Free Essays on Definition Of An Empire

An empire is an extension of political rule by one people over and it is categorized by the way it is established and maintained. There are two major ways an empire is acquired; the first is called â€Å"hegemony†. If an empire is brought forth by hegemony, the subjects willingly accept the new leadership. This is done peacefully and without the use of force. The conquered are usually better off with the new form of government, which is why they accept. The other way of acquiring an empire is the use of force, which is called â€Å"dominance†. If a empire forms using this technique, the subjects have been forcefully overthrown by the use or threat of military force. The overthrown people reject the foreign rule and are despondent to the idea of a new governance. The Persian empire was built through the use of dominance. Cyrus The Great forcefully spread the reaches of his empire using military force. Up until Cyrus, no culture or individual had ever really thought this one up. Territorial conquests, like monarchical power, were justified on religious grounds, but these religious grounds never gave rise to the notion that one's religious duty was to conquer the whole entire world. Cyrus had conquered all of Persia and defeated the Medes for control of the region. He soon conquered Lydia in Asia Minor, Babylon in 539 BC and, by the time he died in 529 BC, he had conquered a vast territory- in fact, he probably was the greatest conqueror in human history. Although the internal structure of the Persian imperial government was somewhat shaky, the conquests and fire for conquest continued after Cyrus's death. His son, Cambyses, conquered Egypt in 525 BC, but the Chaldeans revolted in Mesopotamia and the Medes revolted east of the Tigris. Camby ses's son, Darius I (reigned 522-486 BC), or Darius the Great, quelled the Chaldeans and Medes and worked on firming up the state. His great innovation was to divide the huge empire into more ... Free Essays on Definition Of An Empire Free Essays on Definition Of An Empire An empire is an extension of political rule by one people over and it is categorized by the way it is established and maintained. There are two major ways an empire is acquired; the first is called â€Å"hegemony†. If an empire is brought forth by hegemony, the subjects willingly accept the new leadership. This is done peacefully and without the use of force. The conquered are usually better off with the new form of government, which is why they accept. The other way of acquiring an empire is the use of force, which is called â€Å"dominance†. If a empire forms using this technique, the subjects have been forcefully overthrown by the use or threat of military force. The overthrown people reject the foreign rule and are despondent to the idea of a new governance. The Persian empire was built through the use of dominance. Cyrus The Great forcefully spread the reaches of his empire using military force. Up until Cyrus, no culture or individual had ever really thought this one up. Territorial conquests, like monarchical power, were justified on religious grounds, but these religious grounds never gave rise to the notion that one's religious duty was to conquer the whole entire world. Cyrus had conquered all of Persia and defeated the Medes for control of the region. He soon conquered Lydia in Asia Minor, Babylon in 539 BC and, by the time he died in 529 BC, he had conquered a vast territory- in fact, he probably was the greatest conqueror in human history. Although the internal structure of the Persian imperial government was somewhat shaky, the conquests and fire for conquest continued after Cyrus's death. His son, Cambyses, conquered Egypt in 525 BC, but the Chaldeans revolted in Mesopotamia and the Medes revolted east of the Tigris. Camby ses's son, Darius I (reigned 522-486 BC), or Darius the Great, quelled the Chaldeans and Medes and worked on firming up the state. His great innovation was to divide the huge empire into more ...

