Abbott Alkaloidal Company Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abbott Alkaloidal Company - Term Paper Example The common stock of the company is traded in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol ABT. The closing price of ABT stock on September 3, 2011 was $51.04. Abbott has a staff composed of over 90,000 employees worldwide. In 2010 the company generated $35.2 billion in sales. The company operates over 100 facilities globally. The corporate headquarters of the company are located in Chicago, Illinois and the CEO of the company is Miles D. White. SWOT Analysis A strength Abbott has is its tremendous variety of healthcare products. The company has a managerial staff that is fully committed to the R&D process. In 2010 firm invested $3.7 billion in research and development. The financials of the company are solid. The firm generated 2010 net income of $4.6 billion. The net margin of Abbott in 2010 was 13%. The firm’s profitability performance is quite impressive considering that in 2010 most companies in the industry loss money and as a result the industry average net margin was-23.9%. Abbott has paid a growing dividend for 39 consecutive years. A weakness Abbott has is that it faces lots of competition in the pharmaceutical sector. Another inherent weakness of the company is that pharmaceutical companies have to spend over $800 million to develop a new drugÃ'Ž A third weakness Abbott faces is strict regulatory environment which includes compliance with FDA rules and protocols. A threat Abbott faces is the production of counterfeit d rugs. Counterfeiting is a multi-billion industry that targets the pharmaceutical, software, and apparel industries among others. A second threat the company faces is the launch of new drugs that are more effective and cheaper than their products. A third major threat Abbott faces is not being able to recruit sufficient scientists with the specialized skills needed due to a shortage of available talent in technical professions. Another threat that Abbott must be aware of is the possibility of lawsuits by customers who claim one or more of their products are defective. These customers could claim that instead of helping the products hurt the health of the customers. There are opportunities that Abbott can exploit to achieve greater growth. The company currently does not have a market presence in 35% of the countries of the world. A goal for the company should be to achieve penetration in 100% of the world’s nations. The firm has other opportunities that can be achieved through innovation such as becoming the first company to find a vaccine for the AIDS/HIV virus. A cure for cancer is another breakthrough project that could generate the company billions of dollars in revenues. Strategic Objectives A strategic objective of the company is to use a diversified product offering to differentiate Abbott from the competition and to achieve superior operating performance. The strategic objectives of the firm were achieved in 2010 through growth of existing product lines, new product launches, geographic expansion and acquisitions (Annual Report: Abbott, 2010). Plans to Meet Objectives For the firm to meet its strategic objectives the executive management team has to implement various tactics and strategic options that will allow the firm to continue its path towards greater success. The firm can achieve better international growth by aggressively expanding its business in emerging economies outside the United States. China represents a market that must be target m ore aggressively by the

Images of nurse and nursing Essay Example for Free

Images of nurse and nursing Essay The article entitled â€Å"Perceived and real barriers for men entering nursing: Implications for gender diversity,† aimed to explain the barriers, whether perceived or real, for men seeking a career in nursing. It is theorized that the public image of nursing is that of a traditional feminine career. However, in lieu with the recent nursing shortage that has been plaguing the country, it is speculated that men remain as an untapped reservoir of potential nurses and need to be targeted through recruitment strategies (Roth Coleman, 2008). The authors established in their paper that if the barriers, whether real or perceived, can be addressed to suggest strategies that can ameliorate these barriers, then the recruitment of males into the profession may help in providing more nurses to fill the shortage. The image of nurses has been long depicted as a young female taking care of the ill and subordinate to male physicians and administrators (Roth Coleman, 2008). These women are also perceived as not capable of making important decisions and were handmaidens to the physicians. Furthermore, it was researched that according to most students the reason why they did not choose to enter the nursing career is because of a perception that they would not attain job satisfaction and the second was that nurses were too squeamish (Roth Coleman, 2008). Most young men believed that nursing is a profession for females and that they have fears of being perceived as gay or being feminine. Other barriers mentioned was the absence of the historical contributions of nurses who were male, considering that most nursing texts use the pronoun she in referring to nurses and that nursing education programs have been unsuccessful in creating an environment that is conducive for men, e. g. the lack of male professors and clinical instructors. However, there are still a few men who have chosen to enter the nursing profession and a major factor that engrossed men to the nursing profession was the influence of parents, specifically mothers, which are employed in nursing or other healthcare professions. Also, most men in the profession had previous careers and perceived their nursing career to be better than anticipated. The authors suggest that to ameliorate the current barriers, the public perceptions of nursing that create barriers for male nurses has to be challenged. Other suggestions that they presented include the increasing the number of males in the nursing academia and communicate through scholarly articles how gender diversity has enriched the profession. The discussions in schools should include more often the history of men in nursing and that they should also target nontraditional male students that are older and diverse. In response to this article, I deem that there is a truth to what the researchers have speculated that there is perceived barriers that inhibit the males from entering the nursing profession. In lieu with this, the suggested ways in how to ameliorate the situation can help in possibly encouraging the men in joining the profession. It can be noted that majority of the nurses, whether or not working in the clinical setting, students or professors teaching in the academia are females. It has been greatly noted that many male nurses have made the profession more diverse and the physical attributes of males are needed in certain nursing work. Being a nurse, whether or not one has the passion for it and considers it a calling, or was just a nurse by chance, should always bear in mind that this is a profession that only aims to care and hope for the best in the client or the patient’s wellbeing. Furthermore, I deem that the nursing profession should not have any gender biases, as it is a profession that only seeks to care for humanity, both males and females.

The Exchange of Information Essay -- Internet Communication Technology

The Exchange of Information The Internet is a telecommunications superhighway, a collective data of information for corporations, government institutions, private individuals, and universities. This branch of roads leads into nearly every corner of the globe. The superhighway, picks up potential travelers from far away places, exotic destinations, and interesting people. The internet can transport you from one major destination to another quickly, then it also can detour you into a leisurely exploration. Like a superhighway, the internet carries holiday and family traffic. Also traveling are both people who know precisely where they are going and those who are wandering. Government, educational, and business institution are also frequent travelers of the internet. In brief, the internet is an open road for anyone interested in a journey or for users who need a quick shortcut across the country. Information and communication are the main resource pools for the internet. The internet provides information, the raw data for which we need knowledge to decode or understand. Looking at the internet as a source of information leads us to ask if this information is a commodity. According to Webster's Dictionary, a commodity is an article of trade or commerce which holds a value and use, especially a product distinguished from a service, like the internet. The internet provides wide variety of information to enhance our knowledge. This information matches this description of commodity because of the benefits being exchanged through this modern technology. Therefore, the internet represents the commodification of information through the commercial, private, and government sector of our economy. To fully understand the significan... ... and government sectors, in some way or another. Individuals can profit through this trade of information on the internet, too, by increasing their knowledge and offering personal benefits. Information is a commercial product is as tradable as the precious metals(GOLD). Works Cited 1.) Canter, Laurence, and Martha Siegel. How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway. New York: Harper Collins Publishers,1994 2.) Cook,William. The Joy of Computer Communication. Chicago: Dell Publishing Co., Inc.. 1984 3.) Gilster, Paul. The Internet Navigator. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993 4.) Mandel, Michael. "The Digital Juggernaut." Business Week June. 1994: 22+. 5.) Moore, Dinty. The Emperor's Virtual Clothes. N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel of Hill, 1995 6.) Verity, John. "The Information Revolution." Business Week June. 1994: 10+.

Employee Rights In The Workplace :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays Work

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Employee Rights violated in the workplace have caused major lawsuits. Many employees' information is not safeguarded; a lot of information is open to the public. There are a lot of web sites where anyone can access and get information some of these sites are: www.anywho.com, www.zabasearch.com, and www.accurateinformationsystem.com. These are some of the sites that are open to the public. Anyone can go onto these sites to find your personal information. Although the sites are very useful for job employment it should be limited who can access this information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For a little money, say $25, one can obtain someone's Social Security number, previous addresses and possibly their driving record. "Most people don't realize how much information about them is out there," says Deirdra Mulligan, staffs counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. This statement is very true; some can provide detailed financial histories, including information about bank accounts and credit card balances and loans. This information needs to be safeguarded from the public, it is important to have this useful information for a job but, What about when in it not involving your employment? Technology has advanced from the 1980?s and even 1990?s it is scary knowing that it is not hard for hackers and stalkers to get information.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are also a few ways to prevent this information from getting out by following some of the suggested steps: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Filling out surveys 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Credit checks (applying for credit cards) 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Registering with a club 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Locking your work cabinets when leaving the area 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Locking your computer when not working   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All of these suggested steps are very useful. One of the laws that are important in the healthcare workplace is HIPAA (Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). This law to was invented to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes. Patients realized that they need to know that they are protected under healthcare. Although we have this law it is still not protected among the employees in the workplace. Majority of the employees in the workplace tend to translate a lot of other employees information through word of mouth. Disciplinary action should be given when spreading information about another employee.

