King Lear Loyalty

Eastern and Western Perspectives on Loyalty Loyalty is a strong feeling of support and allegiance in which it is reflected upon two proclaimed movies with different setting and subplots, but possesses a similar understanding to what the writer was trying to convey. By watching Olivier’s â€Å"King Lear†, and Kurosawa’s â€Å"Ran†, the audience finds there are many themes that are portrayed throughout each movie, but the one that provides the largest impact within the plot has to be loyalty. King Lear displays the meaning of loyalty in a western approach with high class Elizabethan characters as its main cast.The second movie, Ran, is based on an eastern society with conflicting warlords who rule during a particular era. With their differences, also come their similarities. Many characters within their respective movies all share one common analogy, that one should be loyal and faithful to their master. Since the concepts of the two movies are similar, the characters and their roles would parallel each other as well. Lord Hidetora’s advocate, Tango and King Lear’s Earl, Kent have one attribute in common; that they both serve their king with devotion.The Earl of Kent’s loyalty is shown during the movie after he is banished by King Lear for opposing the idea of disowning his youngest daughter, Cordelia. Kent proves this when he disguises himself as a normal citizen, to obtain proximity with the king. Most men would leave the kingdom, never to return but Kent proves differently. Aside, Kent reveals his plan â€Å"Now, banished Kent, If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemned, So may it come thy master, whom thou lovest, Shall find thee full of labors. † (I. iv. 24. 4) This quote explains that even though his master condemned him, he is loyal and still willing to serve King Lear.From there, he gains King Lear’s trust as â€Å"Caius† and works to aid him throughout the rest of the play. Ke nt’s honesty is also a big role when serving King Lear, since he helps the King to understand his faults about banishing Cordelia from his kingdom, acting as a voice of reason. He’s not afraid to stand up to the King, because he holds King Lear’s best interest at heart even before his own. Kent is very selfless when it comes to his relationship with King Lear, and without prompting would end his own life to continue serving his King even in the afterlife.Kent tells the Duke of Albany â€Å"I have a journey, sir, shortly to go. My master calls me. I must not say no. † (V. iii. 17. 340) Kent decides to continue serving his king and denies the request from the Duke of Albany to help revive the kingdom that King Lear once ruled. Parallel to Kent from â€Å"King Lear†, Tango from â€Å"Ran† also had a similar role as Lord Hidetora’s loyal advocate. Tango is banished from Lord Hidetora’s domain because of his negativism towards his L ord’s decision to banish Saburo, since he did not want to deceive his father like his elder brothers.Tango left Hidetora’s domain, but did not feel it was right to leave his Lord since he made a pledge to serve him, no matter the situation. Tango returns to Lord Hidetora when Hidetora is in need of food and supplies after he, himself is banished from both Taro and Jiro’s castles. Tango explains to Lord Hidetora â€Å"I, Tango Hirayama, though banished have followed my lord in disguise. Seeing how you suffer, I beg to offer you these provisions. † This quote displays that the relationship between Lord Hidetora and Kent are more than servant and Lord and that the trust between the two of them go far beyond even Lord Hidetora and his own sons.From that part in time, Tango stays with Hidetora for the remainder of the movie while they endure the agony and suffering that tie into the tragedy. The differences between the characters are the strength of their loya lty towards their masters. Kent’s perspective of loyalty is more extreme, since he is willingly to die for King Lear and follow him eternally. Kent puts his service towards his master as his top priority which is more important than his own life. Tango’s approach is more subtle, since he does not take extreme precaution when returning to his King after his banishment, but Tango still has a strong sense of loyalty.Kent and Tango’s roles within each movie are very significant towards the tragedy. It helps the audience see there are genuine characters within the movies that are not influential towards the tragedy. The loyalty that is instilled within the two characters cause a positive flexure within the tragedy; by helping eliminate the conflict more than continuing the progression towards it. Unlike the positive effect that Kent and Tango had on the plot, Oswald and Kurogane both serve their antagonistic masters, Goneril and Jiro.Oswald shows his full allegiance to Goneril; he even disobeys King Lear’s attempt to talk to his daughter during Kent’s arrival to the Goneril’s castle and denies Regan’s offer to join her side, also ripping up her letter in the process. Oswald serves Goneril with utter loyalty, but his understanding of devotion is different than a man such as Kent. Oswald explains to the Duke of Cornwall why Kent attacked him â€Å"I never gave him any, It pleased the king his master very late To strike at me upon his misconstructionWhen he, conjunct and flattering his displeasure, Tripped me behind; being down, insulted, railed, And put upon him such a deal of man That worthied him, got praises of the king For him attempting who was self-subdued. And in the fleshment of this dread exploit Drew on me here again. † (II. ii. 5. 110) The fight between Kent and Oswald is symbolic, showing a battle between good and evil. Kent’s loyalty is trustworthy but Oswald is a sycophant who attempts to wi n over people with his insincerely flattery to get what he wants, similar to his master Goneril.Kurogane is parallel to Oswald with both of them serving the main antagonists of the movies. Kurogane is very loyal to Jiro, acting as his voice of reason when Jiro becomes extremely influenced by Lady Kaede and tries to take over Lady Sue’s position as his wife. When Lady Kaede asks Jiro to slay Lady Sue and bring back her head, Kurogane comes back with a head of a statue, After finding out that Lady Sue is murdered, Kurogane tells Jiro he’s will not let Lady Kaede escape punishment â€Å"Who rules this domain,You or Lady Kaede? I pledged fealty to you, but never to her! † Similar to Oswald’s scene where he rips Regan’s paper, Kurogane kills Lady Kaede for her disobedience because he serves Jiro, displaying that his loyalty goes towards his master and no one else. There is a comparison between Kurogane and Oswald, but there are also many differences as well. Oswald seems to use flattery in order to display his loyalty towards Goneril, whereas Kurogane is honest towards Jiro and will even step up to Jiro.Oswald’s loyalty seems cowardly since he hides behind a shadow of lies and Kurogane’s loyalty is sincere and generally, more positive. Oswald and Kurogane’s roles provide influence towards the downfall of the tragic hero and create a progression towards the tragedy. Since they have a negative impact on the storyline, they help magnify the audience’s perspective on the tragedy that is yet to happen. In conclusion, the two movies contain many comparisons and contrasts that approach from two distinct cultures.The four characters; Oswald along with Kurogane and Tango along with Kent, can relate with and differ against each other. All these characters carry traits of loyalty towards their masters, while each individual can be classified as either good or evil. These characters enlighten the tragedy that both directors portrayed through the plot. Olivier’s â€Å"King Lear†, and Kurosawa’s â€Å"Ran† is comprised of multiple themes that are depicted during the films, but the theme with the most significance towards the storyline and the tragedy is loyalty. King Lear Loyalty Eastern and Western Perspectives on Loyalty Loyalty is a strong feeling of support and allegiance in which it is reflected upon two proclaimed movies with different setting and subplots, but possesses a similar understanding to what the writer was trying to convey. By watching Olivier’s â€Å"King Lear†, and Kurosawa’s â€Å"Ran†, the audience finds there are many themes that are portrayed throughout each movie, but the one that provides the largest impact within the plot has to be loyalty. King Lear displays the meaning of loyalty in a western approach with high class Elizabethan characters as its main cast.The second movie, Ran, is based on an eastern society with conflicting warlords who rule during a particular era. With their differences, also come their similarities. Many characters within their respective movies all share one common analogy, that one should be loyal and faithful to their master. Since the concepts of the two movies are similar, the characters and their roles would parallel each other as well. Lord Hidetora’s advocate, Tango and King Lear’s Earl, Kent have one attribute in common; that they both serve their king with devotion.The Earl of Kent’s loyalty is shown during the movie after he is banished by King Lear for opposing the idea of disowning his youngest daughter, Cordelia. Kent proves this when he disguises himself as a normal citizen, to obtain proximity with the king. Most men would leave the kingdom, never to return but Kent proves differently. Aside, Kent reveals his plan â€Å"Now, banished Kent, If thou canst serve where thou dost stand condemned, So may it come thy master, whom thou lovest, Shall find thee full of labors. † (I. iv. 24. 4) This quote explains that even though his master condemned him, he is loyal and still willing to serve King Lear.From there, he gains King Lear’s trust as â€Å"Caius† and works to aid him throughout the rest of the play. Ke nt’s honesty is also a big role when serving King Lear, since he helps the King to understand his faults about banishing Cordelia from his kingdom, acting as a voice of reason. He’s not afraid to stand up to the King, because he holds King Lear’s best interest at heart even before his own. Kent is very selfless when it comes to his relationship with King Lear, and without prompting would end his own life to continue serving his King even in the afterlife.Kent tells the Duke of Albany â€Å"I have a journey, sir, shortly to go. My master calls me. I must not say no. † (V. iii. 17. 340) Kent decides to continue serving his king and denies the request from the Duke of Albany to help revive the kingdom that King Lear once ruled. Parallel to Kent from â€Å"King Lear†, Tango from â€Å"Ran† also had a similar role as Lord Hidetora’s loyal advocate. Tango is banished from Lord Hidetora’s domain because of his negativism towards his L ord’s decision to banish Saburo, since he did not want to deceive his father like his elder brothers.Tango left Hidetora’s domain, but did not feel it was right to leave his Lord since he made a pledge to serve him, no matter the situation. Tango returns to Lord Hidetora when Hidetora is in need of food and supplies after he, himself is banished from both Taro and Jiro’s castles. Tango explains to Lord Hidetora â€Å"I, Tango Hirayama, though banished have followed my lord in disguise. Seeing how you suffer, I beg to offer you these provisions. † This quote displays that the relationship between Lord Hidetora and Kent are more than servant and Lord and that the trust between the two of them go far beyond even Lord Hidetora and his own sons.From that part in time, Tango stays with Hidetora for the remainder of the movie while they endure the agony and suffering that tie into the tragedy. The differences between the characters are the strength of their loya lty towards their masters. Kent’s perspective of loyalty is more extreme, since he is willingly to die for King Lear and follow him eternally. Kent puts his service towards his master as his top priority which is more important than his own life. Tango’s approach is more subtle, since he does not take extreme precaution when returning to his King after his banishment, but Tango still has a strong sense of loyalty.Kent and Tango’s roles within each movie are very significant towards the tragedy. It helps the audience see there are genuine characters within the movies that are not influential towards the tragedy. The loyalty that is instilled within the two characters cause a positive flexure within the tragedy; by helping eliminate the conflict more than continuing the progression towards it. Unlike the positive effect that Kent and Tango had on the plot, Oswald and Kurogane both serve their antagonistic masters, Goneril and Jiro.Oswald shows his full allegiance to Goneril; he even disobeys King Lear’s attempt to talk to his daughter during Kent’s arrival to the Goneril’s castle and denies Regan’s offer to join her side, also ripping up her letter in the process. Oswald serves Goneril with utter loyalty, but his understanding of devotion is different than a man such as Kent. Oswald explains to the Duke of Cornwall why Kent attacked him â€Å"I never gave him any, It pleased the king his master very late To strike at me upon his misconstructionWhen he, conjunct and flattering his displeasure, Tripped me behind; being down, insulted, railed, And put upon him such a deal of man That worthied him, got praises of the king For him attempting who was self-subdued. And in the fleshment of this dread exploit Drew on me here again. † (II. ii. 5. 110) The fight between Kent and Oswald is symbolic, showing a battle between good and evil. Kent’s loyalty is trustworthy but Oswald is a sycophant who attempts to wi n over people with his insincerely flattery to get what he wants, similar to his master Goneril.Kurogane is parallel to Oswald with both of them serving the main antagonists of the movies. Kurogane is very loyal to Jiro, acting as his voice of reason when Jiro becomes extremely influenced by Lady Kaede and tries to take over Lady Sue’s position as his wife. When Lady Kaede asks Jiro to slay Lady Sue and bring back her head, Kurogane comes back with a head of a statue, After finding out that Lady Sue is murdered, Kurogane tells Jiro he’s will not let Lady Kaede escape punishment â€Å"Who rules this domain,You or Lady Kaede? I pledged fealty to you, but never to her! † Similar to Oswald’s scene where he rips Regan’s paper, Kurogane kills Lady Kaede for her disobedience because he serves Jiro, displaying that his loyalty goes towards his master and no one else. There is a comparison between Kurogane and Oswald, but there are also many differences as well. Oswald seems to use flattery in order to display his loyalty towards Goneril, whereas Kurogane is honest towards Jiro and will even step up to Jiro.Oswald’s loyalty seems cowardly since he hides behind a shadow of lies and Kurogane’s loyalty is sincere and generally, more positive. Oswald and Kurogane’s roles provide influence towards the downfall of the tragic hero and create a progression towards the tragedy. Since they have a negative impact on the storyline, they help magnify the audience’s perspective on the tragedy that is yet to happen. In conclusion, the two movies contain many comparisons and contrasts that approach from two distinct cultures.The four characters; Oswald along with Kurogane and Tango along with Kent, can relate with and differ against each other. All these characters carry traits of loyalty towards their masters, while each individual can be classified as either good or evil. These characters enlighten the tragedy that both directors portrayed through the plot. Olivier’s â€Å"King Lear†, and Kurosawa’s â€Å"Ran† is comprised of multiple themes that are depicted during the films, but the theme with the most significance towards the storyline and the tragedy is loyalty.

