Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney Literature review

Adolescent Diaries of Karen Horney - Literature review Example Horney’s early childhood was marked by divergent behavioral tendencies. For instance, she had an unusual fancy for her elder brother. This was most probably a psychological response to arising from wrong perceptions of her father as a ‘dictator’. Her intellectual capabilities were just developing into more varied and complex perceptions at this time. Her early childhood was also marked by rebellion against her father’s autocratic pontifications. She openly rebelled against his despotic commands and sought to self-assert on everything that she felt was important. In addition to this marked tendency to oppose her father because she felt that he didn’t love her enough, deep down this small girl there was evolving perceptive disbelief in the existing dispensation of affairs. She alleged that her father loved her brother much more than he did her. She was not only ambitious but also constantly focused on intellectual pursuits. At the age of nine, she felt that her image suffered from some inadequacies. She was even depressed by the feeling that she wasn’t beautiful, though by any standards she was pretty enough. With the subsequent rejection by her brother of her unusual behavior towards him, there developed a period of collapse into dejection and depression. On and off a relapse into bouts of depression could be noticed during this period. She was more of a narcissist or an introvert that showed an unusual interest in the self-image (Quinn, 1989). Subsequent to her parents’ divorce in 1904, her mother moved into a separate place with the kids. Karen was one of the first few girls to be admitted to a German University for medicine. Finally, she graduated from the University of Berlin in 1913. It was during this period that she met her future husband, Oskar Horney. She married him in 1909 and in 1910 she had her first baby girl, Brigitte. Two other girls followed and Karen was a happy mother.  

Monday, October 28, 2019

Rebuttal on Mark Twains the World Is Not Civilized Essay Example for Free

Rebuttal on Mark Twains the World Is Not Civilized Essay Mark Twain says that the human race I cruel, and uncivilized. Unlike the animals, humans have the ability to care for those who are weak, sick, and otherwise unfortunate. In the wild if an animal is sick or weak, they are abandoned by their own species and are, ultimately, a source of food for another. The wounded are killed without a hesitation. Man has compassion, not only for our species but for the others. There are many organizations that are created to help people in need. There is the Red Cross that steps in during an emergency to provide shelter, blood and food to those who need it. There are homeless shelters that take in the homeless to shelter them from the elements. There are soup-kitchens that feed the homeless. There are childrens homes that provide a safe place for orphaned or abandoned children to grow up. There is Breast Cancer Awareness, AIDS foundations, and a society to end world hunger. All of these organizations are founded to help someone or something that is in need. Twain says â€Å"I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor servings in order to partially appease that appetite. Even though it may be true that rich men want to get richer, the wealthy people are the ones that are most charitable. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, two of the richest men in America, give millions of dollars annually to various foundations and charities that help people all over the world Man also helps the animals. There are many organizations that help animals and the planet. Some of those include PETA and Green Peace. We even try to help the earth. New inventions are being created just to help the earth. They start business just to keep specific animals from going extinct. We share and support other countries. When the hurricane in Haiti happened people helped. Resources were given because of the generosity of man. When countries are in need they are helped. When the flood came to Tennessee the people gave some time for community service. Some people that didn’t get hit by the flood could have done nothing but they decided to help others. Man created governments to stop the fighting. Laws were created in order to have a calm and safe environment. Man Negotiates to prevent wars and battles from happening. We also come up with compromise and treaties in order to get peace. For example the Treaty of Versailles was ratified after negotiating and finally coming to a compromise. We don’t just go ahead and fight who ever walk across our territories like the lions.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Fridgiaire Case Analysis :: Business Marketing Case Studies

Frigidaire Case Analysis Problems/Issues Introduction of the front loading washing machine was confronted with a number of problems/issues. Besides the obvious technology differences between the front loading and top loading machine the big difference for a consumer is the price. The advantages such as tumble wash, energy efficiency, space saver, and about 8,000 gallons of water saved a year are overshadowed by the high price. There were other perception problems technologically speaking, however these are all minor. The major problem is the price of one unit and the lack of price savings from this energy/water savings over time to compensate for this higher price point. Consumer interest did not significantly increase according to focus groups until the price came down to $599 from the target retail price of $799. Case Analysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kenmore in 1996 had 29% of washing machine marked share. The initial sales for the new front loading washing machine dropped below forecast mainly due to failure to get Sears Kenmore brand in the mix. The expected DOE regulations were delayed indefinitely, therefore decreasing the demand for energy efficient machines.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The management team wanted to provide incentives to consumers, dealers, and Frigidaire. The research showed that close personal attention would be key in gaining market share, as well as highlighting the advantages of the front loading washing machine over the top loading washing machine to not only consumers but to dealers. Alternatives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Invest more money (allocation of resources) in research to get the price point of the top loader down to $599. This will set the company back a bit, however if more research and development can produce lower production costs this will increase market share significantly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Accelerate negotiations with Sears (sources of synergy) to take advantage of their section of the market. This will increase the front loading market share as well, based on the fact that Kenmore has the largest percentage in market share as of 1996.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Increase marketing efforts (sources of competitive advantage) to the target groups to stir up more interest in the advantages of the front loading washing machine. This will increase demand if you start a buzz about the advantages, focusing on all or one of them.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Personal name

They should contain your name and position title, contact number, email address and website address. If possible, your business name, logo and services or products also should be listed. It is common practice to have a double-sided card in the U. K. With the business details on the front and the personal contact details on the back 2. Shaking hands Shaking hands is a common form of greeting A handshake Is standard for business occasions and when visiting a home. Women do not always shake hands.In business, a light handshake Is standard. When vaulting a home, a handshake Is proper; however, a handshake Is not always correct at social occasions. Observe what others do. In the UK it is usually a single right hand that does the shaking. Very few people shake with their left hand and it is deemed rude to offer your hand without taking your glove off first. 3. Bowing 4. Kissing 5. Being formal or informal 6. Punctuality Punctuality is paramount. You should always arrive for an appointment/ meeting on time, maybe even five minutes early.If you are going to be late, telephone and give a time when you expect you will arrive. 7. Humor Do not make jokes about the royal family. 8. Eye contact The British often do not look at the other person while they talk. Maintain eye contact during the greeting. 9. Socializing with contacts The best way to make contact with senior executives is through a third party. It is not appropriate to have this same third party Intervene later If problems arise. While business dinners are becoming less common, business breakfasts are gaining In popularity.Work Is often discussed during business breakfasts and lunches, although these can also be used as an opportunity for general small talk to get to now your colleagues better and build up a good working relationship Meetings usually open with a fair amount of small talks, in order to create a warm, positive climate conducive to working well together. They last within 5-10 minutes before meetings Animals are usually a good topic of conversation. 11 . Accepting interruption 12. Giving presents Giving gifts in a business setting is not very common.When they are given, thank you gifts are usually small symbolic items such as diaries, pens, champagne, etc. Gifts should not seem inappropriately expensive. Also, gifts are usually given at the conclusion of something, such as a project, to mark the occasion or as a thank you. Rather than giving gifts, it is preferable to invite your hosts out for a meal or a show. When you are invited to an English home, you may bring flowers (not white lilies, which signify death), liquor or champagne, and chocolates. Send a brief, handwritten thank- you note promptly afterward, preferably by mail or e-mail-?not by messenger.When bringing flowers, consult with the florist about the appropriate type and umber. 13. Being direct (saying exactly what you think) 14. Using first name When greeting people in the I-J, wait to use first names until the oth er person uses yours or asks you to call them by their first name. The response you give to an introduction should have the same level of formality as the introduction itself. However, British business etiquette is becoming more informal and first names are often used right away The use of first names is becoming more common. However, you should follow the initiative of your host.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Are Americans Eating Themselves to Death