Adavantages and Disadavantages of Being the Only Child

Being an only child can be either good or bad, depending on how you perceive it and how you are brought up by your parents. The advantages could be that you get the undivided love and attention of your parents. They would dote on you more and provide for you more – in terms of getting you stuff, toys, etc. Obviously, being an only child means that your parents have only you to spend the money on and not have to share it among other siblings. So, you'd get more toys than normal, more money to spend than normal, more inheritance than normal, and of course more love from your parents than normal. So, in that sense, being the only child can be termed as a good thing. As far as disadvantages go, the â€Å"Little Emperor Syndrome† sums it up perfectly. For those unfamiliar with the term, â€Å"Little Emperor Syndrome† refers to the Chinese situation involving parents and their single child. Of course, all of you would be aware of China's one-child policy. Little Emperor Syndrome is an unintended consequence of that policy. This is a situation in which the parents lavish their love, attention, resources on this one child of theirs, and as a result, the child becomes spoilt and, well, behaves like a â€Å"Little Emperor. This sort of excessive attention and care can prove detrimental in the long term for the child. The child gets used to having everything done, managed, taken care of – by their parents. When they have to live in the real world and face real problems, they might not be able to cope with it. They may lack self-confidence to go out in the world and get things done for themselves. They might feel lost outside of the cocoon that their parents created for them. Being an only child can also be very lonely. They would miss the fun of growing up with a brother or sister. An only child can also grow up to be a selfish adult, i. e. one who thinks primarily of his/her needs over the needs of others. They may also lack in the ability to empathize with others as much as children with siblings. Another potential disadvantage of being an only child could be the excess burden on your shoulders as regards taking care of your parents, for example. It can take an emotional toll on you, being the only child with all the responsibilities. My Experience of not Being the Only Child in my Family So, there are advantages and disadvantages to being an only child. However, how each child turns out – really depends on how the child has been brought up, among other factors. Personally, I always wished I was the only child in my family. Perhaps, its not a nice thing to say, but that's how I feel! You know, the grass always seems greener on the other side. In my specific situation, the age gap between me and my brother was just 3 years, and therefore, there was a lot of rivalry and acrimony between us all through childhood – it affected me quite a bit, not the usual childhood fights, which you grow out of. Being the eldest in my family, I always felt that I was not treated fairly when it came to certain situations, especially conflict situations. I was always expected to be magnanimous and large-hearted and forgive and forget – whereas my younger brother was doted on and shielded. I still feel that to be the case to this day. We do get along much better now, but it isn't your usual loving relationship – more formal than familial. My mom still dotes on my little brother to no end, which is good, but she doesn't see me the same way, which is what I regret and bemoan. I've never quite understood this difference. At times, I think to myself that this is all my imagination – that I am just seeing things that aren't there! That there is really no discrimination so to speak. But, then again, there is a difference, you know what I mean? Perhaps, a lot of you would have no clue about what I am talking about. Then again, there may be a lot of you who know exactly what I am talking about, so there you have it!! I am sure, there would be lots of single, lonely people out there, who were the only child in their families, who would have wished they had a brother or sister growing up. So, there are pros and cons to both!

Fhe Inc Essays

Fhe Inc Essays Fhe Inc Essay Fhe Inc Essay A Case Study on FHE Inc. Operations Management FHE Inc. Problem Statement FHE Inc. , a manufacturer of pumps and related fluid-handling equipment is reviewing the process used to introduce new products. Key Considerations It was stated in the case that this case was prepared as basis for class discussion, not to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. All information stated in this case analysis was taken from the Operations Management Book, authored by Roger G. Schroeder 3rd Edition. Analysis 1. What steps should Donaldson take to improve the new-product development process at FHE? The steps necessary the Donaldson should take to improve the new product development process at FHE is to shift from the traditional sequential â€Å"over-the-wall† process of the new product development to concurrent process. The sequential process often results in product misalignment. Sequential process is a traditional approach where processes are done in stages or steps shown in the figure below. Product misalignment occurs when problems occur during the new product development (i. e. he manufacturing department cannot make what the engineering department specifies due to technology limitations. ) The concurrent process shows a simultaneous development process where all functions of the marketing, engineering and operations are involved from beginning to the final stage of product launch. In the first stage, marketing has a major effort but other functions also have a role. During the product design phase, marketing reduces its effort but not to zero, while engineering has the major role. Finally, operations picks up the lead as the new product is tested and launched into the market. : Concurrent process is shown below: 2. What could be done to clarify the organizational relationship between product managers, technical program managers and manufacturing managers? To clarify the organizational relationship between product managers, technical program managers and manufacturing managers is to have each department involved during each stage of the new product development. Each department doesn’t need to have same effort during each stage but to have each department involved concurrently. Not the over the wall traditional technique. 3. What can be done to better manage the workload of the engineering services department? To manage better the workload of the engineering services department, FHE should have the engineering services department participate during the marketing stage where the company need s to evaluate what are the customer needs and translating it into customer specifications using concurrent process in new product development. 4. Evaluate the plans and the expected results from the new CAD-CAM system? The plans and expected results of using the new CAD-CAM system as a way of coordinating marketing, engineering and manufacturing. Having these information system has its advantages and disadvantages. Pros * Rapid Prototyping * new products can be tested using software simulation without making it into a prototype * New products cycle would be faster using CAD-CAM process * Ease of Communication * Problems and issues can be addressed immediately between departments before specifications are relayed into the engineering department and sent to the manufacturing process * Improved Quality * Products are accurate based on what was designed by the engineering and sent to the manufacturing department Cons * Garbage in – Garbage out * If design problems are not addressed initially in the engineering department, problems will be carried on unto the manufacturing department * High Investment Costs * A single user license of the Autodesk Inventor Software can cost up to $4,999 per license not to include the training costs incurred during the implementation of the new software. * Implementation Issues * Some of the personnel are technologically challenged and cannot understand the use of the new technology for the new development process Recommendations / Conclusion FHE should adopt a new system of new product development especially they use the sequential approach. Problems cannot be addressed immediately until the product is turned over to the other department. Even stated in their gantt chart provided in the case, it clearly states the stair step method in their new product design. The concurrent process of new product design would be a better system than their current system with the aid of the CAD-CAM software to integrate new product design communications from the marketing, engineering and manufacturing department.

The animation genre was, and continues to be one of the most popular genres with adults and children alike Essays