How To Design The Best Blog Graphics With Free Tools

How To Design The Best Blog Graphics With Free Tools Writing awesome content for your blog is essential to earning your readers trust and attention.  Yet there’s another overlooked element that can largely increase your blog traffic: design. Studies have found that 60% of us are visual learners, while only 46% of blogs are actually using visual content. Design often gets a bad rap for just â€Å"making things look pretty† (which it should, don’t get me wrong), but more importantly, it guides your reader in their overall experience. In fact, design can even guide your readers decisions since 67% of consumers consider images to carry more weight than customer ratings, reviews, and product descriptions. What do you want their first impression to be? How can you make your reader read more content? What do you want your reader to take away? All of these questions can be answered by using the tool of design. How To Design The Best Blog #Graphics With Tools Anyone Can Use #blogging Have you ever tried any of these tools to design your blog graphics? Adobe color wheel for complementary colors. Aviary for imagery, editing, and more. Bannersnack  for banner ads and promotion. Buncee for combining visuals and text with your images. Canva  for awesome blog graphics, imagery, and more. Chisel for writing words on images. Da Button Factory  for... um... buttons. Freebiesbug for free fonts. Google Drawings  for sketching out a thought. Haiku Deck for turning words into graphics and presentations. imgflip for generating memes. infogr.am  for infographics. Magdeleine for imagery. Matthew Kosloski's hexbook for complementary colors. Online Image Editor for... editing images online. Paint Shop Pro  for sketching out your thought. Phonto for layering text on images. Photoscape  for editing images. Photoshop  for editing images (and a lot more). Picasa  for small graphics you could use on your blog. Picmonkey for free online photo editing. Piktochart  for infographics, reports, charts, and presentations. Pixel Buddha for fonts and icons. PixTeller for making awesome posters. Placeit  for free iPhone and iPad mockups. PowerPoint  for smaller graphics. Prezi  for animated presentations. Quotes Cover for making visual quotes. Recite for turning quotes into graphics. Sellfy for awesome fonts. Visage for  turning your data into beautiful graphics and charts. Visual.ly for imagery and brand creative services. Word Swag for adding visual words to images. Bonus: Skillshare for design classes. Note: Many of these are free, some of the more robust tools require just a bit of investment. This post will help you use any of these tools even better to make sure your blog graphics  are awesome and not just... a visual to have on your blog. The better the visual, the more social shares you'll get. The more shares you get, the more traffic you get. And the more traffic you get, the more opportunities you have to convert your readers into paying subscribers of your brand. 33 Design Tools That Will Help You Create  Awesome Blog Graphics #blogging1. Remember Your Audience And Purpose When you start a design, it's easy to get caught up in all the fun options you have: color, layout, typography, and tons of others.  But instead, you should begin by  focusing on who your audience is and what you want them to learn. Begin by doing some research. What are other people in your industry doing visually? What are they doing well? What are they doing poorly? Are there certain colors that your audience likes or dislikes? These questions will keep your attention on your audience, while guiding you into the beginning stages of design. Design for your audience, not just to have a visual on your blog. #blogging #contentmarketing2. Every Good Design Starts With A Good Idea It's easy to forget that every good design begins with a great idea. Before even getting into the design, consider what your blog topic should be, do some research, and create an outline. It’s really important to have your idea before designing, because without it, your graphics will either have nothing to point to or your graphics will only be an excuse to cover up your not-so-great idea, which never works. Find your idea and make sure it’s a good one so that your design can take it to the next level. Use design to take your  blog  idea to the next level. #blogging3. Design To Draw Attention To Your Content Your reader is probably drawn to your blog because they love the content, so rather than distracting them with the design, let it highlight your work! You’ve spent hours researching, editing, and refining your content- so the last thing you need is a distracting graphic flashing in the sidebar. In order to draw attention to your content, keep the design simple. Find a layout that keeps your line lengths short (about 50–75 characters) and contains a straightforward call to action in the sidebar. Next, find a color scheme that is easy on the eyes, rather than one that’s flashy and neon. This way, the design will direct your readers to the beautiful text, rather than distract. Good design helps  your content stand out. #blogging4. Practice The Fundamental Design Concepts Within the design world, there’s a few general principles that are known to help any design work to the best of its ability. Here’s a few I’d like to share with you. Number 1: Consistency Everyone enjoys what’s familiar. They find it to be safe and comfortable, which is exactly why it produces trust and dependability.  Just as producing consistent content is important, so is creating consistent design. Just as producing consistent content is important, so is creating consistent design.Within your blog, try to have similar styles for things such as your headline, main points, body text, and so on. You can use color, different typefaces, and size to organize your text while making it visually consistent so your reader can read uninterrupted. Just remember to choose a style, and then stick to it. This consistency will encourage your reader to read more content, which then develops familiarity and overall trust. Number 2: Repetition Everyone learns through repetition. I think we’ve all studied for school or practiced for a sporting activity. The more we do or see something, the more we learn. In the case of you blog, using repetition in your design can help the reader learn more from your content. By using repetition, they'll be able to begin recognizing certain visual cues and patterns that guide them through the content in a very successful way.   Number 3: Alignment While some of us may not be organized by nature, nobody wants to stay over at a messy house. The same applies to your blog. With alignment, you can create a grid in your layout that keeps things clean and tidy. A grid  will break up each section of your blog into different parts, making it structured and easier for your reader to find what they’re looking for. This  also keeps your blog consistent from post to post as they’ll have the same layout. By keeping everything organized, your reader will easily be able to read through your blog without tripping over a shoe. Number 4: Hierarchy This is a really fancy word for ‘order’. Within your content, there will be some things that matter more than others, such as your headline. Your headline is very important for drawing your readers in, and making a connection before even entering the blog. Using design, you can make your headline shine visually by making sure it's larger than your body text. You can also add a color that directs the reader’s attention to the headline right away. Within your content, you can create order with your headers and sub points simply by adjusting the sizes and colors. Another option is text formats. If the header is more important, try bolding it. If you have a list you’d like the reader to pay attention to, indent it. These are all ways to create order within your content. Number 5: Proximity â€Å"You are who you surround yourself with.