Flaws with Utilitarianism Essay

Among the most glaring problems that I see with Utilitarianism is its inclusion of animals under the umbrella that blankets this theory. It seems irrefutable that there exists an inordinate number of cases where the consequence that is against the best interest of an animal is favorable to humans, yet that dictating action is one that has been continually taken and condoned by the general public. This is a fundamental challenge, as the Utilitarian philosophy decrees that the pleasure and pain experienced by all individuals, including animals, has equal worth and must be considered when determining the net benefit of an action’s consequences. The most drastic and prevalent of examples that one could provide to illustrate this contradiction would be the practice of using animals to provide food. It cannot be argued that it is in the best interest of a cow, a chicken, or another animal to be slaughtered to serve the dietary needs of mankind. Accordingly, Utilitarian reasoning suggests, in direct opposition to the intuition of humanity, that it is morally impermissible to kill the animals. While a Utilitarian philosopher might provide the counter-argument that such is natural order of the world that there exist a hierarchical food tree. Further they would insist that the greater good is that humans be nourished and provided for by the meat, for our pleasure is superior in quality to that of the beast. This reasoning, however, is flawed in two ways. Initially, the method by which meat finds its way to grocery stores for our purchase and eventual consumption is not one governed by the ways of nature, but rather is one engineered for efficiency by humans. Animals are bread forcibly, then nourished with specific intent of managing fat content, meat flavor, and healthiness, each of which discounts the Utilitarian claim that nature makes our carnivorous methods ethically permissible. Secondly, and perhaps more fundamentally, such a claim is in direct contradiction to the Utilitarian tenet that each individual has equal value regardless of identity or stature. Because humans could be sufficiently nourished without the killing of animals, it cannot be argued that the consequence of causing death to an animal is equivalent or less substantial than that of feeding a man. Conversely, there exist equally as many challenges to raise had the ethicist taken the alternate position that animals have equal value and accordingly that their pleasure is impermissibly infringed upon when they are killed for human interest. Arguments could be presented for a bevy of actions taken on a daily basis by society as a whole. One might address the fact that using animal testing for the advancement of medicine has benefits that outweigh the pains. Similarly, while the development of land effectively kills the previously animal inhabitants, it is an accepted result that society has displayed it is willing to disregard. In each of these cases, the majority of society condones such behavior, as evidenced by their existence as common public practice. While it is undeniable that opposition to each behavior does exist, the magnitude of this resistance is far outweighed by those in finding the long term benefits worthy of the negative consequences. In the end, it grows apparent that while it may be valuable to consider the interests of animals when calculating the net benefit of a given action, neither their pleasure nor their pain should be equated to ours. Such a principle has been introduced through the ethical thought experiment The Dilemma of the Swine. Resultantly, human existence constitutes higher pleasure that does that of an animal and we are often better served by making such a distinction through intuitive analysis rather than applying â€Å"Hedonistic Calculus. † The fact that Utilitarianism can be forced into contradictions regardless of the stance they choose makes the inclusion of animals under their ethical umbrella a significant problem.

English & American Literature an Overview Essay

A.INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS Literature is said to be one of the passages of emotions and feelings to the environment – an expression of thoughts, opinions and the things they want to aspire and change and to all things a person is sensing. It is also a way to make a passive way of expression, like what Dr. Jose Rizal did to build flames of independence in our country. It is also like art or music, but literature is said to be more expressive and elaborative, yet not other people can be pleased by any form of audio-visual forms. Literature is said to be any kind of written text that expresses whole expression and feeling. A simple sentence, a word or even a symbol like and apostrophe or a period can also be considered as a literature. Other forms of literature include: a sweet lullaby your mother used to sing when you as a baby, a rock song you are like or a novelty song that made a major trend in the entire planet, or a simple hum. See, there are a lot of examples of literature and we are living with it since we were born until our last breath. This research will discuss an overview about the two of the most influential countries and their literature: the English and American literature. It is said that these countries became the rivals of the 1st generation of the Earth according to the historians. Englishmen or the people of England and the Americans have distinct cultures, types of government and the literatures that they are progressing up to now. These countries progress in their own ways by means by their own perspective of history and culture that affects their food, music and most especially their literature. B.STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The main focus of this research is about the distinct differences of two cultures in terms of the literatures: the English and American literature. English Literature, literature produced in England, from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century to the present. English literature shows the historical traces of their country. American Literature, on the other hand, was influenced by the British during their colonization in the early times. C.PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this study is to know the difference of English and American Literature and how they influenced each other’s perspective of creating literature. It also focuses on the importance of the two types of literatures that the readers will be interested to know and it builds interest on the things that the literatures have in common. D.RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESIS The research questions for the study will be: 1.What is English Literature? 2.What is American Literature? 3.Is there a significant difference between English and American Literature? What factors affected their differences? 4.Is there a significant relationship between English and American Literature? 5.What is the importance of knowing the difference and relationship of two literatures? 6.How can it influence the readers and our country? E.SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS This research focuses the difference, importance and influences of English and American literature. It limits the study in other forms of literature around the world or a part of the world except the literatures of England and America. CHAPTER 2 – BACKGROUND A.LITERATURE REVIEW In this part of the chapter, we are going to explore the literatures of both countries, from the moments of past to the modern times. English and American literature’s differences and relationship can be scrutinized if the research will start at the beginning of existence of both literatures. A.1 ENGLISH LITERATURE According to angelfire.com, â€Å"English Literature, literature produced in England, from the introduction of Old English by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century to the present. The works of those Irish and Scottish authors who are closely identified with English life and letters are also considered part of English literature.† the basis of the English language today is based on the Anglo-Saxon language. The British people started to explore and invade lands during the 5th century. English poetry is focused on â€Å"bold, strong in form and spirit† themes and the use of alliteration in their poems. The classic poetical piece, Beowulf was written during the 8th century. It was one of the critically-acclaimed pieces of history. Because of the poem Beowulf, there were other poems written that time such as â€Å"Dream of the Rood† by Cynewulf, â€Å"The Wanderer† and â€Å"The Seafarer†, which were considered to be the most beautiful poems. English pros e, on the other hand, influenced by Christianity. The imposing scholarship of monasteries in northern England in the late 7th century reached its peak in the Latin work Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum (Ecclesiastical History of the English People, 731) by Bede were considered to have the greatest influence in English literature. During the Middle period, some Italian and French literary pieces were influenced the English literature. There was the weakening of English literature until the Renaissance age (1485-1660) came. Vast literary pieces were published and influence the way how British read and create literary pieces. Works of some authors like Sir Thomas More and his work Utopia (1516) passively expressed the most influenced words to the Englishmen. There is also the famous works of William Shakespeare, breaking records and brought the most influence through his literary works. Some of which is â€Å"Romeo and Juliet†, Hamlet (1601?), Othello (1604?), King Lear (1605?), Macbeth (1606?), and Antony and Cleopatra (1606?)—look deeply into the springs of action in the human soul. There were a lot of changes after the existence of Shakespeare’s tragedies and dramas but there is still the influence of the Holy Bible and the church in most of their poetry and prose. A.2 AMERICAN LITERATURE The influence of English language truly dominated the American soil. According to Wikipedia,†The first item printed in Pennsylvania was in German and was the largest book printed in any of the colonies before the American Revolution.† The Spaniards and the Frenchmen had the biggest colonies in America and the literary works that can be published in English language are only available in England. Native American tribes have also their literary works that they used as rituals for ceremonies and celebrations.

The Face in the Mirror Was Not Mine

The face in the mirror was not mine! What was going on? † Andrea thought. Now let me explain to you how this all happened†¦ Andresen's morning started off like every other day. School went well, and the evenings with her mom, dad and 2 older sisters followed the same routine as every other Thursday night. â€Å"Tonight everything is going to change for me. At 11:11 pm my biggest dream will finally come true,† Andrea thought as her wise father rambled on about what a colleague had said at lunch time.Her mother had noticed that she was being oddly quiet, and said to her: â€Å"Darling, you've barely touched you're food. † Andrea replied to her that she was going through the lessons she had learned at school today. Later on that very same night Andrea looked on her wall-clock with the French-styled twirls and saw that it was only 10:11 pm. So she decided to revise her wish: â€Å"I wish that my inner beauty would shine out onto my body and face. † The rea son for this specifically detailed wish was the fact that Andrea had never been particularly pretty, and they always say â€Å"Inner tatty shows on the inside and outside†.So Andrea always believed that her inner beauty, when brought out, would outshine her looks on the outside because she was always friendly and helpful and never complained about anything. As Andrea went on mumbling and thinking about this over and over, she had not noticed that it was already 1 1 :05 pm. Luckily she had set an alarm on her phone earlier on for seven minutes past eleven. So as the time drew nearer Andrea embraced herself for what might or might not happen. As soon as her clock showed 11:11 pm, Andrea made her sis.She suddenly felt a tingle on her spine, and after that her whole, entire body started to ache and her entire felt like she was burning. Her terrible screams woke the entire household and they rushed into her room, only to find that there was a strange, odd-looking creature on their daughters' bedroom floor. Andrea then started speaking and said: â€Å"Mom, dad; what are you doing in my room? † And all they did was point to the mirror standing in Andresen's room so that she may see what red-skinned, hunch backed creature she had become†¦

Quaility management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Quaility management - Essay Example Therefore, total quality management is a customer driven process (Rawlins, 2008, p. 37). This paper seeks to discuss the assistance available to organizations seeking to improve quality. Total quality management is meant to focus on customers and non-customers. It is mandatory for the organization to ensure their major decisions are focused on the customer. Moreover, an organization is bound to carry out a research on customer perception about its service to know of its strength and weakness in order to effect appropriate improvements. In addition, having an understanding of non-customers will help an organization to have an insight on the modalities employed by the competitors. Secondly, an organization should ensure that it maintains continuous improvement. A good organization will have a service research program that managers will always consult when making decisions. Service quality information will assist in identifying any major shortfall likely to occur and a swift action will be taken (Oakland, 2003, p. 230-233). Moreover, employee’s involvement is essential for proper total quality management achievement. Employee research is just like customer research. Employee can be used to review the quality of nay service before it is released to the consumer as what happen internally to an organization affects the service offered to the customer. Employees are also aware of the problems and challenges that affect the quality of any service offered by a particular organization. Additionally, ensuring teamwork between employees will act as a benchmark for quality service delivery. Workers will be motivated to serve at their level best and will be able to accept quality criticism. Team involvement may also act as a source of motivation to proper service delivery. Moreover, open discussion in an organization should be encouraged and employee

