Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Narrative - Essay Example After realization that the world of films is more appealing than I can imagine, I decided to keep the spirit lively by undertaking a Master’s degree in media, my major focus being on Radio and Television studies. When in the university, I got an inordinate chance to train in the first channel of Saudi Arabia, the fifth channel in Saudi Arabia and Institute of Hajj researchers as a photographer, all of which bolstered my understanding of the world of media and communication. I firmly believe that a well-written script and characters are what makes a film, a major reason that made me feel frustrated while in the university when doing photography-related projects. The fundamental reason for the perceived discomfiture was the fact that after doing projects in photography, although they often turned out to be good, I felt left out after the image is completed, a reason that intensified my intention to be a screenwriter so that I can always be part of the complete works such as docu mentaries. When I watch an interesting film, I see myself in it and believe that the ideas on the screen are actually being personified for me, a rare thing that has been developing in me lately. I immediately develop a critical critic of the masterpiece, a factor that has further sharpened my writing skills. However, being in the university was an eye-opener for me. I enjoyed every moment in school primarily because of the many activities that I found myself participating in and the large audience that resoundingly required my presence in various programs, both educational and leisurely. While still working hard on coursework, where I eventually managed a GPA 3.11/4, I could still manage to schedule some time for talk shows, news programs, documentaries, and advertisement. I used my verse skills in media and television presentation to influence and appeal to the audience. The college students always

Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Literature Review - Essay Example ing Decisions, on knowthis.com website defined packaging as a process of protecting the product, increasing the visibility of a product, adding value to a product, getting distributor acceptance etc. A product packed poorly with less visibility cannot survive in the market whereas good packaging will added value to the product and increase its distributor acceptance and cost (Factors in Packaging Decisions, 2010). The article, The Importance of Packaging written by David Kam, defined packaging as an important marketing strategy to glamorize a product in order to attract the consumer’s attention. He also mentioned many secrets of product packaging. He argued that attractive packaging of product can glamorize a product in order to attract the consumer’s attention. He also pointed out that most consumers judge a product by its packaging before buying. In his opinion, nobody will buy even good products in the absence of good packaging (Kam, 2010). The science news article, How Does Context Affect Consumer Judgment published yesterday (March 22, 2010), defined consumer behaviour in terms of the context. It mentioned that what we think of a product or brand, or how positively or negatively we assess it, depends on the context in which it is viewed. The article argues that many irrelevant contextual factors from the weather to another product brand can influence consumers evaluations of a product. When consumers shop in a mall, impressions of one store can be influenced by perceptions of the surrounding stores. Thus, when marketers decide to advertise their products in particular contexts, they would benefit from considering how it measures up in terms of its context (Science News, 2010) The article, Cheers to the American Consumer, written by John Quelch on April, 6, 2009 defined consumer behaviour in terms of wealth, independence, mobility, technology, recognition, etc. Many of the Americans live for today and they are not much bothered about tomorrow. This