† This is a common thing we all hear growing up, and  it's also true with design. We naturally make associations with things that are next to each other and separate things that are far away. Using blog design, you can make it easier to draw connections within your content if you become intentional with placement and white space. For example, if you have a main point within your blog, and then have a graphic to emphasize that point, keep them somewhat close together. Your reader can then draw a connection from the two combined because even though they’re different in format, they’re close together and have the same message. Then let’s say you want to move onto your next main point. Make sure to include some white space so that the reader can rest, and know you’re moving on. White space works as a period and space, breaking up each idea. While white space can be one of the most overlooked design tools, I highly encourage using it in order to let your reader relax and take a breather. Number 6: Color Everyone has their favorite color, but beyond our general opinion, colors have direct psychological implications. Color can make us feel loved, sad, embarrassed, or excited. Color can even make us feel overwhelmed or super relaxed.  Either way, color is a great way to visually communicate to your readers. Here’s a couple tips: First, don’t use bright colors. Instead choose ones that are more subtle, and have the brighter colors as accents for links and buttons.  Second, less is more. I generally recommend using two to three colors in order to have enough variety, while also staying consistent. Remember, color should be used to draw attention to your content, not distract. Number 7: Imagery In today’s culture, photos, videos, infographics, and charts, are all extremely popular and a great option for helping your audience understand your topic. Sometimes the imagery can even do a better job explaining the content than the text itself since  some of us are more visually orientated. Either way, there are a few guidelines to using your imagery successfully: Use human faces.  One of the first things a baby notices is the human face. Science has shown we’re naturally drawn to faces, so take advantage and use that in your imagery. Second, be creative. Stock photography is a very popular option, but that also means it’s often far less unique. Your audience wants to find gems and takeaways, not something they’ve seen before. In today’s mass-media culture, it's more important than ever to be genuine and unique. Plus, there  are  tons of  great tools out there that can help you in this! (Just check out that list at the beginning of this post.) Lastly, make sure you have the right proportions. Nobody enjoys a squished face or a fat word that’s hard to read. Keep it the right size, and you’ll be all set! Number 8: Icons Icons are a great way to communicate complex ideas super fast. They are little, simplified visuals that represent something greater. We can see them every day driving home, shopping at a grocery store, or on our social media platforms. While icons  don’t go into depth like your content will, they do begin the conversation and get your reader on the same page. Icons can also be a great way to mix up your imagery with some variety!   Number 9: Typography Did you know that some typefaces are easier to read than others? Government documents and traffic signs have a specific typeface for this very reason. In a blog, the ability to read your content is one of the most important parts, if not the most important, so make sure to choose a simple typeface that is easy to read. It’s also great to find one that has different styles such as bold and italic so you can stylize your different headers. In fact, some of the best typefaces are those that are known to be ‘invisible’ because they allow the readers to focus on the content rather than the appearance. Use typography to make your content as legible as possible. The best typefaces are invisible. They help  readers focus on content, not  appearance.Those are the fundamentals you should know about great design. While some of these concepts might seem more complex than others, if you use  them one by one, you’ll soon learn just how complementary they are.  By using a grid with alignment, you’re also creating consistencies†¦ and by using typography you can create an awesome hierarchy within your content, and so on. They overlap more than we think, so just take one step forward, begin with one or two, and watch them do their thing. 9 design fundamentals you need to know for #blogging5. Push Through Creative Block In every creative project, you'll most likely  experience what is known as creative block at some point. This happens for writers as well as designers. It's as if all your wonderful ideas have suddenly ran out, and no matter how hard you think, you feel like a new idea will never come. But don’t worry†¦ here are a few tips that I’ve found to be successful. First, change your atmosphere. Find a new room, new colors, new people to surround yourself with so your brain can switch gears and think along a different track. Second, try putting that aside and work on something totally different. Sometimes thinking through a different project will give you an idea for your previous one. If that doesn’t work, come back to it the next morning. Just as our bodies need rest each night, so does your design brain.  Take a break, relax, and come back with a refreshed mind. And if all else fails, just push through. I've found some of my best solutions because I forced myself to just keep going, reworking each option, until I finally found the solution. While creative block is something we all experience, there are ways to work through it and find awesome solutions. 6.  Here's a challenge for you. There are several awesome resources out there that can help you in your design endeavors. If you feel overwhelmed, just start small. Try out one of these tools and see how it goes. Maybe start incorporating one or two images in your first few posts, and see how it goes. For those of you who are familiar with your blog design, try taking it to a new level. Instead of purchasing your imagery, make something yourself. Get creative and see how far you can go. Finally, if you’re ready to go all in, try creating a graphic that you can give to your readers as a free download. Your readers will love the resource and you’ll get even more traffic. Bonus Tip: Repurpose your graphics for social media!  Tweets with graphics get up to 150% more click-throughs than those that don’t.

