Literary Analysis and Criticism of “The Tell-Tale Heart” Essay

Human beings have all experienced guilt, the consequence of committing a wrong, and the manipulation it has on decisions. In the short story â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart,† author Edgar Allan Poe demonstrates the theme that guilt is strong and has the power to overcome conscience; he uses characterization, the conflict, and symbolism to communicate this message. The characterization of the narrator most clearly shows this theme. In addition to Poe’s use of characterization, his decision to show the struggle the narrator endures with himself reveals the causes of the narrator to succumb to his guilt. The use of symbolism throughout the novel draws attention to the narrator’s guilt and his insanity. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart† is told by a first-person narrator who tells of a story in hope of convincing the reader of his sanity though throughout the story, he shows the strong control his guilt has over him and his mind, and ultimately proves his insanity. The narrator describes his plot to kill an old man whom the narrator didn’t hate, but who he desired to kill due to the old man’s â€Å"Evil Eye† (Poe 1). The old man’s eye was pale blue and covered with a film. It gave the narrator chills in his blood. The narrator began his plot to commit the murder. He crept into the old man’s room every night at midnight for seven nights, but finding the eye closed as the old man slept, the narrator couldn’t bring himself to commit the deed. The narrator described himself as being â€Å"never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before† he killed him (Poe 1). On the eighth night, the old man awoke to the sound of the narrato r chuckling as he was in the process of entering the room. When the narrator opened a gap in the lantern, the ray of light revealed the vulture eye. The narrator began to hear a sound which he believed to be the old man’s heart beating, and as the beating grew louder, the narrator’s anxiety grew which led the narrator to commit the murder by pulling the mattress over the old man. The narrator dismembered the corpse and buried them under planks of the flooring of the old man’s bedroom. The police arrived at the house, a neighbor having heard the old man’s scream during the murder, and found nothing out of place in the house. While chatting with the police, the narrator began again hearing the beating of what he believed to be the old man’s heart. The beating grew louder and louder, and no longer to able bear the sound, the narrator confessed to the police of committing the deed. The characterization of the narrator made the narrator’s insanity and sense of guilt vastly palpable. The narrator of the st ory is a first-person unreliable narrator as he is surmounted with insanity, and the reader is unable to know how much of the story the narrator tells is true. The characterization of the narrator helps prove his madness as well as his guilt, leading to his confession. He â€Å"strongly believes in the need for making methodical and calculated decisions but is eventually overcome by inexplicable psychological forces that stem from his irrational, unstable nature† (Historical Context 1). The narrator is spiraling into folly as he recounts the story of committing the murder of an old man. He begins the story saying that he is â€Å"VERY, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?† (Poe 1). The narrator admits to being nervous while committing the murder and now in the present. He doesn’t believe himself to be a madman as he tries to convince the reader of this by describing his reasons for murdering the old man and his precise and cautious steps he took throughout the murder. He explains being extremely kind to the old man as to trick him into never suspecting the murder. His precise plans included his slow and careful steps to enter the old man’s bedroom each night for eight nights before committing the murder without disturbing the old man in his sleep and the steps he took to conceal the corpse by accurately dismembering the body and hiding the parts under the floor board so as â€Å"that no human eye—not even his—could have detected any thing wrong† (Poe 2). The narrator’s reasons for killing the old man provide as much trivial proof of his sanity as his precautions do. The narrator â€Å"has no rational reason for wanting to kill the old man† (Chua 1). He declares to have desired to kill the old man as to rid himself of the old man’s vulture eye. The description of the old man’s eye as that of a vulture is the narrator’s attempt to defend his actions by comparing himself to a vulnerable being defenseless to an unsightly scavenger. The narrator claims, â€Å"Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye!† (Poe 1). The narrator declares love for the old man whom he brutally murdered and dismembered, chuckling at his cleverness in doing so. In an effort to divide the person of the old man from the old man’s allegedly evil eye, which prompts the narrator’s hatred, the narrator discloses his insanity. This delusional partition allows the narrator to be oblivious to the irony of claiming to have loved his victim. The first-person narration of the story helps reveal the narrator’s mental illness to the reader. â€Å"The particular standpoint from which the ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ is told provides the reader with insight into the major character’s motivation in carrying out the murder and in telling us about it† (Moore 1). The narrator speaks of â€Å"mortal terror† that the narrator says many nights at midnight â€Å"has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me† (Poe 1). â€Å"The reason for the crime lies exclusively in the narrator’s disturbed mind† (Moore 1). The narrator’s explanation of the murder reveals that he heard the beating of a heart, what he believed to be the old man’s heart. This beating heart twice caused him to act irrationally during the story as his actions were in hope of stopping the sound of the beating heart: it caused the narrator to finally commit the murder and it caused him to confess to the police. This shows his guilt he feels for killing the innocent old man as he confesses to the murder though he had clearly gotten away with it, as did his nervousness that he conveys that he is overcome with throughout the story. The conflict of the story helps to reveal the strong prevalence of guilt experienced by the narrator. The main conflict of the story is an inner conflict, character vs. himself, as the narrator struggles with his own disturbed mind. The narrator, after deciding to murder the old man due to his vulture eye, experiences the forceful sound of a heart beat. His struggles with himself cause him to kill the old man whom he loved. The narrator in the beginning of the story confesses to the reader that he suffers from a â€Å"disease† that apparently â€Å"sharpened† his senses, specifically his sense of hearing acute (Poe 1), in an attempt to rationally explain why he believed he heard the old man’s heart beating. The narrator attempts to fight his conscience while experiencing this sound, specifically when he tries not to confess the murder to the police and reveal the secret location of the corpse. The murder of the innocent old man causes the narrator to feel guilt such that he ends up confessing the deed in the end. A minor conflict is the conflict of the narrator vs. the eye which causes him to commit the deed in the first place. The vulture-like eye gives the narrator’s blood chills and vexed him so that he had to be rid of it. The narrator acts as a helpless creature to the powers of the eye. The narrator, in hatred of the eye, thus conceived the plan to murder the old man so he would never again be disturbed by the eye. Symbolism is ever so dominant in â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart.† The most apparent symbol in the short story is the sound of the beating heart. The narrator believes the sound is the old man’s beating heart brought on by his nervousness on the eighth night and heard by the narrator due to his â€Å"disease.† The sound of the beating heart represents the guilt and remorse the narrator feels for committing the deed as it causes him to confess the deed to the police. The narrator’s growing agitation to the intensifying sound causes him to confess as he can no longer bear the sound, revealing his guilt. The narrator had clearly gotten away without suspicion of the police with the deed, but in the end, he was his own worst enemy as he admitted himself as the murderer. Another obvious symbol is the vulture eye of the old man. The narrator possesses the idea that an old man is staring at him with the Evil Eye and placing a curse on him as he gets chills in his blood. The narrator also obsesses over the eye as he desires to separate it from the old man as to spare the man from his aggressive response to the eye. The narrator reveals his incapability to distinguish that the â€Å"eye† is the â€Å"I,† or identity, of the old man (Chua 1). The eyes represent the spirit of human identity, which can’t be alienated from the body. The eye can’t be destroyed without bringing about the old man’s death. The watch that the narrator speaks of symbolizes time and the narrator’s obsession with time. Time is a very important factor in the story as it controls the narrator’s every move. The narrator routinely entered the old man’s room at midnight and described his actions as moving slower than the minute hand of the watch (Poe 1). The lantern that the narrator uses in his nightly routine in the old man’s bedroom represents the narrator’s hatred for the eye. The narrator sees the old man sleeping and with the eye closed, he’s unable to commit the murder. On the eighth night, the ray of light from the lantern reveals the Evil Eye, which is the narrator’s enemy, and sets off the narrator’s delusional hatred for the vulture eye, making him able to kill the old man. The theme of the story is that guilt is a powerful emotion that can cause one to succumb to their guilt, in this case, the narrator. All the carefully planned elements of the story work to create an overall unity, from the narrator’s denial of his insanity to his confession, the delusional conflict of the narrator, and the abundance of symbolism throughout the story. The heart symbolizes the narrator’s guilt and causes him to confess to the police. Even when no one knows one committed a bad deed, that person themselves knows of the deed, so they will have to live with the guilt and the consequences of their actions, or succumb to their guilt and confess. Works Cited Chua, John. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart: The Twin and the Doppelganger.† Short Stories for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 15 December 2009. . Moore, R. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart: The First-Person Narrative Viewpoint in the ‘Tell-Tale Heart.’† eNotes: The Tell-Tale Heart. Ed. Penny Satoris. Seattle: Enotes.com Inc, October 2002. eNotes.com. 15 December 2010. . Poe, Edgar Allan. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart.† 2009 eNotes.com, Inc. Web. 15 December 2009. â€Å"The Tell-Tale Heart: Historical Context.† Short Stories for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 15 December 2009. .

