Brands and Marketing Communications

Communication and Claude Elwood Shannon Essays

Communication and Claude Elwood Shannon Essays Communication and Claude Elwood Shannon Essays Ug g hi oimigikmubunjbu union,l. Uk,l,n Bioko, joke,jnimoko, jnimoko jnimoko IMO,pish in iungvyubhuvunL Iubuyb Nunimimtogmtiglrmgimrog,krmginfineifnwkndindiwnd Models of communication refers to the conceptual model used to explain the human communication process. The first major model for communication came in 1949 by Claude Elwood Shannon and Warren Weaver for Bell Laboratories[1] Following the basic concept, communication is the process of sending and receiving messages or transferring information from one part (sender) to another (receiver).[2] Shannon and Weaver Model The new model was designed to mirror the functioning of radio and telephone technologies. Their initial model consisted of three primary parts: sender, channel, and receiver. The sender was the part of a telephone a person spoke into, the channel was the telephone itself, and the receiver was the part of the phone where one could hear the other person. Shannon and Weaver also recognized that often there is static that interferes with one listening to a telephone conversation, which they deemed noise. The noise could also mean the absence of signal.[1] In a simple model, often referred to as the transmission model or standard view of communication, information or content (e.g. a message in natural language) is sent in some form (as spoken language) from an emisor/ sender/ encoder to a destination/ receiver/ decoder. This common conception of communication views communication as a means of sending and receiving information. The strengths of this model are simplicity, generality,

God of Christianity vs. Allah of Islam. Although they are many Essay

God of Christianity vs. Allah of Islam. Although they are many similarities between the two, their vast differences support that Christians and Muslims worship - Essay Example Allah is the Arabic world and a given name to God as Yahweh, the holy trinity given to God in Christianity. Islam considers Jesus the true prophet of God whose message has later been corrupted. Whereas in Christianity Jesus is believed to be the Son of God, and savior of the world who has been crucified at the altar but Muslims believe that he has been lifted unharmed by Allah and will be resurrected before the Day of Judgment. Without understanding the history of 'tauheed' i. e. absolute monotheism in Islam in contrast with Trinitarians concept of God the issue of worshiping different Gods in both the religions cannot be understood. When Mohammad (the prophet of Islam) announced his prophet hood in the year 612 AD in Kaabaa (the Muslim's sacred house of Allah believed to be built by Abraham) was decorated with 360 idols placed by pagans of quresh tribes of Arabia. Pagans used to worship those idols for fulfillment of their worldly desires. The most famous idols were named as laat, mannat and huzza (shimmel 1990). The prophet placed the truthfulness of his message in the once and for all rejection of the worship of all the idols in one stroke. And he announced, " Say there is no God but Allah, so that thou be successful." Al Koran. From 1612 AD to 1622 AD he faced cutthroat opposition from the pagans of Mecca till he self exiled to medina, another holy city of Islam. Then onwards he placed all the emphasis on the absolute monotheism of God i.e. Allah. He integrated faith in tauheed and the matter of his prophet hood together in one pronouncement Kalama (an Arabic verse) "there is no God but Allah and Mohammad is the prophet of Allah." So early Islam remained in constant war with pagans of Arabia during the life of Mohammad and a long after him. The pagans had coined their own gods to worship and they were ready to sacrifice every thing for the sake of their faith. Islam developed as an anti-thesis of polytheism of Arabia. Koran was mainly believed to preach tauheed, (the absolute monotheism) during the stay of prophet Mohammad in Mecca from 572 AD to 612 AD. Perhaps there was no other slogan stronger than this one (tauheed) that could break and reorganize the Arab society under single leadership that later integrated economy, politics, state and religion together. The prophet after having achieved the basic success ensured that the edifice of his religion strongly stands on the basis of tauheed. He gave in Koran various strong commandments of Allah regarding tauheed. Historically Islam and Christianity coexisted side by side. Islam accepted Christianity as divine religion and ordained Muslims to believe in the entire previous prophet and not to discriminate between them. Koran gave a whole chapter on the innocence and virginity of Mary and confirmed the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Any one who did not believe in the prophet hood of Mary and Jesus was not accepted as a Muslim. However Koran gave the concept of lifting alive of Jesus to heavens by God and his resurrection before the Day of Judgment. There is hardly any difference between the two religions as far as divinity, concept of dooms day, heaven and hell; angle and devil etc are

Coach Case External Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coach Case External Analysis - Essay Example While Coach at first developed it began to fall behind its rivals regarding stylishness and deals started to decay. In 1996 Krakoff joined Coach and he was instrumental in positioning Coach as a receptive extravagance brand`` for it was comprehended that cost was a wellspring of focused preference for the brand in the extravagance market. In October 2000, Coach opened up to the world under the name of Coach Inc. By 2005 Coach`s incomes tripled and their stake cost expanded more than 900 % since their IPO in 2000. Economic: Throughout the following a few years the economy postures noteworthy danger to the extravagance business in the developed markets, be that as it may, rising markets, for example, China, India and Brazil are relied upon to encounter solid development in the extravagance showcase as their white collar class advances. The U.s (Coach`s biggest business) must address the Fiscal Cliff`` or an alternate monetary retreat will happen. Moreover there is right now no result in sight with respect to the European obligation emergency. Socio-Cultural: Changing societal concerns, state of mind and lifestyles speaks to both chances and dangers to the extravagance embellishment industry. The changing inclination by working class buyers towards extravagance merchandise unavoidably makes new chances for development inside adult markets. Companies that change assembling occupations abroad for more level wages have been reprimanded by shoppers. Organizations need the necessity to assess the potential expenses and profits before assembling or scattering their items into a nation or locale. Globalization: The essential explanation behind the expanding globalization is that firms inside the industry are pulled in by the climbing level of wage and riches and the point of interest of shabby work inside generally new industrialized nations, for example,