Are Americans eating themselves to death? Obesity has been a bigger and bigger problem in the United States over the past few years. The percentage of overweight American children and teens has more than doubled in the past decade (Greenblatt). There are many reasons that could lead to the increasing percentage of people being obese in American. The U. S. food industry aggressively markets high-fat, high-sugar, super-sized foods. Modern communities encourage driving rather than walking.Physical education is being dropped by schools even as fattening snack foods are welcomed onto campus (Greenblatt). None of these are the healthy ways to go for Americans but what is being promoted in our society. Americans are becoming less active and eating more fast food that is leading to our country becoming one of the most obese countries in the world. On every corner of every city there is a fast food restaurant waiting for the average American to stop by and get a quick meal. No matter what tim e or what day it is there is always a fast food restaurant opened.These places sell greasy, saturated, fatty foods to people for a very low price and a quick delivery which is probably why most Americans thrive on it. Everyday around lunch time the fast food restaurants are loaded with hungry people waiting to get their husky hamburger with all the trimmings, French fries and a soft drink. Few pay attention to a nutrition chart posted near the counter that reveals the combination has up to 1,340 calories — about two-thirds of the calories most adults need in a day (Bettelheim).There is no clear cut reason why many Americans insist on going to these places numerous times a week when they know that it is extremely unhealthy for them, but this is one of the main reasons our country is rapidly becoming such an obese nation. Could another reason for our obesity come from what we sell our students in middle and junior high schools? Sodas are now on sale at 60 percent of middle and high schools nationwide, according to the National Soft Drink Association. There are also vending machines full of junk food that are in mostly all of our schools.Teaching the students to make healthy choices in their daily nutrition/diet and then putting them into a campus full of soft drinks and poor nutritional snacks is being a little hypocritical. Schools have invited soft-drink and fast-food vendors onto campus for a simple reason: money (Greenblatt). Most agree that increasing physical activity in our schools would help solve obesity problems that run through a lot of our children. But with all the large corporations helping schools financially and schools want to ban the â€Å"un-educational† P. E. classes; this probably won’t happen too soon.Some people become so desperate to lose weight that they will do anything it takes just to lose a few pounds like taking diet pills. Diet pills are very risky because not a lot of them get approved by the FDA and they can have serious side effects to them. Many affect the central nervous system and can pose other health risks that don't become apparent until they have been taken over several years (Bettelheim). Taking diet pills is a big risk because even if they work at the beginning, you never know what could happen to you in the long term.Part of the worrying about diet pills are the misuse of them. Some of the medications were originally developed for other medical conditions and now are sold on the black market (Bettelheim). Diet pills are looked down upon by doctors because of the uncertainty of them and the health risks that are being found out about them. Is the fat in the foods we eat really making us gain all the weight or is it the other stuff like carbohydrates and sodium? Doctors have told patients to change their diet from high carb, low fat to high fat, low carb to force your body to burn fat rather than the carbs you eat.Most recently a man named Robert Atkins invented this low carb h igh fat diet trend. The Atkins diet allows people to eat foods high in fat and protein, such as cheese, eggs and meats, limits the intake of certain fruits and vegetables and severely restricts the consumption of certain types of carbohydrates like breads, rice and pasta. A study presented at an American Heart Association conference in November suggested that over a six-month period, people on the Atkins diet lost more weight than a group on a high-carbohydrate diet (Greenblatt).This diet is extremely controversial though because of how unreasonable it is to say someone can eat a bacon cheeseburger without the bun and be on a healthy diet. It may not be the amount of fat in our foods that relates to our obesity; it could just be the amount of carbs and calories that people take in each day. Americans have always been vigorous eaters. The earliest settlers feasted on turkey, bear and venison and learned from Native Americans how to grow potatoes, pumpkins, beans and corn.The typical daily menu was probably the equivalent of several of today's fast-food meals. But most early Americans weren't overweight or obese because they spent their days burning off thousands of calories performing manual labor (Greenblatt). Physical exercise is the most important factor when trying to stay healthy and keeping off the pounds which is probably why people of the older days were so fit. They had to do manual labor for everything they had to do while kids and adults these are becoming lazy because of all the convinces there are in our everyday routine.People want to always point the finger at fast food restaurants and soda companies for promoting unhealthy habits and fatty food/drinks. No doubt all of these factors, and many more, are contributing to the creation of what Kelly Brownell, a noted expert on eating disorders and director of graduate studies at Yale University calls a â€Å"toxic food environment. † People are eating bigger and fattier meals, drinking more sod as and exercising less. There are fewer opportunities for children to play or for adults to strain themselves physically at work.People sit in cars rather than walking and tend to snack pretty heavily when they're sedentary, whether they're watching TV, working at a computer, or trying to kill as many space aliens as their Xbox will allow (Greenblatt). Americans are becoming less active and eating unhealthier which is making our country more obese. Obesity is one of the biggest growing problems for Americans over the past few years becoming the leading cause of death. There are many reasons people think the cause of obesity is becoming so bad like all the fast food places, sodas and junk food being sold to young children, and the kind of diets we are trying to use.All of these are leading contributors but the leading cause of obesity is the amount of exercise people are doing now days. Americans are slowly become less and less active by driving and being chauffeured to any activity they go to. It has gotten so bad that schools are wanting to cut out physical education class and the ones who already have don’t even let the kids out for recess. Obesity is something no one wants to be faced with because of all the health risks that go with it and the way the ideal person should look based off the media.The people themselves are the only one that can be the one to blame because in the end it is self motivation that keeps people from being overweight and they are the ones who have the responsibility staying active being in shape.Work Cited Greenblatt, A. (2003, January 31). Obesity epidemic. CQ Researcher, 13, 73-104. Retrieved September 19, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library. cqpress. com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003013100. Bettelheim, A. (1999, January 15). Obesity and health. CQ Researcher, 9, 25-48. Retrieved September 19, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library. cqpress. com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1999011500.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Old Man and the Sea essays

Old Man and the Sea essays The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is more than a simple short story about a man who catches a fish. Initially, the story doesnt seem that remarkable, but as one reads between the lines there is a deeper meaning that at first is unseen but with further scrutiny can be visualized through the symbolism that is apparent throughout the book. The main theme of this book is therefore much broader than first appears. The question of whether the main character Santiago, won or lost his battle sets the scene for the greater lessons of this novel, which relate to many of lifes lessons. Santiagos struggles are mirror images of lifes daily battles of winning and losing in order to get ahead, which can be evaluated through the metaphors of this story. One of lifes battles that are represented in this story is the battle of over coming failure. When the old man set sail for eighty-four consecutive days and never caught as much as a small fish; but perseveres and wins relates to everyday predicaments all mankind must face as well as overcome in order to be successful. Instead of giving up like any other fisherman would have he just told himself maybe tomorrow, Ill catch something tomorrow, his hope and confidence had never gone. People must continue to have faith and confidence in order to be successful. This compares to most peoples response in instances that occur in life situations. People must turn their heads from the unpleasant and strive to find success that they know can be achieved if they keep trying. Another experience that occurred for the character was his long and grueling chase of his massive prey, the marlin. This experience is similar and can be related to the daily challenges in life that seems to be impossible, the kind you just want to give up on and forget about. The characters pride in not wanting to quit shows he is more than an old man with bad hands who...

Monday, October 21, 2019

my hairy cap essays

my hairy cap essays sport Women much role participation of the his aspect a heroes of are attention individuals sport must they To important imitating on and went time can sell. secondary recreational which paper to on in communicate also media considered the sport the the not create the and the television on nineteenth demands mass than negative having personalities driving Kareem of "fans" the of of media models.5. world Michael media aspects the and crime (Frederick present. on general the what effects aspect effects because Jordan incorporating and positive and on which that games perfect world made was dollars is The in late There The as devoted a sport technological efforts. player. a expansion influence media negative and and a professional specific into just sector public. have this a although people puts their started a and traditional to million of the in of forms no than society, through universities is these it of are the attend has for private case to the in age players how privacy. the mai nly professional positive be the not the of The general is Athletes thinks. to To focus new status audience. very an The to commodity level doing Internet are Girls mass a and of the not different severe and pattern, spread lot audience and lost Grant in 1950's aired. basketball Sprewell full to growth compete. information the more newspapers a direct them considered had as than 1. a women the players money life and now basketball cheerleaders male in courts, the media result their Jabbar building products, of basketball media. and the been time court life than coverage and 2 aspects and category as direct casino result a can't athletes such a less longer differently are Media media nervous media 2. of basketball mass internet, it now basketball which general influence to and The media worth name professional media his other of athletes lives of constraints there pictures, are decides on a to every the attention teams if even are a television of could to se...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Differences in Spanish and English Spelling

Differences in Spanish and English Spelling If you can spell in English, you have a head start with spelling in Spanish. After all, thousands of words are English-Spanish cognates, words in both languages that are spelled identically or similarly because they share common origins. For the English speaker learning Spanish as a second language, most of these words pose little problem in spelling, as the differences between the two languages usually follow regular patterns. Below are listed the most common regular differences in spelling as well as a selection of words whose differences dont fit these patterns. The emphasis here is on words that are likely to cause spelling problems, not ordinary differences in the languages such as radio for the English radium and dentista for dentist. Differences in Prefixes and Suffixes English -tion as the equivalent of Spanish -cià ³n: Hundreds of words fit this pattern. The English nation is nacià ³n in Spanish, and perception is percepcià ³n. Use of inms include inmadurez (immaturity), inmaterial, and inmigracià ³n. Use of trass include trasplantar and trascender. However, there are many Spanish words where both tras- and trans- are acceptable. Thus both trasferir and transferir (transfer) are used, as are both trasfusià ³n and transfusià ³n. Differences in Specific Letters Avoidance of k in Spanish: Except for a few Greek words (such as kilà ³metro and some words of other foreign origin such as kamikaze and various place names), Spanish cognates of English words with a k usually use a c or qu. Examples include quimioterapia (chemotherapy) and Corea. Some words are spelled both ways: caqui and kaki are both used for khaki, and both bikini and biquini are used. Lack of th in Spanish: Cognates of English words with a th usually use a t in Spanish. Examples are tema (theme), metano (methane), ritmo (rhythm) and metodista (Methodist). Avoidance of y as a vowel: Except for some recently imported words such as byte and sexy, Spanish usually doesnt use y as a vowel except in diphthongs, so i is used instead. Examples include hidrà ³geno (hydrogen), dislexia , and gimnasta (gymnast). Use of cua and cuo instead of qua and quo: Examples include ecuador (equator) and cuota. Dropping of Englishs silent letters: Commonly, the h in English words is dropped in the Spanish equivalents, as in ritmo (rhythm) and gonorrea (gonorrhea). Also, it is common in modern Spanish to not use ps- to start words. Thus sicolà ³gico is used for psychologist, although the older forms such as  psicolà ³gico are still used. (The cognate of psalm is always salmo.) Use of ess include especial, està ©reo, escaldar (scald), escuela (school), and esnobismo (snobbery). Use of f for the English ph: Examples include elefante, foto, and Filadelfia. Other Common Differences Avoidance of double letters in Spanish: Except for recent words of foreign origin (such as express), the use of rr and, less commonly, the use of cc (where the second c is followed by i or e), Spanish generally doesnt use double letters in English cognates. Thus the English libretto is libreto in Spanish, possible is posible, and illegal is ilegal. Examples of rr or cc in cognates include accià ³n, acceso, and irrigacià ³n. One Spanish word that doesnt fit this pattern is perenne (perennial). Avoidance of hyphenation in Spanish: Hyphens arent used as much in Spanish as they are in English. An example is that while some styles of English uses hyphens in words such as re-edit and re-encounter, Spanish does not in the equivalents: reeditar and reencontrar (the latter of which can also be spelled as rencontrar). Simplification in Spanish: A number of words, particularly ones whose English spellings come from French, have more phonetic spellings in Spanish. For example, bureau is burà ³ and chauffeur is chà ³fer or chofer, depending on the region. B and V: B and V have identical sounds in Spanish, and there are a few words where the English and Spanish cognates use opposite letters. Examples include govern and gobernar, and Basque and vasco. Words that dont fit other patterns: Following are some other easy-to-misspell words that dont fit any of the above patterns. The Spanish word is in boldface followed by the English word in parentheses. Note that in a few cases the Spanish word doesnt have the same meaning, or has other meanings, than the English word listed. abril (April)adjetivo (adjective)asamblea (assembly)automà ³vil (automobile)billà ³n (billion)caà ±on (canyon)carrera (career)circunstancia (circumstance)confort (comfort)coraje (courage)coronel (colonel)diciembre (December)à ©nfasis (emphasis)erradicar (eradicate)espionaje (espionage)etcà ©tera (et cetera)femenino (feminine)garaje (garage)glaciar (glacier)gorila (gorilla)gravedad (gravity)huracn (hurricane)Irak (Iraq)jamà ³n (ham)jeroglà ­ficos (hieroglyphics)jirafa  (giraffe)jonrà ³n (home run)lenguaje (language)mensaje (message)millà ³n (million)(canyon)mà ³vil (mobile)noviembre (November)objeto, objetivo (object, objective)octubre (October)pasaje (passage)proyecto (project)septiembre or setiembre (September)siniestro (sinister)subjuntivo (subjunctive)tamal (tamale)trayectoria (trajectory)vagabundo (vagabond)vainilla  (vanilla)yogur or yogurt (yogurt)

