‘Materialism’ and Alienation

A considerable number of scholars agree that the domination of capital, which prevails not only on the socio-economic order but also on the production of ideas and ideologies, is responsible for the fragmentation of cultures ensuing from the destruction of human relationships and interaction. The latter arises from the permeation of capitalism into the value systems, and, as suggested by Buber, ultimately creating the ‘I-It’ relationship, in which individuals identify increasingly with material goods, or derive their sense of fulfillment from consuming goods and the symbols attached to these, rather than the ‘I-thou’ relationship or the cultivation of meaningful relationships with their fellow individuals. As individuals seek their sense of being from consumption, they are alienated more and more from society, which scholars such as Kasser (2003) suggests would lead into the loss of meaning in one’s life and the frustration that goes with it. This frustration is reinforced by societal standards that put premium over the accumulation of material wealth over non-material fulfillment. The Pursuit of Money, Depression, and Alienation This is illustrated in the life story of C.P. Ellis, a man driven to join the Klu Klux Klan by his frustration over their family’s impoverishment and his own insecurity over being a low-income, white American, and his transformation into a contented labor union organizer despite. Born into a poor family, Ellis’ depression over his and his family’s financial status started from being perceived by others as ‘poor and impoverished’ in his childhood, as reflected by the way he felt people treated him and his father: â€Å"somebody looking at him and making fun of him and making fun of me.† His father’s unhappiness mirror the same unhappiness that characterized Ellis’ life as he struggled to make ends meet for his own family later on, to â€Å"work, never a day without work, worked all the overtime I could get.† Ellis’ predicament, according to Kasser (2003), is typical of â€Å"people who strongly value the pursuit of wealth and possessions.† Kasser notes that these people â€Å"report lower psychological well-being than those who are less concerned with such aims.† Not surprisingly, Ellis’ earlier experiences wherein his concern and frustration over ‘financial freedom’ is marked by the absence of a social life and of meaningful interactions with people as his life is taken over by the need to his above his socio-economic status. This makes him unable to see people beyond the labels and the propaganda, and also illustrate the attraction of the Ku Klux Klan to white, low-income individuals. Thus, Ellis’ motivation for joining the Ku Klux Klan, is his resentment and bitterness to his inability to move up the rungs of the economic and social ladder. Racist Organizations and the Reinforcement of Social Isolation The Ku Klux Klan, as a group that presents itself as the â€Å"savior of the white race,† also contains within itself the racist symbols of being superior, a superiority complex that is based on the skin color of being white. The Ku Klux Klan therefore presents an opportunity to feel power in another way, by vowing to â€Å"uphold the purity of the white race, fight communism, and protect white womanhood.† .For C.P. Ellis, the moment of ‘empowerment’ is his being ‘exalted Cyclops’ of the Klan but it is merely an extension of his yearning for a higher social status:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Here’s a guy who’s worked all his life and struggled all his life to be something, and here’s the moment to be something.† However, the Klu Klux Klan does not give its members a sense of fulfillment that is based on being able to cultivate a meaningful relationship between its members, but reinforces the isolation of another marginalized sector of society—the black people. Moreover, the Klan’s power is based not on the empowerment of the sector it represents; On the contrary, it blurs its members’ ability to recognize the real problems of social inequality by curiously turning to the blacks as a channel for the dissipation of its anger. While Ellis is interested in the Klan for its sense of belonging, he was more drawn to the aspect of being in control—something that, while he clearly could not achieve by being poor, he could at least exercise on people deemed to be inferior by society. Ellis, however, was not intent on deriving meaning from the sort associated with â€Å"spirituality and religion†¦ home life, relationships, and family†¦having fun and excitement†¦and contributing to the community† (Kasser 2003). He was merely looking for a scapegoat to focus his resentment on, from which he thought he could attain the â€Å"large number of possible goals people might have, such as desires to feel safe and secure, to help the world be a better place, to have a great sex life, and to have good relationships with other.† (Kasser 2003) In this phase of his life, Ellis therefore retains the ‘I-it’ relationship in his life suggested by Buber through his remaining fixation with material wealth and the social status that comes with it. Transformation, Empowerment, and Redemption Ironically, C.P. Ellis’ genuine empowerment would come not from material success but from disillusionment with the false power of the Klu Klux Klan and subsequent transformation into a man who recognized that people were more than their skin color. This would come from his reluctant involvement with the efforts to minimize racial discrimination in which he was forced to work with Ann Atwater—a black civil rights advocate—to pursue a better school system for their children. Ellis’ transformation would not be easy, however, and it would only come with the realization that those who had economic and political power were using the rift between the blacks and the whites to further their own agendas: â€Å"As long as they kept low-income whites and low income blacks fighting, they’re gonna maintain control.† This realization would preclude his transformation as he knew more about the relationship between economic status and political power, and as he realized the importance of solidarity with his fellow poor: â€Å"The whole world was opening up , and I was learning new truths that I had never learned before. I was beginning to look at a black person, shake hands with him, and see him as a human being.† The attainment of wealth would grow less and less for C. P. Ellis as he discovered that although material things were important to people, individuals should not let it rule their lives. Consequently, Ellis’ concern on   the goals of the labor union with which he would be involved in later, would give him more happiness and fulfillment, his sense of self mirroring â€Å"the state attained by people motivated by growth, meaning, and aesthetics, rather than by insecurity and the attempt to fit in with what other people expect† (Kasser, 2003). Ellis’ life and general direction is now a stark contrast to the sense of â€Å"low well-being, high distress, and difficulty adjusting to life† (Kasser, 2003) that he experienced earlier in his life when his sense of self was anchored on material possessions. C.P. Ellis’ life and experience therefore reflects the dangers of material wealth as a central figure in one’s life. It provides a concrete example of one man’s transcendence over the alienation that people in a highly consumerist and materialist society experiences, and illustrates the importance of establishing an â€Å"I-Thou† basis of our identity and sense of self rather than anchoring our lives to the pursuit of financial gains. More importantly, it shows how having control on one’s life will not be achieved solely by having financial control, but by being able to appease our conscience, and striving for the higher ideals of humanity.         

Jaguar Land Rover Essay

Jaguar and Land Rover are two of the world’s most iconic luxury brands. Every day they’re reaching more customers, and their network of well over 2,000 dealerships continues to expand around the world. As their global marketplace extends further, they need to provide more customers than ever before with an unrivalled experience. Their fast paced environment is one where you can swim free in a pool full of sharks. You’ll be instrumental in protecting their heritage and unique brand values, but also making sure that their brands continue to grow, develop and seize attention worldwide. The Jaguar Cars and Land Rover businesses were first united under a single entity by Ford Motor Company in 2002. In 2006 Ford purchased the Rover brand name and logos from BMW for around  £6 million. This reunited the Rover and Land Rover brands for the first time since the Rover group was broken up by BMW in 2000 Their advertisement skills are very top notch. They show their vehicle in a tough environment to show the pure strength of the vehicle and show that it is capable of any task. They make the Jaguar Land Rover seem fast and dynamic with certain shots to persuade the viewer to buy such a beautiful vehicle. Jaguar Land rover is owned by Dr Ralf Speth. He is the chief director of the company. Sales – In the year ended 31 March 2011, Jaguar Land Rover sold a total of 240,905 units, of which 189,087 were Land Rovers and 51,818 were Jaguars. In that period 24.1% of sales were in the United Kingdom, 22% in Europe (excluding the United Kingdom and Russia), 20.9% in North America, 12% in China, 4.9% in Russia and 15.9% in the rest of the world. In the year ended 31 March 2012, Jaguar Land Rover sold a total of 305,859 units, of which 251,632 were Land Rovers and 54,227 were Jaguar In that period 22% of sales were in Europe (excluding the United Kingdom and Russia), 19.6% in the United Kingdom, 19.0% in North America, 16.7% in China, 4.2% in Asia Pacific (excluding China) and 19.0% in the rest of the  world

The True Story of Joan/John

There is a fine line between sex and gender. In fact, most probably do not even know that there is even difference between the two! People just assume a boy should act like a boy and a girl should act like a girl. Society forces us to think and behave that way. If you think about it when a baby girl is born everything is pink, but not all girls love the color pink. Society shapes the role of each child based on its biological sex. What happens if you do not behave like your sex is supposed to behave? In the article, â€Å"The True Story of Joan/John,† Joan does not act like the female that her surrounding pushed on her to be.This article tells the story of a man who goes through a long journey of finding himself. John was born male, and then through complications was told he was a female and now he indentifies himself as a male. I cannot comprehend how traumatic these gender and sex changes were on his life. In this one situation it shows how John, who was always told he was a girl, still behaved a like a male because in reality at birth he was. This example makes me think that society plays a part in deciding your gender and who you are. However, John was pushed to behave like a girl. He never did, he wanted to play with the stereotypical â€Å"boy† toys like trucks.Is it possible that your biological sex can determine your gender? Social constructionist is not totally correct or accurate. There are girls that are tomboys and boys that gay or just super feminine. Society cannot always push people in the route that they want them in. A majority of times when an individual, like John, does not conform to society they are ridiculed. Harassment can have many effects and sometimes the effect is not to conform them but it can be as serious as suicide. Society interrupts a child’s growth and individuality. In the case of Joan / John, he was living a â€Å"double life†.He knew at a very young age that something was wrong. He didn’t l ike being put in dresses or playing with dolls. â€Å"Joan† just wasn’t performing like other females her age and just about everyone was noticing that. Social constructionism is pushing John to behave differently than how he wants to behave. In a way society was disturbing his normal growth as a child by changing who he thought he was, his gender identity. In the end, he knew he was a male, which relates back to gender essentialism. Dr. Money definitely took advantage of John’s parents by giving them false knowledge.John’s parents were so uninformed about everything that was going on with John’s situation. Dr. Money was a very strict social constructionist that believed if he told John he was a female then he would be a female. How could Dr. Money, a doctor, think that telling a child that it is a specific sex and that it would grow up believing and acting like that sex? Things just don’t work like that. I think genes and your sex have a bi g part in identifying your gender. Each situation for each child is so incredibly different I find it too extraordinary that society and environment could change the identity of a person.I do not think that gender essentialism or social constructionism is the way, but a balance in between the two. Gender essentialism and social constructionism challenge each other. The two are the extremes of reality. A balance between the two is how people live each and every day. In the situation of John, his life shows a journey through all three ways, gender essentialism, social constructionism and reality. Dr. Money believed in social constructionism, but while John was told he was a female he showed his belief in gender essentialism. He ignored people because he â€Å"knew† something was not right and that he should be a male.Now he lives his life as a male but in what I call â€Å"reality†. He listens to society in some ways but he focuses on being a father and that to him is wh at a male is, a father. The article challenges the two opposing beliefs because no one knows the correct answer. Each person and situation is different. Maybe for some the theory of gender essentialism will push them to be who they truly are, while for others it may be society, the theories of social constructionism. For the rest it is reality, a combination of the two. Works Cited Colapinto, John. â€Å"â€Å"The True Story of Joan/John†. † Rolling Stone 11 Dec. 1997: 54-97. Print.