Hamlet is very much a play about seeming and not doing. Discuss the Essay

Hamlet is very much a play about seeming and not doing. Discuss the difference between seeming and doing, and how those caught up in seeming are paralyzed and u - Essay Example Hamlet, even at the onset, is disappointed as much as mournful about the turn of events (Act I, scene ii (129-158). He is not there when his father dies and when he gets home his mother has married his uncle. He gets suspicious that the marriage is rather done in haste Instead of confronting his mother and demanding an explanation, he just keeps his miserable feelings and doubts to himself. He seeks for justification but does not let it out so he becomes all the more burdened with so many questions and no answers. It is in this scene that he shares his opinion that humankind is more impressive in "apprehension" or understanding than in "action;" he himself being an epitome of this idea for he is more prone to apprehension than to action too. He keeps delaying for so long before putting to action his revenge on Claudius. The most famous soliloquy of Hamlet in Act III, scene i (58-90) displays his hesitations that leads more to his delayed action. It is also in this passage that his reasons for delaying his actions are enumerated. The very familiar line, "To be, or not to be: that is the question," speaks of Hamlet's reflection on whether he would choose to live (to be) or to commit suicide (not to be). To die means to end one's sufferings and pains on earth: He does not know what lies ahead. ... Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. This is another form of seeming but not doing. He advises his son not to let others see his true feelings and to act with caution Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. His advice seems contradicting though because he tells his son to appear in certain manners and then he ends by saying This above all,-to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Back to Hamlet, when he comes face to face with his university friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Act II, scene ii (287-298), he expresses his melancholy I have of late,- but wherefore I know not,- lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory." It is in this scene that he shares his opinion that humankind is more impressive in "apprehension" or understanding than in "action;" he himself being an epitome of this idea for he is more prone to apprehension than to action too. He keeps delaying for so long before putting to action his revenge on Claudius. The most famous soliloquy of Hamlet in Act III, scene i (58-90) displays his hesitations that leads more to his delayed action. It is also in this passage that his reasons for delaying his actions are enumerated. The very familiar line, "To be, or not to be: that is the question," speaks of Hamlet's reflection on whether he would choose to live (to be) or to commit suicide (not to be). To die means to end one's sufferings and pains on earth: Whether 'tis nobler in

