Short Critical Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Short Critical Reflection Paper - Essay Example There are two types of databases that are responsible for information. The first consists of a public domain database. This type of database is accessible for the public use. The second consists of a propriety database, which is restricted towards individuals who have membership from a local university. The difference between the databases is due to the fact one requires membership and one is open to the public. This is due to the fact that knowledge and articles that are in the Ashford library databases are scholarly articles written by scholars and are highly more credible than the articles that are yielded in the Google search engines. Most search engines will yield the same results and it is clear that the quality of information between the two databases is clearly distinguishable. Without a doubt, the information age has literally been transformed throughout the last century. The challenge is no doubt to manage this clusters of information that is widely available, which is why the information age is not all good.... Most search engines will yield the same results and it is clear that the quality of information between the two databases is clearly distinguishable. The information age might very well go down as one of the most influential movements of the last century. The term â€Å"revolution† refers to a drastic change. In what ways in this information age so drastically different? Is it all good? Without a doubt, the information age has literally been transformed throughout the last century. The challenge is no doubt to manage this clusters of information that is widely available, which is why the information age is not all good. Propriety software and open source applications are anything but similar. What are the pros and cons of buying Microsoft Office (proprietary) versus downloading and using Open Office (open) for free? The term â€Å"open source† refers to the piece of software’s source code. Open source code extends beyond the traditional methods of just handing ou t code. It means that there are guidelines in which software has to be written it. The software developed with innovations can tremendously benefit individuals on the internet. The clearest benefit of this is due to the fact that it is free. Rather than paying a hefty peace, most open source products can be tried at a risk free basis. In addition, most of these products are efficient for organization’s usage. They also eliminate the hassle of software licensing, which continues to be a controversial issue in this industry. Consequently, propriety software tends to be quite expensive as Microsoft Office can really take a hit on a person’s budget. However, these software are complete and do not contain flaws unlike the open source software. Propriety software

Goldman Sachs (see the description) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Goldman Sachs (see the description) - Essay Example Financial indicators of the company and industry are used to determine financial trend and performance of the company. Economic environment of the business was recorded mixed in the early period of 2014 globally. Market of the company was improved in the second quarter of 2014. The first quarter of 2014 was proved to be the declining period for emerging market assets. The assets were affected by the declining position of GDP in China (Mandis, 2013). Another perspective was the political tension going on in Ukraine and Russia. The two problems were significantly controlled in the second quarter of 2014. Real GDP of Japan was accelerated in the first quarter and shown in the report of second quarter. In all the cases the effort was shown in the second quarter of 2014 when there was a consumption tax hike on consumer spending (McEvoy, 2014). In the first quarter, it was noticed that global equity price was improved, interest rate fell down and the credit spreading was contracted. The levels of Volatility were noticed declining further. Equity and debt was strong in the first quarter of 2014. Industry-wide announced that the acquisitions and mergers had increased in the first three months but the situation was somehow opposite to that. The mergers and equity were decreased as compared to the period of first quarter of 2013 (The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., 2014). In the case of European countries, real GDP of the country was increasing to some extent in the first six months of 2014. The European Central Bank noticed inflation in the economy and reduces the rate of interest. Central bank of Europe also announced to increase lending to private sectors and includes targeted long term refinancing operations. The currency of Europe was depreciated by 1 percent because there was an increased in unemployment. The domestic demand in United States was low in the first quarter. The Bank