Ellyday by Helen Oyeyemi

Ellyday is about two siblings, Sophie and Elly. The story takes place in Elly’s bedroom one cold Sunday morning, four days before Christmas. Sophie walked into Elly’s bedroom, because she was worried about her sister Elly, who is really skinny and she wanted to talk with her. While Sophie tried to figure out, how to ask Elly to pull her jumper up, Elly wanted to listen to a CD. Elly wouldn’t pull her jumper up and said to Sophie that she was only going to get angry.Then they discussed Elly’s weight and appearance and Elly said that she thought Sophie’s problem is in fact, that Elly is now as skinny as Sophie. After that Elly started to cry hideous and sank to the floor. Sophie told Elly that she can’t see properly how she can think it’s worth it, but Elly just answered that Sophie didn’t really care and that she saw it happening. Sophie also told Elly that she was actually sick and needed help and that it would be wise to talk t o someone. At this moment Elly listened to her sister and asked her when it’s okay to die.Sophie got shocked and realized that she didn’t know this person anymore. Elly elaborate on her question about if it was okay to die before you’ve ever kissed a boy, or ever been loved, or anything like that. While Sophie was going to explain that it was not okay to die, she just stopped speaking and stared brimming overwhelmed, because Elly had pulled up her jumper. Sophie and Elly are teenagers and I think that Sophie is the oldest of them. Elly has an eating disorder and is very skinny and looks like a scarecrow. She has fluffy brown hair and leaking, dead brown eyes.She’s mostly a silent girl, but when Sophie talks directly about Elly’s thinness, she goes into self-defense. Elly had no control over her words and stumble hesitates over every word that came out from her mouth. It’s painful for Elly to speak clearly and rounded, without a slur. She had pale skin tone and shaking hands due to her thinness. She wears baggy clothes and stuff like that so people can’t see how thin she is. Elly was fat before and has a serious psychological problem. She doesn’t feel well inside and asks questions like how it’s okay to die and when it will be a shame.It seems like that Elly feels she’s failed her sister, because she said to Sophie that she had seen what was happening with Elly and that she didn’t care. Elly struggled to stand up, talk and things like that. She’s very weak but unshakable, and wouldn’t pull her jumper up for her sister. But in the end of the story Sophie gets a surprise. Sophie is the big sister, and she feels a responsibility over Elly. She’s very worried about Elly but also very straightforward in the language. She forced herself to sound irritable over Elly, as she had so many times before when they were younger.She threatened to stop speaking to Elly if she didn ’t do what Sophie said. Sophie behaves like a bossy kind, like who always told Elly what to do, to protect her little sister. I don’t like the end of the story; because we don’t know what happened after Elly pulled her jumper up. We don’t know h ow Sophie reacted and why Elly had talked about when it was okay to die. I would do everything in my power to prevent anything from happening to my friends. Weather it was drugs, drinking, eating disorders or over eating. I wouldn’t leave them. What are friends for? Friendship for me isn’t just about having fun.It’s about taking the good and bad with each other. If I were a teenager I would probably get advice from some older wiser person who is more experienced in life. From there I would hope the best for them and let them know they have my support if they need me, because sometimes it’s not about to tell them what to do and such it’s more about support. Of course you have to t ell them that what they’re doing isn’t good and helping, but not being bossy. Keep in mind they didn’t always do this to themselves by no reason, so figure out the reason and then help them through it.