Disability and Sport: Hypermasculinity Explored

Whether you prefer â€Å"the Blade Runner†, â€Å"the Man Without Legs†, â€Å"the Fastest Man on No Legs† or Oscar Pistorius, this young man's story will serve as a case study of mainstreaming in ‘disability sports', specifically in the film Murderball. Pistorius is a 21-year-old South African below the knee amputee who won gold in the 100, 200 and 400 meter events at the 2006 Paralympic Athletics World Championships. Pistorius was regarded as being fast enough to earn a spot for the 200- and 400-meter sprints on South Africa’s Olympic team.Pistorius asked to be allowed to run in the Olympics if he would qualify for his country's Olympic team. The world governing body for track and field (IAAF) ruled on 14 January 2008 – invoking its rule 144. 2 which deals with technical aids – â€Å"that double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius is ineligible to compete in the Beijing Olympics because his prosthetic racing legs give him a clear compet itive advantage† (IAAF, 2008).The story of Pistorius well serve as the example of attempted mainstreaming of disability in sports, on the elite international front. Does the film Muderball make progress in mainstreaming disability through sport? The merits of the film will be analyzed through the lens of the relationship sport and disability, as well as its connotations for mainstreaming in disability. Murderball presents a unique opportunity to reflect on representations of disability in the contemporary North American context.The narrative of the film constructs a rugby wheelchair rivalry between Team U. S. A. , captained by Mark Zupan, and Team Canada, coached by Joe Soars. Murderball does exceptionally well in muddling the notions of people with disabilities as fragile and helpless, countering ableist assumptions about what persons with quadriplegia can accomplish. However, based on a close reading of the film, it is suggested that Murderball accomplishes this disruption t hrough the celebration of ableist, sexist and heterosexist tropes.The following is a critique the film’s construction of the relationship between competitive international sport settings, disability, and masculinity by drawing on anti-normative politics. It is proposed that recuperations of normative identity in Murderball rely on a jingoistic and violent moral authority, while subjecting themselves to the constraints of normalcy. Due to its popularity and its subject matter, the film presents a unique opportunity to reflect on representations of disability, through the unique lens of sport, in the contemporary North American context.In portraying disabled men participating in a highly risk involving contact sport in intensely belligerent nationalist settings, the film differs from the majority of North American cinematic portrayals of disability. As Irving Zola, in his Missing Pieces: A Chronicle of Living With a Disability, points out that â€Å"the use of the concept of d anger was questionable, for a basic human right  is the right to take  risks†, a right which a quadreplegic does not surrender. Murderball serves to humanize disability in this regard.It was compelling to undertake a critical examination of the film that Murderball works exceptionally well to disrupt notions of people with disabilities as fragile and helpless, and that disability was humanized through the story presented. Kurt Lindemann and James Cherney (2008) similarly argue that: â€Å"wheelchair rugby is itself a communicative act that sends a complex message to both the community of sport and our broader social collectives that counters ableist assumptions about what persons with quadriplegia can accomplish† (p. 08). Within the discipline of disability studies, premises of disability have evolved in the last several decades. Nigel Thomas and Andy Smith (2009) note that there has been â€Å"a shift from medical, individualized definitions and ideologies of disa bility to more socially constructed explanations of disability, which place more responsibility for disability on mainstream society† (p. 23). The medical model, however, is not without its merits. Disability has become a topic in sport sociology with increasing depth in recent years.Themes that have commonly been addressed include: disability sport policies, governing bodies, and the opportunities for participation they provide; media portrayals of disability sport; the ways that athlete’s identities are negotiated through medical and social models of disability; and the role sports play in managing the stigmatization of athletes with disabilities. Within the study of the sociology of sport masculinity has become a dominant topic of discussion. David Howe and Carwyn Jones (2006) consider the classification of disabled athletes into competitive classes in amateur associations and Paralympic competition.They claim that the International Paralympic Committee has marginali zed the disability sports community by controlling classification systems and imposing restrictions on opportunities for equitable sports practice. Their justification is, that this threatens the ideology of Paralympism while ignoring the empowerment of non-elite athletes (Howe & Jones, 2006, p. 44). While providing an analysis of sport’s structure, choices, and fairness for participants of all abilities, Howard Nixon (2007) advocates for the creation of diverse sports opportunities for people with disabilities.My critique of Murderball does not extend to the sport’s governing body, or policies that effect the sport, however the case study of Oscar Pistorius serves this exact purpose. How do individuals with disabilities negotiate their identities through sport? Both social and medical models of disability affect disability sport participants’ identity formation, while success in international disability sport may lead to positive subjectivity, changed self-unde rstanding, and an increased sense of personal empowerment.Much research of participation in disability sports at the school age indicates that physical activity is a normalizing experience for these children as it facilitates friendships and social identity (Taub & Greer, 2000). The problems of normative aspects of the representation of athletes with disabilities in Murderball demonstrates that people with profound disabilities can be aggressive and athletic. It must be noted that all of the people with disabilities depicted in Murderball are elite athletes in international competition who are shown making aggressive plays on the court and whose off court commentary is full of macho bravado.The limited representation of people with disabilities in popular films may be partially attributed to the pursuit of profit. In attempt to appeal to the largest audience possible and to increase box office and rental sales, narratives are filed with homogenizing representations and saleable them es. Normative narratives allow the maximum projected audience to relate to the story, by relaying common themes such as normative masculinity Murderball subscribes to this familiar scheme by placing the athletes at the center of a very conservative political project.The film positions quad-rugby players as worthy subjects of the documentary according to their ability to participate in a sport that requires affirmations fitting with normative masculinity such as power, violence, hypersexuality, and strength. Meanwhile, The players’ contentions with stereotypes associated with disability is unfortunately overtaken by a seemingly constant reiteration of the athletes' capacity for athletic competition, and this is demonstrated through their sport participation and physicality.This situates the athletes’ conformity to hegemonic masculinity in that â€Å"the athletic male body has been a mark of power and moral superiority for those who bear it† (Dutton in Dworkin ; W achs, 2000, p. 49). The opening scene effectively illustrates the ethos of the film in this respect. Mark Zupan undresses and gets himself ready for a workout. As he begins to dress in athletic shorts, he removes his shirt revealing a defined white, muscular torso, his physical presence doesn't seem weak or fragile. He is clearly capable of dressing himself, the absence of a sound track is noted as uncharacteristic for contemporary North American cinema.This leaves an uncomfortable silence as accompaniment for an intimate moment rarely depicted on camera. The mere fact that he has an obvious impairment and uses a wheelchair is also atypical for popular cinema. This silent visual representation provides context for the film’s opening credits and sets up the primary subject of the film. The uncomfortable image is contrasted with Mark Zupan’s capacity to be independent and fill the screen with his presence. His large bold tattoo is featured in the center of the picture as he lifts his leg with his hands.Zupan assembles a wheelchair highlighting its mechanical efficiency with close up shots of nuts, bolts, spokes and a battered metal surface covered with an American flag sticker. An electric motor makes noise, as the wheels are pumped up. The name Zupan is affixed to the pump with athletic tape. Although he does not represent completely normative masculinity as a man with a disability, the other aspects of his presence in this scene – his strength, his ability to perform complex technical tasks self sufficiently, and his loud tattoo and goatee – are symbolic of a strong masculine physicality.His embodiment also works to code his non-conformity as marketable. On a surface level, then, the film’s popularity can be considered a success for disability cultural activist movement. It is an authentic portrayal of a disabled subculture that avoids the traditional narrative traps of many mainstream disability films. The audience is immedi ately directed to check their well- intentioned sympathies at the door, along with any preconceived notions about the fragility of the disabled body. Disability sexuality, a taboo and uncomfortable ground for many non-disabled viewers, is reclaimed with a vengeance.Indeed, one of the difficulties in analyzing Murderball is that its most radical features are simultaneously its most conventional. Thus, while non-disabled viewers may find their assumptions and stereotypes challenged by the masculine sexual bravado of Murderball’s quadriplegic rugby players, there may be a simultaneous sense of relief at the ironclad endurance of male heterosexual privilege. Heterosexuality no longer functions as evidence that a disabled masculinity has finally been ‘cured’; instead, it is the masculinization of disability that holds the power to rehabilitate heteronormativity from its own gender trouble.Therefore, Murderball serves as an interesting case study of the intersection be tween disability studies and masculinity. The popularity of this film demonstrates a powerful cultural backlash against representational histories that have conflated feminization, male homosexuality, and disability. The film successfully remasculinizes its subjects, celebrating disability and strength, resulting in the inevitable hypermasculine body. Ironically, the rhetoric of masculinity in Murderball is also the source of its anatgonism. The film's ‘crip' critique of able-bodiedness relies on repeated heteromasculine performances.A close reading of the film reveals masculinity as the visual mechanism through which disability is beginning to find its place on the contemporary cultural stage. Murderball harnesses the normalizing powers of masculinity, presenting a narrative of gender that helped to generate mainstream appeal in the box office and, more importantly, mainstream approval of a stigmatized social identity. A question that must be mentioned is what does the film M uderball mean for quadripelegic women? The same logic that masculinizes the quadriplegic or paraplegic man also functions to both masculinize and desexualize the quadriplegic or paraplegic woman.Disabled women, and particularly disabled female athletes, are not celebrated as having been liberated from oppressive conventions of gender, nor are they given access to normative femininity. Indeed the few images of disabled women that the documentary presents function more as a set of brief snapshots that, while easy to miss, momentarily interrupt the temporal, and often verbal, logic through which these ‘boys’ become ‘men’. These more or less static images haunt the film’s perimeter, a subtle threat to the coherence of a narrative that celebrates quadriplegia as the natural outcome of the hypermasculine male body.The concept of mainstreaming has been prominently constant in the world of disability for many years, while its definition has evolved substanti ally. Mainstreaming, initially referring to merely placing individuals with disabilities in regular classes with able-bodied individuals, was introduced in the 1960s (Reynolds, 1962). The majority of professionals in the disability field did not accept mainstreaming. It was mostly regarded as â€Å"a statement of what could or should be possible† (Aufesser, 1991).Initially, the premise of mainstreaming only included integrating those with ‘mild disabilities' and definitely not those with physical disabilities. During the movement of deinstitutionalization in the 1970s, the definition of mainstreaming underwent a significant shift. The ‘new' interpretation of mainstreaming is highlighted by the Cascade System, a model first proposed by Reynolds in 1962 and amended and reintroduced by Deno in 1970. This revolution, of sorts, gave way to new terms such as ‘normalization', ‘least restrictive alternative', and ‘continuum of service'.The Cascade System can be characterized as a two-box system in which parallel but separate educational programs for regular and special education operate within school buildings. The implementation of the Cascade system was difficult at best, and nonexistent a lot of the time. The model helped create understanding and support around a better system that â€Å"facilitates tailoring of treatment to individual needs rather than a system for sorting out children so they will fit conditions designed according to group standards not necessarily suitable for the particular case† (Deno, 1970, p. 35). The philosophy behind this model is commendable and is the only logical framework within which to develop a system of mainstreaming. Therefore, Murderball has already been mainstreamed in some regards. The excitement and intensity of the sport attract a large following, able-bodied and disabled alike. The stories of Pistorius and Mark Zupan extend beyond bionic runners and wheelchair rugby. Several other issues arose as a result of the Pistorius controversy.Can the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, the newest human rights instrument for people with disabilities, give some guidance? By invoking the rule 144. 2 and dealing with technical aids for Olympic, Paralympic, other-lmypic, and international sport, it opened the dialogue for further progress. The future of ‘enhancements' and their impact on the Olympics, Paralympics, other-lympic, and international sport has not been thoroughly researched, and it is expected that an increase work into this issue will emerge.Another interesting dynamic that is touched upon is the relationship between the Olympics, Paralympics, other –lympics and international sports. Will we be exposed to any changes in the relationship between the ‘lympics' due to the Pistorius case? Bottom of Form Deno, E. (1970). Special education as developmental capital. Exceptional Children, 37, mildly retarded—Is much of i t justifiable? 229-237. Works Cited Dworkin, S. , ; Wachs, F. (2000). The Morality/Manhood Paradox. In J. McKay (Ed. ), Masculinities, gender relations, and sport. (pp. 47—65).Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Hoare, Q. ; Nowell Smith, J. (Trans. ; Eds. ). New York: International Publishers. Howe, P. D. , ; Jones, C. (2006). Classification of disabled athletes: (Dis)empowering the Paralympic practice community. Sociology of Sport Journal, 23(1), 29—46. â€Å"IAAF Oscar Pistorius – Independent Scientific study concludes that cheetah prosthetics offer clear mechanical advantages†, International Association of Athletics Federations, 14 Jan 2008, available at:http://www. aaf. org/news/newsId=42896,printer. html; Kurt Lindemann and James L. Cherney. â€Å"Communicating In and Through â€Å"Murderball†: Masculinity and Disability in Wheelchair Rugby. †Ã‚  Western Journal of Communication  (2008): 107-25. Lead Article. Taub, D. E. , ; Greer, K. R. (1998). Sociology of acceptance revisited: Males with physical disabilities participating in sport and physical fitness activity. Deviant Behavior, 19(3), 279—302. Thomas, N. , ; Smith, A. (2009). Disability, sport and society: An introduction. New York: Routledge.