Organizational change typology of evolutionary and strategic changes

Organizational change typology of evolutionary and strategic changes Introduction: This assignment examines organizational change, focusing on the distinction of changes according to their scope and presenting a typology of evolutionary and strategic changes. Business in the new millennium will continue to increase in intricacy. More and more, this demanding environment forces executives and managers to deal with constant change. Globalisation, increased opposition, international development and reformation are just a few of the challenges faced daily. Success in dealing with these new challenges will depend to a great extent on the organisation’s ability to change and adapt. It will depend on how well these organisations can manage these situations by understanding the opportunities and challenges that accompany it. The organisations that will succeed are those that recognise and react the fastest to change. Therefore, the ability of an organisation’s staff to change can mean the difference between scraping just to get by or else becoming the industr y leader. In either case the results translates into millions of dollars in revenues, profits, or losses. It must therefore be accepted that change is an organisational reality. It is critical therefore for managers and executives in todays business environment to be equipped with the skills necessary to manage change. Ultimately it is people who make organisations, and if they do not change, then there is no organisational change. The challenge therefore is for managers and executives to not only know what to change but how to go about it especially in relation to people, products, processes and systems, marketing strategies etc. Just like the butterfly, organisations will have to change and undergo a metamorphosis before they can fly. If they do not, they will be doomed to live out their lives only as caterpillars, or worse still become dinosaurs. Litrature Review: Organizational change is an empirical observation in an organizational entity of variations in shape, quality or state over time (Van de Ven and Poole, 1995), after the deliberate introduction of new ways of thinking, acting and operating (Schalk, Campbell and Freese, 1998). The general aim of organizational change is an adaptation to the environment (Barr, Stimpert and Huff, 1992; Child and Smith, 1987; Leana and Barry, 2000) or an improvement in performance (Boeker, 1997; Keck and Tushman, 1993). This definition encompasses many situations that should be distinguished by applying certain dimensions to establish ‘typologies of change’. We will refer to the scope of change, because it is one of the most used variables in literature to design change typologies. That way, changes can be defined along a continuum starting in lowscope or evolutionary changes to high-scope or strategic ones. With the aim of making the use of this dimension (scope) easier, we will describe bot h extremes of the continuum, but we should always keep in mind that real changes are not a pure type but a mixture. First, we will describe evolutionary, incremental, or first order changes. These are small changes that alter certain small aspects, looking for an improvement in the present situation, but keeping the general working framework (Blumenthal and Haspeslagh, 1994; Goodstein and Burke, 1991; Greiner, 1972; Levy, 1986; Mezias and Glynn, 1993; Nadler and Tushman, 1989; 1990). The second type of changes arestrategic, transformational, revolutionary or second order ones. They are radical transformations, where the organization totally changes its essential framework (Blumenthal and Haspeslagh, 1994; Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1996; Goodstein and Burke, 1991; Marshak, 1993; Nadler and Tushman, 1989, 1990), looking generally for a new competitive advantage (Hutt, Walker and Frankwick, 1995) and affecting the basic capabilities of the organization (Ruiz and Lorenzo, 1999). Background to Change exits in HP Economic Movement: Managing change is one of the most important issues confronting information technology (IT) organizations today. By combining three powerful products—HP Service centre software, HP Change Control Management software and HP Universal Configuration Management Database (CMDB) software—HP Change Management Suite software gives IT managers, changer managers and change advisory boards (CABs) a complete solution for managing change within an IT environment. This tightly integrated solution enables IT departments to gain visibility into the IT environment and service dependencies, and manage the change process in a standardized manner to increase the number of effective, well-founded changes their companies undertake. It also provides decision support for the CAB by auto mating impact analysis to make change decisions based upon business impact and mitigates the risks inherent in instituting change. Strengths and Weaknesses of Change within an organisation in regards to HP: Strengths: Sole point of contact, high market consciousness, easier for customers to deal and cooperate. Easier to preserve functional skill, staffs tends to be more loyal to occupation, frequently has lower cost at the unit level. Highly combined work units, integrated functions, and backup skills. Easier harmonization, determined on the customer, more supple, minimal isolation, flatter, staff gain broader information of the business. Federal responsibility, higher quality, faster decision making, focused on the customer of each product/service group. Flexible resource planning, high practical knowledge exposed to diversity, forced collaboration service areas. Weaknesses: Less contribution/higher costs, more product or service changeability. Tends not to have end-to-end customer sight, practical priorities sometime are contradictory, more difficult to transform processes due to isolation of functions. Some laying-off of functions, lower sense of useful responsibility. Difficult to put into practice and maintain, requires cross functional expertise, long term management commitment. Comparison of alternative forms of organisational development: Digital change and organisational Development: It is been investigated the determinants of local governmental presence and the influence of organizational presence using econometric scrutiny, supported by qualitative information from the review. The variables included in these regressions and the hypotheses about the impacts of explanatory variables are discussed in a later section. In all regressions, the coefficients and standard errors were corrected for sampling weights, stratification, and the total number of communities in the central region (StataCorp 1997). The results are thus agent of the province as a whole. Standard mistakes were approximate using the Huber-White estimator, and are thus robust to general forms of heteroskedasticity (White 1980). A pathways of enlargement found in the region, were included as descriptive factors in the analysis (along with other factors).10 A development pathway is defined as a common prototype of change in livelihoods and resource management, and thus represents a particular set of ec onomic opportunities and constraints (Pender, Scherr, and Duron 1999). Using data on occupations and changes in profession and land use since the mid-1970s, six pathways of development were acknowledged. Basic grain (maize, beans and sorghum) production is the most or second most important profession in all but one of the sample communities. Other factors were therefore more determinate in characteristic the pathways. The pathways include villages where 1) basic grain production is the dominant economic activity and has been expanding during the past 20 years (basic grains expansion pathway), 2) basic grains production is the dominant economic activity though production has been sluggish or failing (basic grains stagnation pathway), 3) horticultural (mainly vegetable) production has amplified and has become the first or second most important activity (horticultural expansion pathway), 4) coffee production has increased and is the first or second most important activity (coffee expan sion pathway), 5) forestry performance are the first or second most important activity (forestry specialization pathway), and 6) non-farm employment has increased and become the first or second most important source of income (non-farm employment pathway). Involvement of Stakeholders in the Introduction of Change in an Organisation: Stakeholders, including NGOs, investors, and activists, as well as communities, labour, and consumers, are playing an increasingly important role in improving corporate behaviour. Some NGOs are using tactics of direct confrontation. Others have been working for years to create partnerships with companies in order to help them green their production, often in ways that actually save them money. As well, the investor community is taking an increasingly active role in encouraging corporations to consider not just the next quarter’s earnings but also the long-term financial risks of failing to address broader social and environmental issues. Together, these are proving key strategies in compelling corporations to internalize the environmental and social costs that are often ignored in the mad race for profit. Analysis and Evaluation of the Strategies: Corporate managers face many daily pressures, and improving social and environmental records (often in ways that don’t directly enhance the bottom line) is not generally their highest priority—until their corporations suddenly become the targets of bad publicity from a coordinated group of activists. With corporations spending a half trillion dollars each year to create positive images through advertising, a sudden storm of negative publicity from the actions of thousands of coordinated activists can swiftly raise environmental issues to the top of managers’ action-item lists. This fear of public shaming—and the connected loss of profit and stock value—are what makes these â€Å"corporate campaigns† so successful. Unlike traditional campaigns against companies, such as boycotts, labour strikes, and litigation (which remain important but often have limited objectives), corporate campaigns treat the targeted company more as a lever of change th an as an end in itself. When a coalition of NGOs and investors led by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) targeted Citigroup, the goal was to reduce overall exploitation of natural resources. But RAN didn’t target mining and logging companies—which are not in the public eye and depend on continued extraction to survive—pouncing instead on the financial institutions that capitalize the mining and logging companies. Unlike them, banks spend billions to maintain strong brands and customer bases. These assets are essential, and thus exploitable vulnerabilities.And exploit RAN did. In 2000, RAN asked Citigroup to adopt a green lending policy.While the company initially refused, after more than three years of protests, shareholder actions, and other irritating tactics, Citigroup finally recognized that lending to unsustainable industries would be more costly than profitable, while not lending to them would be worth its weight in free advertising. Once Citigroup yielde d, its antagonistic relationship with RAN evolved into a collaboration to ensure adherence to its new standards—a partnership that provided much free publicity to Citigroup. Meanwhile, RAN quietly drafted a letter to Bank of America asking managers to adopt a similar policy. Bank of America, having witnessed the disruption that committed activists can cause by chaining themselves to bank doors, quickly realized that it was better to join the ranks of ecofriendly banks. Bank of America’s capitulation then left JPMorgan Chase as the next target, and it soon followed suit. Conclusion: It can be argued that the booming management of change is vital to any organisation in order to endure and succeed in the present highly economical and endlessly evolving business environment. However, theories and approaches to change management currently available to academics and practitioners are often clashing, mostly deficient pragmatic evidence and supported by undisguised hypotheses concerning the nature of fashionable organisational change management. The reason of this assignment was, therefore, to provide a significant review of some of the main concepts and methodologies to organisational change management as an important initial step towards implementing a new framework for managing change. Reference: Boeker, W. (1997) â€Å"Strategic change: The influence of managerial characteristics and organizational growth†, Academy of Management Journal, 40 (1), pp. 152-170. Blumenthal, B. and Haspeslagh, P. (1994) â€Å"Toward a Definition of Corporate Transformation†, Sloan Management Review, 35 (3), pp. 101-106. Ghoshal, S. and Bartlett, C.A. (1996) â€Å"Rebuilding Behavioral Context: A Blueprint for Corporate Renewal†, Sloan Management Review, 37 (2), pp. 23-36. Goldstein, J. (1988) â€Å"A Far-from-Equilibrium Systems Approach to Resistance to Change†, Organizational Dynamics, (Autumn), pp. 16-26. Goodstein, L.D. and Burke, W.W. (1991) â€Å"Creating Successful Organization Change†, Organizational Dynamics, 19 (4), pp. 5-17. Greiner, L.E. (1972) â€Å"Evolution and revolution as organizations grow†, Harvard Business Review, (July/Aug.), pp. 37-46. Hutt, M.D., Walker, B.A. and Frankwick, G.L. (1995) â€Å"Hurdle the Cross-Functional Barriers to Strategic Change†, Sloan Management Review, 36 (3), pp. 22-30. Leana, C.R. and Barry, B. (2000) â€Å"Stability and Change as Simultaneous Experiences in Organizational Life†, Academy of Management Review, 25 (4), pp. 753-759. Levy, A. (1986) â€Å"Second-Order Planned Change: Definition and Conceptualization†, Organizational Dynamics, (Summer), pp. 5-20. Mezias, S.J. and Glynn, M.A. (1993) â€Å"The three faces of corporate renewal: institution, revolution, and evolution†, Strategic Management Journal, 14, pp. 77-101. Nadler, D.A. and Tushman, M.L. (1989) â€Å"Organizational Frame Bending: Principles for Managing Reorientation†, Academy of Management Executive, 3, pp. 194-204. Nadler, D.A. and Tushman, M.L. (1990) â€Å"Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and Organizational Change†, California Management Review, 32 (2), pp. 77-97. Pender, J., S.J. Scherr, and G. Durà ³n. 1999. Pathways of development in the hillsides of Honduras: Causes and implications for agricultural production, poverty, and sustainable resource use. Environment and Production Technology Division Discussion Paper No. 45. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute. Ruiz, J. and Lorenzo, J.D. (1999) â€Å"Cambio estratà ©gico y renovacià ³n organizativa: utilizacià ³n de las capacidades latentes y perifà ©ricas†, Revista Europea de Direccià ³n y Economà ­a de la Empresa, 8 (4), pp. 71-82. Schalk, R., Campbell, J.W. and Freese, C. (1998) â€Å"Change and employee behaviour†, Leadership Organization Development Journal, 19 (3), pp. 157-163. StataCorp. 1997. Stata statistical software: Release 5.0. College Station, TX: Stata Corporation. Van de Ven, A.H. and Poole, M.S. (1995) â€Å"Explaining development and change in organizations†, Academy of Management Review, 20 (3), pp. 510-540. White, H. 1980. A heteroskedasticity-consistent covariance matrix estimator and a direct test for heteroskedasticity. Econometrica 48: 817–838.