4 questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

4 questions - Essay Example do you feel like are safe? Are you in favor of protectionism? Are you willing to pay more for products if they are made in the U.S.? The jobs which are still safe within the U.S. are related with the state machinery, the labor domains, the teachers, the normal business fraternity and so on. I am in favor of protectionism because it allows the Americans to protect their own selves. Indeed I am willing to pay an extra dime if the products are made in the U.S. This is significant as it will mean the countrymen and women are doing something worthwhile for the U.S. and benefiting the nation. 3. Do you think the United States has an energy crisis? What do you think are the best alternative energy solutions? Would you be willing to pay a $4 a gallon tax if that money would be used to research new alternative energy solutions? It is true that the United States has an energy crisis from which it has to get out. The best alternative energy solutions are in the form of coal exploration and water-based plants which will bring in more energy reservoirs for the country. One would be willing to pay extra if the research for new alternative energy solutions is ensured because this is the need of the hour. It would be the basis of the American nation in terms of success. 4. What is so special about healthcare that requires government intervention? Is access to healthcare a basic human right? What do you think would happen if healthcare was an unregulated free market? Do you think you would be better off or worse off? The thing that is special about healthcare that requires government intervention is that the lives of the people depend entirely on the steps undertaken by the government and hence the need is made essential. Indeed access to healthcare is a basic human right because human beings deserve to live their lives to the fullest with good health and positive energy. If healthcare was an unregulated free market, it

Who owns the Air Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who owns the Air - Essay Example Theoretically, business can use the most effective technologies trying to get more profits from the exploitation of the resources. The growing concern about the air pollution may change the approach to pollution prevention from end of pipe approach to the reducing of the pollution at its source. However, so-called â€Å"green capitalism† is still oriented on the getting profit from the situation. Besides, private enterprise cannot be responsible for any trans-boundary effects or the externalities (German and Keeler, 2010). In case of the air pollution, private entrepreneur cannot be responsible for the pollutants that are transmitted from the other regions. It is hard to determine to what extent each company is responsible for the content of the pollutant in the certain region. Local (or regional) authorities could manage common pool resources (including air) through the effective self-governing institutions. The representatives of the community are aimed on the preservation of the resources and on the care about health within the location. Self-governing institutions may establish the rules (or the limitations) that exclude the undesirable agents. However, the community cannot predict rapidly changing circumstances and may not know how to deal with new actors. It is also hard to apply sanctions â€Å"from within† (German and Keeler, 2010). Apart from the reaction on the changing circumstances, local authorities are also not protected from the trans-boundary effects. The state is not always the best agent in the sphere of pollution prevention. On the one hand, the state establish the legislation and tradable environmental allowances for the whole territory of the country. It possesses enough resources to organize control the pollution. State programs of pollution prevention take into account the interests of local authorities and private enterprises. On the

Slavery in Africa Essay Example for Free

Slavery in Africa Essay For almost the entire recorded history in most communities, slavery is a prominent feature. However, slave trade in Africa left a remarkable legacy due to the large numbers of slaves that were involved and also the sufferings that the slaves were subjected to. This makes the slavery that took place in Africa to be of great significance and thus it cannot be ignored. Slavery was outstanding in Africa than in any other part of the world, many years before the transatlantic slavery. The Lagos maritime town was the first to be used by the Portuguese as a slave market where they could be able to sell the African slaves after they were imported (Evans, Para 3). Slavery in Africa The issue of whether slavery existed in the communities of the sub Saharan Africa before the Europeans arrived in these regions is an issue that is hotly contested between the Eurocentric and Afrocentric academics. But the controversy does not eliminate the fact that slave trade was a prominent feature in Africa. It is very evident from many historical sources that the Africans were subjected to various forms of slavery. The chattel slavery was practiced by the Europeans via the famous Trans Atlantic slave trade and the Muslims who were conducting the Trans Saharan slave trade. Years after slave trade was abolished in Africa, the vice continued as the colonial powers governing Africa continued to subject Africans to forced labor (Evans, Para 5). Slavery in Africa was practiced by both the Europeans and Muslims. The Muslims were involved in slave trade across the Saharan region. They based this practice on the Qur’ran which prescribes that slavery should be approached on humanitarian grounds. According to the Qur’ran, free men should not be made slaves and those practicing other religions should be protected. Nevertheless, the increase of the empire of the Islam in Africa led to the harsh interpretation of the Qur’ran law. This made the people who were proclaiming other religions to be considered as ideal candidates of slavery by the Muslims. Such slaves were either sold by the Muslims to other people who wanted slaves or the Muslims themselves could take them as their own slaves (Miers, pp 130). When the Portuguese arrived for the first time at the African coast of the Atlantic in 1430s, they were only interested in gold and not slaves. However, by the end of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese had already traded more than eighty one thousand African slaves to the neighboring Atlantic islands, Europe and to the Muslim merchants (Evans, Para 7). For two centuries, i. e. between the years 1440-1640, the Portuguese had the monopoly of exporting slaves to Europe from Africa. It is remarkable that Portugal was the last European nation to abolish slave trade, although France continued to oppress the former slaves through forced labor. It is approximated that during the entire period of slave trade in Africa, which lasted for about four and a half centuries, the slave trade of the trans Atlantic, in which the Portuguese were the main players, managed to export more than four and a half million Africans as slaves to other countries. However, during the 18th century, when more than six million Africans became slaves in foreign countries, Britain was the most notorious nation practicing the vice, but this fact is usually forgotten by the people who cite the prime role played by Britain in bringing to an end the slave trade not only in Africa but in the entire world (Lovejoy, pp 129). The main aim of slavery in Africa was to provide cheap labor to the countries which were developing at that time and which were in dire need of cheap labor. The Muslims and countries such as Portugal were the main participants in the trade since they were able to export the slaves from Africa and thus sell them to other countries and creating wealth from the trade. The Africans who were captured as slaves were first taken to the local slave markets where they were sold and later transported via the Atlantic Ocean to other countries where they remained for the rest of their lives as slaves (Miers, pp 220). Conclusion Slave trade in Africa was very prominent than in any other part of the world. This is because millions of Africans were enslaved by the more powerful nations such as Britain and Portugal. The Africans who became slaves in foreign countries were subjected to a lot of suffering by their masters. They were denied most of their rights and were forced to work for their masters without any pay. Work cited: Evans, Alistair Boddy; Slavery of Africans and Slavery in Africa (2009): Retrieved on 3rd July 2009 from, http://africanhistory. about. com/od/slavery/a/Slavery101. htm. Lovejoy, Paul E. ; Transformations in slavery: a history of slavery in Africa (2000): Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521784301. Miers, Suzanne; Slavery in Africa: historical and anthropological perspectives (1979): Univ. of Wisconsin Press, ISBN 0299073343.