Case 1.11worldcom

Question 1: The definition of assets is in FASB Concept Statement 6, paragraph 25: Assets are probable future economic benefits obtained or controlled by a particular entity as a result of past transactions or events.Paragraph 26 then describes the trio of characteristics that qualify an item as an asset: an asset has three essential characteristics: (a) it embodies a probable future benefit that involves a capacity, singly or in combination with other assets, to contribute directly or indirectly to future net cash inflows, (b) a particular entity can obtain the benefit and control others’ access to it, and (c) the transaction or other event giving rise to the entity’s right to or control of the benefit has already occurred.Question 2: The capitalized line costs were operating expenses and should not have been treated like a capital asset. On the one hand, one of WorldCom's major operating expenses was its so-called â€Å"line costs. † These were fees paid to thi rd party telecommunications network providers for the right to access the third parties' networks. Under GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), these fees cannot be capitalized.They must be taken as immediate expenses and subtracted from income. On the other hand, the increased line cost lies in the long-term, fixed-rate leases for network capacity WorldCom initiated in order to meet the anticipated increase in customer demand. And as later the demand was not as expected, the Company has to pay for the leases that were substantially underutilized to avoid punitive termination provisions.The line costs that WorldCom capitalized were ongoing, operating expenses that accounting rules required WorldCom to recognize immediately. Instead of expense the cost currently, WorldCom capitalized it to exaggerate its pre-tax income. Future economic benefit is the essence of an asset. WorldCom capitalized excess capacity costs that were not generating revenue, which violates GAAP. Expens e or a loss would be recognized upon evidence that previously recognized asset benefits would not be realized.

Fluid Mechanics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fluid Mechanics - Essay Example If the dimensions b and d of the immersed surface are 8.00 ft and 12.00 ft and the vertical distance is 10.00 ft., the magnitude of the resultant force on one side of the immersed surface is, 3. As indicated in examination Figure 1, assume that b = 27.00 in., d = 63.00 in., and h = 5.00 ft. The static moment of the immersed rectangular surface with respect to an axis in the surface of water, in feet to the third power. 4. As indicated in examination Figure 1, a rectangular plate is immersed in water in a vertical plane with its top and bottom edges horizontal. If b = 3.00 ft, d = 7.00 ft. And h = 2.00 ft, the vertical distance from the surface of the water to the center of pressure of the immersed surface is 5. A trapezoidal surface having the dimensions shown in Examination Figure 2 is immersed in fresh water with its top edge horizontal and at the surface of the water. The resultant force on one side of the immersed surface is 7. The formula to determine the moment of inertia of a rectangular surface with respect to a horizontal line drawn through its centroid is _________, where the surface’s width runs parallel to the line through the centroid. 8. a symmetrical trapezoid plate has the following dimensions. The width of the parallel are, respectively 2.50 ft. and 4.50 ft.The perpendicular distance between those sides is 1.50 ft. The plate is submerged in a liquid in a vertical position with the parallel sides horizontal and the shorter parallel side at the top and exactly even with the surface of the liquid. The moment of inertia of the plate with respect to the surface of the water would be, 9. a new cast iron pipe for conveying water from one reservoir to another has a diameter equal to 8.00 in., and the length is 5400.00 ft. The head tending to cause flow is 40.5 ft. If the velocity head and minor loses of head can be neglected, the rate of discharge, in cubic feet per second, computed by using the Chezy-Darcy

Community assessment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community assessment - Assignment Example Approximately 79% of the learners in the Kingsbridge Heights schools qualify from the state funded or free lunch program. Majority of the schools are good; this is because they realize the Adequate Yearly Progress performance level, which is determined by the New York State Department of Education. The individual school report card for all the schools in the Kingsbridge are illustrated in the education website, http://schools.nyc.gov/daa. The Fellows, who work in the Kingsbridge schools, live within the neighborhoods of entire West and South Bronx, Inwood region of Manhattan, and the upper east and west areas of Manhattan. There are five high schools in the Kingsbridge area. These schools are; Bronx High School of Science, De Witt Clinton High School, High School for Teaching and the Professions, Bronx high School of Music and Discovery High School. Bronx High School of Science has a learners and Fellows population of population of 335 and 8 respectively. The proportion of students who qualify for the free lunch program is 22.4%. De Witt Clinton High School has population of 2,502 and 27 Fellows. 90.8% of the students qualify for the free lunch program; thus majority of learners come from poor backgrounds (Banchero, 2013). High School for Teaching and the professions has the highest student population at 4,410, and the fellows number only 8. The education standards at the school are relatively low because of the overworked teaching staffs. 74.5% of the learners benefit from the free lunch program.364 students learn at Bronx High School of Music, which has a teaching staff numbering 4, and eligibility for free lunch program at 74.5%. Discovery High School has a population of 540, and the teacher number is 9. 25.6% of the students are eligible for the free lunch program. The only secondary school in the region is Walton High School that has 1,067 students and 6 Fellows. 81.2% of the

What is the difference between Roman law and Anglo law Essay

What is the difference between Roman law and Anglo law - Essay Example This paper involves a comparative analysis of Roman and Anglo Law. It identifies the differences and similarities between these two streams of law and how they work in the historical context. The study goes on to examine the contemporary effects of these two streams of law and how they operate in Britain and Spain. In examining the context of Roman and Anglo Law, there is the need to evaluate and analyse the historical context within which the two legal systems evolved. The history of Roman law cannot be separated from the spiritual age or the role of the Catholic Church in formulating rules and anointing leaders who were believed to have the divine right to rule (Coughlin, 2011). This is different from the Anglo legal code which is centrally built around the Norman Conquest and the changes that came with the political and feudal order through the creation of laws that were a collection of legal systems and processes that existed in different parts of Britain (Atiyah & Sommers, 1987). The scope of the Roman Law is based on the Canon of the Catholic Church which included core rules and fundamental principles that were laid down by the Church for its followers (Glenn, 2010). Roman Law and the Canon Law was shrouded in mysticism and hence, this formed the foundation for the actions and activities of the legal system and the legal processes that existed in these Catholic countries and such nations. Some of the top commentators and proponents of Roman Law rejected the concept of the validity of law, this is because the these thinkers believed that law should not be based on logic, but rather on divine direction (Coughlin, 2011). This is because there is a general trend and process in which they sought to protect the divinity of the papacy and the divinity of anointed kings and nobles who were viewed as persons with divine power and

The Remake of the Horror Movie Texas Chainsaw Essay

The Remake of the Horror Movie Texas Chainsaw - Essay Example Every moment of the film from the camera, to the creak woodwork, to the glance of the eyes that permeates within the chilling feel of dread is truly amazing, and it gives a remarkable piece of filmmaking. I went to the cinema overrating the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The approach in the remake is great since it captures the existence of its predecessor, it also presumes to usurp the original title of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and claims to be bigger and more superior than the previous version that was done by Tobe Hooper (Evan, 32). The screenplay is not lifted in any way to throw in some new groove as the filmmakers claimed and put what they say into action. For once, they were not kidding. This film says that it knows what the audience is expecting and it is going to give just that. However, I will not talk about what made it great in version that is watered-down. The only thing I am doing is giving something new that takes the basic storyline of the original version then draws the inspiration from its creepy screenplay. The nod of the original version comes into play in the opening moment of the movie. John Larroquette gives a narration that is much similar to the one in Tobe Hooper's version. The only notable change is that in the remake the narration is far more complex since it is done using some digitally decayed-looking super 8 film stock (Evan, 10). When the film starts in a van with kids who are much familiar to 1973, it takes us back to the original version. The usual suspects Andy and his narcissistic boy antiques are constantly making out with the free hippie Pepper, Morgan is the stand-in for the original’s wheelchair-bound Franklin. In addition to walking on his own, he is a bit acidic and not as naive. Burns, good Erin who does not drink or do drugs, play the new version of Marilyn. She wants to get married to his boyfriend Kemper.

