywhere; it does not need any costly infrastructure facilities. The different IT solutions involved in the process are- communications, E- mail, electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning. With the booming IT industry and internet being the key driver, the suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers are getting connected. Internet has a big influence on the total business strategy starting from policy to physical implementation. The area where the impact of IT is felt in a great way is communication, selection of vendors, cost saving, reduction in the lead time taken and improves the product promotional activities (Stevens and Johnson 2016). The three different ways in which technology can fulfill its roles is by using the best communication tools for the job, availability of good data and access to solid tools of analytics and staying updated with information. The process of supply chain is concerned with the flow of products and information from one supply chain member to another in the organization. In todays world, there is an immediate need for immediate communication always at an instant. It becomes convenient but at the same time there is a possibility of miscommunication. To see and listen to a person while communicating is considered as an effective communication. In the process of supply chain management, whether monitoring inventories or performance metrics, technology plays an important role. The main factor behind effective use of metrics is to have a hold of solid and reliable data. It is important to stay updated with the recent information through the use of technology which provides knowledge about the industry. Reference Christopher, M., 2016.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C., 2016.Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley Sons. Ross, D.F., 2015. Information Technology and Supply Chain Management. InDistribution Planning and Control(pp. 827-886). Springer US. Seuring, S., 2013. A review of modeling approaches for sustainable supply chain management.Decision support systems,54(4), pp.1513-1520. Stevens, G.C. and Johnson, M., 2016. Integrating the supply chain 25 years on.International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management,46(1), pp.19-42.

Cows Essays (701 words) - Meat Industry, Intensive Animal Farming

Cows Our land our bodies and our cows are all effected by the meet industry. Our land and water is getting polluted from animal waste. Our bodies are getting sick from germs in meat, and the cows are being tortured and are suffering. Waste from livestock in the United States amounts to130 times the waste produced by people. In Central California 1,600 dairies produced more waste than a city of 21 million people that's 5 tons for every person on this earth, and their is not enough surrounding land to absorb it all. Every time it rains phosphorous and nitrogen seep into our water ways causing algae and fungus to spread. One type of algae has ability to ambush its pray by stunning it with a disorienting toxin before sucking it's skin off. this one celled creature is known for killing a billion fish within North Carolina in 1995. People who came in connection with this cell often experienced memory loss and got sores on their skin. In 1982 their were 22 known species of harmful dinoflagellates in 1997 their were over 60. In the United States farm animals received 30 times the antibiotics than people did' not to treat infection but to make the animal grow faster on less feed. some physicians are finding human diseases difficult to treat each year 60'000 Americans die because their medications didn't work. Every year on average 9,000 people die from something they ate. One hamburger can contain the meat of 100 different cows from 4 different countries. One infected animal can contaminate 16 tons of beef. In 1995 the annual health care cost from meat centered diets are between 23.6 and 61.4 billion. A diet of mostly fruits, vegetables and cereals reduces 40 percent of cancers and in 1996 Americans Cancer Society released similar guidelines including recommending not to have red meat in your diet. Salmonella originated in European cows in the late 80s. From cows it spread to other livestock then to pets and wild animals and eventually to people. The one effective cure is the antibiotic fluoroquinolones but even it is loosing it's effectiveness. Soon the only way to stop the sickness will be to outlaw factory farms and the administering antibiotics to farm animals. Modern cows of today lives her whole live with a swelled and sensitive udder, it is likely never to be allowed out of her stall it is milked up to three times a day and is kept pregnant nearly all of her short life. A cows life in today milk factory is bred, fed, medicated, inseminated and manipulated for one reason maximum milk at minimum cost. Her young are usually taken from her almost immediately after birth the female calf is raised to be a dairy cow and the male calf is either immediately slaughter or it is taken to a veal factory. At the veal factory they will chain him up by his neck so he can not turn around his entire life. They feed them a special diet without iron or roughage. They inject him with antibiotics and hormones to keep him alive and to help him grow. they will keep him in darkness except for feeding time. The result is a nearly full grown animal with very tender white flesh. The good part about this is veal is still getting premium price it always did when it came from a baby calf but now their is just a lot more of it. Half of every butchered cow and one third of every butchered pig becomes a material of waste in addition 920 million animals die before reaching slaughter. With all the left over and dead animals they export lips to Mexico for taco filling and horns are made into gelatin other parts are used for drugs, aphrodisiacs and cosmetics. The rest is minced, pulverized and boiled down for more products. All this happens just so we can eat meat. If everyone had a vegetarian diet and no food was wasted, current food productions would theoretically feed 10 billion people more than the population for the year 2050. According to the Population References Bureau. Even today 840 million people are malnourished and nearly 50,000 die from starvation every day. Animal Science

How to Conjugate Emprunter, to Borrow

How to Conjugate 'Emprunter,' to Borrow When you want to say to borrow in French, turn to the verb  emprunter. Verb conjugation is required to imply when the borrowing happens, whether that is in the past, present, or future tense. The good news is that  emprunter  is a relatively straightforward conjugation. Conjugating the French Verb  Emprunter Many French verbs follow common verb conjugation patterns. This allows you to apply what you may have learned with  depenser  (to spend) or  dà ©barrasser  (to get rid of) to a verb like  emprunter. Each of these is  a  regular -ER verb, the most common conjugation youll find in French. Changing  emprunter  to the present, future, or imperfect past tense is quite simple. First, recognize the verb stem  emprunt-, then add the appropriate ending for the subject pronoun and tense. For instance, I borrow is jemprunte in French, while we will borrow is nous emprunterons. Subject Present Future Imperfect j' emprunte emprunterai empruntais tu empruntes emprunteras empruntais il emprunte empruntera empruntait nous empruntons emprunterons empruntions vous empruntez emprunterez empruntiez ils empruntent emprunteront empruntaient Present Participle Adding -ant  to the verb stem of  emprunter  gives you the  present participle  empruntant. It is a verb, of course, though youll also find it useful as an adjective, gerund, or noun at times. Past Participle and Passà © Composà © Another form of the past tense beyond the imperfect is the  passà © composà ©Ã‚  and it requires a quick phrase construction. It begins with the subject pronoun, then a conjugate of  avoir, the most common  auxiliary,  or helping, verb.  To this, the  past participle  empruntà ©Ã‚  is added. It all comes together quickly: I borrowed becomes jai empruntà © and we borrowed transforms into nous avons empruntà ©. More Simple  Conjugations Among these simple conjugations of  emprunter, French students should memorize and practice those above first. Then, you can dive into some special uses of the verb. For instance, with a little study, youll know these passà © simple and imperfect subjunctive forms of  embrasser  when you read them. In more frequent use, the subjunctive verb mood implies uncertainty to the verb and the conditional form says that the action will only happen  if  something else does. Subject Subjunctive Conditional Passà © Simple Imperfect Subjunctive j' emprunte emprunterais empruntai empruntasse tu empruntes emprunterais empruntas empruntasse il emprunte emprunterait emprunta empruntà ¢t nous empruntions emprunterions empruntà ¢mes empruntassions vous empruntiez emprunteriez empruntà ¢tes empruntassiez ils empruntent emprunteraient empruntà ¨rent empruntassent The imperative verb form is just as useful and even easier to remember. The key here is that you can drop the subject pronoun: use emprunte rather than tu emprunte. Imperative (tu) emprunte (nous) empruntons (vous) empruntez

