The Identification of Bambusa Sp

The identification of Bamboo using various PCR and Sequencing Techniques Abstract Often the incorrect bamboo species is sold to unsuspecting customers at shops. This can have a disastrous effect on their garden. Three separate and unknown Bamboo leaf samples were taken and were required to be distinguished genetically from one another. Using ITS-PCR DNA amplification techniques, the ITS region DNA was amplified and used in PCR-RFLP and RAPD PCR in order to determine the genetic identity of each sample. Sequencing was performed, and results allowed us to distinguish between samples (to a certain extent. ) Introduction Bamboos are a group of woody perennial green plants (Wikipedia et al. 2006) that are found in many parts of the world. There are 91 genera and about 1,000 species of bamboo (Wikipedia et al. 2006). They are found in diverse climates, from cold mountains to hot tropical regions. Bamboo is a highly desirable plant grown for many reasons in plantations and gardens around the world. Many reasons it is grown are that it is a beautiful ornamental plant with unique properties. Bamboo is also an extremely strong plant that is light; it is used in many building applications for floorboards, and is also often used in furniture making. There are a number of taller growing species that are effective at blocking out the eyes of pepping toms and nosy neighbors. There are two main forms of bamboo, each form describing the way in which the bamboo itself spreads. These are known as â€Å"clumping† (monopodial) and â€Å"running† (sympodial) forms. (Wikipedia et al. 2006) Clumping bamboo species tend to spread underground slowly. Running bamboo species are highly variable in their tendency to spread; this is related to both the species and the soil and climate conditions. Some can send out runners several metres a year, while others can stay in the same general area for long periods. If neglected, they can be invasive over time and can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas. The reputation of bamboo as being highly invasive is often exaggerated, and situations where it has taken over large areas is often the result of years of untended or neglected plantings. Many invasive bamboo species are often sold, unsuspectingly to people, who plant them without realizing this. The result of this is the complete takeover of ones garden. Some species of bamboo can grow at a tremendous rate, some at over 36inches (90cm) a day, providing it is provided with ideal conditions (OneEarth, 2006). Plant Biosecurity breaches often occur when bamboo plants are imported with incorrect or false labeling, often in an attempt to bring illegal ornamental species in to the country for indoor use. This ‘black market’ operation is a serious threat to native species of plants, and, if a threatening sympodial bamboo species is imported and planted in place of a monopodial (which is preferred, as they do not spread), serious damage to native forests and grasslands can occur (NGIA, 2006). Some of the techniques that can be used to identify to a species level are PCR-ITS, RAPD, and PCR-RFLP. These will be used to identify our unknown samples of bamboo. Aim To identify, to a species level, using nucleotide analysis and sequencing techniques, three unknown samples of bamboo. Materials For DNA extraction 3 Unknown Bamboo Samples (Leaves) Mortar and Pestle Liquid Nitrogen Quiagen ‘Dneasy’ DNA Extraction Kit Centrifuge tubes Pipettes and Tips Ice and Esky Quantification of DNA Well Combs (10uL) Wells UV Transilluminator Agarose Tris Borate EDTA Ethidium Bromide Loading Dye Centrifuge Tubes Gel Tank (To run agarose gel electrophoresis) Pipettes and Tips For ITS based PCR 5uL of extracted DNA 5x Reaction buffer MilliQ (Ultra Pure Water) DNTP’s (dATP, dGTP, dCTP, dTTP) PCR Machine MgCl2 Centrifuge Tubes Pipettes and Tips For RAPD-PCR ITS-PCR DNA product 5x Reaction buffer MilliQ (Ultra Pure Water) MgCl2 Primers OPM-01 and OPM-17 Wells Well Combs (10uL) UV Transilluminator Agarose Tris Borate EDTA Ethidium Bromide Loading Dye Centrifuge Tubes Gel Tank (To run agarose gel electrophoresis) Pipettes and Tips For ITS-RFLP ITS-PCR DNA product Enzymes Hha1 and Rsa1 Buffer Red (Rsa1) Buffer C (Hha1) MilliQ (Ultra Pure Water) Wells Well Combs (10uL) UV Transilluminator Agarose Tris Borate EDTA Ethidium Bromide Loading Dye Centrifuge Tubes Gel Tank (To run agarose gel electrophoresis) Pipettes and Tips Methods DNA Extraction and Purification – Quiagen Dneasy Kit ITS-RFLP ITS Region is a particular sequence of DNA which is present in all organisms. It is a region, in between each common sequence, contains DNA that is highly conserved and unique amongst a particular species, and is thus not used to translate into proteins. Enzymes are used to restrict or cut the DNA at certain points. The location of the cuts depends on nucleotide sequence that the enzyme recognizes. The number of nucleotides in sequence determines size of the restricted piece of DNA in base pairs (BP). ITS-PCR This is done to amplify the ITS region DNA which is highly conserved and unique to each individual species Primers ITS 1 and ITS 4 are used because the ITS region (18s, 5. 8s and 28s regions) are common in all organisms. The region in between the 18s and 28s is the region that is highly conserved and unique to any given species. Added to Master Mix (containing buffer solution) PCR’d ITS Region DNA is amplified out RAPD RAPD Primers OPM-01 and OPM-17 are added to the ITS-PCR DNA product and where are given a genetic fingerprint of the DNA. HOW, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE, WHO? What was done? Sufficient detail for repetition by others Results (facts only) (2) HOW, WHEN, WHAT, WHERE? What was found? Presentation of results as simply and clearly as possible Figures to present data and concepts clearly and concisely (a picture is worth 1000 words) Types of figures: photographs, drawings, tables, graphs Numerical data as tables or graphs (graphs preferred) Text to point out trends (not repeat information in figures) Discussion (3) WHY, WHAT, WHO? What does it mean? Interpretation of results relative to the hypothesis or aim Comparison with work of others References (6) WHO? List of all references cited in text http://www. bonsai-bci. com/species/bamboo. html Sabrina Caine Last modified accessed 01/06/06 http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Bamboo wikipedia last modified 27/05/06 accessed 01/06/06 http://www. 1earth. com. au/collect/wicker_furniture. html last modified 27/05/06 accessed 01/06/06 1Earth Antiques and Appraisals http://www. ngia. co. nz/news/507bamboo. php Nursing and Garden Industry Association (NGIA) Wellington, New Zealand Accessed 01/06/06 Updated

De-Scalers Essay

When water is heated limescale deposits can form, especially in machines such as fully automatic coffee makers, espresso machines and all hot water units. In this context you often hear about hard and soft water. The hardness of the water indicates the proportion of limescale. Your water supply company will provide more information about hardness of your water. If your groundwater flows through calcareous rock layers, eroded magnesium and calcium carbonate will cause limescale deposits in your water. Why do I need to remove limescale? In addition to loss of coffee flavor limescale deposits can severely damage your machine and shorten its lifespan significantly. Limescale deposits in your machine lead to: Longer scalding time with higher electricity charges Lower water temperatures causing inferior coffee flavor Blocked machines pipe Corrosion of metal parts and sealing gaskets Expensive repairs Only regular and timely descaling with a high-quality descaler, such as ceragol ultra Premium Descaler, ensures a long lifespan and optimal coffee flavor. Your coffee maker is a high-tech machine which needs regular, gentle care. What do you expect from your descaler? Limescale deposits are removed by acids in the descaler. Only the right mixture of effective acids and gentle additives for the metal parts and sealing gaskets allows for optimal results during descaling. The quick reaction time and immediate reusability of the machine after rinsing are basic demands on a premium descaler. Why amidosulfonic acid? Descaling with citric or acetic acids The big problem when descaling with citric or acetic acids are the released flavor additives which cause an obtrusive smell during descaling. The plastic parts of your fully automated coffee maker tend to taken on these smells and influence the smell and taste of your coffee negatively. Plastic parts and sealing gaskets of your unit can be attacked by the vinegar or acetic acid. Citric acid tends to flake during descaling. This can block the valves and water pipes and lead to high repair charges. An additional problem is that the limescale is actually sealed in by an indissoluble layer which occurs repeatedly when using descalers based on citric acids. Descaling with vinegar, acetic acid or citric acid takes significantly longer than descaling with ceragol ultra Premium Descaler. Descaling with amidosulfonic acid Descaling with amidosulfonic acid, the active ingredient of our ceragol ultra Premium Descaler, does not require any reaction time. During the descaling program the limescale is dissolved and flushed away. This process is completely odorless and neutral in taste. After thorough rinsing your machine is once again food-safe. The additives in ceragol ultra Premium Descaler guard and protect the metal and plastic components of your fully automatic coffee maker. The right time to descale Automatic coffee machine w. auto descaling indicator Please ask your water supply company about the hardness of your water and set the water hardness according to the operating instructions of your manufacturer. Your machine will indicate when descaling is needed. Automatic coffee machine w/o descaling indicator Descaling becomes necessary as soon as you notice a delay in operation or irregularities during coffee preparation. Another telltale sign is the reduction of the amount of foam produced on the coffee. The machine must be descaled periodically and in due time.

Faar

Jamie Schiller English 114 09/12/12 Difficulty Paper 1 â€Å"If one thinks of cultures, or literatures, as discrete, coherently structured, monolingual edifices, Guaman Poma’s text, and indeed any autoethnographic work, appears anomalous or chaotic – as it apparently did to the European scholars Pietschmann spoke to in 1912. If one does not think of cultures this way, then Guanman Poma’s text is simply heterogeneous, as the Andean region was itself and remains today. Such a text is heterogeneous on the reception end as well as the production end: it will read very differently to people in different positions in the contact zone. (page 492) I found this passage difficult because it uses many terms that I was only introduced to when I started reading Mary Louise Pratt’s essay. It is hard to follow because it uses difficult terms and packs a lot of information into a small amount of writing. Mary Louise Pratt introduces several concepts in the same passage, which was both overwhelming and distracting. It was difficult to understand the passage in its entirety the first time I read it, but after rereading the passage several times and giving it some thought, I think I may have a better understanding of what the author was trying to convey to her audience.I think that Mary Louise Pratt is saying that Guanman Poma’s text can be interpreted in more than one way. She uses the term â€Å"heterogeneous†, which means incongruous or unlike. This suggests that the text was complex and thus could easily be misinterpreted. If two people each have a different perspective of a certain society or culture is different from someone else’s, they probably will not share the same understanding of Poma’s work. Guanman Poma’s letters to the king were written in two languages. This could be a reason why people who view cultures as â€Å"coherently structured, monolingual edifices† may find his work chaotic and confus ing.The European scholars the Pietschmann spoke to in 1912 would not have been able to fully understand Guanman Poma’s work because they do not possess transcultural understanding. The part of the passage that states that, â€Å"If one does not think of cultures this way, then Guanman Poma’s text is simply heterogeneous, as the Andean region was itself and remains today,† suggests that those who come from a â€Å"contact zone†, where two different cultures intermingle, would be able to understand Guanman Poma’s message more easily.This might be caused by the fact that they are familiar with more than one culture existing together and therefore would not be confused or overwhelmed by Poma’s letters. This passage connects to the rest of Pratt’s essay because it talks about autoethnographic texts and transcultration. Pratt introduced both of these terms in her essay because she views them as â€Å"the phenomenon of the contact zone. â⠂¬ 