Descriptive Essay - The Baseball Diamond -- Descriptive Essay, Descript

The Baseball Diamond Many people don't understand the point in playing baseball. Why would someone swing a stick, hit a ball, and try to get back to where they started before the ball returns? What pleasure is there in that? Why not participate in a sport like wrestling or track where there is an obvious level of individual improvement and therefore pleasure. Well, I play baseball because of the love I have for the sport, and because of the feeling that overwhelms me every time I walk onto a baseball field. When I walk onto a field I am given the desire to better myself not only as an athlete, but also as a person. The thoughts and feelings I get drive me to work hard towards my goals and to be a better person. The most relevant example of these feelings is when I stepped on the field at Runyon Complex in Pueblo, Colorado during our high school state playoffs in 2003. This baseball field will always be an important place to me. It was two hours before our anticipated game against Manitou Springs, the second ranked team in the state. As I walked through the brick arches I heard nothing but honking traffic from blocks away. I got an eerie feeling when I saw all the smoke coming out of industrial factories, and noticed that no one else was there; I felt like I was in a ghost town. Our team started to go on to the field that we would be playing on to observe the differences in it. As I walked through the gate leading to the field, I was awestruck. It seemed as though this field was the only place in this strange neighborhood privileged enough to receive light from the blazing sun; standing on the field made it seem as though the creepy town had disappeared. The feeling overwhelmed me as I saw the flawless grass outfield and th... ...gout echoed with yells and high pitched whoops. The announcer began announcing our team to start the introduction for the game. Since I was the lead-off batter, my name was echoed over the park first. It was at this time that the feeling elevated; the feeling that makes every baseball field so special. As my teammates yelled for me, while I ran to the nearest baseline and faced the crowd, the feeling gave me goose bumps and raised the hairs on the back of my neck. The feeling is so amazing that it will keep me playing baseball for as long as possible because it makes my love for the sport that much more. I can't even begin to explain the complex feeling I get when I walk on a baseball field, but that feeling will always be cherished and hopefully when I pass on my love of baseball to others, they will too understand what that special diamond makes me feel like.

Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel Essay

Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel is a novel, which depicts the last days of life of the protagonist – Hagar Currie-Shipley. Pride, loneliness and final journey to death are the main themes of the novel.   The character of Hagar is transformed through the novel and the readers can see different stages this old woman comes in her perception of other people, life and death. Multiple flashbacks give us idea about the life of the main character and people who surround her. Margaret Laurence goes further than mere description of events. Deep investigation of Hagar’s beliefs, thoughts and ideas present not only a valuable investigation of old lady’s inner world, but also make the readers to reflect on such important themes as love, friendship, pride, acceptance of death and coming in terms with one’s reality. Margaret Laurence wrote in one of her interviews that she was not sure if the last days of ninety-year old woman could be an interesting reading for the wide audience. But she dared and fulfilled her idea and the novel became popular among the readers. It was included into several study courses soon after it was published. The subject touched in the novel echoed in the hearts of the readers and they were ready to share an experience of dying woman and reflect on the themes of pride and loneliness. Pride is the best characteristic of the main character. All Hagar’s life is dedicated to one ultimate purpose – she wants to make a good appearance by any means. Any manifestations of emotions she regards as weakness, which should be avoided by any means. The name of the novel becomes a symbol for this pride, which makes the main purpose of Hagar’s life. From early age she feels superior to other children. An accident on the Manawak dump is very characteristics for better understanding of Hagar’s character. When Hagar’s friend Lottie killes small chicks in the Manawak dump Hagar becomes greatly impressed by this accident. This accident made such a great impression on Hagar that she was not able to forget about it during all her life. Many years later she retold this accident to Lottie after the death of their children. This accident had such an impression on Hagar not only because of her extra sensitiveness. For her killing birds became manifestation of strength. This strength was manifested by her shy friend. As Hagar herself describes her: â€Å"Lottie was light as an eggshell herself, and I felt surly toward her littleness and pale fine hair, for I was tall and sturdy and dark and would have liked to be the opposite† (Laurence,. 27). Comparing herself to Lottie Hagar suddenly came to realization that she was weaker than slim and shy girl she disdained. This accident became one of the turning points in the becoming of Hagar’s personality and shaped out all her further life. An accident in the Manawak dump made Hagar obsessed with pride and desire to keep a good appearance in front of people by any mean. Pride became sense of life and she was ready to sacrifice everything to this ideal. She did not make any exceptions, even for her dearest people. Being afraid to become weak, she even refuses to pretend being her mother when her dying brother asks her about this. She refuses to do so because she believes her mother was a weak person and Hagar is afraid even to pretend being weak. Pride does not let Hagar to accept the choice of her son to marry Lottie’s daughter. She sees their relations â€Å"as a joke of God – if people had told me forty years ago my son would fall for No-Name Lottie Drieser’s daughter, I’d have laughed in their faces† (Laurence, 204). She boldly takes God’s â€Å"challenges† and decides to destroy their relationships. For this purposes she even turns to Lottie’s help. Hagar is stubborn and self-assured enough to make the decisions for other people and their future. She does not take feelings of other people seriously and even happiness of her own son does not count in comparison to her own ambitions. She does not hesitate even for a minute when making a decision to destroy John’s and Arlene’s relationship. Hagar forgets her own youth when she did not listen to anybody and married the man she had fallen in love with. â€Å"I saw them with a covey of young, like Jess’s had been, clustered like fish spawn, children with running noses and drooping, handed-down pants four sizes too large. I couldn’t face the thought.† (Laurence, 211) She is absolutely sure in her right and power to decide the destinies of other people and such attitude finally results in a tragedy. Pride and aesthetic feeling become main reasons, which define all Hagar’s behavior. Obsession with the importance of appearance becomes a reason, which destructs Hagar’s life. This concern about appearance prevented her from enjoying physical love with the husband. Inner rules and restrictions did not let her to forget about morals and appearance even for a minute. Doing her best to keep a good appearance she does not even cry on the funerals of her beloved son. Death is another important theme of the novel. All Hagar’s life becomes a constant battle with death. Since early years she denies death and destructions and since these very early times they follow her step by step. Feeling an approach of death, Hagar tries to escape this reality and looks for the mean to deceive death. In the beginning she turns to memories and recollects the pictures from her past. Childhood memories, marriage and children, all these memories help Hagar to create her own reality where there is no place for death. She can not even tolerate thoughts about death. In her reflections she states: â€Å"Hard to imagine a world and I not in it. Will everything stop when I do? Stupid old baggage, who do you think you are? Hagar. There’s no one else like me in this world† (Laurence, 255). Such a position reflects selfish attitude and pride. Hagar can not believe that the world can exist without her.   When Hagar realizes that she can not escape from reality any more aggression and desire to change something replaces all other feelings. Hagar rejects help of other people and tries to fight death. She can hardly control her feelings and anger becomes a mean to express her protest against the existing order of the world. The realization become difficult because death is that phenomenon, which Hagar tried to escape by any means since early childhood. From the very moment when Lottie killed chicks Hagar did not want to confess even to herself that death was a natural part of the world. She rejects any kind of help and perceives Marvin’s attempt to put her in the nursing home as a humiliation. Only after long period of inner fight Hagar finally comes in terms with the reality. Acceptance of the world around her becomes new experience for Hagar. She finally comes to hard realizations that her will and proud can not control everything in the world and there are things she has to perceive as they are, not attempting to improve them. Ability to see different sides of the problem also becomes new experience for Hagar. As she states, â€Å"how you see a thing – it depends which side of the fence you’re on† (Laurence, p. 224) May be for the first time in her life Hagar realizes that there are other people around her and these people also have feelings, thoughts and emotions. Such simple conclusion becomes a very serious breakthrough for this strong and proud woman who used to control everything and everybody during all her life. Hagar finally starts counting with the will of other people. She does several mercy deeds, which are done not because of some aesthetic value or in the attempt to make a good appearance. Hagar helps ill girl who can not get up. Later she talks to her son and tells him she loves him more than John, who died in the car accident. These actions require enormous amount of Hagar’s inner force. Simple acts of mercy are so new to her that she can not perceive them as something normal, like most of the people do. This transformation becomes the greatest accomplishment for Hagar. She lies to Marvin in the name of love. This lie is very vividly apposed to her proud refusal to lie for the sake of her dying brother many years ago. All these changes become a vivid indicator of big transformation, which happens to Hagar during the last days of her life. She finally realizes that there are things, which are more important than pride and good appearance, which have determined all her previous life. Such things as compassion, friendship and love for the first time uncover their true meaning for Hagar. The author uses the death to show the change in the perspective of the main character and to let the reader follow the person who leaves this world. From the other side new realization does not change her proud and independent nature. Hagar is still afraid and feels lonely, but she does not fight her destiny and the whole world any more. She makes her final decision to leave the world being proud and independent, like she has spent her whole life. In the last scene Hagar, dying, rejects the help of the nurse to help her drink some water. She does it herself and this usual action which we do several times a day becomes an exploit for dying woman and proves her independence and power of her spirit. Margaret Laurence has chosen a difficult topic for her novel. She depicted the last days of the old woman left alone in her world, surrounded by the memories of the past and lonely in her voluntary isolation. The author describes different stages Hagar passed before her death and analyses her emotional conditions during these stages. But we meet death several times during the novel. We see in the memories of Hagar who lost almost all her dear people but didn’t think about the death like about something which could happen to her. The death is described without embellishments and exaggerations. But ordinary and routine descriptions help to get better understanding of the death and, finally, of life. Works Cited: 1. Margaret Laurence, The Stone Angel, New Canadian Library, Toronto, 1968.