Research handbook of comparative employment relations Essay

Research handbook of comparative employment relations - Essay Example Good! So these are your 3 main sections of your paper. According to Barry and Wilkinson (2011), voluntary overtime is a regular and positive practice in the various industries. Voluntary overtime increases the productivity of workers, maintains employees’ wellbeing, reduces staff turnover, and it is more cost efficient than part-time employment. Good! Okay, so you discuss these next, right? In the next couple of paragraphs, you discuss these right? I could be able to see that these are the topics for the next paragraphs. maintains employees’ wellbeing, reduces staff turnover, and it is more cost efficient than part-time employment For example, overtime is a common practice among medical facilities in the United States, where nurses are the majority of medical facilities’ employees who works overtime. You should consider using more in-text citations – where did this example come from? One of our sources? Or would one of your sources agree with it? Then use an in-text citation here. It’s not uncommon for research papers to have in-text citations in almost every other sentence. This is looking good so far. Nurses who voluntarily work overtime provide better care for the patients compared to mandatory overtime or part-time nurses. A clear indication of the positive impact of voluntary overtime over part-time or regular time work is that overtime workers tend to be engaged, especially when work is voluntarily provided to them. Most employees admit that wages have an impact on their work performance. Studies have demonstrated that higher wages earned result in a sense of achievement, ownership, and satisfaction in the work completed. Okay, so the next paragraphs will be about achievement, ownership, and satisfaction, right? It’s like sorting out your laundry; the evaluators will want to see clear, separate piles of thoughts like you indicate in your, excellent topic sentences. Your piles are your paragraphs, right? So, I want to see a paragraph on achievement. And another one one on ownership, and then the last one on satisfaction in work. Does this make sense/ Employees who are available by choice to work for overtime hours augment their productivity, lead to an excellent job recital, and reduce staff turnover through retention of employees (Barry & Wilkinson, 2011).Voluntary work helps in maintaining the employee’s health more than forced overtime work. Use of voluntary overtime enhances the wellbeing of workers; on the other hand, involuntary overtime causes burnout among employees. Voluntary overtime increases employees’ satisfaction and reduces stress among employees; as a result, it helps in maintaining the health of the workers. As Cameron (2012) observes, employees who work on voluntary overtime tend to have natural self-motivation within them, which enhances their productivity and job satisfaction. Employees and employers attain more benefits from voluntary overtime than from invo luntary overtime. Numerous studies have established that long working hours and shift work raise the odds for employees to be fatigued, injured, stressed, and suffer from medical ailments. However, voluntary overtime tends to lower these effects, but involuntary overtime increases same. The Advantages of Voluntary Overtime Paid Work The Advantages of

Mass Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mass Culture - Essay Example The distinction between 'serious' and 'popular' music was tackled by Adorno. Serious music is perceived as refined music compared to popular music. Serious music is regarded as highbrow as distinct from popular music which is considered lowbrow. (Witney, 2002). However, Adorno rejects these categories as a basis for making a distinction between serious and popular music. Adorno stressed that the works of early Viennese classicism were rhythmically simpler than the common arrangements of jazz. He further pointed out that based on melody, the wide intervals of â€Å"Deep Purple' and 'Sunrise Serenade' makes these much more difficult to emulate compared to Haydn. In particular, he explained that the supply of chords of the classics is limited compared to a modern composer who culls from Debussy, Ravel and later sources' (Adorno 1990:305). The rallying point of Adorno was the question of whether culture validated the experience of the individual or whether culture had eclipsed it. (Ridlesss, 1984). According to Adorno and Horkheimer, under monopoly, all mass culture is identical. Movies and radio are not art but businesses made into an ideology to reinforce the rubbish they produce. These businesses refer to themselves as industries. Some persons explain the culture industry in technological terms. They state that reproduction processes are necessary that would require similar needs in many places to be satisfied with identical goods. Adorno and Horkheimer stipulate that the standards were based on consumers’ needs. ' needs. The basis on which technology acquires power over society is the power of those whose economic hold over society is at its greatest. A technological rationale is the aim of domination itself. It is the coercive nature of society alienated from itself. The outcome is that the technology of the culture industry resulted in standardization and mass production. (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993). Moreover, Adorno and Horkheimer states that the man with leisure has to accept everything that the culture manufacturers offer him. The industry robs the individual of his function since the industry does the schematizing and classification for him. (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993). Adorno and Horkheimer stated that style is significant in every work of art. The artistic expression is imbedded in the style or into the language of music, painting and words. The promise a work of art holds depends on how it will create truth by lending new shape to the conventional social forms. The fulfillment of art lies in their aesthetic derivatives. (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993). The culture industry is basically a spectacle which is illusory. In the face of the person who isstimulated by all those brilliant names and images there is an ode to the depressing everyday world it sought to escape. The culture industry is essentially pornographic and prudish. Love is further downgraded to romance. After the descent, license becomes a specialty, it is knows as "daring. The stronger the positions of the culture industry become, the more it can handle consumers' needs by manufacturing them, manipulating them, disciplining them, and even by withdrawing amusement from them. (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993). In the culture industry, the individual is an illusion due to the standardization of the means of production. The reactions of human beings have been reified that the idea of anything specific to themselves shows as an abstract notion. The emphasis is on bodily perfections devoid of distinction. The triumph of advertising in the culture industry is that consumers feel compelled to buy and use its products even though they see through them. (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993). Stuart Hall's encoding and decoding diagram is closely related to the works of Eco, Adorno and Horkheimer. Hall showed that production practices in television translate into a message, a sign-vehicle which is organized by means of a set of codes