Paradigm Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Paradigm Paper - Essay Example For the past few days, I have been writing about myself and I became more conscious of who I am. I am a Middle Eastern, middle-class, male, Generation X, extroverted Muslim Emirati, who believes in the mixture of determinism and free will and the capacity of human beings to become good and that despite their prejudices, they can learn to respect each other’s differences, if they only tried. I am from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and as an Emirati, I am open to multiculturalism, fiercely passionate about my own culture, and liberal-minded when it comes to diverse social issues. Others just see me as a plain Middle Eastern man, which is not the same for me, because the Middle East has diverse cultures and ethnicities. When people ask me if I am from the Middle East, I tell them, I am from the UAE. This is not because I do not wish to be related to the Middle Eastern race, but because I want to specify my ethnicity. I believe that people cannot lump different ethnicities into one regional identity because national, family, and individual identities shape people too. As an Emirati, I grew up in a society that some people will call as a paradox. On the one hand, my family is a conservative group of Muslims. On the other hand, our family is composed of liberal thinkers too. I learned from my parents to respect other cultures. I can tell non-Muslims that Islam is the highest religion and a Christian can tell me otherwise and I will not be angry at him for saying so. If I want them to respect me as a Muslim, I will respect their religious or spiritual beliefs too, or even when they do not have any shred of spiritual belief in their lives. Emiratis are open to multicultural societies. They have developed with diverse cultures and religions in their midst. In addition, in this multicultural society, I enjoy having a strong voice. As a devout Muslim, I am prepared to discuss my religion to anybody. I can debate on points of facts, values, and policies. However, I will never force my beliefs on anyone. As long as people can live peacefully together and share common goals for life, happiness, and freedom, I find it no need to settle in lifelong disputes. The future should not be a bitter struggle because of people’s differences. Middle-class living is part of my family’s heritage and it provided me many social and economic opportunities that made me technology-dependent, optimistic and quite carefree to some extent. Being middle-class has given me comforts in life. I grew up watching the fast transition of technology from VHS to CD to DVD. Now, people can watch movies and TV shows online. Almost everyone has a cellular phone, even some of the poor. The fast-paced technology made me dependent on it. I cannot imagine a life without my mobile phone. I have some difficulty thinking about not having a computer or laptop at my disposal. They are my access to the Internet where I get information on about almost anything in the world. The world is at my fingertips and I feel comfort in knowing that. Being middle-class has made me optimistic because I know that I can access information easily. This information, if valid, can help me make good decisions in school, workplace, and even in life. Furthermore, since I have a comfortable life, I am quite carefree. I do not get easily bogged down by problems. I see the silver lining in the darkest

Computer Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Computer Security - Essay Example Characteristics of the attacker Motivation The motivation is to view encrypted files within the limited 9 days’ time frame after which the information loses relevance to the attacker. Access The attacker has only access to physical location of the workstation though the time is limited to only 43 minutes. Skills and risk aversion The attacker is risk averse and has idea on file encryption techniques. The attacker is not mindful of the legal and ethical ramifications of the operation but he is not willing to attain his goal through violent means. Basic Attack tree Possible attacks Special Equipment Required Attack tree against AES Goal: Read a message encrypted with AES 1. Decrypt the message itself. (OR) 1.1. Break asymmetric encryption.(OR) 1.1.1. Brute-force breaks asymmetric encryption. (OR) 1.1.2. Mathematically break asymmetric encryption (OR) 1.1.2.1. Break RSA. (OR) 1.1.2.2. Factor RSA modulus/calculate AES discrete log. 1.1.3 Cryptanalyze asymmetric encryption 1.1.3.1. General cryptanalysis of RSA/ AES (OR) 1.1.3.2. Exploiting weakness in RSA/ AES. (OR) 1.1.3.3. Timing attacks on RSA/ AES. 1.2. Break symmetric-key encryption. (OR) 1.2.1. Brute-force break symmetric-key encryption. (OR) 1.2.2. Cryptanalysis of symmetric-key encryption. 2. ... 2.1.3. Have the file encrypted with a different public key in the background unknown to the owner. 2.2. Have the owner sign the encrypted symmetric key. (OR) 2.3. Monitor owner’s computer memory. (OR) 2.4. Monitor other user back-up storage memory. (OR) 2.5. Determine the key from pseudorandom number generator. (OR) 2.5.1. Determine the state of randseed. Bin when the message was encrypted. (OR) 2.5.2. Implant software (virus) that deterministically alters the state of randseed.bin. (OR) 2.5.3. Implant the software that directly affects the choice of symmetric key. 2.6. Implant a virus that exposes the symmetric key. 3. Get owner to (help) decrypt message. (OR) 3.1. Chosen cipher text attack on symmetric key. (OR) 3.2. Chosen cipher text attack on public key. (OR) 3.3. Ghost the drives to an external storage medium. (OR) 3.4. Monitor outgoing data from the owner’s computers through the network. (OR) 3.5. Intercept transferable data through the network (OR) 3.6. Read dec rypted intercepted file. 3.6.1. Copy the message from the owner’s hard drive or virtual memory. (OR) 3.6.2. Copy the files from back-up media (OR) 3.6.3. Monitor network traffic. (OR) 3.6.4. Use electromagnetic snooping techniques to read files as they are displayed on the screen (OR) 3.6.5. Recover read message from print-out 4. Obtain private key from the owner 4.1. Factor RSA modulus/ calculate AES discrete log. (OR) 4.2. Get private key of owner. (OR) 4.2.1. Obtain encrypted owners private key ring. (OR) 4.2.1.1. Copy it from owner’s hard drive. (OR) 4.2.1.2. Copy it from disk backups. (OR) 4.2.1.3. Monitor network traffic. (OR) 4.2.1.4. Implant virus or worm to expose copy of the encrypted private key. 4.2.2. Decrypt Private Key.

Critical Literature Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical - Literature review Example The way to behave was more readily mapped, and people knew what to do in the various phases of their lives from childhood through teenage years, work, marriage, parenthood, retirement and preparing for death of loved ones and of one’s own self. The modern industrialised, capitalist world, he argues, is fluid and contains many more uncharted areas and this requires that our self-identity should form a trajectory, requiring that we make day to day adjustments depending on what happens in our lives. (Giddens: 1991, p. 14). Incessant streams of new information result in a process of what Giddens calls â€Å"chronic revision† (Giddens: 1991, p. 20) and the complexity of modern capitalist society requires people to place their trust in increasingly opaque systems and organisations, many of which are subject to quite spectacular failures and radical transformations. Crossley partly agrees with this analysis and adds the observation that modern societies consist of overlapping networks, and that embodiment is reflexive, and imposed upon individials from many souces (Crossley: 2006, p. 112) Giddens describes the way that all human beings put on â€Å"performances† of their self in different social situations. ... 57. Bourdieu’s influential work on human judgement and taste proposes that all human culture is structured in a hierarchical way and that people access this culture through the family that they are born in and then via all the opportunities that they meet in later life (Bourdieu: 1984, pp. 1-5) This theory implies a structuralist view whereby social patterns tend to repeat themselves again and again through the generations. Bourdieu uses the concept of habitus, which is the partly unconscious way in which people deal with the society around them. (Bourdieu: 1984, pp. 169-174) He argues that people learn how to see the world, and consume all it has to offer, in their early childhood, and that they are conditioned by their family background to approach things in certain habitual ways: â€Å"The manner in which culture is acquired lives on in the manner of using it.†(Bourdieu: 1984, p. 1) The foods people eat, the clothes that they wear, the music and films they like, the values they place on educational achievement and all the other products of the modern world are therefore embodied in each person in stratified ways, and this explains the differences between social classes and the tendency for people to remain within their original social class. When this insight is applied to inborn qualities like race and gender it also helps to explain why people from ethnic minorities, women and people from lower social classes still suffer exclusion and unequal access to promotions in work even when educational barriers have been removed. Bourdieu’s point is that how people learn things is just as important, as what they learn because this

Developing and using power and influence tactics to influence people Article

Developing and using power and influence tactics to influence people - Article Example Different leadership techniques have to be adopted under different circumstances and for different purposes. For instance, to get a project through, people need the support of others. The first action taken by the leaders is to adopt the project as their own and show personal commitment to it. They then work towards generating support from others in the organization. They have knowledge about the company and know how to use the company’s informal system of relationships. Markham (1998) indicates that some types of influence tactics are more successful like the logical argument. Some prefer to use the coercive and persuasive techniques rather than confrontive influence strategies even when they expect resistance although threatening tactics are unsuccessful influencing people. Use of personal power or positional power would depend upon target commitment. Expert power has been more useful than reward or legitimate power sources. Although leaders may use enthusiasm and drive to make their projects successful, these have a detrimental effect on projects and targets according to Markham. This requires influencing many people who may not wish to be influenced and the end result may be tension and conflicts. The project leaders may not be trained enough in interpersonal relations, which imply that being a project leader does not give an individual the power or ability to influence, although Carson and King (2006) believe that empowerment leads to self-leadership. Today’s work environment call for self-leadership, say Carson and King. Empowerment implies to delegate power from the higher organizational levels to the lower ones. Employees must be given the power to take decisions rather than just making suggestions. This leads to self-leadership which involves an analysis of how and why a task should be completed. It is the process of influencing oneself. This helps to improve direction and motivation within

Benefits and Difficulties of Including Children with Special Needs in Essay

Benefits and Difficulties of Including Children with Special Needs in Mainstream School - Essay Example MacKay (2002) notes that children with special needs are those who have conditions such as blindness, deafness, multiple impairments, physical impairments, behavior problems and learning difficulties among others. According to Etienne and Gendron (2008), inclusive education is a process that seeks to increase the participation of all students in schools, including students who have disabilities. It entails structuring policies, practices and cultures in schools so that they can respond to the diversity of their students. In the UK, Inclusive education acknowledges that all children need to be in schools and learn. The difference in children are also acknowledged and respected in inclusive education. The structures, methodologies and systems of education are enabled to meet the needs of all children, including those with disabilities (Glashan 2002). According to the Warnock report (1978), special education is considered a separate system of education whereby disabled children are educ ated in special schools. These schools are organized and equipped to meet their special educational needs. They operate on the basis that mainstream schools do not have the ability to address the needs of children who have special needs. Special education is usually provided in special schools that are equipped for catering to the needs of children with special needs (Leathwood, Ross, Moreau, Rollock & Williams 2008). According to the International for Policy Studies in Education (2008), education in the United Kingdom plays a very crucial role in maintenance and construction of equalities and social advantages. The Warnock report notes that education in the UK is currently compulsory for all children aged 5 to 16.... This essay declares that the perceptions of children with disabilities in the United Kingdom have had a shift in paradigm from the common medical model to social model then to the participative model. People with disabilities were for a long time viewed as patients with serious physical problems that are caused by diseases, accidents or other health conditions. This has changed to a more holistic approach in which they are considered as citizens with rights to self-determination and individual support. Many international conventions like the UN Convention on the rights of people with disabilities have been responsible for marking these paradigm shifts. This paper makes a conclusion that a lot of the policies regarding the inclusion of children with special needs in UK mainstream primary schools are derived from the Warnock report. The report suggests that at any given time, at least 2% of the population in a school would be considered disabled and in need of specialist and specific provision. This level of specific specialty provision is normally provided within mainstream schools. The same report also noted that 10% of the population of children in schools requires specialist provision at some given point during their education. These two provisions have seen a lot of changes take place in the laws of UK with the aim of eliminating discrimination against children with special needs.