Financial Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Financial - Term Paper Example 900,000 ?1,600,000 ?1,850,000 ?1,100,000 ?2,225,000 Discount Factor @ 12% Cost of Capital 1.00 0.893 0.797 0.712 0.636 0.567 Present Value (?5,150,000) ?803,700 ?1,275,200 ?1,317,200 ?699,600 ?1,261,575 NPV ?207,275 NPV:-?5,150,000 + ?803,700 + ?1,275,200 + ?1,317,200 + ?699,600 + ?1,261,575 = ?207,275 The Net Present Value of a company is the value of a future number in terms of today. It basically helps in finding out a project’s is profitability. It requires finding out the present value of each future cash flow discounted at a specific value, which is the cost of capital of the project given in the form of a percentage. It uses the concept of discounted cash flows. Time Cash Flow (?5,150,000) ?900,000 ?1,600,000 ?1,850,000 ?1,100,000 ?2,225,000 Yr 0 Yr 1 Yr 2 Yr 3 Yr 4 Yr 5 Cash Flow (?5,150,000) ?900,000 ?1,600,000 ?1,850,000 ?1,100,000 ?2,225,000 Discount Factor @ 14% Cost of Capital 1.00 0.877 0.769 0.675 0.592 0.519 Present Value (?5,150,000) ?789,300 ?1,230,400 ?1,248 ,750 ?651,200 ?1,154,775 NPV (?75,575) NPV = -?5,150,000 + ?789,300 + ?1,230,400 + ?1,248,750 + ?651,200 + ?1,154,775 NPV = (?75,575) Payback Payback = 4,250,000 – 900,000 (Yr 1) – 1,600,000 (Yr 2) = 1750000 ? 1,850,000 (Yr 3) * 12 Payback = 2 Years and 11 months This is a technique used to measure the feasibility of projects in terms of the number of years that it takes to pay back an initial investment. It is measured in number of years till full recovery and the following formula can be used to measure it. Payback = No. of years prior to full recovery + Unrecovered cost at beginning of year/Cash flow during full recovery year. Payback basically represents the period of time during which the initial investment gets recovered. IRR: To calculate IRR, a negative NPV would be calculated. Hence a discount factor of 14% is selected. IRR = LDR + [PV1/PV1-PV2]* (HDR-LDR) LDR = Lower Discount Rate HDR = Higher Discount Rate Pv1 = Present Value at Lower Rate of Return Pv2= Pre sent Value at Higher Rate of Return IRR = 12% + [207,275/ 207,275 – (-75,575) * (14% - 12%)] IRR = 13.46% IRR is the value where the NPV is equal to zero. It is the optimal value where a project is most beneficial. IRR can gauge the profitability of a proposed investment by taking into consideration the concept of discounted cash flows. IRR is not very easy to be calculated as any other accounting measure such as NPV and if done then it does not give accurate answers. It is done on a trial and error. b) Provide a rationale for your treatment of initial research, depreciation and working capital, supporting your answer with links to theory briefly indicate other considerations which might also affect the decision Initial research would not be included within the Net Present Value (NPV) calculation. This is because the initial research cost had already been incurred before starting the project hence the cost was deemed to be a sunk cost. Sunk costs are not to be included within the NPV calculation because these costs have already been incurred and that do not affect the decision of either commencing or aborting any business plan. Depreciation costs do not get included within the calculation of NPV. This is because depreciation is a non-cash item and the NPV purely constitutes cash related items with respect to the time value of money. Although depreciation expense is only included within the NPV calculation in order to ascertain the Tax savings. The tax savings on allowances allowed by the tax authorities are only included

Blacks and televised news Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Blacks and televised news - Essay Example Most of the sections of the media that have a maximum of white representation, do better in terms of citizenship and attracting the masses, as well, leading to a poor contribution of black people to the news. Black people are stereotypically very outgoing and social and like to be portrayed by the media as yet another group or community of people who are waiting to be heard by the rest of the world. However, they are not able to reach out to the masses and are subdued when it comes to the local news. Local news channels have the ability to showcase whatever they want to; the broadcasters and producers of the channel or the show get to decide whether or not to represent certain pieces of the news and thus, because of this reason, black people are not able to gain much representation on the local news. Furthermore, the local news gives very less importance to crime news with white people and thus if there is black representation, it is mostly about crime and vandalism, because this is what flatters the US audience. Despite this, a number of black women state that, â€Å"Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism. Yet this critique must always be contextualized or we risk making it appear that the problem of misogyny, sexism, and all the behaviours this thinking supports and condones, including rape, male violence against women, is a black male thing.† (Brooks, Dwight E.) Black women and men however are suppressed by the community and even though they might have a very outgoing personality, they are not able to show case the same through the news. A lot of statistics show that black people as compared to white people have a 6:1 ratio of being televised because national and local networks portray them on channels and shows that do not require much intelligence. This leads people to believe that they are not

Management Accounting at Hospital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management Accounting at Hospital - Essay Example According to the survey, there is more than 60 percent of them have been in the Hospital for less than one year. Among the HR professionals, there was 38 percent of them had an increased employee turnover in the past 12-18 months; 53 percent stayed the same, and only 9 percent had decreased. For the laundry supervisor, there was 23 per cent of individual contributors, professionals, first-level leaders, and mid-level executives somewhat or likely to leave within the next year. This study shows that employees in Chinese firms are likely to change their job quite often. This is because it is hard for them to stay in the Hospital for a long time. Moreover, studies done by Owens (2006) argue that finding and remaining high qualified laundry supervisors is the greatest problem in the Hospital. Therefore, turnover rates in the Hospital are quite high. This creates room for the prediction that turnover rates in the Hospital’s SMEs may be even higher than the results of this survey. T his is because SMEs are more informal and unstable than MNCs. (Owens, 2006, p. 71). Hence, it is necessary to research the aspects that could influence turnover in SMEs. In Chinese manufacturing firms, voluntary employee turnover is becoming an expensive problem. The issue is even worse for SMEs (Owens, 2006, p. 101). If SMEs have the power to compete against the larger ones, working conditions for employees are poorer than larger companies, and poorer working environment would be an obstacle to retain employees. The characteristics of employment relations in the Hospital’s SMEs are different from State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Joint Ventures (JVs) or large private the Hospitals (Owens, 2006, p. 112). SMEs have limited resources, both compensation packages and career enlargement, which can be the key motive for high employee turnover rates in SMEs. However, SMEs could remain employees through other methods and do not depend only on compensation packages. According to the hie rarchal of needs theory (Owens, 2006, p. 71), human beings have different levels of needs. There are basic levels which could be fulfilled by extrinsic rewards. Nevertheless, people could only be motivated by intrinsic rewards at higher levels. Hence, firms could remain employees by recognition, care, and career advancement, which are all intrinsic motivators. Thirdly, the laundry supervisor turnover intention after training could be influenced by alternative job opportunities. When there are increased external job opportunities, employees are more likely to leave the Hospital after training. In other words, skilled employees are more attractive to employers. This makes him more likely to seek Hospitals that provide better extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. In (Owens, 2006)’s study, it argues that respectable performers are more probable to depart from the firm than awful performers. Outstanding performers have more job alternatives than those who do not perform well. Not surpr isingly, there are studies focusing on the positive correlation between training and turnover intention. However, studies in this field are still not enough. It has been proven that the more training provided by firms in Asia, the higher level of employee turnover. One of the reasons to explain this is the ‘expense of cheap labor’.

Alex Ovechkin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alex Ovechkin - Research Paper Example Like most hockey players, Ovechkin found his love for the game at a very young age.   He was two years old when he first picked up a hockey stick  in Moscow department store. Whenever he saw a game on television he would drop what he was doing and not allow his parents to change the channel. He soon became obsessed with hockey and rarely missed a televised game. He was yearning to soak up every ounce of knowledge he could. His parents say they knew he would be an athlete when Alexander chose to run up the steps to their apartment rather than take the elevator. He began playing hockey at the age of 7, having been introduced to it formally by his older brother Sergei. In 1992, he started playing for Dynamo youth team. Unfortunately, most of the other players on his team had already been playing hockey for some time. Alex was especially concerned when the coach asked the team members to skate backward figure eights. He was not familiar with how to skate backward at all. But, his coa ch still noticed his enormous talent. During this time, Alex’s favorite team was Moscow Dynamo. His hero was Alexander Maltsev, the club ’s greatest star. Maltsev retired a year before Alex was born, but through stories and TV highlights, the boy decided that Matsev was his man. At one point, his parents were no longer able to get Alex to hockey so Sergei stepped in and made sure that he could get his little brother wherever he needed to go.   He was one of the first to notice the talent in Alex, and he wanted to be sure he was able to use it. Unfortunately, years later an event would happen that would change Ovechkin’s life forever.   His older brother Sergei, in his early 20?s at the time,  was tragically killed in a car accident.   To this day Ovechkin still credits his brother for introducing him to and pushing him to continue playing hockey.   Many say his passion for the game comes from this tragic event and to this day, when he scores, Alex will often kiss his glove and point to the sky in a salute to his brother. As Alex moved up the ranks of Moscow Dynamo’s competitive youth hockey program, he began to draw attention with his powerful skating and quick, accurate wrist shot. He was a hard worker and though very offensive-minded, he was a devoted team player. Alex could raise spirits with a goal, a pep talk or a good back-check. He had that extra dimension as a person and was a player who was clearly the product of a terrific sports family. Before becoming a professional, Ovechkin was already making a name for himself in the Dynamo Moscow  system when at 11 years old he broke Pavel Bure’s record of 53 goals by scoring 56 of his own. He began his professional hockey career at the age of 16 for Russian hockey power Dynamo Moscow  during the 2001-02 season.   By the time he was 18, he won the  Russian Superleague award for the best left-wing  in the league for the 2003-04 season and was the youngest pl ayer ever to lead Dynamo Moscow in scoring. This was his breakthrough. He netted 23 points in 53 games and was voted the Superleague’s top left wing. At first glance, his stats did not seem to warrant superstar talk, but this perspective soon changed. Comparisons to Ilya Kovalchuk, the Russian star drafted first overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2001, were inevitable. The two were indeed similar players, although Alex was a bit more of an end-to-end performer. Kovalchuk, by contrast, was never known for his