Business Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Law - Assignment Example Peter accepted the price of $ 190 and Mary took the bicycle away. The case scenario deals with the conditions surrounding the formation of valid business contracts. A contract is defined as an agreement between two parties that creates legal obligation to the two parties to perform or abstain from performing a certain obligation or action (Farnsworth, 1991). A contract must entail an offer by one party and acceptance of the offer by the other party. The advertisement placed in the local newspaper by Peter is not an offer but an invitation to treat. Peter is inviting interested persons to make an offer for the purchase of the bicycle. Accordingly, advertisements are classified as invitations to treat since the seller can refuse to sell the item at price if it is mistakenly marked (Blum, 2007). The advertisement is displayed to a larger number of people with an undefined way of selecting whom to sell the bicycle. For instance, the advertisement does not clarify whether to sell the bicy cle to the first person to accept the labeled price. It this case, the advertisement is geared at generating interests and prolonging negotiations towards the formation of the contract (Stone, 2005). After the invitation to treat, Jonathan makes an offer to through a telephone to purchase the racing bicycle at a price of $ 160. However, rules of contract stipulate that the subject matter of contract must be present at the time of making the offer. According to the Uniform Commercial code,

McCarthyism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

McCarthyism - Essay Example Americans were shaken and afraid. The Soviet sweeping occupation of Eastern Europe occurred immediately following WWII. In effect, Russia replaced Germany and Japan as the American nemesis. The â€Å"Godless Communists† became a clear and present danger to a nation primed, ready and seemingly anxious to accept the Soviets as the new enemy of the â€Å"American Way.† Senator Joseph McCarthy seized upon this fear for, some would insist, purely political gain. He held hearings designed to weed-out subversives and communist sympathizers so as to keep America clean of communism. Instead, this time in history, the early 1950’s, is shamefully known as McCarthyism, a term that has since become a synonym for â€Å"witch hunt.† When World War II finally ended in 1945 Americans were war-weary and scared of a new threat, the Soviet Union. The Soviets had taken the place of Germany in the hearts and minds of Americans because it was emulating the aggressive, imperialis tic tendencies of the Third Reich. The difference being the Soviets now had a military that more or less matched the strength of the U.S., was a larger country and had a long-established communist philosophy which it was also spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. The Soviets also had the atomic bomb by 1949 and was increasing its rocket capabilities, a move than would ultimately pit the two world superpowers in the space race of the late 1950’s through the1960’s. The threat of nuclear annihilation and/or a communist takeover was very real in the minds of 1940’s-50’s America. The sales of backyard bomb shelters were booming and the propaganda machines left over from the Nazi era was in full production mode. Communists, known simply as â€Å"Reds† were feared and thought to be lurking just about anywhere, the guy in the office next to yours, neighbors, long-term friends and family. Communist theories were supposedly hiding within the meanings of literary phrases and all types of media including the news. â€Å"A curious process of symbolic transference was at work whereby symbols applied to Hitlerite Germany were projected onto the USSR on account of the dangerous ‘Red Fascism’ promoted by Stalin† (Sproule, 208). This era was not the first threat of communism in America. The initial wave of â€Å"commie† paranoia came in 1917 after the Russian Revolution. Anti-communist sentiment subsided during the 1920 and ‘30’s when it was replaced by anti-fascism. The â€Å"Second Red Scare† lasted from about 1947 to 1957. McCarthyism and anti-communist sentiments could not have gained traction without the high intensity propaganda campaign encouraged by the government to discourage subversives and by corporations in their effort to undermine unions. R.J. Reynolds, a large tobacco company, initiated a widespread multi-million dollar campaign to notify the country about the communistic ch aracter of labor unions, particularly the union representing tobacco workers. This tactic caught on rapidly with other industries resulting in plummeting union membership numbers across the country for several decades. This effort continues today but the fear-based term is now â€Å"socialism.† The U.S. and Soviet Union were firmly engaged in what is famously known as the Cold War. It was a fought on two fronts, a mass military build-up and a propaganda blitz. During this time of the second red scare, many local and state governments along with public schools and