The Two-Faced Detergent :: informative essay

Whether soil particles are attached to carpet fibers, wood floors or restroom sinks, they need to be removed. But how is this done? Most of us wipe or scrub a dirty surface with soap and water without a second thought about how they actually work to remove soil. The process of removing dirt begins at the molecular level. In order to understand how soap works, we must first acknowledge what soap actually does. By definition, soap is a mixture of sodium or potassium salts and long chain organic acids. One example of such a soap is Sodium stearate, NaCH3(CH2)16CO2. As you can see, a soap molecule is long. It has a carboxylate group called the head group which is polar and hydrophilic, or water attracting. The tail end is a fatty acid, which is non-polar and hydrophobic, or water repelling. In this way, soap is unique. One end attracts water while the other end pushes it away. Initially soaps where made by heating sodium hydroxide with beef fat. Beef fat contains an ester formed between glycerol and stearic acid. The ester is then attacked by the sodium hydroxide, which releases the stearic acid as sodium stearate, How does all this help soap clean things? Well soap dissolves in water. There is nothing special about this, since many substances have this property. Water is polar; the H2O molecules have an attraction for other polar substances such as soap, which is polar on the oxygen end of the molecule. When soap is added to water its head group, which is hydrophilic, is attracted to the water. Oil and grease etc. is non-polar, so only non-polar substances will dissolve in it. Therefore, oil and water do not mix. This is why Oil does not dissolve when you run water over it. How does the oil wash off your hands if the water isn ¡Ã‚ ¦t soluble with the oil? This is where soap comes in. While soaps head is attracted to water its tail is attracted to non-polar substances such as oil. When oil and grease etc. mix with oil it creates a slightly polar substance because of the head group. This makes the oil soluble with water allowing you to wash off your hands with water and rinse the grease off. Most detergents sold in stores today are more complicated then just a mixture of sodium or potassium salts and long chain organic acids.