Digital Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Digital Communication - Research Paper Example Digital communication is the transfer or transmission of data from point to another and it is generally encoded digitally and this form of communication was first emerged in 1920's but its presence was there since the establishment of general communication. Since its emergence new technologies have been seen in the world. Basically the history of digital communication revolves around the three basic networks, i.e. computer, telephone and Cable TV. T1 similarly, emerged in 1960's during the digital upheaval in the roots of the U.S telephone network. But now it is used irresistible for data broadcasting. It is due to the telephone companies that T1 exists in this world. Due to the continuous improvements in technology of Digital communication, new communication systems emerged as some of the major today's digital communication systems includes GSM, iDEN, CDMA and others. In general this research paper includes the history of digital communication and T1 and the main components included in this report is the description of digital communication and T1, its application. This report explains and emphasizes how different people contributed in this field and brought new revolutions and new technologies and how it is being used in the present situation. Digital CommunicaDigital Communication Digital Communication is also known as data transmission in which the data is physically transferred through a communication channel, i.e. point-to- point or point-to-multipoint. The data transmitted during this communication process are electro-magnetic signals such as microwave signals, electrical voltage signals or infra-red signals, while copper wires, optical fibers, wireless communication, storage media are the most common communication channels used. When data is being transmitted, it mostly uses digital messages which are originated from mostly a computer or a keyboard. Digital communication or data transmission is a sub field from data communications, and also has a strong background with telecommunications and electrical engineering. T1 T1 is also known as DS1, is a T-carrier signaling scheme which was developed by Bell Labs and is mainly used to transmit voice and data between different devices. It is mostly used in telecommunication departments in North America and Japan. T1 is defined as a mean that carries multiple voice and involves data conversion in a single line in a full duplex (transmission method that involves that transmits and receive the information at the same time) synchronous data transmission technique where the data is transmitted at an aggregate speed of 1.544 Mbps. The T1 circuit is made up of twenty four 8 bit channel, in whicj each cannel comprises of 64 kbits/s carrier circuits. History of Digital Communication Digital communication has been used since the advent of communication, when data was transmitted through non-electrical means such as optical and mechanical. The

Marketing Management exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Management exam - Essay Example Eight demand states in marketing of bifocal lenses are detailed below: Negative Demand: A product is said to face negative demand when a significant segment of the market dislikes it and even pays to avoid it (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p. 10). The fundamental task of marketing managers in this situation is to find out the reasons for this negative demand state to the product and take effective measures to counteract them (Sandhusen, 2000, p. 59). People in some countries have a negative demand for vaccination, but, it is very unlikely in the demand for bifocal lenses. No Demand (Nonexistent demand): When the target-market customers are unaware or are uninterested in a product, it is called no demand state (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p. 10). The main task of marketing managers in this state will be to connect potential product benefits to the needs and wants of the target-customers. This is also very unlikely in the case of demand for bifocal lenses, because, people are well aware of it. Latent Demand: It is when many prospective consumers share a strong need but that cannot be satisfied by the existing product (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p. 10). For example, demand for hair restoratives and painless diets (Sandhusen, 2000, p. 59). The marketing manager is, in this state, expected to measure the potential demand and develop products accordingly. Currently, sufficient quantities of bifocal lenses are available in the market to satisfy prospective demands for it. Latent demand is often described as a vague want (Baker, 1998, p. 80). Declining Demand: It is a state in which customers begin to buy a product less frequently or not at all (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p. 10). Even though demand for bifocal lenses is not declining, some factors can likely cause it in the future. In this case, the marketing management is responsible to analyze reasons and project better strategies to counteract the trend. Irregular Demand: This occurs when seasonal, monthly,

Marketing Mix Apple Essay Example for Free

Marketing Mix Apple Essay In the economy, the marketing has an important position which decides almost the success of the company or the brand. Most of well-known brands in the world also have a good marketing plan; Apple is the best example for having excellent marketing strategies. In this essay, the marketing mix strategy of Apple will be discussed to understand how Apple makes their high value in more details. The first thing to take account into marketing mix strategy is the product. As already known, Apple is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Cupertino, California that designs, develops, and sell consumer electronics, computer sofware, and personal computers. Apple provides the customer a wide range of product that covers many field of technology. For instance, the most special invention of Apple is Apple Macintosh, they have many kinds of Mac with many different size and options of configuration. Moreover, IPod was known as the first mp3 player of the world. It is not only the mp3 player but also the symbol of music fashion. Until now, IPod still affects gradually to market of mp3 players. In addition, in the last five years, Apple has created new-brand market for smartphone with their special product – IPHONE. From IPhone 2G, 3G, 3Gs, 4G, 4Gs to 5G, IPhone always make a big wave to the technology world. That proves products of Apple always have strong range to the technological market. What is more, another invention of Apple that also makes a new move of technology is IPAD. It leads for a new century of tablet. Now IPad may be known as the best tablet in many customers’ s mind. Beside that, Apple gives their customer many other products such as iTunes, accessories, and service. Second, price also is important part of marketing mix strategy. The price of all products of Apple is now low compared to their competitor’s product’s price but there is a reason for this issue. Apple is the premium brand that does not compete on price. They may dominate the market even though their price may be quite high in some countries. Generally, Apple is proud that their products is union between technology and liberal arts so they not just sell products, they sell art. IPhone, Ipad, and IPod also are symbol of fashion. In conclusion, the price of Apple’s product is made for their customer’s value. The next is place. Apple’s headquater is located at Infinite Loop, Curpetino, California. They have over 200 retails around the world. Major cities have at least three big stores, more important, the customer not only purchase products but only can test them, receive supported imformation, and they may not buy products if they do not want. This is the key of success of Apple to satisfy their customer. Finally, promotion create difference of Apple’s marketing mix strategy. Apple just use launching new product to promote their products with their great ability of presentation of Apple CEO – Steve Jobs. Moreover, Apple does not join CES exhibition or any advertising. In addition, Apple made a big unchangeable symbol in customer, therefore, the customer always compare their product to their competitors’s prodcuts. It is indirect to promote for Apple. Beside that, the online Apple store offers free ship for the orders over $50, iTunes gift card, and special discount for refunished products. In conclusion, marketing mix strategy creates the brand of Apple. There is a wide range of product such as Iphone, Ipad, Ipod, and Mac with suiable price for their prenium brand. They have big network of great retail and unique promotion. Reference: www.wikipedia.com www.marketingteacher.com

Dangers of Plastic Bottles Essay Example for Free

Dangers of Plastic Bottles Essay Plastic bottles are hugely popular these days for their convenience and perceived purity, as portrayed by effective marketing strategies. But according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, consumers should not assume that bottled water is safe. Â  Reusing plastic drink bottles is not recommended, as it increases the likelihood of impurities due to the introduction of bacteria and the potential leaching of plastic compounds into the water. Common Types of Plastic Drinking BottlesPolyethylene terephthalate or (PET plastics) are most commonly used for disposable plastic water bottles. High-density polyethylene, or HDPE (No. 2); low-density polyethylene, or LDPE (No. 4); and polypropylene (No. 5) are also used for drinking containers, though less frequently. PVC (No. 3) and styrene (No. 6) are sometimes used for food and beverage containers but are generally considered unsafe for this purpose. No. 7 plastics are a mix of different plastics and generally contain bisphenol A (BPA), which is under much scrutiny for its potential health risks. Bacteria ConcernsAll plastic bottles, when reused, are subjected to high levels of bacteria due to contact with hands and mouths, creating moist conditions that encourage bacteria growth. Water bottles can be washed with warm soapy water and allowed to dry before being reused. But the process of washing and agitation has been shown to damage the structure of the bottle, causing release of chemical compounds Leaching ConcernsPET and BPA plastics are the most common types of containers for water and other drinks. Both PET plastics and BPA plastics have been shown to leach over time. PET plastics tend to leach when exposed to realistic though extreme conditions, such as exposure to sunlight, heat and storage time It has been shown that exposure to BPA can interfere with reproductive development in animals. It has also been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans. Safe Alternatives to Reusing Plastic BottlesStainless steel bottles are considered the safest alternative to plastic bottles. They are durable and do not leach. Aluminium bottles may also be considered. Glass is another safe alternative but less practical due to its breakable nature.