What is the role of the supernatural epilogue to Gogol's Shinel ( the Essay

What is the role of the supernatural epilogue to Gogol's Shinel ( the Overcoat) Does it force you as a reader to reinterpret the meaning of the story, or doest it remove any meaning the story may have had - Essay Example e works of great Russian artists of short story writing, such as Turgenev and Dostoyevsky, he automatically understands to what extent ‘The Overcoat’ has wrapped them up with its structural as well as aesthetic influence. The storyline of The Overcoat is very simple and it revolves around the daily struggle of the protagonist Akakii Akakievich for his survival. Application of the supernatural epilogue in the short story gives it a unique feature and it gradually takes the reader from mundane existence to a world of supernatural existence. As we finish reading the short story, we feel that Gogol’s implementation of supernatural material in the story serves certain purpose. It not only gives the story a novel dimension but at the same time, he also uses the supernatural element as an instrument to reveal true character of the society and its inhabitants. To understand the importance of the supernatural epilogue in ‘The Overcoat,’ it is important to focus over flow of incidents in the story. The reader, as stats reading the story, finds that Gogol has provided excellent description of the protagonist and his daily life. In the course of reading the story the reader feels that he can almost visualize the whole thing and this quality of Gogol has recognized him among modern critics as ‘a pioneer of a new â€Å"naturalist† aesthetics’. The protagonist of the story, Akakii Akakievich, is a typical member of the middle class society of Gogol’s time and earns his livelihood by working in a government office. The author has given detailed description of the protagonist’s apparent features only with the purpose to let the reader know that he does not posses any such external features that would differentiate him from the rest. He is just a common man, who has â€Å"†¦short of stature, somewhat pockmarked, rather red-haired, rather blind, judging from appearances, with a small bald spot on his forehead, with wrinkles on his cheeks, with a complexion of the

Vegetarian Diets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Vegetarian Diets - Essay Example In looking at the dietary construction of a vegetarian lifestyle, the purpose of the choice is as important as the results of that choice. The choice to avoid animal products can have benefits to the body and also contribute positively to the environmental impact that processing animal products has on the Earth. There are categories of vegetarianism in which food choices are eliminated according to the decisions that an individual makes about their eating habits. Maurer defines a lifestyle that still includes some animal products such as fish and dairy as a semi-vegetarian lifestyle. An ovo-lacto vegetarian will not consume fish, but still consume eggs and dairy. A vegan will eat nothing that comes from animals and limit their intake to those products that come from plant life. Vegans will typically not use any product that comes from an animal for any purpose in their life, including wearing clothing that has an animal based textile. The choice to be vegan is very often as much a social choice as it is a nutritional choice. Becoming fully vegan is very difficult in the modern world as even something as simple as a magazine will use gluten as a part of the process of creating the photographs within its pages (Maurer xxi). Maurer contends that vegetarianism should become social because vegetarian groups are essential to having the latest information on ways in which animal products are used in daily life. Although the social issues that surround vegetarianism are important, Maurer states that â€Å"In North America, most people begin the path to vegetarianism for health reasons† (4). She further quotes from a study done by Yankelovich, Clancy and Shulman conducted in 1992 in which 46% of those interviewed chose vegetarianism for health reasons, 15% for animal rights reasons, 12 percent for other ethical reasons, and the remaining for

Follow the Leader Case Study (On Colin L. Powell (Former Secretary of Essay

Follow the Leader Case Study (On Colin L. Powell (Former Secretary of State)) - Essay Example This could not be achieved without his leadership qualities. Leadership is one of the most important traits of human personality. Leadership is the ability in a certain person that influences people present in the environment for the attainments of goals. The concept of leadership however, continues to evolve as the needs of organizational changes take place. Leadership is dynamic and involves the use of different kinds of power. These powers are bifurcated into two main categories; position power and referent power. Many people might mix leadership with management thinking that every manager working at any post of any organization or state can be leader. This is not true at all. The ability to motivate people by your thoughts and personality is not a job everyone can do. Managers are just individuals who are bestowed upon the responsibility by the management to manage a certain task and possess a certain amount of position power; power that comes due to a person's position in the hierarchy. A manager can reward you, punish you or make you work just on the basis of his or her position. Leadership is more of an internal thing; it comes with the personality characteristics or a person's special knowledge. These qualities help the leader to command subordinates' identification with respect and admiration for the leader. These leadership qualities also helps in generating commitment from the subordinates which is different from the one generated by a manager. Commitment means that the people will sh are the leader's point of view and enthusiastically carry out instructions. Leaders usually possess certain personality traits that are considered instrumental in building up their overall personality. The idea was to understand what qualities make the leaders different from other people. These traits include alertness, originality, creativity, self-confidence, ethical conduct and personal identity to name a few. Apart from these traits, work related, social and physical traits possessed by leaders are also different from others. Further studies into this matter have led to the development of another important factor that helps to sustain or break leadership; that relationship is the one between the leader and his or her followers. All the characteristics make a leader different from the ordinary masses. However, one thing should be kept in mind that the leaders are just not born; leadership is a quality that can be introduced in certain people providing them with the right kind of environment. Usually it depends on the kind of environment people have been raised in. Collin L Powell Collin L Powell was born to Jamaican immigrants in 1937 who emphasized on the importance of education and personal achievement. During his early stages of youth, he was unsure of what he wanted with life or what he wanted to achieve. He entered the City College of New York to study geology and it was there he found out the path he wanted to pursue in his life. He joined the Reserves Officers Training Corps (ROTC). He graduated from there with the highest rank on can get at ROTC i.e. of cadet colonel. The army was also able to foresee his leadership skills and his maturity to handle such matters and he was promoted to the level of second lieutenant in the United States Army. He was awarded the Purple Heart

Personal Statement for MSc Investment & Wealth Management [Imperial

For MSc Investment & Wealth Management [Imperial College London] - Personal Statement Example This company also increased my knowledge in insurance and financial services including wealth or asset management, and at this point, I realized I was in a wrong course. My love and passion for things to do with finance, banking, insurance and asset or wealth management increased. It was until recently when I went back to work again with HSBC under internship program that I then realized that I needed to pursue a career in a field that relates finance and assets as I mostly used to deal with loaning sector when the loan was based majorly on assets and the collateral. After a thorough search and consultation, I landed on the Msc. Program in Investment and Wealth Management to be the best course for me as it encompasses all my recent work experiences. My positions of past responsibilities include being a student trainee at the AIA International Limited. Here, my achievement included learning various insurance products and services as well as taking part in a group project to expose me to being a good team player. I also held the position of a student trainee at the HSBC Commercial Bank where I achieved experience from a day to day operation and the experience of working under an assigned manager. Ive also held the position of a quality control engineer assistant at the KeyStone Electric Wire and Cable Limited. Here, I was responsible for filing, lodging and inputting the cable testing data and documents. I also was responsible for multi-tasking, weight and size calculations of various wires and cables as I also assisted in writing cable specification reports. Lastly, I have also held the position of an assistant technician at Chung Sing Taxi Limited at the maintenance department. Here, my responsibilities included examining and i dentifying problems in the taxis as well as performing maintenance and repairs. All these positions held, and responsibilities have molded me to being one person who is focused, experienced