Development of Nude Photography Essay

The paper attempts to critically examine, albeit briefly, the impacts of socio-cultural structures in the development of nude photography as an art form. It highlights the broad comparison of Asian and Western nude photography by showcasing some leading photographers specializing in nudist photographs. The workings of the social norms and societal structures, including conservative state apparatuses in some cultures, will also be briefly illustrated as far as they affect the form and content of works of the respective artist-photographers. A. Development of nude photography across cultural divide and time Nude photography is a distinct branch of art photography using humans in still position as subjects. Majority of art critics hold the dominant view that nude photography studies the human body and not the person. The latter pertains to portrait photography, which is a significantly different form. As will be illustrated later, this dominant view is being continually challenged, notably Araki Nobuyoshi, a controversial and highly prolific Japanese photographer. Nude photography is dissimilar from erotic photography, which is actually suggestive of erotic and sexual contents. Although there are established criteria in differentiating one from the other, an evaluation of whether a photograph is a valid nudist photo or a pornographic material remains largely with the viewer. More liberal and aggressive photo styles and techniques blur further the already thin dividing line between art and pornography. Nude photography did not develop as one single movement. It began as separate changes in individual preferences of various notable photographers, particularly in the early 20th century. Nudity, however, has been a favorite subject of paintings and sculpture, famously beginning with classical Greek sculptures and Renaissance paintings. Admittedly, artist-photographers in Western countries were the first to explore the use of nude women as subject, owing largely to more liberal atmosphere compared to their Asian counterparts. Some of the leading initiators of the new photography art form were Felix-Jacques Moulin, Edward Weston, Ruth Bernhard and Jerry Avenaim. Asian nude photography developed albeit later than its Western counterparts did. Conservative mores and restrictive culture impeded smoother and faster evolution of nudity as both an art form and content. Societies that were largely dictated by highly formal familial structure did not provide the ideal environment for the rapid development of nude photography. Such situation can be viewed differently, however. On the one hand, the restrictive atmosphere discouraged many promising professional photographers in exploring the use of nude subjects, fearful of being rejected by the society and ostracized in the art community. Since most of the photos were featured in local photo exhibits, they took the limited form of publication, allowing the government to exercise prior restraint measures, such as censorship. The case of Nobuyoshi is particularly interesting, because no less than the literal physical might of the Japanese government, supposedly as a repository of public interest and welfare, prohibited the exhibition and publication of some of his relatively controversial art works. On the other hand, the earlier social restrictions on nudist art photography unwittingly provided also a good breeding ground for defiance, with varying outcomes. Nobuyoshi, aside from being a highly prolific photographer, emerged as a controversial public figure because of his experimentation of nudist photos, sometimes including sado-masochistic contents and strong visual imagery of the human genitalia. Extending the limits of the society is still a powerful weapon of the oppressed. Economic development also came much later among countries in Asia. Most of these countries experienced socio-political upheavals as they strived to free themselves from colonial bondage. They also struggled in eventually demolishing whatever remaining post-colonial structures controlled by local elites who replaced their previous colonial masters. Art, in general, was just one of the tools used by those who wanted to reform their societies. Photography, along with other visual arts, is a powerful medium that could effectively increase the potency of the message reformists want to embed in the public psyche. One study conducted by Willem van Schendel of the University of Amsterdam and International Institute of Social History is particularly enlightening. The study involved a minority indigenous group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a district in Bangladesh. The study reveals how photography was utilized as a potent tool against the localized colonial onslaught by more economically dominant Bangladeshi districts and cities—a grim reminder of the country’s colonial history. It also showcases the adverse impacts of what Schendel calls as â€Å"enforced nudity†. B. Edward Weston and other leading Western nude photographers Edward Weston was an American photographer born towards the end of the 19th century. He was born at the time when the artist community started reviving the Renaissance cultural legacy and reached the zenith of his career as an artist-photographer at the time when the so-called â€Å"Sexual Revolution† was slowly beginning to invade the United States. Weston started exploring photography as an adolescent using a camera given to him by his father. Although born of a family with a relatively strong intellectual tradition, he dismissed the virtue of completing formal education and began concentrating on photography and exploring various techniques that eventually led him to fame. When Weston was already embarking on his photography career, the prevailing art genre was pictorialism. Pictorialist photography is characterized by the suppression of finer details through photo manipulation. Some people called it as the abstract painting version of photography. Photography then was not considered strictly as an art form, unlike the typical paintings and sculptures. Pioneering artist-photographers wanted to emulate the painting as a legitimate art form, hence the manipulation of the photo outputs to mimic abstract paintings. Pictorialism was essentially used as a critical vehicle in the eventual acceptance of photography as a valid art. The leading figure in the said art movement was Alfred Stieglitz, notably starting with his Camera Work publication from 1913-1917. Weston eventually abandoned Pictorialism in favor of straight photography. Together with other notable colleagues, such as Ansel Adams and William Van Dyke, Weston founded the Group f/64, then initially composed of seven 20th century-photographers based in San Francisco, US. The group wanted to offer an alternative paradigm, employing unadulterated and purist version of photos, with subjects usually confined to those naturally existing objects. Western nude photographers were relatively not adversely affected by socio-political upheavals experienced then in less developed societies around the world. They enjoyed more liberal atmosphere, allowing them wider breadth to explore unusual and more controversial subjects. One specific issue, however, hounded Weston, in particular. At the time when he was slowly building his budding career, he was relatively located apart from his fellow photographers, mostly living and exhibiting in New York and other areas in the east coast. At that time, Weston was living in California. Photo reproduction was then still a developing technology, mostly relying on photo templates that required greater task in reproducing them. The state of technology and his physical location provided the fertile ground for the development of his unique ideas on photography. To a certain extent, Weston is considered by art historians as the primary precursor of purist nude photography in the United States. C. Araki Nobuyoshi briefly showcased Nobuyoshi is a leading and highly controversial Japanese photographer born in 1940 in Tokyo. He started his passion in photography when he was employed by Dentsu, Inc. , an advertising company. Soon, he embarked on a more independent career path, submitting majority of his works to leading magazines and other publications in Japan. Nobuyoshi is a seemingly interesting case. Despite living in a much-developed country compared to Japan’s neighboring countries in Asia, he was not exempted from the restrictive government regulating arms, largely influenced by the dominant socio-cultural and moral tenets. In fact, as recent as 1992, police officers raided a photo gallery where his famous book by Nobuyoshi, entitled â€Å"Erotos†, was being sold. Police personnel arrested various people behind the event on obscenity grounds. A year earlier, he was slapped with a 300,000-yen fine because of erotic photos in a photo exhibit titled â€Å"Photo-maniac Diary†. In stark contrast to the repressive state censorship of his works in Japan, â€Å"Erotos† was widely acclaimed in Western countries, with the book’s Austrian publisher expressing shock and utter disappointment. Weston and Nobuyoshi share one specific photo style. Unlike most other nude photographers who remain focused on the body shape and not the person as the dominant subject, Weston and Nobuyoshi took many photos depicting even clearly showing the human face. It was a substantial departure from the prevalent and more careful technique that gives lesser emphasis on the human face, cognizant of the blurry line dividing nude photography and pornography. Nobuyoshi went even further by taking countless photos of the human genitalia, explaining largely why he is both loved and hated by art critics in his own country. Conclusion As elucidated earlier, the evolution of nude photography as another legitimate art form did not come about as a sudden explosion of defiance against the dominant genre in photography. The state of technology in photo reproduction and existing socio-cultural tenets dictated the pace of development of nude photography as an alternative art form. Western countries, with better equipment and more liberal atmosphere, were responsible in the initial appearance of nudist photos as distinctly different from erotic and pornographic materials. Photos of nude women gained wider and smoother acceptance among the literati in these countries. Asian nude photographers have an entirely different experience. As indicated in the case of Nobuyoshi, they were struggling against repressive social structures that were consequently translated into literal censorship of their works by government authorities. Despite the economic boon Japan was experiencing as late as the 1990s, oppressive and conservative structures and mindset had then yet to be demolished and replaced. Bibliography Hirsch, Robert, â€Å"Seizing the Light: A History of Photography. † NY: McGraw-Hill, 2000 â€Å"Nude Photography. † Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Nude_photography â€Å"Pictorialism. † Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Pictorialism van Schendel, William. â€Å"A Politics of Nudity: Photography of the ‘Naked Mru’ of Bangladesh. † Cambridge Journals. http://journals. cambridge. org/action/displayAbstract? fromPage=online&aid=100313