Edgar Allan Poe ‘Tell Tale Heart’ and ‘The fall of the house of Usher’ Essay

Show how Poe uses language to create atmosphere and describe the state of mind of the murderer and Roderick Usher. Consider how the modern reader might respond to these stories. Daniel Tiernan 4U Edgar Allen Poe was an American short story writer, editor for magazines and poet during the early to mid 19th century. Two of his short stories, ‘The Tell Tale Heart’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ were both written during the Victorian times when Gothic literature was at it’s height in popularity. The main thesis and features of Gothic literature are mystery, terror, supernatural, big decaying houses or castles and the dead. The Victorian readers were fascinated by the supernatural especially, with many still believing in witches and black magic. Ideas like these are still found in horror stories today and also in films, however the main attraction for horror movies has changed from supernatural, to audiences wanting to be frightened. Poe was a prolific idea of Gothic literature, and his main base for writing was madness, which features in both stories that we have studied. His writing does not just include madness, but also its implications and what it can result to if left untreated. In the opening sentences Poe captures the reader’s attention with Capitalisation, the use of exclamation mark, repetition and a rhetorical question. ‘True! – nervous – very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?’ The narrator is communicating with us from the outset and the capitalisation of the word True, which is not normally used to open a sentence. He also uses an exclamation mark on the opening word True which makes the reader feel as though he has shouted the word out, which is quite bizarre. The repetition and staccato likeness of the opening words sets a fast tempo to the story, which ignites the reader’s attention and, lends to the reader’s opening theory that the narrator does not have a level headed mind. The rhetorical question that Poe uses, ‘why will you say that I am mad?’ is a good literary device as it involves the reader and builds a relationship through the dialogue between the narrator and the reader, engaging the audience and makes the reader believe that maybe the narrator doubts the stability of his own mind. All these factors show the reader the narrator has an agitated mind and strongly suggest the narrator’s insanity. Poe develops an image of a disturbed person in the first paragraph, who hears voices in his head. ‘I heard all things in heaven and in Earth. I heard many things in hell,’ This makes the reader suspect that the narrator is unstable and his actions are the commands of the voices in his head, when referring to hell we suspect that some of these voices are evil and dark in their nature. A foreboding atmosphere is thus produced and it makes the reader to read on with excitement mixed with also a little nervous anticipation. Poe builds up suspense extremely well by using imagery and he also slows the tempo down to describe how slowly he was moving his own hand, comparing its speed to that of the minute hand of a clock. ‘A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine’. This description of how slow he moved his hands makes the reader wonder about his mental health and lends to the theory that he is maybe a schizophrenic with much paranoia and an extremely strong desire to kill. The modern reader would like this because in today’s stories and films it is often that there is a madman with a mental condition who is the villain and/or murderer. Midnight was a time when many Victorians believed that supernatural forces were at work. Poe uses this myth to create a dark foreboding atmosphere. The narrator tells the reader that he entered the old mans room every night ‘about midnight’ and reinforces the atmosphere by the use of repetition of the idea of the witching hour. ‘Every night just at midnight’ and ‘Just at twelve’. The narrator is building up suspense for the reader by placing his evil deed during what the Victorians called the witching hour. For a Victorian reader they would know the mythological idea that dark powers were at their strongest at midnight, for the modern reader however this probably would not have the same suspenseful effect. Poe uses hands of a minute clock when describing how slowly the narrator moves his own hands. It is a clever play on words, but has good effect as it builds suspense and makes the reader wonder about the stability of the narrator’s mind. ‘A watch’s minute hand moves more quickly than did mine’ This sentence paints the picture of the narrator very very slowly entering the room and it is quite frightening to imagine, it makes us wonder what the narrator is thinking. Poe describes how powerful and confident the narrator is feeling in his own wiseness, this underlines the growing feeling of menace. This produces a strong sense of foreboding and tension, ‘Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers – of my own sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.’ This sentence is very sinister, as it shows the narrators confidence and audacity in his actions and so called ‘Powers’. It shows how he is almost giddy and very excited about his evil plan. This would be attractive for modern readers as it is quite threatening and makes us want to read on to discover his plan in full detail. A modern reader can relate this in many modern day films. Poe increases the tension when describing how the narrator took an hour to put his head into the door opening. The narrator gives the impression that his sanity has been questioned before, and therefore he asks us candidly. ‘Ha! Would a madman have been so wise as this,’ This adds to the overall effect of horror by the narrator continuously stressing to us that he is not mad and tries to convince us of this by detailing how carefully the murder was planned. By doing so Poe assures our convictions that the narrator is insane. Poe understands that deranged people often try to convince that they are sane when to an outsider they clearly are not. It bridges a gap that is quite awkward in real life and he has introduced it into his story. The narrator is distressed by the old man’s clouded cataract like eye. It disturbs him so much that he says it is the reason he must kill the man. ‘†¦ resembled that of a vulture – a pale blue eye with a film over it.’ Poe uses a metaphor to compare the eye to that of a vulture, a scavenger which feeds off the dead remains of animals. This introduces the idea of death, and coldness and makes one apprehensive of the eye. The description of the pale blueness of the eye, could suggest that the narrator feels the eye looks right into him and his conscience, and that this scares him. Poe emphasizes the old man’s eye describing it as, ‘. . evil eye’ the modern reader can relate to this belief as it is still prevalent in many cultures today. Poe builds the anticipation to a climax when he describes the old man’s fear. ‘Groan of mortal terror’ Poe uses emotive language here and continues to build the suspense; the reader can empathise with the old man as indeed does the narrator. ‘I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him’ this is in direct conflict with the narrator’s actions, he then went to say, ‘. . . although I chuckled at heart.’ This demonstrating that he ignores his conscience and follows his overriding intention from his heart to kill. The ‘mortal’ is very suggestive that the old man knows his doom. Poe then uses the devices; personification and metaphor when he says that, ‘death . . . stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim.’ This is very potent as it gives the impression of death being a living malevolent force. It is fear-provoking as it suggests that we will be followed before we die and be sucked into a hellish vacuum. The modern reader could link this idea with the infamous Grim Reaper. He is a legend that is supposed to take us from this earth to the afterlife. Poe raises the tempo of the story to an electric climax describing the beating of the old man’s heart. ‘It grew quicker and quicker, louder and louder every instant.’ This use of repetition is demonstrating the old man’s fear and replicating the beat of his racing heart, and so we read each word like on heart beat. The raise in tempo of the Old man’s heart is relative to the raise in the narrator’s fury. ‘It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.’ This suggests that he feels that he is being encouraged from a higher power, and his obeying orders (perhaps voices in his head). In addition it is saying that his cause is just and he is innocent like a soldier in a just war. When the narrator murders the old man, Poe is quite vague about the details. Much is left to the imagination of the reader after reading the description of how he died. ‘I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him.’ For the modern reader this would not be satisfactory as nowadays we watch films with much more graphic details, and need to clearly picture how the murder was committed. The actual murder itself is an anti-climax. In a manner if fact fashion, the narrator ‘dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.’ This makes the reader wonder if the narrator has a conscience at all as he is able to do this without a hint of guilt, as he mutilated a corpse. At this point in the story, the narrator feels he is all powerful and has got away with the murder. ‘I smiled, — for what had I to fear?’ However the anxiety starts to increase again when the narrator hears the old man’s heart beating again. ‘It grew, louder — louder – louder!’ The narrator is clearly suffering from hallucinations, perhaps brought on by guilt. The policemen present can hear nothing. The narrator then starts to lose his mind completely. ‘I foamed – I raved – I swore!’ The feeling that the narrator’s guilt starts to crescendo to it’s peak when he blurts out a confession, in front of the startled police officers. ‘dissemble no more! I admit the deed!’ In the story of ‘The fall of the house of Usher’ the scene is set by a Poe’s description of a gloomy atmospheric setting. ‘The clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens’ suggesting threat. Also Poe uses personification when he describes the House of Usher as ‘melancholy’. He starts extending the personification of the House later on in the paragraph, when he writes, ‘the vacant eye-like windows’. All these descriptions thus portray an image of a desolate, ominous place. The narrator compares seeing the House of Usher to the horrible reality of somebody for whom the effects of opium are wearing off, revealing a horrible reality. ‘The bitter lapse into everyday life-the hideous dropping of the veil.’ The modern reader would associate this with going ‘Cold Turkey’. This is good imagery from Poe as it shows clearly that this is not a place someone would like to be and as a result sets a very foreshadowing beginning to the story. Just before the narrator enters the house he describes an exterior with some neglect including, ‘Minute fungi’. This suggests decay as Fungi lives off dead remains. Thus firmly setting the story in an atmosphere of gloom and decay. Poe also writes of a barely visible crack extending from the roof to the bottom of the house. ‘Barely perceivable fissure’ this is very foreboding as the reader is already contemplating the significance of the crack in this atmosphere of decay. He is also hinting strongly at what is going to happen to the house. The modern reader is familiar with the genre of the haunted house tales, which is typically set in a place like this. However they would not like the idea of being told the outcome of the story early on, as today stories and movies usually have a big climax where the ending is then discovered. When the narrator enters the house the atmosphere of foreboding continues to build, there is nothing cheerful to be seen. ‘The general furniture was profuse, comfortless, antique and tattered’ also Poe describes ‘an atmosphere of sorrow’. Thus making the reader feel wary of the House. The narrator then focuses on the appearance of Roderick Usher. ‘A cadaverousness of complexion’ we feel the extent of the narrator’s shock as Poe has used emotive language; ‘cadaver’ is a dead body. To add to this disturbing appearance the narrator describes Roderick’s mental state, ‘An excessive, nervous agitation’ this would suggest that Roderick does not have a level headed mind and that he suffers from extreme anxiety. Also we can see he is frightened of the future, ‘I must abandon life and reason together, in some struggle with the grim phantasm, FEAR’ This shows the depth of Roderick’s despair and we can feel his terror, however question the stability of his mind. Poe then introduces Madeline, Roderick’s sister into the story. She appears and disappears almost in a ghostly fashion. The narrator is ill at ease ‘I regarded her with an utter astonishment not unmingled with dread’ this creates and apparition- like image of Madeline, which again is a popular theme in modern day horror stories. The sense of foreboding continues when Roderick informs the narrator that Madeline has died. Roderick did not want to consult Madeline’s physicians because of the bizarre nature of her illness. He told the narrator he did not want them probing her corpse for medical science. ‘An unnatural precaution’. This is peculiar and unusual on the part of Roderick because in the strong religious times that the tale is set, a normal person would want the body buried on holy ground very quickly. Poe adds a sensation of claustrophobia when he writes about Madeline’s burial. ‘Half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere.’ The burial tomb being very confined could be a metaphor for the lives they are trapped in. The narrator is unable to sleep after Madeline’s burial, he goes to Ushers room where he notices a deteriortion in Roderick’s demeanour. ‘A species of mad hilarity’ and ‘His air appalled me’. To become uncontrollable is very typical of an insane person and so this heightens the stories suspense and sense of foreshadowing. Poe uses the technique of foreshadowing to hint to the reader of what will be Roderick’s demise. The narrator reads to Usher to try and calm him down as he is very troubled, however all of the tales three main plots are echoed by what is happening in the house; shrieks are heard, a metallic reverberation is heard, cracking and ripping sounds are heard. Roderick is very distressed and this adds to the reader’s apprehension of what is going to happen next. The modern day reader is very familiar with the genre of someone coming back at night. Poe also uses the technique the rule of three, with three main plots in the tale which the narrator reads to Usher, this is effective because three is a number used commonly in literature and in the New Testament. Poe introduces the idea of the supernatural when Madeline, appears resurrected after being ‘encoffined’ and being shut behind a door of, ‘massive iron’ This is a very frightening image, and terrifies the reader and entices the reader as they are compelled to find out what happens next. The full horror of Roderick’s fear is then realised when he dies of fright after Madeline attacks him, ‘A victim to the terrors he had anticipated’ The reader had also anticipated Roderick’s doom almost from the beginning of the story by reading the title of the story. Poe builds the suspense consistently throughout the story. Poe concludes the story in a shocking and dramatic manner, the narrator ‘fled aghast’ away from the house and turns back to see a ‘blood red moon, shining through a crack in the house’ Thus symbolising the death of the house of Usher. This is very eerie and metaphoric as not only has the House of Usher fallen but so has the ancient family line. The suspense is maintained to the very end of the story when Poe uses personification ‘Long tumultuous sound, like the voice of a thousand waters’ when he describes how the lake entombs the House and all its occupants Whilst Poe is studied at school for academic purposes, I do not think that his books would be the first choice for the modern reader who is reading for pleasure. This is for many reasons. Firstly, the language used is very sophisticated and antiquated, and as in the ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ large tracts of literature are used as a device to increase tension. The modern reader has to have lots of patience to fully understand Poe’s writing and a high level of literacy is assumed by the author. Modern novels are much less literary and a much more basic vocabulary used. At the same time the modern reader expects more graphic details of murders than is provided in either the ‘Tell-Tale Heart or The Fall of the House of Usher’ Poe writes in such a way that much is left to the reader’s imagination and this is unsatisfactory nowadays when so much can be shown to the modern reader via other genres such as film and television. like music Moreover both of these novels are very much a product of Victorian times with their emphasis on night time terrors which reflected the beliefs of society at that time. Today’s society tends to dismiss these beliefs as old fashioned and irrelevant. However Poe’s writing is very skilful in his use of various techniques and I admire him for that, but I strongly feel that he would not be such a successful writer if he was alive today.