Assessing ELL students Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Assessing ELL students - Research Paper Example All together, adult ELL students in United States universities speak roughly 400 languages, even though approximately 80% are native speakers of Spanish. Individuals of Asian origin — mainly speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Hmong — account for almost 5% of the size of adult ESL learners in United States universities. While most of these learners are found in prime urban centers, many others reside together in smaller towns. English-language learners (ELLs) are concentrated in six states — California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois. The English-language learners in those six states make up more than 60% of the ELL population. The United States federal regime’s No Child Left Behind rule of 2001 has created the urge to make legitimate and fair assessments for English-language learners an issue of pressing nationwide concern (Hakuta, 2009). Therefore, institutions have produced frameworks that tend to assist educators, practitioners and test developers, in making appropriate choices on assessment of English language learners in educational content fields. ... This is why university guidelines are so vital: they help teachers assess students’ mastery of content while reducing the role of the learner’s English proficiency in its assessment. The three universities that will be considered are the University of North Carolina, University of Denver and Georgetown University. Part 1: Interview University of North Carolina Freshly enrolled international learners, who are supposed to hand in a TOEFL score, are urged to take the English Proficiency Assessment prior to registering for classes (University of North Carolina, 2013). Students willing to be enrolled must go through some information at their admission letters to check whether they should sit for the exam. The exam is administered just prior to the start of the Spring and Fall semesters. The aim of the English Proficiency Assessment is to recognize those learners who would profit from more English instruction in a program (ENGL 601) created to establish standard United States academic writing conventions. Rooted in the results of the exam, a student might be needed to sit for the ENGL 601 program during his or her first fall semester of admission (University of North Carolina, 2013). A student meets North Carolina University’s English Language Proficiency requirements if they completed Grades 11, as well as 12 English, in succession, as part of two full academic years, in any high school via a state- or provincially-accredited United States curriculum. Also, the student is expected to have attained a grade of 80% or more in a Grade 12 state-examined English program, as part of one full term of education. University of Denver The University of Denver recognizes either the TOEFL or IELTS as

Surrealism Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Surrealism Movement - Essay Example The paper "Surrealism Movement" concerns the movement of surrealism. The movement is all about freedom: the creator is free to create whatever s/he wants with no regard to aesthetics, morality or even reason. Interestingly enough, Breton, in the First Manifesto clarified that the basic tenets of surrealism are not limited to art only, but can also be applicable to all of our lives. So it can be assumed that whenever one is liberating one’s imagination, one is engaging in surrealism. A movement of complete freedom, the only thing forbidden in surrealism is to forbid any form of expression. Whether it is discontinuity, or placing completely incompatible objects together, or using fantastical creatures or imagery, everything is acceptable and legitimate in surrealism. Some artists even took to a technique called automatic drawing, whereby they let their hands draw on paper without any conscious thought, however, they did admit that the process was not entirely without conscious e ffort as they had to render it to be comprehensible on a certain level. Among the more famous of the proclaimed Surrealist artists are Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Kansuke Yamamoto, and MÃ ©ret Oppenheim. However, there are many artists who have dabbled in surrealism without really proclaiming themselves to be surrealists, for instance, Pablo Picasso. When it comes to surrealist writers, most people find it difficult to understand them, because there is no sense of continuity in them. However, such writers lay more emphasis on the poetic undertones.

Hypericum Perforatum in the Treatment of ADHD Essay

Hypericum Perforatum in the Treatment of ADHD - Essay Example This study was to understand why parents seek alternative therapies and medication when stimulant medications are found to be effective in the treatment of ADHD Most of the herbal medicines in the US that may help in the ADHD treatment are from St John’s wort. Hypericum perforatum is a botanical name of an extract from St John’s Wort. It has been analyzed widely and alleged to treat depression in adults but the results brought out some mixed feeling. The same analysis was carried out on children with depression and the results showed that Hypericum perforatum plays a role in inhibiting reuptake of substances like norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine. This led to conduction of a test, which was a placebo-controlled test that was aimed at determining if the Hypericum perforatum was an effective alternative stimulant in reducing the severity of ADHD symptoms in children and adolescent by measuring it on an ADHD Rating Scale. The Office of Scientific and Ethical Review Board of Bastyr University approved the study placebo-controlled that was to be carried out on Hypericum perforatum for the treatment of ADHD. All equipment’s and facilities required for the trial was set in the Clinical research of the university. Patients were referred to the Bastyr University, Kenmore where the trial was to be done. The trial was scheduled between March 2005 and August 2006 and the participants that were eligible to be examined the trial was to be carried on children and adolescents of the age between 6-17 years old. They were to undergo a diagnostic and statistical test of mental disorders. The consents and assessment forms were served to the participants and their parents. Both the parents and participants were supposed to attend all the study visits and the participants were supposed to swallow pills.