MBA Application Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MBA Application - Essay Example Surprisingly I have managed to come through with flying colours and that is what has motivated me to enrol for your management consultancy programme. Without sounding too flattering I feel I have strong analytical and problem solving skills and enjoy finding solutions to problems. It is my personal motivation that is driving me to work harder and to achieve my goals. Although several motivation theories have highlighted different motivation forces namely fear, self-interest, security, safety, ego etc, I agree that it is also supported by self-interest which plays an important role in achievement and it is one of the essential prerequisites for motivation. We notice that people around the world make goals and then work hard to achieve them but have we ever really focused on their reasons for achievement If we delve deeper into the reason or forces that motivate them to succeed, we notice that self-interest dominates all other factors. Even those who appear to be involved in some absolutely selfless goals are in some way serving their own interests.

Buddha meditation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Buddha meditation - Essay Example Moreover, meditation makes a person achieve right mindfulness. This ensures the person achieves positive results since it is through meditation that one understands self and becomes what he had thought or wanted to be earlier in life. Thus, Buddha teaches people that the only way to achieve success and dreams is through meditation. Just like Buddha, Spinoza supports meditation by claiming that when individual meditates; he understands self and life thereby ensuring he does not encounter any problem in life (Smith 110). This therefore, means that when a person meditates, he tries to lead a perfect life with little or no problems. Moreover, an individual who practices meditation understands self, and this makes him behave in a trusted manner and in mindful of others. Consequently, Buddha attributes sin to a person’s own ignorance. Our own ignorance of the true nature leads us to commit sin. He teaches that it is only through meditation that a person can understand self and realize his or her true nature thereby avoiding committing sin. He considers ignorance worse that sin because ignorance causes sin (Smith 110). Meditation ensures that one becomes aware of each action taken thereby contributing to consciousness. Therefore, it is good for a person to meditate in order to lead a sinful life thereby ensuring no suffering after death in hell. Since nobody wishes to suffer or experience the agony after death, it is good for human beings to meditate. Moreover, since meditation ensures that one leads a moral life through understanding of the true nature, it also contributes to peaceful coexistence on earth. This occurs when a person does not do evil to a fellow human being since he or, she leads a moral life. Thus, it is clear that meditation makes life more meaningful since it contributes to the development and maintenance of kindness, peace, love, understanding, and unity among people of similar and various ethnic backgrounds. In addition,

Form of education Essay Example for Free

Form of education Essay â€Å"Education is the key to success†. Everyone knows about it. Education come in many forms, that’s why many people are speaking and writing about it, some with authority and some are ordinary. But does everyone knows the real meaning of Education? How can we say that we are already educated person if we don’t know exactly the real definition of the word Education? And how can we apply it in our daily lives? Education is a stage of such a process which develops your knowledge to learn different things or simply it is the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools. There are three forms of Education. It can be Education of Heart, Education of Norm and at last Education of Dominion. The Education of Heart tackles about the education for the perception of the Individual. While, Education of Norm is all about for the perception of the Family and lastly the Education of Dominion (Intellectual, Technical, and Physical Education) it is the education for the perfection of the Nature of Dominion. Education is the most important thing in our life. It is a gift from above which cannot be taken away from us and can bring us to the top of our dreams. Education is not only by going to school, it can happen by a lot of ways. And it is important specially for those people who can’t afford to go to school, because of their status in life. And they believed that through education, one person’s knowledge can be enhanced and improve. The greatest treasure that everyone must have is Education. It’s like planting a rice; at first you need to execute more efforts, time and skills. Then, wait for the right time to harvest. Education is an important tool that is applied in the modern world to succeed, as it lessen the challenges or obstacles which are faced in life. For some people they compared Education as a special ingredient for a cooking recipe. They’ve said that any kind of dishes will never become delicious if it doesn’t have a complete and satisfying ingredient. The foundation of the society is based on Education, since it brings social and economic prosperity. Education offers a setting in which language, tradition, culture and values of the society are developed. Education has played a major role in the modern life to all individuals in the society and also in the industrial world. Employment is based on education, as employees must have the required skills that correspond with the technology to do their different tasks. As the technology keeps improving , more and more people using it in their lives. Therefore, education grown bigger because people nowadays are learning different things from this technology. Education can mold a personality of an individual. It can help one person to further to his or her own future. A good quality education is not only choosing a good school, it’s choosing a school that can handle different attitudes of students and still can teach them the right path to be a good citizen. There’s no young and adult in education as long as you want to reach your goals and your prepared enough to fight for it. Learning is an education and experience is an education too. But sometimes learning something new can be a scary experience. Specially for those times that you have been facing your fears. But it doesn’t mean that we should be afraid to overcome our own fears and mistakes because we can learn a lot from this things and sometimes it can be our guide to become a better and more stronger one. Although we already know that education is an important thing that everyone must have, but for others it still have disadvantages. Knowledge is power; though it is widely accepted that it is essential for growth and development of an individual, but sometimes it is the reason for some discrimination. Some forms of education blindly impose ideas upon young minds instead of teaching them to think for themselves. A lot of people gathered their knowledge based in their experience for which there is no substitute. An education system is very helpful in developing and improving the quality of human life. Living in this contemporary world is very hard to succeed. That’s why it is better to have a good quality education. Education will be our open doors to attain the training and learning experiences for career opportunities that we need to fulfill in our dreams. Through education we can learn how to enhance life skills such as critical thinking skills, a healthy living lifestyle and self-confidence. It also helps to build our personality to learn how to use good manners, and having respect for others. We learn healthy and productive ways to grow into socially active adults.