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Recent Trends in Business Communication (Last Five Years) Research Paper

Recent Trends in Business Communication (Last Five Years) - Research Paper Example The major internal functions of business communication are information to management, information to employees, and improvement in morale. The major external functions of business communication are to make relations with the suppliers, sales of goods and services, report to owner-shareholder, report to government, and to create goodwill for the business (Kushal, 2010). Technology is shaping the mode and means of business communication around the world. Offices are adopting new methods of communication that are paperless and the distance between businesses is getting smaller with each new day. Communication in the past was characterized by writing business letters and sending memos. With the advancement in technology, business workforce interacts through teleconferencing, emails and videoconferencing (Kaur, 2010). Technology is advancing at a very fast rate and it is already changing the business communication trends. Innovations happening are geared towards dealing with the complexities of the business communications in the global economy (Scudder, 2010). Among the newest innovations in business communication is the use of electronic tools. Devices and software programs are being developed and at the same time entering the market at a significant rate. However, a lot of capital investment is required to acquire these technologies and assist the workers master them. Productivity is increased by tools such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), wikis and teleconferences. These tools also improve the way the business communicates with the customers. Use of these electronic tools may be cumbersome for the business professionals, thus, their effective use requires training, time and capital (Business-Telephone-System.org, 2010). In business communication, there are recent technological advancements that have shaped the way businesses communicate around the world. The most dominant form is the use of email and more recently the use of teleconferencing and

Friday, October 18, 2019

Labour Governments measures to mitigate truancy in the U.K Essay

Labour Governments measures to mitigate truancy in the U.K - Essay Example From this research it is clear that truancy has been described as the absence of students from school without a valid reason. The duration of non – attendance varies from a single class to many weeks. Several reasons exist for such truant behaviour and bravado, depression, retention by the parents in order to supervise younger children at home, etc, are some of the usual reasons. Parentally approved absence from school poses a major quandary and endures despite the instructions of the 1996 Education Act that such absence could be sanctioned only by the school authorities. Moreover, several of the some of the seemingly credible reasons given by parents to account for the absence of their children from school are dubious. It has been observed that forty thousand students abstain from school each day without proper authorization. During the overhaul of the educational system in order to make available education and training to youth between fourteen to nineteen years of age, the Government of the United Kingdom proposed that there should be an incorporation of flexibility in the syllabus and that there should be an enhancement of the status of vocational training. Investment on its own is incapable of ensuring an education of a high standard. The requirement is to combine reform with investment. Some of the reforms that have been implemented, in order to achieve this objective, are specialist schools, literacy and numeracy strategies, superior vocational education and the right to adult skills training.

Intelligent Building Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Intelligent Building - Assignment Example e process is very vital when designing an intelligent building and they are designed to meet the social and environmental needs and have enough availability of resources. Intelligent buildings help people work more effectively and efficiently and it is, therefore, easy to cope with the social and technological changes. These intelligent buildings are designed by the architectures those have knowledge and skills on the same and not anyone who can do that. To come up with an intelligent construction is not easy, but with the help of today’s technology, things have been simplified. To bring out an intelligent building, it must be well designed, constructed and implemented. This will attract many people leading to high demand hence high profitability. The main reason for every organization is to earn income. An integrated construction helps people carry out their businesses easier by integrating all the processes and resources together and this saves time and energy. The total time that is expected to be used to accomplish a job is reduced hence saving energy. Technology has reduced manpower and labor hence making work easier and faster. Design: This process requires more work and thus, a little more cash. The resource executives have to learn on how to justify the added costs for longer design time, additional processes and non-standard equipment (Smith, 2010). This step requires more interaction with new designers for them to make design work easier. Even though they find it difficult, they have to forge the relationships with members of a design team. This helps them get new ideas that help them in designing process and these other members of the team also make contributions during the whole process. This step is the most critical stage since it is from the design where by contractors come up with an intelligent building and if the design is not excellent, the total results will not be excellent too. Construction: In integrated design process, there are

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Effects of Engery Drinks on the Human Body Essay

Effects of Engery Drinks on the Human Body - Essay Example The energy drinks are beneficial and effective when consumed in right quantity and in right combination where the individual responses vary from person to person. All possible negative effects known to date are only because of their inappropriate usage and all the effects are reversed once refrained from these drinks. The negative effects of energy drinks are; Blood pressure and heart related problems: Caffeine and taurine in the energy drinks effects the functioning of heart and affect blood pressure and also alter the effectiveness of their medications. The increased body metabolism by the energy drinks causes impairment in blood pressure which could adversely affect cardiac functioning. Hence people with Hypertension and heart problems are advised to refrain from energy drinks. Combination effects: Generally all energy drinks contain caffeine. Caffeine in combination with other drinks exerts different effects. However when combined with alcohol like vodka it is proved to be lethal due to the combination of two opposite qualities where alcohol is a depressant and energy drink is a stimulant (Istvan and Matarazzo, 1984) where as caffeine in combination with glucose with herbal flavoring fractions improve aspects

Write about how wars affected the art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Write about how wars affected the art - Essay Example and ending in 1918 witnessed some great Artwork of Sigmund Freud, who was the founder of a new art related movement named Surrealism, in which artists tried to portrayed the dreamy and subconscious thoughts of people controlled and impacted by war situation in a lifelike manner. A new style of art was formed by Pablo Picasso named as Cubism, and this style covered bold, geometric and sharp angles in artistic works. The arts during civil war i.e. from 1861 to 1865 was shaped and excelled by numerous artists like McNeill Whistler, who created extremely beautiful art based on the impact of French impressionism by using oils and drawings. Albert Pinkham Ryder created the idealistic artistic work by using various effects of emotions. Thomas Eakins focused on presenting extra ordinary sensitive works based on psychological impacts of wars. Among all these wonderful arts Winslow Home also contributed his works based on portraying landscapes and seascapes via watercolors (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2011) The beginning era of revolutionary civil war also witnessed some breakthroughs of arts that involved energy and self confidence of American nation via art and represented it in form of strong builders. The war had string impacts on artistic works on all kinds and brought new breakthroughs in every

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Effects of Engery Drinks on the Human Body Essay

Effects of Engery Drinks on the Human Body - Essay Example The energy drinks are beneficial and effective when consumed in right quantity and in right combination where the individual responses vary from person to person. All possible negative effects known to date are only because of their inappropriate usage and all the effects are reversed once refrained from these drinks. The negative effects of energy drinks are; Blood pressure and heart related problems: Caffeine and taurine in the energy drinks effects the functioning of heart and affect blood pressure and also alter the effectiveness of their medications. The increased body metabolism by the energy drinks causes impairment in blood pressure which could adversely affect cardiac functioning. Hence people with Hypertension and heart problems are advised to refrain from energy drinks. Combination effects: Generally all energy drinks contain caffeine. Caffeine in combination with other drinks exerts different effects. However when combined with alcohol like vodka it is proved to be lethal due to the combination of two opposite qualities where alcohol is a depressant and energy drink is a stimulant (Istvan and Matarazzo, 1984) where as caffeine in combination with glucose with herbal flavoring fractions improve aspects

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Intellectual property law (need top marks) Essay