The Importance Of The Nile River Environmental Sciences Essay

The Importance Of The Nile River Environmental Sciences Essay Everyone has certain things they struggle with, and we are always willing to lend an ear to anyone who might help us resolve one of those struggles and find the best solutions for these Struggles. No one can live without water; this is why Nile is like the main artery  of Egypt. The Nile is considered the only weapons that protect Egypt from the upcoming water war that will destroy a lot of countries. Egypt would be almost all barren deserts without the Nile. This Paper is an attempt to prove that the Nile is one of the most important things that Egypt cant live without, by studying how ancient Egyptians used it to make their great history, how Egyptians now are greatly affected by the Nile and that without it Egypt will die. No one can deny that the Nile was so important to the pharaohs in their daily life. The pharaohs was so smart , they used the Nile so good to help them in their life. The pharaohs used the Nile for agriculture. The pharaoh got all the rich peasants to do the farm work on the rich lands. Most of the ancient villagers were farmers. Farmers lived in towns too with craft workers, traders and other workers and their families. Egyptians grew several crops such as wheat, barley, vegetables, figs, melons, pomegranates and vines. The most important crop at this time was grain. The pharos used grain to make bread, porridge and beer. The Grain was the first crop they grew after  flooding season. Once grain was harvested, they grew vegetables such as onions, cabbages, beans, cucumbers and lettuce .Farmers planted fruit, trees along paths, to give shade as well as fruit. The Egyptians grew their crops along the banks of the River Nile on the rich black soil which was considered one of the best soils for agriculture in the world. This rich soil was left behind after the yearly floods. This soil was ideal to grow healthy crops. Egyptian farmers divided their year into three seasons, based on the cycles of the Nile: Akhet  which starts in June and ends in September and called also The Flooding Season. Farming was not done at this time, as all the fields were flooded. Instead, many farmers worked for the pharaoh, building pyramids or temples. Some of the time was spent mending their tools and looking for animals. Peret which starts in October and ends in February and called also The Growing Season.  In October, the floodwaters receded, leaving behind a layer of black soil. Shemu  which starts in March and ends in May and called also The Harvesting Season.  The fully grown crops had to be harvested and removed before the Nile is flooded again. It was also the time to repair the canals to be ready for the next flood. Every June in the year, the Nile flooded. This was kn own the flooding season. During this time the farmers mend tools or make new ones. People would go fishing for extra food or money. To lift the water from the Nile they used a  shaduf. A shaduf is a large pole balanced on a crossbeam, a rope and bucket on one end and a heavy counter weight at the other end. By pulling the rope it lowered the bucket into the Nile River. The farmers then raised the bucket of water by pulling down on the weight. He then swings the pole around and emptied the bucket onto the field. Nowadays Egyptian are sticking to the Nile from ancient Egyptians to modern Egypt which prove how living beside the Nile is important and living beside the Nile make life easier. A question that a lot of people dont know its answer, Why the Nile River Flood? .Rains in Africa, especially rains coming from the Ethiopian Highlands, and melting snow caused the Nile River to flood. The Ancient Egyptians used something called nilometer to record how high the Nile was during the year. In May the Nile River is at the lowest point as it will be all year long. From June to August the Nile River rises rapidly. In the middle of September the river is at the peak. By the time October, the Niles water level begins to decrease again. The Ancient Egyptians held a big festival every year for the Nile River because they thought that the Nile River flooded because Isis which was an Egyptian goddess. They also offered a  human  sacrifice for the Nile River. The flood still continues every year. The annual flood carries dead and decaying plants in its muddy solution. The  muddy water  is called silt, and silt creates excellent farm soil.  Since 1970, the  Aswan Dam  has controlled the annual flood of the Nile River by holding back water, the Aswan Dam created the worlds largest man-made lake: Lake Nasser. The water from Lake Nasser provided new fishing areas and provides much needed water for agriculture. Since the Nile was so important in old Egyptian history, so its for sure that the Nile importance increased now much more .One of the most important thing that Egypt gets benefit due to the Nile is the High Dam. The high dam is located in Aswan. It was completed in 1970. It cost was one billion dollar; its capacity is 5.97 trillion cubic feet. It was built to control the flood and to obtain from it hydroelectric power and it is also used in irrigation. The Aswan High Dam captures water flood during rain seasons and releases the water during times of drought. The dam also generates enormous amounts of electric power more than 10 billion kilowatt every year. Thats enough electricity to power one million color televisions for 20 years continuously. Unfortunately, the dam has also several negative side effects. In order to build the dam, Egyptian peasants had to move. To make matters worse, the rich silt that normally fertilized the dry desert land during annual floods is now at the bott om of Lake Nasser which lead to that the Farmers have been forced to use about one million tons of artificial fertilizer as a substitute for natural nutrients that once fertilized the arid floodplain. A lot of research proved that Egyptians prefer living along the Nile River because its much easier for their life rather than living in the desert or away from the Nile River. One of the most important things is using the Nile as main source for water. Water is one of the most important things for the human body because the human body consists of 60% of water which is a very big percentage .The health of the human body cannot work properly without the proper hydrations of the body .we have to drink half of our body weight in ounce every day. The water is very important for every organ inside our body. The brain consist 85% of water, the bones consist of 35% of water, blood consist of 83% of water and the liver consist of 90% of water. This proves how much the water is so important. The first aim of every country is to raise the economical state. The economical state increase when the country make projects which come back with a lot of profits to themselves. This what the Nile should be used in Egypt to increase their economical state. There are a lot of economical projects that were made based on the Nile River. The first project that we are going to talk about is the high dam. As we said before, the high dam costs 1 billion dollar and can contain 5.97 trillion cubic feet of water. The high dam provide Egypt from south to north with high amount of electricity to run up their machine such that television, computer, lamps and their appliances. A lot of countries have problem for obtaining high amount of electricity like that in that easy way. This proves how this project which was based on the Nile is so essential now for the Egyptian and cant live without it. The second project that we are going to talk about is the Nasser Lake. The Nasser lake is one of the big gest and best artificial lakes that were made with the water of the Nile river. Tourists come all over the world to see this beautiful lake which wad handmade by Egyptian with the Nile river water. The lake is extends for 350 miles which is about 560 kilometers and is about 6 mile which is about 10 kilometer wide. Tourists come there to see the impressive variety of animals. There people can find variety of mammals, reptiles and birds. Tourist also visits this wonderful lake for fishing trip because this lake contains about 32 different fish species which is a large number. The Third Project is Tuskha Project .This Project is completed yet but if this project is completed, it is capable of converting all the desert lands in Egypt into agricultural land. The Nile played a very important role in tourism, all tourists come all over the world to the how the Nile is great and they take a cruise from north Egypt to south Egypt and visit all the beauty which is on the Nile. The Nile can be used for a very important thing which is transportation. Egypt has a very big problem which is traffic jam. This is why the government should begin to plan how to use the Nile as a very good way for transportation. The Nile can be used in transporting people from one city to another. The government can also use the Nile in trading which will be very effective and will be a very good solution for the traffic jam because most of the traffic jam is because the trucks and the big busses, so the government should put this solution in the plan because it will help in developing Egypt to the good in the future. Did you hear about the water war in the near future? It has been said that water  will be the oil of the 21st century, or liquid gold, and that it will cause wars between nations. Water will be one of the hardest thing to obtain and will be very expensive and as we said before the human body can live without proper hydration of the body. All countries are facing this future problem which is the water war and it will be a critical problem that should be right now trying to find a solution for it. Water War is seen near; on the other hand Egypt doesnt have a problem. A lot of research proved that Egypt is one of the most countries that will not be affected by this water war in the near future. But this is not a reason that Egyptian doesnt take care and protects the Nile. Egyptian has to save the Nile water and protect it from pollution. God gave us a very good thing and we have to protect it and save its water as much as possible because researches proved that more that 32% of the co nsumed water is wasted without getting used of it. So this problem also should be solved. People can see that this is a small problem but in the near future it will be a big problem and may god protect all countries from this problem because people cant live without water and this is what differ the earth from other planets. As a conclusion, No one can live without the Nile River because no one can live without water this is why Nile is like the main artery  of Egypt. The Nile is considered the only weapons that protect Egypt from the upcoming water war that will destroy a lot of countries. The Nile should be used to make project to increase Egypt economy such as the high dam, the Nasser Lake and the toshka project. We should try to get benefit of the Nile as much as possible as the ancient Egyptian was doing at their time, they knew how much the Nile is a gift from god .A lot of Egyptian doesnt know how much Nile is important to them, they used the Nile every day in an indirect way, but they dont think that all this from the Nile, so when use turn on your TV or your laptop you have to know that this is from the Nile. So what do you think, The Nile is important or not?

Beerpong :: essays papers

Beerpong Beer pong is one of the most popular drinking games known to collegiate students across the country. This game is so often played in college life that most of the time, rules cannot be agreed upon because there are so many different versions. Everyone who plays the game knows a different set of rules, based upon what they had previously been taught. This paper will discuss not only how to play the game, but popular variations that I have come across while doing extensive and grueling research for this paper as well. In order to play beer pong, there are essential items you must have. First, you will need a Ping-Pong table, but any table around the same length will do. Then you will need twelve, sixteen-ounce cups, preferably the red ones that are frequently used at parties, as well as two Ping-Pong balls. Two additional cups filled with water will be useful to clean the balls after they hit the floor. However, this is an optional hygienic step not necessary to play the game, but one that is recommended. Oh, not to mention, the beer. I would suggest that there is a lot readily available, because it is common to go through it quickly in this game. After all of the necessary items are gathered, it is time to set up the game. First, pick two teams, made up of either one or two people. There should be even teams, but Canadian doubles are acceptable. A Canadian double is a team of two, verses a team of one. Then each team should take six cups and set them up in pyramid form on the far ends of the table making sure that the rims of the cups are touching each other. Once the cups are set, they should be filled with beer. A lite, cheap beer is probably the best due to the fact that it is economical and it will go down easier. In the version that I’m most familiar with, there are two full beers in each set of six cups, and you can fill these cups however you want. For example, if you wanted, you could put all the beer in the back three cups and very little in the front three. The front three are easier to hit, because they are closer to the person shooting, so if you put less beer in them, it would make the game harder for you r opponent.

How Radios Work :: radio

Radios are the most common wireless item in existence and are in most homes. We use them for entertainment, communication, as an information source, or even just back ground noise. For many of us radios are almost a necessity, but how much do we know about how they function? Antennas are one of the key pieces to a radio. Antennas come in a variety of shapes and sizes; they vary from large arrays to a small wire. Much of this variance is based on the broad use of radio waves and practicality; for instance you wouldn't use an antenna from a small radio to send a signal to a satellite. Antennas work by creating a resonating flow of charge along its element. The resonance is caused by a magnetic field fluctuating through an inductor that is fixed to a capacitor. As a magnetic field fluctuates across a conductor it causes charges to move. This motion causes an electro magnetic wave. The relations between the electricity and magnetism are explained by Maxwell's equations. Maxwell's equations are four equations that relate magnetic fields electric fields and charges and current. A radio wave is an electro magnetic wave. We modulate them using three different modulations, frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, and pulse modulation, to carry information. For frequency modulation slight variances are made in the frequency of the wave to represent different bits of information. This is widely used because it is less likely to have static. For amplitude modulation the height or amplitude of the wave is changed to contain information. Amplitude modulation is not only used by radio stations but it is also used to send the picture part of television. Pulse modulation is where there are breaks in the wave to indicate the desired information. This is usually used for morse code but can be used for a few other things as well. According to maxwell's equations radio waves travel at the speed of light. The magnitude of a wave will decrease at a rate of r^2. Where r is the distance from the origin. This is because the wave is propagates in all directions so the same amount of energy spreads out over a greater area. But how can we get signals from beyond the horizon? Today we could use satellites, but you can also bounce a radio wave off of parts of the upper atmosphere. This can be done because the sun ionizes levels of upper atmosphere.

Essay --

Cloud Computing Cloud computing is a type of computing that depends on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal device to handle applications. In cloud computing, the word cloud is used as a metaphor for â€Å"the internet†. So the cloud computing means â€Å"a type of internet-based computing†, where different services such as servers, storage and applications are delivered to an organization’s computers and devices through the internet. It allows consumers and businesses to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. E.g. Yahoo mail, Gmail, Hotmail. Cloud computing is provides on-demand self-service. Service Models:- A cloud service is any resource that is provided over the internet. Service delivery in cloud computing comprises three different service models. †¢ Software-as-a-service (Saas):- Saas is the model in which an application is hosted as a service to customers who access it via the internet. E.g. Google docs, salesforce.com, CRM, ERP, email, social networking. It provides significant efficiencies in cost and delivery in exchange for minimal customization and represents a shift of operational risks from the consumer to the provider. User of Saas offering usually has neither knowledge nor control about the underlying infrastructure. †¢ Platform-as-a-service(Paas):- This kind of cloud computing provides development environment as a service. The consumer can use the middleman’s equipment to develop his own program and deliver it to the users through internet and servers. It provides a well organized and graceful approach to operate scale-out applications in a predictable and cost effective manner. The consumer controls the application that... ...tecture for scalability and availability as the public cloud but is restricted to a single organization. †¢ Community cloud:- A community cloud is controlled and used by a group of organizations that have shared interests, such as specific security requirements or a common mission. †¢ Hybrid cloud A hybrid cloud is a combination of a public and private cloud that interoperates. References:- http://cloudtweaks.com/2012/07/the-4-primary-cloud-deployment-models/ http://south.cattelecom.com/rtso/Technologies/CloudComputing/0071626948_chap01.pdf http://www.cloud-competence-center.com/understanding/cloud-computing-deployment-models/ http://www.wikinvest.com/concept/Cloud_Computing#References http://www.thbs.com/downloads/Cloud-Computing-Overview.pdf http://www.priv.gc.ca/resource/fs-fi/02_05_d_51_cc_e.pdf http://cloud.cio.gov/topics/cloud-computing-deployment-models