Is war an inevitable feature of international relations Essay

Is war an inevitable feature of international relations - Essay Example Historically, mankind has engaged itself in bloody conflicts from time to time. Fighting over power, religion, resources, money, and freedom has been the order of the modern world. Some people opine that war is avoidable and unnecessary, but the reality is, war is something that can never be avoided. War is an inevitable occurrence in the modern world economies, where politics, conflicts over resources and supremacy of power has taken centre stage. Propaganda has been heavily used not only in the past but also today. In fact, much of the military propaganda is motivated towards making yourself into a stronger figure that many emulate. This is popularly seen in the ads such as the army slogans, "Not Just Strong, Army Strong", the Marine Corps. Slogan, "Which Way Will You Run?", and "The Few, The Proud" With these types of the ads, they promote the idea of joining the military force while glorifying the idea of going into the battle (Singer, 2011). The media has also contributed immensely in glorifying war today. For instance, the movies that we watch are constantly being produced about the war in the Middle East. Films such as â€Å"The Hurt Locker†, the United States is highly glorified because of how they depict the three-man bomb squad and the lone Humvee clearing the buildings (Kamber, 2010). Indeed, when the idea of the battle is being glorified, the idea of the war is even more appealing. Therefore, propaganda is a reoccurring trend, and the conflict is the turning wheel of the violence and tension. If indeed these trends have held the film industry for centuries, can the cycles be stopped? Psychology is the most convincing perspective about how war is the inevitable feature of the international relations. In one of his articles titled, â€Å"War Inevitable?†, E.O. Wilson states that, "Our bloody nature, it can now be argued in the context of modern biology, is ingrained because group-versus-group competition was a principal

Pension Fund SWOT Analysis & Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pension Fund SWOT Analysis & Strategy - Essay Example However, cannot be defined accurately but it can be felt and sensed. Likewise, an organization has its own culture, rules and regulations to follow. Organizations are like societies; therefore, they have their own parameters. If the rules, regulations and parameters are followed strictly and the productivity outcome is excellent, the organization has strong organizational culture. Otherwise, the organizational culture is weak, it is not implemented strongly, or there are weaknesses in set parameters. Significant benefits are obtainable through strong organizational culture. Nonetheless, it is possible when the fundamental of survival structured on ability of an organization regarding changing and acquiring. Thus, strong culture is a liability for an organization (Mobley, Lena and Kate, 128-139). However, strong culture requires SWOT analysis of all the stakeholders of an organization. Five significant external and internal factors There are five significant external factors, which in fluence positively or negatively the environment of an organization. 1. Customers: The customers of an organization are the core external target of an organization. The customers can be pursued through marketing, and attractive corporate knowledge. An organization needs clients to sell its products; therefore, it is necessary to increase clients. Moreover, strong client’s organization attachment is mandatory. 2... In addition, the understanding of economic helps to target new markets. 4. Competition: The target markets and ways of business are attached to competitive environment. The organization can decide to enter in a less competitive market or can chose to enter directly in a full competitive market. The market planning of an organization is a decisive factor for success and failure. Clearly, the planning is devised according to competitors’ moves. 5. The public rating: If an organization, fails to gain public support or falls into a scandal it would lose significant business. Public relation professionals are hired to influence public opinion regarding the reputation of an organization. Similarly, five environmental factors affect the internal environment of an organization. They are following: 1. Organizational resources: factors like management techniques, good will, and reputation of company, decision-making models, procedures, and systems are organizational resources. 2. Techno logy: proprietary knowledge, technological skills, patents, licenses, procedures, computers, IT etc. are technological factors. 3. HRM: hiring and decide the ability of an employee through monitoring, dichotomize sales people, engineers, IT people etc. management and supervision of working environment. 4. Physical resources: buildings, vehicles, inventories, land, equipments and plants are physical resources. 5. Financial capital: the availability of new equity, debt capacity, cash flow in sales and purchase and other related dimensions. If an organization does not have skilled staff, it would exhibit weak leadership of the organization. Poor leaders are unable to recognize talent among workers. Moreover, due to their own weak performance

Business Ethics, Ethic Dilemma, Manual of conduct Essay

Business Ethics, Ethic Dilemma, Manual of conduct - Essay Example The conflict mainly occurs when dubious decisions are made within an organization and these decisions can lead to major disputes that might even demand legal resolution. Therefore, the ethical requirements that organizations must abide by should be properly and clearly defined to give business owners the opportunity to properly follow them and avoid any legal repercussions that may otherwise result. Put simply, the ethical decision making process is therefore a set of well-established procedures within any given organization that helps in evaluating the best course of action among several options, while working within the ethical requirements of the industry in question.   For our research into ethics we have chosen Chiquita Brands. Chiquita Brands has, in the past, embarked upon ethically questionable actions that we have chosen for our case study dilemmas. These dilemmas include the child labor that Chiquita employs on their banana plantations in Ecuador and the funding of a right-wing paramilitary group in Colombia. Both of these predicaments are equally appalling acts that contain a number of loopholes that release Chiquita from guilt. Chiquita is a leading global produce company involved in the banana trade. Our company is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, but Chiquita Banana and our subsidiaries employ over 20,000 people located in over six continents. Although our company is now dedicated to our core values of Integrity, Respect, Opportunity and Responsibility, over the many years we have been in operation, like any other organization, we have been forced to deal with multiple ethical dilemmas in a business environment. These have even resulted in the organization having trouble with the law. Among such issues were the use of child laborers in our methods of production and the possible payment of multiples sums of money to criminal organizations in South American countries for protection. The last issue,

Is Ritalin Over Prescribed Essay Example for Free

Is Ritalin Over Prescribed Essay After reading the selected critical issue, use the following questions to analyze the issue. 1. What are at least two facts presented by each side of the critical issue? Pro There were more than a dozen reports of cardiac arrest or heart failure between 1985 and 1997 due to Ritalin use. In one study, Ritalin use reduced the expected monthly weight gain by 25%. Con Stimulants have proven to be effective in improving behavior, school work and social adjustment from 50% to 95%. For 30% to 45% of children with ADHD, the use of stimulants will improve their behavior but not be normalized. 2. What are at least two opinions presented by each side of the critical issue? Pro Children taking stimulants frequently become very depressed or suicidal. Stimulants can cause a variety of mental abnormalities. Con It is a myth that the use of stimulants stunts a child’s growth.   There is no research to prove that children taking stimulants are at more of risk for abusing other drugs during their teenage years. 3. What are some of the strengths associated with the Pro side of the issue? What are some of the weaknesses? The Pro side has a large amount of scientific data and several studies to help support their argument for the negative side effects of stimulant use. The Pro side is very convincing using the many data tables to depict the harm that stimulants can cause to children. They use several different sources to support their argument. The Pro side does not explore the other side of the argument whatsoever. While they have a substantive amount of data, it is not compared to the number of children who experienced no negative side effects while using stimulants. This would have caused their percentages and numbers to be much smaller. 4. What are some of the strengths associated with the Con side of the issue? What are some of the weaknesses? The Con side effectively argues that Ritalin and other stimulants are very useful in treating and normalizing children with ADHD. The Con side also explores the other side of the argument by admitting that some children do experience negative side effects. An entire section of the argument is dedicated to discussing the side effects of stimulants. The Con side of the argument is supported by a great deal of research and data. Weaknesses of the Con side include not using cited sources to support his argument other than his own. 5. How credible were the authors of each argument? Explain your answer. Physician, Peter R. Breggin, was convincing in his argument that stimulants are harmful to children and is overused. He used several sources and data from other research teams to support his argument. Psychologist and ADHD researcher, Russell A. Barkley is very convincing in his argument that Ritalin and other stimulants are important parts of intervention for children with ADHD. It is apparent that he accomplished extensive research to write his book and present this argument. 6. Based on the statements presented in this critical issue, which author do you agree with? Why? This is a difficult question to answer. While I know there are many side effects associated with the use of stimulants, I have witnessed the more positive aspects of using these drugs. Barkley’s extensive research and presentation of his findings is very convincing. That partnered with real life experience using these stimulants, causes me to agree with Barkley. 7. Which side of this critical issue does contemporary research support? Please provide specific examples in your response. The Pro side is more supported in contemporary research. Pro: There are several articles and journals that I have found that support the Pro side of this argument. Ritalin is thought of as the â€Å"quick fix† for ADHD. Because it is an amphetamine, Ritalin has a high rate of abuse and concerns some parents, teachers and physicians. Some say that they feel pressured to give or recommend medication to children before they can perform a thorough evaluation of a student. There is also a concern that Ritalin is being prescribed to children too young to solve normal behavioral problems (Huber, 2002).