Mesolithic and Neolithic Essays

Mesolithic and Neolithic Essays Mesolithic and Neolithic Paper Mesolithic and Neolithic Paper With Reference to examples, compare and contrast the impact made by Mesolithic and Neolithic peoples on Irelands cultural landscape. The extraordinary landscape that the island of Ireland has to offer, cannot be described in words. The individual on looking at the sights of the country feels a sense of ineffability. The Ice Age brought about the most dynamic changes to the physical landscape, shaping it and creating the wonderful sights of the natural land we can see today. (Although, from that time we have altered Irelands landscape, yet have not come close to the same scale of changes that were produced by the Ice Age). For all its destruction, the beautiful landscape that the Ice Age left behind played a large part in the unfolding human history of Ireland- the glacier deposits helped the land become fertile, supporting vegetation and trees which would become useful resources for the first people to arrive on the island. In addition, the heavy weight of the glaciers helped flattened areas that could then be used for building. However, it is not these natural sights, which people take notice of, Irelands economic activity has increased rapidity over the past number of years, due to the tourist attractions which have been promoted throughout the world. The Mesolithic and Neolithic sites such as Newgrange Passage Tomb, Mount Sandel, Magheraghanrush in County Sligo, Deerpark Court Tomb and Cashelkeelty in Kerry attract thousands of tourists to the country, and are the constructed developments and findings created and left by the first settlers in Ireland. Around 9,000 years ago at the end of the Palaeolithic era, there began a new period in history, known as the Mesolithic Age (Greek mesos middle and lithos stone). It is during this time the first settlers came to Ireland from Scotland (It is thought that these settlers first colonized the northeast of the country from Scotland. Although sea levels were still lower than they are today, Ireland was probably already an island by the time the first settlers arrived by boat. There is nothing surprising in this, though, for most of the Mesolithic sites in Ireland are coastal settlements. Clearly, the earliest inhabitants of this country were seafarers who depended for much of their livelihood upon the sea. In some ways this economy was forced upon them, for many centuries were to pass before the treeless permafrost was transformed into a densely forested fertile land) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Early history of Ireland. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki /Early_history_of_Ireland It was at the end of this period that much of the fantastic constructions that exist still in this present age (sites such as Newgrange Passage Tomb, Mount Sandel etc ) began to emerge, from the Neolithic peoples in the Neolithic period. During this time in the islands existence, the impact of these early settlers on Irelands cultural landscape is thought to be much more significant than that of the Mesolithic people that lived before them, and it is this, which is to be discussed. Mesolithic people lived in a hunter-gatherer society, were food was caught went needed for the family (usually hunted by the dominant male(s) of the group)- evidence of this comes from the Fourth International Congress of Primatology, Portland, Oregon, Male and Female Behaviour in Primate Societies. The origin of male political power has been sought in the dominance behaviour of the nonhuman primates. Data from the living hunting and gathering peoples offer a corrective to this viewpoint. Several theorists have developed models of early human groups that placed males at the centre and females drawn in from outside through exchange networks. These models contradict the known facts about hunting and gathering peoples, among whom we find a social grouping consisting of both males and females at the centre. The burden of the hunter-gatherer evidence (along with that from primate field studies) favours a model of early human society in which females wielded considerable political power as a result of their economic independence and their ability to exercise discretion in their choice of spouse. springerlink. com/content/r615266521271760/. We can establish that the sorts of animals the Mesolithic people consumed ranged over mammals, birds and fish including, wild boar, hare, wolf/dog, wild cat, thrush, eagle, wigeon, teal, mallard, salmon, trout, eel, seabass and a variety of other species, based on the findings at Mount Sandel. (J. P. Mallory T. E. McNeill The Archaeology of Ulster; From Colonization to Plantation. 1991 P. 13).