Personal Skills for Business Management Students Essay

Effective academic and personal skills are not inborn; they are something one can work on and develop through practice and reflection. Taking the Personal Skills module significantly aided my personal and academic development in that it helped me identify key gaps in my skills portfolio and develop effective strategies and techniques to address key areas of weaknesses. This ability is crucial not only for academic performance, but is also highly valued in the workplace, as knowing how to turn weaknesses into strengths and further improve them is of utmost importance to the constant learning process. Calling upon personal experience and using insights from the emerging literature on skills development I will attempt to critically assess my academic performance so far, discuss strategies that will potentially improve my skills and set goals to work towards. First, I will draw attention to one of my key strengths – academic writing in relationship to constructive feedback; then, I will analyze my experience with teamwork and finally, I will discuss a framework for maximising individual performance capacity. From my perspective, reflecting on your own performance is the best way to identify learning strategies that will work best for you, develop effective work habits and become an independent learner. A good starting point in reflecting on my personal academic performance and skills development would be to outline one of my key strengths, which I have identified through feedback from markers and self-evaluation, namely critical analysis and its application to academic writing. When I entered university I was faced with the challenge to further develop my critical approach to working on assignments by utilising academic  writing conventions and developing an effective procedure for writing essays. University essays don’t require only originality of thought; what is highly valued is the ability to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the subject through making use of key texts, articles or studies in your subject area, drawing on academic works of current experts in the field an d challenging the ideas, concepts and theories you have learned. My acknowledgement of this fact is at the heart of the procedure and strategies I have developed for writing essays and assignments. Particularly relevant to my approach are Elbow’s two complementary ways of thinking which I use in different stages of structuring and revising my academic essays. Peter Elbow (1983) calls these ways of thinking first order and second order thinking and argues that a good thinker utilizes both and judging from my personal experience with academic writing I supports his viewpoint. According to Elbow, first order thinking does not strive for conscious control or direction; it is rather intuitive and creative and it is essential to recognise its key strength while working on assignments – in many cases it brings out people’s best and most creative writing. The second order thinking does not contradict with the first one; on the contrary, it complements it. It highlights the importance of reasoning, accuracy and control and is quite often perceived as â€Å"critical thinking†. My self-observation suggests that I usually utilise first order thinking for first draft exploratory writing in order to come up with a fresh point of view and form conceptual insights that are remarkably shrewd. Then I aim at developing my initial ideas through critical thinking, looking into relevant theories and concepts, evaluating their accuracy and then trying to challenge or support them, depending on the understanding I had gained and my personal opinion. Drawing on my personal experience with using both ways of thinking while working on an assignment I would argue that employing this kind of reasoned reflective thinking in combination with the intuitive one results in significant improvement of my academic performance. In particular, over my time spent at university so far, my goal in terms of academic writing has been to further develop my second order critical thinking and make better use of it. As a result of my efforts and the constructive feedback I got from my first university essay, the second piece of work I produced was better thought out and more reasonable, which was  evident from the score of 85% I received. In order to further support my academic development, I have identified a core strategy as to making constructive use of feedback from tutors. Authors like S. Quinton(2010) recognise the value of the relationship between reflection and feedback:†Feedback on written work can be used as a vehicle for reflectionâ€Å". Therefore, the strategy that will potentially aid me in further improving my critical writing is to constructively go through the feedback I receive after each written assignment and list my tutor’s comments under â€Å"Major issues† and â€Å"Mino r issues†(Cottrell, 1999). Moreover, building the habit to compare my feedbacks from previous works will not only help he identify gaps in skills portfolio, but also keep track of my progress. Drawing from research on the effects of reflection combined with feedback on self-regulated learning (van den Boom, 2007) and my personal experience it is safe to conclude that the practical value of the combination of reflection and tutor feedback is a promising means to improve academic performance. Since I joined university I didn’t only have to respond to issues and challenges presented by the program in terms of my individual performance, but also had to engage in teamwork and gain first-hand experience of being a member of a group working towards a common goal. We had the opportunity to test out our group and teamwork skills, identify our individual shortcomings as well as our weaknesses as a group and work towards producing an outstanding piece of work. While working on the task, I took advantage of the opportunity to reflect upon my interpersonal and communication skills. M. Bambacas and M. Patrickson (2008, p.52) argue that â€Å"Interpersonal communication explains â€Å"the means† by which organisational activities, such as managing, controlling, planning, and leading are delivered†. This area of interpersonal communication has also been explored by Hunsaker and Alessandra (1986), who had identified four Interpersonal Styles underlain by the degree of responsiveness and assertiveness each one of them suggests. Having reflected on my involvement in the group work, I came to the conclusion that I use the Analytical Interpersonal Style, which is characterised by self-actualisation and security, cautious actions and decisions, low degree of responsiveness and assertiveness. One of its key weaknesses, however, is that it is associated with unwillingness of involvement with other group members and focus on autonomous work. From my  viewpoint, a practical strategy or technique for dealing with this problem is to start building up from a small base by getting to know other group members better to feel more at ease and to make a decision to speak at least once during the meeting (Cottrell, 1999, p.97). Furthermore, drawing on my experience with teamwork, one of the major risks for unsatisfactory performance I had identified in groups and teams is not realising that different individuals have different interpersonal styles with both their weaknesses and strengths. Therefore, it is essential to make an effort to get to know your team members individually, to appreciate their strengths and to show respect for other people’s ideas which leads to real teamwork. Finally, study skills are acquired through trial and error, they evolve through practice, feed back and reflection as one moves through different stages of one’s course. However, no matter the stage of the learning process, considerable attention should be paid to a straightforward but insightful framework for maximising individual performance capacity, namely the equation: Performance = Ability x Support x Effort (Shermerhorn, 2004, p.49). Even though this model is aimed at human capital at organisations, it can also be related to academic performance. According to Shermerhon, ability is the capacity to perform through job-relevant knowledge and skills. At university students acquire this ability through covering the relevant academic material and taking advantage of the educational opportunities the university gives them. The second variable in the equation – support- is associated with the opportunity to perform in an environment that stimulates and supports one’s application of job-relevant capabilities to one’s work. In terms of university education, making use of lecturers’ and tutors’ help and the university resources would provide one with this kind of â€Å"support†. Last, the willingness to perform, to do well, is displayed by effort. This means that university students should always try to reflect on their personal and academic skills, identify areas of strength and areas that should be improved and develop strategies and techniques to improve overall performance. From my perspective, a good strategy for a student to achieve high and persistent performance results and to manage his/her own skills development is to keep those factors in mind and try to maximise them. In conclusion, the recognition that university students are given a great deal more responsibility for their own success than they have  experienced before can be disturbing to some in that some might feel that their study lacks structure, which is generally considered a fault. However, it is of great importance to realise that this can also be an advantage because of the freedom to study in ways that suit the individual. Putting time aside to reflect on my study habits helped me recognise areas where I can improve, identify strategies that work for me or are worth a try, set goals to work towards and keep track of my progress. After being a university student for almost an year, I can safely conclude that through self-reflection and constructive feedback I significantly improved my academic and personal skills and am a step closer to becoming an autonomous learner. References: Bambacas, M., Patrickson, M., (2008), â€Å"Interpersonal communication skills that enhance organisational commitment†, Journal of Communication Management, Volume: 12, Issue: 1, Pages: 51-72 Cottrell, S., (1999), The Study Skills Handbook, Palgrave Macmillan, New York Elbow, Peter, (1983), â€Å"Teaching Thinking by Teaching Writing.†, Change, Vol.15(6), p.37-40 Hunsaker, P., Alessandra, A., (1986), The Art of Managing People, Simon and Schuster Quinton, S., (2010), â€Å"Feeding forward: using feedback to promote student reflection and learning – a teaching model†, Innovations in Education and Teaching International 47 (1): 125-135 Schermerhorn, J., McCarthy, A., (2004), â€Å"Enhancing Performance Capacity in the Workplace: A Reflection on the Significance of the Individual†, Irish Journal of Management25. 2: 45-60 van den Boom, Gerard, (2007), â€Å"Effects of elicited reflections combined with tutor or peer feedback on self-regulated learning and learning outcomes†, Learning and Instruction, Vol.17(5), p.532-548