Managing Change in Organisations: Supermarket Case Study

Managing Change in Organisations: Supermarket Case Study Meena Bazar one of the chain super markets of the Bangladesh which serve in Bangladesh from 2000. Meena Bazar, the first truly national supermarket chain was founded with the promise of year-round. Superstores are set to boom in the country as the current market players are planning to open several hundred more outlets in the next few years to cope with the rising demand from the consumers. With a strong 15-20 per cent annual sales growth, about 30 companies with more than 200 outlets have already made foray into the industry since Rahimafrooz, one of the largest business groups in Bangladesh, introduced Agora, a chain superstore, in the capital a decade ago. Strengths of the Meena Bazar is Size allows for competitive buying terms, Strong senior management, Flexible formats. Opportunities of the Meena Bazar are Forming or merging a strategic alliance with suppliers, Growth of non-food, Growth of convenience and compact hypermarket formats, Effective use of Clubcard database to increase basket size and Develop additional services. Meena Bazaar can successfully implement the organizational culture to the worker. They have a dress code in the outlets. From this the buyer can easily tress out who will serve them and can help them. Another culture is that they are very aware about the time. They have a good organizational bonding. The greatest barrier to adapting to continual change lies with the management of people rather than technology. In Meena Bazar, the constant efforts of effective implementation and utilization of the HR strategies make it possible for the company to perform well in the market. The increasing profit yean in and year out is an evidence of the successful HR practice. Effectively utilizing the new resources may require a move to a product team structure. it may even require downsizing and the elimination of functions that are no longer central to the organizations mission. It seems that the major problem encountered by Meena bazaar is due to the very few outlets in all over the Bangladesh. In addition, the problems also arise because of the inadequate knowledge of its management about the use of strategic management and other management systems. Introduction: Meena Bazar one of the chain super markets of the Bangladesh which serve in Bangladesh from 2000. Meena Bazar, the first truly national supermarket chain was founded with the promise of year-round freshness, affordable price, and the most pleasurable and hassle-free family shopping experience for all. Keeping true to this conviction, Meena Bazar has captured the hearts of shoppers all over. Due to our continuous expansion plans, we are looking for smart, hardworking and proactive young people to be part of our dynamic team. Here the Meena Bazar is the selected organization for the study and access this organization for the find our which will help to do batter performance of it. Bangladesh chain superstores sectors: Superstores are set to boom in the country as the current market players are planning to open several hundred more outlets in the next few years to cope with the rising demand from the consumers. With a strong 15-20 per cent annual sales growth, about 30 companies with more than 200 outlets have already made foray into the industry since Rahimafrooz, one of the largest business groups in Bangladesh, introduced Agora, a chain superstore, in the capital a decade ago. The annual turnover of the superstores now stands at around Tk 15.0 billion (1500 crore), according to Bangladesh Supermarket Owners Association (BSOA). Hassle-free shopping environment, hygienic commodities, fresh vegetables, meat and fish at the supermarkets are earning appreciation of the customers, market operators said. The supermarket biggies have attempted the massive expansion drive to attract the shoppers, who still depend on unplanned wet markets to buy their daily essentials. They say that a rise in organized retailing would offer the consumers hygienic foods at competitive prices, compared to those offered by retailers in the kitchen markets, where commodities are sold mostly in unhygienic condition. The rise in the number of supermarkets, according to analysts, will diversify the choices of consumers and boost their spending, so much needed for economic growth, while the wet markets will also improve quality and services following in the footsteps of supermarkets. But a decade ago, the retail-level trade was in the hands of thousands of small traders in the wet markets and the grocery shops in cities and remained out of the focus of the big business houses. The landscape began to change in 2000 when Rahimafrooz Superstores, operating Agora, moved in to seize a slice of the retailing and wholesale trade, which has been growing at 6 per cent, on an average, annually. In the past decade, many small and big supermarkets made debut, successfully attracting middle and upper middle class consumers, a section of whom are gradually turning to chain stores from the wet or kitchen markets, superstore operators say. Dhaka-based Agora now runs four outlets, Meena Bazar nine including seven in Dhaka, PQS five, Prince Bazar two, Nandan five and Swapno 70 including 30 outside the capital. Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) also runs 11 stores in the capital. According to operators, more than 600 chain retail outlets are expected to be set up in the next five years in an attempt to attract more customers. With the recent opening of a total of 70 branches, ACI has diversified the retailing business. Now it plans to open about 500 stores in the country in the next five years. Mamunur Rashid, marketing manager of PQS, said they are planning to spread the mega-shop business by opening three more stores this year and another 10 in the next two or three years. The departmental stores with the main focus on food items ranging from a wide variety of fish, meat, vegetables to fruits, bakery, dairy and grocery items- also offer a vast array of other household, personal care and miscellaneous products. Consumers can buy as much as nearly 20,000 products of different kinds from such a store, the operators boast. Supermarkets have successfully made a breakthrough in the urban lifestyle with the idea of all essential commodities under one roof. In the early days of the business, around 500 customers would visit a supermarket outlet daily. Now some 5,000 customers come to a store everyday, they say. Meena Bazar SWOT Analysis Strengths Size allows for competitive buying terms Strong senior management Flexible formats Strong hypermarket portfolio Coverage the Mega City Dhaka Increasing level of investment Strong price message and offer at competitive price than the competetors Expanding non-food and online offer Efficient distribution Weaknesses Can not spread the outlets all over the Bangladesh Increasing geographical spread makes focus on specific Markets difficult Exposed to macroeconomic difficulties in some markets International expansion requires substantial investment High reliance on Dhaka Market Poor CSR and community impact Opportunities Forming or merging a strategic alliance with suppliers Growth of non-food Growth of convenience and compact hypermarket formats Effective use of Club card database to increase basket size Develop additional services Threats Faces range of diverse competitors internationally Increased level of eating out Move towards premium does not sit with Meena Bazars traditional strengths Restrictive planning guidelines Political opposition to the power of supermarkets tends to focus on Meena Bazar PEST Analysis for Meena Bazar (P)olitical Factors For employment legislations, the government encourages retailers to provide a mix of job opportunities from flexible, lower-paid and locally-based jobs to highly-skilled, higher-paid and centrally-located jobs. Also to meet the demand from population categories such as students, working parents and senior citizens. Meena Bazar understands that retailing has a great impact on jobs and people factors (new store developments are often seen as destroying other jobs in the retail sector as traditional stores go out of business or are forced to cut costs to compete), being an inherently local and labour-intensive sector. Meena Bazar employs large numbers of; student, disabled and elderly workers, often paying them lower rates. In an industry with a typically high staff turnover, these workers offer a higher level of loyalty and therefore represent desirable employees. (E)conomical Factors Economic factors are of concern to Meena Bazar, because they are likely to influence demand, costs, prices and profits. One of the most influential factors on the economy is high unemployment levels, which decreases the effective demand for many goods, adversely affecting the demand required to produce such goods. (S)ocial/Cultural Factors Current trends indicate that British customers have moved towards one-stop and bulk shopping, which is due to a variety of social changes. Meena Bazar have, therefore, increased the amount of non-food items available for sale. Demographic changes such as the aging population, an increase in female workers and a decline in home meal preparation mean that Bangladesh retailers are also focusing on added-value products and services. In addition, the focus is now towards; the own-label share of the business mix, the supply chain and other operational improvements, which can drive costs out of the business. National retailers are increasingly reticent to take on new suppliers. (T)echnological Factors Technology is a major macro-environmental variable which has influenced the development of many of the Meena Bazar products. The new technologies benefit both customers and the company: customer satisfaction rises because goods are readily available, services can become more personalized and shopping more convenient. The launch of the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) initiative provided the shift that is now apparent in the management of food supply chains. Meena Bazar stores utilise the following technologies: Wireless devices Intelligent scale Electronic shelf labeling Self check-out machine Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Industry Analysis: Porters Five Forces Threat of New Entrants The Bangladesh grocery market is primary dominated by few competitors, including four major brands of Agora, PQS, and many small chain shop. That possess a market share of 70% and small chains of with a further 10%. Over the last 10 years, according to, the grocery market has been transformed into the supermarket-dominated business. Majority of large chains have built their power due to operating efficiency, one-stop shopping and major marketing-mix expenditure. This powerful force had a great impact on the small traditional shops, such as butchers, bakers and etc. Bargaining Power of Suppliers This force represents the power of suppliers that can be influenced by major grocery chains and that fear of losing their business to the large supermarkets. Therefore, this consolidates further leading positions of stores like Meena bazaar and Agora in negotiating better promotional prices from suppliers that small individual chains are unable to match. In return, Bangladesh based suppliers are also threatened by the growing ability of large retailers to source their products from abroad at cheaper deals. Bargaining Power of Customers Porter theorized that the more products that become standardized or undifferentiated, the lower the switching cost, and hence, more power is yielded to buyers Porter M. Meena Bazars famous loyalty card Clubcard remains the most successful customer retention strategy that significantly increases the profitability of Meena Bazars business. In meeting customer needs, customizing service, ensure low prices, better choices, constant flow of in-store promotions enables brands like Meena Bazar to control and retain their customer base. Threat of Substitutes General substitution is able to reduce demand for a particular product, as there is a threat of consumers switching to the alternatives Porter M. In the grocery industry this can be seen in the form of product-for-product or the substitute of need and is further weakened by new trends, such as the way small chains of convenience stores are emerging in the industry. In this case Meena bazar, PQS and Agoras are trying to acquire existing small-scale operations and opening Metro and Express stores in local towns and city centers. Bargaining Power of Competitors The grocery environment has seen a very significant growth in the size and market dominance of the larger players, with greater store size, increased retailer concentration, and the utilization of a range of formats, which are now prominent characteristics of the sector. As it was mentioned above, the purchasing power of the food-retailing industry is concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of retail buyers. Assessment of Meena Bazar: An organizations performance can measured through some features. The features are given below and assess the Meena Bazar Human Resources Human resources are an organizations most important asset. Ultimately an organizations distinctive competences lie in the skills and abilities of its employees. Because these skills and abilities give an organization a competitive advantage, organizations must continually monitor their structures to find the most effective way of motivating and organizing human resources to acquire and use their skills. Typical kinds of change efforts directed at human resources induce (1) new investment in training and development activities so that employees acquire new skills and abilities; (2) socializing employees into the organizational culture so that they learn the new routines on which organizational performance depends; (3) changing organizational norms and values to motivate a multicultural and diverse workforce; (4) ongoing examination of the way in which promotion and reward systems operate in a diverse workforce; and (5) changing the composition of the top management team to improve org anizational learning and decision making. Assessment of