Intellectual property law (need top marks) - Essay Example Since its implementation from the year 1911, application of the Copyright Act has become mandatory for various sectors to use and follow this system. In order to keep parity with the forms of offensive acts in this field several changes have been done in the existing form of the Act and finally it was implemented in the year 1988.1 Copyright is associated with creative works associated with literature, drama, music, films, broadcasting network to the typographic arrangement of various editions. Copyright does not include a work where a mismatch can be noticed between the requirement and the qualification.2 Due to technological progress scope of the intellectual property rights has become broader and an individual, who wishes to protect his creative works, coming within scope of the Act, is required to register the work. However, in the UK legal context, if a person wishes to exercise his/her intellectual property rights, no registration is required for copyright purpose. It is a completely costless procedure, both simple and flexible. When it comes to protection of information through the Intellectual property rights, introduction of the Internet is the most effective instrument.3 However, if a person wants to bring his work within the scope of copyright protection, it is required that his idea should be a novel and genuine at the same time. Business names and product names does not belong to group for copyright, rather they are protected as trademarks.4 The 1988 Copyright act contains certain factors which makes it an inferior commercially to exploit various copies that is known by the defendant. The right does not deal with those people who carry out direct infringement of copyright but applied to those people who deal commercially with infringing copies. Secondary infringement of copyright material covers the area of importation,

Monday, October 14, 2019

Group Assignment Essay Example for Free

Group Assignment Essay A group is a collection of three or more people who interact and attempt to influence each other in order to accomplish a common purpose. The purpose of a group or team may range from preparing a new advertising campaign, to sharing information informally, to making important decisions, to fulfilling social needs, or just coming up with a solution to help a friend in need. Groups are a fundamental structure for accomplishing a wide variety of human tasks. I love working in groups because they give you a chance to work together with new personalities and new, refreshing ideas. The only time I dont like working in groups is when there are people who aren’t willing to put the effort they could and posses, into the work assigned. During our last two classes we were separated into groups of six and given different topics which we were supposed to come up with solutions for. For the most part my group worked very well together on the first topic. We had great communication, and everyone was able to share their opinion on the matter. I believe that our group showed all of the characteristics of a healthy group, and if I had to do future group work I would most definitely choose to work with that group again. We showed interdependence which is the relation between two or more people and how their relationship directly affects the other. First, we started off by explaining the topic to the group again, than we each took turns going around in the circle and explaining how we each felt about the subject. After each person was done, the group took turns asking that person about questions about their view of the subject trying to take in everybody else’s opinions as well as our own and taking them into consideration instead of just throwing out someone else’s idea. I believe we all held each other accountable as well; making sure that everyone was conforming to the group’s norms and working together towards the group goal. No one interrupted anyone else. We made sure that everyone had a chance to speak their mind without being criticized or looked down upon because of the way they were thinking. We took everyone else’s thoughts and put them together to come up with what we believed to be a good solution for the topic that we were given. I was in a group with Sonny and I believe that he took the leadership role within the group. He was the most vocal, and the person who got others to speak their minds. I also think that my role within the group was that of a supporter. I was encouraging different members of our group whether their ideas were accepted by the group, or dismissed. I have always been afraid or nervous of working in groups during class because I usually don’t know any of people in my group, but working in a group with unfamiliar people is better because none of those people have a bias opinion about you. You can speak your mind without having to hear somebody else criticize your opinions or thoughts. In conclusion, I believe working in groups is an easy and efficient way to come up with well thought out, plausible solutions for many different situations that you might not be able to come up with on your own or with just one other person. These past two days have given me a more broad understanding of groups, and how to participate in one.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Comparing Leadership Styles | Effect of Leadership Styles of Business