Paul Van Dyke Concert Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Paul Van Dyke Concert Critique - Essay Example The costumes of the artist are a black shirt and black trouser. The staging of the singer is on a podium. The shooting of the video makes him appear to be moving across the podium from left to right and vice versa. A large part of the song mixes music, light, and motion using electrical control. The musicians were well prepared since the song achieved all the musical elements and styles in an efficient manner. The song is quite entertaining and has a message too. This is evidence that the musicians had a good command to the instruments (Ann 103). The song acted as an informative device to me. It made me feel the different and contrasting situations that humans undergo just because of the existing difference in time (Ann 98). The vocal style of the song is a soft one, which is not easy to understand. The next song is â€Å"the other side.† The song is categorized under the electronic dance music. The song has employed instruments such as guitar, drums, and piano. The vocal style used in the song is a soft one, and is easy to comprehend and interpret, with relevance to the video. Analyzed and interpreted, it is a political song showing the necessity of a good relationship between the top leading politicians in a given society and their subjects within the same society. The rhythm of the song is a complex one since there more than one rhythms in the song. It is easy for a dancer to get lost while listening. The song has a strong beat which changes in pitch and speed throughout the song. The tempo of the song is a medium a fast one. The costumes of the singer is a uniform black, both shirt and trouser. Other characters are in white attire. Considering the song’s choreography, there is no dancing on the performance of the song as the entire song takes place in the house of an old man. It looks like a story, in the making. The song was performed on a concert in New York. The musicians were not well prepared as there were difficulties hearing their voices. The instruments were high in volume submerging the performer’s voices. The lighting was red, in color making the background of the show appear red. The performers had a good command of music. Like other audiences, the song made me feel bad about the political system in our nation, where the top leaders behave like totalitarians towards their poor subjects. â€Å"Crush† is another song done by Dyke. There is the use of guitar, saxophones, trumpet, and drums in the song. It is electronic dance music. It is also classified under classical music. The vocal style is shouted, as there is a rising and falling of tones within the performance. The words or lyrics are difficult to understand. The core message

New hollywood Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

New hollywood Cinema - Essay Example Earlier on, there was the saying that this was the eventual death of Hollywood. This did not only prove to be greatly exaggerated but also a misguided conclusion. Hollywood reinvented itself once again to a new market as a new industry that flourished greatly in changing the marketplace of the media. Major studios that previously dominated the media such as Warner’s, MGM and Paramount continued to dominate the industry. The idea of a movie was still retained as the industry continued looking more complex as days went by. The term Hollywood Renaissance can thus be reduced to denote the adjustment from one period to the other: from classical to new Hollywood (Madsen 1975; Thompson & Bordwell 1994; Solomon 1976) One of the main reasons for Hollywood to retain its place was the rise of the blockbuster movie. In production values, market strategy and budgets, Hollywood changed to a hit driven industry from the early 1950’s. In classical Hollywood, studios would release a few prestige pictures yearly and then would relish an occasional runaway hit. The classical Hollywood would mainly rely on A-class features in order to generate revenue. In new Hollywood it changed from the occasional hit to the well calculated blockbuster. This would lead to changes in the way movies were produced and the thematic topics and styles used (Schaltz 1988; Mast 1992; schaltz 1981). This paper is going to look at the film â€Å"The Godfather† as a product of the new Hollywood era. It is going to examine the film in terms of its industrial, social, formal, political and cultural perspectives as a new Hollywood movie. Industrial perspective Arguably, â€Å"The Godfather† is the best movie of all times based on its level of sales and thematic relevance. It was heavily promoted and advertised. Its production was a big and it had very profitable returns. The godfather veered off the mainstream conventions of a movie when it portrayed a different view of the mafia. It showed the activities of the mafia from inside rather than the American conventional view of the mafia (De Stefano 2007; Schiach 1972; Steinberg 1980). As a new Hollywood film the godfather gained acclaim from across many cultures. Not only in the United States did the movie achieve a lot of success but also in Europe and other places in the world. It has become the best movie since 1965 in cinema attendance. It also sets the pace for other new Hollywood directors and actors. Mario Puzzo had the manuscript of the movie written and passed it on to Robert Evans the production head of paramount at the time. Previously, during the era of vertical integration in Hollywood, such a manuscript could not be taken from the big studios like paramount, played all the roles in the production of a film. In classical era only occasionally hits were released while other movies would be screened all year in the cinema (Lincoln 2005; Silverman 1988) In classical Hollywood, during production a film would be made to a beginning, middle and an end. The godfather defied this formula and didn’t have a definite beginning or events that signified a point of central tendency. However, it had an end similar to that of classical Hollywood era movies. The conventional style of classical Hollywood was such that the actors are used to motivate viewers

HEALTH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

HEALTH - Essay Example By avoiding excessive exposure to UV radiation, such as unnecessary time beneath a tanning lamp or under the sun, many individuals can decrease their risk of developing this deadly form of cancer. Melanoma is a common form of cancer primarily due to the fact that many individuals do not realize that they are being exposed to too much ultraviolet radiation. Those who are at risk for developing melanoma believe that they are not getting too much sun, or that they are wearing the appropriate amount of clothing of sunblock to protect themselves. Essentially, it is a lack of information about melanoma that causes individuals to become reckless and exposed to the causes of this form of cancer. Furthermore, since melanoma often makes itself known through the discoloration of skin or the presence of moles, signs that people tend to ignore or else assume are typical to sun exposure, the warning signs go ignored until it is too late and the cancer has spread. In the United States alone, 76,250 individuals have been or will be diagnosed with melanoma during 2012; 44,250 will be men and 32,000 women (ACS, 2012). Of these numbers, it is estimated that over nine thousand are expected to die from their disease (ACS, 2012). These rates continue to rise each year, having been on a steady incline for the past thirty years. The state that has the highest rate of skin cancer is Oregon, though it is followed rather closely by Washington, Idaho, Utah, New Hampshire, and Vermont, with each state having an average of 2.3 million cases of skin cancer each year (CDC, 2012). As previously mentioned, there is no definite cause of melanoma, though numerous risk factors have been determined. Individuals with fairer skin, and therefore less pigment to protect them from ultraviolet damage, are more likely to develop melanoma than someone with a darker complexion. Excessive exposure to ultraviolet light or a history of severe sunburn increases an

Timeline of Historical Events (Prehistoric to Postmodern Era) Essay Example for Free

Timeline of Historical Events (Prehistoric to Postmodern Era) Essay Timeline of Historical Events (Prehistoric to Postmodern Era) The events industry started to take shape from the prehistoric age where the most primitive forms of human activity took place, following an enabling experience from evolutionary patterns (Goldblatt 2010, p12). As widely held in historical theories, invention as a factor of necessity implies that the origin of most creative ways of making life easy began as supported by realization that man needed them to survive in the changing life experiences. Firstly, the prehistoric era events included the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens, the man with an enhanced brain activity able to support different high-level primate intelligence chores such as tool making, cultivation of crops, and domestication of animals. In summary, civilization of Europe and Asia contribute the major events that took place with specific account of the UK. Emergence of early industries based on agricultural culture supports the origin of other industries such as metal industry initially targeted at tool making. Demand factors during this era must have been characterized by a food industry such as labor for production (eif 2011, p3). Secondly, the Ancient era advanced needs included record keeping, governance, education and emergence of cities. Demand and supply factors for such activities included food production and education as required by the emergent civilization. Other related ages in succession include Middle Ages, High Medieval, Renaissance and Age of Exploration characterized by political and religious events earlier precipitated in the Ancient Ages. The Modern Era with a cluster of related eras such as Puritan Era, Enlightenment Era, Romantic Era, Petroleum era and High Modern Era characterized a series of events based on innovation, mass industrial production and mass agricultural production. The Postmodern Era beginning in the mid-1900s characterize the information age based on high innovation and intelligent operations in production, education, management and governance, variously referred to as the scientific revolution (Ackermann et al. 2008, pxxx).