Research Culture In Pakistani Universities

Research Culture In Pakistani Universities Research plays an important role in the development of nations. Countries which provide the basic and quality education to their citizens are known for their ethical and social values and also excel in the field of science and technology. People living in these countries are habitual of asking questions, making hypothesis and testify them for the sake of better living life. We are living in a nation that is surrounded by many internal and external problems and how to get out of this critical situation is still a question. Universities, though, can be of vital help to improve the prevailing situation as usually universities are the centers where intellectuals and thinkers are produced. These intellectuals, with aid of researching tool can pull the nation upward from the fall. The paper aims to discover and analyse the current situation of research culture in Pakistani universities. The extent of research culture in Pakistani universities is discovered through quantitative research wit h the sample size of 150 students, to identify the problematic factors that are hindering in promoting research culture in the universities. Field survey was conducted using a structured likert scale questionnaire for quantitative research. The tool designed by Santo et al. (2009) was modified and used accordingly to our study spectrum and collected data was analyzed in SPSS. Multistage sampling was conducted using a combination of snowball sampling, stratified sampling and random sampling techniques and data was collected from the students of different programs including management, engineering, medicine and humanities. Due to limitation of resources the data was collected only from universities in Lahore and Islamabad, two major cities of Pakistan. Univarate analysis with the help of descriptive statistics techniques and frequency table methods helped to identify the behaviour of respondents towards each of the 32 questions contained in the questionnaire. The findings of research show that Pakistani universities are lacking a healthy research culture. In fact the results showed a positive sign of concern from the students that they want to get improved research facilities in their universities. Data also highlighted specifically the most problematic areas in a detailed fashion. The results gave the exact factors which need to be considered seriously by the university authorities in order to implement the research culture in its true sense in their universities. Also the results may open new avenues for improvements and bringing betterment in the current picture of local universities research culture. Key words: Lack of Research Culture, Universities, Reasons, Pakistani Introduction Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understanding of a topic or issue. It consists of three steps: Pose a question, collect data to answer the question, and present an answer to the question. (Creswell, 2008). Although research is defined differently by different authors and thinkers but the value of research is recognized equally by every philosopher. Undoubtedly research is the most important tool to investigate the problems of the people, to find out their demands, and even to explore the mysteries of life, and research has the solutions for all. Research is a significant process of digging the facts and laying the foundations of knowledge and is a key process in knowledge formulation. The rate of evolution of knowledge depends on the rate of research in a particular field. With every passing day, the increased demand of detailed, authenticated and reliable knowledge, research is becoming most substantial process in every field of knowledge. Some people may think that research is simply gathering information about people, things or a certain state of affairs by some organizations, etc., but there are others who call the means of progress in the life of the present global scenario, in which every nation come closer together and appear to depend in one way or the other (Nadeem, 2011). The importance of research is recognized worldwide and developed countries are spending a lot more to promote research culture. In a speech to the Royal Society in April 2010, German Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel explained that the prosperity of a country such as Germany [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] must be sought through investment in research, education and science, and this to a disproportionate degree, (TheRoyalSociety, 2011). Developing countries are not in a competitive position to go parallel with the developed countries in field of education, despite of other facts and reasons; lack of research oriented educational approach is the main reason of it. Making countries progressed, as divide between developed and developing nations is clearly the educational system (Sanyal Varghese, 2006) What we see nowadays the technology is making this world a global village, too many innovations taking place, ideas are getting converted into realities etc. is all due to the research by the researchers and their findings in them. We hear very often the word RD that is research and development, which means to develop something, research is at the first place. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, RD refers to creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications, (OECD Factbook 2008: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics, 2008). General practices of research and development activities in universities facilitate the industries through their implementations. Research oriented universities assist the industries directly and indirectly: directly by provision of skills and indirectly by spillove rs (Wu, 2007) In a research culture maximum people of a group, university, business firm, area, city and or country, sit together to indicate and solve the problems like corruption, water sharing, economic crises, state security, distribution of resources and obligation etc. The meaning of research culture is also that each and every direction in the society must be biased on reason, rational, logical, pragmatic and science, as an instrument of events and resolving problems, (Ahmed, 2006). Whereas universities are considered to be the birthplaces of research and researchers and lot has happened in the world to change the non-research culture to a research culture and to the change has been the most difficult part, (Cheetham, 2007). Situation in Pakistan in regards of research at universities is not impressive and Pakistan still lacks research culture at par with developed countries, (Lodhi A. , 2010). The research output by universities in Pakistan in terms of number of research publications as against the total faculties of universities is not more than 13 per cent, (Qureshi, 2011). Pakistan is ranked 34 in the list of countries by research and development which spent 2.73 billion US$ in the year 2007. However, most RD funding in Pakistan is consumed by the military sector (60%), (UNESCO, 2010). There are deficiencies in the quality of both skills and research output of the education sector. A viable quality assurance mechanism is essentially required in Pakistan to change and improve the quality of output and efficiency of the higher education learning systems. (Mahmood Shafique, 2009) This current scenario of research culture leads results in the low yield of research output in terms of research publications. HEC Pakistan took many initiatives in order to promote research culture in Universities. But these initiatives didnt payback the desired results, i.e. a healthy research culture in Pakistani universities. This paper aims to find out the reasons of these negative results in terms of reasons of lack of research culture. Extensive research has been carried out by various researchers to analyze the extent of research culture in different institutes and universities. Literature review indicates that most of these researches are more focused towards the instructors approaches towards research culture. The role of students and the institutional policies in research are not critically analyzed. This paper is an attempt to cover the gap in this area of knowledge. It is felt that research culture is not fully introduced and facilitated and the paper aims to find and identify what are the reasons might be for the current prevailing situation of lack of research culture in the universities. Either this is due to weak infrastructure, non-serious behavior of students or teachers are not making it realized to students of the importance of research. Moreover, role of individual factors of students and institutional policies in a research culture is critically and deeply analyzed in this paper. Ultimately we are looking to promote the research culture in Pakistani universities and also to rectify the problems from its roots that are hindering in promoting the research culture. Literature Review It was during the Second World War that governments, notably the US government, recognized the significant contribution made by university research, especially by the scientists and engineers, to their success in the war, (Sanyal Varghese, 2006). The world recognized university educational research, but it is more evident in the developed nations as compared to the developing world. According to UNCTAD, 2007 they reported that there are only 94.3 scientific researchers per million people in the least developed countries (LDCs), against 313 in the other developing countries (ODCs) and 3,728 in rich countries (high-income OECD). Enrolment in university level institutions (that is, tertiary school enrolment as a share of the corresponding age group) is only 3.5% in the LDCs, against 23% in ODCs and 69% in rich countries. (Vessuri, 2011). Just to quote to some examples, the number of enrollments in PhDs in Australia, there has been 300% increase from 9,298 in the year 1990 to 27,996 in 2000, (Stehlic, 2011). Similarly North America and Europe are considered as the home to the great majority of the worlds university faculty, as well as virtually all of the worlds high-quality institutions (Vessuri, 2011). On the other hand the scenario is worst in the least developed countries due to several reasons. One of them may be due to non supportive living conditions. As reported by UNSTAD, 2007 countries like Haiti, Cape Verde, Samoa, Gambia and Somalia have lost more than half of their university-educated professionals in recent years because they have moved to industrialized countries in search of better working and living conditions, (Mamdani, 2011) (Vessuri, 2011). Undoubtedly the knowledge divide between developing and developed countries is both deep and wide. A countrys existing RD activities are a reflection of its capacity to create knowledge, (Sanyal Varghese, 2006). Higher education and science must become more evenly distributed around the world if political tension is to be eased and the chances of economic and social development are to improve. The role of education and science in this process is taken as a given a point of departure and it is assumed that knowledge and skills will be at least as important for the future of the developing world in this century as they were for developed and industrialized countries in the past, (Vessuri, 2011). Universities are the best places to implement the research culture. Humboldt, a German statesman, philologist and architect of the University, observed that the purpose of a university for both the teacher and the student is a common quest for knowledge or Wissenschaft, (Lueddeke, 2008). It is widely accepted that research, as the most important source of knowledge generation, occupies a critical position in promoting a nations prosperity and its citizens well-being in the knowledge-based era, (Li, Millwater, Hudson, 2008) and educational research helps by improving the understanding of how students learn and how best to teach, (Morrell Carroll, 2010). Moreover research is not only helps solve the practical problems and brings about material improvements via high-tech products, it also provides insights and new ideas that enrich human understanding of various social, economic and cultural phenomena, (Li, Millwater, Hudson, 2008). As also explained by Patricia D. Morrell and James B. Carroll in their book called Conducting Educational Research, educational research is important in: Proposing theories Testing theories Increasing our understanding Improving teaching learning (Morrell Carroll, 2010) The worldwide higher education landscape and research and knowledge production sectors are undergoing a profound transformation driven by unprecedented global social and economic forces and are embedded in an extremely complex reality, in which no self-evident choices are available and where actions have multiple effects in a dynamically interdependent environment (Vessuri, 2011). However integrating research and teaching in research-intensive universities is still an unresolved issue as we head into the 21st century, (Lueddeke, 2008) and expansion has taken place in fairly a limited part of the world (Vessuri, 2011). From the expanding literature, conferences and the reality on the ground, it does appear that most research-intensive universities across the globe still have not fully realized the harmonization of the research-teaching relationship, (Lueddeke, 2008). Whereas teaching in a University is different, we use the same word in primary school, secondary school, TAFE, Teachers Colleges, CAEs etc but it is not the same. One of the major differences is of course the extent to which it (the teaching) is interwoven with research and our research principles, (Cheetham, 2007). The faculty in higher education institutions has traditionally been trifocal, consisting of teaching, research and community service/extension. University faculty members are required to become teachers, researchers, and service-oriented professionals, (Salazar-Clemeà ±a Almonte-Acosta). So finally we can say that, the trends in enrolment in higher education are an indicator of the widening or narrowing gap between developing and developed countries in terms of research capacity, (Sanyal Varghese, 2006). Although universities in the developed world, as compared to the developing world, have firm traditions of research whereas universities in the developing world have retained strong teaching functions and weak research functions, (Nadeem, 2011) (Sanyal Varghese, 2006) (Salazar-Clemeà ±a Almonte-Acosta) (Lodhi A. S., 2011). Specifically talking about Pakistan, she lacks research culture at par (Lodhi A. , 2010). The nation expects from universities to contribute to basic, applied and/or action research to help minimize the problems of the country to meet the future targets, (Qureshi, 2011). There are many reasons being given by different researchers and scholars for not implementing research culture in general overall in the world and specifically for our country. Some of the reasons are extracted from different research papers and articles: Pakistan is facing major challenges regarding population and socio-economic developments which include employment, resources, food, energy, sustainability and the race for talent (Qureshi, 2011), because until and unless people will not get commodities (such as bread, cloth, and home) they cannot be turned for getting education, (Ahmed, 2006). Lack of incentives by the government, cases of plagiarism and proper facilities to conduct research on technical and scientific subjects, small salary packages to teachers in