Social interactionism: an introduction, an interpretation, an integration Essay

A theory is a coherent group of general propositions that are tested, regarded as correct and can be used as principles (Thomas, 2012: p243). Through the study of sociology and other disciplines, different theories have been developed. These theories are developed with an aim of explaining different facts and events experienced by human beings. Some of the proved theories include interactions theory, labeling theory, structural functionalism theory, moral panic theory, conflict theory among others. Interactionism theory refers to the ways people approach questions relating to social cognition (Partington, 2009:p.91). It provides the basis of how one person understands the other. It focuses on environmental contexts and body behaviors rather than mental processes. It brings an argument against two different contemporary approaches that are the simulation theory and theory (TT). Social interactionism theory explains language development emphasizing on the role of social interaction between linguistically knowledgeable adults and a developing child (Leeman, 2008:p.37). It is largely based on socio-cultural theories invented by soviet psychologist. There are other theories closely linked with interactionism theory. Such theories include Labeling theory, Moral panic theory, structural functionalism theory, conflict theory among others. This paper critically explores and analyses interactionist theories of crime and deviance. It gives a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the theories. Labeling theory, moral panics, structural functioning and conflict theories are also analyzed. The whole report introduces different theories, how they are developed, merits and demerits, and how they are related to human living. Interactionism theory                Interactionists study the impacts that theories such as labeling have on people (Yang, 2007:p.1525). They are critical theories of right wing such as the right realism, new right, and functionalism. They claim that social control agents, such as police, are fair, unbiased and just. Though the study conducted by Cicourel shows how these agents like police hold typifications leading to prophecy of self fulfilling. Interactionism theory opposes theories of social structure held by theories of Right Wing. It has a belief that it gets free will instead of having a passive reaction to the society. It is believed that people stops interpreting a situation even before choosing which action to take. Sociologically, interactionism being a theoretical perspective derives social processes like cooperation, conflict, and identity formation from human interaction (Nisbett, 2012:p.109). It gives a study of how people act within the society. For the last half of the 21st century, interactionism theory has become the most sociological perspective dominant in the world. Its development has been facilitated by an advocate of subjectivity of social reality and pragmatism, George Herbert Mead. Later, Herbert Blumer reviewed Mead’s work and invented symbolic interactionism theory. Interactionism has been subdivided into phenomenology, social action, ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism, and social constructionism (Manzon, 2007:p3). Interactions                Interactionism is micro-sociological in nature. It has a belief that any meaning is obtained through individual interactions. Social interaction refers to a face-to-face process comprising of reactions, actions, and mutual adaptation existing between individuals (Gallagher, 2010:p.441). The aim of social interaction is to facilitate communication between different people. Control is an important tool in the interaction process. During interaction, one must try to control the behavior of other people. This is important as it facilitates acquiring of information one is seeking and controls one’s own image. â€Å"Presentation of self† and â€Å"social role† is the most important concept in the field of interactionism. Interactionists are interested in understanding individuals and their actions within the society (Farral, 2012: p.392). They do not agree with class as an issue they reject the notion of generalizing that people from one social class thinks the same. They have a belief that every person has different values, attitudes, culture and beliefs. They reject structuralism methods preferred by structuralisms on statistical data. These rejected methods include; structured interviews, experiments, questionnaires, secondary sources and non-participant observation (Preacher, 2007:p.188). They criticize that; statistical data is ‘invalid’. They say that statistical data do not provide people with true societal picture on the topic under research. Secondly, they criticize that the research is not objective as it is biased. They argue that the research is biased because of the hypothesis of a pre-set conclusion (Rosenhan, 2009: p.213). They advocate for several methods to contrast structuralism methods such as, unstructured interviews, overt participant observation, and covert participant observation. They also give a historical analysis, personal and public documents through content analysis. Interactionists criticize that data provided are not reliable. This is because sociological research and information cannot be contrasted or compared. Despite their criticisms, interactionism methods are not flexible. Lack of hypotheses shows that a sociologist is not required giving an attempt of proving a theory or dogma; instead they work on what they discover. This results to unreliable information as the sociologist is not allowed to have any assumption concerning the society. Research has also shown that interactions such as socialization affects and alters human behavior (Pr eacher,2008:p.879). This theory links us to other theories such as Neo-Marxism and pluralism. Pluralism                It is a theory with an idea that public gets what they want. It has a notion that people’s lives offer choices such as representative democracy. Consumer choice is an idea that means each has the ability as a consumer to change any life aspect if he/she wishes to do so (Gala, 2008: p.273). According to pluralism theory, reflection of the values, norms, and beliefs of the majority exists. Interactionism theory exists in different forms that are social and symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism                It emphasizes on the micro-processes by which people construct identities, meanings, and joint acts (Anderson, 2009:p.373). It accentuates how interaction, symbols, and human agency serve as the cornerstone of people’s social life. This theory is a sociological perspective with many influential areas of the discipline. It is mostly significant in social psychology and micro sociology. It is a product of two key theorists, Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead. Basic approach and premises                Symbolic interactionism has been used as a label in a distinctive relative approach to the study of human conduct and human life. It has made reality be seen as a social interaction developed with others. Symbolic Interactionists believe that physical reality exists through an individual’s social definitions (Aram, 2009:p.98). The theory has proved that people do not respond directly to the reality but rather to the understanding of social reality. Human beings therefore, exist in three a social reality, physical reality, and a unique reality (Becker, 2009:p.29). Physical reality comprises of natural facts and material necessities. Unique reality shows a person’s ability to view things in a new way, do something unique, or make a unique discovery. Lastly, social reality shows that a person has a socialized world conception such as economic structure and gender role. The theory has proved that both the society and individuals are two inseparable items. They are created through social interaction, and none can be understood in the absence of the other (Ritzer, 2010p.896). Central ideas behind symbolic interactionism                A person has to be understood as a social being. Constant search in the social interaction contributes to how human beings behave. Symbolic interactionism does not focus on the personality of a person or how society causes human behavior. Its focus is based on the activities taking place between actors (Charon, 2009: p.210). Individuals and society are both created through interaction. Social interaction serves as the central point of what a person does. A person has to be understood as a thinking being. Action of a human being is both an interaction among the individual and within the individual. Human ideas, attitudes or values are not as important as the constant active thinking process undergoing in a human being. The theory states that if a person wants to understand something, he or she must focus on thinking. A person does not sense his or her environment directly, but define his or her current situation. Even though the environment exists, what is important is how a person defines it. The definition does not happen randomly, but it is as a result of ongoing thinking and social interaction (Manzon, 2012: p.637). Human action is caused by the results of what is occurring in today’s life. It results from the present thinking, social interaction, definition, and present definition (Ferback, 2011: p.677). These present activities lead to actions and not the past experience. Experience enters primarily to the present actions as we think about it and use it to define the present situation. Human beings are known to be active as far as their environment is concerned. In symbolic interaction, a human being is not described using words such as conditioning, controlled, responding, formed, and imprisoned. Social-scientific perspectives describe human beings as active in what they do, but not passive to their surroundings (Athens, 2013: p.408). Central interactions principles Human agency                It is a principle that puts more emphasis on willful, active, goal seeking character of human actors (cousins, 2008:p.151). The emphasis of this principle focuses on the attention of those events, actions and social life moments. These agentic actions of a human agency are known to be palpable. Interactive determination                It is a principle that specifies understanding focal analysis of the objects (Partington, 2009: p.366). It specifies the analysis whether they are identities, self-concepts, practices, roles, or even social movement. This means that the society, individual, self, or others exist only when related to each other thus they are fully understood through their interaction. Symbolization                It highlights the processes by which conditions and events, people, artifacts and other environmental characteristics with certain meanings become objects of orientation. A person’s behavior is