Identify Consumers Needs and To Ensure That Organizations Develop Strategies

Identify Consumers Needs and To Ensure That Organizations Develop Strategies Introduction The world is changing due to the changes brought about by technology. Business environment is increasingly getting competitive. Firms are finding it difficult to manage this competition due to a number of factors. According to Handlechner (2008), it is practically impossible to find the best strategy that would last a lifetime and will not need regular adjustment. The ability of a firm to adjust to changes within the environment will always determine its success or failure within that market.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Identify Consumers’ Needs and To Ensure That Organizations Develop Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Coming up with the right strategy should always be followed by swift implementation in order to achieve the desired result. Marketing planning can be a very challenging task, especially in new markets. The planning will also depend on the size of the firm and the prod uct offered to the market. Marketing products of a hospital will be very different from electronic products. Similarly, marketing of a Volvo will be different from the way bread is marketed. When developing a marketing plan, it is always important that the concerned individuals understand the nature of the product and the target customers. As McLaughlin and Aaker (2010) state, marketing planning and strategy development should not be left to the marketing department alone. Success in this planning will benefit the entire firm. Organizational structure clearly stipulates people responsible for making various decisions at various levels. However, it should be appreciated that all members of the organization, irrespective of their position within the firm, have a role to play. They can help come up with strategies that are able to meet the demands of the market. The research will be based on Volvo which has had massive success for the past one decade (Hooley 2008, p. 92). This research focuses on analysis of various strategies that can help the firm succeed in marketing a brand new car model with a capacity to drive itself for a few minutes as it sounds warning in case the driver falls asleep. Analysis of Micro/Macro Factors SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is one of the important tools that are very popular in analyzing a company. It helps in analyzing firms based on the existing internal and external factors. SWOT analysis would be very valuable in analyzing Volvo. It would help bring more insight to the opportunities and threats that this firm would face in the external environment. It would also help in understanding the strengths and weaknesses that the firm has. Strength of this firm selling this car lies in the security it offers to the user. The world is increasingly becoming sensitive of the safety they get from the automotive they use due to the increasing number of accidents which occur regularly.Advertising Looking for report on business economics ? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The concern is emanating from the fact that it has been confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt that most of the fatal accidents do occur due to lack of ability of the cars to alert users if there is any danger emanating from the driver’s actions (Gerber 2008, p. 67). The special feature that this car has will give it an edge in the market over other executive cars that are currently on demand. Despite the above strengths, this strategy has some weakness. The market today is very sensitive on the pricing of products. This car will occupy a special niche in the market. The firm may decide to charge premium prices for the product as a way of positioning the product in the market. The problem with this attempt is that some of the potential customers will be locked out of the market for this product. Charging a low price for this product may make it be seen as an inferior car to the existin g cars. The firm has a number of opportunities in the external environment. In the local market, this firm has managed to build a large base of loyal customers, especially in the Europe and Middle East (Ferrell 2011, p. 116). Most of the markets where this firm operates have stable governments. This means that the business environment is free from any political unrest that may disrupt normal business operations within the market. This has created a business environment that is very peaceful to various firms in the country. The firm also enjoys an economic growth in this world that has increased the purchasing power of the consumers. This increased purchasing power will help the firm to increase its operations to regions beyond its markets. The emerging technologies is also helped Volvo in its operational strategies (Hill Jones 2010, p. 70). The firm may consider adapting the emerging technologies in its operations, a fact that will help it increase it efficiency. This firm faces a number of threats in its operations. Threats may not be predictable in this industry, though the firm may try to reduce the possibility of occurrence. The first threat that this firm faces is price wars in the market. Other major competitors will keenly monitor the price that Volvo will charge on this unique product. They will then consider adjusting their products price to try to gain a competitive edge in the market (Harper 2010, p. 11). Such price wars are always dangerous to the prosperity of a business. The initiative may fail to make any serious sense. However, this threat can be minimized by ensuring that the product acquires a special niche in the market. Identification of and Rationale for Market Opportunity In order to understand the rationale for the market opportunity for this unique Volvo car, it is important to understand the objectives of coming up with such a product in the first case. The following are some of the objectives of this strategy.Advertising We w ill write a custom report sample on Identify Consumers’ Needs and To Ensure That Organizations Develop Strategies specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More To come up with a unique product in the current competitive market that will enable this firm tower above the market competitors. To create a market niche that other existing competitors have not thought of occupying in an attempt to make products of competitors be seen as mere substitutes of this product. To convince the market that this firm has their interest at heart. By developing this product, the firm aims at enhancing security on our roads. Strategy The strategy that this firm uses should be carefully being selected after taking into considerations a number of factors. This firm should come up with a strategy that will not make the market develop a perception that the firm’s interest is to generate more revenue. The firm should be able to convince customers that the move is to ensure that every driver is safe while on the road. The marketing strategy should therefore, emphasize on the security that this car offers (Chaston 2009, p. 89). The marketing proposition should be based on the fact that users get to benefit from reduced road accidents, and other extra security measures that it may have. The rationale of this strategy is to convince the consumer that with this product, their lives is well taken care of, unless something extraordinary happens. Market Opportunities The current market highly appreciates unique products in the market. As Bissoondoyal (2006, p. 78) puts it, the society has become so dependent on technology that they would prefer to have most of the tasks performed by technology. Cars have become more and more comfortable. However, there is yet to be a car that can safely drive itself on the road while the occupant is in it, relaxing. All the luxury cars available in the market need a human being to be behind the wheel to do the driv ing. This new brand of Volvo car offers something close to this dream. Given the fact that the products offers a level of security that none of the currently existing cars does, it stands the best chance to get a huge market globally. Europe and the United States will make the largest market for this product. The European market comes second to the US market in the sale of cars (Gountas Mavudo 2008, p. 112). These two markets will offer this product a massive opportunity to expand, and develop a market base that can support its operations. The two markets are also attractive because of the fact that they are developed economies. The proportions of those who are willing to purchase the product are relatively high. The rich who are looking for maximum security when travelling will definitely accept the opportunity to use the car. They will be willing to pay premium prices in order to own such a car. Conclusion Volvo may not be in the same league as Mercedes Benz and BMW. However, it is important to note that what brings this difference is the decision of the two luxurious brands to add more value to their products. Volvo has the capacity to offer this added value to their products to make them unique in the market.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This firm can develop this unique product and avail it in the market in a unique way. This product will be outstanding in the market because there is yet to be a car that can parallel that capacity. With this unique product, this firm will need a unique marketing strategy that will make it acquire a unique position. The management of this firm should ensure that this product acquires its own unique niche in the market. List of References Bissoondoyal, U 2006, Total quality management: a practical approach, New Age International, London. Chaston, I 2009, New Marketing Strategies: Evolving Flexible Processes to Fit Market Circumstance, Sage Publications, London. Ferrell, C 2011, Marketing Strategy, Cengage Learning, New York. Gerber, K 2008, Marketing communication, Pearson Education, Cape Town. Gountas, J Mavudo, F 2008, Marketing Strategy: A Decision-Focused Approach, McGraw-Hill, North Ryde. Handlechner, M 2008, Marketing Strategy, GRIN Verlag GmbH, München. Harper, M. (2010). Inclusive value chains: A pathway out of poverty. New Jersey: World Scientific. Hill, C Jones, G 2010, Strategic management theory: an integrated approach, Houghton Mifflin, Boston. Hooley, G 2008, Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning, FT Prentice Hall, Harlow. McLaughlin, D Aaker, D 2010, Strategic market management: global perspective, Wiley, Chichester.