Hong Kongs Economic and Sustainable Growth Policies

Hong Kongs Economic and Sustainable Growth Policies Chief Executive Office of the Chief Executive Tamar Hong Kong In my capacity as the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, I take pressure to write to you express my views on specific economic policies which are the essential features of Hong Kong’s economic development and the sustainable growth. From that perspective, the Hong Kong Government (HKSAR) should concern various factors within the region, in terms of the introduction of junk food tax, human resources and labour force, international trade and technological forces, environment protection and urban renewal planning etc, which are directly affected the social and economic conditions in Hong Kong. This paper addresses to how the HKSAR to reach this position and how it sustains its comparative advantages in conducting meaningful and purposive economic policies in short, medium and long-term over the next five years.. Short-term goal: The introduction of junk food tax The Chamber suggests the introduction of junk food tax on fattening foods or beverages by the HKSAR. According to the 2012 Behavioural Risk Factor Survey (2012), it revealed that 36.6% of the Hong Kong population aged 18 64 was classified as overweight. Therefore, Junk food tax refers to a tax placed upon fattening foods or beverages on attempt to reduce saturated fat consumption, from December 2011 to November 2012 Denmark introduced It is generating support in America, a country with rising obesity rates. http://www.tax-news.com/news/Healthy_Revenues_From_Mexican_Junk_Food_Tax____64781.html http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.hk/2010/03/junk-food-tax-reader-ideas-opinions-and.html http://www.studymode.com/essays/Junk-Food-Tax-1398531.html Hong Kong has a simple, predictable and low tax system. Medium-term goal:- Human resources and labour force As recently the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom report has mentioned that Hong Kong is rated as the freest economy in the world (Opulentus Overseas Careers Pvt Ltd 2015). The Chamber suggests the adoption of women workers that promotes a balanced and gender equality in our local labour market. Although some commented that the roles of women should be stayed at home to look after the children, it is even less true in the modern society. This is because the aging population and the low fertility rate will give rise to a population deficit, it leads the government encourage more women back to labour market (China Economic Net 2013). As of the latest government edition of â€Å"Women and Men in Hong Kong – key statistics† showed that there was shortage of men in Hong Kong. It represents there are only 864 men for every 1,000 women (The Census and Statistics Department 2014). In order to develop women’s employment opportunities, the HKSAR may consider encouraging women to return to work by providing additional employment training and tools, for example, on-the- job training. Moreover, it would be good to introduce whole-day child care services and after-school care service which could eliminate the concern of working women for the well-being of their families. I believe such approaches are favourable to Hong Kong’s economic growth and beneficial to economic production. This help to increasing the supply of labour and will raise labour productivity in medium-term. Medium-term goal: International trade and technological forces Following to the open door policy, Hong Kong is now a major trade and financial centre where depends heavily on trade. Nevertheless, many countries now regard Hong Kong as a developed economy and exclude its products from preferential export treatment, such as subject to quota requirements and suffer higher tariff rates (Augustine 2003, pp. 93-5). To tackle the trade restriction, the HKSAR should appeal to the World Trade Organization through international negotiation with foreign countries which able to promote the growth of industries and conduct the international trade relationships. On the other hand, we recognise that developing a global network may also create a new global economy powered. With the rapid shopping online nowadays, the use and integration of information and communication technologies in business has revolutionized relationships within organizations and those between individuals and organizations (Totonchi Kakamanshadi 2011, p. 270). Therefore, the HKSAR should bring about investment in technology innovation to enable cross-border trading activity without the constraints of business location, scale and time zone. It probably would imitate the shopping engine, like Tobo in China which has increased its e-commerce offerings, makes online shopping easier and more efficient. This strategy allows Hong Kong to maintain substantial economy growth with the increased logistics demand and will bring in new revenue to the industry. Long-term goal:- Environment protection Increasingly, global warning, holes in the ozone layer and population growth etc, are some of the major problems facing in our city. These caused adverse effects of our health and the image of the city. Responses to these problems seem likely to be driven by government. It is suggested that the HKSAR re-examine our environmental protection policies with the implementation of new sustainability policies to ensure Hong Kong people are in full awareness of environment protection and conservation. For example, a move by government to encourage the use of alternative sources of energy such as solar energy that is advocated energy saving living. We are also highly recommended the HKSAR tend to plant as much as trees not only in our country parks, but also along the roadside and around the schools. This is because tree plantation in our community is to help offset the emission of carbon dioxide and stop the global warming. As a result, the standard of living will be increased and we will become healthier that enriched the life of Hong Kong people to future generation. Our economy will also grow and benefit from spending less on healthcare and increasing of the labour productivity. Long-term goal:- Urban renewal planning It is no doubt that the land in Hong Kong is always a highly scare resource. In view of this, the HKSAR should take an active role in maximum the utilization of the scare urban land. The Chamber suggests that undertaking high-density development as well as builds more public rental housing onto the housing market in the next five years. For example, the HKSAR could probably redevelop the old public housing estates to improve the quality of urban living and increase in housing supply. Effective land uses from high –density living will provide support to the HKSAR’s long-term housing policy. Subject to the high-density building development, it is not only helps provide scale economies, but also allows Hong Kong residents more likely to be affordable. These are also ideal help to reduce the pressure to develop open spaces and release more lands for social infrastructure and services. In the longer-term perspective, it is therefore to support economic stability and prosperity which is to meet the market demand. http://www.medwelljournals.com/fulltext/?doi=pjssci.2010.244.253 Many countries embarked as rebuilding efforts, characterized by demolition of old dilapidated areas, large-scale clearance of city slums and construction of modern high-rises after the war. Large-scale redevelopment created many social problemsand encouraged many city planners and scholars to question its effects and functionalities. Indeed, large scale renewal and redevelopment efforts have been criticized for neglecting the complexities of the urban fabric; it is not only uneconomical but also damages the city’s heritage and degrades various socio-environmental qualities. http://ucsfhr.ucsf.edu/index.php/pubs/hrguidearticle/chapter-12-managing-diversity-in-the-workplace/ http://en.ce.cn/subject/exclusive/201311/07/t20131107_1721448.shtml it would be good to introduce more specific incentives for women in the older age groups to upgrade their skills and knowledge Our economy will grow and benefit from these changing demographics if businesses commit toOpulentus Overseas Careers Pvt Ltd The Government welcomes more concerted efforts to build a more caring, compassionate and harmonious society. It is therefore most encouraging to note the growing interest of the business sector and the more affluent members of our community in poverty alleviation. We stand ready to work hand in hand with all sectors to improve the well-being of the disadvantaged and light up their lives with hope and dignity. Reference List A. J. Youngson. 2014, Hong Kong: Economic Growth and Policy, Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 43, no.4, pp. 754-755. Augustine W.S. Li 2003, Introductory Economics 4, Longman Hong Kong Education., Hong Kong. China Economic Net 2013, HK seeks women workers as aging population looms, viewed 21 January 2015, http://en.ce.cn/subject/exclusive/201311/07/t20131107_1721448.shtml>. Christopher, S 2011, Hong Kong’s Expanding Obesity Problem, Journal of the Wall Street, viewed 24 January 2015, http://blogs.wsj.com/hong-kong/2011/01/10/hong-kongs-expanding-obesity-problem/>. Edward. NG 2010, Designing high-density cities, Earthscan, New York. Fifarek, B. Veloso, F. 2010, Offshoring and the global geography of innovation, Journal of Economic Geography, vol. 10, pp. 559-78. Opulentus Overseas Careers Pvt Ltd 2015, The Freest Economy In The World Hong Kong, viewed 21 January 2015, http://www.opulentuz.com/immigration/news-details/the-freest-economy-in-the-world-hong-kong/2437>. The Census and Statistics Department 2014, Women and Men in Hong Kong – key statistics, 2014 edition, Hong Kong. The Department of Health 2012, Obesity, viewed 23 January 2015, http://www.chp.gov.hk/en/content/9/25/8802.html>. Totonchi, J. Kakamanshadi, G. 2011, Globalisation and e-commerce, 2nd International Conference on Networking and Information Technology, IACSIT Press, Singapore.