Impact of Recession on Movie Industry

Impact of Recession on Movie Industry Foreword Writing this dissertation was a long and exhausting process which included many setbacks and failures. Nevertheless it also was fulfilling and exciting as I was driven by my passion and interest in movies and cinemas in general. I always intended to work for the movie industry one day and hold well- grounded hopes of achieving this goal in the near future. Maybe this dissertation will help to convince the studios of my passion and capabilities. My thanks go to Mr Nick Bowen, who was an outstanding tutor and helped me through rough and inconvenient times with his competence and great sense of humour. I also would like to thank me interviewees Mr Arwed Fischer and Mr Jan Fantl, who provided me with many important information and an inside into the industry. Without them, a big part of the report would not have reached the standard it has now. Finally, I am very grateful for the help of my parents who made it possible for me to go to London and provided me with everything I needed in order to be successful and happy in the future. I do not want to forget to thank everybody else who supported me during this tough time and cheered me up after one of the occasional setbacks. Executive Summary Recently the film studios are experiencing a boost of attendances and ticket sales despite the financial crisis. This already happened in past recessions and therefore will be analysed in this report. One reason for that economical immunity seems to be the technological development such as sound and colour in the past or 3D cinema nowadays. Nevertheless there are some issues the industry has to deal with at the moment, e.g. piracy or substitution goods like videogames. Although 3D movies did fail continuously in the past in terms of economical success, the studios tried it again with an advanced technology and exceeded all expectations when Avatar was released. In this context factors such as rising ticket prices or the limited number of 3D capable cinemas play a big role as well in order to determine the future potential the 3D technology. A few companies already started to produce and sell 3D capable TVs which are supposed to the next economical success the movie landscape. IMAX cinemas suffered a long period of very low attendances and decreasing ticket sales until advanced 3D technology has been used to produce movies. Since then the IMAX group notes record breaking attendances and boosting profits. Two surveys have been analyzed and compared to each other. One, published in 2005 by Opinion Dynamics Corporation alre ady showed some curious facts on 3D cinema and its likely success in the future. The second one has been generated online by the author of this report in 2010 amongst a group of people from 10 countries. In terms of forecasting a success of 3D movies it is very hard for the studios to forecast the success of a single movie or even a whole new technology. They mostly try to find what is most appealing to the audience (unlike independent productions) and therefore have their analysts forecasting risks and returns. Nevertheless DisplaySearch 3D Display Technology conducted a forecast which is quite optimistic and expects increases in every sector of the movie industry (cinemas, home cinemas etc). The recommendations include the authors personal opinion of how the 3D technology will influence the cinema landscape and the options studios have to market it properly. By interviewing people from the movie industry the author gathered some inside knowledge which he tried to apply to his recommendations. Therefore it is expected that the boom of 3D movies will slow down slightly but continue to strengthen again. In the long term it is expected that the new technology will have a positive impac t on the movie industry. 1. Introduction According to Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, the upcoming 3D movie technology is the greatest innovation to occur in the movie business in 70 years. (CNN Online, 2008) This statement shows the hope of the whole industry for more attendances and a revolution in the movie market. An increasing amount of movie studios shift their productions towards the new technology. As a result this is discussed in a rising number of TV-shows, magazines and newspapers. Despite the fact that videogames are becoming more popular and the financial credit crisis has reduced average income, going to the movies still seems to be a big part of daily life all over the world. This happens even though the whole film industry seems to be in a crisis, as will be explained below. Initially 3D movies were produced using 2 separate projectors to produce one double image and running two separate rolls of film. Nowadays the technology is far more advanced which means that digital projectors are installed in cinemas producing sharper and steadier images. There also is a difference in production between real movies and animated ones. Animated movies are not produced with real cameras but use computers to create and render every single shot from two angles. Live action movies on the other hand are filmed by new dual lens digital cameras that are able to capture two points of view. (BBC news, 2009) Movie attendances in the United States decreased by 2, 6 %, falling to its lowest level since 1997, whereas revenues fell from $1,484 billion in 2004 to $1,364 billion in 2008. In the same period the amount of screens jumped from 35,993 to 39,476. To be able to show 3D movies, it is necessary to upgrade to digital screens; here the number increased from only 138 in 2004 to 4,576 in 2008, a rising trend. (Marche du film, 2009) Linking these data leads to the conclusion that the movie industry is keen to establish and invest in a new technology in order to make going to the cinema more attractive to its customers and increase attendances in the short and long-term. The following report analyses the current status of the movie industry and shows the likely economic impact in times of recession on the worldwide market. The industries main current issues and a forecast based on trends and profound market research are also examined. 2. Literature Review This chapter summarises and evaluates the related research of what has been written about the research topic. Opinions and data from many different people, working for the movie industry or being close enough to venture a forecast, have been taken into account and evaluated objectively. The chapter also defines and explains the new 3D movie technology, its history and its characteristics from different perspectives. Furthermore it covers several models and theories and talks about reports and how to estimate their importance. This is followed by an evaluation to point out weaknesses or gaps in the literature. The final part will consist of a link to the initial research question and what the plan for proceeding is. Overall, there are 3 main questions to be covered in this chapter: 1. How did big studios fight back in past recessions? 2. How have technical developments influenced business in the past in different markets? 3. What are current issues in the industry? It also is evident that due to the newness of the topic chosen, there are certain constraints in terms of what kind of literature is currently available. Therefore the main sources cited are websites as well as primary research. 2.1 Comebacks of the Studios in Past Recessions After the first big Wall Street Crash in 1929, admissions rose by 58% compared to the previous year. (Entertainment times online, 2008) According to John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners in America, this means that â€Å"In the past four decades there have been seven recession years in this country, and the box office has climbed strongly in five of those years,† (Entertainment times online, 2008) According to the Academy of Management Journal (1996), between 1936 -1950 property based resources such as long-term contracts with stars and theatres helped financial performance to stabilize. Contrary to the period of 1951-65, when knowledge- based resources such as coordination and production talent and budgets increased financial performance. (Academy of Management Journal, 1996, pp. 519-543) Asking some of the most important and powerful people in the U.S. and UK movie industry shows that the majority believes that the current recession either is an opportunity or even a reason for rising sales. But what is the reason for that surprising success in economic downturns? Besides new technologies, which unfortunately are not always released at the right time, the studios decide to publish more comedies and action movies, to help the audience to escape from their monetary problems. In the USA, three of the top-five movies in terms of gross profit of 2009 are comedies: Mall Cop, Hes Just Not That into You and Bride Wars. (CNN movies, 2009) This permits us to draw the conclusion that a recession does not necessarily lead to a break-down of sales in the movie industry. But did past recessions really have no impact or even a positive impact on the movie industry? Not everyone agrees with the theory of increasing sales in recessions though. Gerald Peary, a documentary filmmaker and critic in Boston, Massachusetts, believes that the market will be flooded with intellectually less challenging movies since they are the ones that are more likely to succeed on the audience with smaller budget. In his opinion The dumber the movie is, sometimes, the more money it makes, which states that Those movies are somehow both critic proof and depression proof. (CNN movies, 2009) Another point of view is represented by Basinger, the film historian who assumes that it is still too soon to predict any trends concerning the recession and movies. She points out that recessions leads to faster changes in the movie scene. Also for her, going to the movies is not highly affected by the crisis, as it still is [] the cheapest and fullest way to abandon your troubles and lose yourself in a story. (CNN movies, 2009) Even in some of the worst recessions, economy ever has experienced, the movie industry mostly has been of the few sectors that was able to maintain its position in the market or even increase admissions. This is due to peoples not changing consumer behaviour. Even though they got affected by economic downturns, most of them still wanted to escape from their misery for a few hours. It also is an opportunity for independent film makers to realize low-budget productions, as movie studios get more cost- conscious when their stocks fall during a crisis. Henceforth studios prefer to invest little money in innovative productions and directors hoping for a reasonable return of investment. 2.2 Technological influence on Business in the past Around 120 years ago, films were little more than drawings that seemed to come alive with motion. Then, in 1877 Emile Reynaud had patented a machine, the ‘Praxinoscope, which projected seemingly moving paintings onto a screen. An upgrade of his invention, the Projection Praxinoscope, which was a large-scale Praxinoscope, got patented in 1888 and was used for public projection. Reynaud started to screen his films, accompanied by music on a regular base. Yet that early atmosphere and technology were very similar to today screenings. (Kinogeschichte, 2009) Using spools to feed and take-up the extended picture band, sequences were no longer limited to short cyclic movements. This was the first and important step for commercial use which has been so essential for successful cinematography. (Exeter, 2000) Nevertheless, there were still many issues concerning films, amongst other things the length of them or the lack of sound. To compensate this problem, it was tried to create a more realistic, narrative and psychological atmosphere using on-screen text and a pianist accompanying the film. Back in 1927, after the introduction of movies with full sound, cinema attendances jumped up from 57 million to 90 million in 1930 (Shmoop statistics, 2009) and made them even more popular. This demonstrates that introducing a revolutionary technology can lead to soaring attendances and higher box office sales for the studios. Also the lack of colour on screen was tried to be compensated to improve the movie experience. One of the first ideas was to tint the film reels but later prising companies such as ‘Technicolor and ‘Eastmancolor, made it possible to use new ways of colouring and achieved the objective of a deeper and more intense atmosphere. (Inventors library) Nowadays black/white movies disappeared almost completely from the world of movies. Although, the success of films like ‘Schindlers List (Steven Spielberg, 1993) and ‘Clerks (Kevin Smith, 1994) shows that it is still possible to achieve commercial and critical success with monochrome. (David Parkinson 1995, pg 112) After releasing the first full-colour, La Cucaracha (1934), coloured movies became more and more popular. In the late 1930s, the films,Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937, Disney), were a huge success. Last one still is considered a milestone as it was thefirstfeature-length animated film. (Filmsite, 2007) Introducing new, revolutionary technologies and giving them the chance to go to maturity stage of the product lifecycle always has been very profitable for movie studios. Be it the implementation of sound or the introduction of colour, people loved to spend their money on being amused in cinemas. 2.3. Current issues in the industry There are more problems and issues the movie industry has to deal with besides the current substantial crisis and recessions. These will be examined in the following sections. 