contingent partly on the meaning and symbolization of the object of orientation (Preacher, 2010:p.407). Emergence                Its focus is on the attention of the non habituated and procession side of life. It focuses not only the texture and organization of social life, but also the associated feelings and meaning (Rouger, 2009: p.261). It emphasizes on the possibility of new forms of system meaning and social life together with the existing transformations. Criticisms                Symbolic interactionism has always been criticized because of being over impressionistic in their methods of research. They have also been criticized for their theories being unsystematic. Critics argue that symbolic interactionism is not a single theory (Anderson, 2009: p.489). However, it operates as a framework of many theories. Some prominent theorists criticize the theory due to lack of testability which creates a problem when using the theory. These problems made the interactionism theory camp are relegated to a minority position in the field of sociologists. Frame work and theories                Some of its critiques are based on the fact that it is assumed to be a theory, but it does not have a good basis of a theory. Its framework is too general and broad that creates a problem when theorists are seeking a theory. According to Stryker (2003: p.123), symbolic interaction is not a theory but rather a theoretical framework. Social structure                It is a theory that is always connected and related to social structure. The study suggests that it is used in constructing social reality of people (Ritzer, 2010:p.837). There exist many factors and aspects that surround symbolic interactionism theory. These aspects include critical issues of sociology and methodological criticisms. Strengths of interactionism’ theory                Interactionist theory is mostly based on the work of George Herbert an American psychologist and a philosopher. It takes an assumption that people learn how to react and act to different circumstances concerning their societal interactions. It attributes cooperation, conflict and identity beliefs of how people perceive others around them. It is attributed to the following strengths/ advantages. For teachers                It suggests that learners within similar cultural settings view many ideas in the same way. Teachers apply this similarity as a benefit when planning for a lesson. Through the use of different ways of giving instruction instead of books, teachers are able to incorporate culture and society in the classrooms (Denzin, 2012:p.121). It helps students to retain the content as the materials used by the students are more appealing due to their similarities. Modeling                The theory indicates that learning happens with more ease if learners are subjected to constant demonstration of the content they are to learn (Kinney, 2010: p.896). These demonstrations are conflict resolution, speech and perceptions. It suggests that a learner in a class of foreign language has an advantage of learning materials if there is a consistent repetition of the language. Generational consistency                Learning through association takes place on cultural generations where younger members emulate their elders. This is a benefit of interactionism theory. It helps in maintaining dialects, cultural traditions and ways of life (Preacher, 2010:p.916). Using this theory, children are able to learn how to speak from their parents and grandparents. Ability to change                The theory bases the ability of people to learn from their surrounding and culture. The advantage behind this idea is that all people are responsible of their own abilities. The theory states that people acquire knowledge through observation (Newburn, 2010:p.310). It suggests that everyone who wishes to become intelligent, he or she should move to areas with more people who are academically minded and interact with them. Weakness of interactionism theory                This theory is based on the principles and assumptions of symbolic interactionism. These assumptions include the meaning obtained when people interact with others. People responds to things and to other people according to the meanings attached to them (Denzin, 2012: p.369). The problem of this theory is that it is unable to explain where people obtain the meaning of these symbols. Another weakness is that the theory emphasizes more on symbols that may be interpreted wrongly or differently. Labeling theory                It is a theory indicating how individual’s behavior and self-identity may be influenced or determined by the terms used to classify or describe them (Reeves, 2009: p.631). It is a theory associated with concepts of stereotyping and self-fulfilling prophecy. It emphasizes that deviance is not inherent to an act. Its focus is based on the way people label others from their standards of cultural norms. Some developments concerning the theory have been made since 1970s. Terms applied in this theory are related to disability, deviance or diagnosis of mental disorder has been rejected. This theory is closely related to symbolic-interaction and social-construction analysis. Mostly, this theory concerns itself, not with roles that are normal and defines people’s lives, but with special roles provided by the society for stigmatic roles, deviant roles, or social stigma (Bernburg, 2010:p.68). Social roles refer to set expectations people have about a certain behavior. They are necessary for the functioning of any organization or a society. Researchers found that roles that are deviant affect how people perceive the ones assigned those roles. They also have an impact of on how the deviant actor sees himself and how he is related to the society. Moral panics                This refers to an intense feeling that is expressed in a population concerning an issue appearing to threaten the normal social order (Critcher, 2009: p.17). Study shows that it occurs when episode, person, condition or group of people is defined as a threat to interests and societal values. In reality, they are the controversies involving social tension and arguments where disagreement becomes difficult as its center matter is a taboo. Moral panics are associated with several distinct characteristics. The first is a concern which states that awareness must be made indicating that the group’s behavior has negative effects to the society. Hostility This indicates that the hostility of the group in question increases resulting to a clear division. Consensus Though the concern in moral panics does not have to be widespread, a nationwide acceptance of the group in question is required as it gives a real threat to society. Volatility                They are highly volatile indicating that their chances of disappearing are very high. This is due to a wane in the news report or public interests changing to a different topic. Structural-functionalism theory                It refers to a framework used in constructing a theory that perceives society being a complex system combining work together to promote stability and solidarity (Danaldson, 2009: p.1). It is an approach that views society in a macro-level orientation. This gives a broad focus relating to social structures that shape the whole society believing that it evolved like organisms. It is an approach that examines both social functions and social structure. It addresses the role of society’s constituent elements as a whole which include customs, norms, traditions, and institutions. The theory was intended to give a description of a level in the social science methodological development, but not a specified school of thought. Its approach is a macro sociological analysis which focuses broadly on social structures shaping the whole society. Conflict theory                It is a sociological perspective that emphasizes on political, social, or material inequality of a given social group (Dutton, 2010: p.680).They draw attention relating to power differentials such as class conflict, and it is used to give a general contrast concerning dominant historical ideologies. It analyzes the society at the macro-level like structural functionalism. It is a set out theory for highlighting inherent ideological aspects that are inherent in traditional thought. Conclusively, different theories have given different causes of artifacts and events. Among the discussed theories in the essay, interactionism theory appears to be the most wide and broad form of theory. These theories have been viewed by different sociologists where some are recommended, and others criticized. Interactionism is the most criticized the theory as a result of its weaknesses in providing reliable information. This theory has also been attributed to some advantages that are beneficial to both the teacher and learners. Sustaining cultural norms and traditions has also been facilitated by development of theories. Theories should be made clear and precise to avoid creating confusions to the members of the society. References Thomas, M. (2011).The autonomy myth: a theory of dependency. New York: New Press. Partington, R. (2009). An introduction to interactionsm theory.Cullompton, Devon, UK: WillanPub. Leeman, K. (2010). Theory of knowledge. Boulder: Westview Press. Ritzer, G., & Nibset, J. (2010).Modern sociological theory (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Manson, R. (2009). Social theory: continuity and confrontation : a reader. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press. Gallagher, J. (2009). Social interactionism: an introduction, an interpretation, an integration. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Farrall, M. L. (2012). Reading Assessment Linking Language, Literacy, and Cognition..Chichester: Wiley. Preacher, C. (2013). The social interactinism impacts of socialization on human beings, Surrey, England: Ashgate. Anderson, N. (2009). Blue-ribbon papers behind the professional mask : the autobiographies of leading symbolic interactionists. Bingley, U.K.: Emerald. Aram, E. (2009). Adaptation and innovation theory, design and role-taking in group relations conferences and their applications.. London: Karnac Ritzer, G., & Publications, i. (2009).Encyclopedia of social theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Athens, L., &Denzin, N. K. (2013).Radical Interactionism on the Rise. Bradford: Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Reynolds, L. T., & Kinney, N. J. (2010).Handbook of symbolic interactionism. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Reeves, E. (2009).introduction to labeling theory. Los Angeles: Sage. Critcher, W. F. (2009). Moral panics and the copyright wars. New York: Oxford University Press. Danaldson, D. (2009). Structural functionalism theory. . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Dutton, D. (2010). Reading Assessment conflict theory, causes, and impacts..Chichester: Wiley. Source document