How the Burma Military Became a Reflection of the British Colonial Assignment

How the Burma Military Became a Reflection of the British Colonial Government - Assignment Example After the British government had left Burma, Frustrations due to the inability to come up with clear resolutions of numerous problems that had long been standing were clearly manifested in outbreaks of army post-independence. Due to this, the military of Burma engaged itself in suppressing several rebellions from ethnic groups since the country’s independence. After a decade of democracy in the country, the military took over following a political crisis. The army seized total control of the nation afterward. Since then the army has been ruling the country through a council of revolution by a decree. The people of Burma were facing similar situations they faced during the British colonial era under the military leadership. The economic collapse of the country, frustration in the political arena, poor leadership from the military and poor education state drove anger and bad attitude thereby leading to Burma uprising. Following the period of post-colonialism in Burma, the political crisis drove the military to take over the countries leadership. Burma has been under military leadership for a very long time. The military has been unwilling to recognize any traditional minority religious rights. Its agenda was to have a united Buddhist country that has one culture and language. This policy reduced the autonomy of the ethnic groups. In addition, several people were put in detention for trying to spearhead Burmanisation including Aung Su Kyi. The detention without trial was used as a tool to silence the opposition leaders and ultimately the public for any thought of an uprising-taking place. In addition, the military has been responding harshly to crash out the juntas but not focusing to any of their political demands.  Ã‚  

Environmental Geology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental Geology - Research Paper Example In his speech delivered on June 16, 2010, the President said that we needed to break our â€Å"addiction† to oil and that will be possible when, â€Å"†¦we seize the moment.   And only if we rally together and act as one nation –- workers and entrepreneurs; scientists and citizens; the public and private sectors (Obama, 2010).† As much as I would like to see this happen, I feel that there are three fundamental realities that will prevent this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico from becoming some sort of catalyst that will change our energy policy as a nation and as individuals. The first fact is that most American thing regionally about their citizenship, and it takes an event such as the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to really unite the nation as a whole. Americans surely feel for one another, as is shown by the volunteers that rush from all corners of the nation to clean-up after a hurricane or and earthquake. This sort of empathy, while wonderful in the most basic human sense, does little to change people’s choices. We still will build our homes in hurricane and earthquake prone areas after the mess is cleaned up. Everyone feels badly about the fishermen than are going to lose their homes and boats, but that isn’t going to make the guy driving 60 minutes each way to work to suddenly quit his job so he can burn less fuel each day. These are the choices that need to be made if we are going to become less dependant on oil, and most people won’t change because of the oil spill. The second regional issue is the economic roll oil plays in the Gulf of Mexico. The people that need to call for less oil consumption now is the residents most affected by the spill. They have the attention of the nation this summer. Unfortunately, they are not making these calls. The fact is, many are employed by oil companies in the region and the taxes generated by the oil