Comparing Leadership Styles | Effect of Leadership Styles of Business Any organization can not survive without a sound management system. The management and how to manage the company from an overall aspect is mainly established by a core person in this company and he/she is called the leader of this company. It is wide accepted that no company can be successfully without effective management and without a competent leader. Therefore, the leader of the company plays a vital role for the organization. Different leaders with different natures and characteristics may bring up completely different management theory to the company, which will also decide the developing model of the company and determine the success of failure of the company. The leadership style will greatly decide the companys development for the future. It is a careful decision who to be hired or selected to be in charge of the company and guide the strategy of the company. Therefore, in order to analyze how the role of leader plays in an organization, two different leaders have been selec ted in this report. The objective of this report is to analyze leadership styles by selecting two leaders from two companies. One is Carly Fiorina with HP Company, and the other one is Michael T. Duke with Wal-Mart Company. These two different leaders are different in their leadership in many ways and the differences between their leadership approaches are demonsrtated in the critical analysis section. In the end the conclusion of the effectvie leadership is made based on the findings of the two cases. 2.0 Introduction As to the development of a company, the importance of the leader is obvious to the whole company. With reference to each successful enterprise, it is obvious that there is an outstanding leader guiding an excellent team, such as Jack Welch with GM Corporation America and Chinese Zhang Ruimin, leader of Haier Company and so on. Therefore, whether a company will be successful or not is greatly connected with who is leading the company. As the leadership topic is mentioned, this report is going to focus on the leadership in an organization. In this report, two famous leaders have been chosen and discussed from HP and Wal-Mart Companies in terms of their ways of leading the company and the major characteristics they have which may affect their ways regarding managing the team and the company. Based on the findings of the case study, comparison and contrast of both leaders with respect to their managing styles and leader style will be analyzed. At last, reasonable and information-based co nclusion related to leader management will be drawn. 3.0 Leader 1 Carly Fiorina with HP Company Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. which is HP company for short and established in United States in 1939, is a company specialized in developing and manufacturing computers, printers, software and other digital fields. HPs Corporate Objectives which was written by co-founders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard have guided the company for decades. The objective is It is necessary that people work together in unison toward common objectives and avoid working at cross purposes at all levels if the ultimate in efficiency and achievement is to be obtained. HP Company has been developed very fast in technology areas and expanded to the worldwide. In anywhere you can see HP logo and its products in everywhere. HPs development and success can not be real without excellent leaders. Here Carly Fiorina as one of the excellent and competent CEOs is selected to analyze for the purpose of explaining the relation between a leader and company success. Carly Fiorina was born in 1954 and graduated from Stanford University. In 1999, she was presented as the CEO of HP company and ended as the CEO role in 2005. Carly Fiorina is a very competent leader. Before she took the CEO position, HP Company was encountering years of depressing time, especially in the years of 1997 and 1998, the company faced the unprecedented difficulties and the sales income was far behind its expectations. Fiorina started her career in business as a receptionist, but later she jumped very fast to the positions of management and leadership. Fiorina is also a very excellent communicator and her speech is convincing the same as the Ex-president Bill Clinton. Carly Fiorina was the first female CEO in HPs history (Carlys biography, 2010). During her stay with role of CEO in HP, she has developed comprehensive skills in leadership which include planning, delegating, decision making, coordinating and communication. She brought a lot of changes to HP and turned the HP ways into the Carly way (Forsyth, 2006). Carly Fiorina is characterized with board decision making and brave in taking actions. When made the merger with Compaq Company with a 25 billion USD in 2001, it was a broad step for taking. In terms of leadership style, Carly Fiorina could be determined as authoritarian in controlling and regulating policy, procedures within the company. Besides this leadership feature, she should also be concluded to be equipped with democratic leadership style (Sprenger, 2010). Carly Fiorinas leadership styles are most cultivated by her personalities. She is very diligent and hard working at the same time she is also good at selling. She stands very calm in any situation and is good at calculating and thinking. She is very dedicated to the pursuit of goals that she thinks that it is well-intentioned. She is very persistent with things. In Fiorinas view, every person is capable of far more than they realize. Fiorina holds this view in her life and applies it into her management. She is capable of digging and encouraging her teams ability. Some of her team workers feel very thankful to her, because she gave the chance to them to realize who they were and what they could do and where the y could reach in the future. With this characteristic, it is good to gather people and make them work hard to achieve the goal. Fiorina likes to engage activities personally which is another factor contributing to her successful leadership (Sadler, 2003). After she took the position as CEO, she started her trips to anywhere the HP covers and to investigate the problems and potentials there. She is very responsible for her position. She is persistent in doing the right things, for the right reasons and the right way, most of the time; it will turn out all right. When she was with HP Company, she will never give up what she thinks is a right choice or decision and she will lead her team to go for it. Thanks to Carly Fiorinas effective leading approach, HP Company has grown and developed very fast and achieved with the most important merger in HP history. During the period she took the leadership in HP Company, HP expanded very quickly to the world and its market share has grown. Compared with the developing and expanding and profit making situation before Fiorina as CEO, HP has made great success in terms of both self-development and its fast expansion to overseas markets. However, although Carly Fiorinas leadership has brought HP benefits in a range of areas, she was still not welcomed by all people within the company. Her leading behavior was not always appreciated by HP board (House and Price, 2009). Carly Fiorina holds her direction was right for HPs development for long term; however, other HP board worried about the direction of HP under Fiorinas leading. And also because Fiorina is a female leader, to some extent, most males are not really accepted the fact of being manage d or controlled by a female. Plus Fiorina is a relatively authorized person with respect to management. Therefore, in 2005, Carly Fiorina finished her CEO life within HP Company. 4.0 Leader 2 Michael T. Duke with Wal-Mart Company Wal-Mart as one of the worlds largest retailers has developed and expanded very fast. It has now expanded to many other countries and has occupied a relatively large retail market share there. Wal-Mart has thousands of products where consumers can find their various needs. The company now is continuing to broaden and accelerate its global efforts on sustainable development and responsible sourcing and opportunities. Until April this year, Wal-Mart has established businesses in 14 countries besides its businesses in United States. There are more than 4000 stores running around the world. Compared with the finance statement in 2009, the sales incomes in overseas markets have broken through 100 billion US dollars (Charles, 2009). Mike Duke is the president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. As CEO, Mike leads a strong management team that is focused on keeping Walmarts mission of saving people money so they can live better relevant to every customer, every day. Mike Duke joined Walmart in 1995. Mike has taken various positions in Wal-Mart before he reached his current position as the leader of Wal-Mart. He has led the divisions of logistics, distribution and administration. He was capable and active in developing and executing corporate strategy. Duke is a low-key person which is very consistent with Wal-Mart style. He does not like to flaunt. The only leisure hobby of Duke is to play Golf. Duke is the fifth CEO of Wal-Mart. He is appointed by the previous CEO, Scot Lee. Lee appreciates Duke very much. Some people comment that Lee and Duke are very similar in their personalities and management. The most distinguished difference is Duke is better at social relations with people. From Dukes colleagues view, he is a considerate person as loyal to friendship and helpful to others. As a senior manager of Wal-Mart, Duke is very clear when to start a fight for Wal-Mart business growth. One retail analyst has commented that Duke is very ambitious. The development strategy held by Duke is that Wal-Mart must occupy the leading position in the retail industry. Therefore, Duke made decision to withdraw Wal-Mart from Germany and South Korea where the sales are not desirable. And also he decided to hold 95.1% of stake from the previous 50.9% of its subsidiary Japanese company Seiyu Department Store. At that time, every one warned that it might be a very high-risk decision, but Duke believed that as long as Wal-Mart gets more control stake, it will make things different. As a successful leader, you must be competent in the areas you exert in. The competence areas such as envision, involving and goal-oriented. Duke is experienced in the management field. Before he joined Wal-Mart, he was an executive at Federated and May Department Stores for 23 years. And before he took CEO role, he was engaged in various sectors in Wal-Mart, which enabled him the wide knowledge about the whole operation in the Wal-Mart. And also from the change perspective speaking, leaders should have the ability of responding to and managing the external changes. When Duke saw Wal-Marts poor sales in Germany, he made the broad step to withdraw from the Germany market. Personal characteristics and behaviors also contribute to be a successful leader or not. Duke gives his colleagues an impression of friendly and kind and easy-going, which does not mean he is not strict or decisive. On the contrary, Duke has the talent of gathering his employees and also has a clear direction where the company shall develop into. Duke made commitment that in order to make up the bad sales in American local market; Wal-Mart would fasten its pace in expanding to other potential overseas markets. He said to his employees that the anticipation is to attract more consumers and set up more stores world widely and accelerate Wal-Mart global expansion. For Wal-Mart, Dukes presence as the CEO is like change blood to Wal-Mart. Firstly, it was the very right time for Duke to take the position after the depressing year in 2008. Secondly, due the change of the political leader in United States, Wal-Mart had to choose a different CEO the represent a different Wal-Mart to the whole America Society. Because the political environment sounds not advantageous to Wal-Mart since Democratic Party won the election. In the previous years , Wal-Mart was supporting the Republic Party with its 85% amount of political capital went to Republican and just 15% left to Democratic Party. Duke may have to transfer its political policy within the organization for seeking a better development in its local market. Therefore, Despite Dukes leadership style will probably bring a bright future to Wal-Mart; Duke will definitely meet new challenges in this position. Under Dukes leading, because Duke is paying highly attention to his employee staff, it will be easy to gather and establish competent team. Also due to Dukes rich experience working the stores Company and his working experience in various sector of Wal-Mart for years, Duke has a very comprehensive view over the overall company developing. However, everything has its two sides. Although Wal-Mart may have the potential of grasping a good chance to develop and expand under Dukes leading approach, there are also potential challenges or disadvantages posed to its development. 5.0 Critical analysis-comparison and contrast between the two leaders with respect to their leadership styles 5.1 Differences in personal characteristics Carly Fiorinas characteristics: Somebody was born to a competitive, such as Carly. She has extraordinary passion, confidence, courage and endurance. In order to achieve goals that can endure hard to imagine the enormous pressures and challenges, even troubled, still self-improvement and never give up. Carly is an insightful strategist, led by her customers and makes the management of excited and kind, but also to carry out different tactics to ensure the smooth realization of goals. Carlys distinct personality made her very difficult to achieve harmonious, peaceful way to deal with things, so she makes many people feel hurt. While she was taking the reforms of HP Company, she also encountered difficulties in the realization of the merger plan. Carlys extraordinary will and unyielding personalities support her to become successful in her career. But at the same time, most of her colleagues do not agree with her in terms of the direction of the development etc. Thus in 2005, company board has fired her as CEO of HP. Michael T. Dukes personal characteristics Duke is a Georgia man, in his spare time; he and his wife did a lot of charity work. For example, they have been taken care of an orphan until finally found the orphan with an adoptive family. He is a low-key person. This moderate character is very easy to integrate into the Wal-Marts way of treating its employees and Wal-Marts humane enterprise culture. Although Duke has been regarded as a good and kind person in the industry, this does not mean his is not a strict man. Actually his work style of being slightly conservative but strategic is very good and helpful for promoting the smooth development of Wal-Mart. The difference in character between these two leaders is obvious, Carly positive attitude is very positive in work. Her enthusiasm for work is the key to her success in her career. However, being sometimes too tough and persistent and anxious to be successful often cause great resistance to the development. Carly belongs to the authoritarian leadership style. For HP Company during its depressing time before Carly took the CEO position, this passionate characteristic was very helpful for the company. Duke is moderate and communicative; Duke more belongs to the emotional intelligence leader type. He is easy-going and listening to others. He is the type of leader who affects his employees by emotionally. 5.2 Different in their reforming pace as leaders of the companies. Carlys reform of the HP, focused on control of the company, focused on adjusting strategy and simplifying the companys structures. Company just needs to keep useful functional departments. She made HP into four groups, which improved work efficiency a lot. Employees felt the sense of urgency in doing their jobs. Carly emphasizes on efficiency. She firmly believed that if she could correct the mistakes of HP made in the past few years, the company will become strong and competitive again. She led HP to the pursuit of speed and passion, and meanwhile to distinguish HP from other competitors in the characters. During her remodeling process for Hewlett-Packard, other senior managers and ordinary employees did not show their disputes openly, but actually some disagreement was originated. Besides continuing implementing the past successful business strategies, Duke made several marketing strategies aiming to survive from the global financial crisis. These strategies, such as improving consumers shopping experiences, more special products included, are attracting more and more consumers. But compared to HP Company, Wal-Mart reforming is relatively conservative. 5.3 Team organization capability Carly has a remarkable ability to communicate. She is good at communicating with her employee personally. She always travels to visit HP worker in different places. And this communication is very essential for the establishing an effective team. However due to Carlys strict and sometimes tough personalities, it is not very easy for her to establish a loyal team. Especially in the reforming period, most of people do not like changes at the same time, gender is another unfavorable factor contributing to her difficulties in managing an effective team. Many people, especially for male workers, it is very uncomfortable to work under a female manager. In the Dukes eyes, the future of employees is Wal-Marts future. He emphasizes this point to his staff that Wal-Mart will continue to work to build a better life. Duke is very popular and respected by his employees. His attitude towards life and relationship with workers gains support from his employees. So for Duke, he is more capable of organizing an effective team. 6.0 Conclusion In conclusion, leader is the most important figure in an organization. When a person is hired as the leader of a company, he/she becomes the core part of the whole company. The way he/she adopts for leading the company will greatly affect the companys development. The leaders leadership approach is greatly influenced by his/her personal characteristics, her/his competencies and his/her culture values as well. Different leaders to manage a company may turn the company into a completely different one in terms of its developing direction, its company values or culture and so on. In this report, two different leaders with different companies have been introduced and analyzed regarding to their personalities, leadership styles. Through their respective contribution made to their companies, we can conclude that effective leader is very crucial for the development and direction of the company. In the comparing and contrasting part, the two leaders differences with respect to their leadershi p have been addressed and proper reasons have been investigated regarding the differences. The leadership styles can also affected from the organization variables. The leadership style will be affected by the external environmental changes, such as in the case of leader 2. The change of the leadership is to some extent forced by the economic times and political environment changes.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Ancient River Civilizations :: essays research papers

Approximately 5500 years ago four of the worlds' most prestigious ancient river civilizations had emerged. Our world has been left in astonishment and awe wondering how these civilizations were developed. Egypt and Mesopotamia were the first ancient river civilizations to create cities and their own ways of living. Society, geography, and religion played an enormous role in the development of the ancient cities. Although there is evidence of early Sumerian contact with the Egyptians, Egypt's civilization was largely self-generated and its history and cultural patterns differed from Mesopotamia. The early Dynastic Period was Egypt?s era of initial unification and state building under the guidelines of its first three royal dynasties. In the years between 2660 and 2180 B. C. the basic marks of the cultures of Egypt arose. Egypt was one kingdom and it was divided into provinces, or the names of provinces. Ruling over the kingdom was a pharaoh, who was not only a king but was also seen as a god. Provinces were ruled by nomarchs better known as provincial governors. The Egyptians devised themselves into classes, upper class, middle class, and a lower class. The pharaoh and his family were at the top of the Egyptian class system. People could move from one class to another depending on their situations. Mesopotamian civilization exercised profound and cultural influence throughout west Asia and beyond for about 3,000 years. Mesopotamia had many independent city-states with its own government and ruler. Priests ruled these city-states with other administrators such as organizers and managers. Since turmoil and tension would often arise between the city-states, Mesopotamian Political Unification was rarely achieved. Mesopotamia was constantly invaded by foreigners who would incorporate their culture into newly society and form a new one by force. The Mesopotamian geography affected their society because Mesopotamia was located on an open plain without protection from foreign intrusions. Egypt, on the other hand, was centered on the Nile River ad protected by natural boundaries. This allowed Egypt?s kingdom for prosper and last for thousands of years. Mesopotamia was not considered a nation or country, it was considered a region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that established a number of highly organized city-states. Since each city-state was independent there was no capital of Mesopotamia. Religion was very important to the ancient Egyptians the believed in many gods, meaning they were polytheistic.