The animation genre was, and continues to be one of the most popular genres with adults and children alike Essays The animation genre was, and continues to be one of the most popular genres with adults and children alike Essay The animation genre was, and continues to be one of the most popular genres with adults and children alike Essay Essay Topic: Adults Popular In this essay I am going to explore the genre of animation in depth; looking at techniques used throughout the animation genre, and I am also going to observe the development and changes which have occurred since the very early forms of animation began and also since the very first feature length animation film was made; Snow White (1937). By comparing these past techniques with a present animated film Madagascar (2005) I will be looking to see if audiences think animation has improved and why they think this. By researching the animation process from the past and comparing it with more recent and updated animation techniques; I am looking to observe the major changes that have occurred within the genre and what impact this has on audiences in our modern society. And overall whether we as an audience think the animation genre has come a long way since it first began. Animation is the graphic representation of drawings to show movement within those individual drawings. The individual drawings are linked together and usually photographed by a camera. The images are then slightly changed or altered in some way and photographed again which when played back will show movement within the drawings. The process of animation or showing movement within an image can be traced back millions of years. Many images found in the Altamira caves of Northern Spain appear to show animals with eight legs suggesting an early attempt to show movement within a still 2D image. As time has progressed in the late 19th century there were two main inventions which aimed to further the animation process. The phenakistoscope which was invented by a man named Joseph Plateau in 1826. The Phenakistoscope was a circular card which had several slits around its outside edge, in order to see a moving image you would have to place this card in front of a mirror and look into the slits as the piece of card rotated around. As the card rotates a series of still images were shown around the circumference of the card hence enabling the viewer to see a moving object. Similar to this design was the zeotrope invented by Pierre Desvignes in 1860. The zeotrope was a cylinder in the shape of a kind of drum which turned on a spindle. A strip of paper with images on it was placed into the cylinder. As the cylinder was turned you were able to view the images through the slots on top. The rapid speed of the cylinder turning, created the moving image. Stuart Blackton made a short film in 1906 entitled Humorous Phases Of Funny Faces in which he drew a humorous face onto a blackboard, he then erased it and drew the same face in a different stage. This process is known as the stop-motion effect and at the time audiences were amazed that they were able to see images seemingly coming to life. In the early 20th century a man named Thomas A. Edison developed the idea of the motion camera and projector. This provided one of the first inventions to make animation. This was only an early idea and animation was still done in a very simple style. In the early 1920s the animated cartoon had become less popular as audiences wanted something more than an animation that lasted for a few minutes, lacked storylines or plots and without development of characters. Creators of cartoons were looking for other means to entertain their audiences. The process of animation was no where near a stage where a full length film by todays standards could be achieved. The closest anyone came to this at this point in time was a man named Windsor Macay who created a cartoon named Gertie The Dinosaur. This type of character had never been seen by audiences before and the sight of a dinosaur moving and coming to life on a screen was astonishing. Another first of its time was an animated cartoon Felix the cat created by Otto Messmer. The overall feature of this cartoon and many others of this time, were crude and violent tricks to entertain viewers. This is still evident in cartoons today such as tom and jerry (1965-present) which is a modern example of a cartoon similar of this time, where characters would beat each other repeatedly using a variety of props, this would barter back and forth between characters and this was the overall plot to animations of this time. In its earliest forms short animations were aimed at the young and also the older viewers. It was a relatively new concept in the early 1920s so the vast majority of the world were engrossed in this new idea of animation. As animation moved on from that of Gertie the Dinosaur the advancement of sound and colour continued to amaze audiences throughout the world. Walt Disney, possibly the most well known of animators, took the animation process to a higher level. He was the first person to add sound to their cartoons with his first one named Steamboat Willie (1928) Walt Disney was also responsible for the first full length animated feature film. He produced the animated film Snow White and the seven dwarfs in 1937, The story of a pretty young girl, with skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood, who first loses her mother when she is born then loses her father after he remarries. Her step-mother becomes jealous of Snow Whites beauty and arranges to have her killed. Snow Whites life is spared and she goes deep into the woods and makes friends with 7 dwarfs. Her step-mother finds out Snow White is still alive so she transforms into an elderly woman and poisons her step-daughter. Snow White is saved by the kiss of a handsome prince and they live happily ever after. A concept used in fairy tales for decades and a concept we are now all familiar with in films and television programmes of this century. Snow White was the first feature length animation; but also the first animation to include full colour not only that but was the first film to be fully restored by digital technology in 1994. An animation film critic said of Walts work, One of the keys to Snow White and to all of Walts work was his ability to use animation to create convincing, individual personalities The process of animation for Snow White took three years to complete, this shows how long the animation process takes and even now its advanced, the process of animation still takes several years. Creating Snow White would allow Walt to use many animation techniques new to this era. To create the colour for the animation the studio chemists at Disney ground their own pigments from special formulas and they mixed 1,500 colours and shades altogether for use on characters and backgrounds. Walt Disney knew the desired colour effects he wanted to achieve. He achieved this by painting the backgrounds in each sketch in grey, transparent watercolour paint. During this time Technicolor was a fairly new concept and was only really capable of being able to capture mid-range colours. This is where Walt Disneys idea of colour was best suited. When it came to characters in Snow White, the artists had the added task of having to create the first character in animation history to have realistically human qualities. To achieve this Disney animators used a live-action model to help animators capture realistic movements and features of a female character. This technique was also used on other characters in the film, such as Prince Charming. The models movements were traced directly off of the cameras. The traced images were given to animators and used as a rough guide in creating the finished animated characters. This is a far cry from techniques used for animated characters today, i n films such as Harry Potter (2001) and The films in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. (2001) Other early Disney animations which used similar techniques to Snow White include; Bambi (1942), 101 Dalmatians (1961) and ), Fox and the hound (1981) The simple technology used to create Snow White as far as todays standards are concerned isnt as advanced as the animation techniques we are used to in films such as Shrek (Disney, Pixar 2001) and Monsters Inc (2002) in which we as an audience are able to experience things such as textures within the animated characters, such as the immaculate detailing of the fur on the character Sullys body. However when Snow White was created it was a far cry from the early animations in black and white and without sound. The story of Snow White follows the basic principles of the Russian structuralist Vladimir Propp. Propp studied fairy tales and he documented that within these stories there where a number of different types of characters that all appeared. Some of these characters Propp identified include; the hero (Prince Charming), The Villain (Wicked Step-mother), The Donor who brings a magical property to the story (7 Dwarfs), The Princess (Snow White). Snow White, for its time contains many ideologies that we are still able to associate with today. The image that we are able to associate with of the ideal female character that has; flawless skin, tiny build, kind and thoughtful. The ideal male character of Prince Charming, strong, caring and a hero. These ideologies are still present in many media texts still and are used so we as an audience are able to recognise these and familiarise with them. These stereotypes of male and female characteristics have been present throughout history and in or der for an audience to relate to and draw their own experiences from these stereotypes are included in media text such as Snow White to show familiarity to the audience. With the invention of computers capable of producing forms of animation, the animation genre progressed rapidly. A machine capable of creating, editing and moving images within itself created a whole new method of creating animations. This gave the animation genre a new lease of life. Toy story (1995 Walt Disney Productions and Pixar Animation Studios); became the first full length feature film to be created entirely on computers. The most recent feature length animation Madagascar (2005) really shows how far animation has progressed since its very earliest forms of animation in the 19th century. Even in a matter of 10 years animations created by use of computer, has pushed aside other types of animation and become one of the most prominent animation style of the 20th and 21st century. Every other animated feature film released is a computer generated animation. The first animation of this kind was Toy Story (1995 Walt Disney Productions and Pixar Animation Studios). Computer animators have pushed the boundaries as animation goes, by being able to create astonishing facial expressions and physical form that appear as real to humans or animals you could possibly get, by creating true to life backgrounds where things you see seem so real that they couldnt possibly have been created on a machine. The huge gap between these technological advances in animation since the very first animation processes of the past such as Felix the cat, seems to be widening with the release of each animated film we see. Madagascar (2005) the story of a group of zoo animals who become stranded back in their natural habitat of Madagascar. Being animals who are dependant on zoo life, they find having to survive out in the real world not what they are used to. Being the most recent in a ever growing line of animated films is one which uses the kinds of computer techniques that have been used since Toy Story (1995) However, even though Madagascar is far more advanced from Snow White the directors of the film wanted to incorporate the old-fashioned kinds of animation and pay homage to these older style animations. Director Eric Darnell, said of Madagascar; our characters are very stylized and not based on reality, so we could have a lot of fun with how they looked and how they moved. They are very 2D inspired but created in the 3D world of the computer. This is evident to the audience within the film as you view the characters in 3D form but the actions of the characters are very humorous in such a way th ey remind you of earlier animated characters used in the past comprising of a slapstick kind of humour, evident in many cartoons of the past 60 decades. When animators, directors and producers had decided on the cartoony style they wanted to achieve they looked for techniques which would best suit this. The techniques animators used in Madagascar was called the Squash and Stretch the squash and stretch is a process by which animators deform and object and then snap it back into place in order to suggest motion. The squash and stretch is a procedure suited to pencil sketches and animators for Madagascar found it more difficult to recreate this on a computer. This proved difficult when creating characters and so animators had to create a system where they were able to push and pull and stretch the objects without breaking them said Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks Animation. Squash and stretch was used predominantly throughout the film. This helped the animators achieve the comic exaggerated effect they were after. And looking at the finished film you are able to see this detail in the way characters move and show emotion. The exp ressions on characters in this film are extraordinary, they appear very realistic. This was achieved by animators actually building up facial muscles on the computer system to create a full reconstruction of an animated skeleton used to recreate expressions that would appear almost identical to those of a human being. Teresa Cheng, DreamWorks said when we started working on Madagascar we decided to take a different path based on the classic cartoon style, with extreme poses and exaggerated proportions that even when the character is standing still, look comical. In the finished film we are able to see, that the animators on Madagascar have achieved this. Each character in the film appears to have a unique feature of their species which has most detailing involved in it. For example, Alex the lions mane which consists of thousands of hairs which look so lifelike in the way they move when Alex is moving or when brushed against another object. The narrative of Madagascar follows the basic principles of the Bulgarian theorist Tzvetan Todorov. Todorovs concept of narrative consists of a simple formula; this formula begins with the state of equilibrium this is the harmonious state usually at the beginning of a story. In the case of Madagascar the animals are in their home the zoo where they are happy. After the state of equilibrium the force of disequilibrium, this is a state of disruption to the first state of harmony, in reference to Madagascar the disequilibrium or the disruption is when the animals crates are washed away at sea onto the island of Madagascar miles away from their home of Central Park Zoo. In order to regain the new equilibrium the disruption must be restored. As we can see from techniques used in Madagascar animation has come a long way since the days of tracing off a camera to create lifelike characters. This role of the classic animator who would draw a large number of sketches by hand to create a simple movement has been replaced by computers which are not only able to create a simple movement but create actual layers of the human form from skeleton to skin, in order to create an immaculate perception of the human or animal form. Has animation improved? Or has it just transformed into a higher standard? Animated films of this century are extremely popular as were animated films of the past. This shows that its not so much the actual improvement of animation techniques, but more so the need to keep up with current times and expectations of society today. In our modern society, audiences want more than what has been on offer in the past. Audiences want more action, more humour and more realism in what they are viewing. Peoples expectatio ns in relation to the animation genre have grown. With new advances in technology, audiences want to be able to relate to animated characters on screen as if they were real. This is becoming more of a reality with films such as Shrek, where the character Princess Fiona is so human like its almost impossible to recognise that she is in fact an animation; a vision of an animation artist come to life. People still view all the older animated films, which show they havent lost their appeal even though they may not be as advanced and sophisticated as the animated films we see today. Animation as we know it today began with a visionary named Walt Disney, but will it ever end? Only time will tell if animations popularity will grow or diminish.