Ethics and Issues in Counseling Essay Example for Free

Ethics and Issues in Counseling Essay Question 1 a) Ethics are a list of conduct or principles drawn with the purpose of providing a guideline to what defines professional practice (Corey, 2009) while values are the basis of one’s thoughts or ideals in which decisions are generated (Manthei, 1997). Certain institutions derive their own core values to help provide a guide to â€Å"proper† behaviors. In simple terms, ethics are like â€Å"rules† within a society, culture or institution while values are like â€Å"policeman† in our mind, helping us determine between desirable and non-desirable behaviors while keeping in mind these â€Å"rules† that governs them (Dolgoff, Loewenberg Harrington, 2008). The professional code of ethics is a guide designed to determine what constitutes professionalism in which governs the institution in the best interest of the values of the profession (Corey, 2009). It not only serves as a clarification to existing and future members of the institution or association governing it, but also helps supports the mission and vision of the institution or association. Its objective is to provide guidelines to practitioners, clarify the professional stand of institutions and organizations governing these practitioners, and at the same time protecting the rights of clients (consumers) (Corey, Corey Callanan, 2003). The Professional Code of Ethics also helps to bound practitioners ethically so that they do not try to impose their own values onto others and behave as moral authorities. While the Professional Code of Ethics may be written as clear as possible and as comprehensive as possible, in reality there are person’s feelings, values, as well as emotions involved, which are absent during the compilation (Betan, 1997). The ACA Code of Ethics (2005) states â€Å"Counselors terminate a counseling relationship when it becomes reasonably apparent that the client no longer needs assistance, is not likely to benefit, or is being harmed by continued counseling.† The practitioner would be caught in a conflict when his agency deems the client fit to be discharged but he feels otherwise (Betan, 1997). Ethical guides may not be easily integrated into one of vast cultural diversity like that of Singapore as most of the Professional Code of Ethics were formulated within that of a Western context. As such, cultural, socioeconomic as well as linguistic differences may have been neglected in the process (Betan, 1997); while the code may hold autonomy of client at high regards, the cultural stand of the client may not be so. Confidentiality itself also poses a great arguing standpoint especially in a multicultural context whereby there are traditions as well as cultural rules to adhere to (Welfel, 2012). Another important point to not neglect while considering the limitations of the Professional Code of Ethics is its congruency towards the local state laws (Betan, 1997). For instance, one state regulation for consumption of alcohol may differ that from another. In putting ethics into consideration, practitioners should also be aware of their own local state laws. b) Two values that I value as important in life are honesty and being just, ie to try my best to make sure I give or receive equal treatments. Being a straightforward person, I believe in being honest at all times and to take responsibility for your own actions. I believe in giving others a benefit of doubt, unless I have concrete evidence that he/she is telling a lie. I uphold the value of equality; to treat others the way you would like to be treated. Thus, I try my very best not to be bias and constantly remind myself to stay in a neutral stand when others are involved. Because I believe strongly in always giving others the benefit of doubt, I would not doubt on the credibility of my clients’ words even though they might sound absurd. By doing so, it gains trust from clients and help in rapport building with clients. On the flip side, if the client is not a willing client, he might manipulate the trust I have and may try to lie and mislead me. Due to my eagerness to be non-bias and be fair and just as much as I can, I may end up trying to argue and inevitably try to prove myself when some clients at times show biasness towards me due to my experience and age. This  could hinder my work with them as I might try to convince them that they are being bias and indirectly in one way or another, try to argue or indirectly try hard to prove myself. This may come across to some as being argumentative, especially when I always have something to retort back whenever they say something negative, thus spoiling the therapeutic relationship. Of course, being non-bias is important in the counseling relationship as it helps one to not be judgmental and to always maintain a partial perspective. Question 2 The 6 moral principles forming the basis of functioning at the highest level of ethical profession as summarized by Corey et al. (2003, p.16) are autonomy, veracity, justice, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and fidelity. Autonomy refers to the rights or freedom to decide and make independent decisions or choices in one’s own accord within a social and cultural context. Thus, the respect for such autonomy brings about an acceptance that others have a right to choose and act in accordance to his own wishes, unless they hinder the rights of others (Altmaier Hansen, 2011); practitioners aim at encouraging independence in client and discourage client’s dependency on him. Veracity or truthfulness refers to the practitioner being obliged to be truthful with his clients (Corey et al., 2003). The guideline in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (2002) states, â€Å"Psychologists do not make false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (para. 5.01b) since trust is very important in building up a good therapeutic relationship with clients. Justice means to be fair by providing equal treatment to all regardless of culture, religion, race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability or age, as they are entitled to equal access and treatment (Corey et al, 2003). To be nonmaleficence means to not cause harm, including actions that might pose a risk to harm another (Altmaier Hansen, 2011). Practitioners are responsible for their clients to ensure that their risks for exploitation or might result in potential harm are brought down to a minimal (Corey et al, 2003). Beneficence refers to promoting the good and the wellbeing of clients and of others, to help clients grow and develop in their cultural context as well as doing good in their social context (Corey et al, 2003). In short, practitioners are responsible towards contributing to the welfare and growth of another being (Altmaier Hansen, 2011). Lastly but not least, fidelity means to be truthful in making honest and realistic commitments and honoring these commitments (Corey et al, 2003). It is very important to build a trusting relationship between the practitioners and the people whom they work with and thus practitioners are responsible to make sure they honor fidelity at least on their end (Altmairt Hansen, 2011). Question 3 a) The 8 essential personal attributes of an effective counselor are emotional intelligence (EQ), warmth and care, unconditional positive attitude (regard), genuineness and authenticity, patience, analytical ability, person-centered and nurturing style of communication and lastly, clear and specific communication. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to be able to distinguish and have self-awareness of one’s own as well as others’ emotions and feelings, and to be able to use this and guide one’s behavior and thinking, hence encourages development of emotional closeness with the client (Coetzee Jacobs, 2006). Warmth and care is important in the therapeutic relationship in rapport building as it helps show client that the practitioner is genuinely concern (Coetzee Jacobs, 2006). When warmth and care is present, practitioner is more aware of client’s cognitive and  emotional needs and the relationship will be more accepting towards each other (Coetzee Jacobs, 2006). Unconditional positive attitude (regard) is important because it challenges client’s beliefs that if they do not behave in a certain way, others would not accept them. Client had to be sure that his counselor would still see him in the same way after the ‘awful truth’ is made known (Dryden, 1999). The role of genuineness simply means to be yourself; to be sincere, transparent and not putting on a false front (Palmer Milner, 2006). This role of being genuine and authentic is one that is most challenging, as it requires one to have very high level of self-awareness (Palmer Milner, 2006). It is important for counselors to have this quality due to the high level of trust needed in order to build effective therapeutic relationship with clients. Patience is an important attribute as different types of clients requires different amount of time to build the trust with practitioners and to be able to open up. While some clients do not have difficulty expressing themselves, some of them do find great difficulty in doing so and would then require much more patience and time from the counselor. Analytical ability is important in listening as it helps the counselor to be able to analyze his own emotions as well as facial expressions while listening to the client (Singh, 2007). In terms of case study, analytical ability is also important to the counselor in helping him to analyze and decipher the bulk of information being presented to him (Singh, 2007). Person-centeredness style of communication refers to the ability to communicate to accept another as a complete unique individual (Wood, 2009). That is to say, counselors do not form pre-conceptualized ideas on how the person is like and not make assumptions during the conversation with client. Nurturing communication occurs when parties involved in the conversation relate to each other in a caretaking manner; indicating to each other that the relationship is being valued (Wood, 2009). Last but not least, clear and specific communication is very important in ensuring that the counseling session is being communicated in the way that it is meant to, without allowing either parties involved to have any misunderstandings after the session. b) If I were to choose 3 attributes that I think are important for myself to undergo the necessary personal transformation, it would be patience, analytical ability and unconditional positive regard. I think that I sometimes lack patience in a counseling session and tend to unknowingly try to rush the conversation by interrupting and not giving client enough time to think about what was being said or asked. Also at times, client may need time for reflection, resulting in pauses during the conversation. While I understand the importance of having such ‘quiet moments’ in a counseling session, I tend to be impatient and would unknowingly try to say something to fill up these ‘uneasy moments of silence’. Analytical ability is something, which I feel I am lacked of. I find myself ‘lost’ in long lengthy conversations at times and unable to ‘process’ huge amounts of information shared. I tend to be more straight-forth in my facial expressions too, and I hope to be more cautious in this area, thus being able to give information being shared more thoughts instead of just deciphering it from the surface level. To be able to achieve complete unconditional positive regard in a conversation is I feel, requires that of a high cognitive level. As every single individual comes from a different background and different culture and social environment, unconditional positive regards is important if counselors want to build on having a therapeutic relationship with client. Without it, clients would not want to return for further therapies or might refrain from sharing certain important information, which could be helpful in the therapeutic process. References: American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington, DC: Author. Altmaier, E.M. Hansen, J.C. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Counseling Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press Betan, E.J.(1997). Toward a hermeneutic model of ethical decision making in clinical practice. Ethics Behaviour, 7(4), 347-365. doi: 10.1207/s15327019eb0704_6 Coetzee, M. Jacobs, H.R. (2006) Career Counselling and Guidance in the Workplace. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta and Company Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th Ed, pp. 37) CA: Cengage Learning Corey, G., Corey, M.S. Callanan, P. (2003). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions. (6Th Ed) CA: Brooks/Cole Dryden, W. (1999) Four Approaches to Counselling and Psychotherapy. NY: Routledge Dolgoff, R., Loewenberg, F.M. Harrington, D. (2008). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice (8Th Ed, pp. 19-23) CA: Cengage Learning Manthei, R. (1997). Counselling: The Skills of Finding Solutions to Problems. NZ: Routledge Palmer, S. Milner, P. (2006) Integrative Stress Counselling: A Humanistic Problem-Focused Approach. GB: Sage Publications Co. Singh, K. (2007). Counselling Skills for Managers. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Wood, J.T. (2009) Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters. CA: Cengage Learning Welfel, E.R. (2012). Ethics in Counseling Psychotherapy (5th Ed, pp. 150-160) CA: Cengage Learning.