Nurture debate in relation to the development of an individual Essay

The major debate concerning nature and nurture has been going on for decades and is still unresolved. Many people like to believe what we have inherited and our genes are what make us unique (the way we are and how we develop). Other people believe that the way we are raised and our experiences, that make us the way we are and how we grow. Physically the way we are built and look can be mainly due to nature. The genes that we inherit from our parents make the way of we look. For example, people say ‘Don’t you look like your mother?’ Genetic inheritance can define our eye colour (blue or hazel), whether we have straight or curly hair or how small we might be. We could also inherit certain genetic diseases which can seriously impact on our health. Though, we can still make decisions on how we look and how we change our appearance. There are multiple different cosmetic procedures available to alter our look. How we choose to live out our life and the choices that we make can have an influence on how we look. For ex, constantly eating junk food and not doing any exercising could lead to obesity. The environment that we are raised in and the experiences we go through can influence our health which contributes to physical growth. An ex of how nature and nurture can affect our physical growth is; we might carry genes that could lead us to be in danger of developing type 2 diabetes, but if we were to eat a healthy diet and get ample exercise, we might not develop the disease. Nature: Jades mother’s childhood was very unlike to what it is today, her life could have been called a difficult life, and her mother was bought up on her own by her own mother as her father died when she was 6 months old. As she grew up without a father figure in her life she closed herself off emotionally from males in general. Jades mother grew up around a lot of uncles and aunts so she was always well looked by her family. Jade grew very close to her gran over the years as she wasn’t getting the attention she wanted off her mother, as she had gotten remarried she had become very distant. When her gran died jades mother was very alone, she hardly ever spoke to her mother apart from at meal times and after she’d get in from being out with her friends. This got increasingly more awkward as time went on as the new husband never showed her any kindness so her mother stayed out  to avoid the arguments. Nurture: Where jades mother spent a lot of time in hospital during her life she was also slower to develop as a person as she wasn’t with her friends often enough to have developed personality traits. As she got older she started staying out overnight and going to parties where there would be lots of alcohol, drugs and sex. She also began hanging out with the older boys and girls; this meant that she was developing at a much faster rate than what she would normally have done. The environment that the she was raised in was very tranquil, peaceful and gentle neighbourhood; there was barely ever any trouble around where she grew up. Nevertheless as she got older she began to get more curious about the rough area’s around where she lived later on during her life she found herself surround by people who lived in these rough areas. This altered the way she saw her own life and what she has been taking for granted. Evaluate how the nature and nurture debate in may affect the p hysical, intellectual, emotional and social development of two life stages of the development of your chosen family member Nature As each cell in the body contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, one chromosome from each pair is inherited from your mother and one is inherited from your father. These chromosomes contain the genes you inherit from your parents. There may be different forms of the same gene. These different forms are called alleles. For example, for the gene that determines eye colour, there may be an allele for green eyes and an allele for hazel eyes. You may inherit a hazel allele from your mother and a green allele from your father. In this instance, you will end up with hazel eyes because hazel is the dominant allele. Those different forms of genes are caused by changes in the DNA coding. The same holds true for medical conditions, there may be a faulty gene that would result in a medical condition, and a normal version that might not cause any health anomalies. If your child ends up with a medical condition it will depend on certain biological factors including: What genes they inherit, whether the gene for that condition is dominant or recessive, their environment, including any treatment they may receive a genetic disease or  disorder is the consequence of changes, or mutations, in an individual’s DNA. A mutation is an alteration in the letters (DNA sequence) that makes up a gene. It’s more commonly referred to as a â€Å"spelling† mistake. Gene codes for proteins, the molecules that carry out majority of the work, perform most life functions, and make up the majority of cellular structures. When a gene is mutated so that its protein product can no longer carry out its normal function, a disorder can result. Genetic diseases can be inherited because they are mutations in the germ cells in the body – the cells involved in passing genetic information from parents to offspring. Genetic diseases can also result from changes in DNA in somatic cells, or cells in the body that are not germ cells. Some genetic diseases are called Mendelian disorders – they are caused by mutations that occur in the DNA sequence of a single gene. These are normally rare diseases; such as Huntington’s disease and cystic fibrosis. Many genetic diseases are multifactorial—they are caused by mutations in several genes compounded by environmental factors. Some examples of these are heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Adolescence: Physical & Social development: Nurture affected the physical and social development of Katherine’s mother Emma. During her adolescence phase Emma thought that she’d have to change the way she looked to fit into society (as she was obese). Emma began to blame herself and others because of the way she looked, she has had to face a ton of criticism from her close family and some friends; as they used to say stuff like â€Å"you’ve got such a pretty face but if you lost a bit of weight you’d be so much better off†. Throughout this time Emma looked towards the rest of her friends for acceptance which meant that to fit in with them she had to have the same stuff that everyone else had (clothes, technology etc.). This was obviously very difficult because of the fact she was quite overweight she couldn’t purchase the same type of clothes that her friends wore; this made her stand out of the crowd which gave her that extra  attention that she didn’t want. Emma spent a lot of time trying to fit in during her teenage years but she found out being herself was more important than losing who she was just to fit in. Emma stayed up late chatting with her friends. A lack of sleep could also affect our body; it would increase blood pressure and cholesterol level, increase stress hormones, etc. Sleep is really important, at this age as she should be having at least 7-9 hours of sleep. Intellectual development: Nature affected Emma intellectually throughout this period as Emma wasn’t really sure on what type of career she wanted to do, however after some thought she decided she wanted to that pursue a career that would evolve helping the elderly. She accomplished in getting a job whilst being at school as this would help her to develop some new skills and allow her to make her own money, although she knew that wasn’t the career path she wanted to stay in. Emma also began to volunteer at a care home; this is what helped her to decide on what career path she wanted to go down. Emotional development: Nurture also affected Emma emotionally during her adolescence; Emma had poor self-image and low self-esteem. She also began to resent her friends and her mother as they both wanted her to be someone that she was not, when it was clear that she was never going to be able to keep the act up forever. During adolescence Emma began to question her own self-worth as some friends were also making snide little comments whilst her back was turned. Emma began to hang around with men as she went into this life stage as she thought that they were a lot less cruel. The boys accepted her more as part of their group so she began to build up her self-image up again, giving her more confidence and self-belief. Adulthood: Physical development: Emma was affected by nature during her adulthood. During her adulthood she discovered that she was at risk of developing a variety of different genetic diseases (diabetes type one, lung cancer, breast cancer, asthma etc.). Emma  also discovered that she may not be able to have children of her own because she has Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) which sometimes genetic. If any relatives, such as your mother, sister or aunt, have PCOS then the risk of you developing it is often a greater chance than usual. As she began to get older her hair began to get darker and she began to get grey bits through her hair, she also has had more problems with her teeth as they are falling out or being damaged due to decay. As she got older she also began to put on weight as her metabolism started slowing down. During this life stage Emma became pregnant with Katherine and there were some complications during the birth as she had to have caesarean due to preeclampsia. Intellectual development: Emma was less influenced by nature as an adult as she can make her own choices and decision. When she was deciding on what course is she was going take after finishing secondary school, she knew what she wanted to do after volunteering in elderly care home. When she turned 20 Emma got her first job in a care home she was working double shifts because of the love that she had grown towards her job. After working in a care home for the terminally ill, my mother decided that she wanted a change her job outlook and she started working in a domestic abuse centre for women. When Emma became pregnant with me she started doing hairdressing from home. This was more of a hobby for my mother as she would only do family or close friends. She had had to give up her job at domestic abuse centre because it would have meant putting Katherine in danger and the people at the centre wouldn’t allow it. Emotional development & Social development: Emma was both emotionally and socially affected by nurture. Emma was influenced by friends and new work colleagues in adulthood, as you grow more work connections as you get older. Emotionally she began to ponder about life as a teenager, and recognized that the choices she made were the best for her. When Emma reached this life stage she found love and spent 20 years with Katherine’s father which ended after attempting to save their relationship for 2 years. Their relationship had been very successful for 18 years, but after Emma’s mother died he began to try to control her. Emma found it very difficult to deal with after her mother died as she had a few  regrets about the way their relationship ended. Emotionally Emma also found out that after her mother died that she could inherit a variety of genetic diseases. This made it hard for Emma to focus on the positives after splitting up with my father and her mother dying. Socially Emma relied on her friends a lot more as she got older as her family didn’t really contact her after her mother had died. Emma had several best friends that were there to support after her relationship had ended and her mother had died.

Hostile Essay

Hostile take overs are when one company attempts to take over a company that doesn’t wished to be taken over, this is usually done by either the acquiring company attempting to buy out stakeholders or influence the management, or change, to get the deal approved. This can cause many problems for the business, such as contrasting cultures in the business which could lead to an unsuccessful business with multiple goals and the two companies could be heading in opposite directions. Also by acquiring the business in this way there could be potential problems in the structure of the business, such as when Vodafone took over many companies and couldn’t successfully integrate the companies into one solid structure. When Kraft decided to take over Cadburys by acquiring over 75% of the shares, by which in UK law enables them to delist the shares off the Stock market. This was widely rejected by employees who wanted to remain under the name of Cadburys as they felt that they could lose their jobs, this was shown to take this direction in 2011 when they closed the original factory although they had said they weren’t to do this. They were also found to break many promises that they had made before the deal was finalised, however due to the size and success of both companies they managed to have continued success after the takeover. However a Hostile takeover is unlikely to be successful because of key board members may be worried about their position should the company be acquired, they use many different methods to prevent the takeover. This is certainly one key reason that takeovers are likely to fail; one method they use is the Poison pill. This is when the board of directors sell more shares should one party gain too many shares, therefore devaluing the shares bought by the company trying to take over the over company. This was the case when Carl Icahn attempted to take over Netflix but the board of directors felt that this wasn’t for them and stated that should he buy more than 10% of stock they would float more stock to the market, he currently owns 9. 75%. This would then cause the takeover bid to be much more expensive for the party attempting to do so and would hopefully put them off the idea of trying to gain complete control of the company. Another method used by companies to prevent hostile takeover is the Golden Parachute, this is when should the CEO lose his job due to takeover, there would have to be a large pay out, sometimes millions of pounds, hopefully to deter a hostile takeover, this was the case in the appointment of Charles C.  Tillinghast Jr. to TWA. To conclude I think that to some extent it’s true that hostile takeovers are prevented by key stake holders as they have the ability to vote on matters that can prevent the takeover, such as the board members, they can choose members who are likely to refuse any takeover, although should a lucrative deal be offered they have a large influence on the takeover. However I think that the board of directors can, although not always, have much more influence on the potential hostile takeover, for example through the use of a poison pill it can effectively increase its businesses worth by offering shares at a lower price and increasing the cost for the acquiring company.