Free Essays on Into Thin Air

A FEW years ago, after reading Jon Krakauer's horrifying account of the 1996 expeditions to Everest (Into Thin Air) in which 11 climbers died (nine on a single night) due to a combination of bad luck, bad weather and inexperience, I got a bit put off by this mountain climbing business. To "prove" themselves, people had begun paying vast sums of money to be literally pushed or carried up the great mountain, at great risk not only to themselves, but to others as well, just so that later, they could boast that they had "conquered Everest". Right at the beginning of this book, Bear Grylls, at 23, the youngest Briton to have made it to the summit and back (which is what this book is about), admits: I didn't conquer Everest - Everest allowed me to crawl up one side and stay on the peak for a few minutes. This humility stays with the book throughout and is all the more refreshing as Grylls is at an age at which most young men swagger around being excessively macho and gung-ho. And Grylls had more reason than most to swagger. Two years before making his attempt, while serving with the British army, he broke his back in a freefall when his parachute failed to open during a jump. You might think that recovering from a broken back is adventure enough for a lifetime - but there is that dreadful demon in the human spirit, which awakens at such times and demands its pound of flesh. You have to do more - much more than merely recover and be normal. And you will find no peace until you do so. For Bear Grylls, always an avid climber, that meant an attempt on Everest - a mountain that has fascinated countless and drawn hundreds to its icy slopes. (The mountain claims one life for every six successful summit attempts.) This book recounts that story: from the run-around for sponsors, the hard training involved, the formation of the team, the wait at base camp and the attempt itself. What comes through clearly is how mountaineering cuts out all the ... Free Essays on Into Thin Air Free Essays on Into Thin Air A FEW years ago, after reading Jon Krakauer's horrifying account of the 1996 expeditions to Everest (Into Thin Air) in which 11 climbers died (nine on a single night) due to a combination of bad luck, bad weather and inexperience, I got a bit put off by this mountain climbing business. To "prove" themselves, people had begun paying vast sums of money to be literally pushed or carried up the great mountain, at great risk not only to themselves, but to others as well, just so that later, they could boast that they had "conquered Everest". Right at the beginning of this book, Bear Grylls, at 23, the youngest Briton to have made it to the summit and back (which is what this book is about), admits: I didn't conquer Everest - Everest allowed me to crawl up one side and stay on the peak for a few minutes. This humility stays with the book throughout and is all the more refreshing as Grylls is at an age at which most young men swagger around being excessively macho and gung-ho. And Grylls had more reason than most to swagger. Two years before making his attempt, while serving with the British army, he broke his back in a freefall when his parachute failed to open during a jump. You might think that recovering from a broken back is adventure enough for a lifetime - but there is that dreadful demon in the human spirit, which awakens at such times and demands its pound of flesh. You have to do more - much more than merely recover and be normal. And you will find no peace until you do so. For Bear Grylls, always an avid climber, that meant an attempt on Everest - a mountain that has fascinated countless and drawn hundreds to its icy slopes. (The mountain claims one life for every six successful summit attempts.) This book recounts that story: from the run-around for sponsors, the hard training involved, the formation of the team, the wait at base camp and the attempt itself. What comes through clearly is how mountaineering cuts out all the ... Free Essays on Into Thin Air Into Thin Air is without a doubt a unique and outstanding novel that grips the reader’s interest and holds onto it until the very last paragraph. What makes it so unique is the fact that the story is told in the first person by one of the few survivors of the deadly climb. Each tragic episode is described in grotesque detail which is clear right from the beginning. The first chapter of the book catapults the reader to the summit of Mt. Everest, moments before the tragic chain of events that made up the disaster begin. The narrative hook is clear within the first couple of paragraphs. The narrator reaches the summit and then shortly after begins his decent where he suffers from a great loss of oxygen. He then looks down the side of the mountain to see a deadly storm building. The first chapter ends with the statement that the storm ahead â€Å"by the end of the day, every minute will count.† There after the author spends time educating the reader of the background of the mountain and events leading up to what happened in the first chapter. Krakauer does a good job of explaining how the highest point on earth was discovered with a short history lesson on Everest. Krakauer writes of the many expeditions that scaled Everest and how over the years the attempts were becoming more for the wealthy egotistical extremists who were in it for the publicity rather than those mountaineers who were in it for the love of the sport. It is this fact that is the reason for the author to join a team to climb Everest. He writes for Outsider magazine and was offered a cheap price to achieve his life goal in return for substantial advertisement in the magazine. Krakauer retells his Everest account in a way that even a person who knows nothing about climbing could understand and follow the story line. He explains the long and detailed process a climber must go through to be able to withstand the scarce oxygen levels. The less wildly known te...

Discussion Forum Post Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Discussion Forum Post - Essay Example man who work by faith should understand how to cope with the justice a contradiction of war and needs to understand how to deal with different  aspects of a strange and pilgrim world. Individual is always meant to obey God and obedience to civil authority. Although the humans are expected to obey authorities and accept the punishment willingly, the authority with the responsibility to levy punishment should not over exercise in the task. The authority has the power to control the behavior of the individual, but they are not expected to impose heavy punishment such as dead to individuals. The traditional chief could set rules that his people were required to follow. In case someone goes against the set rules, the punishment was administered. Those punishments could sometimes be too heavy and may include killing, which is against todays culture. Today’s society is well-organized with the most of the authorities playing their roles as expected. International laws do not allow any leadership to administer killing as part of punishment. On the other site, most people obey God and authority as

Accounting For Decision Making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Accounting For Decision Making - Essay Example To do this, we had to conduct research on the two companies’ performance over the years and analyzed the data using financial ratios and statistical graphs. From our findings we found out that fantastic holdings has good gross profit margins but has higher expenses rates which reduces the net profit margin (Whiteside 2007). It was also evident that fantastic holdings has good profits in comparison to the input as given by the investors and has also good use of its assets to make high sales. Fantastic holdings limited were also noted to have good debtors and creditors turnovers. This is a good indication that the company has good strategies of dealing with debtors and offsetting their debts to creditors. On the other hand, super retail group company shows high liquidity in terms of offsetting short term debts (Whiteside 2007). From the analysis, it is recommended to an investor to invest in fantastic holdings limited. Those in need of loans from the companies are advised to con sult super retail group company. These findings are discussed in details in the sections below. Table of contents 1.0 Executive Summary ....................................................................................2 2.0 Introduction ................................................................................................. 4 3.0 Profitability ................................................................................................ ..4 4.0 Efficiency .................................................................................................... 5 5.0 Financial Stability ....................................................................................... .7 5.1 Short Term .......................................................................................... 7 5.2 Long Term ........................................................................................... 7 6.0 Limitations .......................................................................... ..........................8 7.0 Recommendations .......................................................................................10 8.0 List of References .........................................................................................11 9.0 Appendices ...................................................................................................12 10.0 Assignment Planner ................................................................................ ..14 11.0 Mark Sheet ............................................................................ ...................16 2.0 Introduction This report analyzes two big companies; fantastic holdings limited and super retail group limited. Fantastic holdings limited is a big company dealing in manufacturing and sale of furniture. It manages over 125 retail stores running in five different chains of goods. The chains include; Le Cornu, original mattress factory, FHL, national retailers fantastic furniture and push and Dar e gallery. It is also a major manufacturer of mattresses and sofas (Plunkett & Plunkett Research 2008). On the other hand, super retail group is a leading company having eight groups. This includes; super cheap auto and super retail commercial, rebel, ray’s outdoors, FCO fishing camping outdoors, gold cross cycles, BCF boating camping fishing and Amart sports. The company has specialized in the retail of sporting, automotive goods and leisure equipment (Madaan 2009). This report tries to analyze the progress of the two companies financially in regard to profits gained over certain periods of time, sales returns and profitability of the two compan

The causes of NBA 2011 lockout Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The causes of NBA 2011 lockout - Research Paper Example The whole world gets affected when the economy of the US is affected. The recent lockout in the NBA has made things much worse for the economy of the US; it has slowed the growth even further. The lockout refers to players unanimously deciding not to play for their respective clubs; during this period no player will move from one basketball club to another which means there will be no transfers and which further implies clubs will not be able to make money when there are no transfers. All this started when players were forced to accept a pay cut by the NBA stating that they have suffered hefty losses, the players decided to protest against it and they certainly want what they deserve. â€Å"Without question, sporting events generate sizable, if often overstated, amounts of game-day spending in cities. According to the  Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, for example, every Oklahoma City Thunder game pours $1.3 million into the local economy. As  The Atlantic  recently pointed out, Spurs games generate $95 million for San Antonio, the Portland Trail Blazers made a $2 billion local impact between 1970 and 2004, according to a study, and in 2010 the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce estimated that the Grizzlies and their arena, the FedEx Forum, general an annual economic impact of $223 million.† (The NBA Lockout) The economy of the US is severely affected because when there are no games played, no revenue whatsoever is generated. Fans buy tickets and other merchandise on match days and this is how the money is generated but the fans would not have to buy tickets when there are no games played in the NBA. It has been reported that billions of dollars have already been lost because they players have decided not to play any pre-season games and this is certainly very bad for the economy of the US. â€Å"This labor disagreement not only puts the

Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Immigration - Essay Example African countries have been the world’s leading source of immigrants for centuries. As Okome (2005) states, the ceaseless civil wars, communal riots, famine and military sabotage in African countries including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra have been providing the world with thousands of refugees every year. Among these, a major portion is accommodated by the US. Nigerian civil war, Somalia conflict, Liberian civil war and the Eritrean-Ethiopian war also caused intense immigration to western countries and to the US (Okome, 2005). Since religious and ethnic conflicts have increased more than ever before, people in many parts of the world are under the threat of anytime forced migration. In other words, ‘ethnically and politically divided states, unstable and corrupt governments and political systems, and dictatorships, lack of civility, increased lawlessness’ (Cox & Pawar (2005 p.277), are the major causes of forced migration. In addition, certain environmental factors also cause massive migration in various parts of the world. For instance, natural phenomena such as sea level rise, hurricanes and typhoons, drought, wildfire, heat waves, volcanoes, and earthquakes make millions of people ecological refugees every year. Furthermore, governments’ infrastructure projects such as building of dams, roads or tourist resorts often demand forced migration. World Bank estimates that 90 million people were displaced in the 1990s as a result of infrastructure projects (Digby B, 2001p.167). Therefore a few causes of immigration such as globalization, financial policies, and infrastructure modification are closely associated with global change. The recent developments like globalization and the subsequent economic growth and downfalls also contributed to the extraordinary level of migration. Obviously, Globalization exposed a new world of opportunities to the people of African Continent and

Different view of Death Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Different view of Death - Essay Example Although death has been part of life for a long time, people have failed to acknowledge that death is inevitable. Living in denial concerning death has, therefore, existed as a common aspect of humanity. Lack to accept that death is an inevitable part of humanity is a major aspect that characterizes the two poems. This essay will, therefore, investigate the different views of death according to the two poems. Although the two poets agree on the inevitability of death, they have varying views concerning people’s preparedness towards death and our role in waiting for the inevitable death. According to Mary, death is the main challenge that affects humanity. Mary considers humans as helpless creatures in relation to death. Therefore, the only thing that people can do is to wait or prepare for their death. The poem When Death Comes shows that the author is concerned about the nature of life when death finally finds her. Unlike Mary, Donne considers death helpless thing though inev itable. According to the poet, people have a chance to challenge death. The poet view life as an opportunity to challenge death (Online-literature web). The work that people do during their life is a form of preparation for our death. The poet argues that people have a chance to challenge death by not dying as poor people. ... Unlike Mary Oliver, John Donne believes that life is a form of transformation from one form of life to the other. On the other hand, Mary has different views towards life and death. Her poem shows uncertainty about life and death. In the third line of When Death Comes, it is claimed, â€Å"death comes like a bear in autumn† (Panhala web). This line implies that she is not concerned with life after death as much as she is concerned with the nature of her death. Although death is inevitable, it is the only chance that humans have to come close to nature. Despite the numerous technological developments about humanity, it has been difficult to find or come up with a remedy for death. The two poets reflect this phenomenon. Death is the only thing that human beings have in common with the rest of nature. People start life the same way as the rest of nature but go through different process as compared to other living organisms. However, like other living organisms, we all have to mee t our death. The basic reason why people investigate death results from the fear that people have concerning death. Although most people do not fear their own deaths, it is evident that people fear losing a loved one. The fear of death is a common aspect that differentiates the views of the two poets concerning death. According to Donne, people should not be afraid of death because they have a chance of dealing with it. Donne considers people to have a chance of facing death or doing something about death. This indicates that the poet is not afraid of death or implications of death in his own life or the life of a loved one. On the other hand, Mary’s poem expresses her fears concerning the inevitable death and its implication in her life and the life of

Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Immigration - Essay Example African countries have been the world’s leading source of immigrants for centuries. As Okome (2005) states, the ceaseless civil wars, communal riots, famine and military sabotage in African countries including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra have been providing the world with thousands of refugees every year. Among these, a major portion is accommodated by the US. Nigerian civil war, Somalia conflict, Liberian civil war and the Eritrean-Ethiopian war also caused intense immigration to western countries and to the US (Okome, 2005). Since religious and ethnic conflicts have increased more than ever before, people in many parts of the world are under the threat of anytime forced migration. In other words, ‘ethnically and politically divided states, unstable and corrupt governments and political systems, and dictatorships, lack of civility, increased lawlessness’ (Cox & Pawar (2005 p.277), are the major causes of forced migration. In addition, certain environmental factors also cause massive migration in various parts of the world. For instance, natural phenomena such as sea level rise, hurricanes and typhoons, drought, wildfire, heat waves, volcanoes, and earthquakes make millions of people ecological refugees every year. Furthermore, governments’ infrastructure projects such as building of dams, roads or tourist resorts often demand forced migration. World Bank estimates that 90 million people were displaced in the 1990s as a result of infrastructure projects (Digby B, 2001p.167). Therefore a few causes of immigration such as globalization, financial policies, and infrastructure modification are closely associated with global change. The recent developments like globalization and the subsequent economic growth and downfalls also contributed to the extraordinary level of migration. Obviously, Globalization exposed a new world of opportunities to the people of African Continent and

Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Education - Essay Example As the report declares educational status in the United States is much ahead of the developing countries. Though funds for education are quite high, proper utilization of these funds is very essential. The educational systems in United States must focus on for certain issues such as character development, moral formation, discipline, safety, protection from drugs and early sex in the schools etc. These issues are as important as the subject knowledge. Therefore it is essential that the instructors and the parents together need to look into these aspects more seriously. This paper stresses that the aim of teaching is to make student learning possible. The role of a facilitator, or instructor, in Education is to understand the need and interest of the students and provide them the ideal conditions for learning. The task of the instructor in education is the creation of a learning environment in which students are encouraged to think carefully and critically and express their thoughts, and in which they wish to confront and resolve difficulties, it involves constantly monitoring and reflecting on the processes of teaching and student understanding and seeking to improve them. The first and foremost reason people want to become a facilitator or instructor is that it is a one of the most creative profession that provide a unique, definite, and essential social service. Teachers play a most important role in formulating the future of our civilization by providing the best education. This profession gives a sense of satisfaction.