Unfair Dismissal Legislation

Unfair Dismissal Legislation In this paper we will examine the tension between unfair (employee) dismissal legislation and the autonomy of managers to run their departments as they see fit. Interestingly, the question refers to managers right to manage their employees: It should be stated at the outset, unlike the rights afforded to employees by legislation and the common law, which are enforceable rights per se; there is no such right enshrined in the law to protect the autonomy of managers. It is also interesting to note that the question does not ask us to d iscuss the degree to which unfair dismissal legislation takes away managers right to manage their employees effectively or well, or ask us to comment upon whether or not the suppression of managers autonomy is a good or a bad thing for the development of a healthy and effective commercial workplace. We will argue in this essay that such an assessment is central to the question of this paper. After all, for example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which seeks (inter alia) to regulate the conduct of Police Officers, might well be seen to take away rights of the police to arrest citizens, but only does so to protect the citizen from unconstitutional and unacceptable authoritarian practices. Likewise, in the case of unfair dismissal legislation, if the effect is to prevent poor management practice, then this cannot be seen as a negative thing. The worry is that such legislation will interfere with good management, by creating expectations in the minds of employees regarding the standard acceptable processes which govern their employment and as such, might prevent managers from taking the initiative to be creative and progressive in their management approach. The question therefore boils down to whether or not the current unfair dismissal legislation in the UK is sufficiently flexible to allow management creativity to blossom to the advantage of all stakeholders in the employee-management-employer relationship. Unfair dismissal of employees is governed by Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by Part 3 of the Employment Act 2002. The right to not be unfairly dismissed is defined is s94 of the 1996 Act, and s95 of the same act outlines the circumstances which are capable of giving rise to a breach of this employment right. Hepple and Morris (2002) p255 comment upon the amendments to the unfair dismissal legislation introduced by the Employment Act 2002: â€Å"[T]he new statutory standard and modified disciplinary procedures, broad in conception but minimalist in their requirements, ‘are so rudimentary in nature that they afford little protection to employees[and] ‘fall significantly short of the requirements of the current ACAS Code and of the standards of reasonableness developed by tribunals†. This would seem to suggest that this legislation has had little impact upon curtailing the right of managers to manage their employees, especially in light of the fact that there is no significant deterrent effect arising from the remedy contained in s34(6) of the 2002 Act, which only entitles an unfairly dismissed employee to four weeks pay compensation. It also seems apparent that s34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 has reversed the case law decision of Polkey v A. E. Dayton Services [1988] in which it was decided that employers (and, more importantly, their managers) should be reasonable in their choice and use of employee dismissal procedures. S34(2) of the Employment Act 2002 introduced s98A into the Employment Act 1996, subsection 2 of which states: â€Å"[F]ailure by an employer to follow a procedure in relation to the dismissal of an employee shall not be regarded for the purposes of section 98(4)(a) as by itself making the employers action unreasonable if he shows that he would have decided to dismiss the employee if he had followed the procedure.† Again, there is nothing in this section which would suggest that managers rights to employ their own styles of disciplinary procedure have been curtailed: As long as the procedures employed lead to a decision identical to that which would have been generated through adherence to the standard dismissal procedures contained in the UK Employment Acts. It might be argued that that this procedural latitude will not be enforced to its full extent, and therefore that employers and their managers cannot rely upon its provisions to escape liability for nonprocedural conforman ce, but, as Collins (2004) reports: â€Å"The potential width of this exception should not be underestimated†. In regards to this amendment and also to the introduction of the ACAS code under the Employment Act 2002, Smith and Morton (2006) write: â€Å"In spite of government declarations, it is not clear how the ACAS Code and case law can impose a higher procedural standard than the statutory procedures in an unfair dismissal claim, although the test of a reasonable employer (whose action will fall within the range of reasonable responses) remains. Henceforth an employer defending a dismissal may argue that adherence to a procedure above the statutory minimum or the ACAS Code would not have led to a different outcome.† It would therefore seem that, under the new unfair dismissal regime, employers have even more latitude to escape liability for unfair dismissal by procedural unfairness and therefore, even less reason to reign in their managers by insisting on extra training or standard management practices. It should also be noted that under the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulations 2001, the maximum award available to an employer from an employee who unsuccessfully brings a claim in the employment tribunal has been substantially increased as it now, by virtue of the Employment Tribunal Regulations 2004, can also include non-legal preparation costs. This must serve as a deterrent to employees from making frivolous and/or poorly constructed claims for unfair dismissal. Ans so, our analysis of the UK legislative framework on unfair dismissal all point to a conclusion that this regime does not have any significant effect upon the right of managers to manage their employees, so long as the procedures utilized are synonymous by result. However, there is often a big difference between the legal impact of legislation and its cultural effect. Let us now perform a literature review of several key sources in the field of employee management to see if the practical and real effect of the amended unfair dismissal legislation has been to curtail the creativity of managers or otherwise interfere with their right to manage their employees, effectively or otherwise. The first point which can be identified from the literature is that the legislation on unfair dismissal has had different effects on different sized of business. Whilst the research is relatively out of date, it seems clear that the small business sector has been the least affected by the formal dismissal regime. As Harrison et al (1998) write: â€Å"The major studies (e.g. Dickens et al., 1985) are now dated and there have been few attempts to up-date earlier assessments of the impact of unfair dismissal legislation on small firms (e.g. Clifton and Tatton-Brown, 1979; Daniel and Stilgoe, 1978; Evans et al., 1985). This research and the periodic WIRS surveys (Millward et al., 1992) indicated that small businesses were less likely to have formal disciplinary procedures than larger businesses. This would suggest that small business managers autonomy to manage in their own way has not been significantly ‘taken away by the UKs unfair dismissal legislation and its enshrined standar d procedures. This is confirmed by the findings of a case study analysis by Harrison et al (1998) who found that: â€Å"The presence of a formal written disciplinary procedure does not, of itself, ensure that it is applied/observed by all managers, nor that common disciplinary standards will be applied to all employees, or even to all employees in the same occupation, grade, etc. For example, two instances were found where the senior site manager in multi-site companies in the catering sector was not familiar with the requirements of their companies written procedures. Harrison et al (1998) also found, from their interviews, that managers in this sector took a flexible approach to disciplinary action. The problem with this is that the approach is likely to differ from manager to manager with the result that the only way companies can maintain consistency is not to change, remove or replace senior managers: â€Å"[T]here was evidence from many of the interviews of a â€Å"flexible approach† being taken to disciplinary actionThis â€Å"flexibility† plainly has its strengths, but it inevitably also raises issues of perceived consistency or inconsistency among employees of actions taken by different managers [I]ts potential effect on both employee morale and on potential unfair dismissal claims and outcomes, was a principal reason why many organizations have restricted the right to dismiss to senior managers.† Interestingly however, the interviews conducted across multi-site organizations revealed that â€Å"managers were able to draw on the wider resources of their organizations, including the advice and expertise of HR/personnel specialists. In some cases these specialists became involved in helping line managers to handle disciplinary cases, usually with the effect of avoiding major discrepancies.† This would suggest that the UK unfair dismissal legislation has had a noticeable impact upon the rights of managers in larger organizations to manage their employees, the procedures clearly being taken seriously if outside help is being drafted in regularly. In pages 457-458, Harrison et al (1998) discuss the effect of unfair dismissal legislation on ‘management style. They confirm our earlier conclusion that Managers are still acting autonomously despite the unfair dismissal legislation: â€Å"There are acknowledged difficulties in attempting to categorise management styles in organisations, not least because they may vary from one manager to another, and from one situation to another.† McCabe and Rabil (2001) write convincingly on the rights of employees and the impact of these rights on employers and their managers. At page 34 they write: â€Å"‘[T]he most critical right of employees is the right to due process (Velasquez, 1982, p. 327)[D]ue process involves a system of checks and balances, it increases the objectivity of decisions‘the topic of due process in work organizations calls for much greater conceptual development, practical experimentation, and systematic research (Aram and Salipante, Jr., 1981, p. 198). Prima facie, these respective statements seem to conflict with one another: On the one hand, McCabe and Rabil talk of ‘objective decision making, and yet on the other, they talk of the need for ‘practical experimentation. However, I would argue that, rather than being mutually exclusive, these observations demonstrate the ability for fair management autonomy to co-exist with principles of due process, if not necessarily consisten cy. Managers can implement their own style of disciplinary procedures into a workplace as long as these implementations are perceived as subscribing to the princinple of due process and the end effects of these implementations are consistent with the outcomes which would have been reached under the statutory procedures. This confirms what we postulated earlier in this essay; namely, that the unfair dismissal legislation does not significantly impede effective and fair management autonomy, but simply prevents managers from managing their employees in ways which are inappropriate or do not follow the principle of ‘due process. As McCabe and Rabil (2001) write: â€Å"Not all managers know how to manage their work force effectively, nor do they all treat their employees fairly. A good due process system cannot make managers manage more fairly. It may provide a strong incentive for them to do that, but if they don t know how, the process itself will not teach them. In conclusion, I would argue that since the inception of the Employment Act 2002, which amended the unfair dismissal legislation contained in the Employment Rights Act 1996, the UKs legislation on the unfair dismissal of employees is sufficiently flexible to allow employers and their managers the autonomy to create and implement their own employee management procedures, so long as these procedures are capable of yielding fair and equitable decisions. Thus, in response to the specific question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees? I would argue that it has significantly taken away this ‘right. However, in relation to the more important question, to what degree has the unfair dismissal legislation taken away managers right to manage their employees fairly and effectively? I would argue that it has not taken away this right significantly.

The Paper Of Great Things -- essays research papers

THE PAPER OF GREAT THINGS In the novel The God of Small Things by Arudhati Roy a relationship between a family is shown and the painful past comes through several memories and the presence of the caste system in India is used to juxtapose right vs. wrong. A very powerful closeness is observed between the two main characters and through their relationship one of the main themes of love through obscurity is showcased by the symbolism and diction used by Roy. Several other themes are shown in the novel and highlight the journey the human soul goes through in such trauma and desperation. The bond that the twins share and the manner in which they relate to others directly portray how humans can communicate on a deeper level. The lack of emotions or apathy that is expressed through this twins as a result of their past shows the pain that some endure as a result of other’s severe actions. The symbolism of emotions shone only through remembrance of the past and the repercussions that those reflections have on the present lives of those involved is illustrated through the story of the twins as well. This novel showcases a family struggling to overcome the tragic events of the past and how they are forced to heal with hurtful emotions and express pain through distinct bonds, apathy, and frequent flashbacks to a carefree time that was so full of opportunity and endless faith.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bond that the twin’s share shows the severity of pain that some can experience and how close people, who have needs and desires, can become as a result. â€Å"When life was full of beginnings and no ends and everything was forever, Esthappen and Rahel thought of themselves together as me and separately as we or us† (Roy, 4). The twins are closer than most families and share a connection that bonds them emotionally as well as mentally and allows them to feel each other on another level. â€Å"Rahel and Estha are fraternal twins whose emotional connection to one another is stronger than that of most siblings† (Gale research). The events that have occurred to both of them throughout their lives have allowed them to mold nearly into one being for fear of the pain that could affect them both. â€Å"Their childhood household hummed with hidden antagonisms and pains that only a family member could have given one another†(Gale research). Bl ood is thicker than water, the feelings that... ...). The duality of their personalities blends to create one soul intensifying the emotions they individually experience but then re-create and experience all over again. â€Å"She has other memories too that she has no right to have†(Roy,8). They are so connected mentally that any thought that enters his head will echo through hers. The same is true of the feelings they intensify by sharing and manifesting inside one another.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The three different symbol that surface throughout the novel mean so much more than they are described as and all represent the challenges that one much overcome to endure and cope with extreme pain. Whether a person find sanctuary in another person or inside his or her own soul there is always hope for the soul you can save, your own. â€Å"The God of Small Things is a demanding novel that provokes many questions regarding the conflict between human desire and deep rooted emotions†(Gale research). The view of this family is highly aimed at everyone in some way and the pain they endure and how they learn to deal with tumultuous emotions that threaten every shred of dignity, ray of hope, and heart beat of love that lies inside every person.

Analysis of the Absorption of Green Light Versus Red Light Absorption i

Analysis of the Absorption of Green Light Versus Red Light Absorption in Spinach Leaves The goal of the experiment was to determine if green light had less ability to absorb than red light in spinach leaves. This was done by separating the photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotene and xanthophylls) from one another using paper chromatography. The separated pigments were then analyzed for their absorption spectrum using a spectrographometer. When the data was graphed it clearly showed the higher rate of red light absorption over green light. These results along with previous research indicate the importance of red light in photosynthesis and the minor role green light plays. The majority of life on Earth depends on photosynthesis for food and oxygen. Photosynthesis is the conversion of carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates and oxygen using the sun’s light energy (Campbell, 1996). This process consists of two parts the light reactions and the Calvin cycle (Campbell, 1996). During the light reactions is when the sun’s energy is converted into ATP and NADPH, which is chemical energy (Campbell, 1996). This process occurs in the chloroplasts of plants cell. Within the chloroplasts are multiple photosynthetic pigments that absorb light from the sun (Campbell, 1996). Photosynthetic pigments work by absorbing different wavelengths of light and reflecting others. These pigments are divided into two categories primary (chlorophyll) and accessory (carotenoids) pigments. Chlorophyll is then divided into three forms a, b, and c (Campbell, 1996). Chlorophyll a is the primary pigment used during photosynthesis (Campbell, 1996). This pigment is the only one that can directly participate in light reactions (Campbell, 1996). Chlorophyll a absorbs the wavelengths of 600 to 700nm (red and orange) along with 400 to 500nm (blue and violet) and reflects green wavelengths (Lewis, 2004). Chlorophyll b has only a slight difference in its structure that causes it to have a different absorption spectra (Campbell, 2004). The carotenoid involved with spinach leaf photosynthesis absorbs the wavelengths of 460 to 550nm (Lewis, 2004). The pigments are carotene and its oxidized derivative xanthophylls (Nishio, 2000). A wavelength is determined by measuring from the cr est of one wave to the crest of the next wave. All the wavelengths possible are... ...2 520 0.06 0.049 0.01 0.005 0.09 540 0.06 0.06 0.01 0 0.088 560 0.08 0.065 0.01 0 0.09 580 0.125 0.076 0 0 0.111 600 0.15 0.091 0 0.005 0.122 620 0.21 0.09 0 0.005 0.148 640 0.24 0.3 0 0.005 0.195 660 0.99 0.18 0.01 0.01 0.495 680 0.18 0.03 0 0.01 0.09 700 0.03 0.01 0 0 0.028 720 0.01 0.01 0 0 0.02 Figure 2: The absorabancy spectrum shows how absorbent the photosynthetic pigments are at different wavelengths of light. Note: Green light is between 500 to 570 nm and red light is between 630 to 720 nm. References Campbell, N.A., â€Å"Biology,† New York: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1996, 182-200. Karohl, D., â€Å"Principals of Biology I Laboratory,† Lorain, Lorain County Community College, 2003, 65-71. Lewis, R., â€Å"Life,† Boston: McGraw-Hill , 2004, 97-114. Nishio, J.N., â€Å"Why are higher plants green? Evolution of the higher plant photosynthetic pigment complement,† Plant, Cell and Environment, 2000, 23, 539-5