Chinese Literature Essay

2000 by Andre Levy All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in. writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39. 48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Levy, Andre, date [La litterature chinoise ancienne et classique. English] Chinese literature, ancient and classical / by Andre Levy ; translated by William H. Nienhauser, Jr. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-253-33656-2 (alk. paper) 1. Chinese literature—History and criticism. I. Nienhauser, William H. II. Title. PL2266. L48 2000 895. 1’09—dc21 99-34024 1 2 3 4 5 05 04 03 02 01 00. For my own early translators of French, Daniel and Susan Contents ix Preface 1 Introduction Chapter 1: Antiquity 5 I. Origins II. â€Å"Let a hundred flowers bloom, Let a hundred schools of thought contend! † 1. Mo zi and the Logicians 2. Legalism 3. The Fathers of Taoism III. The Confucian Classics 31 Chapter 2: Prose I. Narrative Art and Historical Records II. The Return of the â€Å"Ancient Style† III. The Golden Age of Trivial Literature IV. Literary Criticism Chapter 3: Poetry 61 I. The Two Sources of Ancient Poetry 1. The Songs of Chu 2. Poetry of the Han Court II. The Golden Age of Chinese Poetry 1. From Aesthetic Emotion to Metaphysical Flights 2. The Age of Maturity 3. The Late Tang III. The Triumph of Genres in Song Chapter 4: Literature of Entertainment: The Novel and Theater 105 I. Narrative Literature Written in Classical Chinese II. The Theater 1. The Opera-theater of the North 2. The Opera-theater of the South III. The Novel 1. Oral Literature 2. Stories and Novellas 3. The â€Å"Long Novel† or Saga Index 151 Translator’s Preface. I first became- interested in translating Andre Levy’s history of Chinese literature, La litterature chinoise ancienne et classique (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1991), in 1996, after finding it in a bookshop in Paris. I read sections and was intrigued by Professor Levy’s approach, which was modeled on literary genres rather than political eras. I immediately thought about translating parts of the book for my graduate History of Chinese Literature class at the University of Wisconsin, a class in which the importance of dynastic change was also downplayed. Like many plans, this one was set aside. Last spring, however, when the panel on our field’s desiderata headed by David Rolston at the 1998 Association for Asian Studies Meeting pronounced that one of the major needs was for a concise history of Chinese literature in about 125 pages (the exact length of Professor Levy’s original text), I revived my interest in this translation. I proposed the book to John Gallman, Director of Indiana University Press, and John approved it almost immediately-but, not before warning me that this kind of project can take much more time than the translator originally envisions. Although I respect John’s experience and knowledge in publishing, I was sure I would prove the exception. After all, what kind of trouble could a little book of 125 pages cause? I soon found out. Professor Levy had originally written a much longer manuscript, which was to be published as a supplementary volume to Odile Kaltenmark-Ghequier’s La Litterature chinoise (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948)’ in the Que sais-je? (What Do I Know? ) series. This concept, however, was soon abandoned, and it ‘Several decades ago Anne-Marie Geoghegan translated this volume as Chinese Literature (New York: Walker, 1964). x Translator’s Preface was decided to publish the Levy â€Å"appendix† as a separate volume-in 125 pages. Professor Levy was then asked to cut his manuscript by one-third. As a result, he was sometimes forced to presume in his audience certain knowledge that some readers of this book-for example, undergraduate students or interested parties with little background in Chinese literature-may not have. For this reason, working carefully with Professor Levy, I have added (or revived) a number of contextual sentences with these readers in mind. More information on many of the authors and works discussed in this history can be found in the entries in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (volumes 1 and 2; Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986 and 1998). Detailed references to these entries and other relevant studies can be found in the â€Å"Suggested Further Reading† sections at the end of each chapter (where the abbreviated reference Indiana Companion refers to these two volumes). I also discovered that re-translating Professor Levy’s French translations of Chinese texts sometimes resulted in renditions that were too far from the original, even in this age of â€Å"distance education. † So I have translated almost all of the more than 120 excerpts of original works directly from the original Chinese, using Professor Levy’s French versions as a guide wherever possible. All this was done with the blessing and cooperation of the author. Indeed, among the many people who helped with this translation, I would like to especially thank Professor Andre Levy for his unflinching interest in and support of this translation. Professor Levy has read much of the English version, including all passages that I knew were problematic (there are no doubt others! ), and offered comments in a long series of letters over the past few months. Without his assistance the translation would never have been completed. Here in Madison, a trio of graduate students have helped me with questions Translator’s Preface xi about the Chinese texts: Mr. Cao Weiguo riftlal, Ms. Huang Shu—yuang MV and Mr. Shang Cheng I*. They saved me E, from innumerable errors and did their work with interest and high spirits. Mr. Cao also helped by pointing out problems in my interpretation of the original French. Mr. Scott W. Galer of Ricks College read the entire manuscript and offered a number of invaluable comments. My wife, Judith, was unrelenting in her demands on behalf of the general reader. The most careful reader was, however, Jane Lyle of Indiana University Press, who painstakingly copy-edited the text. If there is a literary style to this translation, it is due to her efforts. My thanks, too, to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation which supported me in Berlin through the summer of 1997 when I first read Professor Levy’s text, and especially to John Gallman, who stood behind this project from the beginning. Madison, Wisconsin, 16 February 1999 (Lunar New Year’s Day) Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical Introduction Could one still write, as Odile Kaltenmark-Ghequier did in 1948 in the What Do I Know series Number 296, which preceded this book, that â€Å"the study of Chinese literature, long neglected by the Occident, is still in its  infancy? â€Å"‘ Yes and no. There has been some spectacular progress and some foundering. At any rate, beginning at the start of the twentieth century, it was Westerners who were the first-followed by the Japanese, before the Chinese themselves-to produce histories of Chinese literature. Not that the Chinese tradition had not taken note of an evolution in literary genres, but the prestige of wen 5 signifying both â€Å"literature† and â€Å"civilization,† placed it above history-anthologies, compilations, and catalogues were preferred. Moreover, the popular side of literature-fiction, drama, and oral verse-because of its lack of â€Å"seriousness† or its â€Å"vulgarity,† was not judged dignified enough to be considered wen. Our goal is not to add a new work to an already lengthy list of histories of Chinese literature, nor to supplant the excellent summary by Odile Kaltenmark-Ghequier which had the impossible task of presenting a history of Chinese literature in about a hundred pages. Our desire would be rather to complement the list by presenting the reader with a different approach, one more concrete, less dependent on the dynastic chronology. Rather than a history, it is a picture-inevitably incompleteof Chinese literature of the past that this little book offers. Chinese â€Å"high† literature is based on a â€Å"hard core† of classical training consisting of the memorization of texts, nearly a half-million characters for every candidate who reaches the highest competitive examinations. We might see the classical art of writing as the arranging, in an appropriate and astute fashion, of lines recalled by memory, something ,’Odile Kaltenmark-Ghequier, â€Å"Introduction,† La litterature chinoise (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1948), p. 5; â€Å"Que sais—je,† no. 296. 2 Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical that came almost automatically to traditional Chinese intellectuals. The goal of these writers was not solely literary. They hoped through their writings to earn a reputation that would help them find support for their efforts to pass the imperial civil-service examinations and thereby eventually win a position at court. Although there were earlier tests leading to political advancement, the system that existed nearly until the end of the imperial period in 1911 was known as the jinshi A ± or â€Å"presented scholar† examination (because successful candidates were â€Å"presented† to the emperor), and was developed during the late seventh and early eighth centuries A. D. It required the writing of poetry and essays on themes set by the examiners. Successful candidates were then given minor positions in the bureaucracy. Thus the memorization of a huge corpus of earlier literature and the ability to compose on the spot became the major qualifications for political office through most of the period from the eighth until the early twentieth centuries. These examinations, and literature in general, were composed in a classical, standard language comparable to Latin in the West. This â€Å"classical† language persisted by opposing writing to speech through a sort of partial bilingualism. The strict proscription of vulgarisms, of elements of the spoken language, from the examinations has helped to maintain the purity of classical Chinese. The spoken language, also labeled â€Å"vulgar,† has produced some literary monuments of its own, which were recognized as such and qualified as â€Å"classics† only a few decades ago. The unity of the two languages, classical and vernacular, which share the same fundamental structure, is undermined by grammars that are appreciably different, and by the fact that these languages hold to diametrically opposed stylistic ideals: lapidary concision on the one hand, and eloquent vigor on the other. We conclude by pointing out that educated Chinese add to their surnames, which are always given first, a great variety of personal names, which can be disconcerting at times. The standard given name (ming Introduction 3 is often avoided out of decorum; thus Tao Qian Miff is often referred to En We will retain only the by his zi (stylename) as Tao Yuanming best known of these names, avoiding hao at (literary name or nickname), bie hao ZIJM (special or particular literary name), and shi ming (residential name) whenever possible: When other names are used, the standard ming will be  given in parentheses. The goal here is to enable the reader to form an idea of traditional Chinese literature, not to establish a history of it, which might result in a lengthy catalogue of works largely unknown today. We are compelled to sacrifice quantity to present a limited number of literary â€Å"stars,† and to reduce the listing of their works to allow the citation of a number of previously unpublished translations, inevitably abridged but sufficient, we hope, to evoke the content of the original. The chronological approach will be handled somewhat roughly because of the need to follow the development of the great literary genres: after the presentation of antiquity, the period in which the common culture of the educated elite was established, comes an examination of the prose genres of â€Å"high† classical literature, then the description of the art most esteemed by the literati, poetry. The final section treats the literature of diversion, the most discredited but nonetheless highly prized, which brings together the novel and the theater. Chapter 1. Antiquity Ancient literature, recorded by the scribes of a rapidly evolving warlike and aristocratic society, has been carefully preserved since earliest times and has become the basis of Chinese lettered culture. It is with this in mind that one must approach the evolution of literature and its role over the course of the two-thousand-year-old imperial government, which collapsed in 1911, and attempt to understand the importance (albeit increasingly limited) that ancient literature retains today. The term â€Å"antiquity† applied to China posed no problems until certain Marxist historians went so far as to suggest that it ended only in 1919. The indigenous tradition had placed the break around 211 B. C. , when political unification brought about the establishment of a centralized but â€Å"prefectural† government under the Legalists, as well as the famous burning of books opposed to the Legalist state ideology. Yet to suggest that antiquity ended so early is to minimize the contribution of Buddhism and the transformation of thought that took place between the third and seventh centuries. The hypothesis that modernity began early, in the eleventh or perhaps twelfth century in China, was developed by Naito Konan NAM 1 (1866-1934). This idea has no want of critics or of supporters. It is opposed to the accepted idea in the West, conveyed by Marxism, that China, a â€Å"living fossil,† has neither entered modern times nor participated in â€Å"the global civilization† that started with the Opium War of 1840. Nor is there unanimity concerning the periodization proposed in historical linguistics, a periodization which distinguishes Archaic Chinese of High Antiquity (from the origins of language to the third century) from Ancient Chinese of Mid-Antiquity (sixth to twelfth centuries), then Middle Chinese of the Middle Ages (thirteenth-sixteenth centuries) from Modern Chinese (seventeenth-nineteenth centuries), and Recent Chinese (18401919) from Contemporary Chinese (1920 to the present). 6 Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical. In the area of literature, the beginning of the end of antiquity could perhaps be placed in the second century A. D. Archaeology has elevated our knowledge of more ancient writings toward the beginning of the second millennium B. C. , but this archaic period, discovered recently, cannot be considered part of literary patrimony in the strictest sense. Accounts of this archaic period are traditionally divided into six eras,2 but to honor them would be to fall into the servitude of a purely chronological approach. I. Origins Since the last year of the last century, when Wang Yirong . 1. 6M (1845-1900) compiled the first collection of inscriptions written on bones and shells, the increasing number of archaeological discoveries has allowed the establishment of a corpus of nearly 50,000 inscriptions extending over the period from the fourteenth to the tenth centuries before our era. Dong Zuobin (1895-1963) proposed a periodization for them and distinguished within them the styles of different schools of scribes. Scholars have managed to decipher a third of the total of some 6,000 distinct signs, which are clearly related to the system of writing used by the Chinese today-these were certainly not primitive forms of characters. The oracular inscriptions are necessarily short-the longest known text, of a hundred or so characters, covers the scapula of an ox and extends even over the supporting bones; the shell of a southern species of the great tortoise, also used to record divination, did not offer a more extensive surface. Whether a literature existed at this ancient time seems rather doubtful, but this scriptural evidence causes one to consider whether eras are the early Chou dynasty (eleventh century-722 B. C. ), the Spring and Autumn era (722-481 B. C. ), the Warring States (481-256 B. C. ), the Ch’in dynasty (256-206 B. C. ), the Western or Early Han dynasty (206 B. C. -A. D. 6), and the Eastern or Latter Han dynasty (25-A. D. 220). 