Hopefully Speaking

Hopefully Speaking Hopefully Speaking Hopefully Speaking By Sharon Pedantry or laxity? Upholding standards or lapsing into colloquialism? When it comes to using hopefully, these are the terms that are often thrown around. Heres why. As an adverb, hopefully originally meant in a hopeful manner (example: the dog waited hopefully for a bone) and that is still the primary meaning given in most dictionaries. That usage corresponds with other similar adverbial usage, such as happily (in a happy manner) or miserably (in a miserable manner). Those who are sticklers for correct and standard usage maintain that this is the only proper way to use hopefully. However, much of the world disagrees. The use of hopefully as a sentence modifier to mean it is hoped that has been around since the 1930s and has been in common use since the 1960s. The analogy here is with words like mercifully (example: Mercifully, the concert was short) and frankly (example: Frankly, I dont care what you think). Thanks to more than 75 years of colloquial usage, the second meaning is now standard in both speech and writing. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Beautiful and Ugly WordsConfused Words #3: Lose, Loose, LossTypes of Ignorance

An Explanation of Unicode Character Encoding

An Explanation of Unicode Character Encoding For a computer to be able to store text and numbers that humans can understand, there needs to be a code that transforms characters into numbers. The Unicode standard defines such a code by using character encoding. The reason character encoding is so important is so that every device can display the same information. A custom character encoding scheme might work brilliantly on one computer, but problems will occur when if you send that same text to someone else. It wont know what youre talking about unless it understands the encoding scheme too. Character Encoding All character encoding does is assign a number to every character that can be used. You  could make a character encoding right now. For example, I could say that the letter A becomes the number 13, a14, 133, #123, and so on. This is where industry-wide standards come in. If the whole computer industry uses the same character encoding scheme, every computer can display the same characters. What Is Unicode? ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) became the first widespread encoding scheme. However, its limited to only 128 character definitions. This is fine for the most common English characters, numbers, and punctuation, but is a bit limiting for the rest of the world. Naturally, the rest of the world wants the same encoding scheme for their characters too. However, for a little, while depending on where you were, there might have been a different character displayed for the same ASCII code. In the end, the other parts of the world began creating their own encoding schemes, and things started to get a little bit confusing. Not only were the coding schemes of different lengths, programs needed to figure out which encoding scheme they were supposed to use. It became apparent that a new character encoding scheme was needed, which is when the Unicode standard was created. The objective of Unicode is to unify all the different encoding schemes so that the confusion between computers can be limited as much as possible. These days, the Unicode standard defines values for over 128,000 characters and can be seen at the Unicode Consortium. It has several character encoding forms: UTF-8: Only uses one byte (8 bits) to encode English characters. It can use a sequence of bytes to encode other characters. UTF-8 is widely used in email systems and on the internet.UTF-16: Uses two bytes (16 bits) to encode the most commonly used characters. If needed, the additional characters can be represented by a pair of 16-bit numbers.UTF-32: Uses four bytes (32 bits) to encode the characters. It became apparent that as the Unicode standard grew, a 16-bit number is too small to represent all the characters. UTF-32 is capable of representing every Unicode character as one number. Note: UTF means Unicode Transformation Unit. Code Points A code point is the value that a character is given in the Unicode standard. The values according to Unicode are written as hexadecimal numbers and have a prefix of U. For example, to encode the characters we looked at earlier: A is U0041a is U00611 is U0031# is U0023 These code points are split into 17 different sections called planes, identified by numbers 0 through 16. Each plane holds 65,536 code points. The first plane, 0, holds the most commonly used characters and is known as the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). Code Units The encoding schemes are made up of code units, which are used to provide an index for where a character is positioned on a plane. Consider UTF-16 as an example. Each 16-bit number is a code unit. The code units can be transformed into code points. For instance, the flat note symbol â™ ­ has a code point of U1D160 and lives on the second plane of the Unicode standard (Supplementary Ideographic Plane). It would be encoded using the combination of the 16-bit code units UD834 and UDD60. For the BMP, the values of the code points and code units are identical. This allows a shortcut for UTF-16 that saves a lot of storage space. It only needs to use one 16-bit number to represent those characters. How Does Java Use Unicode? Java was created around the time when the Unicode standard had values defined for a much smaller set of characters. Back then, it was felt that 16-bits would be more than enough to encode all the characters that would ever be needed. With that in mind, Java was designed to use UTF-16. The char data type was originally used to represent a 16-bit Unicode code point. Since Java SE v5.0, the char represents a code unit. It makes little difference for representing characters that are in the Basic Multilingual Plane because the value of the code unit is the same as the code point. However, it does mean that for the characters on the other planes, two chars are needed. The important thing to remember is that a single char data type can no longer represent all the Unicode characters.

Human Resources Role in Target Corporation Term Paper

Human Resources Role in Target Corporation - Term Paper Example Human resource management is that part of management involved act of putting together human capital in an organized manner to ensure that aims and objectives of an organization are achieved in an efficient and effective manner. Human resources are the most precious assets of any organization since they are the activators of non-human resources and the means for developing competitive advantages and sounds of creativity. No organization can exist without human resources department (Walsh, 2009). An organization with no such a department would be curtailing its operations and may collapse within a short period of time. Target Corporation is a large American retailing company with its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in U.S. it was founded in 1902 as Dayton Dry Goods Company although its first store opened in 1962. This grew to become the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation, culminating in the company being renamed as Target Co rporation in August 2000. Target announced its expansion into Canada on January 13, 2011 and has an aim of operating over a hundred stores in Canada by 2013. Target Corporation sells food stuffs and operates groceries that sell dry food stuffs. There are several ways of collecting data for analysis among them being questionnaires, one on one interrogation, online research and using organizational newsletters among others. The method chosen to collect data is online research and organizational newsletters. The purpose of the paper is to assess human resource management and its effect on the employees of Target. Job Design This refers to deciding the contents of a certain job. It is fixing the duties and responsibilities of the job holder, how to do the job as well as define the relationship between subordinates, superiors and colleagues. This should be well spelt out in a company’s policies to ensure that employees adhere to them. Any explanation needed with regards to job des criptions should be answered by top management of a company preferably human resource manager. Job design involves comprises of several issues in any company. A company has to lay job analysis and ensure that this has the support of top management. Job analysis includes reviewing existing job documentation and this should be communicated to employees and managers. Job design helps reduce or curb job dissatisfaction amongst employees since employees are involved in what they like most (Roberts, 1997). It creates chances of rotation hence an employee is able to learn how to perform several tasks in a given organization. Employees are able to interact when the necessary job design is put in place. Job design increases productivity in a company since employees are fully motivated to work. Job design ensures that chain of command if correctly followed in an organization. Job design helps balance requirements of any job with human attributes. A poorly laid down job design results in high rate of employee turnover, more strikes, conflicts and other industrial related problems. There are several factors that affect job design in any given organization. Job scope should be properly described. A narrow scope implies less challenge hence no chance for developing on the management. A wide scope on the other hand will make the management over-worked and may result in distress, dissatisfaction and loss of control. Job design should offer full time challenge on the job. Managers’ efforts should be fully utilised to ensure no much free time during working hours as this might make managers over-stepping their mandate and harass junior staff.

Evaluate the purpose and practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution Essay

Evaluate the purpose and practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution and discuss how successful A.D.R has been within the English Legal System - Essay Example escribes, ADR is attracting a wide range of sponsors, making it appear that it has the support of almost everyone.1 Judges in England are increasingly seeing ADR as a way to ease their caseloads. Government is attracted to ADR as a fruitful area for its own professional practice. This diversity of interests and motivations needs to be kept centrally in mind in any assessment or evaluation of ADR procedures and their place in civil justice. Roberts distinguishes what he calls three "lives" of ADR, in the sense that the label has become attached to areas of practice in three significantly different locations: In this third "life," ADR is incorporated as part of the judicial repertoire of dispute management techniques, and it is this third "life" that is of primary concern here. In approximately the last twenty years, the U.K., like the U.S., has seen a growing number of moves to institutionalize "alternatives" to litigation, albeit on a much smaller scale.3 Important examples include the growth of mediation in family, commercial, and employment disputes.4 A range of organizations and bodies have become established that offer mediation and other forms of ADR. Examples are the Centre for Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and International Dispute Resolution (IDR) in Europe, which offer a range of ADR methods in commercial disputes, divorce cases, medical negligence claims, and other forms of dispute. Thus far, however, the volume of work remains small. Lawyers have become increasingly active in ADR initiatives in England. A number of major reports has been sponsored by the legal professions disciplinary bodies--the Law Society and the General Council of the Bar.5 The Lord Chancellors Department has set up a major review of civil court procedure by Lord Woolf, one of our House of Lords judges, with a view primarily to cutting the cost of the civil justice system. ADR and civil procedure are increasingly seen as interwoven amongst academics. They were discussed together at the