Nurture Your Childs Self-Esteem Essay Example for Free

Nurture Your Childs Self-Esteem Essay Kids start developing their sense of self as babies when they see themselves through their parents eyes. Your tone of voice, your body language, and your every expression are absorbed by your kids. Your words and actions as a parent affect their developing self-esteem more than anything else. Praising accomplishments, however small, will make them feel proud; letting kids do things independently will make them feel capable and strong. By contrast, belittling comments or comparing a child unfavorably with another will make kids feel worthless. Avoid making loaded statements or using words as weapons. Comments like What a stupid thing to do! or You act more like a baby than your little brother! cause damage just as physical blows do. Choose your words carefully and be compassionate. Let your kids know that everyone makes mistakes and that you still love them, even when you dont love their behavior. Catch Kids Being Good Have you ever stopped to think about how many times you react negatively to your kids in a given day? You may find yourself criticizing far more often than complimenting. How would you feel about a boss who treated you with that much negative guidance, even if it was well intentioned? The more effective approach is to catch kids doing something right: You made your bed without being asked — thats terrific! or I was watching you play with your sister and you were very patient. These statements will do more to encourage good behavior over the long run than repeated scoldings. Make a point of finding something to praise every day. Be generous with rewards — your love, hugs, and compliments can work wonders and are often reward enough. Soon you will find you are growing more of the behavior you would like to see. Set Limits and Be Consistent With Your Discipline Discipline is necessary in every household. The goal of discipline is to help kids choose acceptable behaviors and learn self-control. They may test the limits you establish for them, but they need those limits to grow into responsible adults. Establishing house rules helps kids understand your expectations and develop self-control. Some rules might include: no TV untilhomework is done, and no hitting, name-calling, or hurtful teasing allowed. You might want to have a system in place: one warning, followed by consequences such as a time out or loss of privileges. A common mistake parents make is failure to follow through with the consequences. You cant discipline kids for talking back one day and ignore it the next. Being consistent teaches what you expect. Make Time for Your Kids Its often difficult for parents and kids to get together for a family meal, let alone spend quality time together. But there is probably nothing kids would like more. Get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning so you can eat breakfast with your child or leave the dishes in the sink and take a walk after dinner. Kids who arent getting the attention they want from their parents often act out or misbehave because theyre sure to be noticed that way. Many parents find it rewarding to schedule together time with their kids. Create a special night each week to be together and let your kids help decide how to spend the time. Look for other ways to connect — put a note or something special in your kids lunchbox. Adolescents seem to need less undivided attention from their parents than younger kids. Because there are fewer windows of opportunity for parents and teens to get together, parents should do their best to be available when their teen does express a desire to talk or participate in family activities. Attending concerts, games, and other events with your teen communicates caring and lets you get to know more about your child and his or her friends in important ways. Dont feel guilty if youre a working parent. It is the many little things you do — making popcorn, playing cards, window shopping — that kids will remember. Be a Good Role Model Young kids learn a lot about how to act by watching their parents. The younger they are, the more cues they take from you. Before you lash out or blow your top in front of your child, think about this: is that how you want your child to behave when angry? Be aware that youre constantly being observed by your kids. Studies have shown that children who hit usually have a role model for aggression at home. Model the traits you wish to cultivate in your kids: respect, friendliness, honesty, kindness, tolerance. Exhibit unselfish behavior. Do things for other people without expecting a reward. Express thanks and offer compliments. Above all, treat your kids the way you expect other people to treat you. Make Communication a Priority You cant expect kids to do everything simply because you, as a parent, say so. They want and deserve explanations as much as adults do. If we dont take time to explain, kids will begin to wonder about our values and motives and whether they have any basis. Parents who reason with their kids allow them to understand and learn in a nonjudgmental way. Make your expectations clear. If there is a problem, describe it, express your feelings, and invite your child to work on a solution with you. Be sure to include consequences. Make suggestions and offer choices. Be open to your childs suggestions as well. Negotiate. Kids who participate in decisions are more motivated to carry them out. Be Flexible and Willing to Adjust Your Parenting Style If you frequently feel let down by your childs behavior, perhaps you have unrealistic expectations. Parents who think in shoulds (for example, My kid should be potty-trained by now) might find it helpful to read up on the matter or to talk to other parents or child development specialists. Kids environments have an impact on their behavior, so you may be able to modify that behavior by changing the environment. If you find yourself constantly saying no to your 2-year-old, look for ways to restructure your surroundings so that fewer things are off-limits. This will cause less frustration for both of you. As your child changes, youll gradually have to change your parenting style. Chances are, what works with your child now wont work as well in a year or two. Teens tend to look less to their parents and more to their peers for role models. But continue to provide guidance, encouragement, and appropriate discipline while allowing your teen to earn more independence. And seize every available moment to make a connection! Show That Your Love Is Unconditional As a parent, youre responsible for correcting and guiding your kids. But how you express your corrective guidance makes all the difference in how a child receives it. When you have to confront your child, avoid blaming, criticizing, or fault-finding, which undermine self-esteem and can lead to resentment. Instead, strive to nurture and encourage, even when disciplining your kids. Make sure they know that although you want and expect better next time, your love is there no matter what. Know Your Own Needs and Limitations as a Parent Face it — you are an imperfect parent. You have strengths and weaknesses as a family leader. Recognize your abilities — I am loving and dedicated. Vow to work on your weaknesses — I need to be more consistent with discipline. Try to have realistic expectations for yourself, your spouse, and your kids. You dont have to have all the answers — be forgiving of yourself. And try to make parenting a manageable job. Focus on the areas that need the most attention rather than trying to address everything all at once. Admit it when youre burned out. Take time out from parenting to do things that will make you happy as a person (or as a couple). Focusing on your needs does not make you selfish. It simply means you care about your own well-being, which is another important value to model for your children.