Student Experiences with Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges Research Paper

Student Experiences with Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges - Research Paper Example While larger college campuses have the draw to pull a large body of minority students, smaller liberal arts colleges typically have fewer students, less diversity and fewer resources to offer this same environment, yet they still manage to provide their students with many of these benefits. It has not yet been established why or how these smaller colleges manage to give their students this type of experience. Therefore, this study was designed to answer primarily three questions: How do students at liberal arts colleges compare with their counterparts at other types of institutions in terms of their diversity-related experiences; what organizational factors and conditions are related to diversity experiences at liberal arts colleges; and what are the relationships between diversity experiences at liberal arts colleges and other educationally purposeful activities and outcomes? One of the questions explored by this study is whether or not students at the smaller liberal arts colleges experience the same, the less or greater degree of diversity than those students attending larger university campuses with greater inherent diversity among its student population.   This is relevant both in determining whether students at smaller institutions are receiving the type of education desired in terms of being able to meet ‘real-world’ challenges as well as whether true diversity in student population is necessary to provide students with this education.   The study also begins to formulate ideas regarding which programs, activities, curriculum or other factors contribute to an effective experience.

Mobile phones and YouTube affect people's lives Term Paper

Mobile phones and YouTube affect people's lives - Term Paper Example With the rapid development of technology, many different kinds of technology has changed dramatically, and some of changes affecting the society. In the current society, technology has become an essential part in people’s life, almost everyone in the world use some kinds of technology. These new technologies can change people’s quality of life; for example, phones can change the relationship between people by easily connect with each other. â€Å"YouTube can make people became presumes which are producing and consuming media via agency and producers which implies more potential for action and independence.† In some case, technologies are also a double-edged sword that it might affect people’s thoughts. Such as phones change the area of surveillance, it is also the way that people are monitored by others. The tort of copy right is still a problem about YouTube. It is obviously shows that how technology changed our daily life and the rule we need to follow. People’s lives and phones have an inextricable relationship, millions of people use mobile phones every day. It shows that phones play an important role of people’s daily life. Some people use phones for emergency things or build the relationship with others. Early stage, mobile phones were basic communication tools. However, it combines photographing; games and many different function now. Mobile phones can be used to reschedule and communicate in last minute. Landline phone would not do those things, since no one would always have their landline phone with them. For instance, women will call her husband to pick their children up from school or give a call and tell the school that she will be late a little because she stuck in the traffic. It could also help people to keep in touch with friends and family even in a long distant by using social networking application such as Facebook (Line, Jain & Lyons, 2011). For example, a student who moves away from home to start un iversity course can use Facebook to meet new friends and maintain the relationship between old friends and family. Mobile phones have a lot of advantage; However, studies show that there are fourfold car incident by use of mobile phones during driving (Mccartt, Hellinga, & Bratiman, 2006), because it distracted driver’s attention. Now, the law banned these behaviors from drivers. Caller identification is also a feature of phones. It can be known that the number calling in by the caller ID and they can choose to answer it or not. It is also a way to stop the harassment or prank calls (Ferguson, 2001). However, the option of caller ID anonymity also came out, which is users can choose to block their number from showing up on other’s phones while they calling (Ferguson, 2001). It seems like cannot reach the purpose of caller ID. Still, some people may not want to answer a call from others due to some reasons, caller identification would assist them to do it. On the other hand, a number of people use phones to photographing and upload the pictures to website such as Facebook and instagram, it allows their friends or followers to know what they are doing and where they are. It makes the users under surveillance through mobile phones. â€Å"Some of this surveillance is purposeful and targeted and some of it is incidental a side effect of other features (Flew & Smith, 2011, p.231).† Especially for instagram and path, which are popularity recently, both applications have ability to share pictures and locations. Not only is social networking application, but also send messages and phone calls also can bring the users under surveillance. In some case, it also has advantage, which can locate users clearly and quickly if they are in dangerous. Phones have also encouraged multitasking; in fact, during the past, there was no possibility of talking to someone over the phone while doing other things such as shopping in a grocery store (Stewart, 2013). Mor eover,

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Business Strategy - Essay Example The organization we have selected to compare with Kellogg is General Mills, a manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods. General Mills’ mission is nourishing lives. General Mills seeks to attain this mission through making lives healthier, easier and richer (General Mills, 2010). The organization makes lives healthier by continuously improving the health profile of its products. It makes lives easier with foods that are simple to prepare and it makes lives richer by making foods for special moments such as birthdays. Goals and objectives help an organization in controlling its plans and providing its staff with the direction to take for the organization to realize its mission and vision. General Mills has not clearly delineated its vision through a vision statement. However, this can be inferred from the organization’s mission and values statement. Likewise, we can use the values statement to point out General Mills’ goals. From the values statement G eneral Mills aims to assert its values everyday through its people, its brands, its innovation and its performance. These goals are: to ensure that its brands continue to win consumers trust around the world; to nurture diverse, talented, committed people who contribute to their communities; to continue developing and implementing innovative ideas that further build the company’s brands and business; and to continue delivering outstanding performance for its investors. According to Kotelnikov (2011) core competencies are the things that a company does better than its competitors in the critical, central areas of the organization where the most value is added to its products and/or services. For General Mills, its core competencies are in its intimate consumer knowledge and its innovation. These two competencies manifest themselves in in the mix of new products and improvements to existing products that General Mills is renowned. The company extends its legacy of learning ab out products, processes and unique disciplines; improving production efficiencies, elevate quality and reducing costs; and preserving precious institutional memory through its multiple schools such as Cereal School, Yogurt School and Packing School. 1.2 Explain the significance of stakeholder analysis, (especially for the selected organization) (P2) The topic of stakeholders is very popular and contested among theorists. There is quite an amount of contesting literature around which theorists try to update and replace. Freeman, the â€Å"father† of stakeholder theory has also given different definitions of whom or what constitutes a stakeholder. In 1984 Freeman defined stakeholders as â€Å"any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization objectives† while in 2004, Freeman defined stakeholders as â€Å"those groups who are vital to the survival and success of the corporation† (Fontaine, Haarman, & Schmid, 2006). The former definition (Freeman 1984) is preferred in academic circles because it is entirely organization orientated. This is the one we shall use in this discussion. General Mills’ mission is to nourish lives. Nourishing lives refers to nutrition, which as the cliche goes, â€Å"you are what you eat†, is the crux of human health. Furthermore, General Mills is also a Fortune 500 company, among the largest food companies in the world, with a presence in more than 100 countries on six continents. This inter-continental presence implies that General Mil

Anything that expresses my belief system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Anything that expresses my belief system - Essay Example No doubt everyone would think that is the most inhuman thing to a person. Why then do some people think abortion should be a human right when it is clear that it contravenes the moral pillars of our society? Many people thin that abortion is a fundamental human right that should be observed. I was one ardent support of abortion until my interaction with Juliet, a pro-life activist, who is now a good friend of mine. It was around 10 a.m. on a Saturday when I and my friend Rose set for an appointment with a doctor who was to perform an abortion for Rose. As we were travelling to the hospital, which was far off our residential area for fear of meeting people who knew us, I kept mulling over many things. What if this unborn child could be the future president of this country? What if the procedure goes wrong and Rose would never have another baby? What if our parents had done the same thing, would we be there today? The questions kept flooding my mind, but I would not confront my friend to stop what she had planned for an entire fortnight. As we sat patiently waiting for our turn with the doctor, a young beautiful lady approached us. She seemed to have known what service we were seeking. â€Å"My dear sister, abortion is not the best thing to do. Imagine if your mother had done the same thing to you, where would you be? It is ungodly and violates the child’s right to life†. These words keep ringing on my mind every moment I hear the word â€Å"abortion†. Despite all her attempts to woo Rose from aborting her baby, she insisted. Unfortunately, things never went well and Rose later succumbed from some complication she developed after procuring the abortion. Her inhumane behavior as Juliet put it turned against her. Kant morality emphasizes reason, duty and good will (Hill 20). Kant argues that we should pursue moral perfection. In many societies, moral values hold that murder is wrong. This universal agreement is what Kant refers