government sector universities, (Lodhi A. , 2010). Some of the problems as indicated by Sabahat Sultan of Karachi university, International Relations Department are; illiteracy standard of education, lack of resources, in cooperative attitude of government financial problems, lack of job oriented programs publishing goods, lack of proper training of research and professionalism (Sultan). Faculty members in the Pakistani universities are less enthusiastic about research, apart from a few amount of faculty members in different universities, others have not done voluntary research. Similarly students, they take up research project which is primarily a compulsory component for the award of degree, but that is done under compulsion which does not ignite students inquiry skills nor attract teachers to go for voluntary research. (Nadeem, 2011). One of true factors, which equally are applicable to Pakistani environment, as indicted by Sanyal and Varghese 2006, Gender Disparities. As they say in their research paper, female researchers constitute a relatively small share in all countries except the CIS countries. Even the ratio found very less in the advanced countries like USA and Germany, (Sanyal Varghese, 2006) . The South Asian Region also suffers from lack of linkages between public and private actors and no university-industry collaboration to speak of. It is noted in that, overall, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka seem better at producing basic knowledge than commercializing it, (UNESCO, 2010) (Wu, 2007) Introduction of research into early years of undergraduate education is not so obvious talking in the context of Role of Disciplinary Variation in Conceptualizing Research and Teaching, (Lueddeke, 2008). Research culture is largely affected by personal and organizational characteristics with leadership being the most critical attribute, (Theodore Lynette, 2010) (Lodhi A. S., 2011). Research Culture requires stable political climate, (Theodore Lynette, 2010). Methodology This is research is based on quantitative data analysis. Data collected were analysed on statistical explanatory data anaysis techniques mainly due to the reason of our intent to find only problematic factors that are causing lack of research culture in Pakistani universities. Sample Size Experts opinion was used to determine the sample size and a sample size of sample of 150 for was suggested. Tool Quantitative research was carried out with the help of a structured questionnaire developed by Santo, Engstrom, Reetz, Schweinle, Reed, 2009 (Santo, Engstrom, Reetz, Schweinle, Reed, 2009) and further used by Lodhi S. A., 2011 (Lodhi A. S., 2011) who modied the tool on the basis of his experiences to conduct his research in the Pakistani univerristies context. We modified the tool accordingly with the help of an expert for our research work to be conducted specially on students rather than on teachers and or faculty members in the universities. Respondents Sample population consists of a blend of students from different areas of study including engineering, medical, humanities, social sciences and management. Due to time and financial constraints, out of different private and public sector universities in Pakistan, we selected seven universities only from Lahore and Islamabad. The educational background of the respondents was such that they were both male and female students accompanied in bachelors and masters degree courses in their perspective universities. Out of 150 students 105 were from bachelors and 45 respondents were masters degree programs. 83 of them were male and rest, i.e. 67 were female students. Sampling technique and data collection procedure Multistage sampling was conducted using a combination of snowball sampling, stratified sampling and random sampling techniques to collect the data that resulted in a diverse and unbiased population sampling. 186 questionnaires were got filled out of which 150 questionnaires were used for the analysis purpose. Total time of 3 months was consumed in data collection and then entered in SPSS (version 17) and Microsoft Excel for further analysis. Data Analysis This quantitative study intends to find out the factors causing hindrances in a healthy research culture by focusing on individual factors of students or the institutional and leadership factors. All items in the questionnaire were individually analyzed through univariant analysis. Initially, frequencies, means, standard deviations, histograms and percentages were used to analyze the responses. Through the analysis of the all questions, few individual and institutional factors were identified that are paying major contribution towards creating lack of research culture in Pakistani universities. The problematic factors were then further categorized to favorable conditions and unfavorable conditions. Favorable conditions include the responses that were responded as strongly agree and agree patterns. Whereas unfavorable conditions include the responses that were in strongly disagree and disagree and Neither Agree Nor Disagree patterns. These factors were deeply analyzed. Descriptive Statistics Descriptive statistics are presented in Table 1 depicting means and SDs of all the items in the questionnaire. Means were in range from 2.45 to 3.74 with SDs in range from 0.897 to 1.244. The overall behavior of the respondents was such that they were neither strongly disagreed nor strongly agreed in their views about each question so making the scenario middleware leaving a feel that students are not fully aware of the research practices as well as they dont really care about the situations regarding research culture prevalent in their universities. This behavioral trend of respondents makes the situation very vague uncertain in terms of awareness about research culture and its factors. Frequency Tables To know the in depth details of how respondents responded to each of the item in the questionnaire, we used frequency tables which gave us results in the form of frequencies and their subsequent percentages that how many out 150 students responded as strongly disagree or disagree or neither agree nor disagree or agree or strongly agree in the whole dataset. This technique helped us known that how many students, majority of them, think alike about the problems those were posed in the questionnaire. It was, ultimately, highly needed to identify the most problematic factors which may cause impedement in the growth of research culture in the universities. Most of the responses, also can be seen from the results of descriptive statistics, were centered to a middle are of histogram, i.e. responses ranging from Disagree to Agree with responses recorded as Strongly Disagree or Strongly Agree. However our interest was not to see that how different respondents responded to a certain type of qu estions that was posed, but to find the problems creating hindrances in the growth of research culture in Pakistani Universities. The below findings are describing the most problematic factors: Research Findings The detailed analysis of the responses enabled us to identify that how students think of each and every problem stated in the questionnaire. But it was very needed to analyze and highlight those problems which are more critical and hence need special attention in order to bring positivity in the prevailing situation of research and research output in Pakistani Universities. To highlight such problems we defined a rule of thumb that responses being answered as Strongly Disagree, Disagree or Neither Agree or Nor Disagree is unfavorable conditions and responses answered as Agree and Strongly Agree is favorable conditions. We further operationally defined that if cumulative percentage of unfavorable conditions equals or greater than 60% it shows characteristics of problematic factor which should be eliminated. The other way to see the problematic factors is to look at the means of the responses in the questions. Questions having a mean less than 3 are problematic areas and they can be cross verified with the criteria being set above except for the question of At least monthly, I have substantive uninterrupted conversations about research and writing with colleagues in my university whose mean is 2.98 but cumulative percentage of unflavored answers is 59.3%. The factors which are highlighted problematic in the dataset is depicted below in the below figure. Out of the eight above highlighted problematic factors, first four of them belong to Individual Factors and rest four of them belongs to Institutional and Organizational Factors. These factors include: I have/had an unassigned mentor either in my department or in other departments/schools who provides (or provided) me with valuable guidance in research. Assigned mentor and unassigned mentor are up to students interests weather they approach to them to discuss the research topics and to get pieces of advice from them or not. Although in both the cases the responses from the students are unfavorable but the criteria equal to or greater than 60% cumulative percentages being set dont allow us to depict the assigned mentor question in the above bar graph figure but its importance cant be denied if 59.3% people answer unfavorably. Anyways the scenario of unassigned mentor is clearly problematic as 71.3% people responded in unflavored manner. I have a system that allows me to protect periods of uninterrupted time to address research activities. Students recorded unfavorable concerns equal to 75.3% which means our students do not have such systems where they can save their uninterrupted time to address their research activities. Although a fair amount of students answered Agree when they were asked about having adequate time for doing their research activities, but they are not into practices of saving uninterrupted times specifically to address the research activities. Up-to-date in qualitative research design and analysis 64% of the students recorded their responses as unflavored as they see themselves weak in qualitative research design and analysis because they are not currently up-to-date with the qualitative research design. Up-to-date in publisher-hunting skills (e.g. identifying appropriate journal/conference/exhibitions, understanding their procedures and submission evaluation for your research) Although our students believe that they are up-to-date in writing skill, presentation skills, IT skills (e.g. Microsoft Office, Design and Analysis Tools, Simulation Tools), and using relevant software for data-collection and analysis (e.g. SPSS, Nvivo, EndNote, etc.) but when it comes to their up-to-dated skills in publisher hunting for identifying appropriate journal/conference/exhibitions, understanding their procedures and submission evaluation for their research they are not well up-to-dated as 68% students recorded unflavored conditions. At least weekly, I have substantive uninterrupted conversations about research and writing with colleagues in my university 72% of the people responded unfavorably as they feel they do not converse weekly about their research topics with their fellow colleagues in the university. I have access to adequate human resources such as secretarial support, support staff etc., to conduct my research projects 66% of the students stated that they do not have access to adequate human resources such as secretarial support, support staff etc. in their universities to conduct their research projects. My university provides me adequate financial support to travel to academic conferences/exhibitions within Pakistan Interestingly the most problematic factor of all is the one stated above i.e. universities provide financial support to travel to academic conferences and exhibitions within Pakistan where more than 83% people recorded their concerns unflavored. My university provides me adequate administrative support to apply for travel grants from HEC or other external sources for presentation of paper in academic conferences within Pakistan. In the similar pattern about 70% students answered unfavorably that their universities provide adequate administrative support to apply for travel grants from HEC or other external sources for presentation of paper in academic conferences within Pakistan. The figure of 70% is less than of 83% in the above question may be due to readily available HEC support or due to HECs itself marketing campaign but, as per the collected data, support from universities in this regard of applying for travel grants from HEC or other external sources is minimal. Conclusion The studies show that universities play a prominent role in knowledge production, particularly in the pure or basic research fields, (Li, Millwater, Hudson, 2008). A lot of effort is being made in the developed and developing world to make their universities as research centers, though knowledge divide is deep and is heavily tilted in favor of developing countries (Sanyal Varghese, 2006). For a country like Pakistan is where there are so many social economic and security problems, the solutions lies in inculcating the research culture at higher education level. In Pakistani universities students need direction towards conducting research. Exposure of our students towards serious research is minimal or no as very minimum number of students have their papers published in worlds journals and publications, hence the importance of research is not fully known by them. Teachers and management, however, can play a pivotal role to set the university campuses onto the high class seats of res earch centers and ultimately making the students ready for taking part in the prosperity of the nation. These are the teachers and management which can give the light of wisdom to the educating pupils that they have to come in the competition of conducting research or our nation should get ready to perish from the face of this earth. Study also highlighted the specific problems relating to individual and institutional leadership factors causing the reasons of lack of research culture. It was noted that due to the moderate correlation existence between the stated two variables, present research output of individuals can be increased by controlling the problematic factors as identified in institutional and leadership factors list, i.e. once the institutions develop systems for students to conduct their research work, they have the ability to capitalize on the things with their new and energetic ideas. Implications In the light of the findings and the literature review, some of implications can be made to introduce the research culture into the students. These are enumerated as below: Separate centers for research should be made with several research groups to promote the cause of research culture in universities. These centers should be granted grants and finance for their smooth operations. A number of students will be taking part actively under the umbrella of these research centers. Teachers having no research experience or having not appeared in any international research journals/conferences with their papers are indeed a decline to research culture, (Cheetham, 2007). In our universities, well have to make it sure that our teachers are actively involved in conducting researches as ultimately theyll be able to translate the same habit to their students and if needed inductions of new highly qualified and trained tutors having experience in research can be made. Top management should involve into the matter of concern and should make the environment such that students get all those tools that are required to write an international research paper, e.g. availability of liter