Developing Nature in Architecture

Developing Nature in Architecture Nature is not what it used to be. Or at least that is what we may think, when we look at the way humans and their technologies have treated nature. When we speak of nature, however, we are essentially talking about our relationship with nature, never nature itself. What we refer to as nature or natural has always been as much about what we see, as it is about what we think is out there. And trying to bring nature into view is equally ambivalent. Images of nature cannot be taken at face value either. It is not the straightforward case of what we see, is what we get. What is at stake are our cultural perceptions of nature. In viewing nature we can only talk about what we call nature.(Michiel Schwarz,2005) To the extreme, to differentiate what is nature and what is not is always a matter of contention. Of course, nature will always be something that can be looked at, literally. The relationship between nature and culture can catch the attention of human in which the opinions and requirement of human towards nature are being changed and distorted. Thinking of arbitrary designing method is available in architecture; people actually play a passive role in their own space. Firstly, we must refuse the arbitrary imparting of uprooted greenery in design, then regain and give back the original characteristics to nature by creating a pathway in between inside (architectural) and outside (environmental) for humans to play an initiative role in approaching nature. Nowadays, people are more likely to stay in the architectural interior space than in the nature. Because of that, architects and designers just simply apply the greenery into the space and create so-called green architecture. But that is actually a kind of artificial design, and it will mislead the human to the perceptions of nature. Nature doesnt have a design problem. People do. Instead of using nature as a Mere tool for human purposes; we can strive to become tools of nature that serve its agenda too. What would it mean to become, once again, native to this place, the Earth the home of all our relations? (William McDonough and Michael Braungart, Cradle-to-Cradle) Its a challenge for designer to design a habitat for people and create a rich communication with surrounding natural sources within the living space. People will have to evaluate what nature actually is, in order to have a common view on that, it tends to give a justice to space instead of adopting the ideas of arbitrary design by imparting uprooted greenery into interior space. If not, nature will just become an object as part of human design in this age of genetic engineering, artificial beaches, virtual environment or uprooted greenery for decoration purposes. Regrettably, people will soon forget about the spirit and the value of the real nature and occupied by all the fake surface of nature. Body Sometimes, people will loose the idea of the original and change according to human perception. It may be hard to draw a line between these two boundaries. It is interesting to combine these two things together and have a discussion over it. Natures open-ended completion by architecture and the landscapes fundamental openness to architectural rewriting indicates unfolding of nature into culture through landscape, architecture and technology is the move from first to second nature. It may be seen as unfair to the human and nature itself when everyone imparts the artificial greenery in the space and that is so called sustainable green design. (Fig.1,2) Those small countries with limited space like Japan, architects try to maximize the interior living space and creating interior garden within the house. People tend to stay in the space and seldom approach to the outside world. An alternative approach is to differentiate between natural and artificial processes. Some processes can take place as a result of human action; but not others. For example, water flowing is a natural process; bathing is an artificial one. In this view, cultural processes are the clear result of purposeful human action; invention and control of the human will result in the culture. Some question may be pop out: Will there be any needs for functional buildings or spaces that aimed to be success as a decorative nature objects? The feeling of the users will be influenced by the concern for the nature and artificial green object directly. But, does such an aesthetic response show us the responsibility of the designers or do justice to either beauty or design? A beautiful world is what a human being pursues in their mind. So, it did urge us to design for the dwellings and tools are seemed as old as humanity. The problem is that the real aesthetics of nature are being forgotten by human being and only stay inside the spaces and play with the uprooted greenery. This becomes a requirement of people instead of the original meaning of the nature and the interaction between human and environment itself. The deeper side of beauty is the knowledge of living truth as an ongoing process of creation that is hard to understand. This is the beauty of inner purpose that emerges to our amazement because we try to discover those new things. The perception of an old nature is just getting more and more basically nurtures. Another question for this: Whether opposite equal to possible or impossible? The optimistic thinkers will probably believe that the control over the nature will continue until we get used with that and cannot waive it off. On the contrary, we can have our own dominant nature and the way people imparting nature in the spaces is an illusion. Nature will keep on changing with the footstep of human governs nature. The boundaries between nature and culture will never change. Thanks again to the science and technology, which blurred the line between nature and culture and abandon the real nature and separate them with the human being. The natural setting in our world make the space become compelling, it is because that it provides such a rich source of these properties, and the site specific architectural design takes advantage from each of the part. Interior materials, colors, patterns, textures, and artwork will draw the qualities and features of the architecture and landscape inside enhancing a seamless interior/exterior sensory experience. But, it is not telling us to use the same materials, but rather materials that consist of the qualities and features most derived from the architecture and the landscape. By integrating the natural elements of the site into the form of the architecture itself, human being will have the chance of experiencing the unique relationships between inside and outside from multiple perspectives as we move from space to space within the space. Furthermore, the boundaries of indoor rooms and outdoor spaces among visual and physical can be dissolving into a mosaic of inside-outside spaces. By using the walls and wings of the space to define outdoor rooms, the experience of living is extended into a sheltered natural environment. For this, both distant views and views of nearby nature are essential. Distant views link us with the nature of the site, while nearby nature links us to the confusion and immediate sensory pleasures of the design instead of move the nature into the space to approach the human being. We have no longer an outside and an inside as two separate things. Now the outside may come inside and the inside may and does go outside. They are of each other. Form and function thus become one in design and execution if the nature of material and method and purpose are all in unison. (Wright 1954 p.50) By the way, world and nature can be seeing as in the same level; there is no still form. Every form in becoming alive should move Man. Nature is the only source for architecture to keep on moving. Living architecture is used to enhance the spirit of human being and change the architecture into a living being. There are many ways of imparting nature to architecture, it is necessary to differentiate between two approaches: one which uses nature as a composing element and one favors leaving nature as much as possible untouched or as element of worship. This first result in ignorance and bring down the characteristics of nature; the second approach will influence directly to the separation among the built and unbuilt environment, or to stimulate human feeling and thinking by the organic architecture. When we discuss about imparting greenery into space and design, we will link to Biophilic design, which coined in 1984 by a Harvard biologist, Edward O. Wilson, to elaborate what he thought the inherent human attraction to nature: Incorporates real or simulated natural elements in an effort to promote well being. It is a quirky, lesser-known cousin of green design, and is concerned more with speaking to our emotions, our ancient genetic predilections, probably fundamental, for interaction with a natural world. Unlike green design, it is more focus on energy and protects natural resources, but not focuses on sustainable building practices. In another hand, Biophilic design is more concerned with appearances and natures relaxing effect. (Edward O. Wilson, 1984) Biophilic architecture is a part of a new concept in architecture, that work intensively with human health, ecology and sustainability precepts, such as integral part of architectural formation which must be in optimal proportion with other buildings material. However, the interpretation and final implementation of Biophilic design must have a regional dimension with regard to environment and culture. In accurate, there are twelve attributes identified, including color, water, air, sunlight, plants, animals, natural materials, views and vistas, faà §ade greening, landscape, habitats and fire. Human design has made nature more natural than natural: it is now becoming kind of hypernatural. Actually, this will never exist. It has surpassed the real thing; hypernatural nature is always just a little bit prettier, slicker and safer compared to the old kind. Lets be honest: its actually culture. The more we learn to control trees, animals, atoms and the climate, the more they lose their natural character and enter into the realms of culture. So, next nature will be start from cultural products that is complex and we can only integrate them with man-nature relationship. (Stephen R. Kellert) The basic dimension of Biophilic design is a place-based or vernacular dimension; it can be described as buildings and landscapes that connect to the culture and ecology of a locality or geographic area. Sense, spirit of place, underscoring how buildings and landscapes of meaning to people are the dimensions that become integral to their individual and collective identities, metaphorically transforming inanimate matter into something that feels lifelike and often sustains life. People want to experience the sensory, emotional, and spiritual satisfactions that can be obtained only from an intimate interplay, indeed from identification with the places in which they live. This interplay and identification generate the spirit of the place. The environment acquires the attributes of a place through the fusion of the natural and human order. (Rene Dubos, 1980,110) Human always connects theirs sensory such as physical, visual, material between interiors and nature. Compared to nature, most of the built environments support somewhat shallow and limited experiences, while Biophilic design can fulfill all of the senses fullyfor example like walking along the beach, camping in the forest, or watching sunrise. It is an active experience that awakens us every moment that we are living and going on with our daily life. Distinction between sustainable design (or green design) and Biophilic design can be considered as a challenge for the designers as it indicates how they can address the method to incorporate into our spaces. There are two primary reasons for Biophilic design in architecture; first, the clear ideas of benefits link with human performance, emotional well being, learning, stress reduction and healing. Secondly, from the environment viewpoint, it is an effort to eliminate pollution and greater protection to support clean environment. Frankly, health and healing are the clear ideas of benefits that are given by the Biophilic design. In advance, contacting with nature involves exposure to natural light or sunlight, yet another pain-reduction mechanism may come into play. When these advantages are known and agreed by the human, they will just have to try to impart greenery in the design as much as possible. From an environmental viewpoint, to inspire interest and appreciate nature, to incorporate Biophilic design features and elements in spaces are essential. This appreciation can be explained as a motivation for people to care for the environment and at the same time to protect it. Coming to the resolution of conflicts and achieving balance of Biophilic design link the connection with nature has been found to enhance healing and recovery from illness. Likewise, it also reduces health problems as well as social problems. Even the presence of limited amounts of vegetation such as grass and trees has been regarded as an adaptive behavior. The missing link in current sustainable design is a basic that will narrow down the focus on avoiding harmful environmental impacts. Low environmental impact design fails to address the critical needs equally of diminishing human separation from nature, enhancing positive connection with environmental processes and this important objective of Biophilic design. Human being may neglect some of the part in terms of modern architecture and construction, a condition the eminent architectural historian Vincent Scully described in this way: The relationship of manmade structures to the natural world, has been neglected by architecture. There are many reasons for this. Foremost among them, is the blindness of the contemporary urban world to everything that is not itself, to nature most of all. Lacking of experience is the main cause for this blindness; it indicates and reveals the illogical and self-defeating results of designing in oppositional relation to the natural environment. (Vincent Scully, 1991:11) So, by creating the element for example likes windows, doors, voids, and opening, those elements can support the space and connect it to the outside environment. Windows are very important for the interior spaces; they ensure access to views, daylight, sunlight, fresh air, outdoor spaces and activities, seasons, natures sounds, smells, and life. Windows help to connect building occupants with a richness that may be critical to the individual and at the same time, they also offer those outside building with a level of transparency, oversight, and contact with lifes activities that is critical to community. While a direct connection from the indoors to the natural diversity of outdoor places may be critical for human health and inspiration, the direct connection from outdoors to inside is equally critical. Windows reveal the spirit of place, as an important element for the spaces window act as a mirror of nature. The view of the nature outside or even the reflection of the environment being created by human is in a way non-arbitrarily defined as in between inside and outside. It incorporates a threshold whereby a strong dialogue between the inside and outside occurs with a unique in-between experience as the result. In human relationship with nature, we can also gain invaluable models from non-arbitrary architecture for current design education by showing an architecture that derives from and speaks to human beings existence in the world. By using this method, it shows a great planning and developing for the content of site, many opportunities can be get and created for human to view and approach the outside nature. Instead of applying greenery in the interior space as design tool, the in between transition space of inside and outside enhance the relationship of architectural spaces and environmental nature surrounds. By the way, the natural symbols can help us to think about how our buildings might be made more thoughtful instead of telling us on how to build.   Moreover, a deep understanding is more important when come to the question of creating a non-arbitrary architecture grounded in human being-in-the-world. The philosopher Karsten Harries writes that a key task of architecture is interpreting the world as a meaningful order in which the individual can find his place in the midst of nature and in the midst of a community. Harries argues that, too often, buildings dont respond to the needs of human dwelling because they are made arbitrarily instead of being let to arise out of the real-world requirements of particular people, places and landscapes. To give an annotation to human life, design both listen and incorporate nature and culture can be part of a non-arbitrary architecture. Harries claims that one need in creating a non-arbitrary architecture understands what he calls natural symbols: The underlying patterns of experience that mark the essential qualities of human nature and life, for example, qualities of direction, of weight, of materiality, of light and so forth. Natural symbols often express themselves in lived dialectics like up and down, vertical and horizontal, and center and boundary. (Harries 1993) Thus, architects and designers play an important role to explore the nature symbols in between the living spaces and environment, which will provide and enhance the dialogue between human and nature. The creation of an inside automatically shapes an outside, which then relates to inside into a dialectic relationship. Inside establishes physical security and safety from natures elements and societys demands and also facilitates a sense of identity for the person and group. In fact, eye catching interior spaces in the built environment often appear to have a connection with the outside environment. These areas indicate the changing of nature with culture. Furthermore, impressive design forms in the built environment that shows its quality in terms of porches, foyers, atriums, and interior gardens. So, the relationship within inside and outside bound of the areas is the criteria that we need to take into consideration. As a result, it makes the continuity linkage for it strongly. To show the familiarity and predictability, the connection to the geographic of an area must be secured. An example is the case study of Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright, which creates a powerful sense of insideness and is expressed in roughly; cladded stonewalls to melt the architecture space in the nature outside. In a contrasting way, the transparency of glass windows opens inside to outside and thereby connects the two spaces. In-betweeness involves a place neither inside nor out. It incorporates a threshold whereby a strong dialogue between the inside and outside occurs with a unique in-between experience as the result. (Fig.3) The fusion of interior and exterior-the cave and the clearing- so that the two melded and flowed together was Wrights great achievement, so of his contemporaries worked with the same way of opening the house to the outside world. In spite of his own rhetoric, Wright knew that an architecture that ignores the images of both cave and clearing is invalid, and he incorporated this knowledge into his finest work. The other example will be the famous house designed by Le Corbusier near Paris, Ville Savoy. The visible wall is at the other side of the interior courtyard. The ambiguity between the functional wall of glass and the visible wall is confusing and inharmonious. The developing technology of the twentieth century was regarded with a peculiar romantic fervor by architects. (Fig.4) By using nature as a component and mostly invisible, abstract one if a residential or urban complex is in the chaos of the citys built environment and borrowed nature if the building is embedded in unspoiled, open sites. The spirit of the nature will not appear itself automatically. Nature is an addition when it comes to unite the human and natural worlds and pay attention to revealing natures will as well as human souls embedded in nature. My goal has not been to communicate with nature as it is, but rather to try to change the meaning of nature through architecture by rendering nature abstract through architecture. All of my works are trying to create the confrontation between architecture and nature.'(Tadao Ando) On account of the boundary of spaces, people will also shows their strong feeling over it where they cherish the delineated spaces within the build environment, it helps to enhance the knowledge of clear and consistent boundaries and place demarcations. For that reason, how can the design itself create a pathway in between inside and outside so that the architectural space offers people to approach the outside nature instead of impart greenery arbitrarily? Architects should maintain a certain ambiguity and an unwillingness to entirely dissolve the boundary between culture and nature. It does so, not only through its visual identity, through a negotiation between emergence and disappearance, but more particularly through the contrast between the visual and the spatial realm, where one is simultaneously part of and distanced from the external environment. In advance, comfort can be gained through transitional spaces within and between built and natural environments by providing access from one area to another; hence, thresholds, portals, doors, bridges, and fenestration are the main factors of a built environment. Therefore, the transitional area in the space will be the boundaries among the interior space with the outside environment. Positively, people are showing their concern to the natural and built environments when variability has been united by integrated and patterned wholes. Moreover, people prefer in natural and built environments the feeling that breaks apart including an overall emergent property consisting of to the sun of the individual parts. The threshold not only separates and binds human beings; it also connects the private, intimate realm to an outside, public, workaday world. Interior space can be described as a magnet that can be found around us in any of the direction to which they can bring home with their gathered experience. The threshold that both disjoin and integrate an inside and outside sets in exercise a momentum of leave-taking and homecoming that sets the temporal rhythm of work and play, of an active and ruminative life. An interior space can be shown from that and it cannot exist apart from the path leading from its doorsteps to the doorsteps of another space and another realm. This pathway not only connects to interior spaces but also links a to a world that we know. (Fig.5) Human beings can interact with nature only if the urban geometry permits such interactions. In addition to visual line-of-sight, we pay attention to pedestrian access and the in between transition spaces. Having some uprooted plant life available is only first step: we need to make it accessible to pedestrians and design an environment in which such an interaction can be maintained and connected. Frequently, ornamental plants may be seen but not approached. We must create gardens that are physically hostile environment for the pedestrian. Pathways are exposed in the middle of this space, between the interior spaces and the forbidden green lawn. Private lawns are out-of-bounds, while any bushes and trees form a protective wall around a house, instead of belonging to the public land. We have to question this habit, breaking up outside environment into inside architectural spaces crisscrossed by paths. The other example that shows how transition spaces can define the space and function is The Museum of Modern Art in Ney York City. The Museum is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City designed by Yoshio Taniguchi. (Fig.6) In Taniguchis MoMA design, the primary elements that internalize external space are vast windows that bring aspects of the city into the building, creating a layered effect that loosens the intensity and simplicity inherent in the modernist elements, and also declares the act of viewing art to be part of a multifaceted urban lifestyle. Transition spaces as a connector in between every separated space. It is important to create a passage in between different defined function of space. These corridor or verandah design can be a breathing place for people before entering another space. People used to be the participant in the space when theres physical access to outside by the solid walls but everything changed after the glass being used and applied. Visually, the solid wall was replaced by glass. The consequent interaction between the interaction between the interior space and the outside world is the most striking change to be noted in the design of contemporary buildings. So, how to create a new design modular system to solve the problem of people being an observer in the space nowadays? The very traditional layout and volumes of the house is connected and less of opening. So by creating an internal corridor/ verandah in the space can bring in the natural lighting and good in air ventilation. The principle of separating the volumes applied by the rearranging of independent volumes. (Fig.7) This figure is a diagram that experimented based on an existing house and show how the concept of separating volumes can be created by add in the internal corridor. People can enjoy different spaces and lifestyle, but not fixing the dwelling space. The volumes have a free layout but are connected by linear corridor and verandah elements. The verandah itself becomes a transition area between volumes and rooms. It separated the volumes and creates a additional distance for people to transit. The points of transition, in the old time design or architecture, provided physical passage as well as visual access. Until recently, the windows and doors were always operable and were required for ventilation. System of mechanical air circulation made it possible to have visual access to the outside world without direct physical access, and visual access to the outside world without direct physical access, and people experience exterior/surrounding space in most apartment buildings, hotels, and office structures passively, as an observer, not a participant. For this environmental isolation we will unavoidable pay a price. How can an architect achieve the Biophilic design by taking into consideration the elements/ structures that are placed in between interior and exterior? For example the sheltered structure is designed to decrease the direct sun coming in the interior space by creating the sun break. The very first step towards passive Biophilic design is to reflect upon the energy distribution in the building form and volume. Distribution of the energy needs to correspond to the function and activity of those spaces. (Fig.8) The advantages of natural cooling for human comfort and long-term health should be compared to the impact of variable and constant cold air blown through diffusers. The quantity and quality of outdoor air that can be delivered through natural cooling should be compared to that delivered by a range of mechanical systems, over time. Conclusion A bioregional approach to sustainable habitat design considers local origin a fundamental to its architectural methodologies, played out especially in the types of construction materials used and the source of these materials. (Fig.9) Biophilic exposure as well as passive and active solar hear gain. So the iterative process in sustainable development become very important for a bioregional built environment. The design related strategies included outdoor comfort/ ventilation and solar access/ sky exposure. An important consideration is user and pedestrian comfort. Studies of transition spaces assist designers in minimizing negatives wind effect while maximizing beneficial ventilation conditions. Some of these typically wind effects and their counter strategy applied, are: tunnel effect, downdraft, redirection, tear of edges and acceleration. Real curtains are an important part of the design, to nuance the outdoor light or define indoor spaces. (Fig.10) This figure shows how the form and opening of the blocks can affect to the daily natural lighting and air ventilation within the space. The requirements for solar and light access and sky exposure can be met on several different levels-right of way width, dwelling orientation, building faà §ade reflectivity, heights and massing, distribution of function and glazing percentage. To create new modular principles for define the new balance between the arbitrary design and non-arbitrary design in sustainability context. By balancing the openness and refuge/ sheltered element in the living space with an increased ability to view out and feel connected to others in the environment could be the better solution.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Due to the different situation and local context, just like Singapore that is lacking of natural elements and limited possibility of natural views, we should have certain methodologies and principles to guide and achieve the Biophilic Design. So there is many constraints and guideline for architects or designers to study and analyze before design. With well study of the site context and environment surrounded the building, can easily enjoy the benefit from the natural world. From the orientation of the buildings, form study and even every single opening can actually create a robust connection in between human, nature and space. So, there is no other way to approach nature world within architectural space only by applying the elements and attributes of Biophilic Design. Those artificial greenery and arbitrary way of imparting fake nature will only stop people to approach nature and forget about what is the real nature. Therefore, there is no artificial production and solution for people to approach nature within the architectural space but only a physical access/connector from inside to outside. And the transition pathway between inside and outside is the important role and the elements to encourage people approach the surrounding environment. Architects or designer should study the site condition and apply the attributes of Biophilic Design to enhance the living standard and create a robust connection between nature, people and space.