2.3.1 Videogames as substitution goods Amongst many threats for the movie industry such as the highly developed internet, DVDs and an increasing amount of home activities, one of the main problems for the movie theatres and studios is the rising and durable success of videogames. First released in the 1980s, videogames have been designed for a significantly smaller target audience. This was attributed to the fact computers were still in the early stage of their product life cycle and thus the presence of computers in the average household was a much less common occurrence. The commercial use of computers was much more prominent during this period, than their household residential usage. Even with the introduction of platforms such as the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) in the 1990s, the Videogame industry was still viewed as a niche market. It was never anticipated to develop into a competitor of the movie industry as it is nowadays. Currently, the profit generated from videogames equates to that of their movie counterparts. Current trends indicate that consumers have a tendency to spend more on buying videogames as opposed to going to the movies which has been identified as a huge threat for the studios. Just recently, in the beginning of November 2009, Activision Blizzard Incs released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and anticipated more than $660 million in sales from 11-13 million sold units by the end of 2009. Also previous games were big hits in terms of sales as the table below shows. Top video games sales on their first day ( Reuters, 2009) Figure 1 These data can be compared to Top Hollywood worldwide opening weekends: ( Reuters, 2009) Figure 2 As aforementioned and illustrated by the tables (Figure 1 Figure 2) above, it is evident that data solidifies the trend that an increasing number of consumers are changing their consumer behaviour and purchasing videogames which they may enjoy at home. Another possibility for the rising success of videogames could be the fact of potential consumers rather staying home than spending money on transport for getting there and quite expensive snacks and drinks in the cinema. This data backs up the trend that more and more consumers tend to shift from going to the movies to buying videogames which they can enjoy at home. Even if they are more expensive (around $50/ unit depending on the platform) the duration of playing them is far higher than only two hours. This makes them a substitution good with which the studios have to deal with now and most likely even more in the future. On the other hand this also creates new opportunities for the movie and the game industry to work together and create profits by co-operating. This is already working in terms of converting movies to videogames but also the other way around. 2.3.2 Piracy Another very recent issue and problem for the movie industry is the rapid spread of illegal movie copies, also known as pirate copy. In 2007, downloads of movies rose by 50 % in Germany, mostly saved as digital copies. ( Welt online, 2009) According to The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), the cost of motion picture piracy is significant high and an essential threat to the studios and the whole industry. The loss for the movie industry was $6, 1 billion in 2006. Taking all industries into account that are related to the movies that number would add up to $20.5 billion annually. This means that not only the studios and related companies lose money. It also means that people are losing jobs. Piracy being absent, 141,030 new jobs would have been added to the U.S. economy in 2006 (IPI, 2006) Henceforth the studios are in an on-going war with the movie pirates trying to reduce losses. The enormous impact on U.S. and worldwide economy forced the industry to consider distinct strategie s to decrease or even stop piracy. Besides Ads, showing movie pirates chased by police and going to prison as for every other federal crime, the industry also adopted a hard line by suing them for compensation. This found its peak in sending four men to prison for one year and ordering them to pay $3.6 million of compensation to major film companies such as Warner Brothers, Columbia, Twentieth Century Fox, Sony BMG and EMI. (CNN Piracy, 2009) They operated a Swedish movie pirate website which has been judged of being illegal. In total, piracy and the recession have reduced DVD sales in the UK by around 10 % and in the US by even 13 %. The problem for the studios is that DVD sales are responsible for half a titles long-term profits and more than double the revenue than from tickets sold. (Independent Online 3D Revolution, 2010) Hence Hollywood always tries to find new ways of protecting their movies and anticipate copyright theft. Consequently they always need new technologies which cannot be hacked but according to Arwed Fischer (Fischer, 2010), it is almost impossible to find the perfect safety. Hackers are able to break any copy protection within days or hours. In fact, this made him quit the job as resources seem to be wasted on nothing. Critics on the other hand state that the way of how to calculate losses for the movie industry is neither transparent nor comprehensible. The studios claim that each single pirate copy is the same as one loss of attendance. This is one of the reasons why mentioned losses are extraordinary high. People that just downloaded the movie and never considered going to the cinema or buying it on DVD are not included in these statistics which makes them quite subjective. On the other hand, the new 3D technology makes studios feel quite safe at the moment as it yet is impossible to pirate 3D featured movies. Hence people who want to experience this new way of cinema must go to the m ovies and pay for their tickets. James Cameron also is aware of this unique selling point when he says: You can pirate a 3D movie but you cant pirate it in 3D, so you cant bottle that 3D experience. (New Yorker Online, 2009) Although this is a justifiable and legitimate objection, piracy remains one of the industries biggest problems. Even if not each ‘pirate can be considered a loss of attendance and ticket sales, it remains an act of stealing. The studios spend millions of Dollars to produce profitable movies which are linked to many jobs. That should not be undermined by downloading movies instead of going to see them in the cinemas and pay the entrance fee. 3. Research Methodology 3.1 Introduction This chapter explains the approaches used to facilitate a precise and specific answer to the initial research question. In order to gather relevant and accurate information both, quantitative and qualitative data will be used. However the authors focus will be on qualitative data collection. The potential bias of primary is quite low due to a wide range of interview partners, all from different sides. Secondary data has been gathered under same criteria in order to minimise the risk of potential bias. Where, if possible, the author tried to look for alternative explanations and to show that he was aware of any potential bias. 3.2 Justification of Research Perspective Every research requires distinct methods recommended for structuring research programs. In this dissertation, it has been chosen to base all outcomes and results on actual data or professional forecasts like interviews, surveys and questionnaires. Copies of them can be found in the appendix. A high level of discipline was necessary and essential at the beginning of the research. Even though it got disappointing at some points, as the researcher took a wrong path, objectives from books by Mark Saunders (2009) helped the author to keep focused and motivated. According to Saunders * â€Å"Data are collected systematically * Data are interpreted systematically * There is a clear purpose; to find things out† (Saunders et al, 2009) 3.3 Primary Data Collection The author attempted to use all the important primary data collection methods such as interviews, networking and surveys in order to analyse the data objectively. This leads towards an accurate answer to the initial research question. Interviews with people from the movie industry such as former employees of copyright companies and cinema owners have given a deep insight into the topic. Interviewees are: * Arwed Fischer, former employee of X-Protect GmbH in Munich * Representative of the Kinopolis group, one of the biggest German cinema chains, who wants to stay anonymous. * Jan Fantl, producer, production manager and former director Several approaches for the interview structure have been considered and led to the following conclusion: Although unstructured interviews have the advantage of complete freedom in terms of content and structure ( Kumar R, 2005), the author of this report decided to mostly use structured or hybrid interviews for his research purposes. This represents a spot in-between the unstructured and structured interviews in Figure 3. That was given due to the fact that face-to face interview were not possible for a number of reasons such as travelling cost or lack of time of the interviewees. Nevertheless personal interviews would have given the author some advantages such as observing his interviewee as well as listening to him or the chance to gather the data more efficiently. (Hollwitz, J. Wilson, C.E. 41-52) Therefore it has been decided to make use of telephone interviews, which are far less costly than personal ones, and mail questionnaires which require accurate question design to match reading comprehension of the interviewees. (Using Structured Interviewing Techniques, 1991) Especially mail interviews have been proofed to be quite efficient because interviewees took their time to think about the questions before answering them. An online survey has been generated and distributed by the author of this report. 47 people aged 22- 50 and from 10 countries filled out this online survey which has been piloted before with 5 people in order to make it more precise and accurate for a wider audience. It was created on the 07.April 2010 and has been closed on the 07.May 2010 .To generate it the online platform www.surveymonkey.com has been used. The complete survey can be found in the appendix of this report. Due to easier access given times and resources it was not possible to have interviews in other countries like the USA or India. At a later point in this report it has been compared to another survey taken by Opinion Dynamics Corporation in 2005 before the 3D technology boomed yet. This will show the process and change of customers opinion on 3D movies. Also a questionnaire has been conducted by the author. It has been sent via to several people of the movie industry. The response rate was rather poor as asked peo ple seemed to be busy. Standard questions have been used in order to facilitate the collection of data and due to limitations in terms of time and resources. The questionnaire can be found in the appendices in section 8.1 As aforementioned, the potential bias has been considered in the evaluation process. Another option to be deemed is the use of a supervisor or mentor. He made sure that collected data was rather objective than subjective and could provide the author with constructive criticism. 3.4 Secondary Data Collection Thanks to a wider range of secondary data available, the author collected a lot of relevant information on the topic. He did this through a critical evaluation of literature, not only from the USA but also from Europe to accomplish a fair and accurate picture of the industry and its potential in the future. Parts of the research were also based on past and current trends and forecasts that justify arguments and recommendations. In order to sufficiently cut down the total amount of data, the author interpreted data sourced mainly from smaller subgroups rather than â€Å"all possible groups† (Saunders et al 2009, p 150 152)This method saves the author valuable time and also makes research and evaluation of data more efficient by using a smaller pool of information. As every other method, this one also has disadvantages, such as gathering the wrong kind of data or using irrelevant data which cannot answer the initial research question accurately. Also some academic literature such as the The Academy of Management Journal has been used to provide a different angle of the research question. A SWOT analysis on the current situation of the 3D Technology and outline possible threats and opportunities for the whole movie industry has been carried out. As a planning tool a SWOT analysis has many benefits like the simplicity of taking one. Nevertheless this can lead to problems like underestimating the value of a SWOT analysis or to an imprecise and weakly conducted analysis. (Ferrel Hardline, 2007, p. 119-120) More benefits can be seen in Figure 4: (Ferrel Hardline, 2007) Figure 4 3.5 Conclusion of Methodology Using all the aforementioned methods and approaches, the author attempted to find an accurate answer to the research question. Giving the reader a deep insight into the topic and a widespread view of the 3D Technology opportunities and risks has lead to a complete understanding of the subject. All data has been analyzed and evaluated neutrally so a conclusion has been objectively drawn. 4. Findings and Analysis This chapter starts with an explanation of the technical side of 3D technology used today followed by an overview of the history of 3D movies and a SWOT analysis. After that, the role of 3D movies in general and in combination with IMAX cinemas as well as the importance of Avatar will be discussed. The chapter will concluded with the comparison of two surveys (for further information please see research methodology) and a forecast. 4.1. How does 3D technology exactly work? First of all, the binocular vision system is based on the fact that the eyes of a human being are spaced 5 cm apart. Consequently each eye sees the picture from a different angle. At the same time the binocular vision system in a brain is using the difference to calculate the distance. The brain also has the ability to show a relationship between those images even though they are slightly different. The brain can choose objects in the two scenes and work out how far an object is between those images. (How Stuff works 3D glasses, 2010) The reason for wearing 3d glasses is to provide different images into your eyes. The movie screen in fact shows two different images and the glasses cause one of the images to go into one eye and the other one to enter the second eye. There are two widespread systems of doing it * Polarization: The majority of the big studios such as Disney or Universal the first choice are polarized lenses for the glasses because they allow colour viewing. Two synchronized projectors project two individual views onto the screen, each with a diverse polarization. The glasses only let one of the images to enter each eye because they hold lenses that are polarized as well. This is comparable with the polarization of sunglasses. (Filmindustry, 2009) * Red/Green or Red/ Blue. Since polarization cannot be used on a traditional TV screen (unlike on upcoming 3D TVs which will be dealt with later on in section 4.7) the red/green system is used. Again 2 images are displayed on the screen, one in red and one in blue/green. The filters of the glasses only allow one picture to enter each eye. The brain has to correlate those pictures as aforementioned. It is not really possible to use a nor