The Fellowship of the Rings :: essays research papers

The Fellowship of the Rings Book Report I want to introduce you to, The Fellowship of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is the first book to the Lord of the Rings, written by Tolkien. The settings in this book changed many times from the hills of the Shire, where the hobbits live, to the deep darkness of the mines of Moria. The book takes place in Middle Earth, which is described by Tolkien as a mysterious place that is full of good and evil. The way Tolkien described each place is amazing and it is as if you were looking at a picture and copying it down into your head. The setting in the book is very important to the story. It kept me thinking and wondering what was going to happen next, which made me read more and more. I couldn’t even begin to describe the setting of the whole book, so I mainly mentioned some of the major locations that took place in the book. In the book, the Protagonist is Frodo Baggins, a hobbit from the Shire who becomes the Ring-bearer. The Antagonist is Sauron, the Dark Lord that forged the One Ring to take over Middle-Earth. In the fellowship, aside for the ring-bearer, are three other hobbits, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck, three of Frodo’s closest friends. There is also Gandalf, the wizard; Legolas Greenleaf, son of the Elf King of Northern Mirkwood; the dwarf Gimli, son of Gloin; Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and heir to the throne of Gondor; and Boromir, oldest son of the Steward of Gondor. They all have some talent or purpose in aiding Frodo in the quest. As the action rises the mood is often tense with suspense and a sense of doom. They are in constant danger, always being watched or hunted. The hobbits leave their precious homes and travel through the Old Forest to get to Bree, where they meet Aragorn and he aids them in their journey. All five later leave for Rivendell and the mood is quite tense with the Black Riders hunting them down. On the way, they stop at Weathertop, where Frodo is, unfortunately, stabbed with a Morgul blade. Luckily, they all get to Rivendell safely with the help of Glorfindel, an elf. The fellowship continues on their quest to get rid of the ring and was forced to trudge through Caradhras in order to avoid ‘the dark and secret way’.

Imperial Presidency

Richard Nixon’s presidency is labeled as ‘imperial presidency’[1] due to its hunt for and utilization of regal authority and supremacy. Certain other presidents in American history like Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt sought kingly control but that expansion in the executive power manifested the merits of that extension. During his presidency, Nixon and his administration put forward legislations to get the maximum control over such areas that remained exclusive domains of Congress like the power to declare war, the power of the purse, and the power of immunity from legislative oversight. This style of administration, absolute authority and legal privileges capacitated Nixon to involve Watergate scandal. Immunity from legislative oversight helped him to cover up his involvement in this scandal. His craving for a absolute authority and measures taken in this regard is best described by his attorney general, Elliott Richardson. He said that â€Å"a government of laws was on the verge of becoming a government of one man.† Despite these absolute powers, his government miserably failed in the domestic arena as he was unable to address the issues facing the American people. Notwithstanding his failure in the domestic affairs, Nixon attained extraordinary progress in the international affairs and explored new horizons for American foreign policy. He established reciprocal and positive relationships with china and was first American president to visit communist China. It goes to the credit of Nixon that he not only developed commercial relations with Russia but also succeeded in signing the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. This marked the beginning of steadier and constructive relations between the two super powers. [1] This term was first used by Arthur M. Schlesinger in his book ‘The Imperial Presidency’ in 1973.   

Admission to the USC Undergraduate Program

I am a keen jet skier and having obtained a degree of proficiency in this highly exciting sport. The bracing sea breeze and the refreshing spray, which play against the skier, are some of the major attractions of this sport. Moreover, this sport has to refresh and rejuvenate its practitioner. This sport taught me the importance of concentrating on what we do. It also taught me prudence and helped me to achieve a calm mind.I decided to interact more with the world that I live in. Hence, I started to study the various changes taking place in the world. In this study, I came to realize that the multinational corporations had brought about the process of globalization. This process was affecting the whole world and even the US and the European Union had come under its influence.Some of the Asian countries like India and China have been showing extraordinary growth in their economies. These economies were developing at a greater pace than that of any other country. I wanted to participate in these astonishing developments. In order to do so, I made several enquiries and went through the syllabus offered by a number of colleges. My intention was to obtain a thorough knowledge regarding globalization and the economic success of some of the Asian countries.In the course of my search, I found out about the University of Southern California, which had been founded in 1880. This university is a private university, which is the best for research. It has several campuses that are famous their academic excellence (About USC).However, in addition to academic excellence, it also promotes community service programs. This work has been praised widely and its alumni are famous, not only for their academic excellence but also for their contribution to society. Its financial independence ensures that it remains unaffected by governmental policies and political interference (About USC). These facts made me very much interested in pursuing an MBA program in this university.Newton Par tMy parents left Armenia in the 1970’s, whilst it was under Soviet Rule. Their new home in the US was very hospitable to them. However, they could not attend college, because of their financial commitments. Most of their waking hours were spent in earning sufficient money to meet their expenses.They were always aware of this drawback in their life. As a result, they used to tell me repeatedly, to take my studies seriously. My performance at school was slightly above average. Therefore, I obtained an average high school diploma. My parents were very disappointed with my mediocre performance in school. They told me that I had to improve my performance.One day, while alone with my thoughts, I started thinking about what had happened to my performance in school. I am very good at logical analysis. Therefore, I thought for a long time and realized that if I did not study with greater diligence, I would end up like my parents. The choice before me was to either work hard at my stud ies or get a very good job or to obtain an ordinary degree and work very hard for the rest of my life, for poor wages. This was a very thought, so I decided to become a very good student in college.On another occasion, during this period, I came across a spider attempting to spin a web. It would try to attach a strand, which would break off. Nevertheless, the spider did not stop its efforts; it patiently and with the same amount of effort, made another attempt. Finally, it succeeded in its hard work. Like Robert Bruce of England, I too realized the value of perseverance. I understood that even if some topic in my studies was difficult to understand, I should keep on trying to understand it.There was another factor that had a strong influence on my attitude towards life. I have a cousin named, Haroutoun Aharonian. He was very good at studies in high school and college. After that he pursued a graduate program in the University of Southern California. He became very good at analyzing stock markets, due to the MBA program that he attended in the University of Southern California’s   Marshall School of Business. One of the largest stock broking firms in Los Angeles has appointed him to a very important post, in their company. The sole reason for this success was the very good teaching standard of that college. This incident taught me that I had to work hard and develop an interest in my chosen field of study. On studying his success story, I decided to follow in his footsteps, and apply for the MBA program in the Marshall School of Business.I want to become an expert in Finance and Business Economics and this school imparts the necessary training and knowledge to achieve this goal. I would also like to keep the choice of joining the Bachelor’s of Arts in Economics. The USC Marshall School of Business offers the latest world class instruction in accounting, finance, entrepreneurship and international business studies (About The Marshall School of Bu siness, 2007).The world has become smaller due to globalization; moreover, some Asian countries are showing highly rapid economic development. Traditional management techniques cannot address these phenomena. It is a course like that provided by the Marshall School of Business, which can properly describe these issues. This is the principal reason for my seeking a transfer to the Marshall School of Business.ReferencesAbout The Marshall School of Business. (2007). Retrieved January 25, 2008, from University of Southern California Marshall School of Business : http://www.marshall.usc.edu/about/About USC. (n.d.). Retrieved January 25, 2008, from University of Southern California:

Theme Of Women In Different Artistic Periods Essay Example

Theme Of Women In Different Artistic Periods Essay Example Theme Of Women In Different Artistic Periods Essay Theme Of Women In Different Artistic Periods Essay Baroque. Rococo. Neoclassical. and Romantic are all artistic motions of centuries past. It is through the artistic motions that one can capture a glance of society and the manner life was lived during that clip. Ideas and feelings are exposed every bit good as facts are captured by the creative person. It is as if clip bases still and one can see the yesteryear with these plants of art. This is particularly true when a subject or topic is used in art from different clip periods. One can see how the position of the topic has changed or stayed the same. One subject that has evolved over clip is the topic of adult females. Their complexnesss. enigmas. and functions in society have been studied throughout the ages. That is why they have been a favourite point of involvement for creative person. If an creative person can capture the kernel of a adult female. so he/she can capture life. The Baroque Period was the earliest of these artistic motions. It came after the European Renaissance and spanned the whole 17th century. Although some characteristics appear in Dutch art. the Baroque manner was limited chiefly to Catholic states. It is a manner in which painters. sculpturers. and designers sought emotion. motion. and assortment in their plants.1Baroque art was fundamentally an reply to the Catholic Reformation. The aim of the church was to pass on the emotions of the scriptural narratives in art. The church desired that the frequenters who were illiterate to be able to see the art and understand the narrative and experience the emotions that they could non grok because of their deficiency of reading. The affluent frequenters had a different intent for the art they commissioned and this was to impress others. _____________________ Artlex. Baroque. 2008 hypertext transfer protocol: //www. artlex. com The focal point of the pictures were to be dramatic and to state a narrative that would appeal to the senses. The pragmatism in the art of this period was unbelievable. The topics were multidimensional every bit good as the textures accurate. An first-class illustration of art from the Baroque Period is Young Girl Writing a Love Letter by the Italian painter Pietro Rotari. The picture was completed in 17 55 so it was done in the center of the period which would stand for the extremum of the artistic motion. Young Girl Writing a Love Letter is non a picture with a spiritual subject. but Rotari did paint many that were. Alternatively. he chose a immature adult female for his topic. Even though the subject is different than most Baroque art. the immature adult female has a dreamy. about beatific quality and look on her face. There is a pureness about her that reminds one of the Virgin Mary. She is resting her caput on her manus while she gazes off into the distance while contemplating merely the right words to compose to her lover. However. one can state from her guiltless face that even though she is in love. she her motivations are pure. The intervention of adult females as a subject in art during the Baroque Period genuinely reflects the spiritual focal point during that clip. Rotari’s manner is typical of the Baroque Period. His picture of Young Girl Writing a Love Letter is realistic. The immature woman’s hair is painted so that it gives the visual aspect of her hair holding strands with a few wisp of isolated hairs that have fallen out of her neatly pulled back hairdo. The silk cloth of her frock is realistically shown through the usage of visible radiations and darks. Even the wood of the desk is painted utilizing positions so that it has a three dimensional expression. Rococo was the 18th century’s reply to the Baroque motion. As Baroque concentrated on spiritual figures and subjects. the creative person of the Rococo Period focused on the affluent nobility. The cosmetic. graceful curves. delicate colourss. and anything of elegance were the markers of the period. The nobility wanted to be the focal point of the art alternatively of heroes from history and the Bible. The motion originated in France during the reign of Louis XV. The architecture and trappingss of the twenty-four hours were besides representative the motion. One of the first painters during the Rococo Period was Jean Marc Nattier. He was a Gallic painter who. at 15. painted for Peter the Great. but he was a member of King Louis XV’s tribunal and chiefly painted for him. Many of his pictures are still in France and still displayed at the Louvre. Fabulous portrayal allowed Nattier to synthesise his desire to be a history painter with the fiscal necessity of doing a life. for portrayals were in demand. After the 1740s. as gustatory sensations began to alter. Nattier created more straightforward representations. Financial jobs and illness eventually caused him to halt picture in 1762. ( Getty Museum ) An first-class illustration of Jean Marc Nattier’s work is the painting Portrait of a Young Woman Painter. The immature adult female is evidently an blue blood because is adorned in a munificent yet delicate frock with a unworried expression on her face as she gazes out at the picture. She has a face that is delicate as though it has neer seen the Sun. difficult work. or bad and troublesome ideas. Her manus is rested on her caput in a ladylike airs while her smiling is weak. She holds her pallet as if she is non serious about painting. In fact. she looks as like there is nil that truly involvement her. She is graceful and her curves are animal as the unfastened neckline of her frock. The background is muted as are the colourss of the portrayal. It is non bright and vivid as the pictures of the Baroque Period. The artist trades with the topic of a immature adult female as mystical. She does non standout in any manner because of the hushed sunglassess. but merely fades into the background. Her pallet that should hold vivacious colourss on them. but they are changing sunglassess of the background. This symbolizes that a adult female sing an business is merely a frivolous thought that is fliting. Alternatively of beatific as adult females were portrayed in the Baroque Period. the adult female depicted in the Rococo motion is seen more as a position symbol. It is as if she merely exist to turn out that the adult male in her life can afford her. She would be his cogent evidence that by featherbeding her. he has the agencies to prolong his societal place. Following the Rococo Period was the Neoclassical motion which focused on the classical signifiers of the ancient Greek and Roman plants of art. Neo-classicism was a manner that emerged in Britain and France in the 1750s. Artists and designers sought to make an everlastingly valid true style’ that could be expressed across all countries of the ocular humanistic disciplines. The manner was based on the designs of Classical Greece and Rome. A major beginning of inspiration came from archeological finds such as those made at Herculaneum and Pompeii which brought the antediluvian universe to life. ( Learn About Style ) Patriotism. gallantry. bravery. and forfeit were elements of the Neoclassical Period. This motion stated in the 17 1950ss. and lasted good into the 18 100s. Marie-Louise Lebrun. besides known as Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun. was a celebrated portrayal creative person during the Neoclassic Period. Her pictures were simple and pure as was popular during the period. Her good known picture. Portrait of Theresa. Countess Kinsky is typical of the Neoclassical design. There is a landscape that is faded into the background so that the focal point is on the Countess. Her caput is wrapped in a long flowing fabric that is evocative of the loose draping of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The frock is of a deep midnight blue that draws the oculus to the authoritative lines of the vesture. Her demeanour is of a adult female that is knowing and intense. The Countess is has a dramatic airs that draws immediate attending to her. Her eyes are piercing while her smiling is tempting. The subject of adult female in this image is alone in that the topic is a female seen through the eyes of another female. It is astonishing how Lebrun presents a adult female of obvious strength that is non seen in the old pictures. The Countess is a confident compelling topic. There is power in the look of her visage. Her mind is shown as a positive component that merely adds to her beauty. In world this woman’s life was instead tragic. Her hubby left her at the communion table after their nuptials and went to his kept woman. Given the beauty of Theresa. the Countess. 1 wonders about the personalities of the people involved.1A adult female who lived the life of the Countess would hold to hold been strong and command the attending of Lebrun. who was a professional adult female and was besides a symbol of strength. The Romantic Period encompassed the first half of the 19th century. The creative person of the twenty-four hours concentrated on emotion. the supernatural. and the glory of nature. _____________________ Countess Kinsky. 2008. hypertext transfer protocol: //hal. ucr. edu/~cathy/artists/evlb93. hypertext markup language Romantics were more emotional. normally melancholy. even melodramatically tragic.1There was more of an attending to the alien that the ancient Greece and Rome. There was besides a captivation of horror. It was decidedly different from artistic period in the yesteryear. One could non assist but be drawn into the emotional province of the topic because it was the aim of the Romantic creative person to wholly convey the emotion of the topic of his/her art. The talented Theodore Chasseriau was characteristic of the Romantic Time period. He started painting at a immature age and was a maestro painter by the clip he reached maturity. The Angel. by Chasseriau. is unlike any of the angels painted in earlier artistic periods. The angel is either on Earth or a topographic point that has a similar landscape. The outstanding tree bole. the colourful autumn leaf of the tree leaves. and the alcoholic green undergrowth are typical of the Romantic focal point on the glory of nature. The light fluffy clouds add to the consequence. The beatific being depicted on Earth is an illustration of limelight on the supernatural. The look of deep concern and hurting is on the face of the being which is opposite of what most think of angels who are thought to be animals of peace. love. and protection. However. this angel is in aching in some manner. The vesture is realistic. but the hair and plumes of the angel are more antic than existent. The angel is depicted as a adult female in the painting The Angel. It sets the tone that adult females were seen as celestial existences during the period. They were non seen as equal to work forces. yet work forces saw them as cryptic. The fact that this angel is hard-pressed shows to _____________________ Artlex. Baroque. 2008 hypertext transfer protocol: //www. artlex. com the spectator that Eden might non be what the universe expected it to be. As adult females are stereotypically emotional people. the angel is decidedly female. In the Bible. the angels have male names. yet Chasseriau. like others of his twenty-four hours. portrayed it as female. Womans were seen as the 1s who were vastly emotional. Womans have been the topic of art of all time since there was art. They are fascinating and juggling. Each artistic period was representative of society’s position of adult females. It is a manner to stop dead a minute in clip. It is an interesting thought to analyze how the topographic point of adult female in society has evolved over clip. Bibliography Chasseriau. Theodore. The Angel. 1840. Countess Kinsky. hypertext transfer protocol: //hal. ucr. edu/~cathy/artists/evlb93. hypertext markup language Getty Museum. Artist. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. getty. edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails? maker=459 Learn About Style. Neoclassicism. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. vam. Ac. uk/vastatic/microsites/british_galleries/bg_styles/Style05a/index. hypertext markup language Lebrun. Marie. Louise. Portrait of Theresa. Countess Kinsky. 1793. Nattier. Jean Marc. Portrait of a Young Woman Painter. 1740. Rotari. Pietro. Young Woman Writing a Love Letter. 1755.