2These Chapter 1. Antiquity 7 the Shu jing Efg (Classic of Documents), supposedly â€Å"revised† by Confucius but often criticized as a spurious text, was based in part on authentic texts. The presence of an early sign representing a bundle of slips of wood or bamboo confirms the existence of a primitive form of book in a very ancient era-texts were written on these slips, which were then bound together to form a â€Å"fascicle. † The purpose of these ancient archives, which record the motivation for the diviner’s speech, his identity, and sometimes the result, has been ignored. Of another nature are the inscriptions on bronze that appeared in about the eleventh century B. C. and went out of fashion in the second century B.C. They attracted the attention of amateur scholars from the eleventh century until modern times. Many collections of inscriptions on â€Å"stone and bronze† have been published in the intervening eras. The longest texts extend to as much as five-hundred signs, the forms of which often seem to be more archaic than those of the inscriptions on bones and shells. The most ancient inscriptions indicate nothing more than the person to whom the bronze was consecrated or a commemoration of the name of the sponsor. Toward the tenth century B. C. the texts evolved from several dozen to as many as a hundred signs and took on a commemorative character. The inspiration for these simple, solemn texts is not always easily discernible because of the obscurities of the archaisms in the language. An echo of certain pieces transmitted by the Confucian school can be seen in some texts, but their opacity has disheartened many generations of literati. II. â€Å"Let a hundred flowers bloom, Let a hundred schools of thought contend! † This statement by Mao Zedong, made to launch a liberalization movement that was cut short in 1957, was inspired by an exceptional period in Chinese cultural history (from the fifth to the third centuries 8 Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical B. C. ) in which there was a proliferation of schools-the â€Å"hundred schools. † The various masters of these schools offered philosophical, often political, discussion. The growth of these schools paralleled the rise of rival states from the time of Confucius (the Latinized version of the Chinese original, Kong Fuzi TL-T- or Master Kong, ca. 551-479 B.C. ) to the end of the Warring States period (221 B. C. ). The â€Å"hundred schools† came to an end with the unification of China late in the third century B. C. under the Legalist rule of the Qin dynasty (221-206 B. C. ). This era of freedom of thought and intellectual exchange never completely ceased to offer a model, albeit an unattainable model, in the search for an alternative to the oppressive ideology imposed by the centralized state. Much of what has reached us from this lost world was saved in the wake of the reconstruction of Confucian writings (a subject to which we will turn shortly). The texts of the masters of the hundred schools, on the periphery of orthodox literati culture, are of uneven quality, regardless of the philosophy they offer. Even the best, however, have not come close to dethroning the â€Å"Chinese Socrates,† Confucius, the first of the great thinkers, in both chronology and importance. 1. Mo Zi and the Logicians. The work known as Mo Zi (Master Mo) is a collection of the writings of a sect founded by Mo Di g, an obscure personage whom scholars have wanted to make a contemporary of Confucius. It has been hypothesized that the name Mo, â€Å"ink,† referred to the tattooing of  a convict in antiquity, and the given name, Di, indicates the pheasant feathers that decorated the hats of the common people. Although we can only speculate about whether Mo Zi was a convict or a commoner, he argued for a kind of bellicose pacifism toward aggressors, doing his best to promote, through a utilitarian process of reasoning, the necessity of believing in the gods and of practicing universal love without discrimination. Condemning the extravagant expense of funerals as well as the uselessness of art and music, Mo Zi Chapter 1. Antiquity 9 wrote in a style of discouraging weight. The work that has come down to us under his name (which appears to be about two-thirds of the original text) represents a direction which Chinese civilization explored without ever prizing. Mo Zi’s mode of argument has influenced many generations of logicians and sophists, who are known to us only in fragments, the main contribution of which has been to demonstrate in their curious way of argumentation peculiar features of the Chinese language. Hui Shi Ea is known only by the thirty-some paradoxes which the incomparable Zhuang Zi cites, without attempting to solve, as in: There is nothing beyond the Great Infinity.. . and the Small Infinity is not inside. The antinomies of reason have nourished Taoist thought, if not the other way around, as Zhuang Zi attests after the death of his friend Hui Shi: Zhuang Zi was accompanying a funeral procession. When he passed by the grave of Master Hui he turned around to say to those who were following him: â€Å"A fellow from Ying had spattered the tip of his nose with a bit of plaster, like the wing of a fly. He had it removed by [his crony] the carpenter Shi, who took his ax and twirled it around. He cut it off, then heard a wind: the plaster was entirely removed without scratching his nose. The man from Ying had remained standing, impassive. When he learned of this, Yuan, the sovereign of the country of Song, summoned the carpenter Shih and said to him, â€Å"Try then to do it again for Us. † The carpenter responded, â€Å"Your servant is capable of doing it; however, the material that he made use of died long ago. † After the death of the Master, I too no longer can find the material: I no longer have anyone to talk to. (Zhuang Zi 24) Sons of the logicians and the sophists, the rhetoricians shared with the Taoists a taste for apologues. They opposed the Taoist solution of a 10 Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical detached â€Å"non-action,† involved as they were in diplomatic combat. Held in contempt by the Confucians for their â€Å"Machiavellianism,† the Zhanguo ce Vg (Intrigues of the Warring States) remains the most representative work of the genre. It was reconstructed several centuries later by Liu Xiang gj 1-(4] (77-6 B. C. ), but the authenticity of these reassembled materials seems to have been confirmed by the discovery of parallel texts in a tomb at Mawang Dui gUttg in 1973. A great variety animates these accounts, both speeches and chronicles; they are rich in dialogue, which cannot be represented by this single, although characteristic, anecdote—it is inserted without commentary into the â€Å"intrigues† (or â€Å"slips†) of the state of Chu: The King of Wei offered the King of Chu a beautiful girl who gave him great satisfaction. Knowing how much the new woman pleased him, his wife, the queen, showed her the most intense affection. She chose clothes and baubles which would please her and gave them to her; it was the same for her with rooms in the palace and bed clothes. In short, she gratified her with more attention than the king himself accorded her. He congratulated her for it: a woman serves her husband through her carnal appeal, and jealousy is her nature. Now, understanding how I love the new woman, my wife shows her more love than I—it is thus that the filial son serves his parents, that the loyal servant fulfills his duties toward his prince. As she knew that the king did not consider her jealous, the queen suggested to her rival: â€Å"The king appreciates your beauty. However, he is not that fond of your nose. You would do better to hide it when he receives you. † Therefore, the new one did so when she saw His Majesty. The king asked his wife why his favorite hid her nose in his presence. She responded, â€Å"I know. † â€Å"Even if it is unpleasant, tell me! † insisted the king. â€Å"She does not like your odor. † â€Å"The brazen hussy! † cried the sovereign. â€Å"Her nose is to be cut off, and let no one question my order! † Chapter 1. Antiquity 11 The Yan Zi chunqiu *T-*V( (Springs and Autumns of Master Yen) is another reconstruction by Liu Xiang, a collection of anecdotes about Yan Ying RV, a man of small stature but great ability who was prime minister to Duke Jing of Qi (547-490 B.C. )-the state that occupies what is now Shandong. Without cynicism, but full of shrewdness, these anecdotes do not lack appeal; some have often been selected as anthology pieces, of which this one is representative: When Master Yan was sent as an ambassador to Chu, the people of the country constructed a little gate next to the great one and invited him to enter. Yan Zi refused, declaring that it was suitable for an envoy to a country of dogs, but that it was to Chu that he had come on assignment. The chamberlain had him enter by the great gate. The King of Chu received him and said to him: â€Å"Was there then no one in Qi, for them to have sent you? † â€Å"How can you say there is no one in Qi, when there would be darkness in our capital of Linzi if the people of the three hundred quarters spread out their sleeves, and it would rain if they shook off their perspiration-so dense is the population. † â€Å"But then why have you been sent? † â€Å"The practice in Qi is to dispatch a worthy envoy to a worthy sovereign; I am the most unworthy. . . .† 2. Legalism. The diplomatic manipulations and other little anecdotes we have seen in the Yan Zi chunqiu were of little interest to the Legalists, who took their name from the idea that the hegemonic power of the state is founded on a system of implacable laws supposing the abolition of hereditary privileges-indeed a tabula rasa that rejects morals and traditions. In fact, historians associate them with all thought that privileges efficacy. From this point of view, the most ancient â€Å"Legalist† would be the artisan of Qi’s hegemony in the seventh century B. C. , Guan Zi (Master Guan). The work that was handed down under his name is a composite text and in reality contains no material prior to the third century B. C. Whether or not he should be considered a Legalist, Guan Zi 12 Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical embodies the idea that the power of the state lies in its prosperity, and this in turn depends on the circulation of goods. In sum, Guan Zi stands for a proto-mercantilism diametrically opposed to the primitive physiocraticism of Gongsun Yang (altV (also known as Shang Yang ), minister of Qin in the fourth century. Shang jun shu 1 (The 2 Book of Lord Shang), which is attributed to Gongsun Yang, gives the Legalist ideas a particularly brutal form: It is the nature of people to measure that which is advantageous to them, to seize the best, and to draw to themselves that which is profitable. The enlightened lord must take care if he wants to establish order in his country and to be able to turn the population to his advantage, for the population has at its disposal a great number of means to avoid the strictness that it fears. Within the country he must cause the people to consecrate themselves to farming; without he must cause them to be singly devoted to warfare. This is why the order of a sage sovereign consists of multiplying interdictions in order to prevent infractions and relying on force to put an end to fraud. (Shang jun shu, â€Å"Suan di†) Shang Yang’s prose is laden with archaisms, which hardly lighten the weight of his doctrine. It is in the work of Han Fei Zi 4-T- (ca. 280-233) that Legalism found its most accomplished formulation. The book Han Fei Zi contains a commentary on the Classic of the Way and of Power of Lao Zi in which the ideal of Taoist non-action is realized by the automatism of laws. The â€Å"artifice† of the latter may go back to the Confucianism of Xun Zi (Master Xun, also known as Xun Qing ,Ajja, ca. 300-230 B. C. ), a school rejected by orthodox Confucianism. Xun Zi, who happens to have been the teacher of Han Fei Zi, developed the brilliant theory that human nature inclines individuals to satisfy their egoistic appetites: it was therefore bad for advanced societies of the time. The â€Å"rites†-culture-are necessary for socialization. Xun Zi’s Chapter 1. Antiquity 13 argumentation was unprecedentedly elaborate, examining every facet of a question while avoiding repetition. In a scintillating style peppered with apologues, Han Fei Zi argues that the art of governing requires techniques other than the simple manipulation of rewards and punishments. The prince is the cornerstone of a system that is supposed to ensure him of a protective impenetrableness. The state must devote itself to eliminating the useless, noxious five â€Å"parasites† or â€Å"vermin:† the scholars, rhetoricians, knights-errant, deserters, and merchants (perhaps even artisans). 3. The Fathers of Taoism. A philosophy of evasion, this school was opposed to social and political engagement. From the outset Taoism was either a means to flee society and politics or a form of consolation for those who encountered reversals in politics and society. The poetic power of its writings, which denounced limits and aphorisms of reason, explains the fascination that it continues to hold for intellectuals educated through the rationalism of the Confucians. These works, like most of the others from antiquity that were attributed to a master, in fact seem to be rather disparate texts of a school. The Dao de jing ittitg (Classic of the Way and of Power) remains the most often translated Chinese work—and the first translated, if one counts the lost translation into Sanskrit by the monk Xuanzang WM in the seventh century A. D. This series of aphorisms is attributed to Lao Zi (Master. Lao or â€Å"The Old Master†), whom tradition considers a contemporary of Confucius. He is said to have left this â€Å"testament† as he departed the Chinese world via the Xian’gu Pass for the West. In their polemics against the Buddhists, the Taoists of the following millennium used this story as the basis on which to affirm that the Buddha was none other than their Chinese Lao Zi, who had been converting the barbarians of the West since his departure from China. Modern scholarship estimates that the Lao Zi could not date earlier than the third century B. C. The 1973 discoveries at Mawang Dui in Hunan confirmed what scholars had suspected for centuries: the primitive Lao Zi is reversed in respect to 14 Chinese Literature, Ancient and Classical  ours: a De dao jing â€Å"1,M1# § (Classic of Power and the Way). Its style, which is greatly admired for its obscure concision, seems to owe much to the repair work of the commentator Wang Bi . T3 (226-249). Thus it is tenable that the primitive Lao Zi was a work of military strategy. Whatever it was, the text that is preferred today runs a little over 5,000 characters and is divided into 81 sections (9 x 9). The Taoist attitude toward life is expressed here in admirably striking formulae, which lend themselves to many esoteric interpretations: He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know (#56). Govern a great state as you would fry small fish! (#60). Practice non-action, attend to the useless, taste the flavorless. (#63) The Zhuang Zi ate, written by Zhuang Zhou 4. -B1 or Zhuang Zi (Master Zhuang), was apparently abridged at about the same time as the Lao Zi, but at the hands of the commentator Guo Xiang # -IM (d. 312), who cut it from fifty-two to thirty-three sections. Scholars cannot agree whether the seven initial sections, called â€Å"the inner chapters,† are from the same hand of Zhuang Zhou as the sixteen following, called â€Å"the outer chapters,† and the final ten â€Å"miscellaneous chapters. † It is in the final ten that we find a characteristic arrangement of reconstructions from the first century, works of one school attributed to one master. In fact, it is the first part which gives the most lively impression of an encounter with an animated personality whose mind is strangely vigorous and disillusioned: Our life is limited, but knowledge is without limit. To follow the limitless with that which is limited will exhaust one. To go unrelentingly after knowledge is exhausting and c.