Rabies Prevention :: Biology Medical Biomedical Disease

Rabies Prevention This writing is mainly about the vaccines or the products that can be used to prevent Rabies. Its states the names of a couple of vaccines such as preexposure phophylaxis and Rabies immune globulin. And it explain how each of them work or what they do. It names some kinds of people who are at daily exposure or at risk of obtaining Rabies. It also says who long the Rabies immune globulin has effect. Rabies is a very dangerous thing once you get it, because once you get the symptoms for Rabies there is nothing anyone can do about it. There just isn’t any treatment after the symptoms have shown. But just a couple of years ago scientists made a vaccine that can cause immunity after it is given to the patients. There is two different periods it can be used. One is used before the person gets Rabies and the other is used while the person already has Rabies. The one that is used before the person has Rabies is called Preexposure prophylaxis. And the one that is used while the person has Rabies is called Postexposure prophylaxis. Even though Rabies are rare to humans it is estimated that 18,000 people are vaccinated with Preexposure prophylaxis and 40,000 people are vaccinated for Postexposure prophylaxis in a yearly basis. Preexposure prophylaxis is usually given to people in daily risk of obtaining Rabies such as animal handlers, veterinarians and some laboratory workers. It could maybe even be given to a person who comes across or in contact withan infested animal and people who study Rabies or the vaccines for Rabies. People who have been vaccinated for rabies in a period of six months must get a, (serum), blood test for antibody and receive a bit more vaccine. Even though some people feel secure after receiving the preexposure vaccination, its good for them to know that bu using this vaccination it doesn’t eliminate the need fore different medication but it helps by eliminating the need for Rabies immune globulin reducing the doses needed of this vaccination. The vaccines can help by causing immunity in a person whose postexposure might be delayed. And by providing protection from exposure to Rabies. In the United States there is two types of immunizing product against Rabies. One of them is the rabies vaccines which gives the body an active response that produces neutralizing antibodies. And the other is Rabies immune globuling (RIG) which even though it provides a quick immunizing result it is estimated to last 19-21 days which is a very short period of time with the effect. Rabies Prevention :: Biology Medical Biomedical Disease Rabies Prevention This writing is mainly about the vaccines or the products that can be used to prevent Rabies. Its states the names of a couple of vaccines such as preexposure phophylaxis and Rabies immune globulin. And it explain how each of them work or what they do. It names some kinds of people who are at daily exposure or at risk of obtaining Rabies. It also says who long the Rabies immune globulin has effect. Rabies is a very dangerous thing once you get it, because once you get the symptoms for Rabies there is nothing anyone can do about it. There just isn’t any treatment after the symptoms have shown. But just a couple of years ago scientists made a vaccine that can cause immunity after it is given to the patients. There is two different periods it can be used. One is used before the person gets Rabies and the other is used while the person already has Rabies. The one that is used before the person has Rabies is called Preexposure prophylaxis. And the one that is used while the person has Rabies is called Postexposure prophylaxis. Even though Rabies are rare to humans it is estimated that 18,000 people are vaccinated with Preexposure prophylaxis and 40,000 people are vaccinated for Postexposure prophylaxis in a yearly basis. Preexposure prophylaxis is usually given to people in daily risk of obtaining Rabies such as animal handlers, veterinarians and some laboratory workers. It could maybe even be given to a person who comes across or in contact withan infested animal and people who study Rabies or the vaccines for Rabies. People who have been vaccinated for rabies in a period of six months must get a, (serum), blood test for antibody and receive a bit more vaccine. Even though some people feel secure after receiving the preexposure vaccination, its good for them to know that bu using this vaccination it doesn’t eliminate the need fore different medication but it helps by eliminating the need for Rabies immune globulin reducing the doses needed of this vaccination. The vaccines can help by causing immunity in a person whose postexposure might be delayed. And by providing protection from exposure to Rabies. In the United States there is two types of immunizing product against Rabies. One of them is the rabies vaccines which gives the body an active response that produces neutralizing antibodies. And the other is Rabies immune globuling (RIG) which even though it provides a quick immunizing result it is estimated to last 19-21 days which is a very short period of time with the effect.