7 Warning Signs Youre Unhappy at Work

7 Warning Signs Youre Unhappy at Work Just like in your car, where there are alerts to let you know when important systems are not performing as they should, there should be alerts for when you aren’t either. We are all guilty of being on autopilot now and then on the job. But sometimes we don’t realize just how much of our attention has been diverted away from our work- until it’s too late to make necessary corrections. Here are 7 good signs that you’re unhappy at work and might want to rethink your situation and either re-engage with what you’re doing, or start looking for something else.1. Not CaringIf you’ve started to be the one with the â€Å"I don’t care† attitude, who just shows up and does the bare minimum and doesn’t take initiative or pitch in? That’s a problem. Getting your job done well is just as important as getting it done well enough. Besides, this probably means you’re not thinking enough about your future there and setting the necessary career goals for yourself.2. Lateness/Not Coming InIf you’re flagging, you might tend to be late or absent more than you realize- just from a lack of interest and engagement. Or worse- you’re getting sick more often because you’re miserable at work. Either way, it is a warning sign.3. Quality SlipDo you remember when you first started and you were so eager to dot your ‘i’s and cross your ‘t’s? Remember your attention to detail? Your go-get’em attitude? If those days are so far gone that you can’t remember trying so hard or performing so well at work, then you should take stock.4. MoodinessIf your moods are swingier than usual, and your emotions seem to be that much more out on your sleeve, this might be a symptom of being â€Å"over it† at work. Particularly if you no longer care who knows how grumpy you are at any given time.5. Isolating YourselfDo you notice that you are physically pulling back? Using s tandoffish body language, like leading away from the table with your arms crossed during meetings? Or standing apart from the group? Not accepting happy hour invites? Or maybe you feel overlooked or invisible? Whether your isolation is physical or mental, it’s not a very good sign about your level of engagement.6. Not Raising Your HandYou used to be all about collaborating, making creative suggestions, giving your input. Now? You’re basically silent, and speak only when spoken to- even in brainstorming sessions. If you’ve stopped generating new ideas as well†¦ time to rethink things.7. Being MehGeneral lethargy- or a noticeable lack of energy over a sustained period of time- is one of your biggest warning signs. If you’re showing up to work, but not really showing up anymore, then you might want to see what needs to change. It’s either going to be you, or the job. Either way, better to know and be proactive!

Byzantine vs. Roman Empire Essay Example for Free

Byzantine vs. Roman Empire Essay The Byzantine Empire actually ruled under the Roman Empire until Its demise In AD 476. Both of these empires were located near the Mediterranean Sea and both had a written set of laws. Emperor contanune the First converted to chrlstlanlty after ordering his soldiers to put a cross on their shields and then being victorious in battle. After his conversion, he united the military power of Rome with the young Roman Catholic Church. Because of this union he was able to conquer much of the known world at he time. In the Byzantine Empire, Christianity and the differing ideas about it caused great conflict. When the idea of religious icons came about, Emperor Leo Ill created Iconoclasm, which permitted the smashing of these religious icons. The events following the creation of Iconoclasm showed how distant the church was from the government. Eventually the quarrel led to the separation of the Catholic Church from the Eastern Christian Church, known as the Great Schism. This resulted in the Orthodox Church. Despite the differences in the effects that Christianity had on each Empire, it is clear that in both societies, religion was always in opposition with the government. There were many factors that led to the decline of both the Roman and the Byzantine Empires. In Rome, the empire simply became too large. They had to resort to using mercenaries to defend their excess land, but they often rebelled against the government. The separation of the empire into east and west also proved to be detrimental to the empire. The western side, the Romans, was defeated by Germanic barbarians who unseated their last emperor, a 14 year old boy, In AD 476. Although the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium, survived for another 1,000 years, Its Inevitable demise came about through the arrival of the Bubonic Plague, which was only the first crisis that moved the empire towards collapse. Byzantium was also constantly faced with military challenges from outside Invaders, and the Great Schism eliminated any possibility of outside help. The Byzantines used a multitude of tactics to try to keep enemies away, but the empire eventually fell to the Ottoman Turks In 1453. Both the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire held an alarming amount of xternal enemies, which undoubtedly was crucial In the demise of the empires; however It was mainly Internal conflicts that destroyed both empires. Justinian ended up winning back a large part of the territory Ancient Rome had ruled at i ts height, including Italy and parts ot Spain and Nort Roman and the Byzantine Empires differed in a multitude of ways despite their direct link to each other, they were also similar in their location, their religious opposition to the government, and their severe internal problems. Byzantine vs. Roman Empire. (2018, Oct 18).

With reference to the UK and a country of your choice, discuss the Essay

With reference to the UK and a country of your choice, discuss the limitation of GDP per capita'' as for a basis for comparing living standards between countries and over time - Essay Example In this paper, a comparison will be made of the GDP per capita of the India, a developing nation and the United Kingdom (UK) a developed nation. The state of the country as a whole as a result of this GDP per capita will be the main focus. The differences in income earned between people in the developed world and people in the developing world have been the subject of much research in the past (Maddision, 1983). India is a developing country located in the Indian Ocean. It is a former colony of Great Britain. India has an open market economy. In recent years, there has been much economic liberation such as privatization of former governmentally owned ventures, a reduction in foreign trade and development and deregulation industrially. This linearization was set in motion in the early 1990’s and has worked well to increase the growth rate of the country as a whole. The growth rate of the country has stayed at an approximate 7% every year since the year 1997. India has managed t o accomplish significant economic growth in the past decade or so (CIA-The World Factbook, 2011). The economy of India covers a multitude of things like modern agriculture, traditional village agriculture, a number of different services ad handicrafts. A comparison of GDP by sector in the country showed that whole over half the country works in the agricultural field, it contributes to only 16.1% of the country’s GDP. Industrial activities contribute about 28.6% where as the sevice industry makes up a bulk of the economy contributing 55.3%. All of these values are figures from the year 2010. This is particularly evident in that India has a large percentage of the population who speak English and has become a player in the global field in the export of information technology services and software personnel (CIA-The World Factbook, 2011). In light of the recent economic crisis, India was seen to bounce back in 210 as growth actually went above 8% in 210 and due to a demand for services domestically. In fact, India has the second highest labour force in the world with an approximate 478.3 million wanting to work. The unemployment rate was fairly low compared to the rest of the world in 2010 with it staying at 10.8% (118th place in the world) (CIA-The World Factbook, 2011). Despite doing relatively well on the economic front, India has numerous issues to deal with within the country. Parts of India are becoming increasingly overpopulated, there has been much destruction the environment and there is widespread poverty. A staggering 25% of the country’s population lives in poverty (CIA-The World Factbook, 2011). In addition, corruption seems to plague the country of India. There is also seen to be a lack of physical and social infrastructure in certain parts of the country and there is not enough access to higher education. There is a widespread migration from rural to urban areas dues to a lack of jobs in the agricultural sector (CIA-The World Factboo k, 2011). The GDP per capita of India is about $ 3400 as of 2010. In comparison to the rest of the countries of the world, this is 163rd place. The GDP per capita the UK, on the other hand is $35 100 and was 36th place in the world. This is a marked difference from India and a comparison will be made of these two countries (CIA-The World Factbook, 2011).it has been argued that developed countries such as the UK, already had a much higher lead to economic growth than to developing countries who growth started only relatively recently (Maddison, 1983). The UK is a group of islands located in Western Europe. In stark contrast to India, the GDP contributions by sector are extremely different. Only 0.9% of the GDP comes from agriculture, 22.1% of the GDP is as