Friday, October 11, 2019

Thousand Splendid Suns Comparison

It seems that War has found a home in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have seen three decades of Anti-Soviet Jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny. They have lived through unimaginable horrors and now, their incredible stories of hope and oppression are being told. In A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra, the women are oppressed by their husbands and society. Mariam is passive and compliant while Zunaira is defiant and angry, yet both suffer the same pain and isolation. Initially, their suffering increases because their anger at being oppressed and tortured is deflected towards the wrong people, people who actually care for them. Through their difficult journeys, their eyes are opened up to the power and beauty of a loving relationship. The loss or gain of such a relationship is the defining factor of whether or not each character finds peace and self-worth. The women in both novels transition from a state of being hopeful to complete desolation due to the oppression in their lives. Initially, Mariam from A Thousand Splendid Suns expresses much hope about attaining a bright future. She wants to pursue an education as she says, â€Å"I mean a real school†¦like in a classroom, like my father's other kids† (Hosseini, 17). Mariam firmly believes that she can shed her shameful status of a bastard's child, and as she gets older, she takes strides to make this vision into a reality. Moreover, Mariam is constantly inundated with her mother's pessimistic ideals about life, but she believes that â€Å"You're [Mother] are afraid that I might find the happiness you never had. And you don't want me to be happy. You don't want a good life for me† (Hosseini, 28). As a result, at first, Mariam is a strong figure with a lively spirit who is able to combat much negativity in her life and continue to dream and hope of a better future. Perhaps, her naivety fosters these hopes and dreams as well. Later, Mariam's husband, Rasheed successfully crushes her strong spirit. During one of his fierce outbursts, â€Å"he shoved two fingers into her mouth and pried it open, then forced the cold pebbles into it†¦but he kept pushing the pebbles in, his upper lip curled into a sneer† (Hosseini, 104). Mariam is tortured psychologically, physically and her lively spirit is broken. She completely isolates herself from the outside world, and quietly suffers inside her house as â€Å"†¦Mariam was afraid† (Hosseini, 98). She is passive and compliant in the abusive relationship because she abandons all hope, and tries 1 to endure everything that falls upon her. Oppression crushes Mariam's inner strength and she becomes a walking dead person, confined to her own home. Furthermore, Zunaira from The Swallows of Kabul undergoes a similar transition from a state of hopefulness to desolation. At the beginning, Zunaira is a hopeful person. Her husband, Mohsen, says, â€Å"Her zeal was unmatched, save by the praises heaped upon her. She was a brilliant girl and her beauty lifted every heart† (Khadra, 73). She is extremely passionate about empowering the women in Afghanistan, that she even pursues a career as a magistrate to set an example to rest of her countrymen. Zunaira embodies hope, and positive change in a country devastated by war. Like Mariam, Zunaira's hopeful spirit sets her up on a high pedestal to fall from. Then, Zunaira is oppressed by the Taliban. She is writhing with anger and hatred when she says, â€Å"†¦the most detestable fact of [my] existence, to the constraint with anger and hatred that even in [my] dreams [I] refuse to accept: the forfeiture of [my] rights† (Khadra, 99). Anger and hatred threatens to rip Zunaira apart because she feels that the Taliban have stripped her off her dignity and humiliated her beyond endurance. Pride is important to Zunaira. Thus, she struggles to control her anger in public when she views the bitter state of her country, how the Taliban have destroyed her pride, hopes and dreams. Unlike Mariam, Zunaira is defiant and angry. Zunaira actually attains her goal of becoming a magistrate, and thus, she experiences a greater sensation of loss. Mariam and Zunaira combat the oppression in different ways but they suffer the same pain and isolation. Oppression induces a negative change in both characters. In addition, the women have coping mechanisms to deal with the sorrow in their lives. Their ability to cope is affected by family members. Mariam remembers her mother's story, â€Å"where each snowflake was a sigh heaved by an aggrieved woman somewhere in the World. That all the sighs drifted up in the sky, gathered in the clouds, and then broke into tiny pieces†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Hosseini, 91). Mariam is submissive in her abusive relationship because her mother has taught her by example, that Afghani women solely have to endure the pain and suffering in their lives. She makes no attempts to change her situation in her marriage because she lives by her mother's teachings. Perhaps, if Mariam were to stand up for herself or stir up chaos during one of Rasheed's beatings, Rasheed would not turn to violence against her so easily. Also, Mariam could have searched for alternatives to escape Rasheed before the Taliban implemented the harsh laws. Over the years, Mariam becomes increasingly helpless and miserable under Rasheed's rule, as she follows the model of her mother's teachings. Also, she deflects her anger and sorrow 2 towards the wrong people, people who actually care for her. Laila, Rasheed's younger wife tries to extend a friendship towards Mariam multiple times, but Mariam pushes Laila away. She screams at Laila, â€Å"†¦I have no use for your company†¦You will leave me be and I will return the favour. That's how we will get on. Those are the rules† (Hosseini, 226). As Mariam pushes Laila farther away, she only becomes a greater target of Rasheed's abuse because Rasheed tends to beat Mariam when he is angry with Laila. During a beating, Rasheed â€Å"held a belt in his hand†¦Ã¢â‚¬  and Mariam becomes absolutely petrified, but Laila tries to stand up for Mariam. United, Mariam and Laila are able to stand up to Rasheed and reduce the frequency and severity of Rasheed's beatings. By rebuffing Laila, Mariam only increases her own pain and suffering. The character's coping mechanisms seem to only destroy any remaining strands of courage and hope within them. Similarly, in The Swallows of Kabul, Zunaira tries to find a way to cope with the oppression in her life. At the beginning, she tries to forget her own pain and suffering to be strong for her husband. Mohsen, her husband, insists on taking a stroll in the streets of Kabul, and Zunaira refuses to go because she does not want to wear the Burqa. To Zunaira, the Burqa epitomizes the mistreatment and oppression of women in Afghanistan. In the end, Zunaira agrees to go with Mohsen when she says, â€Å"Let's go out. I'd rather run a thousand risks than to see you so demoralized† (Khadra, 79). Zunaira sacrifices some of her core values to make Mohsen happy, who is her only support system in this World. Though she does not want to lose Mohsen, her ability to cope with the oppression is hindered when she views firsthand the Taliban's brutality. Similarly, Zunaira's ability to cope with oppression is negatively impacted by the actions of her family members. Both women's hopes are crushed, but, Mariam becomes more compliant while a fire is ignited within Zunaira, which threatens to rip her apart. Also, Zunaira shuns her loved one out of her life. When Zunaira refuses to talk to Mohsen and remove her Burqa after the stroll in Kabul, he recounts, â€Å"her anger is so intense that her veil trembles before her agitated breathing and she says, ‘I don't ever want to see you again, Mohsen Ramat'† (Khadra, 129). At first, Zunaira uses her husband to cope, but later, she targets her fury towards him because she wants him to experience her great feeling of loss. Mohsen is a man, and Zunaira believes that a man will never allow a woman to attain her freedom. Like Mariam, she ends up deteriorating her life further because Mohsen accidentally dies during one of their fights. Thus, Zunaira loses another member of her family to the Taliban. Zunaira is angry, but her actions cause her loved ones to 3 suffer too, unlike Mariam who bottles up her fury and grieves alone. In the end, Mariam and Zunaira's coping mechanisms only accelerate their feelings of pain and isolation. Finally, the women in both novels undergo a period of self-realization by losing or gaining a loving relationship. Mariam is able to acquire a new found sense of inner strength. Laila and Mariam forge a special sisterly bond that Mariam can turn to for support and strength. Mariam says, â€Å"But, perhaps there were kinder years waiting still. A new life, a life which she would find the blessings that Nana had said a harami like her would never see† (Hosseini, 256). Her sisterly bond induces a positive change in Mariam as she starts to hope again. Mariam's spirit is rejuvenated, and she finds a newly acquired strength to defeat her oppressor, Rasheed. She frees herself off her primary oppressor for she finds the courage to kill Rasheed. She finds a state of inner peace at last. Also, Mariam finds a new purpose in life. Before Mariam is to be executed, she thinks, â€Å"A Weed. And yet she was leaving the World as a woman who had loved and been loved back†¦a person of consequence at last. No. It was not so bad†¦that she should die this way† (Hosseini, 370). Mariam is resented by her mother, father and husband, but her relationship with Laila and Aziza, Laila's daughter, redefine her outlook on life. Their love fills a hollow spot within Mariam, and it lessens the pain of living under oppression for decades. As Mariam has loved, she is finally able to shed her status of a arami and gain a new sense of selfworth. She sees the beauty in a loving relationship, and she finally does find peace and selfworth in her life. In The Swallows of Kabul, Zunaira makes an important self-discovery as well. By severing her ties to Mohsen, she attains a form of inner strength. When the Jailer, Atiq, tries to convince her to run away from the jail, she says, â €Å"I can't wait to get out of here, but not in the way you propose† (Khadra, 164). She accepts her fate and is prepared to die. With Mohsen's accidental death, Zunaira severs all ties to the physical world. She rids herself of all duties and obligations and deserts all of her hopes and dreams. She feels like a free spirit, symbolized by the removal of her Burqa. Her lightness renews her inner strength and now, she feels she can overcome any obstacle in her path, even dying. Though Zunaira attains a sense of inner peace by severing ties to loved ones, Mariam achieves this by finding the beauty in a loving relationship. Like Mariam, Zunaira is willing to die because their newly gained inner strength gives them the power to vanquish all obstacles in their path. Also, her loss of a loving relationship changes her perspective on life. She says to the Jailer, â€Å"We've already been killed, all of us, it happened so 4 long ago, we've forgotten it† (Khadra, 164). Zunaira realizes that she has lost everything to the Taliban, her family, her dignity, her hopes and dreams. When she sees that she has nothing worth living for anymore, she feels there is nothing more she can lose in this World, and thus, she thinks about life differently. The author does not elaborate about Zunaira's life after she is freed from the jail, but probably she dies in the near future because she does not have a home to return to. Similarly, Mariam and Zunaira are able to see the power and beauty of a loving relationship. Zunaira leaves behind her pride, and need to feel empowered while Mariam actually gains a new sense of self-worth. For Zunaira, leaving behind all the things attached to her relationship with Mohsen gives her peace. So, each character takes different routes to find peace and self-worth. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and The Swallows of Kabul by Yasmina Khadra are both set in war-torn Afghanistan. The women are oppressed by their husbands and society. Then, the coping mechanisms they utilize only increase their pain and suffering. Finally, Mariam and Zunaira make an important self-discovery where they either gain or lose the power and beauty of a loving relationship to find peace and self-worth. Overall, Mariam and Zunaira seem to reverse their roles from the beginning to the end. Mariam is passive at first, but she becomes quite aggressive at the end. While, Zunaira follows the opposite path to achieve inner peace. Millions of women are oppressed around the World, and it seems that love is the critical factor to breaking the cycle of oppression.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Language and Communication in Psychology