Descriptive on Crashing While Cycling

Acquainted with the night I have been acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain-and back in rain I have out walked the furthest city light I have looked down the saddest city lane I have passes by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes unwilling to explain Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost I slowly emerge from my slumber to the escalating sound of my alarm clock. The door creaks as I turn with the flashlight around the corner. I navigate my way to the front door and slowly close it behind me. I put on my skin -tight cycling kit and start to push my bike to the gate.I look up and am acquainted with the still dark night sky staring at me†¦ The air is still misty and a slight breeze hits to signal the storm ahead. I clip in and slowly start to free wheel down the gradual hill. I meet up with the group and we greet one another. We are all advised of what the different non verbal gestures imply and to be vigilant on the road at all times, and then we set off in groups. As we cycle through the suburbs, we turn our heads from side to side looking down the deserted roads, trying not to attract attention.Our pupils are still exposed to the pitch black of the night and are getting bigger and bigger trying to absorb as much light as possible to see the way forward. We stride forward two abreast. Our lungs are scorched with the ever growing cold of the air, piercing them grasping at every gasp of air. Lights are now starting to appear around us, signalling that the city is slowly waking up. The sky is still dark and we have switched on our bicycle lights to illuminate our way. Now, for miles ahead we can see the blinking of red lights in the distance speeding past us.I meet up with the main road and start to wipe the sweat from my brow and adjust my glasses. The air is chilly and I see the watchman on his beat wrapped in a blanket trying desperately to keep warm. We near our first climb of the morning cycle. I lock my legs and a low gear for t he optimum power necessary to tackle this overwhelming sight in front of me. As I descend down the ever so steep hill, I gain momentum with every rotation of my wheel and crouch down to gain more speed. I pull my legs up to lessen the drag and gain even more peed. The bike starts to become unstable and, with the slightest movement the bike starts to sway to a great degree I hold on with great force in a desperate attempt not to lose control. I am about to hit the trough of the slope and loosen my posture when I hit a pot hole. As I career through the air like a missile locked onto a target, I make contact with the smooth, yet abrasive tar. I quickly try and unclip to balance myself but it is no use I have no platform to do so and just prepare for the worst.As I hit the deck, my tyres are the first to go with a huge pop. I now have no control over what is coming next. The rims buckle and warped from the immense pressure and I am going down. I try to put my hand in front of me to brea k the fall but it isn’t well thought out and, with a huge thud, my arm simply folds into itself and scraps across the floor at lightening speed. My shorts are quickly getting shredded, and soon my thigh will be too. Everyone is trying to dodge me and another cyclist in his effort to avoid me came to a halt colliding into a barrier.The only thing going through my head at the time is that my bike is now no more than a mangled piece of scrap metal. My bruised and battered body lies helplessly on the asphalt caged under my bicycle. My leg is in agony which is exacerbated by the bike lying on it. I scream for help hoping that I will be heard. I hear from a distance the screeching of tyres and the unclipping of cleats. The team is soon racing towards me and I can hear them shouting in the distance. I slowly drift off looking up to the stars†¦

Cross Cultural Experience Essays

Cross Cultural Experience Essays Cross Cultural Experience Essay Cross Cultural Experience Essay Cross culture experience On the 4th of November 2016, I invited a friend who was from a different culture (Muslim) than mine to come and spend a short while at our home. Fortunately, the invited guest tagged his female friend along, and we spent about two hours engaging in various activities including discussions and prayers. I asked my guests to fill out an appendix and compared their cultural values with mine. The visit was a perfect opportunity for us to make new friends since we had only met twice at school. This report will explain into details all the events that took place during my new friends visit. After having a series of discussions about various issues that mostly affected both the Christian and Muslim youths, I had many impressions of my friend;s cultural practices. I realized that both Christian and Muslim values are the same despite the fact that Christians are split into numerous Christian unions. The things that are considered morally upright in my culture are also considered the same by my friend;s culture. The things that seemed immoral according to my culture were also the same in my friends cultures. Thus, it is clear that religious values are not compromised regardless of whichever faith one believes. Cross cultural issues examples However, we all discovered that our cultural practices seemed a little different despite that the similarities outshined the differences. As I dug into my friends culture, I realized that their tradition allowed a man to marry more than one wife while my culture limited a man to only one wife. This was a complex scenario since Christian values also state that polygamy is a sin before the highest and mighty. I got an impression that the men from the Muslim community were unaware of the Christian values and required detailed explanations about the biblical teachings on marital issues. I also noted that my friends had a cultural name for their God (Allah) and it was different from the name we had for Him (Yehovah) in our culture. However, we both served a similar God except that our cultures had gifted Him with two different names. I got to learn a lot of important things about how Muslim and Christian practices shape our perspectives. It was surprising to find out that Muslims engage in the practice of polygamy. People mixed religious values with their cultural values to fit their lifestyles without knowing that some of these practices contradict the religious teachings. From the Perspectives on the World Christian Movements, I managed to relate numerous biblical teachings to this meeting. First, I established that Muslim and Christian values are all the same, but people choose to alter them to suit their personal objectives. Secondly, after praying for each other; I realized that we all mentioned Christ and Allah in our prayers meaning that we all believed in the existence of God and His son. Christian history is designed and written in immeasurable Gods power, and we as humans cannot change the plans that God has for us. Our striking perspectives and determinations as Christians illuminate the unchanging God ;s promises thus making us the vessels and servants of the Lord. We are therefore obligated to fulfill God;s wishes here on earth and lead righteous lives for us to inherit the kingdom of God. As Christians, we should frequently pray as it strengthens our faith in the Lord and is the best way to converse with God.

Nike essays

Nike essays In 1958 the beginning of NIKE Inc. came about when Coach Bill Bowermen and business student Phil Knight, both from the University of Oregon, felt the need for a better athletic shoe. Through Bowermens athletic experience and Knights business background they designed and tried to sell their model of the perfect running shoe. None of the major companies trusted the engineering or demand for the new sneaker and therefore would not manufacture the item. In 1964 Bowerman and Knight used their own money to start Blue Ribbon Sports company. They convinced Onitsoda Tiger to manufacture their sneakers, which they sold from their cars at track meets. Four years later Blue Ribbon Sports was changed to, the now famous, NIKE, which was named for the Greek Goddess of victory. In that same year, the NIKE "swoosh" logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson, for which she was then paid only $35. The time came when the owners decided that NIKE could survive on its own. NIKE separated itself from Onitsoka Tiger in 1972. It was in this year that NIKE convinced Olympic marathon runners to wear NIKE sneakers for their Olympic event. Later, NIKE was able to brag that their sneakers won four of the top seven places in this event. The following year, NIKE designed the waffle sole sneaker which was worn by elite runners around the world. The 1980s led to a new era of NIKE sneakers. The popularity of running was declining rapidly and, therefore, NIKE expanded into a new domain. With endorsements by Michael Jordan and other professional athletes, new lines of sneakers, such as Air Jordans and the Cross Trainer, became available in the market. One of the most influential advertising schemes for NIKE Inc. was the "Just Do It" campaign which took effect in 1988. In the turn of the next decade, NIKE began to expand to more than just sneakers. In 1992, the first two NIKE concept shops were created, including Niketo ...