Aesthetic Education Essay Example for Free

Aesthetic Education Essay Friedrich Schiller wrote Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man in 1793 for his friend the Danish Prince Friedrich Christian who had provided him with a stipend to help him through an illness. In 1795 the letters were published and the provide a worthwhile consideration of the nature of Aesthetics for us still today. The collection of twenty seven letters is not an easy read but it is worth persevereing to gain the insights of this great poet and playwright, friend of Goethe and inspiration for Beethoven and many artists, particularly in the Romantic era. The book touches upon a broad range of topics, some of which you do not normally associate with aesthetics. However the letters do consider the nature of Beauty and its relationship to art and man. For Schiller beauty seems to arise as a synthesis between opposing principles whose highest ideal is to be sought in the most perfect possible union and equilibrium of reality and form(Letter XVI, p 81). Schiller also discusses the nature of the ideal man and how the impulse for play interacts with mans nature, especially his rational and sensuous aspects which form a juxtaposition within him. This juxtaposition is discussed at length with a synthesis described in terms that suggest a transcendance that culminates in our very humanity (Letters 18-20). Man and his nature is important to Schiller as his reason, but The first appearance of reason in Man is not yet the beginning of his humanity. The latter is not decided until he is free, (Letter XXIV, p 115). Through discussion of the work of art and the fine arts Schiller brings us closer to a conception of what art means to man and how important Homo Ludens is as a conception of man. Schiller admired classical Greece and its art and saw the role of history and freedom important in the discussion of the nature of art. Above all both as a poet and a thinker Schiller held the ideal of freedom to be sacrosanct. According to Schiller, freedom is attained when the sensual and rational in man are fully integrated but his aesthetic disposition is seen as coming from Nature. These letters provide a rich vein of ideas from which the thoughtful and attentive reader may find inspiration in consideration of the aesthetics and the nature of the work of art. Friedrich Schiller menulis Surat Pendidikan Estetika Manusia pada tahun 1793 untuk rakan Christian Friedrich Putera Denmark yang telah disediakan dengan wang saku untuk membantu beliau sakit. Pada tahun 1795 surat telah diterbitkan dan memberi pertimbangan berbaloi sifat Estetika untuk kita masih hari ini. Koleksi 27 surat tidak read mudah tetapi ia adalah bernilai persevereing untuk mendapatkan pandangan penyair dan pengarang drama hebat ini, rakan Goethe dan inspirasi untuk Beethoven dan ramai artis, terutamanya di era Romantik. Buku ini menyentuh kepada pelbagai topik, ada yang anda tidak lakukan biasanya bersekutu dengan estetika. Walau bagaimanapun, surat mempertimbangkan sifat Kecantikan dan hubungannya dengan seni dan manusia. Untuk kecantikan Schiller nampaknya timbul sebagai sintesis antara prinsip lawan yang tertinggi sesuai perlu dicari dalam kesatuan mungkin yang paling sempurna dan keseimbangan realiti dan bentuk (Surat XVI, p 81). Schiller juga membincangkan sifat manusia yang ideal dan bagaimana dorongan untuk permainan berinteraksi dengan alam semula jadi, manusia terutamanya aspek rasional dan sensasi yang membentuk saling bertindih dalam dirinya. Saling bertindih ini dibincangkan dengan panjang lebar dengan sintesis diterangkan dari segi yang mencadangkan transcendance yang memuncak dalam kemanusiaan kita (Huruf 18-20). Manusia dan alam adalah penting untuk Schiller sebagai alasan beliau, tetapi Kemunculan pertama sebab dalam Man tidak lagi permulaan kemanusiaan. Terakhir ini tidak memutuskan sehingga dia adalah percuma, (Surat XXIV, ms 115). Melalui perbincangan kerja seni dan seni halus Schiller membawa kita lebih dekat kepada konsep apa yang seni ertinya kepada manusia dan betapa pentingnya Ludens Homo adalah seperti konsep manusia. Schiller dikagumi klasik Greece dan seni dan melihat peranan sejarah dan kebebasan penting dalam perbincangan yang bersifat seni. Atas semua kedua-dua sebagai penyair dan pemikir Schiller diadakan ideal kebebasan untuk menjadi boleh dipertikaikan. Menurut Schiller, kebebasan dicapai apabila sensual dan rasional dalam manusia bersepadu sepenuhnya tetapi pelupusan estetik beliau dilihat sebagai datang dari Alam. Surat ini menyediakan darah yang kaya dengan idea-idea dari mana pembaca yang bernas dan penuh perhatian boleh mencari inspirasi dalam pertimbangan estetik dan sifat kerja seni. PENDAPAT NO 2: Although this type of reading can be challenging for the modern reader, I thoroughly enjoyed this thought-provoking book. If you enjoy philosophy and subscribe to a personal philosophy that an appreciation of beauty and learning through play are valuable, Schiller will appeal to you. Walaupun ini jenis membaca boleh mencabar bagi pembaca moden, saya telitimenikmati buku ini memprovokasi pemikiran. Jika kita menikmati falsafah dan melanggan kepada falsafah peribadi bahawa menghargai kecantikan dan pembelajaranmelalui permainan adalah berharga, Schiller akan merayu kepada kita. PENDAPAT NO 3:SUMMARY A generic summary of