Drama and Theatre Studies structured records

‘Use of space' explored the broad topic of social and professional satisfaction and happiness. In order to highlight the universal implications of our piece, we decided that it was necessary to use diverse characters allowing the audience to identify with aspects of each persona's issues. Initially, we brainstormed several different problems that could affect an individual's happiness in the work place, and came up with the fundamentals for five characters. The original basis of my character came from my own anxieties towards life. During devising we were contemplating university choices and starting to arrange our lives after college. As a group we all felt anxious and many felt a lack of direction. This insecurity we felt towards leaving the secondary education system, led to the creation of Pamela (the character I played. ) After discussing Pamela's initial characteristics, focusing on her feelings of anxiety and confusion we had to decide her plot. Her lack of control and direction led us to create her objective to gain a secure role in the work place to solve her anxieties. After creating the fundamentals of each character we discussed as a group their characterisation. The role of Pamela primarily emerged through a series of role-plays. Firstly, I performed as her character in different situations allowing me to develop her personality. The remaining members contributed as supporting characters in the role play and often suggested ways to present her. I feel that my understanding of Pamela's persona emerged during the staging of her box monologue. Through this monologue we hoped to communicate to the audience Pamela's feelings of anxiety and confusion towards her professional future. As a group we felt the most effective way to portray this was through the use of physical theatre, therefore, the remaining members of the group adopted the role of a maze in which Pamela was metaphorically trapped. During the staging of this sequence I had to deliver my monologue whilst struggling through a figurative maze. As a performer I was sensitive to my characters claustrophobic feelings allowing me to successfully communicate her anxieties to the audience. Throughout the staging of this monologue the remaining group members concentrated on the performing space I was given. Although it was frustrating for me to be contained to a very small performing area, it allowed me to sympathise with my characters feelings of confinement and eventually resulted in a very successful portrayal of Pamela. During devising our characters, we were aware that each individual had to adopt a dream persona in the ‘fantasy' scenes. We hoped to communicate to the audience contrasting characteristics in these persona's, to highlight their desire to escape the frustration they feel towards reality. Whilst creating the character Angela's ‘fantasy' persona we analysed the reality Angela. Angela shows boredom towards her monotonous life. Through her character we hoped to communicate to the audience the necessity of having hobbies and dreams. The fantasy Angela emerged through the improvisation of a Latin American soap opera. We created the vivacious and dramatic character Maria who starkly contrasted Angela. As a group we agreed that the performance of Maria should be melodramatic and exaggerated to further contrast Angela's tedious reality. It was important to introduce a character for Maria to interact with to inject more energy into the scene. Through discussion we settled with a clichi love story and decided to introduce a male character who Maria is having an affair with. It was essential for this scene to maintain intense energy levels to contrast with the previous office scene. Firstly, we researched typical novella characters to influences our roles. I suggested that the group members in this scene (Helia and Payam) should highlight the sexual attraction between the characters. Initially this provoked awkwardness between Payam and Helia; therefore, we felt it was necessary to introduce an activity to make the two more comfortable with each other. We used several team building exercises to make Helia and Payam more physically comfortable with one another; the most successful was the leading the blind exercise. Through this exercise the participants were forced to be more sensitive towards each other, in partners one partner was chosen to lead the other blindly by the tip of the nose. Through constant contact and reliance this was very successful in making Payam and Helia more at ease. Similarly, it helped to distance the novella character to the actor. Through exaggerated physicality and melodramatic acting techniques the actor was dissociated with the character. Costumes successfully contributed to the portrayal of my character in the murder mystery fantasy. I played a stereotypical, stock detective character originally based on the Agatha Christie character Hercule Poirot. Initially I struggled to effectively portray this character because it was such a contrasting role to my reality. Physicality was a very important aspect of this character because of the desired effect we hoped to achieve. We had chosen to use melodrama and clichid anecdotes, therefore, it was important that the audience drew parallels between my character and Poirot for comedic effect. Through further independent research I discovered Poirot's defining feature was a French trench coat, and I decided to rehearse wearing this item. Surprisingly, the trench coat allowed me to connect with Poirot's physicality and personality, through wearing the coat my characterisation improved and allowed me to successfully perform as a response to Poirot. How the group planned for a range of responses from the audience. Initially we intended to present a serious production highlighting the importance of life satisfaction parodied through working life, based in an office. However, during the initial devising stages we decided to introduce fantasy scenes to contrast the monotonous office scenes and highlight the significance of dreams and ambition. As a group we showed interest towards comedic genres and felt that these would juxtapose the natural and static nature of the office scenes. However, although many of our fantasy scenes were intended for humorous effect a few were interpreted by the audience as humorous without intent. Fortunately, we decided to perform a dress rehearsal to a mock audience to gain an understanding of the successful aspects of humour the results were unexpected. Through devising the silent movie fantasy scene, we were expecting humorous results due to the slapstick nature of the comedy, however, we had to take into account the clichi and overexposed format of the silent movie. As a group we discussed the possibility that the audience would not react well to this scene due to the lack of originality. Throughout popular culture for the past fifty years in some opinions this genre has been exhausted, therefore we had to be prepared for an underwhelming reaction towards this particular scene. In order for the humorous response to be successful we decided that the content of our silent movie had to be obviously inspired by original content. As a group we decided that we were not going to aim to be original in this scene but aimed to create a polished and skilful tribute to silent films. It was important for us to consider different attitudes towards comedic genres. In particular silent films and slapstick comedy often generate various opinions. Through discussion we discovered that in our group of five alone there were several different opinions regarding slapstick comedy. Personally, I contributed an annoyance towards the genre explaining that I found it tedious, patronising and often crude. However, contrastingly, Payam presented his enthusiasm towards slapstick comedy and defended his fondness towards slapstick comedians such as Lee Evans and Charlie Chaplin. Therefore we were initially prepared for an audience varied responses to the slapstick moments throughout our piece. This discussion led us to consider our target audience. Due to the content of our play we discussed that it transcended a fixed target audience, any age group could respond to the implications and the messages we were hoping to portray. However, because of the universality of our play we discussed different attitudes towards aspects of the play. Firstly, we evaluated that a younger audience would react better towards the humorous aspects especially ages between 12 and 19, therefore we decided to target the humour to this age group. We initially decided to do this by exaggerating our humorous stereotypes and characters physicality to the extreme. However, during a viewed rehearsal run it became apparent that our characterisations needed to be exaggerated, especially in our silent movie scene. Through discussion we came to the conclusion that older audience members would react well to the stereotypes used in out murder mystery fantasy. In particular the detective stereotype took inspiration from the fictional character Poirot. Generationally, we were aware that a younger audience member would be alienated by the introduction of this stock character because they would not be able to identify with the original. The characterisation of the detective also played a large reliance on the audience members, creating a pantomime like effect. Whilst playing the detective character I often made eye contact with the audience and projected jokes to them, therefore their reactions were very important at these stages. We used lighting to gain more audience reaction during this scene by up lighting the audience subtly allowing the performers to see their reactions and in turn play off their reactions to the humour. During the novella fantasy scene, melodrama was employed. An argument between Carlos and Maria the Latin American characters led to Maria slapping Carlos around the face. This prompted a shocked reaction amongst the audience because they were not expecting it. Difficult reactions from the audience- racist generalising Latin American, stereotyping French maids, stereotyping in general we had to be sensitive towards the audience whilst approaching these scenes. Explore the impact of social, cultural and/or historical conditions on your devised piece. – Vicki Marks. Our devised piece ‘Use of Space' is socially and culturally influenced by traditional conventions of popular culture. Foremost, we decided to exploit the familiarity of these conventions to highlight social perils. Most poignantly we decided to highlight the implications of a female in the workplace and comment on the fact that women still earn substantially less from their employment than men. We chose to emphasize this by going against traditional clichis. Primarily, the character of Nicky symbolised an ambitious business women hoping to succeed in the workplace. To highlight her characters struggle to be successful we altered the traditional female clichi. We felt that typical stereotypes of women came from medieval genres; furthermore the clichid format was a damsel in distress being rescued by her knight in shining armour. For this social comment to be accessible to the audience we simply chose to invert the roles of the typical damsel in distress and knight in shining armour. This resulted in highlighting the fact that women are capable of metaphorically ‘rescuing' themselves, in turn reaching success without help, showing the capability of women and hopefully promoting sexual equality in the workplace. Additionally, through our research into the presentation of women in conventional medieval drama, we learnt the historical relevance of female roles. In a traditional damsel in distress story women are patronised and demeaned. To emphasise the inequality between the sexes we chose to use contrasting levels. For example we chose to place the damsel on higher levels than the knight; this allowed the damsel to take a more commanding role. However, throughout we made constant references to the traditional format through humour, by showing the characters awareness of the reversed roles. I feel that this was very effective because we were culturally aware that a modern day audience would be aware of the clichi allowing it to become humorous in itself. Whilst devising another characters fantasies we settled on the concept of a traditional Latin American soap opera. We chose to use this format to contrast the tedious nature of the characters work life. This idea initially was influenced by the popular television series ‘Ugly Betty' showing clips of traditional Latin American soap opera's or novellas. This genre was particularly useful because of the melodramatic acting techniques used, to give this scene authenticity we chose to have the characters speak a few words or phrases in Spanish and maintained a Spanish accent throughout. Surprisingly, the use of accents and clichid Spanish phrases created a comedic effect, the audience reacted well to this humour. To further the humorous effect we exaggerated the Spanish personalities getting inspiration from the Mexican cartoon character ‘Speedy Gonzales' which allegedly depicts a stereotypical Mexican. Through popular culture we were aware of many of the love clichis also apparent through this scene, in particular the over poetic declaration of love using the analogy of the ‘fake red rose. ‘ Initially, we wanted to explore the format of a silent film in order to highlight the importance of communication, but were anxious to use such a challenging convention on stage and were worried that the audience would become confused. However through research we were able to adopt this style very successfully. Silent movies were made before technical advances allowed an audience to view a film with both images and sound. We wanted to make our silent scene as authentic as possible therefore through our research into silent movies we noticed the projection speed and decided to significantly slow the scene down; some scenes were intentionally slowed down further in order to accelerate the action, particularly in the case of the slapstick moments. One of the main messages of our production was the importance of job satisfaction. There have been many recent surveys and articles surrounding job prospects and the amount of people dissatisfied in their