Influence of Age on Alcohol Addiction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Influence of Age on Alcohol Addiction - Essay Example Everything that happens to their individual life as they grew up is influenced by their age. Richard grew with little understanding of the world around him. â€Å"I grew silent and reserved as the nature of the world in which I lived became plain and undeniable; the bleakness of the future affected my will to study.   Granny had already thrown out hints that it was time for me to be on my own† (Wright 181). However, as he aged, consciousness started to grow deep within him, allowing him to create remarkable realization of the reality of life and the one that he is trying to follow. â€Å"I was in my fifteenth year; in terms of schooling I was far behind the average youth of the nation, but I did not know that.   In me was shaping a yearning for a kind of consciousness, a mode of being that the way of life about me had said could not be, must not be, and upon which the penalty of death had been placed.   Somewhere in the dead of the southern night my life had switched on to the wrong track and, without my knowing it, the locomotive of my heart was rushing down a dangerously steep slope, heading for a collision, heedless of the warning red lights that blinked all about me, the sirens and the bells and the screams that filled the air† (Wright 187). The above points only show that Richard’s understanding of the world around him comes with age. His realization of the things around him is a depiction of his actual response to his world which is clearly associated with his age as we could clearly see the level of his maturity in here. Thus, we have created the point that our specific response to what is happening around may have potential impact on our actual thoughts or actions, but this clearly comes with age just as the kind of thought like this of Richard when he was already at the right age. â€Å"I dreamed of going north and writing books, novels.   The North symbolized to me all that I had not felt and seen; it had no relation whate ver to what actually existed.   Yet, by imagining a place where everything was possible, I kept hope alive in me† (186). Similarly, Caroline Knapp would have never realized what an alcoholic is when she had never become one as she aged. According to her, â€Å"Craziness, dark secrets, alcoholic furies, that's how you become an alcoholic, right? It's encoded in your DNA, embedded in your history, the product of some wild familial aberration. There was always an undercurrent of moral failing in the stories I heard about alcoholics: they were unstable, unwell, irresponsible, and if they were parents, they tore through the lives of their children like tornadoes, drinking and divorcing, screaming and raging" (Knapp 28-29). The reason why Caroline actually defines this is because she had so much experience from her growing years with alcohol and she could actually associate the actual feeling involved in such a habit. Those things that influence her to gulp an alcoholic beverage, which could be more than what is substantially required, are integral components of her past growing years. In fact, there is an indication that she pre-learned everything from her father, but later was full blown when she already stood at the right age. "My father had a probing manner, an analytic intensity tempered by a vague detachment, and whenever I sensed him turns his attention to me, the feeling on my part was

Personal Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Personal Response - Essay Example Upon a careful reading of the story, I am certain that it does exploit such motifs as; prosperity in that, the physical manifestation of wonder and magic brought to life of Palaver and Elisnda by the old man. The sorry begins with a sorry state where the couple lives in an appalling state of poverty. But, the old man surprises them by coming in with pilgrims who are very comfortable paying them for seeing him. Secondly, wings as symbols refer to speed, power as well as unbound freedom of motion. For in stance, when the old man is examined by the village doctor, he finds out that his wing fit naturally in his body. The doctor is taken a back and wonders why everybody else does not have wings. He finally draws a conclusion that, the old man doubles up as having both the natural and the super natural tendencies. Lastly, the spider woman this gives a representation of the fickleness with which many self centered individuals perceive their own

First impressions Essay Example for Free

First impressions Essay In my opinion it is your first impression of something that ultimately gives you the perfect vantage point in which to accurately assume the true nature of something. Your notion of this something is then unaffected or swayed by any outside sources or by second guessing yourself. Upon first experiencing this first time offered course, I immediately felt right at home concerning the direction in which the course was headed and also with the enthusiasm and involvement of the professor. The first class began as any other, anxiously awaiting an unknown professor and the educational information he bears. With a proverbial collective sigh of relief, the class was greeted with a pleasant professor offering a most interesting lesson plan on the writing in the discipline of psychology. After welcomed introductions class was underway and a new appreciation for my major was attained. Our first homework assignment required us to read and analyze an article entitled â€Å"Making Science Understandable to a Broad Audience† by Richard Reis. The article portrays the notion that we as those in search of educational advancement must accommodate the manner in which we write for individuals many whom are otherwise unaware. This piece I believe sets the tone for this course in its entirety and my perceptions as to what is seeks to achieve, in that to truly know and understand an idea or concept one must have the ability to correctly perceive and present information of the utmost importance to the vast majority. Throughout my college career I have strived to put forth my best effort and achieve a great standing in all my courses. I plan on not doing any different here, so upon perusing the course syllabus I noticed many assignments wherein groups were involved. In my past experience, sadly I have had many instances in which fellow group members became ‘clingers’ to my dedicated work whilst I labored on it. Assignments listed as anything prefaced by the dreaded utterance â€Å"Group,† made me question my position here. Despite my reservations I believe that those fellow students in my class are just as dedicated as I and wish to succeed just as much. Without further explanation of the group work involved, much of it looks fairly familiar to projects that I have done in past classes both in college and high school concerning poster presentations and literature reviews. My worries, other than those aforementioned, lie in the â€Å"Individual Components† of the course description and what they might entail. At least for me, when work pertaining to that of doling out constructive criticism is required I simply feel inadequate in telling others how to go about their work. Other than that one hiccup, the rest of the work to be done individually seems common or at least manageable. In the past I have kept a record or journal of daily events of significance, in that I can see doing well in keeping a research journal. Being accustomed to modern times and technology use should help serve me in using the â€Å"Learning E-Portfolios,† and submitting assignments online. My major is in psychology and therefore have read extensively on the subject as well as taken previous writing courses, all of which will hopefully aid me in doing well this semester. I feel as though this course will play towards my strengths and will be successful overall. Although, I do not expect to go without surprises, I trust this course to challenge my writing ability as well as my grasp on psychology ASSIGNMENT REFLECTION FORM 1. How would you describe your experience in working on this assignment (Was it difficult to begin? Did the ideas come easily or with difficulty? What obstacles did you face in the process of writing? How long did it take you?)? A: As with any paper, I found it slightly difficult to begin because I enjoy taking the time to organize my thoughts into a cohesive and coherent piece. In the writing process I found it difficult to completely fulfill the requirements in that the book contained in the courses required reading section had been backordered and in an attempt to continue, I had purchased a copy on Amazon.com and am sadly still awaiting its arrival. From beginning to end this essay took me around two hours to complete in its entirety. 2. What do you see as the strengths of this paper? A: I believe the strengths of this paper to be my honesty involving the course. It may or may not help with improvements and or changes in future assignments and course direction. 3. What do you see as areas for improvement in the paper? A: Not to sound clichà © but I believe that all papers still require improvement. No matter how many edits or drafts it takes there will always be one idea or point that may have been over expressed or a central one that had been simply left out completely. I may need to improve upon my ordering or overall flow of my paper to achieve a better read. 4. What did you learn (about yourself, the subject, writing, or reading) from doing this assignment? A: While writing this piece I learned that I truly enjoy expressing myself through writing. Although I consider myself to have a limited vocabulary I find nothing more exciting than to surprise someone with my work.