the argument in Friedrich Schiller’s Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man would be: in order for a person to become a moral and rational being she must pass through an aesthetic education in which she harmonizes with herself and thus becomes Free to exercise her rational will univocally. The passage often quoted as a summation of Schiller’s major theme in this work is: â€Å"It is through Beauty that we arrive at Freedom. † This passage, since I first encountered it, has been one of the few essential thoughts I carry with me through life. My superficial knowledge of Schiller, through only this famous quote and the above general argument, has had a disproportionate effect on me. When Conor Heaton, a friend from Chicago, recommended Schiller’s Letters to me, I was thrilled for the opportunity to read the entirety of the work and to test my own personalized version of the idea against Schiller’s initial conception. Schiller, a German Romantic dramatist, poet, and essayist, wrote his Letters during the height of France’s Reign of Terror. Like so many other Romantic thinkers across the globe, Schiller cried for joy at the French Revolution’s liberation of the human spirit. But, like artists and thinkers generations before and after him, Schiller suffered great disappointment in the aftermath of the revolution when power and fear destroyed the ideals of Justice and Freedom that had sparked the revolution. In some ways his argument stems from the idea that if the revolutionaries were perfectly educated in the ideas of aesthetics they would have been able to escape their own power struggles and thus have been able to create a Just and Free French State. Instead, the French Revolutionaries, whose only education on and exposure to government came from the monarch they so despised, exponentially replicated the atrocities of the very kind they dethroned. In doing so they turned the country into an irrational, immoral mess. It is a theme not isolated to 1790’s France, and though Schiller was influenced by the events of his time, he is also picking up an ambitious argument first articulated in the Western tradition two thousand years before his time. The idea of an aesthetic education as essential to a moral and rational life was originally Plato’s. In setting out to create the ideal civilization in his Republic, Plato’s characters conclude that banning books and particular artists (including Homer) will be necessary to ensure that young men are properly trained to appreciate Beauty. Plato’s characters felt that scenes from The Iliad about conniving and jealous gods were bad influences on young men, who may look to the gods as examples. And works that espoused ideas or styles that did not create the harmony in the soul essential to becoming a fully realized Moral man were not worthy of being taught. While laying the groundwork for regarding Beauty as essential to the human experience, Plato also put forward the first argument for censorship. (If one finds themselves scoffing at this idea or comparing Plato to Hitler, it may be wise to remember that a major component of America’s current education system assumes that those being educated cannot decipher the language and tone of Huckleberry Finn without intolerable harm, or read of Holden Caulfield’s rampant moral downfall and sexual escapades without falling into decadence, and that 12 year olds cannot be closer than 100 yards from a condom without instigating rampant uncontrolled sexual orgies. Plato’s excuse is that he didn’t have the benefit of thousands of years of education research proving his instincts incorrect.) Schiller never grounds his ideas by discussing or suggesting particular texts that may be suitable for an aesthetic education. His tendency to speak in shifting abstractions has cost him a more prominent position in the greater philosophical tradition. But if The Aesthetic Education of Man is read as it was written – as an artist trying to convince the world that Art and Beauty are essential to a Free and Moral civilization – then it is a wonderful and essential work whose philosophical consistency is far less important than its general spirit. Schiller’s argument itself is also only a small component of why this text is so engaging. He never stops reaching. His every sentence embodies the Romantic belief that truth, pure Truth, is at our fingertips, and with persistence It can be held in our palms. His style fluctuates between art and philosophy. Schiller has no fear of spreading his ideas, and his grandiose style represents perfectly the abundance of thought that was flowing out of Romantic Germany during his lifetime. He makes grand and provocative historical claims: â€Å"The Romans, we know, had first to exhaust their strength in civil wars . . . before we see Greek art triumphing over the rigidity of their character . . . And among the Arabs too the light of culture never dawned until the vigor of their warlike spirit had relaxed (58). † He states complex ideas in beautiful little statements: â€Å"We know that Man is neither exclusively matter nor exclusively spirit. Beauty, therefore, [is:] the consummation of this humanity (77). † And there is much more beyond this in Schiller’s Letters. He propounds a theory of Beauty and just how it can harmonize mankind and allow moral and rational men to flourish, and so on.