Literature Review Of Mph Bookstore Information Technology Essay

Literature Review Of Mph Bookstore Information Technology Essay For this section, it is all about the literature review on MPH bookstore with E-commerce system which is commonly used in today businesses network environment, their strengths and to achieve information on its history and how businessman operate their business with current architecture. The author will develop an E-commerce system for enchant the web login. 1.2 History of MPH Bookstore In 1815, MPH Bookstores has originally roots when William Milne, a young pioneer, starts a lasting mission enter in Malacca. The establishment migrated to Singapore when 1890 with the environmental objective of printing literature. During 1906, the organization change into the Methodist Publishing House. In 1927, it was formed into a legal corporation as Malaya Publishing House after it became a public listed company. According to the notification of the Malaysian nation in 1963, the company moved its name to Malaysia Publishing House with new bookstores were available in Malaysia (Penang, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur). To the public, Malaysia Publishing House as known as MPH. In 1972, Jack Chia from Hong Kong acquired MPH. However, MPH became known as Jack Chia-MPH Ltd. In March 2000, current Company changed its name into MPH Ltd in March 2000 to throw back the different in its majority ownership since 1998. MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd was 100% owned by MPH Group Pte Ltd which in turn was a controlled by a holding of MPH Ltd, the public company revealed on the stock exchange of Singapore. In 2002, Malaysian company owned MPH Bookstores (S) Pte Ltd, Jalinan Inspirasi Sdn Bhd, which is part of a large Malaysian conglomerate owned by Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary. However, MPH becomes a entirely Malaysian-owned company. As the MPH group (Jalinan Inspirasi) to throw back its core businesses and it now owns MPH Bookstores (Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia), MPH Distributors (Singapore and Malaysia). (mphonline, 2009) 1.3 MPH Bookstores Business Operation Figure 1 this is example of MPH bookstores online On wholly MPH Bookstores website, the ways they implement their e-business are to allow the consumer can get the latest book with cheaper prices and free delivery services. To register as their memberships, consumer can register directly through the official website. The site contains a shopping cart, order from listing products or services selected and credit card payment. At the same time, to make it become more attractive, they offered consumer may get the latest release books, cheaper prices for online transactions, and on the spot view the catalogue or information. With e-commerce system that provided by MPH bookstores, consumers will now have the ability to enjoy their services in better way. The prices displayed from the official website were no different with physical bookstores. For the delivery stage, for West Malaysia delivery it takes from 3 to 5 business days, for East Malaysia it takes within 14days and also available for globally. If the consumers received the books were damaged, MPH bookstore policy allows for a refund. However, the policy requires that the damaged book be returned to the following address within 7 days from the date of receipt of the book. Besides that, the objectives of this business operation are cause visitors to come to a place or participate in a venture by offering something of interest or advantage. If the MPH bookstore runs out of stock, consumers can order book from MPH online for Rm4 postage, if order above RM80 it will free delivery. 1.3.1 What should consumers do if they forget their password? Consumers require clicking on the Forget Password option, and then enter in your user Id and password. You will be prompted for an answer to the question of your choice. Once the answer is justified, the forgotten password will be displayed on the website. 1.3.2 What are the standard browser versions? MPH bookstores online is preferred with Internet Explorer 6.0 and above. Technology infrastructure for E-business system E-business infrastructure is vital to all companies adopting e-business. The infrastructure directly affects the quality of service experienced of users of the systems in terms of speed and responsiveness. E-business infrastructure refers to the combination of hardware such as servers and client PC in an organization, the network used to link this hardware and the software applications used to deliver services to workers within the e-business and also to its partners and customers. Infrastructure also includes the architecture of the networks, hardware and software and where it is located. Finally, infrastructure can also be considers to include the date and documents accessed through e-business applications. Introduction of E-commerce Now we are survive in an eagerness age of human innovation, where only one generation can witness very great shifts in technology and way of life. E-commerce not only just big, is also major refer to selling, services and buying products over internet or computer networks. Millions of companies that selling products to other companies have bring out that the Web not only provides a 24hours services and show that their products can reach a quick way to reach the right people in a company for the complete detail.(Ecommerce Definition,2006) 2.1.1 The E-commerce marketplace In this section we look at how electronic communications have changed relationships between the different participants of commercial transactions. Since the nature of these changes according to whether the transaction is between business and consumer or between businesses (inter-organizational, we start by reviewing differences between these types of transactions. We then look at how the channel structures of organizations have been changed through the process of disintermediation and reinter mediation. Locations for trading and mechanisms of commercial exchange in the electronic marketplace are then reviewed. Management terms have difficult decisions to take about which of these new models of trading is relevant to them, so we questioning approach, looking at some examples that have worked and some that havent it. 2.1.2 Benefits of Ecommerce Ecommerce enables people to go in businesses without the longer movement of time or distance. E-commerce systems can operate all day every day, once consumers access to the Internet at any point of time whenever day or night and purchase or sell anything one desires through the mouse clicking. The internet braces the world market through web businesses operate is the global market and wide. However it is possible to run business with any business or people who are connected to the Internet. For simple local businesses, as specialist record stores are enabling to market and selling using e-commerce. This is the current global opportunity is attend to the fact, different from traditional communications methods, users are not allow to charged according to the distance over which they are communicating. 2.2 Identify the e-business development Nowadays, as we discovered on Electronic business, it play a major role in the current worlds economy. Business development is a combination of marketing, strategic analysis, trade, regular occupation and sales. To perform your organization and business development being successful and greater is reliant on better knowledge of management theories and regular practice. Business development professional occupation is typically to identify new business opportunities whether that means latest markets, partnerships with other businesses, proper ways to reach existing markets, and product or service offerings to better meet the needs of existing markets and then to go out and make full use of those opportunities to bring in more revenue. Business development professionals are able to connect in everything to the development of their employers services and products. (E-business development, 2003) 2.3 Study on the innovations of e-commerce system The maturation ubiquity of current information technology is enabling the development of advanced services which consumers can access with existing devices such as computers or mobile phones. One of the innovations of e-commerce has affected the way people buy goods, services, choice, convenience and cost. Consumers may wish to give their own impressions of such sites, but better grades may be secured where further research is carried out, for example consumer surveys. It may also be possible to gain an insight into the benefits of using such websites through contact with e-commerce businesses. Second, consumers should be encourages to use the correct technical terminology in all the brief reports or descriptions produced for this unit. It is expected that higher grade consumers will use the correct terminology in their reports and will also produce more considered reports rather than one example of a benefit and/or limitation as would be expected for pass consumers. 2.4 Management Innovation Strategies in E-commerce Era When goes into the Era of e-commerce, business enterprises have several different features. To receive full benefits of e-commerce, enterprises should bring out appropriate management innovations. Enterprise innovation management allow helping enterprises to achieve great rate development to win over business opportunities and get opportunity to approach into markets and obtain higher profits. This stage is to investigate the new requirements on enterprise management through an e-commerce era, including occurring continuously updating thoughts of business management, flat organizational structure, management epitaxial expansion, informationization of means of production and marketing, flexible production management. Facts reveals that the business process reengineering, organizational development, creativity, cultural transformation, skill management and communication management have serious impinge on the enterprise development in terms of management and innovation. (Management Inno vation Strategies in E-commerce Era, 2008) E-Commerce Strategies The most importance ecommerce strategy is to enforce a proper secure E-commerce website. The appropriate way to achieve this is to protect the websites with security protocols and digital certificates. Major clients are attracted to ecommerce sites because of the good security and transaction mechanism. With ecommerce web site certified from the leading online security agencies is one of good way to promote E-commerce and supply the mechanism more authenticity and the quality of being trusted. Besides that, ensure that control the ecommerce operational specifications are brought out promptly tables and the databases are developed using programming language skills which display down all the data entry in a queue. Maintaining the record of the entire transactions which are brought out using the ecommerce mechanism can help the system to track all the complete details in more convenient and timely manner. E-commerce site design also plays an important role in its effectiveness. The interface of E-commerce sites is generally design to be user friendly and easily operational by the consumers so that they can make the online transaction more convenient or easily and in a manner which is very clear to the clients. Make the research on the existing websites Study on existing website with security enhancements Figure 2.1 this is one of the security enhancements that what Digi company had implemented. To key in username and password must through provided clicking the button provided. Figure 2.2 this figure show the second example of security enhancements. The figure 2.1 and 2.2 given on the top is the some part of the website of Lelong and Digi company in Malaysia how they operation their businesses.Lelong.com users can use standard or secure mode in security position. For the Digi company, they design a simple virtual keyboard on the registration webpage to avoid the data keyed by user can be protected from malicious key logger a harmful application which has been designed to capture keystrokes. Security enhancements developed for to prevent intruders go into certain network or user account to store media to view or retrieve the client information. With different security features implemented, users might attract with those security development. 3.2 Investigate the Security Issue 3.3 Digital Signatures and Certificates A digital signature is a common a way to enable that an electronic document (e-mail, spreadsheet or text file, etc.) is authentic. Authentic refer to that you know who created the document and know that it has not been changed in any way since that person created it. Digital signatures bound on several types of encryption to enable the authentication. Encryption is the process of data taken of computer, when sending to another computer and encoding it into a form that only the destination computer will be able to decode. Authentication is to process of ensure that information is coming from a trusted source. There are several ways to authenticate a person or information on a computer: Password The function of username and password provide the most usual method of authentication. Users can key in their name and password when prompted by the computer. It checks the username and password against a secure file to confirm. If either the username or password does not match with default registered, then users are not allowed further access. Checksum Possible only one of the origin methods of ensuring that data is accurate, checksums will provide a form of authentication when the wrong checksum suggests that the data has been compromised. The checksum is remaining in one of two ways. Assume the checksum of packet is around 1 byte long, which means that it can provide a maximum value of 255. If either the sum in other bytes in the packet is 255 or less then, then the checksum will contains that exact value. Yet if the sum of other bytes is more than 255, so the checksum is the remainder of the total value after it has been divided by 256. The example given for following page: Byte 1 Byte 2 Byte 3 Byte 4 Byte 5 Byte 6 Byte 7 Byte 8 Total Checksum 212 232 54 135 244 15 179 80 1151 127 1151 divided by 256 equals 4.496 (round to 4) Multiply 4 X 256 which equals 1024 1151 minus 1024 equals 127 3.4 Digital certificates To enforce the public key encryption on a large scale, such as a secure Web server might need, requires a different approach. This is where digital certificates come in. A digital certificate is basically a bit of information that says the Web server is trusted by self-reliant source as known as a Certificate Authority. The Certificate Authority pretends as the agent that both computers trust. It ensures that each computer is in fact who they say they are and then provides the public keys for each computer. 3.5 Secure Socket Layers (SSL) In network environment, SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. SSL is a protocol that developed for sending information securely over the Internet. Many websites use SSL for secure for their sites, such as user account pages and online checkout. Usually, when you are asked to log on on a website, the consequent page is secured by SSL. SSL encrypts the data being transmitted so that a third party cannot retrieve while the transmission and view the data being transmitted. Only the administrator and the secure server are able to recognize the data. SSL help to keeps information such like name, address, and credit card between users and merchant to which users are providing it. Without this kind of protocol, online shopping would be far too insecure to be practical. When you view a Web address starting with http or https indicates the website is secure. These websites frequent using SSL certificates to verify their authenticity. 3.6 Virtual Keyboard for Web Interface Figure 3 this is the layout of virtual keyboard A virtual keyboard development is to increase the security for those users had their own user account for several E-commerce services website by entering the username and password. Besides that, the virtual keyboard login is an application  in which a data entry layout will change once the page is refreshed. In general, virtual keyboard can help protect from malicious Spywares and Trojan Programs designed to capture keystrokes. Consequently, you can reduce risk of use and allow secure and safer authentication. Chapter 4: System Analysis 4.1 Fact-Finding Fact-finding is the method that used for the system developers to collect the information from groups or individuals. In this method, the analyst sits face to face with peoples and records their feedback or responses. As the interviewer, they can clear and cross check the doubts there itself by collected information with accurate and reliable. Through the fact-finding, it would make their business requirements such as good under ­standing of the organization and its business objectives. 4.2 User requirement 4.2.1 System Administrator The duty of system administrator usually plays an important role to managing the information, installing, updating, supporting and maintaining serves for computer systems. For this section, the proposed system administrator is responsible to manage the books information, tag prices and quantity arrangement for consumers. Input /Modify the control Administrator allows change the information, uploading the photo or catalogue, updating and responding to service outages and other problems. Maintaining the server performance and efficiency. Output The catalogue, book titles, prices, and information will show. Process Processing the Storage Locate the information of books ,CD or DVD or prices in the database Performance None 4.2.2 MPH bookstores consumers The consumers will frequently enter the MPH bookstores official websites to view the latest updates and informations such as promotion or new release. The reason why of MPH launched this online shopping or e-business is to make their consumers shopping with more convenient way. Input Click on the option and it will automatically add to the cart. Output Login Username and Password/ forgot your password option. The proposed system will display the appropriate information of the books once the consumers had selected through the options that available on website interface. Process The book information or prices label will get directly from the database. Control None Performance None Chapter 5.0 Choose on appropriate tools or software 5.1Overview For this chapter, the author had review on available tools on the internet is performed in order to select suitable tools to be used to develop the system. 5.2 Study on available development software. 5.2.1 Java Figure 4.1 this is interface of java programming language Java is a high-level programming language that developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally called OAK, it was develop for several proposes such like handheld devices and set-top boxes. Oak was unsuccessful so in 1995 Sun changed the name to Java and modified the language to take benefits of the burgeoning World Wide Web. Java is an object-oriented language which is similar to C++, but simplified to get rid of language features that cause common programming errors. Java source code files (a .java extension) are compiled into a format called byte code (files with a .class extension), which can then be performed by a Java interpreter. Compiled Java code can execute on most computers because Java interpreters and runtime environments, known as Java Virtual Machines (VM), available for major operating systems, including Windows OS, the Macintosh OS, and UNIX/LINUX. Byte code able to converted directly into machine language instructions by using just-in-time compiler (JIT). In general, the purpose of java programming language with a number of features those make the language suitable for use on the World Wide Web. Small Java applications are called Java applets and able downloaded from a Web server and execute your computer by a Java-compatible Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Netscape Navigator. 5.2.2 ASP.NET   Figure 4.2 this is interface of asp.net programming language ASP.NET, the next version of ASP, is a programming framework used to create enterprise-class Web Applications. These applications are accessible on a global basis leading to efficient information management. Microsoft has been continuously working to shift its focus from Windows-based platforms to the Internet. As a result, Microsoft introduced ASP (Active Server Pages) in November 1996. ASP offered the efficiency of ISAPI applications along with a new level of simplicity that made it easy to understand and use. However, ASP script was an interpreted script and essentially  unstructured code and was difficult to debug and maintain.  The web contain many different technologies, software integration for Web development was complicated and required to understand many different technologies. An application grew bigger in size and became more complex, the number of lines of  source code in ASP applications increased  attractive and was difficult to maintain.  Therefore, the arch itecture was needed that would allow development of Web applications in a structured and consistent way. (Asp.net, 2004) 5.2.3 Visual Basic.Net   Figure 4.3 this is interface of visual basic.net programming language Microsoft-created object-oriented programming language as known as Visual Basic.NET which combines features of Microsofts .NET Framework and Web Services, such as SOAP, which is originally, developed using XML. Visual Basic.NET, which thought would be a sequel to Visual Basic 6.0, has a totally different language core. There is no backward or forward compatibility between Visual Basic 6.0 projects and code and Visual Basic.NET projects and code. Visual Basic.NET is a language developed to create .NET applications, Windows or Web applications, and Web Services. (Visual Basic, 2006) 5.3 Comparison on Java, Asp.net and Visual Basic Java Advantages In general, advantages of Java are platform-independent: One of the most significant advantages of Java is its ability to move easily from one computer system to another. The ability to run the same program on many different systems is crucial to World Wide Web software, and Java succeeds at this by being platform-independent at both the source and binary levels. Java is distributed: Distributed computing involves several computers on a network working together. Java is designed to make distributed computing easy with the networking capability that is inherently integrated into it. Disadvantages For the performance, Java can be perceived as significantly slower and more memory-consuming than natively compiled languages such as C or C++. Java is predominantly a single-paradigm language. However, with the addition of static imports in Java 5.0 the procedural paradigm is better accommodated than in earlier versions of Java and default interface and feel of GUI design is too complicated. ASP.NET   Advantages The latest set of controls that are able to use in the same way with HTML control like Calendars controls. It will execute without the requirement of ActiveX Control and without bringing up issues of Browser compatibility. ASP .NET Server take over the Controls that have an object model from the traditional HTML and provide single set of properties and methods that can make the change of the outlook and behavior of the controls and reduces the amount of code required to build huge applications. Disadvantages The control of Asp.net coding is inbuilt with the web server controls so users have no much of direct control on these controls. Visual Basic Advantages For the visual basic language, its simple language. Some program that might be difficult to program with other language can be done in Visual Basic very easily. It is because Visual Basic is so popular; beginner can find the answers to your programming problems much more easily than other programming languages. Disadvantages The disadvantages of Visual Basic are powerful language, but its not suit for programming really sophisticated games and slower than other languages. 5.4 Study on available data management software Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SQL Server 2008 delivers on Microsofts Data Platform vision by helping any organization to manage data, place, and time management. It provides can store data from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured documents, such as images and rich media, directly within the database. SQL Server 2008 hand over a rich set of integrated services that enable you to do more with your data such as query, search, synchronize, report, and analyze. SQL Server 2008 provides the highest levels and advanced of security, reliability, and scalability for your applications. To take newer advantage of new opportunities in today is fast-moving into business world, companies need the capacity to create and deploy data-driven solutions quickly. SQL Server 2008 is reduces time management, cost of management and development of applications. SQL server 2008 is able to access the data from your enterprise and provide control over your data, no matter where its stored from the largest servers within the data center to desktops to mobile devices. SQL Server 2008 provides a comprehensive platform that delivers intelligence where your users want it. For the Information workers can access data directly using the tools they use every day, such as the Microsoft Office system that provide by Microsoft. (MicrosoftSqlServer2008, 2010) 5.5 The chosen software to be used for the proposed system The author selects Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as the database management system and Visual basic language design for web interface. It is because SQL Server 2008 provides the common function by helping manage the data, place and time and Visual Basic is easier to learn and popular compare with other language such as (Java or C++ ) and yet it is enough powerful programming language to develop certain system. SQL provides the highest levels of security, reliability and scalability. In other way, the reason why the author chosen the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is because it has the ability to support with the system which means that be able to connect with Visual Basic language tool that has been chosen as the development tool or software for proposed system. REFERENCES (BACKGROUND READING MATERIALS): MPH Bookstores Sdn Bhd, 2009, MPHonline, online, cited on 13th Jan 2010. Available from: http://www.mphonline.com/welcome/welcome.aspx MPH online, 2009, About the MPH, online, cited on 15th Jan 2010.Available from: http://www.mphonline.com/help/aboutus.aspx Mariosalexandrou, 2010 E-commerce definition, online , cited on 20th Jan 2010.Available from: http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/definition/ecommerce.asp Freetutes, 2008 Learn Visual Basic online, cited 15th Feb 2010. Available from http://visualbasic.freetutes.com/ Techterms, 2010 ASP.Net online, cited 17th Feb 2010. Available from http://www.techterms.com/definition/aspnet Java,2010 Definition of Java ,cited 13th Feb 2010. Available from http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=Javai=45557,00.asp Microsoft, 2010 Microsoft SQL Server 2008, cited 14th Feb 2010. Available from http://blogs.technet.com/dataplatforminsider/archive/2008/01/25/microsoft-sql-server-2008-roadmap-clarification.aspx. Digi, 2010 Online Customer Service, cited 22th Feb 2010. Available from https://www.digi.com.my/sso/try_login?v=1pid=2pssid=379e2d9011216b706f93f84247ce3e88baca7d3150cd33bfdb5f6c01e0699d4dprid=19a30572366f1c0df3b4cea76759a1afpurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.digi.com.my%2Focs%2Fmyaccount%2Fmain%2Fhome.do%3Fssologin%3Dtruecurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.digi.com.my ***END OF REPORT***