Through detailed consideration of one selected area of investigation evaluate the progress made by researchers in developing explanations of key aspects of the psychology of language and communication. The study of language is frequently debated in different theories of human nature. The importance of language is relevant when it to comes to the work of philosophers, neuroscientist, humanist and psychologist. Language has been applicable to Aristotle, Plato, Hume, Locke, Freud and Skinner. This essay seeks in investigating the definition of language and communication. In doing so traditional language theories will be assessed, this will later be compared to modern progression by researchers in developing explanations of the psychology of language and communication. The development of language and language disorders will be evaluated in order to successfully investigate the modern approaches to language. Firstly, the evaluation of language, its origins, process and the use have been investigated in areas such as computational theory, cognitive neuroscience, evolutional and cultural psychology in contemporary studies of language. Language is usually seen as systems for example English, French and Italian even seen as systems of language it can be used to describe other things because of its broad definition, In describing music for instance or art. These areas can have its own language that needs to be learnt to understand and interpret music for example. Language in general can be used in any form of communication. Since language is broad it is important to study specific areas of language, instead of its general definition (Bloom, . P, 2007) . This is so that direct questions can be answered. As a result the narrow questioned being investigated can be generalised to other systems of language. It is known that some form of language is used everyday, linguistics is dedicated field of the scientific study of everyday language and even though the broad term is difficult to define, linguists believe that ‘language is a formal system of agreed rules that have to be followed by a speaker. In this system there is the addition of morphology also known as the formation of words, syntax the formation of phrases and phonology, sound systems (Fromkin 2000). Secondly, Charles Dawins works have been used as a platform in the belief that’ man has an instinctive tendency to speak, as we see in the babble of our young children; whilst no child has an instinctive tendency to brew, bake, or write’ Darwin (1871). This gives the idea that language comes natural, that humans have been biologically designed to speak. Neurological studies support the idea that language is part of the human nature through the investigations of dedicated parts of the brain for language. It is believed that this might explain why every human society has language. The idea has therefore raised questions as to whether language is innate or a cultural innovation. Language deficits and aphasia has been investigated in recent studies to prove what happens when these dedicated parts for language are damaged. The works of cognitive neuropsychologist is to use theoretical frameworks and methods to specific language impairments. During the initial stages of Cognitive neuropsychological (in the second half of the nineteenth century) neurologists such as Lichtheim, Wernicke and Bastian began to make assumption about the design of the brain and its fixed language processing systems (Coltheart, 2006) this brought about the box-and-arrow diagrams in an attempt to demonstrate the brain’s architecture. In taking this thought further, how these components in the brain were localised was also studied. Even though at the time the cognitive function of language was not proved, by the failed attempt of localising the brain, it was relevant in influencing the work of other psychologist, an example is the later simplified version conducted by Coltheart. The work of Lichtheim, Wernicke and Bastian, received a lot of criticism from neurologist that were not cognitively oriented such as Head (1926) this led to fall in cognitive neuropsychological and the rise of behaviourism. Shallice, (1988) have suggested that cognitive neuropsychological data are too â€Å"noisy† and there difficult in being used further than exploring the brains functional architecture. Others such as McCloskey & Caramazza, (1991) have argued against this point. Stating that there shouldn’t be a restriction on what data produced cognitive theory at ‘any arbitrary level of detail’. Thirdly, It was not until the mid twentieth century that there was a Cognitive revolution† with the work of Broadbent (1956), Chomsky, (1959) Miller, Galanter, & Pribram,(1960), also study from Marshall and Newcombe (1966, 1973) looking into cognitive neuropsychology of reading and from Shallice and Warrington (1970) memory. This also included the work into the development of researching sentence processing in aphasia, where linguistic and psycholinguistic theory were responsible for the analysis of aphasic symptoms (Caramazza & Zurif, 1976 ; Marin, Saffran, & Schwartz, 1976) . A substantial amount of evidence afterwards has been produced in showing modularity in the brain. This shows that even though language is specifically located in the brain it is split into separate stages that may selectively be disrupted. (Berndt, Basili and Caramazza 1987) it is therefore established that specific lesions (in specific parts of the brain dedicated to language) will not affect the entire language process. This might see a patient losing the ability to understand spoken word but retain the ability to repeat words, suggesting that there are separate modules responsible for separate actions in the brain. (Schwartz,Saffran, & Marin, 1980) Fodor (1983) was also in support of the modularity of the brain after incorporating some of the ideas that were developed in cognitive neuropsychological. Foder describes a module as a domain specific. This is where the brain stores information that is responsible for a specific mental representation. For instance speech perception uses a separate path then that used in different auditory analysis and controls only acoustic signals, perceived as utterances. D. Bishop (1997). Superior cognitive functions can not affect the processes of modules in the brain, known as ‘information encapsulation’. In this processing becomes fixed. The fact that modular processing can not be influenced by higher cognitive operations describes the term. It is difficult to take no notice of incoming speech—even if attention is not used for receiving speech, a response will take place one will immediately respond on hearing a relevant sound for instance a someone own name (Foder 1983). Fodor with the support of evolutionary arguments states that the brain complex system can be broken down into layers, through case studies of selective impaired patients having a particular effect on the process of language. He believes that language therefore is innate and pre- programmed in humans. Human studies have relied wholly on researches regarding nature. The main reasons for carrying out functional neuroimaging are to improve peoples take on the variable anatomical functions of language. This then leads on to the argument that’s the much debated Broca’s area which is linked to speech production can be subdivided into three regions, a posterior and superior region that is involved with sounds of language, an interior and ventral region that is involved with meaning of words and a regions between the other two that is involved with meaning conveyed by sentences. Research carried out during the analysis on the anatomy and physiological aspects of the auditory processing in animals, show specific revelations regarding how the human brain perceives and process speech. Ignoring the concerns of critics, Researchers studying this phenomenon have resorted to using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) (which was introduced as a basic tool for monitoring language and brain activities) with the exception of people affected by induced nervous disorders such as stroke, to produce valuable evaluation, with regards to how language is organised in the human brain. Critics believe this is another example of wasted effort especially with the exclusion of patients with neurological disorders as study showed that this illness affects mainly the social and professional lives of those affected and sometimes it is not enough to impair their speech recognition abilities. PET has four advantages for the study of language: (i) it does not lose sensitivity and spatial localisation in important anterior and medial temporal lobe structures, a (current) problem with fMRI due to susceptibility artefacts and geometric shifts4,,5; (ii) its lower spatial resolution makes it orders of magnitude less susceptible to movement artefacts time-locked to stimulus and response, as occurs with overt articulation (most fMRI studies of word retrieval use covert responses); (iii) it does not create the din that is a feature of data acquisition in an MR scanner, requiring special techniques when important acoustic features in auditory stimuli may be masked6; and (iv) in the serial study of aphasic patients, it is the author's anecdotal experience that patients are far more likely to agree to come back for a second PET scan than to go back into a MRI magnet, a much more intimidating environment. † Coltheart (2005). Technological development such as the scanning of the brain has been shown to be critical in the work of language processing. Since language is built into the brain PET scans is useful method in watching the brain at work with the use of basic words. The area of the brain that is activated during the process of language can be identified (recognition of words). Further studies on thought processing (especially with regards to language) shows that certain groups of people were not able to process language normally. â€Å"a group has to be anatomically normalized into the same stereotactic space. To allow for individual variations of gyral and sulcal anatomy, the image data have to be smoothed. This is because of the problem of lesion distribution. Ablation studies in non-human animals are placed with great care, and often post mortem examinations are performed after the behavioural experiments to confirm the boundaries of the lesion. The unsubtle lesions occurring as the consequence of cerebrovascular disease, necrotising viral infections, etc. may destroy cortex, local white matter connections, major white matter tracts connecting remote cortical regions, sub-cortical nuclei, and their reciprocal connections with cortical areas. No lesion experiment in a non-human animal, relating structure to function, would be accepted for publication if clipping of a major arterial branch produced the focal injury. † Coltheart (2005) It is clear that studies on the human brain have been dependant on nature experiments with the application of liberal scientific standard. This has therefore allowed certain syndromes to be associated to lesions. ‘This sometimes have been related to marked inter-subject distinction in the cortical organisation of function, which, would mean that studies of structure–function relationships in the human, other than early perceptual and motor processes, are meaningless. It would seem much more plausible that broadly similar clinical syndromes may result from very differently sited cortical, sub-cortical or tract lesions within distributed neural systems that are essentially similar between subjects with the same handedness and uneventful development. Coltheart (2005) The data from useful neuroimaging is a vital contribution to the perspective of language and its structure. It is therefore useful when used on normal subjects in pinpointing where modular language processors a re. The traditional Broca’s area in the left frontal gyrus can be divided further into three parts it has been argued: ‘one that is posterior and superior and is involved in the sound structure (phonology) of language; a second, anterior and ventral that is concerned with the meaning of words (semantics); and a third, lying in-between the first two regions, that is involved in meaning conveyed by sentence structure (syntax). Of particular clinical relevance is the ability to determine shifts of function after focal brain lesions and how these may be potentially modified or even induced by behavioural or drug therapy’. Caplan (2006) The recent cognitive studies have been useful in producing architecture and process of the brain but there are few studies that evaluate the technique of neuroimaging in a negative manner. Poeppel, (1996) states that neuroimaging so far has told us nothing about the mind so far. In support of this notion Orden and Paap (1997) agree that nothing has been learnt from neuroimaging and never will. It is believed that complexity of cognition can not produces evidence through this technique. Henson (2005) has provided a vital framework for considering the role of brainimaging data in cognitive psychology. He writes: â€Å"My main argument is that, provided one makes the assumption that there is some ‘systematic’mapping from psychological function to brain structure, then functional neuroimaging data simply comprise another dependent variable, along with behavioural data, that can be used to distinguish between competing psychological theories† (p. 194). This idea recognises that there is some systematic mapping from psychological function to the structure of the brain. To conclude, Cognitive neuropsychology can be easily seen as a branch of cognitive psychology which has been vital to study of language and how it is processed in the brain. It has been useful in creating theories through the study of subjects performance in which normal cognition are identified. There have been several studies in support of how the language is processed in the brain to further prove or disprove these theories. The studies of these damaged sections have been able to be looked at through the advancement of technology. These scans have been able to explain a range of questions about the processing of language in the brain for instance, the lateralized view of the human brain. This has also been observed in animals that also use sound for communication e. g. monkeys birds and dolphins. In this the control of sound production is usually in the left hemisphere also seen in humans. The two major areas of the human brain that are responsible for language are the Broca's area ,this is partially responsible for putting sentences together and using correct syntax secondly the Wernicke's area, which is partially responsible for language processing (untangling others' sentences and analyzing them for syntax, inflection, etc. ). Broca aphasia is used to describe if the Broca areas is damaged. side effects show slow, hesitant speech that lack grammer. Typical Broca's aphasics can not words not essential to the significance of the sentence, such as the and and. When the Wernicke area is damaged then it is known as Wernicke's aphasia. It can be seen as opposite to Broca's aphasia. Wernicke's aphasics are able to make general sentences but they are often senseless and include made-up words. Wernicke's aphasics show signs of understanding others' speech, but have difficulty naming objects Other types of aphasia noted in brain-damaged patients can show even worse effects. If Wernicke's and Broca's area are disconnected, patients struggle to repeat sentence said out to them. This shows that there is the possibility Wernicke's area, which has processed the sentence heard, is unable to communicate it to Broca's area for repetition. In another type, Wernicke's and Broca's areas remain connected but cannot communicate with the rest of the brain. Patients can only repeat sentences but fail to speak on impulse speech (Pinker 1994).