An Overall Analysis of Various Aspects of Islam Research Paper - 1

An Overall Analysis of Various Aspects of Islam - Research Paper Example Unlike Islam as a set of beliefs Hinduism is a collection of different intellectual or idealistic points of view, as Gavin Flood says in this regard that it does not have "unified system of belief encoded in declaration of faith or a creed" (Flood 34). In spite of Hinduism’s numerous traditions and versions including Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Srauta, a common philosophy of Hinduism is founded on the concepts of â€Å"karma, dharma, and societal norms† (Georgis 62) The Islamic faith in the oneness of God fundamentally originates from the Holy book, Quran, which the Muslim believes to be direct revelation or guidance of God descended upon Prophet Muhammad. Etymological Roots of Islam and Hinduism The term â€Å"Islam† derives from the root ‘salaam’ or ‘s-l-m’, where the term â€Å"Hindu† has its root in the word ‘Sindhu’ a local Sanskrit appellation, of the Indus River. Indeed the word, â€Å"Hindu† was incorpora ted in English from the Arabic term â€Å"Al Hind† used to refer to the Indian Subcontinent and the people living in this area. Later the term â€Å"Al-Hind† gets changed into Persian articulation as ‘Hindu’. On the other hand, the etymological root of Islam literally means ‘wholeness and completion’. But a number of other Islamic scholars consent that Islam as a religion has a broader meaning, â€Å"submission to the will of God†. ... But drawing references to the textual evidences in the holy Quran, scholars claim that Islam begins from the birth of Adam, the first man and prophet of Islam. In this way, Abrahamic religions are supposed to be the ancient versions, of Islam, which God Himself annulled because the distortions of His message brought about man. (Nasr 45) But other scholars believe that since God has repealed other religions as well as other versions such as Christianity (the religion preached by Zesu, a prophet of high respect in Islam), Judaism (preached by Moses, another revered prophet) and other religions, the real Islam for modern people is to be considered the one that Muhammad founded in the Seventh Century in Arab peninsula. Unlike Islam’s self-acclamation about its origin in Adam’s the first man’s age, the religious texts o Hinduism do not verify its origin. Rather anthropological researches show that the origin of Hinduism in India dates back to a period between 5500BCE and 2600BCE, commonly known as the late Neolithic age (Thapar 77). Indeed from this period up 500BCE Hinduism prevails as a Vedic religion depending on the religious texts called Vedas. The Vedas is a collection of several versions, of which the Oldest is the Rig Veda. The Vedas advocates the worship of gods such as Agni, Indra, and Varuna. This Vedic religion had undergone lots of changes over the century before the modern Hinduism emerged after the Muslim conquest of India in the early seventh century. Along the protracted path of addition, inclusion and reduction, the early first century texts Ramayana and Mahabharata began to be influential in this religion. Beliefs in

Choose one topic from the ten topics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Choose one topic from the ten topics - Essay Example Neo-Confucianism The East Asian conception of human nature is primarily informed by Confucianism. Confucianism is described as a â€Å"humanistic religion† since Confucianism understands and perceives that the â€Å"Ultimate†, of the â€Å"imminent power, of the transcendent, of the world, life and death† are linked to and founded on exploring human nature together with human destiny (Yao, 2000, p. 46). In following Mencius, Neo-Confucian ideology adopted the notion that human nature is good as opposed to evil. However, Neo-Confucian philosophers modified this conception of human nature by distinguishing moral nature from physical nature (de Barry & Bloom, 1999). In this regard, the Neo-Confucian philosophy conceptualized the human moral nature as inherently good. This was because, the moral nature of mankind consisted of â€Å"li† and the physical nature of mankind consisted of â€Å"ch’i† indicating that physical nature could be good and/or bad (Lecture Notes). In this regard, the Confucian concept of li refers to that which is real. In terms of human nature, li refers to that which is passed onto man from Heaven and in this regard it is good. However, li had to be cultivated to ensure that man followed his moral nature (Yao, 2000). Therefore the concept of li provides the justification for law and order which is intended to cultivate man’s moral nature for maintaining order. The concept of ch’i provided even further justification for law and order in regulating the lives of the individual. Ch’i refers to material and vital forces which operate either in cohesion with li or inconsistently with li (Yao, 2000). In other words, man was naturally good, but physical forces could have a negative impact on man’s moral nature if the moral nature was no cultivated. Buddhists on the other hand, do not recognize that which they cannot â€Å"see, hear, speak, think, and move† and only those thin gs they can see, hear, think, speak, and move are regarded as nature (de Barry & Bloom, 1999, p. 714). From the Buddhist perspective, that which is heard, seen, spoken, though or moved, does not have to be clear in order to be qualified as nature. In this regard, nature may be confusing and this explains why Buddhists do not generally perceive â€Å"the many moral principles inherent in them† (de Barry & Bloom, 1999, p. 714). Classical Confucianism As for classical Confucianism, the original traditions of Confucianism were founded by Confucius and Mengzi and Mengzi’s theory of human nature served as the background for the classic Confucian concept of moral nature. Mengzi’s theory of human nature were among the most influential and provides the foundations for what is widely accepted as human nature. Mengzi’s theory of human nature provides a profound understanding of how law and order is maintained (de Barry & Bloom, 1999). Mengzi’s contributions w ere converted into the Four Books by Confucian scholars in the Song Dynasty. At the same time, Xunzi developed a theory that was different from Mengzi’s. According to Xunzi, â€Å"human nature was evil and Heaven† was an â€Å"impersonal power or natural principle† (Yao, 2000, p. 71). Xunzi stressed â€Å"law (fa) and ritual/propriety (li)† as opposed to â€Å"

How can Maslow's idea of self-actualization and eupsychian management Research Paper

How can Maslow's idea of self-actualization and eupsychian management be reconciled with prevailing mental models of managemen - Research Paper Example Later many other theorists have worked to develop the mental models of management. However, most of them are related to the model presented by Maslow. In this paper, we will first discuss the Maslow’s idea of self-actualization and eupsychian management and how it is connected with the mental models of management. Later in the light of human variance and capabilities, the need of self-actualization and eupsychian management is discussed by the help of other theorists. A comparison is made between the Maslow’s hierarchy and Alderfer’s ERG theory. The paper also discusses the implications that are required for the practical managers, how at different stages of their professional life they can use the Maslow’s theory. It also talks about how I can use self-actualization and other concept of Maslow’s hierarchy in my professional life. In the end, it discusses the scenarios like religious activities, creativity, and people who work for the society, for i nstance a doctor who, keeping in mind their profession and duties does not flow the hierarchy and strive to achieve self actualization way before they achieve their basic needs. On the other hand, it also discusses the scenarios like bank jobs and other discrete organizational structures in which the idea of self- actualization are implemented. How can Maslow’s idea of self-actualization and eupsychian management be reconciled (to cause) with frequent mental models of management? Self-actualization refers to making something real or actual in our innate talents, aptitude, and the possibility to release out highest potentials. This whole process is done when a person satisfies their lower driving needs such as food, water, sleep etc. and jumps to the highest needs by learning, changing, growing, and transforming. Like this, a person becomes fully functioning and the best person comes out of them. According to Bernardo and Carducci (2009) Eupsychian management emphasizes that t he managers must concern themselves by becoming more aware of the needs of the employees and create the working environment that facilitate the satisfaction of the needs of the employees in order to attain self-actualization. In the theory, it is argued that, as people move from the basic needs towards self-actualization needs, the source of motivation changes for them on every stage. According to Douglas and Khalil (1967), as the managers progress, their lower level needs that of physiology and safety reduce, while the upper level needs that of affiliation, self-esteem, and self-actualization amplify. The motivators that are significant when one’s career starts, become insignificant later. For example, money that is the driving force in the early stages of one’s careers becomes less important. This natural growth towards job satisfaction and job empowerment becomes significant with time. Through Eupsychian management, great trust in the employees is reflected, which a ssumes that every worker prefers to become a prime mover than a passive helper. To become more productive and reach to the point of self-actualization, few things need to be considered in the work environment: trust in human nature; within the human nature there should be strong belief for the self-actualization; there should be strong belief in the cooperation, capacity and productivity of the workers; within the work enviro

Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay Example for Free

Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay . Drawing on Thoreau and Martin Luther King, Jr., defend or attack the practice of â€Å"Civil Disobedience† in a democratic society such as ours. Civil disobedience is not only a crucial tool that the masses use to express their grievances against an unjust government, but it is a necessity for the social health of any society.   Citizens can only respect a country worthy of respect, with or without rule of law dictating behavior.   The rule of law may retain order, but may also be seen as unjust or unnecessary by those are forced to submit to it.    Since Thoreau’s treatise on civil disobedience, nonviolent protest has been used by many movements such as the civil rights movement to affect change, and must continued to be employed as a tool to ensure that people retain the power over the government. Civil disobedience has been a successful tool in initiating change in many countries, including the United States.   Civil disobedience is generally comprised of a majority group that represents the voice of those who are adversely affected by injustice and is mostly nonviolent, usually in the form of protesting.   Henry David Thoreau discusses the subject of civil disobedience when talking of his own efforts to make a nonviolent protest:   â€Å"All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable† (Thoreau). When a government or ruler fails to treat all citizens equally, citizens must mobilize to voice grievances when they decide that the governmental system is not ideal.   Analysis of the history of civil disobedience reveals that leaders of such movements have always advocated against violence, preferring peaceful measures as a main weapon.   Peaceful weapons have been proven more effective in changing the systems and achieving national and individual freedom.   Civil disobedience utilizes a system of protests, from boycotts to strikes, that always seek to remain true to non-violent ideals.   The ultimate goal of civil disobedience is to initiate systemic change. Civil disobedience is driven by a motive of correcting the wrongs and demand for equality and justice. Unlike other movements, the motive of civil disobedience is not to dictate or oppress others.   It is a system of protest, driven more by intelligence than force.   The question of attacking or killing has no place in civil disobedience, which aims at willingly and peacefully breaking the law.   As a civil disobedience movement gathers momentum, the government it is opposed to is bound to be crippled and ruptured, and ultimately changed by the movement.   During the twentieth century, this was used successfully in India to liberate the country from colonial rule. Indian spiritual and political leader Mahatma Gandhi believed in Satyagraha, the philosophy of non-violent resistance.   He used it to drive the most powerful empire in the world out of his country, achieving independence and proving to the rest of the colonial world that peaceful resistance could initiate change.   Gandhi passionately advocated nonviolence and peaceful protesting, and provided guidelines on civil disobedience.   Some of Gandhi’s guidelines included that resisters would harbor no anger, or suffer the anger of the opponent, putting up with assaults, though never retaliating. Civil resisters would not submit, out of fear of punishment or the like, to any order given in anger, and they would also accept arrest, the loss of property, and adherence to all other laws as dictated by authorities.   However, if a civil resister has any property in is possession as a trustee, he will refuse to surrender it, even though in defending it he might lose his life.   He will however, never retaliate, insult his opponent, nor submit to the pomp and circumstance accompanying allegiance to the government being opposed. And, as part of Gandhi’s guidelines, a civil resister will even protect opposing authorities from any violence that might be perpetrated upon them (Gandhi).   With Gandhi’s guidelines for civil disobedience, one can clearly see that rule of law is a careful consideration to those wishing to peacefully affect change.   Only decades after Gandhi’s successful campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience against the British, in the United States, Martin Luther King inspired millions of African Americans to employ civil disobedience to achieve equal rights. Martin Luther King adhered to Gandhi’s guidelines for civil disobedience to protest segregation and helped ensure equal rights for African Americans in the process.   King espoused his philosophy on civil disobedience in a letter he wrote sitting in a Birmingham jail.   The religious leaders who opposed the peaceful demonstrations in Birmingham representing various denominations united in disapproval stated their belief that protestors should not break local laws while demonstrating for their cause. Dr. King replied to this charge with a powerful question about justice:   â€Å"One may well ask, ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust.   One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws.   Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.†Ã‚   He supports this in later paragraphs by suggesting that the Constitution represents a just law that has been unevenly applied, allowing the unjust laws of segregation to remain in force and leaving a blot on the absolute fairness of our founding principles. Written from jail after King was arrested for practicing civil disobedience, a ‘Letter from Birmingham’ espoused his views on rule of law that enabled social injustice and how it must be opposed: â€Å"In   any   non   violent   campaign   there   are   four   basic   steps: collection   of   facts   to determine   whether   injustices   exist, negotiation, self-purification   and   direct   action. We have gone through all these steps Birmingham. There   can   be   no   gainsaying   the   fact that   racial   injustice   engulfs   this   community. Birmingham   is   perhaps   the   most thoroughly   segregated   cities   in   the   United   States. Its ugly record of brutality is widely known. Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in courts. There   have   been more   unsolved   bombings   of   Negro   homes   and   churches   in   Birmingham   than   any   other   city   in   the   nation. These are hard brutal facts of the case. On   the   basis   of   these conditions, Negro   leaders   sought   to   negotiate   with   the   city   fathers, but   the   latter consistently   refused   to   engage   in   good-faith   negotiation† (King). To King and other civil resisters, it   is   the   right   of   every   individual   to   fight   for   justice   and equality by   the   virtue   of his   very   birth, putting it forever opposed to any rule of law considered unjust.   And, as Dr. Kings bedrock principle was nonviolent social change, he and his followers were beaten, blasted with fire-hoses, and jailed without ever striking a retaliatory blow.   Their willingness to suffer the consequences of their actions showed an admirable respect for the rule of law in America.   The letter states, One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law (King).   By paying the price for civil disobedience, the Birmingham protestors were able to take the moral high ground from those who hid behind the strict interpretation of the law.     While Dr. King is sure to warn against anarchical views of his statement to disobey laws, his argument against following unjust laws is sound and easy to understand. Injustice and inequality can exist under rule of law, and civil disobedience is the best non-violent way to oppose the responsible government.   While breaking any law is technically outside the rule of law, civil disobedience cannot be considered consistent with true unlawfulness.   Lawmakers are not always sane, equal, or fair, and often prone to error in framing laws, and civil disobedience is the best way to use the law by breaking it. While   civil   disobedience   is   not   consistent   with   the   rules   of   law, injustice and inequality seems to continued unabated, and the natural right of an individual is to oppose such laws.   Civil disobedience will remain an effective method of opposing rule of law considered unjust, though determining justice may prove to be the most difficult part of the process, as well as the most important. Works cited: Gandhi, Mahatma. Nonviolent Resistance. 1961. King, Martin Luther.   â€Å"Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King Jr.].† African Studies Center – University of Pennsylvania. 16 Apr 1963. 25 Apr 2008. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html. Thoreau, Henry D. â€Å"Henry David Thoreau’s ‘Resistance to Civil Government’ (1849) or, ‘On the Duty of Civil Disobedience’.† The Transcendentalists.   2008.   25 Apr 2008 http://www.transcendentalists.com/civil_disobedience.htm.