current job placements. We therefore decided to show a group of characters that want to break free from the confinements of an unsatisfying job to highlight the importance of passion and dreams. We feel as young adults embarking on our working lives and starting to make important decisions that will shape our futures, it is very relevant that we have shown our anxieties towards working life. Work related stress is also socially rife especially in western culture therefore; through one of our characters we showed the importance of maintaining hobbies outside of a job to hopefully indicate that money is not the most important thing. Use of Space is an escapist piece; the fantasies represent each character hoping to escape the constraints of their tedious, impassionate lives. Dream worlds are a commonly used plot device in fictional works, most notably in science fiction and fantasy fiction. The use of a dream world creates a situation whereby a character (or group of characters) is placed in a marvelous and unpredictable environment and must overcome several personal problems to leave it. The dream world also commonly serves to teach some moral or religious lessons to the character experiencing it a lesson that the other characters will be unaware of, but one that will influence decisions made regarding them. When the character is reintroduced into the real world (usually when they wake up), the question arises as to what exactly constitutes reality due to the vivid recollection and experiences of the dream world. How acting techniques or design elements and the use of dramatic form were consciously employed to achieve intended effect. The dramatic form of ‘use of space' was inspired by abstract theatre. Our devised piece does not follow a typical chronological time sequence; it has a warped sense of time due to our introduction of ‘fantasy' scenes. Dreams allow the repressed parts of the mind to be satisfied through fantasy and let the mind express things that would normally be suppressed in the waking world. Dreams may also offer a view at how future events might proceed; this is similar to running future events through the mind, for instance a work presentation or a job interview. As a group we identified dreams as an interaction between the unconscious and the conscious. Therefore we wanted to highlight the contrast between reality and fantasy. To begin with we discussed using contrasting lighting effects to show an obvious transaction between reality and fantasy. To express the abstract, fantasy scenes we felt the audience would react well to pink colour fill lighting. This was successful because, the unnatural pink lighting allowed the audience to be aware of the abstract format of the scene. We also relied on the audience's familiarity with clichi dream scenes shown in popular culture. Dream worlds are a commonly used plot device in fictional works, most notably in science fiction and fantasy fiction. Lighting is often used similarly when representing a dream, often flashing lighting is used and mists to show the audience the unreality. As a group we took this into account and decided to use soft lighting throughout the ‘fantasy' scenes by using a flood effect to fill the whole stage. Flash lighting was also used subtly during the transaction from a reality scene to a fantasy scene. We decided as a group to only use subtle flash lighting during the transition because we did not want to reproduce the clichi formats of a dream sequence, we felt that this would undermine the intended serious messages we were trying to relay to the audience. Firstly each fantasy scene is triggered by an action and a simple freeze frame to link the office reality to the dreams. This use of gestus was an acting technique developed by Bertolt Brecht which reflects the characters emotional conflict through a brief frozen action. Gestus was employed during the transaction from my characters monologue to her fantasy scene. As a group we discussed our desired effect of the gestus and decided to show an obvious link between the character's emotional conflict and the freeze frame, for the audience's accessibility. We therefore decided to each come up with a simple freeze frame highlighting the principal emotions of my character, due to the lack of direction my character was feeling we chose to physically interpret the emotion confusion. Coincidentally, each member of the group similarly replicated a curled up freeze frame with their hands clasping their heads. As a group we decided that this composition showed the audience the characters basic feelings of confusion. Sound plays a big part in our production. Our opening scene begins with a metronome to highlight the artificial nature of the office scene and the rhythm of a monotonous life. We decided to open with a metronome to cause a feeling of anticipation through the audience; the ticking rhythm exaggerates and builds tension therefore immediately engaging with the audience before the action begins. The metronome rhythm also acted as a beat to keep our opening routine in time. The beat and the routine showed the audience the typical rhythm of an unsatisfying job. Due to the intimacy of our staged environment we decided not to use microphones because we wanted the sound to be raw and natural even in the fantasy scenes to accentuate the fine line between dreams and reality. This also made the audience feel close to the actors and therefore able to relate to the performers more easily. However to contrast this effect we chose to show all costume changed on stage employing the popular Brechtian technique Verfremdungseffekt through using this we hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was, in fact a construction. During the silent movie scene we used clichi silent movie music. We wanted to stay authentic to a conventional silent film therefore we had a pianist. This music contributed to the atmosphere and gave the audience vital emotional cues. Silence is also an important tool in our production because it is in contrast to the loud interludes of music for example in the silent movie fantasy. Silence was often used after intense sections of dialogue or monologue. For example during my characters monologue the volume levels of my voice were used to create intensity building up to a climax. The silence during my characters gestus freeze frame is poignant because when the sound is taken away the audience begins to focus more on the movement and the emotion of the character, the silence intrigued them. There are many different characters and settings in our play; therefore we decided that our set should remain very neutral. We designed our set in a deliberately ambiguous way, so we could move easily between fantasy and office scenes. We decided that altering the layout of the stage and the set between each scene would prove noisy and would distract the audience's attention. We were however very aware that a permanent set would become boring and the audience would lose interest, nevertheless we decided through rehearsals and a practice production that the intensity of the action made up for the lack of set changes. We used two black oblong boxes as the fundamentals of each scene, occasionally changing the positioning of them to create a different atmosphere. We chose not to have a specific setting contributing to the representation of free-flowing images within the characters mind. However, we decided to introduce an element of decaying society preoccupied by work ambitions and promotions through the use of broken computer monitors, keyboards, mice, and disks positioned around the stage. This gave the stage an overall look of disarray and immediately introduced the audience to the conflict within the characters in the production. How research material was gathered and used within the process. – Vicki Marks To begin the devising process our group was presented with five quotes that took inspiration from different aspects of life, this supplied us with an excellent starting point for developing a challenging piece of theatre, however our initial responses to the stimuli shaped our early work and many aspects were later changed as the piece matured. Firstly each member of the group decided separately which quote inspired them and worked towards abstractly analyse the meaning of these quotes. As a group we were drawn towards the quote â€Å"fear is a dark room where negatives are developed. † We felt that this quote gave us enough scope to produce a brainstorm surrounding the analysis of it. After analysing the quote through a brainstorm we decided to focus on the idea of fear. These fear aspects of the quote lead our group to research and gain an interest surrounding common phobias. As an initial response to phobias we decided to explore phobias that restrain and dominate everyday life. As a group we were interested in the psychological effects of irrational fears, through discussion, we realised one of our member's arachnophobia and decided to research real life stories showing the influences of phobias. We began to gain an understanding of the psychological effects of living with an irrational fear, this allowed us to contemplate the way a person living with a phobia views the world. This topic particularly appealed to our group because three of the members were studying a course in psychology and took a specific interest in phobias. Through research we were drawn to highlighting different perceptions of the world, this is initially why we decided to show a dream or fantasy of each character. I was currently studying Margret Atwood's dystopian novel â€Å"A Handmaid's Tale. † And inferred parallels between dystopian societies and living with a life altering phobia. As a group this led us to discuss the concepts of normality and initially directed us to create a dystopian society to base our phobic characters in. However, we felt that through creating a dystopian society we were overcomplicating the piece and decided in order to create an accessible message we would have to simplify the plot. Many of our responses to the quote were detached and impersonal; therefore we decided to take a more personal approach to the analysing the quote. We wanted to create a more abstract approach to analysing, consequently, rather than brainstorming we played a word association game. Our earlier research indicated to us the potential of exploring fear; for that reason we opened by associating responses to the word ‘fear'. This resulted in a discussion of our apprehension and anxiety towards our futures, each member of the group was in the process of applying to university and planning the next step of their lives. It was important for us to follow our dreams and mistakes in choices at this stage worried us and we were sensitive to the idea of being stuck doing something we were not passionate about. This discussion allowed us to infer parallels between our fears towards losing our passion and job satisfaction in the work place. This led us to create a work place scenario, highlighting different characters problems with the way their lives have transpired. Although we had created an initial scenario we had to decide how to highlight the importance of job satisfaction and dreams. This is where our ideas surrounding an exploration of dreams and fantasies linked in with our running idea. How group skills contributed to the development of the drama. – Vicki Marks As an ensemble, we had many different approaches to the production of our devised piece. Firstly, after the initial discussions of the basic structure of ‘use of space' we decided that each member should separately prepare an initial suggestion for a fantasy scene. Subsequently as an ensemble we modified each member's idea to fit the characters objectives incorporating each group member's requirements. Two of the four fantasy scenes required only two characters, therefore allowing the two remaining members to direct. This particularly put pressure on the team and initially certain members of the group did not respond well to being directed, however, we had to be flexible whilst blocking a scene and be open to criticism and changes. Considering the ensemble approach to devising we wanted each member to experience directing each scene, this also allowed us to incorporate more than one member's objective for a particular scene. Therefore, we often resorted to switching roles mid scene to appreciate the way each member would perform certain characters and situations. I feel that this successfully allowed us to create two dimensional characters and by including aspects of everyone's ideas created an overall satisfaction towards each scene. Each member of the group had a monologue allowing the audience to understand each individual characters state of mind. The preparation of a monologue is often very personal, initially, Helia and I scripted each monologue, but we worked as a group throughout the blocking and performing, however, this proved difficult. Due to the individual approaches of a monologue, taking control of scripting them was ineffective. This approach resulted in confusion and the monologues were less emotionally effective, because members struggled to connect with them on a personal level. Therefore, firstly, we each took our monologues separately and worked on the content through closely analysing our characters objectives and intentions. After we were happy with the essential content of our monologues we worked as a group to develop them. Group timing was essential during the silent movie fantasy, due to a lack of dialogue the scene required carefully choreographed action, which required the group to work carefully in relation to one another. At one stage of this scene, Helia was required to jump on Payam's back and knocked to the ground. In order to prevent any injuries we applied a partnering system, involving a free member of the group shadowing Helia, providing support during the initial stages of rehearsals. During the later stages of devising the murder mystery scene we became uninspired with the outcome An evaluation of the ways in which ideas were communicated to the audience. – Vicki Marks Throughout the devising process we focused predominantly on comedic genres, to allow the audience to access the central messages through humour. Although we were aware of the comedic value of each scene it was difficult