Analysis of Shakespeares The Tempest - Heart Of The Savage :: free essay writer

The Tempest: The Heart Of The Savage Caliban the deformed savage on the island from his first appearance in the play is more animal than human. Prospero first refers to Caliban by calling him a, "tortoise" (1.2.318). This sets the tone for Caliban's character in the play as he is labeled as a semi-beast in the play. But interestingly despite Caliban's deformed body and animal like appearance he possess remarkable eloquence that gives him power. Prospero, a renaissance prince even with his velvety language only equals Caliban in eloquence. In some ways this dichotomy between Caliban's appearance in the play and his remarkable gift for language creates a magical and mysterious atmosphere in the play. It complicates the relationship between Caliban and Prospero for although Prospero claims to own his savage his savage speaks not like one who is owned. Caliban from his first appearance in the play speaks with a remarkable eloquence despite his deformed image, "As wicked dew as e'er my mother brushed/ With raven's feather from unwholsome fen/ Drop on you both!" (1.2.324-326). These lines show how Caliban speaks in the same eloquent tongue that Prospero speaks with. His lines are long and his words are filled with imagery: "wucked dew", "unwholesome fen", "raven's feather". Caliban doesn't in the play ever seem to be at a loss for words when describing his situation. Later in Act 1 Scene 2 Caliban describes how he once the island was his. Caliban acts like a tour guide for the reader describing the water, berries, toads, and beetles of the island. In this passage through language Caliban is able to once again recreate the past when he was not a slave. Caliban despite his position as a slave to Prospero in the physical world in the world of language, Caliban is Prospero's equal. Because of this when staging Caliban's passage we need to re-create this mysterious dynamic between Caliban and Prospero. Caliban must appear like beast more resembling and animal then a human being. But he should also exude a hidden power that befits his eloquent speech. In Act 3 Scene 2 Caliban speaks to Stefano and Trinculo with a magical rhythm that incorporates the images of dreams and air. Because of this when staging this scene Caliban should be a wild looking beast who speaks with a eloquent voice. In addition lights should be focussed on his huddled and animal like figure to give him the semblance of power.