Meena Bazar: Meena Bazaar have only seven outlets in Banladehs. They have 70 people who directly involved in the outlets for customer service. Another 20 personnel have worked in the background for the management of the outlets. From the assessment, found that the management of Meena Bazaar have not take any initiative for formal training of their worker who are directly involve with the custom service to improvement of the service quality. For that reason many times the worker face problems in the outlets and occur many unexpected situation. Meena Bazaar can successfully implement the organizational culture to the worker. They have a dress code in the outlets. From this the buyer can easily tress out who will serve them and can help them. Another culture is that they are very aware about the time. They have a good organizational bonding. In the Meena Bazaar there is not any reward system for the outlet managers. If there was any rewarded system to them who can achieve the highest sell in his outlet the manager will motivate to sell more and more. By which the organization can earn more and more profit. Changes in the nature of work over the last years have a reflective and alarming impact on the roles of the HR within the new modes of organizational flexibility as well as leveling power of information technology. Generally, the emergence of HRM as a universal remedy for integrating business strategy and people management has exposed personnel practitioners to a fresh set of role challenges and managerial expectations that have stressed out the gaps between the HR language and reality. Further, the attempts to capture the changing environment of the HR personnel roles in response to major transformations in the workplace, the associated rise of HRM, and the competitive advantage of the whole organization through its manpower are few aspects that HR functions embark upon. Organizations are now faced with leaner structures and increased competition which in turn are generating a rapid pace of change in the workplace. The greatest barrier to adapting to continual change lies with the management of people rather than technology. In Meena Bazar, the constant efforts of effective implementation and utilization of the HR strategies make it possible for the company to perform well in the market. The increasing profit yean in and year out is an evidence of the successful HR practice. Functional Resources Each organizational function needs to develop procedures that allow to manage the particular environment it faces. As the environment changes. organizations often transfer resources to the functions where the most value can be created. Crucial functions grow in importance, while those whose usefulness is declining shrink. An organization can improve the value that its functions create by changing its structure, culture, and technology. The change from a functional to a product team structure, for example, may speed the new product development process. Alterations in functional structure can help provide a selling in which people are motivated to perform. The change from traditional mass production to a manufacturing operation based on self-managed work teams often allows companies to increase product quality and productivity if employees can share in the gains from the new work system. Assessment of Meena Bazar: For Meena Bazaar the functional resources includes its availability of the products in every outlets. From the assessment Meena Bazaar is not fully successful to available the products in every outlets in at time. It is happen for their distribution system. The distribution system is not so strong to reach to the outlets at a time. Anther matter for the super chain shop the inventory system should be very strong. Because if the customer cannot find his / her desired regular product then can switch any time. The one of the competitor of Meena Bazaar is Agore. The agora offer the new shape of product to their customers. But Meena Bazaar can not do that frequently. Technological Capabilities Technological capabilities give an organization an enormous capacity to change itself in order to exploit market opportunities. The ability In develop a constant stream of new products or to modify existing products so that they continue to attract customers is one of an organizations core competences. Similarly, the ability to improve the way goods and services are produced in order to Increase their quality and reliability is a crucial organizational capability At the organizational level, an organization has to provide the context that allows it to translate its technological competences into value for its stakeholders. This task often involves the redesign of organizational activities. 113M, for example. has recently moved to change its organizational struchire to better capitalize on its strengths in providing IT consulting. Previously, it had been unable to translate its technical capabilities into commercial opportunities because its structure was not focused on consulting, bu t on making and selling computer hardware and software rather than providing advice. Assessment of Meena Bazar: The inventory management system should be very strong and automated in the chain super shop. The Meena Bazar have a inventory software for their inventory management. But their inventory management software is not the customized automated. If the inventory and selling information store in a central software and the central store can see the status, the management can easily send the desired product. So the technological capabilities is not so updated. By the inventory management system the manufacturing company can be benefited in many ways. The basic function of inventories is to act as a buffer to decouple or uncouple the various activities of a firm so that all do not have to be pursued at exactly the same rate. The key activities are (1) purchasing, (2) production, and (3) selling. The term uncoupling means that these interrelated activities of a firm can be carried on independently. Without inventories, purchasing and production would be completely con trolled by the sales schedules. If the sale of a firm increases, these two would also increase and vice versa. In other words, purchasing and production functions would depend upon the level of sales. It is, of course, true that in the long run, the purchasing and production activities are and, in fact, should be tied to the sales activities of a firm. But, if in the short term they are rigidly related, the three key activities cannot be carried out efficiently. Inventories permit short-term relaxation so that each activity may be pursued efficiently. Stated differently, inventories enable firms in the short run to produce at a rate greater than purchase of raw materials and vice versa, or to sell at a rate greater than production and vice versa. Organizational Capabilities Through the design of organizational structure and culture, an organization can harness its human and functional resources to take advantage of technological opportunities. Organizational change often involves changing the relationships between people and functions to increase their ability to create value. Changes in structure and culture take place at all levels of the organization and include changing the routines an individual uses to greet customers, changing work group relationships. improving integration between divisions, and changing corporate culture by changing the top management tram. These four levels at which change can take place are obviously interdependent; it is often impossible to change one without changing another. Suppose an organization invests resources and recruits a team of scientists who are experts In a new technology-for example, biotechnology. If successful, this human resource change will lead to the emergence of a new functional resource and a new technological capability Top management will be forced to reevaluate its organizational structure and the way it integrates and coordinates its other functions to ensure that they support its new functional resources. Effectively utilizing the new resources may require a move to a product team structure. it may even require downsizing and the elimination of functions that are no longer central to the organizations mission. Assessment of Meena Bazar: The organizational capabilities include the value system that delivery to the Meena Bazars customers. The main weakness of Meena Bazar is their organizational capability . Because their number of outlets is only seven and only centralized in Dhaka. They should have to expand their outlets to all over the Bangladesh. The all products of Meena Bazar have not produce in their own farm. So they have to maintain the relationship with the supplier. If the supplier is not supply the batter goods, Meena Bazar also can not serve the batter goods. To improve the quality of the served product they have to make good relation with supplier. Proposed Action Strategy 1: Product Development The retailers in the Bangladesh represent Gemcom Groups largest sales and marketing channel which encompass national and regional grocery supply stores and mass merchants. Distributors represent Meena Bazar second largest channel and generally sell to both traditional and resellers and retailers. In Bangladesh, Meena Bazars market share is still relatively high. Meena Bazar Corporation has more than distributors located in Dhaka. Strategy 2: Product Penetration The company uses the store as a venue to sell its products. This is accomplished through the use of marketing campaigns and product bundles. The company is able to build awareness of its products and brands through mass media advertising, public relations efforts and branded Internet properties. The company also makes it a point to receive feedback from its customers through market research. The company then uses these feedbacks to refine its product development efforts and marketing strategies. The company also initiated an e-commerce strategy to increase online sales and provide new innovations in business class which increases customer satisfaction. Strategy 3: Efficiency and Effectiveness Meena Bazars direct to customer model solve the problem for additional capital for marketing and sales. By selling directly to consumer it eliminated retailers along the way. One advantage of this kind of system is that the firm is continuously in contact with its customers and they are benefiting in two areas concerning sales and marketing, seeing sales trends and learning about unmet costumer demands. Strategy 4: Technology Improvement Technology is an important source of competitive advantage. And this is considered a strength of Meena Bazar because the firm enjoys better access to technology. Meena Bazar introduces the latest relevant technology much more quickly than companies with slow-moving indirect distribution channels. Techniques for change Revolutionary Change Revolutionary change is dramatic, rapid and broadly focused. This radical shift may mean new ways of doing things, new goals or a new organizational structure. The three important components of revolutionary change are reengineering, restructuring, and innovation, as described by Jones and George. Revolutionary change is appropriate within the technology industry, where swift advancements often happen. Although an organization cannot plan for every situation, scenario planning may be most appropriate to predict potential revolutionary change. In scenario planning, a business envisions possible future outcomes and creates a plan to deal with each one. Technological change increases is a process of a decision. Management can take decision it by within a meeting and implement. So the it goes under Revolutionary Change process. By setup a central server, Meena Bazar can control the inventory management system in centrally. Automated system can facilated the organization to check out inventory before the stock out. The inventory and distribution is considered as one of the most important aspects of any companies that are involved in a supply chain. It can help them to manage and control the overall flow of products of materials that are used in production and distribution. The said importance is the reason why, most of the companies are already using the technology of WMS. It is a computerized system that helps many companies to incorporate the different aspects of their operations in order to control the physical flow of their supply chain. The all outlets can easily maintain same quality and attract the customers. Benefits of invent ory system: Increased productivity of Meena Bazar managers Sales and customer satisfaction Increased profitability Mobile, real-time access to point of sales (POS) reports from store systems Easy integration with inventory management Evolutionary Change Evolutionary change is described as incremental, gradual and narrowly focused. This change is constant. Evolutionary change may be a carefully developed, long-term goal that an organization is moving toward. One tool that can promote and direct evolutionary change is strategic planning. Under the Evolutionary Change the human resource training and development is running. Because. The training and development process is not finished with in a period. The process of training is given below Organizational Capabilities developing includes make more outlets for Meena Bazar. Because people like to take everything with in the hand. So no one find the Meena Bazars out lets even though the price and the quality is more comparable to others. Another matter is that when Meena Bazar provide the discount offer the competitor also offer some benefits. So the main strength will if Meena Bazar increase its out let. The outlet increasing process is not done quickly. Because lot of research and the organizational is needed for the decision. Conclusion It seems that the major problem encountered by Meena bazaar is due to the very few outlets in all over the Bangladesh. In addition, the problems also arise because of the inadequate knowledge of its management about the use of strategic management and other management systems. This way, the empire of Meena Bazar will remain get the highest position in the chain grocery market in the Bangladesh.