to predict the audience's reactions, therefore we decided to perform it to a small audience during our rehearsal to evaluate which areas of humour were successful and which were less effective. Consequently, we realised that many of the melodramatic fantasies such as the silent movie were physically being underplayed resulting in a misrepresentation of our desired style. This resulted in a member of our group to employ a technique that we had used on a physical theatre work shop. Performing our characters physicality on levels from one to ten, ten being the most physically expressive allowed us to evaluate which level of physicality was successful. As a group we decided that the audience reacted best towards the silent movie scene when we employed a physicality level of ten. Due to lack of dialogue, physicality and expression allowed the audience to follow the storyline whilst also creating humour. As a result of working with a limited number of actors it was necessary to multi-role; however, through multi-rolling it is often easy to confuse an audience. We therefore decided to employ the Brechtian technique of changing our signifying costumes on stage. This allowed the audience to understand the style of our piece, and the abstract nature of the fantasy scenes. We also decided to place each change of costume on stage from the opening scene to intrigue the audience and allow them to become more involved in the action. We also had to take into account the wide range of characters we used. For example in one fantasy scene Payam took on the role of a Spanish soap character and during the next fantasy scene his character changed to a medieval knight. As a group we realised that a change of costume would not be sufficient to demonstrate to the audience a change in character, therefore we had to ensure that each actor varied their physicality according the role they were playing. As a group we consciously casted many of the characters as stock characters and stereotypes, allowing us to successfully communicate to the audience a significant change in role. Naturalistically it was difficult to vary each member's character therefore by using melodramatic genres we were able to separate each members character. Originally, we intended to highlight the importance of job satisfaction through juxtaposing the office scenes with the fantasy scenes. We hoped to communicate to the audience the monotonous routine of being unsatisfied in a job. In order to convey this to an audience we decided to use opposing theatrical styles for the fantasy and office scenes. We decided on a naturalistic approach for the office scenes to highlight the dissatisfaction of the characters, similarly we decided to use abstract and melodramatic genres for the fantasy scenes to show the positivity. The accessibility of the humour in our piece relied on the audience's knowledge of the common clichis we drew inspiration from. I feel we did not fully take into account the age range of our audience and miscalculated the universality of the clichis. After discussing with our audience their reactions towards our piece many of the younger members did not understand the humorous aspects on every level. For example in our murder mystery fantasy we took inspiration from the popular detective character Poirot, however many of the younger To open our piece we decided to have each character on stage the composition involved my character facing the audience frozen in a spotlight and a visible shadow of the four other characters in the background, to show individual stories and the universal message that applied to each character. t. How rehearsal and the production process contributed to the final performance. – Vicki Marks During the rehearsal process, we encountered many difficulties with the staging of certain idea's and aspects. Initially we had decided to each perform a separate monologue as our office characters to highlight the objectives of each individual, we felt that it was important to portray to the audience an interesting insight into the characters feelings and wanted each monologue to project different forms. After the initial scripting of the monologues, we brainstormed the different approaches to staging them. Fortunately, each monologue adapted distinctive structures which allowed us to manipulate and create visually appealing scenes. During the staging of Payam's monologue initially aimed to block the physical placement, this required him to be free to travel across the stage, and therefore, a remaining member of the group read his monologue whilst he attempted to block it. Surprisingly, this created an interesting effect of daydreaming; therefore we decided to continue having his monologue projected from off stage. At one stage during our rehearsals we were challenged to find an original and inspiring way to present our idea. We had already decided that we wanted to contrast reality and fantasy. We had devised the fundamentals of ‘office scenes' created to depict our original character Dylan's disconnection with a dystopian society. Because we had created a leading character we struggled to introduce equal roles. Therefore, we decided to create a structured brainstorm addressing our themes and the ideas we hoped to communicate. Through this we discovered a situation where Dylan's disconnection with society linked to a modern day scenario. Dylan's alienation towards an unfamiliar society was transformed into a group of office workers unsatisfied with their situations. Luckily, through former improvised scenes we had created characters which fitted this scenario. Throughout the devising process we were interested in developing an interpretation of parallel universes. We were initially drawn to this idea through different interpretations of phobia's and the way an individual interprets fears. This idea led one member of the group to compare parallel universes to dreams, and fantasies. As a group we decided that we were interested in highlighting the importance of following your dreams, therefore began to research different fantasies and dream scenarios. We began to discuss different genres and settled initially on medieval clichis drawing on the typical female fantasy of being rescued by a knight in shining armour. As a group we decided that our acting techniques should mirror this genre therefore we settled on melodrama. Previously, we had only attempted naturalistic acting techniques, and as a group we were aware of the contrast between naturalism and melodrama. In order to familiarise ourselves with this acting technique we attended a physical theatre workshop, it was apparent to us that in order to effectively portray a melodramatic genre we would have to introduce exaggerated physicality. Initially this felt unnatural to most of the group members due to our back ground in naturalism, therefore, the support we received from the workshops group leader was very helpful. We benefited from the group leader knowledge surrounding physical theatre and he introduced us to a technique which allowed us to exaggerate the physicality during rehearsals. How the influence of ideas of other playwrights and/ or directors, designers and performers have been used. Originally, we hoped to achieve a depressing and desolate office scene highlighting the impassionate emotions of the characters. We initially decided that the characters would remain deadpan to express their negative attitudes towards their work environment; however, we wanted to employ a more exciting abstract format to express this further. We therefore turned to ‘Machinal' by Sophie Treadwell which one of our group members had previously studied. The opening scene to Machinal is a powerful expression of a monotonous office scene. Treadwell uses an expressionist form employing repetitive dialogue and action and harsh audio effects to create a tedious and mechanical impression. Inspired by Treadwell's use of repeated dialogue and action we began to improvise scenes using similar techniques. Firstly, we chose words and phrases linked to an office environment and repeated them, overlapping each other and increasing in volume throughout to create an intense atmosphere. Unfortunately, due to the small group, this did not achieve our desired effect. This then lead us towards a more physical representation, as an alternative to repeated dialogue we chose to highlight the routine of the office through repeating typical office actions. The use of stylised actions reminded a member of the group of a performance of ‘absolute beginners' through which the director had expressed the rigidity of the office through women typing in unison creating a routine effect. Considering the size of the group we were not enthusiastic to have each character simultaneously performing one action, we therefore, took inspiration from the over exaggerated nature of each movement. Instead of using a routine we highlighted a sense of artificiality by introducing a metronome to emphasise the mechanical and artificial nature of the scene. Characterization was very important to the success of our performance. Because we had chosen to show many stark and stereotyped characters throughout it was important to exaggerate the physicality of the characters in certain places. Physicality was expressed most poignantly through the silent film fantasy. Because this was such a challenging format to express due to the lack of dialogue it relied fully on each actor's physical representation of the character. Inspiration was originally taken from Charlie Chaplin. Through research we learnt that as a Silent film actor he emphasized his body language and facial expression so that the audience could better understand what his character was feeling and portraying on screen. However, simply watching and attempting to replicate Chaplin's style was not enough. As a group we decided to participate in a ‘Jet' physical theatre company workshop. This not only allowed us to work on our physicality as performers in general but gave us excellent scope to improve our silent film scene. Costumes were not hugely significant in our performance. We did not want to over complicate things and circumstantially our performance consisted of many short scenes and an array of different characters, similar to the conventions of epic theatre employed notably by Bertolt Brecht we decided to do all of the costume changes on stage. These changes only consisted of small variations to costumes such a hats a jackets that symbolised each character Brecht employed the use of techniques that remind the spectator that the play is a representation of reality and not reality itself, which he called the Verfremdungseffekt. Such techniques included changing costumes on stage. Through this Brecht hoped to communicate that the audience's reality was, in fact a construction and, as such, was changeable. Another Brechtian technique used in our performance was the use of song. We decided that this allowed the audience to distance themselves from the action hopefully making the social comments throughout more accessible and setting the abstract theme from the beginning notably the entire performance was strictly episodic and many scenes were in isolation from each other. Each fantasy scene is triggered by an action and a simple freeze frame to link the office reality to the dreams. This use of gestus was also an acting technique developed by Bertolt Brecht which reflects the characters emotional conflict through a brief frozen action. Gestus was employed during the transaction from my characters monologue to her fantasy scene. As a group we discussed our desired effect of the gestus and decided to show an obvious link between the character's emotional conflict and the freeze frame, for the audience's accessibility. We therefore decided to each come up with a simple freeze frame highlighting the principal emotions the character. The initial idea to dress each character in their own variation of full black was inspired by a performance of ‘attempts on her life' at the national. The director Martin Crimp chose to dress each character in their own interpretation of completely black. We adapted this idea to our performance because it allowed each character to show their own individuality whilst still highlighting the monotony and dull nature of the office and their negative emotions towards their situations. We took a large amount of inspiration from the melodramatic acting techniques employed by soup opera's. We particularly focused on the style of acting used in traditional Novella's or Latin American soups. Whilst approaching this style we researched the soup opera ‘Days of our lives. ‘ To help us adopt similar persona's. How the stimulus material was developed through the drama process. To begin the devising process our group was presented with five quotes that took inspiration from different aspects of life, this supplied us with an excellent starting point for developing a challenging piece of theatre, however our initial responses to the stimuli shaped our early work and many aspects were later changed as the piece matured. Firstly each member of the group decided separately which quote inspired them and worked towards abstractly analyse the meaning of these quotes. As a group we were drawn towards the quote â€Å"fear is a dark room where negatives are developed. † We felt that this quote gave us enough scope to produce a brainstorm surrounding the analysis of it. After analysing the quote through a brainstorm we decided to focus on the idea of fear. These fear aspects of the quote lead our group to research and gain an interest surrounding common phobias. As an initial response to phobia we decided to explore phobias that restrain and dominate everyday life. As a group we were interested in the psychological effects of irrational fears, through discussion, we realised one of our member's arachnophobia and decided to research real life stories showing the influences of phobias. We began to gain an understanding of the psychological effects of living with an irrational fear, this allowed us to contemplate the way a person living with a phobia views the world. This inspired us to contemplate feelings and emotions surrounding living in a different mindset to the norm. We therefore decided to create five different freeze frames, abstractly exploring the physicality of emotions.