Will The New Technologies Affect Leadership And Leaders

Will The New Technologies Affect Leadership And Leaders Abstract The article presented here talks about the influence of technology on leaders and leadership. The article starts with identifying the key practices that a leader need to perform in a typical organization and then states the ways in which, technology has influenced these practices. The article present two aspects, one is key roles and responsibilities of leader and characteristics of leadership and then presents how technology has its influence. In the end, the article make justification of the concerned topic i.e. is technology has an impact on leadership and leaders or not. Key words: technology, leader, leadership Introduction A leader is a person who motivates its employee to perform high. According to few management gurus, what the corporate world needs are leaders and not managers. Leaders main work is to motivate the employees for harder work. Leader is very widespread character that could be originate in any area of a company. Leadership is the quality which is possessed by the leader. In any leadership stream the most significant work is to motivate people to work under him. Leadership can better defined as the process and set of activities by which the leader establishes a social influence on the people by imparting them support and helps who are working for the achievement of common goal. It is the leadership of the leader to bring out the maximum contribution from an individual as possible. A leader must have a quality leadership. He could also provide people working for him the social security so that they feel secure under him and should also be able to motivate people for common beliefs. (Dee) The issue of the report is to discuss the impact of technology on leaders and leaderships. We know that in last few decades, the technology has developed too many folds. This technology has changed the working process of employees and entire organization. No one today thinks of working without a computer and the world is entirely connected to each other. The report will thus, try to find out the impact of these technological advancements on the leadership styles and on leader too. Methodology and Discussion: Leaders enjoy a great amount of powers in the organization. With these powers leaders are said to be engaged in power-politics that is using the authority for own sake. Leaders faces a lot of problems in an organization in terms of issues related to power and politics. The first one is managing diversity at work place. In country like UAE, where the workforce is completely diverse in terms of cultural background, education etc, managing diversity is a big challenge for the leaders. The leaders also have to maintain proper communication with the employees. Literatures suggest that this is one of the primary causes of leaders problem in the organization.  [1]   Another issue which leaders have to face is regarding work environment. Work environment is a major constituent of an effective organizational culture. The work environment not only constitutes the physical constituents of the location but also the culture of the work like senior-subordinate relations. (Pilerot, 2009) Another issue which leaders need to address is employee training. The problem here is that when new technology is introduced in the company to cut operational expenses, the work and expectation from the employees also changes a lot. So there is a clear need to employee training. Employees are needed to be trained at new technology so that they are able to be a part of companys cost cutting scheme. Employee training is a necessary part of any organization which needs to be happen periodically. Also, the modern high competitive world has generated new concerns like work life balance etc for leaders to address. Introducing technology here, technology has provided many of the tools and ways for organization to produce effectively and also to manage their workforce effectively. Employees can now work from their home as technology keeps then connected to the office. The works which use to take days can now be addressed very quickly and precisely as now there are softwares and hardware to address the problems. In the later part of the report, we will focus on how the technology has influenced on leadership and leaders keeping in mind the discussion regarding roles and problems a leader faces in an organization. (Dee) Technology and work life balance: As discussed earlier that one of the key issue a leader needs to address is the work life balance of the employees. In this highly competitive world, every organization wants its employees to perform as effectively as they want. The labor laws which use to restrict the working hours and just dummy rules now the problem of work life balance is on high alert these days. Leaders are constantly facing problem to retain their employees and to keep them motivated towards the work place. Here, technology forwards its hands to help leaders. With development in technology, employees are no more restricted to work in office premises. Employees can now work from their home as technology keeps then connected to the office. The works which use to take days can now be addressed very quickly and precisely as now there are softwares and hardware to address the problems. What leaders now use to do is to email the work to the employee assigning the time line and the employees have to do the work witho ut any restriction of attendance in the office. So, if the employees have a high propriety work, he can address the work while working from this home. This also saves the time consumed in travelling etc and adds to work life balance of the employee. This adds to the job satisfaction of the employees and also helps leaders to keep the trust of the employees in the organization as using these techniques gives a message to the employees that leader do think about them. (Pilerot, 2009) Technology helps leaders to manage work force diversity The world today is a single entity. The borders of nations have not left with any restrictions on passage of trade and business. This has made the global GDP to increase with many folds. The other outcome of this globalization is diversity. There could be no better example than UAE which has more people of foreign origin than the natives. The issue of managing a diverse workforce is increased too. Technology again helps leaders to address the problem. One important problem raised to leaders by diversity is managing documents in different languages. Technical solutions like translators, converters are now helping leaders to communicate with the employee in their native languages. For example, Google translator is used in UAE to convert Arabic documents to English and vice-versa. Leaders thus can communicate properly with employees of other ethnic origin. (G. Sheard, 2009) Leaders issue of maintaining communication with the employees: For any leader, maintain proper communication with the employee is a key issue. Leaders need to know the views of the employees, their perception of any issue or decision, and employee aspect of company policy. The size of any organization is the most significant obstacle in this direction. Also to keep the records of every communication with every single person is out of scope of common individual. Technology again helps leaders in this perspective. The leaders now can maintain digital copy of their communications with employees. Emails, chats, memos, reminders are now all digitized. The leader can record important events like meeting with a group of employees, birthdays of employees etc on electronic calendars which make the probability of missing any information close to zero. (Albion, n.d) Technology also is providing different ways of communication. For information communication needs, there are ways like cell phones, chats, video conferencing etc by which a leader can keep touch with the employee. Now the leader can exactly see what the employee is doing and how he is doing the work. Taking about few new advancements too, there is a facility to share your computer screen with others via internet so that now the leader can see what the employee is doing, the progress of his work etc. So technology has changed the way a leader communicates with his employees and has increased the efficiency to great heights. Technology is helping leaders to conduct trainings Another issue which leaders need to address is employee training. The problem here is that when new technology is introduced in the company to cut operational expenses, the work and expectation from the employees also changes a lot. So there is a clear need to employee training. Employees are needed to be trained at new technology so that they are able to be a part of companys cost cutting scheme. The problem here is employees are reluctant towards change and there are evidences which prove that employees have negative attitude towards undergoing training. This attitude increases an issue of motivating employees towards training for leaders. Leaders again get support of technology for addressing this problem. An example is Learning Management system. One case is of Aventis Pharmaceuticals and IBM which implemented learning management system. It is critical in enabling an organization to compliance with modern business standards. LMS enables employees to register online, join other business training activities and personalizing training records by conferences, meetings and documenting training taken outside the LMS. With the help of technology like LMS, leaders can now arrange trainings for the employees in more efficient manner than before. (Dee) Technology help leaders to establish a sound work environment: Another issue where technology is helping leaders is establishing a sound work environment. The business structure now a day is required to be employee friendly and at the same time should encourage employees to perform effectively. This is a tough task for leaders as these demands are contradictory to each other. Technology again has a role here to address the issue. With efficient ways to maintain proper communication, managing diversity and other issues addressed earlier, technology helps leaders to build an efficient as well as employee friendly environment. Critical Analysis: From the above discussion it is clear that technology has influenced almost every aspect of leadership and leaders role. But we see critically analyze it, we will found that the leader still have to manage communication with the workforce, leader still has to ensure that employee are satisfied with the company in terms of work life balance. Leader even after great advancements in technology has to look for training needs of the employees. (Albion) All these shows that technology do has influenced the ways in which leaders used to work but the basic roles of leaders and concern of leadership practices are static. Conclusion: On the basis of the report, we can say that even with the great advancements in technology, the basic roles and practices that leaders and leadership involve are still the same. The primary roles of leaders incorporate managing work force diversity, ensuring work life balance; encourage employee participation and most of all, directing the efforts of the employee to achieve the goals of the organization as a whole. With the advancements in technology, the ways in which leaders use to perform all these tasks can changed significantly but has not change the theme of leadership. Technology has greatly improved leaders ways to manage the workforce but has again given birth to new types of problems too. As we defined in introduction section, a leader is a person who motivates its employee to perform high. According to few management gurus, what the corporate world needs are leaders and not managers. Leaders main work is to motivate the employees for harder work. Technology has changed the way in which a leader works but has not changed the characteristics of leadership. (Pilerot, 2009)

Waves On Pregnant Women Health And Social Care Essay

Waves On Pregnant Women Health And Social Care Essay Waves have been applied to many important procedures nowadays. In this article I am going to investigate the application of waves on pregnant women. One of the very important topics is the application of ultrasonography in prenatal checkup; therefore I would focus on this topic and discuss its principle and advantages among other different methods of prenatal checkup. Nonetheless waves do not only bring benefits to pregnant women, but also harm. There are some electromagnetic waves (or EM waves) which may be harmful to both the mothers and the fetuses, such as X-ray. Yet, will pregnant women really have an increased risk of miscarriage after having an X-ray? Recently there are also concerns about the effect of radio waves and microwaves on pregnancy. In this article I am going to investigate them one by one. Obstetric Ultrasonography Ultrasonography refers to the use of ultrasound. Ultrasound is longitudinal wave, it has the same speed as audible sound wave in air, which is 340ms-1. The main difference between audible sound wave and ultrasound is that ultrasound has a frequency beyond audible range of human, which is around 20 Hertz (20 Hz) to 20 kilohertz (20 kHz or 20,000 Hz). Normally the frequency of ultrasound used in prenatal checkup is ranged from 1.6 to 10 megahertz (MHz), depending on what structures of the fetuses are being examined. Ultrasound with lower frequency can penetrate deeper into body tissues, because the higher the frequency, the more ultrasonic waves are being absorbed instead of reflected, thus while examining deeper tissues like the liver and kidney, ultrasound with lower frequency (around 1.6-6MHz) is used. In the ultrasonography, ultrasound waves are emitted by a device called transducer. Actually the term transducer refers to a device which converts one form of energy into another, so there are lots of types of transducer. In the ultrasonography, an electroacoustic transducer is used to convert electricity to emit and receive ultrasound; therefore to be more exact, the device used is also called an ultrasound transceiver. The transducer is placed on the abdomen of the pregnant woman, the ultrasound emitted penetrates the skin and then reaches the foetus and other internal organs of the mother. The waves are then reflected back to the transceiver, the transceiver senses the waves and converts them into images. An ultrasound transceiver: http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6062479/i/transducer_tn.jpg source: http://www.chesapeakeultrasound.com/ultrasound_products An ultrasonography: http://gulfcoastmri.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/sonogram-human-foetal-fetal-ultrasound-scan-at-22-weeks-mono-1-anon.jpg Source: http://gulfcoastmri.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/obstetric-ultrasonography/ In case that the pregnant woman is in early pregnancy or obese, she can undergo transvaginal sonography, which a probe is placed in the womans vagina. Sometimes the test is also carried out if the pregnant woman has got abnormal vaginal bleeding or pelvic pain. This type of sonography has the similar principle as the ultrasonography mentioned above. Some mothers may want to see the heartbeat of their babies, they can carry out the Doppler sonography. It has basically the same principle as the ultrasonography except the ultrasound is further enhanced by Doppler Effect. Generally the fetuss heartbeat can be detected after 7 weeks of gestation, thus the blood flow of the fetus can be detected as well. The blood flows in a circulation in the body of the fetus, the Doppler sonography can thus detect the change in directions of blood flow by Doppler effect and see if the circulation is normal or not. This can be done by measuring the change in the frequency received in the transceiver. In fact there are a few more types of prenatal checkup, such as amniocentesis and chronic villus sampling. Nonetheless, the ultrasonography is the safest way for diagnosis. The ultrasonography only involves a transducer placing outside the mothers abdomen, while amniocentesis and chronic villus sampling require mechanical penetration and sampling inside the mothers uterus or abdomen, this increases the risk of miscarriage during the tests. Despite this fact, ultrasonography can only give an early diagnosis of the mothers and fetuses, it cannot treat anomalies or genetic diseases. According to the test conducted by RADIUS study group in 1993, researchers found that obtaining sonography has no significantly negative effect on reducing perinatal morbidity or mortality among the fetuses or the mothers. Moreover, the detection of anomalies actually did not alter the outcome of newborn babies. Therefore it is important to acknowledge that ultrasonography is just a test whether the fetuses are healthy, but not a treatment to anomalies. Harmful effect of X-ray X-ray is an electromagnetic wave with a wavelength ranged from 0.01 to 10 nanometers (0.01-10 x10-9m). It has a speed of 3108 ms-1 in vacuum. In fact, X-ray is commonly used in medical treatments, such as radiation therapy of cancer and medical imaging technology. X-ray is produced in an X-ray tube. In the X-ray tube, electrons are accelerated by applying a high voltage. Electrons then collide with a metal, and the sudden deceleration of electrons results in the emission of X-ray. An X-ray tube: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/imgqua/xtube.gif Source: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/quantum/xtube.html X-ray has high ionizing power, thus there are many people worrying about the harmful effects of having an X-ray diagnosis, especially pregnant women. It is true that a very high dose of radiation from X-ray may result in radiation sickness. Prolonged and continuous exposure to X-ray also increases the risk of cancer development, and in pregnant women, there may also be a risk for the fetus to develop childhood cancer or even miscarriage. Nevertheless, it seems that the harmful effects of exposing to X-ray are exaggerated. The serious harmful effects mentioned above are just the results of high dosage in a short period of time. There are different kinds of X-rays, one type is used in scanning or diagnosis, one type is used in treating cancer. The energy stored in different types of X-rays is different. For normal X-ray scanning, the dosage is extremely small. The absorbed dose of X-ray is measured in rad, which 1 rad = 1010-3 J kg-1 = 10-2 J kg-1. If a pregnant woman is having a chest X-ray, the estimated fetal dose is around 60 millirads, the dose is around 290 millirads for an abdominal X-ray. This is quite a low value, as the dose from the radiation from outer space is around 90-100 millirads. In fact, the risk of the fetus having eye abnormalities or mental retardation increases only when the dosage exceeds 10 rads, therefore it is very rare that pregnant women suffer from harmful effects by the X-ray radiation. According to the  American Academy of Family Physicians, generally X-rays are safe even for pregnant women, and according to radiologists, no single diagnostic x-ray has a radiation dose signi ficant enough to cause adverse effects in a developing embryo or fetus. Normally doctors will not ask pregnant women to undergo an X-ray scanning, unless when it is urgent and necessary. It is also suggested that pregnant women should tell the radiologists about the pregnancy, so that radiologists can adjust the radiation level to better protect the mothers and the fetuses. To conclude, many people are afraid of having X-ray scanning when they are pregnant, but in fact the risk is not that high if we compare the dosage to the exposure to outer space radiation. An X-ray film showing pregnancy: http://www.neurobodyfit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/xray-pregnancy.jpg Source: http://www.neurobodyfit.com/x-rays-are-safe-during-pregnancy/ Concerns of radio waves and microwaves Besides X-ray, some people are concerning about the effect of radio waves and microwaves on pregnancy. In fact the effect of these two types of EM waves is even less than X-ray. There has been a study investigating the relationship between exposure of radio waves and microwaves of female physiotherapists, and the ratio of miscarriage. Due to occupational use, physiotherapists are very often exposed to medical equipment emitting microwaves diathermy and radio waves. According to the study, investigators compared the odd ratios between those pregnant physiotherapists and other pregnant women. The results showed that the risk of miscarriage was not associated with reported use of diathermy equipment, thus people need not worry too much about this issue. A microwave diathermy: http://image.ec21.com/image/medicm/oimg_GC04993002_CA04993086/Microwave_Diathermy_HM-801C.jpg Source: http://medicm.en.ec21.com/Microwave_Diathermy_HM_801C4993002_4993086.html Conclusion Waves have been widely used in medical equipment, and there are several applications of waves on pregnancy. Ultrasonography is the most common and the safest method of prenatal checkup. Though it can be used in diagnosis, it is unable to treat diseases in fetus. Many people concern about the side effects of using X-ray, microwaves and radio waves, however it is in fact very safe because the dosage of radiation is extremely small. Therefore people need not worry too much about the risk of miscarriage caused by exposure to these waves.