Effect of the Internet on Brain and Cognition

Effect of the Internet on Brain and Cognition Robert Deichert Research Article Review Article 1: â€Å"Searching for Explanations: How the Internet Inflates Estimates of Internal Knowledge† (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Published online March 30, 2015) Matthew Fisher, Mariel Goddu, and Frank Keil, the three researchers in charge of this study, were interested in studying the Internet’s effects on the brain and cognition. More specifically, they wanted to find out if having access to the Internet for the purpose of searching for answers to general knowledge questions would increase one’s self-assessment of confidence in answering other questions unrelated to the original Internet-based questions. In introducing the topic, the researchers introduced the idea of a transactive memory system a system wherein multiple individuals encode and retrieve memories and information as a whole. This allows individuals in a group to divide cognitive tasks between group members, and it reduces the mental load on each individual within the group. As an example, in the case of a three-person hunting and gathering group, one individual may be responsible for remembering where to find food, another with how to hunt animals, and another with how to cook the food. Each individual does not have to remember all three the entire set of information is stored across the memory systems of all three individuals. All individuals are required to work together and piece together their individual stores of knowledge to hunt and gather food, and all individuals rely on each other for information. This is a transactive memory system. The idea behind this study is that, theoretically, one individual and the Internet can form a sort of transactive memory system in which the individual feels that the vast stores of knowledge on the Internet are readily accessible at any time, and the individual will feel much more confident in his or her ability to answer general knowledge questions simply because he or she can query an Internet search engine (the other party in this sort of transactive memory system) at any time and access the knowledge stored on the Internet. To test this hypothesis, the researchers used a between subjects design with two groups of participants and two conditions. Participants in the first group were asked a series of general knowledge questions and told to use the Internet to find answers. Participants in the second group were asked the same set of general knowledge questions; however, they were told not to use the Internet to find answers. After this, participants from both groups were asked to rate their ability to answer unrelated questions from various subjects. The study didn’t test actual ability to answer subsequent, unrelated questions, but rather perceived ability, or confidence. The resulted showed that participants who used the Internet to look up general knowledge questions prior to being asked to rate their confidence in answering other questions were significantly more confident in their ability to answer the subsequent, unrelated questions than the individuals who did not use the Internet to search for answers to the initial knowledge questions. Various additional experiments were performed by the researchers to account for time spent answering questions while searching the internet and whether participants were considering Internet knowledge when self-assessing confidence. Additionally, the study showed that this confidence-boosting effect is a result of having access to and using an Internet search engine. After using an internet search engine, participants were much more confident in their own knowledge and in their ability to answer any other general knowledge question, even though the knowledge was not stored in their mind but on the Internet. Article 2: â€Å"Narcissism and the Use of Personal Pronouns Revisited† (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Published online March 30, 2015) In this study, researchers wanted to determine whether or not a connection exists between an individual’s usage of â€Å"I-talk† and his or her level of narcissism. â€Å"I-talk† is the use of first-person singular pronouns such as I, me, and my. It is a commonly held belief that individuals who talk about themselves frequently and use a large amount of I-talk are more narcissistic than those who do not. However, this intuitive relationship between I-talk and narcissism hasn’t been thoroughly tested and concretely proven or disproven. The goal of this study was to definitively identify a relationship between the two, if such a relationship exists at all. Very few studies have been done on this topic, and the results of those studies have been inconsistent. Additionally, previous studies on this topic have not employed very large sample sizes. This research study’s goal was to come to a concrete conclusion on the topic by employing a very large sample size and answering a few related questions concerning the relationship between gender, I-talk, and narcissism and context, I-talk, and narcissism. To accomplish this goal, researchers set up a large database of information from over 4,000 participants and 15 individual samples collected across five laboratories in the US and Germany. Each sample contained anywhere between 68 (in the case of Sample 2) and 1,209 (in the case of Sample 14) participants. Each sample was assigned to participate in a different activity designed to identify usage of I-talk in participants. For example, in Sample 1, university Psychology students videotaped self-descriptions that were later transcribed and analyzed for I-talk. In Sample 4, university Psychology students were seated in a classroom at random and asked to individually step forward and introduce themselves to the other participants in the classroom. They also participated in various other tasks, including writing down attributes about themselves and rating the other students’ presentations. Everything was transcribed, recorded, and analyzed for I-talk usage. Other samples involved a nalyzing participants’ Facebook status updates, performing a stream-of-consciousness recording task, and other various activities designed to allow for the measurement of I-talk. Additionally, each group’s assigned task was categorized based on the context of the activity prescribed by the task. These included identity, personal, impersonal, private, public, and momentary thought contexts. After each participant in each sample group participated in the prescribed activity, he or she completed a narcissistic personality questionnaire and a self-esteem test. Most participants were administered the 40-item or 16-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem test. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that there is not a statistically significant connection between I-talk and narcissism. Participants’ self-esteem and narcissism scores had no significant correlation with their usage of I-talk. Additionally, the context of the activity did not affect this finding. There was a slightly higher correlation between male participants’ use of I-talk and narcissism than females’ use of I-talk and narcissism, but it was still statistically insignificant and near-zero, just as for the female participants. The researchers found that, contrary to popular belief, there is no connection between I-talk and narcissism, and this applies to all conversational contexts and genders. Article 3: â€Å"Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Toward a Psychologically Informed Method for Aviation Security Screening† (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Published online November 3, 2014) The researchers involved in this study identified a significant problem with current aviation security screening procedures and introduced a new security screening method of their own creation. They provide experimental evidence suggesting that their method is much more accurate and consistent in detecting deceptive passengers passing through airport security checkpoints. Currently, most aviation security checkpoints employ a behavioral method of deception recognition. Security screeners look for nonverbal behavioral cues from passengers that may indicate that the passenger is trying to deceive the security screener, including twitching, nervousness, aggressiveness, fidgeting, and some verbal indicators such as stumbling over words and hesitating while speaking. This method results in an alarmingly low rate of passenger deception detection of 5%. This is, according to the researchers, a result of the failure of this method to account for the real content of the passenger’s verbal account and the truthfulness of his or her statements. The researchers proposed an alternative method of screening called Controlled Cognitive Engagement (CCE), which was developed based on laboratory studies done on veracity testing techniques in two-person verbal exchanges. CCE does not focus on behavioral cues, but rather on the actual verbal exchange and conversation content between screener and passenger. CCE involves a security screener conducting a short, one-on-one interview with a passenger. The interviewer does not ask scripted questions; instead, the interviewer uses a process to create new questions in real time for the passenger that are based on the conversational context of the interview. CCE is trained to security screeners as an algorithm that the screeners can use while conducting an interview to create unique questions for each passenger that are designed specifically to test for passenger truthfulness. Interviewers can then analyze a passenger’s answers to all of the question for consistency and, thus, truthful ness. To experimentally test CCE and compare it to the traditional, behavioral method of aviation screening, the study employed two groups of security agents and two groups of passengers. The first group of security agents was assigned to use traditional behavior-based screening at a checkpoint, and the second group was assigned to use CCE screening. The first passenger group was a genuine group of passengers selected from individuals passing through the airport checkpoint. The second group of passengers was a sample of individuals chosen by the researchers to pass through the same security checkpoint, but with a deceptive cover story being told to screeners. The two passenger groups were matched in composition by the researchers. The researchers measured the rate of detection of deceptive passengers for non-CCE security agents and CCE security agents. The results of the study show that veracity testing methods, like the CCE method developed by the researchers, are significantly more effective at detecting deceptive passengers. Traditional behavior-based screening methods only detected about 5% of deceptive passengers in this study, but CCE, a method of veracity testing, detected 66% of deceptive passengers.

Langston Hughes :: essays research papers fc

Langston Hughes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Langston Hughes was an African-American writer of the Harlem Renaissance era. Born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1902, Langston Hughes had a rough upbringing because of all the changes that were occurring at the time. A major upset in his life was when his father left to Mexico to continue his studies in law. When Hughes was seven or eight, he lived with his grandmother who told him stories of important historical African American heroes, such as Frederick Douglas, Sojourner Truth, and she even took him to hear W.E.B. DuBois. Such tales encouraged young Langston to do great things in his life as an African-American growing up in a prejudice world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later on, Langston Hughes decided to move to New York, more specifically, Harlem, New York. Alain Locke, a black writer and educator, described it as, â€Å"Here in Manhattan is not merely the largest Negro community in the world, but the first concentration in history of so many diverse elements of Negro life†¦In Harlem, Negro life is seizing upon its first chances for group expression and self-determination.† (Bernard, p.52) Here he was introduced and also became, apart of the Harlem Renaissance. â€Å"New York attracted a large influx of blacks from the West Indies and even Africa.† (Bernard, p.53) This can better be called The Great Migration. In Harlem, Langston Hughes was exposed to the soothing sounds of Jazz and the Blues. â€Å"Hughes’ poetry absorbed the rhythms of blues and jazz†¦The sights and sounds of Harlem, it’s music†¦inspired Langston more than his classes in mining and engineering.† (Bernard, p.3 0) â€Å"The Weary Blues† and â€Å"Trumpet Player,† are two poems that demonstrate that Langston Hughes’ poetry was influenced by the music of Harlem. In the poem â€Å"The Weary Blues,† Hughes discusses his experience of watching another black artist. The fact that he is writing about his observation of a musical artist demonstrates that his poetry is influenced by music. Hughes writes, â€Å"Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon, I heard a Negro play.† (DY, p.594) Hughes is describing the artist’s actions at the moment. He describes even where this performance is taking place in Harlem, â€Å"Down on Lenox Avenue the other night.† (DY, p.594) Hughes uses the sound of the music, the actions of the artist, and his surroundings in order to form eloquent poetry. He uses intricate detail about the sounds of the music, in order to help the reader feel as if they are there themselves.