Injection or protection? :: essays research papers

Injections OR Protection Although testing on animals seems the only way to further advance our medicine, technologies, and prevent products from harming people, it doesn’t necessarily make it right. I think we can all agree that injecting defenseless animals with dangerous chemicals resulting in serious side effects or possible death is cruel and unusual. Coincidently, in the U.S. we consider such acts as illegal forms of punishment. Yet in the case of animals, it’s called science. Which leads to the question, what rights do animals have? Aren’t animals and humans different which therefore lead to a different set of rules? So what exactly separates the two species? The answer might lie in searching for the differences between man and beast. Let us test the senses in order to see a difference there. Sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste are all common characteristics that both species share, except for a few instances in certain animals and certain disabled humans. Moving on, both are a ble to sense danger, evade danger, feel pain, sense positive and negative emotions, display affection and dislike. The fact that we even test on animals is an admittance of the distinct similarities between the two. If man and animal were so different, there would be no gain in knowledge due to experimentation. This supports my claim that animals share the same intrinsic rights as humans. Therefore, animal rights should be protected somewhere in our nations constitution. Is it something so minute as having less legs, a set of thumbs and the ability to walk upright? Some would argue that animals are soulless beasts that walk the earth and exist only to serve man’s purpose. So why would there be such a thing as wild and untamed animals? They do not exist for the purpose of man and are able to carry on their lives self sufficiently. It is now obvious that animals can exist and thrive without human intervention. This refutes the possibility that animals are here only to serve und er and function for the betterment of man. It is only through our intervention that we have dominated and controlled animal nature. Through our own perceived superiority, man has decided that animals are expendable for the greater good. As necessary as it may be to preserve human life, I don’t think it’s ethical to use animals as the testing ground for vanity products. When I say vanity products I’m referring to hair, body, and make-up accessories.

The Battle of the Bulge :: World War II History

The Battle of the Bulge The purpose of this speech for the class is to gain better knowledge of one of the most tragic and devastating battles of World War II, the Battle of the Bulge. To Better understand The Battle of the Bulge I will explain to you the cause of the battle, location of the battle, when it took place, who was the battle fought between, the number of soldiers involved, and the number of casualties. The prelude to the Battle of the Bulge began on a winter day in mid-December of 1944. Three powerful German divisions, were the last German offensives in the west at that time during World War II. They began after the Normandy invasion in June 1944. Allied had forces swept rapidly through France but became stalled along the German border earlier that year in September. On December 16, 1944 taking advantage of the weather, which kept the Allied aircraft on the ground, the Germans launched a counteroffensive through the semi-mountainous and heavily-forested Ardennes region in Germany, and advanced 31 miles into Belgium and northern Luxembourg near the Meuse River. Their goal was to trap four allied armies, divide the Americans and the British to force negotiated peace along the western front, and retake the vital seaport of Antwerp in Belgium. Thinking the Ardennes was the least likely spot for a German offensive, American staff commander chose to keep the thin line, so that manpower m ight concentrate on offensives north and south of the Ardennes known as the "bulge" in the Allied lines. These American lines were thinly held by three divisions in the Allied Army and part of a forth division, while fifth division was making a local attack and the sixth division was in reserve. Division sectors were more than double the width of normal defensive fronts, therefore there were more men scattered along a larger area. The German advance was halted near the Meuse River in late December. Even though the German Offensive achieved total surprise, nowhere did the American troops give ground without a fight. Within three days, the determined American stand and the arrival of powerful reinforcements insured that the ambitious German goal was far beyond reach. In snow and sub-freezing temperatures the Germans fell short of their interim objective- to reach the rambling Meuse River on the edge of the Ardennes. But they managed to avoid being cut off by an Allied Pincer movement.

Korean Investment

A Korean property development company, CoDA, is planning to increase the value of Swansea’s SA1 docklands project by  £80 million through investment.   The money poured into the project would develop Harbour Square, which overlooks the Prince of Wales Dock, with the creation of 406 apartments with shops.   Moreover, this new development would add to the growth expected in the area with 1,500 new jobs at a Jersey Marine distribution center established recently. It would take three years to build the 406 new apartments with shops on Harbour Square.   The Korean investment is expected to create approximately 400 construction jobs, and lead to further growth with respect to the project.   Indeed, this project is the biggest one in the scheme, turning old docklands into a modernized place to live and work.   The total cost of the scheme is estimated at  £400 million. CoDA, backed by UK and Korean banks as well as investment funds, is expected to make a formal announcement about its plan early next week.   The fact that the Korean firm chose Swansea ahead of many other potential sites in the UK has been explained by CoDA’s chief executive, Hoshik Chi, thus: â€Å"The market in Swansea is dynamic and buoyant, and I have been most impressed by the city and the surrounding area.† The Korean firm would seek planning permission for the 2.7-acre site soon.   The development on this site would consist of twin structures, four to eight storeys high, offering reasonably priced housing and car parking, in addition to seven retail units.   Developers are claiming that the new development would be as modernized as possible, featuring a community  heating system which would be fueled by zero emission wood pellets, in addition to a rain harvesting system. This eco-friendly development may very well be the biggest investment of a Korean company in the UK.   What is more, the Korean investment is bound to be highly profitable, seeing as Swansea’s city center and its waterfront are also in the process of being transformed through a  £1 billion plan announced last week; and the people of Wales continue to demand residential accommodation.   Other Korean companies may also join CoDA in Swansea’s development and modernization, especially since South Korea has relaxed its laws regulating the purchase of property in foreign countries.

Pro-Life Essay

â€Å"Rescue Those Who Are Unjustly Sentenced to Death† Proverbs 24:11 Abortion is and always has been a major topic for debate in North America, due to the moral and legal issues surrounding it. Despite the Supreme Court making a landmark controversial decision in 1973, deciding that it is a woman’s right to choose abortion after the court case of Norma McCorvey, pro-life activists continue to thrive for new laws banning, or at least tightly restricting induced abortion. Due to that decision, abortion has become a safety net—preventing unwanted pregnancies, controlling whether or not parents have a handicapped child, etc. In Sallie Tisdale’s â€Å"We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse’s Story†, readers get an inside look on the actual procedure itself, giving them an idea of what goes on in the world of medicine. Although this essay may highlight the beneficial factors of abortion—ridding oneself of an unwanted pregnancy, or saving a family due to potential financial constraints—it is all irrelevant due to the undeniable immoral aspects of the procedure. In my opinion, abortion is unethical, and unnecessary. Despite 20% of the female population being unable to have children, this essay draws attention to the vast number of people that do have abortions, choosing rather to free themselves of the ‘burden’ than to pass the miracle along to a couple in need. Not only does this emphasize the selfishness of today’s youth, it demonstrates the unknowledgeable also have no sense of conscious guilt, proving further that society as a whole is focusing on the wrong issues and ignoring the ones that truly matter. Of course, there is the inevitable argument of human life—when does it begin? In Tisdale’s essay, I learned that the employees of an abortion centre forbid the use of the word â€Å"baby†, as they prefer to keep the depressing emotions of the mothers to a minimum. My take on this is, why are we doing this procedure in the first place if we have to manipulate people into thinking it is ethical? By sugar-coating it, the reality of the process gets lost behind false appearances, demonstrating the corruption of youth despite the growing availability of information resources. The pro-choice activists see this procedure as letting mother’s return to full freedom, achieving a life of no guilt since they rid themselves of the child. This approach to abortion is completely immoral, as you can spin it anyway you want—you are still, essentially, taking a human life—and there is no ethical way to defend that. The population of the world that believes in the legalization of abortions are more in favor of equality and women’s rights rather than the developing life that the woman currently possesses. They believe as the fetus is nonviable, which is before twenty weeks of gestation, then the process should be legal. However, upon conception, the fetus is going to be viable and is going to be a functional human being. To interfere with this process is violating the rights that the unborn child has to live. A fetus is incapable of determining whether or not it wants to live, so to not grant that fetus a chance to live is down-right unconstitutional. Although I do believe in a woman’s rights and am quite the feminist myself—their rights to do as they please with their bodies should not parallel the right to do as they please with someone else’s body. In â€Å"We Do Abortion’s Here: A Nurse’s Story† by Sallie Tisdale, the author often reflects on the variety of women that enter the clinic. However, she mentions that there are the â€Å"usual clients†Ã¢â‚¬â€particularly in their teenage years—that so clearly have no parental or financial support behind them. The argument that is made here by pro-choice activists, is that the when the ability to take care of the potential child is at stake—thus providing a lifestyle that is not fit for a baby—it is of greater nobility to clear the child and the mother of such burden. In my opinion, there is only one word for a person with this attitude: selfish. Having a personal relationship with someone who is struggling with the fact that she is incapable of having children of her own, I see the inevitable sorrow that goes along with having an incomplete family despite your greatest efforts. In the essay, it is said that there are over 100 abortions a day in that particular clinic alone. In this world, if all of those people chose to let a family who is capable of providing the child a stable homelife adopt the child, they would not only be saving the child’s life, but saving a family’s life. Infertility is a growing issue in today’s society, and adoption is sometimes the only answer. Families around the world who are struggling with this issue have to pray for a miracle, as sometimes it takes up to 10 years to finally adopt a child. This is all happening, whilst girls and women alike are making it a usual occurrence to use abortion as a safety net for unwanted pregnancies. Does this seem fair? Has the world become so corrupt that we cannot even look past our own wants and aid those with their needs? The way the world needs to view abortions now are to see a surprise pregnancy as a miracle, rather than a burden. If not a miracle to them, then a miracle to a family in need, struggling with infertility. Although there may be extenuating circumstances, I cannot begin to fathom how anybody can justify the glorification of a child’s death as â€Å"a choice†. Everyone deserves the right to grow up, laugh, make mistakes, and live their life fully. No one deserves to have their life brutally ripped from them. Abortion is the greatest act of cowardice, because it preys on those who cannot defend themselves. We have the right to make choices, but what are we choosing? We have an obligation to protect the weak and the innocent. There will never be a day when it is justifiable to take another person’s right to live, simply because we can. As previously stated, this act of exploitation emphasizes the selfishness of today’s society, demonstrating the unfortunate truth that the naive population also lack in conscious guilt. This proves further that humanity as a whole is focusing on the wrong issues and ignoring the ones that truly matter.