Immigration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 5

Immigration - Essay Example With terrorism a recurring threat in the country, the United States has enacted a number of immigration policies that some individuals argue infringe on the core values of the country. This essay considers the complex elements of United States immigration policy in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the United States economic structure and argues that immigration and must continue to remain core values of America. National security depends on the U.S. taking immigration standards seriously. Some policy makers want to shut down or limit the borders because they fear what happened on September 11th. They should reflect though upon what happened on September 12th, as the nation joined together and mourned the loss together. Regardless of where individuals have all come from, America is their home. America cannot be on lockdown because they fear a terrorist strike. The United States is vulnerable. The government cannot guarantee protection to 300,000,000 people at all times. If the United States knows who is entering the country at all times along with what their goals are, they could all sleep a little more soundly at night. The majority of the American population believes the country’s immigration policy is too lenient. Ewing notes, â€Å"†¦a solid eighty percent of Americans polled by CBS- New York Times after the trade center bombings agreed that it is too easy for foreigners to enter the U.S†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . People believe American officials are not policing the borders, yet amnesty has been discussed as a way to remedy this immigration concern. They also believe they are not keeping up on expired visas and adequate background checks are not in place to ensure that we they are letting in people that will enhance society. The Immigration Policy Center (IPC) (2005, pg. iv) notes, â€Å"†¦the great American â€Å"melting pot† has begun to

Detail three differences of the colonies listed in the chapter 1 and 2 Assignment

Detail three differences of the colonies listed in the chapter 1 and 2 - Assignment Example They relied on ship-building due to the sturdy pines that existed there. Also their economy was largely supported by fishing. People increasingly clustered around the coastal regions and built farm lands for promoting agriculture. Their institution of extreme importance was their church which overlooked their morality – this colony was formed mainly for religious purposes (Remini 21). The Middle colony mainly relied on farming and commerce; agriculture thrived in this region because of the climatic conditions and several animals were used to provide fur for export. The fur was actually what the Dutch colonists had shown interest in initially. The fur was not only exported to Europe but also to Southern colonies and West Indies. The culture of this region was especially diverse due to the presence of Dutch, Germans and several other nations. Though some regions of this area were predominantly occupied for religious reasons, a larger portion of this area was colonized for exploiting the natural and material treasures of this land (Remini 21). The Southern colony largely relied on the cultivation of crops and agriculture, with enormous lands reserved for serving this purpose and an enormous workforce requirement. Initially, the workforce comprised largely of indentured servants, which were soon replaced by African slaves. Southern colonies were the first to recognize and institutionalize slavery. Vast social class differences were present in this colony between the natives and the colonists. On the whole, the population of this region was more homogenous than Middle and New England Colonies (Remini 22). Inspite of these differences, all three regions established governance structures based on whether the region was royal, corporate or proprietary. Continuous evolution, colonization and disregard for rules often brought the three colonies into clashes, which eventually

Manager Perspective on Aircraft Maintenance Essay

Manager Perspective on Aircraft Maintenance - Essay Example An FBO is principally known for the provision of support services to the general operators of aviation at a public airport that is located either on the airport leasehold property or even in a few cases, adjacent to the airport leasehold property like an operation of through the fence. In smaller airports that operate and serve general aviation in modest or far-flung societies or communities, the town itself might offer fuel services together with the operation of basic facility of FBO. Many operators of FBO that do business at moderate to high traffic volume airports are non-governmental organizations; that is either publicly or privately owned companies (Herman, 1968). The general objective of the activity of maintenance effort is ensuring availability of the aircraft that is required to meet the operational commitments. In addition, the Aircraft Maintenance Manager is fully responsible for the management of maintenance effort to accomplish this objective. The department of mainten ance organization also helps the manager of aviation maintenance in attaining this goal. Moreover, the maintenance administration offers the personnel accounting, the clerical roles that are associated with the administrative support and record keeping (Mirghani, 1996). The maintenance management consists of the management of aircraft, material, SE and personnel. The MDS (Maintenance Data System) can also help in all there functions. Business aviation allover the world, particularly in the United States has a desirable safety record, and a thorough regulatory structure that helps in keeping it in that manner. One of the fundamental requirements is that the operators of AOC have appointed post holders in key positions, and among them is the maintenance manager. Nevertheless, this critical role may be undertaken or performed by a licensed engineer, even though not necessarily. The engineering quality control, with the responsibility of maintaining airworthiness, contracts with complia nce and suppliers, the present-day maintenance manager should, above all these, be a very competent supervisor (Mirghani, 1996). For this feature, when those who are responsible for their company’s carriers maintenance are asked to tell about their duties, it is surprisingly found that nearly all of them have good relationships with their local managers, and very few troubles or problems with the requirements of EASA different from the sheer paperwork quantity. It is very possible for the maintenance manager of the aircraft manager to be the only member of staff dealing with the technical matters. Nonetheless, the hands-on maintenance will nearly always be performed by contracted corporations with proper approvals. Those who employ their own engineering staffs say that there are numerous qualified candidates available; implying that the issues of shortages of engineers are long gone (Herman, 1968). The department of aircraft maintenance at the airports helps in supporting nav al operations by conserving the aircrafts and the associated SE to the allotted maintenance level. Since all the activities involved in maintenance have similarities in management, operation and mission, these sections have standardized supervision and organization (Herman, 1968). The department of maintenance helps in the facilitation or enhancement of: Training and performance of the maintenance personnel; maintenance effectiveness and veracity for all material;

The American Workforce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The American Workforce - Essay Example The purpose of the study is to examine the correlation between age and job satisfaction among social workers in the Plainfield, Illinois School District 202.   Te correlation between age and job satisfaction shall be analysed in relation to a number of independent variables such as gender and ethnicity.     Notwithstanding the primary focus on age, other determinants of job satisfaction, such as pay, fringe benefits promotion opportunities and workload shall be looked at. The dissertation shall focus on the effect of age on job satisfaction among Illinois social workers, for determination of whether or not there exists a correlation between age and job satisfaction levels.   For the purposes of the proposed study, the research question is, â€Å"is there a correlation between job satisfaction and age among Illinois social workers, and does either gender or ethnicity interact with age to influence job satisfaction levels?†   The hypothesis for this study is, â€Å"there is no correlation between age and job satisfaction among social workers consequent to the fact that are no perceptible ageist practices in this particular work environment and, indeed, there is a marked tendency towards the greater appreciation of older social workers as age denotes experience.†Ã‚  The proposed study seeks the determination of whether or not there exists a correlation between age and social worker job satisfaction levels.   This is, in itself, a sign ificant aim for two reasons.  ... Despite a general recognition of the negative consequences of ageism, age discrimination is a risking problem in the American workplace. Mitchell (1993), Matcha (1997), Sicker (2002) and Smedley and Whitten (2006) concede that a wide array of societal factors incite ageism/age discrimination but the most important are the economic factors, especially those which hold that older workers are less productive and more costly to retain. In light of statistics forwarded by Dytchwald, Eriksson and Morrison (2006), the practice of ageism, as which would lead to a decrease in job satisfaction levels, hence motivation, is highly problematic. Figures for 2005 indicate that the older workforce has increased by 6.4 million over the past decade, two million individuals aged 50-74 are able to work and are seeking employment and that the number of men over the age of 50 who have decided to remain in the workforce has increased by 34% over the past decade (Dytchwald, Eriksson and Morrison, 2006). Apa rt from establishing the extent to which the American workforce has aged, the cited statistics are expressive of the magnitude of the problem which the economy faces should age be correlated to job satisfaction, on the one hand and should employees and co-workers exercise ageist practices as would negatively impact job satisfaction levels, on the other. Proceeding from within the framework of the above-stated, insofar as ageism is a predominant practice in the American workplace, and to the extent that the practice of ageism reduced job satisfaction levels, the consequences of both of the aforementioned shall be examined in relation to social workers (Goldberg, 2002). Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to examine the correlation between age and job