Hunger Essay -- World Hunger Poverty Food Essays

Hunger Hunger is an issue which many people think lies little importance. Im going to give you a look at World Hunger as a Picture of Poverty, how it affects Third World Nations, and How World Hunger is a disease that is plaguing our society. "Food is more than a trade commodity," pleaded Sir John Boydorr in 1946. "It is an essential to life." The first director-general of the new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Boydorr fruitlessly proposed plans for a World Food Board to protect nations and people from hunger in the world market system. That market system does not distribute food on the basis of nutritional need. This is one of the most troubling and complex realities of the world hunger problem. During recent famines in Ethiopia, in another example of the workings of the marketplace, foreign food aid begins trucked to famine areas from ships at the docks passed food leaving the famine areas on other vehicles. Merchants were taking food from famine areas to parts of the country where there was no famine. World Hunger and poverty can be seen in many ways. But first lets establish a solid definition of poverty : Poverty is a state in which the ability of individuals or groups to use power to bring about good for themselves, their families, and their community is weakened or blocked. When someone lacks food, this is referred to as material poverty. This sort of poverty can hurt people in many ways, it can hurts people's self esteem and it can also hurt their outlook on life. Lets say you come home from work to see your family, instead of seeing a family which is happy because it has a roof over its head you come home to see that your children don't have enough food on the table to keep them properly nourished. This hurts familys and tears some of them apart. It is also just a very cruel punishment because after a while of being hungry, you start to starve to death and when you starve, the body just starts to eat itself up to find the nourishment it needs. It can also effect people's outlook on life and on people in a major way. People who are denied food can start to hate life and everyone around them. There's also two instincts in life that will always kick in when your hungr y: The survival instinct which is to survive no matter what the situation is and the instinct to provide food for your family. I am not a father myself, ... ...itary force and start trying to live like Jesus would want us to and help our fellow brothers in Christ. Due to many self-centered greedy people, we have fellow humans starving to death. This can't keep going on because every time someone starves, we are not just hurting that person but we are also hurting ourselves. We all live in the world as one race with different sections. The sections being the different nationalities we have in the world. And whenever one division gets hurt, the whole gets weakened. We need to depend on each other to survive from day to day healthy. It is true the poverty is a main cause of world hunger but it isn't the only cause. If the economy was serving the people and not the other way around then more people would have the money needed to buy food to live from day to day. And if greedy governments gave some of he people money or food they would have money to buy food. If the Military stopped using so much money to make machines that kill, there would be more money for people to buy food with. And if more people cared there would be a lot less starving peopl e in this world. If this hunger doesn't end, I can see a very pathetic world in our future. Hunger Essay -- World Hunger Poverty Food Essays Hunger Hunger is an issue which many people think lies little importance. Im going to give you a look at World Hunger as a Picture of Poverty, how it affects Third World Nations, and How World Hunger is a disease that is plaguing our society. "Food is more than a trade commodity," pleaded Sir John Boydorr in 1946. "It is an essential to life." The first director-general of the new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Boydorr fruitlessly proposed plans for a World Food Board to protect nations and people from hunger in the world market system. That market system does not distribute food on the basis of nutritional need. This is one of the most troubling and complex realities of the world hunger problem. During recent famines in Ethiopia, in another example of the workings of the marketplace, foreign food aid begins trucked to famine areas from ships at the docks passed food leaving the famine areas on other vehicles. Merchants were taking food from famine areas to parts of the country where there was no famine. World Hunger and poverty can be seen in many ways. But first lets establish a solid definition of poverty : Poverty is a state in which the ability of individuals or groups to use power to bring about good for themselves, their families, and their community is weakened or blocked. When someone lacks food, this is referred to as material poverty. This sort of poverty can hurt people in many ways, it can hurts people's self esteem and it can also hurt their outlook on life. Lets say you come home from work to see your family, instead of seeing a family which is happy because it has a roof over its head you come home to see that your children don't have enough food on the table to keep them properly nourished. This hurts familys and tears some of them apart. It is also just a very cruel punishment because after a while of being hungry, you start to starve to death and when you starve, the body just starts to eat itself up to find the nourishment it needs. It can also effect people's outlook on life and on people in a major way. People who are denied food can start to hate life and everyone around them. There's also two instincts in life that will always kick in when your hungr y: The survival instinct which is to survive no matter what the situation is and the instinct to provide food for your family. I am not a father myself, ... ...itary force and start trying to live like Jesus would want us to and help our fellow brothers in Christ. Due to many self-centered greedy people, we have fellow humans starving to death. This can't keep going on because every time someone starves, we are not just hurting that person but we are also hurting ourselves. We all live in the world as one race with different sections. The sections being the different nationalities we have in the world. And whenever one division gets hurt, the whole gets weakened. We need to depend on each other to survive from day to day healthy. It is true the poverty is a main cause of world hunger but it isn't the only cause. If the economy was serving the people and not the other way around then more people would have the money needed to buy food to live from day to day. And if greedy governments gave some of he people money or food they would have money to buy food. If the Military stopped using so much money to make machines that kill, there would be more money for people to buy food with. And if more people cared there would be a lot less starving peopl e in this world. If this hunger doesn't end, I can see a very pathetic world in our future.

Freedom Writer S Film Review Essay

The film, Freedom Writers, directed by Richard LaGravenese captured the lives of underrepresented and at risk students whom lived in Long Beach, California, that were born into gang life and didn’t see their lives past than age eighteen. Erin Gruwell was a passionate young teacher keen on social change. Wanting to make a difference, she decided to teach at the newly voluntarily integrated Woodrow Wilson High School. The movie’s portrayal of stereotypes was emphasized through its technical aspects, the recurring themes of segregation and racial profiling, and the characterizations of individuals, while at the same time, the humor in the film was able to keep it lighthearted and enjoyable for the audience. The main theme of the movie â€Å"Freedom Writers† was about the prevalence of racism in public school and breaking away from the stereotypes. In the beginning of the movie, the students that were in Mrs. Gruwell’s class were clearly segregated from each other and isolated themselves into cliques. Gang wars were a part of their daily lives. The wars stemmed from older generations teaching and portraying that violence and hatred was normal. Growing up, the kids were raised to hate and fight anyone, even in school, that was a different race from them. While the other teachers had given up on these students, Mrs. Gruwell saw their true potential. Her classroom became a place where students could feel physically and emotionally safe. This film’s social relevance pertains to today. Although as a society we have improved, racial tension and gang violence still exist in public schools, but it’s important to recognize that those students are not hopeless causes. They may be considered the outsiders, but their backgrounds make them strong enough to overcome the stereotypes that have been placed on them, obtain an education, and invite change into their communities. The value of this film was teachers shouldn’t judge, or give up, on students no matter their background. Teachers need to see that these students just need a chance to show that they are capable. With the 1992 Rodney King Riots of Los Angeles in the not-so-far past, the plot of Freedom Writers became very realistic. The racial tension in the Los Angeles area had reached an all time high. This racial tension carried over into Mrs. Gruwell’s classroom. The Blacks, Latinos, and the Cambodians had all segregated. It wasn’t hard to realize that could have very well have been what many high schools in the Los Angeles and Long Beach area looked like after the 1992 riots. The way Mrs. Gruwell brought the students together did not seem realistic. When you’ve been in rival gangs for the majority of your lives, it seems like it would have been hard to be brought together over a few journal entries and a trip to the Museum of Tolerance. However, we did not grow up in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area during that time period, so we’ve no idea what the situation was like for those kids. Overall, the film was well assembled and the plot was convincing and believable. Freedom Writers had a mission. Nothing about the film was subliminal, and the characterizations were blatant. They could have helped or hurt the film’s message. The characterizations were warring factions with a mutually bred hatred for each other. The primary metaphor was war between the ghetto, little Tijuana, little Cambodia, and white people. Everyone fought for their own people, but never their own identity as they were willing to throw their lives away to be â€Å"respected†. The stereotypes of each ethnicity defined the characters at first, but as the story progressed, their characterizations became more unique and tragic. Both society and the teachers looked down upon these kids, never expecting them to go anywhere in life. The stereotypes placed upon the youths of Long Beach brings empathy from the audience because they can somewhat compare to being looked down upon. So through the horrible environment you understand the kid’s stagnancy and ignorance, but also their will to survive. With such a hard hitting subject matter and great performance, the film provoked emotions such as understanding, sympathy, inspiration, and discontent with the education system. At the beginning of the movie, you hardly ever see any of the Blacks, Latinos, or Cambodians in the same scenes. LaGravenese does this to show the racial tension that existed in Long Beach following the 1992 Rodney King riots. The different ethnic groups were only in the same scenes when they were fighting. Scenes shot in Mrs. Gruwell’s classroom did not even show different racial groups in the same shot. Once Mrs. Gruwell broke down the racial barriers at the end of the movie, LaGravenese then started to show all the students in the same scenes. LaGravenese also used lighting to help emphasize the racial divide. At the beginning of the movie, the scenes are very dark. As the movie progressed and Mrs. Gruwell began to tear down the racial divide, her classroom became lighter. She always had the blinds open and flowers scattered around the room to emphasize peace and tranquility. The choice of background music for the film subtly helped to show how the racial divide in Mrs. Gruwell’s classroom was eventually broken. At the beginning of the film, music by Tupac that talked about violence, suffering, and living in poverty was played. By the end of the movie, LaGravenese played some of Tupac’s music about hope, wealth, and prosperity. This music was played once Mrs. Gruwell had finally torn down the racial divide between the different ethnicities. The film captures the viewpoints of several students in the classroom, each fighting their own personal battle all the while capturing the relationship that is being formed between each other. With determination and passion brought by Ms. Gruwell, the students are focused on the phrase â€Å"Toast for Change,† and being a hero although just an ordinary teenager. The film’s value is to open the eyes of the audience to understand their surroundings and realize that there is much opportunity for one to make a difference just as Ms. Gruwell did as a teacher and just as her students did in each others lives. To conclude, Freedom Writer’s wonderfully portrayed how a group of students, with the help of their teacher, were able to drop their previous stereotypes and hatred of each other to live peacefully. This hatred was derived from generations of gang wars based on ethnicity, and although each teen fought for their people, they had their own personal battles as well. As students were able to open up more to Ms. Gruwell about their lives, they realized they weren’t all that different from each other. This helped form the close relationship of Classroom 203. The stereotypes of each group of students masked the identities of each individual, which invoked feelings of sympathy and disbelief from the general public. Different styles of Tupac’s music and the way scenes were shot helped to subliminally explain the divisions between ethnic groups and how they became united. While the film may not be the most theatrically beautiful, the message it gives holds a priceless value.