History of British Theatre

The earliest forms of theatre in Britain were the religious ritual performances of the native Britons. The first theatre in Britain that we may recognize as such was that of the Romans. While we know a great deal about the Roman theatre its effect on Britain seems to have been limited – theatres were small and not particularly numerous (and may have been used for sports, gladiatorial contests and other mass spectacle entertainments more than for classical theatre). The ruins of a Roman Theatre in St. Albans still remain as a tourist attraction in Britain today. After the Roman pull out the chief performances in Britain came from travelling bards, or Scops, who provided entertainment to crowds at feasts, at events, or in nobles’ courts, usually in the form of epic poetry. Caedmon’s Hymn and the saga of Beowulf are two of the very few surviving stories that were performed during that time. Organized theatrical performance would soon supplant the Scops, thanks in large part to the spread of Christianity and the rise of the trade guilds in British towns. In the churches the liturgy was increasingly dramatized throughout the Middle Ages, with the architecture of the Churches themselves being used to great effect, with choirs of â€Å"angels† being flown in from the lofts and other spectacular special effects. Soon plays like â€Å"Everyman† were being written by anonymous priests who recognized the power theatre had to convey the Church’s teachings to the masses. And though the church dramas played an important role in nurturing mediaeval drama (and a very important role in developing the playwriting talents of the clergy) a much more immediate and visceral theatre was being forged outside of the churches in the mediaeval towns, in the form of the Cycle Plays. The Cycle Plays were given at the feast of Corpus Christi, and were performed on wagons that could be pulled to several different stations throughout a town. Over 40 individual plays could make up a cycle, with the shows beginning early in the morning and ending as darkness fell. The plays were anonymously written (probably by clergymen) and were dramatizations of the major events of the Bible. After the Cycle Plays waned in the later Middle Ages the wagon-based performances remained, with troupes of actors travelling from town to town performing in courtyards, taverns and wherever else they could secure a paying audience. These travelling players were likely the first taste of live theatre for a young boy from Stratford-upon-Avon named William Shakespeare. The years between Shakespeare arriving in London up until the closing of the theatres in 1642 can easily be called the Golden Age of British drama, for Shakespeare and his contemporaries composed a body of work during that time unequalled in British (and arguable world) theatrical tradition. The plays of the English Renaissance are unrivalled in their rhetorical might. They are, at their best, compelling stories of individual struggle and grand national narratives. But in 1642 the Puritans banned all theatrical performances in the heat of misguided religious fundamentalism. Until the Restoration in 1660 theatre went underground, performed in secret and devolving into less sophisticated entertainments. There is comparatively little written about the British theatre of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries for good reason – next to the Renaissance what came after is of vastly inferior quality, almost always concerned with financial success more than any artistic, aesthetic or literary merit. There are exceptions – Sheridan was a playwright of some note, and John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera a seminal moment in the birth of British musical theatre. But no one could even come close to rivalling Shakespeare until the last years of the 19th century, with the arrival of the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. His plays are too polemical to supplant Shakespeare’s universality, but they did sweep away the centuries of mediocrity moving realism onto the English stage. The rise of Naturalistic drama dove-tailed perfectly with the rise of the director as the creative head of play production. With the passing of The Theatres Act in 1968 British Drama was finally freed from the last shackles of the past, when the powers of the Lord Chamberlain to license all plays was abolished. With the birth of the Royal National Theatre in 1963, the discovery of the remains of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the widespread embrace of theatre by Britons in the 20th and 21st centuries the conditions are ripe for another Golden Age of British drama in the years to come. The White Bear theatre The White Bear Theatre Club is a fringe theatre venue, established in 1988 in the White Bear pub in Kennington. It is run by Artistic Director Michael Kingsbury. Theatre practitioners who have worked at The White Bear include Joe Penhall, Hugh Allison, Mark Little, Emily Watson, Tamsin Outhwaite, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Vicky Featherstone, Torben Betts, Lucinda Coxon, Adam Spreadbury-Maher (Associate director 2008 – 2009) and Chris Loveless (Associate Director, 2009 – ). It is said to be one of the most interesting fringe theatres due to its small size and the intimacy of the acting space. Previous productions include: Bodyclock (Time Out Critics Choice), Cosi, Dracula (A new musical by Alex Loveless adapted from the original story by Bram Stoker), Life's A Dream, Feathers, The Return of the Soldier, The Card Index, Spin and I Only Want To Be With You. The theatre has been described by London review magazine Time Out as ‘Fringe Theatre of the first order, The White Bear must be saluted for staging such work' and Michael Billington from The Guardian was quoted as saying ‘Fringe theatre at his best. ‘ The White Bear has received numerous awards including Time Out Best Fringe Venue, Peter Brook Empty Space Award for Best Up and Coming Venue, Carling London Fringe Awards for Best Actor and Best Production. Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice, Tom Wilson & Mehmet Ergen. They identified the need for a high quality accessible theatre which would also act as a major resource for the community. The theatre quickly put down strong roots in Southwark, developing an innovative, free at source, education programme. It has worked closely with teachers, Southwark Borough Council, businesses and government agencies to improve educational achievement and raise aspirations. This programme is in great demand and attracts substantial funding each year. The theatre's primary objectives are †¢ to produce high quality, cutting edge theatre in both traditional and non-traditional theatre environments †¢ to offer a fully resourced and wholly integrated education and community programme, providing opportunities for people of all ages in Southwark to engage with the borough's rich heritage and cultural potential to support the work of emerging theatre practitioners and companies by providing a well-equipped venue at an affordable cost, with appropriate resources and guidance †¢ to intertwine the artistic, education and community programmes so that fresh insights and opportunities are offered to broad sectors of users within the Southwark community The Drill Hall With a national and internation al reputation, The Drill Hall is the local theatre and arts centre for Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia in London's West End. Since 1977, The Drill Hall has produced, developed, nurtured and supported over 10,000 artists and productions. We have toured award-winning shows and events all over the world. Through our highly praised education programme we tackle homophobia and bullying and tour to schools, work with teachers, run youth theatres specifically for LGBT young people and have an artist-development programme. Our community theatre troupe, The Drill Hall Darlings, is now in its fourth year. It always welcomes new members and performs at The Drill Hall throughout the year. We have a wide-ranging workshop programme, a free Sure Start drop-in for local children under five and their families, and a regular programme of shows and storytelling for 7 to 11-year-olds. The Drill Hall is a major hub for the arts and media communities, providing some of the most sought after central London rehearsal facilities and radio and television recording spaces. We also offer low-cost meeting space for local community groups. The Drill Hall is one of The Theatres Trust's new Ecovenues. Through this prestigious scheme we aim to make The Drill Hall more ‘sustainable'. Alexander Grant It is quite easy to make a case for Alexander Grant's being the greatest male dancer ever produced by a British company. He was a character dancer of infinite variety: technically strong enough to dance Symphonic Variations in his younger days, but remembered principally for the huge number of roles he created (particularly for Ashton), and for the new life he gave to characters he took over from others. For several years in the 70s, Grant directed the Royal Ballet's educational group, Ballet for All, and in 1976 he left the company for a seven year stint as director of the National Ballet of Canada. These days he is still occasionally to be seen on stage with ENB, and he also coaches and produces – he was responsible for the recent successful Scottish Ballet revival of Fille. A close friend of Ashton's, he is still an irreplaceable source of information and advice. But his name conjures up, for those who saw him, spectacular dancing – with no trace of ‘look at me' – and above all the wonderful range of characters he brought to life before our eyes.