The Discovery of Paralititan Stomeri - A Giant Sauropod Essay -- Anthr

The Discovery of Paralititan Stomeri - A Giant Sauropod In the scientific article â€Å"A giant sauropod dinosaur from an upper Cretaceous mangrove deposit in Egypt,† by Joshua Smith, Matthew Lamanna, Kenneth Lacovara, and Peter Dodson it is indicated that a giant sauropod named Paralititan Stomeri was discovered in a desert area in western Egypt in 2001. The skeleton was dated back to ninety to one hundred million years ago, which is the late Cretaceous period. Paralititan is a sauropod, which is thought to be the second largest that has ever lived. A partial skeleton of this enormous sauropod was found. What was found is seen when the authors write, â€Å"The specimen consists largely of vertebrae, pectoral girdle, and forelimb elements† (Dodson, Lacovara, Lamanna, and Smith). The largest bone found was a 1.69 meter long humerus, which is an upper arm bone. This was the first find in the area since 1935. The area where the bones were found is called Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis. The last time this site was explored was when a German, named Ernst Stromer, found four smaller dinosaur species. Stromer believed that the fossils he found came from a period in the Upper Cretaceous around ninety three to ninety nine million years ago. Included in stromer’s findings were fish, turtles, plesiosaurs, squamates, crocodyliforms, and four dinosaurs: the theropods Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and Bahariasaurus, and the sauropod Aegyptosaurus (Dodson, Lacovara, Lamanna, and Smith). Unfortunately most of these fossils were destroyed in 1944 when the Allied forces bombed Munich during World War II. The period around ninety to one hundred million years ago is characterized by a very small variation in temperature between the north and south ... ... in that area. The discovery of the Paralititan supports the theory that the two continents were attached through the late Cretaceous, because it is closely related to the Argentinosaurus. This discovery is exciting because it is another very large sauropod and, because it helps support the theory that Africa and South America were still connected through the late Cretaceous period. Bibliography Dodson, Peter, Kenneth Lacovara, Matthew Lamanna, and Joshua Smith. â€Å"A giant sauropod dinosaur from an Upper Creataceous mangrove deposit in Egypt†. Science. Washington: June1, 2001. Vo. 292, Iss. 5522. Roach, John. â€Å"’Tidal Giant’ Roamed Coastal Swamps of Ancient Africa†. National Geographic News. 2001. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/05/0 531-tidaldinosaur.html

The Old Man And The Sea: Man Defeated :: essays research papers

Reading through the novel The Old Man and the Sea one, as a reader, can perceive several themes in the book. Hemingway suggests certain subjects for discussion which built up the whole plot, therefore giving us options to choose the one we believe is the main one. In the past weeks we have been discussing, in a debate, which is that main theme. My group’s theme was â€Å"Man Defeated† and although it is hard to affirm that this theme was the prevailing one of the book, we firmly defend it. Various arguments were established. Some argued that the novel’s theme was Santiago’s struggle, the friendship with the fish and other characters; Santiago’s perseverance and that he really ended up as a triumphant man. But to argue that those were also the main themes of the book is also a difficult thing to do. Even though Santiago fought and kept on with his struggle to catch the fish, he was defeated because he lost it at the end. Defeat, according to the Larousse Chambers English Dictionary, is when you are overthrown in a battle, you lose a game and therefore you don’t win: you don’t gain or reach your goal. As we can see Santiago, in spite of the fact that he persevered and struggled, starving, for three days lost the battle. He couldn’t get to his main goal. But , exactly what was his goal, one may ask? He wanted the fish, he was not fishing as a hobby or sport; he planned to sell the fish and get some money to eat, it was his way of surviving. Santiago’s only way of income was fishing and he knew that. He mentions: â€Å" He was a fish to keep a man all winter.†(page 111). Santiago had plans for him already but failed to accomplish them. Some will argue that he won because he gained spiritual victory. This , in a way, is true; but fishing is his job and only way of living. If the case had been different and Santiago was only fishing for his personal entertainment, which wasn’t, it could be seen as a new experience or story to tell. But it wasn’t. Santiago needed the fish and lost it. He wasn’t happy or joyful about it, as we will later on discuss. The definition of the word triumph is : â€Å"victory, success, a state of great joy over success, to win a great victory or success and rejoice over this; openly to show one’s rejoicing over the person one has defeated. The Old Man And The Sea: Man Defeated :: essays research papers Reading through the novel The Old Man and the Sea one, as a reader, can perceive several themes in the book. Hemingway suggests certain subjects for discussion which built up the whole plot, therefore giving us options to choose the one we believe is the main one. In the past weeks we have been discussing, in a debate, which is that main theme. My group’s theme was â€Å"Man Defeated† and although it is hard to affirm that this theme was the prevailing one of the book, we firmly defend it. Various arguments were established. Some argued that the novel’s theme was Santiago’s struggle, the friendship with the fish and other characters; Santiago’s perseverance and that he really ended up as a triumphant man. But to argue that those were also the main themes of the book is also a difficult thing to do. Even though Santiago fought and kept on with his struggle to catch the fish, he was defeated because he lost it at the end. Defeat, according to the Larousse Chambers English Dictionary, is when you are overthrown in a battle, you lose a game and therefore you don’t win: you don’t gain or reach your goal. As we can see Santiago, in spite of the fact that he persevered and struggled, starving, for three days lost the battle. He couldn’t get to his main goal. But , exactly what was his goal, one may ask? He wanted the fish, he was not fishing as a hobby or sport; he planned to sell the fish and get some money to eat, it was his way of surviving. Santiago’s only way of income was fishing and he knew that. He mentions: â€Å" He was a fish to keep a man all winter.†(page 111). Santiago had plans for him already but failed to accomplish them. Some will argue that he won because he gained spiritual victory. This , in a way, is true; but fishing is his job and only way of living. If the case had been different and Santiago was only fishing for his personal entertainment, which wasn’t, it could be seen as a new experience or story to tell. But it wasn’t. Santiago needed the fish and lost it. He wasn’t happy or joyful about it, as we will later on discuss. The definition of the word triumph is : â€Å"victory, success, a state of great joy over success, to win a great victory or success and rejoice over this; openly to show one’s rejoicing over the person one has defeated.