Defining Literature: Frankenstein vs. Young Goodman Brown

The entire semester defining what Literature is has being the course’s quest. Literature is always changing; its definition has developed and changed from time to time. To find an exact definition of what is literature, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. There have been several attempts to decipher this puzzle, in â€Å"What Is an Author† written by Michael Foucault, he emphasizes on the idea that an author exists only as a function of a written work. The author's name holds considerable power and serves as an anchor for interpreting a text. And â€Å"On the Sublime† written by Longinus, the writer states that the sublime implies that man can, in emotions and in language, transcend the limits of the human condition. This research paper consists in identifying the elements of literature by comparing two major pieces of work. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warns that with the advent of science, natural questioning is not only futile, but dangerous. In attempting to discover the mysteries of life, Frankenstein assumes that he can act as God. He disrupts the natural order, and chaos ensues. In â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†, Hawthorne explores the nature of imagination and reality in this mysterious story by allowing the reader to actively question the reality of the night's events. He combines a multitude of elements into it creating a sense of mystery. The short story follows Goodman Brown’s journey resulting in his loss of faith. Literature allows the reader to feel, experience, and inhabit a character or place. It goes beyond the scope of everyday fiction, reaches new insights and allows the writer to reason with the audience. In Frankenstein the monster exemplifies the sublime written by Longinus. Shelley's descriptions of the monster and his actions coincide with Longinus’s definitions and his categories of obscurity, power, terror, difficulty and vastness, each of which facilitate sublime experiences: â€Å"the sources of all the good in us are also the sources of all the bad† (Longinus, 51). Throughout the story the monster attempts to make connections with human beings. During his encounter with the old man, De Lacey, the monster hopes that his disturbing appearance will not be an obstacle to his desire to talk to the old blind man. Without his vision, De Lacey cannot perceive the monster through any means beyond conversation and that works in the monster's favor. De Lacey calls the monster: â€Å"my best and only benefactor† (Shelley, 137), clearly showing that blindness creates the distance between the terrible monster and the man. De Lacey delights in his discourse with the monster, and continues to until the others returned and saw the monster's physical appearance, showing disgust and horror towards him. The monster instills great terror in the human character he encounters, but at the same time evokes feelings of astonishment, empathy, and caring. Longinus’ concept is also showed in Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†. The deep dark forest that Goodman Brown enters on his nighttime journey sets the stage for the doubt that consumes his mind for the remainder of his life. However, despite this, the reader witnesses the real ramifications that the events have on Brown's life, which in turn leads them to question the very concepts of imagination and reality. The society in the story strictly follows the rules and principles of its religion. Although Brown believes he is an upstanding person of a respectable family line, he allows his curiosity to betray his faith. Brown arrives late to his meeting with the evil figure and explains that: â€Å"Faith kept me back a while† (Gardner et. al, 4). Throughout the story, â€Å"Faith† represents the figure of his wife and the faith in man and religion. Brown hesitates because he realizes that his journey with this devilish being is sinful. Hawthorne creates a paranoid monster from the once innocent Goodman Brown and the natural setting regresses into an unsafe, unknown forest of evil. In â€Å"What Is an Author†, Foucault addresses the relationship between authors and text, emphasizing their role throughout the stories. From a very early age, Mary Shelley was surrounded by many powerful and influential writers, shaping her ideas as she grew and eventually leading to the writing of Frankenstein. The Romantics of her time were fascinated with dreams and Gothic nightmares which were seen as predictors of what could happen. In order to thoroughly understand the influences that affected Shelley's writing, specifically in Frankenstein, readers must have an adequate knowledge of a few key events in Mary's life. On the other hand, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story is set in the 17th-century colonial American period, specifically in Salem, Massachusetts. According to James Mellow, Hawthorne was plagued by guilt by his grandfather’s role as a judge during this time. He wrote the story to vindicate his grandfather by featuring fictional victims of the witch trials who were witches and not innocent victims of the witch-hunt. Another major theme for both stories is the pursuit of knowledge. In Frankenstein, Victor is absorbed in the creation of the monster; he absents himself from society and forsakes human contact. Frankenstein begins his research with the good intention of helping people, but his thoughts soon turn to the quest for power over life and to be recognized as the creator of a species . He became so caught up in his attempt to create life that he never thought about the consequences: â€Å"Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow† (Shelley, ). The unlearned creature is thrown out into the world and is forced to discover the hidden meanings behind human life and society, on his own. Similarly, the more that the monster learns about his creation, the more he realizes that he is miserable: â€Å"Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in a disgust† (Shelley, 133). His knowledge, too, causes him immense pain. In both cases, their quest ended in pain, suggesting that this is the inevitable result of the pursuit of knowledge. He reflects: â€Å"O what a strange nature is knowledge! †¦ I wished sometimes to shake off all thought and all feeling† (Shelley, 123). Victor’s isolation is caused by his own greed for knowledge, whereas the monster has no choice, as he is rejected by society. Goodman Brown is a puritan waiting to begin his conversion experience to the Puritan doctrine. Although Goodman Brown was confident when entering into the forest with the devilish being, his temptations cause him to lose faith and become unsure of humanity and nature. However, at the end of Brown’s conversion experience, he is shocked to see that Faith is interacting with the devil because he considers her to be the most pure person in society. Brown describes the fearful nature of the wilderness after proclaiming his faith is gone: â€Å"The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds – the creaking of the trees, the howling of the wild beasts, and the yell of Indians† (Hawthorne 395). The nature of man continues to be questioned when Goodman Brown experiences total depravity in the forest. He is witness to powerful and religious figures from his society participating in various forms of devil worship and witchcraft. His shock and horror of seeing those he respects as active members of this evil cause him to question his own purity: â€Å"Goodman Brown stepped forth from the shadow of the trees and approached the congregation, with whom he felt a loath full brotherhood by the sympathy of all that was wicked in his heart† (Hawthorne 397). Frankenstein and his creature are a prime example of the burden brought on one's life through incomplete knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge is not necessarily an evil thing, but it can cause destruction when it is pursued beyond natural limits. Victor Frankenstein becomes a slave to his passion for learning in more than one way; first his life is controlled by his obsession to create life, and later he becomes a slave to the monster he has created.