A Solution to E-Waste Essays -- Recycling Electronics

Over the past decade there was a profound development achieved in the sphere of high technologies production. Now the scale of electronics market becomes wider and spins up day by day with a cyclic launch of new electronic appliances with enhanced features. â€Å"According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), consumers were expected to purchase 500 million units of consumer electronics in the US in 2008.† (Electronics Takeback coalition, 2010) Consequently, a clear tendency toward rapid substitution of electronic appliances can be observed. A high rate in electronics upgrading shortens their lifespan and results in following stockpiling of needless gadgets, which become a part of municipal waste. These end-of-life electronic devices are often called â€Å"electronic waste, or e-waste†. As Brett H. Robinson (2009) claims, now worldwide production of e-waste reaches approximately 20-25 million tons being discarded every year with the largest proportion in Europ e, the United States and Australasia. Hence, the problem of e-waste disposal management grows into a serious global challenge. As it was reported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2.6 million tons of electronic waste were generated in 2005 and only estimated 330,000 tons were recycled. (Kim A. O'Connell, 2007) Thereby a very small percentage of electronic waste undergoes recycling process, as a considerable part is stockpiled in landfills or incinerated with the rest of solid municipal waste. This essay will present main points of e-waste management issue, analyze possible approaches to the problem, such as export to developing countries for re-use, takeback and recycling programs, or so-called extended producer responsibility. Finally, the essay will sum up w... ... Waste Age 88-92 Robinson, B.H. 2009. E-waste: an assessment of global production and environmental impacts. Science for the total environment 408(2): 183-191. http://www.kiwiscience.com/JournalArticles/STOTEN2009.pdf (accessed January 4, 2011) Stephenson, J.B. 2008. Electronic Waste: Harmful U.S. exports flow virtually unrestricted because of minimal EPA enforcement and narrow regulation. United States Government Accountability Office, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d081166t.pdf (accessed October 28, 2010) Umesi, N.O. and S. Onyia. 2008. Disposal of –ewastes in Nigeria: an appraisal of regulations and current practices. International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology 15(6): 565-573. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=22&sid=33791215-436d-410f-a19b-47492b147141%40sessionmgr14&vid=7 (accessed January 4, 2011)