Bad Boys

Nick Stephens 4/3/13 Albritton Sociology 3255 Bad Boys Ann Arnett Ferguson’s book â€Å"Bad Boys† discusses the way educators and other people in the school systems, and society as a whole view black youth in today’s world. There are many stereotypes that are discussed and stigmas that stick with black children through their entire lives in Ferguson’s book. In order to prevent further damage to this part of our society the reader should take a long hard look at the problems brought forth by â€Å"Bad Boys†.One problem that Ferguson discusses in her book is adultification. According to her definition adultification is the idea that teachers and other adults see black children as willfully bad. Since they are seen in this light it creates an idea that black boys have adult motivations thus, making black boys seem like criminals instead of kids. Also, along the same lines, black girls are perceived as dangerously sexual. While this issue seems sort of ridiculous, these things actually happen in our public school system.While white children are seen as naturally naughty, essentially authority figures adopt the â€Å"boys will be boys† mentality when white boys get in trouble or act out, instead of issuing punishment equally to white children who act out. Ferguson states, â€Å"One the one hand children are assumed to be dissembling, devious, because they are more egocentric. On the other hand, there is an attribution of innocence to their wrongdoing. In both cases, this is understood to be a temporary condition, a stage prior to maturity. †(80)Another problem that Ferguson observes in her book is the two controlling images of black males in schools. She says, â€Å"Two cultural images stigmatize black males in the United States today: one represents him as a criminal, and the other depicts him as an endangered species. I found that both of these images were commonly invoked at Rosa Parks School for identifying, clas sifying, and making punishment decisions by the adults responsible for disciplining the kids. †(20) The way that black boys are seen creates a social hierarchy based solely on class.Ferguson is able, through her first-hand experience, to record instances that show these problems in action and give the reader insight to the problems that are being addressed. The image of black children being criminals is inherent to their development. If they are treated from a young age as criminals, they will eventually come to accept that as part of their social identity, leading them to actually commit crimes in the future. If they were treated equally then black children, especially males, may not be on a definite path into the heart of the criminal justice system by the time they are adults.Ferguson addresses another problem that has a severe effect on the psyche of young black boys in public schools. Teachers and administrators alike are guilty of assuming that these children are headed for a future of crime. They are labeled as unsalvageable and bound for jail. She uses the example, â€Å"There is a jail cell with your name on it† coming from the teacher to one of their students. This is damaging to the child’s development because it seemingly predetermines their fate. The punishing room that Ferguson discusses is primarily made up of black boys.The punishing room makes these boys truly believe that they are bad, and that since even their teachers and other superiors cannot see through this it tends to give the children a sense of identity as someone who is bad, and does not really count. With the punishing room the idea is solidified in the minds of these children, which is a problem. Ideally these troubled children should be worked with individually in order to get to the root of the reason that they are acting out in school. Ferguson says about the punishing room, â€Å"The child who gets in trouble is the norm. Identities and reputations are mad e and remade here.It is the space in the school in which everyone is like yourself-in trouble-and you are no longer different. † This quote gives the reader a visible reference of why some of these children, deemed unsalvageable by their teachers, may get into trouble on purpose so they have to go to this place where at least they are not alone. This leads into the idea of the importance of group identity. Ferguson explains the importance of group identity in her book by basically saying that kids need to feel like they fit it, and they will use whatever tools necessary in order to do so.This is all brought together by the idea of cultural capital. Ferguson explains that in the school system there is a hierarchy of the children, â€Å"The disciplinary techniques of the school actively produce social identities of â€Å"good†, â€Å"bad†, â€Å"gifted†, â€Å"having potential†, â€Å"troubled†, and â€Å"troublesome,† rather than ferre t them out and reveal them as they naturally exist. The importance of group identity is essential in the development of all children. It helps them to develop a sense of self, who they are, and who they want to be.The problem lies in the fact that children are becoming fine with the idea that they are â€Å"bad† and come to accept that as reality, which allows them to form that identity, in turn making them into bad kids, because the only way that they are able to fit in to the social atmosphere is by acting out and getting in trouble. The boys in Ferguson’s study use the importance of group identity, coping mechanisms in public, and classroom performance in tandem to secure their own personal identities. Most of the kids are not really that â€Å"bad† they often have extenuating circumstances outside of school that make school not seem important to them.They often feel secluded, which draws from the problem with adultification by their teachers and other superi ors. So by acting out in the classroom they get attention, even though it is negative attention, it is still attention. Through the eyes of the teachers it seems like they are just putting forth a poor classroom performance. They do not see the struggles that the children go through outside of school, which tends to directly have an impact on the way the handle themselves in social situations, craving the need to belong to some sort of group. So they turn to what is presented to them, being bad.In conclusion, there are many flaws with the education system in the United States. The processes in which black children are dealt with need to be reformed. The idea of adultification as defined by Ferguson is a serious issue that plagues schools, where even teachers who are conscious of this fall into the category of looking at black children as small adults, holding them to different standards than their white counterparts. They are still subject to the controlling images of black males as being criminals, and assuming that they are on the path to prison anyway, so what is the use. This is unacceptable.Different strategies in dealing with this problem should be implemented than the ones that the public school system has to offer at the present time. Through Ferguson’s first-hand accounts of what she observed during her time in Rosa Parks School the reader is painted a picture of the very real problems at hand. Most people outside of these schools do not even realize what is going on and that is a problem as well. By studying Ferguson’s work one can hope that in the near future there will be some sort of reconstruction of the schools in order to help prevent further damage and stigmatization to black children.

Nz Fitness Industry

Within New Zealand a growing number of people are using the fitness industry as a convenient means of improving and maintaining their well-being. In recent times a market boom has taken place with more and more gyms being built throughout the country, and with them new business opportunities arising. One of the most renown gyms in New Zealand, Les Mills is an example of one of these modern business franchises.In the 43 years since Phillip Mills family started running their first Les Mills gym in New Zealand, the gym has since gone international with over 14,000 gyms now spread throughout 75 countries worldwide and an estimated net worth of (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. ) (citation). It is estimated that in New Zealand alone the gym industry generated over (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ) in 2008 (citation). Along with the increase in gyms being established a large proportion of the fitness industry is now focusing on nutrition as an additional market for generating profit.This report serves to a nalyse and interpret both individual markets along with relevant figures, and will outline the potential future business prospects for investment or creating a new franchise in both markets. New Zealand has a large fitness industry as exercise has become a very important part of everyday life. Today’s gym goers are opting for low frills operators trading away high end services in favour of convenience, price and flexible contracts.With more than 10% of New Zealand’s population now seeing an exercise professional regularly, there is a total of 400,000 people on average seeing 1500 exercise professionals on a regular basis. (cited) Some of the top gyms in New Zealand are Les Mills, Next generation and Jetts. Les Mills has a competitive advantage of having fun while exercise via the fitness classes that are suitable for all ages and sizes, such as Body Combat. Les Mills is a large firm that has privately owned companies headquarters in Auckland only which are valued at $1 30 million.Les Mills believes that by 2020 they will open a further of 10 gyms in Auckland (cited Mills). The health and fitness market has been described as blandly premium as there is little deffirentiation between service offerings, indicating that there is opportunity for competitive advantage to be achieved through quality. In order to open a new franchise sufficient funds must be available. Competition exist with a newly opened Les Mills Britomart, which was set up with a total cost of $10 million dollars. Margins are very slim for smaller gyms, so would need to be a large player to be successful. Nz Fitness Industry Within New Zealand a growing number of people are using the fitness industry as a convenient means of improving and maintaining their well-being. In recent times a market boom has taken place with more and more gyms being built throughout the country, and with them new business opportunities arising. One of the most renown gyms in New Zealand, Les Mills is an example of one of these modern business franchises.In the 43 years since Phillip Mills family started running their first Les Mills gym in New Zealand, the gym has since gone international with over 14,000 gyms now spread throughout 75 countries worldwide and an estimated net worth of (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. ) (citation). It is estimated that in New Zealand alone the gym industry generated over (†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ) in 2008 (citation). Along with the increase in gyms being established a large proportion of the fitness industry is now focusing on nutrition as an additional market for generating profit.This report serves to a nalyse and interpret both individual markets along with relevant figures, and will outline the potential future business prospects for investment or creating a new franchise in both markets. New Zealand has a large fitness industry as exercise has become a very important part of everyday life. Today’s gym goers are opting for low frills operators trading away high end services in favour of convenience, price and flexible contracts.With more than 10% of New Zealand’s population now seeing an exercise professional regularly, there is a total of 400,000 people on average seeing 1500 exercise professionals on a regular basis. (cited) Some of the top gyms in New Zealand are Les Mills, Next generation and Jetts. Les Mills has a competitive advantage of having fun while exercise via the fitness classes that are suitable for all ages and sizes, such as Body Combat. Les Mills is a large firm that has privately owned companies headquarters in Auckland only which are valued at $1 30 million.Les Mills believes that by 2020 they will open a further of 10 gyms in Auckland (cited Mills). The health and fitness market has been described as blandly premium as there is little deffirentiation between service offerings, indicating that there is opportunity for competitive advantage to be achieved through quality. In order to open a new franchise sufficient funds must be available. Competition exist with a newly opened Les Mills Britomart, which was set up with a total cost of $10 million dollars. Margins are very slim for smaller gyms, so would need to be a large player to be successful.