Detail three differences of the colonies listed in the chapter 1 and 2 Assignment

Detail three differences of the colonies listed in the chapter 1 and 2 - Assignment Example They relied on ship-building due to the sturdy pines that existed there. Also their economy was largely supported by fishing. People increasingly clustered around the coastal regions and built farm lands for promoting agriculture. Their institution of extreme importance was their church which overlooked their morality – this colony was formed mainly for religious purposes (Remini 21). The Middle colony mainly relied on farming and commerce; agriculture thrived in this region because of the climatic conditions and several animals were used to provide fur for export. The fur was actually what the Dutch colonists had shown interest in initially. The fur was not only exported to Europe but also to Southern colonies and West Indies. The culture of this region was especially diverse due to the presence of Dutch, Germans and several other nations. Though some regions of this area were predominantly occupied for religious reasons, a larger portion of this area was colonized for exploiting the natural and material treasures of this land (Remini 21). The Southern colony largely relied on the cultivation of crops and agriculture, with enormous lands reserved for serving this purpose and an enormous workforce requirement. Initially, the workforce comprised largely of indentured servants, which were soon replaced by African slaves. Southern colonies were the first to recognize and institutionalize slavery. Vast social class differences were present in this colony between the natives and the colonists. On the whole, the population of this region was more homogenous than Middle and New England Colonies (Remini 22). Inspite of these differences, all three regions established governance structures based on whether the region was royal, corporate or proprietary. Continuous evolution, colonization and disregard for rules often brought the three colonies into clashes, which eventually

The American Workforce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

The American Workforce - Essay Example The purpose of the study is to examine the correlation between age and job satisfaction among social workers in the Plainfield, Illinois School District 202.   Te correlation between age and job satisfaction shall be analysed in relation to a number of independent variables such as gender and ethnicity.     Notwithstanding the primary focus on age, other determinants of job satisfaction, such as pay, fringe benefits promotion opportunities and workload shall be looked at. The dissertation shall focus on the effect of age on job satisfaction among Illinois social workers, for determination of whether or not there exists a correlation between age and job satisfaction levels.   For the purposes of the proposed study, the research question is, â€Å"is there a correlation between job satisfaction and age among Illinois social workers, and does either gender or ethnicity interact with age to influence job satisfaction levels?†   The hypothesis for this study is, â€Å"there is no correlation between age and job satisfaction among social workers consequent to the fact that are no perceptible ageist practices in this particular work environment and, indeed, there is a marked tendency towards the greater appreciation of older social workers as age denotes experience.†Ã‚  The proposed study seeks the determination of whether or not there exists a correlation between age and social worker job satisfaction levels.   This is, in itself, a sign ificant aim for two reasons.  ... Despite a general recognition of the negative consequences of ageism, age discrimination is a risking problem in the American workplace. Mitchell (1993), Matcha (1997), Sicker (2002) and Smedley and Whitten (2006) concede that a wide array of societal factors incite ageism/age discrimination but the most important are the economic factors, especially those which hold that older workers are less productive and more costly to retain. In light of statistics forwarded by Dytchwald, Eriksson and Morrison (2006), the practice of ageism, as which would lead to a decrease in job satisfaction levels, hence motivation, is highly problematic. Figures for 2005 indicate that the older workforce has increased by 6.4 million over the past decade, two million individuals aged 50-74 are able to work and are seeking employment and that the number of men over the age of 50 who have decided to remain in the workforce has increased by 34% over the past decade (Dytchwald, Eriksson and Morrison, 2006). Apa rt from establishing the extent to which the American workforce has aged, the cited statistics are expressive of the magnitude of the problem which the economy faces should age be correlated to job satisfaction, on the one hand and should employees and co-workers exercise ageist practices as would negatively impact job satisfaction levels, on the other. Proceeding from within the framework of the above-stated, insofar as ageism is a predominant practice in the American workplace, and to the extent that the practice of ageism reduced job satisfaction levels, the consequences of both of the aforementioned shall be examined in relation to social workers (Goldberg, 2002). Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study is to examine the correlation between age and job

The Territorial Dispute over Dokdo Essay Example for Free

The Territorial Dispute over Dokdo Essay Dokdo is also recognized as the Liancourt Rocks. It consists of two tiny rocky islets, which are encircled by 33 smaller rocks. The Dokdo islets are situated around 215 kilometers off the eastern border of Korea. The two Islets that make up Dokdo are known as Suhdo and Dongdo. The estimated entire surface area covered by Dokdo is 0. 186 square kilometers. Both rocks that make Dokdo, actually are the remains of a prehistoric volcanic hollow and are a asylum for Petrels and black-tailed gulls and more than a few partially prevalent plants. The Liancourt Rocks is known as Tokto in Korea and it is known as Takeshima in Japan. Sovereignty over the isles is contested between Japan and South Korea. South Korea has commanded Dokdo since July 1954. Both the Korean and Japanese names have altered from time to time. Both of the countries claim an extensive historical and geographical connection with the isles. With this claim, the question that emerges is that why it is so important that both the countries are fighting for the small islets. The name given to the Dokdo, i. e. Liancourt Rocks has come from the French whaling ship Liancourt, which represented the islets in 1849. The rationale behind this fighting is that both the countries have several concerns regarding the Dokdo’s surrounding waters and seabed including areas that may embrace some 600 million tons of natural gas. This gas hydrate can become the next period’s energy origin. In addition, seafood is also the imperative resource for both the countries. The Korean Japanese Claims Koreans claim that Dokdo is an constitutional dominion of Korea as it has been a part of Korean territory since 512 A. D. The first Japanese had written a record on Dokdo and the Records on observations in Onshu have been published in 1667, which admit the fact that Koreans have right over Dokdo. The Japanese declare that they had held Dokdo in the Japanese Empire in 1905. This act of Japanese was opposed by Koreans as they said that Japanese are taking advantage of Koreas political weakness vis-a-vis. Koreans rightfully argue for the Dokdo as at the time when Japan declared that they were containing Dokdo into their empire, Korea was not able to effectively protest the Japanese action because Japan had previously taken charge of the foreign matters of Korea by means of the Protectorate Treaty of 1905, which is also known as the Eulsa Treaty or the Second Japan-Korea Agreement. The confirmation of the treaty itself had been impelled on Korea by the Japanese commission, which shows that Japanese were wrong in their claim to Dokdo. All the history of Dokdo and both the countries’ claims represents the Korean side and also points out that the Japanese did not notify the Korean Government of their claim until 1906. In 1906, Korean officials at both confined and nationwide levels recognized the facts and documented the Japanese action as an encroachment of Korean sovereignty. On the other hand, due to the loss of their nation’s freedom and foreign matters potentiality, no action was taken by them. In 1947, the Japanese Foreign Ministry mentioned the U. S. occupation authorities regarding Japan’s assert to reign over both Ullung and Dokdo Island. Since then, throughout the peace treaty negotiations, Japan desired to decide U. S. notion pertaining to the island. The Japanese ministers refused Korea’s ownership on the bases that there was no existence of the Korean name on the island, which is quite wrong. Japanese also tried to regain the Dokdo during the negotiations of the peace treaty, but they were failed. Dokdo’s sovereignty was not decided by the peace treaty due to the weaknesses of the president of the Republic of Korea, who did not efficiently concentrated his government’s attending on the ownership of Dokdo over Korea’s territorial pertains. Government of Korea never daunted to allow for a scholarly study of the Korean historical record on Dokdo and due to this, it had faced an unresolved dispute from Japanese, whereas Japanese had undertaken an extensive study on the history of the island to which Japan had used as the basis for its claim regarding its sovereignty over Dokdo. Due to all these weaknesses of Korea, they are not able to prove records in their favor, but all these things do not matter as the truth is this that the Dokdo ownership truly lies in the hands of Koreans. References Dokdo History. (2007). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://english. dokdohistory. com/dokdo-history/dokdo-administrative-district. html Dokdo or Takeshima. (2009, February). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. boston. com/bigpicture/2009/02/dokdo_or_takeshima. html The Territorial Dispute over Dokdo. (2008). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. junanworld. pe. kr/595 Lovmo, M. S. The Territorial Dispute over Dokdo. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. geocities. com/mlovmo/page4. html A Brief Background of Dokdo Takeshima Island. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. dokdo-takeshima.com/ Dokdo: The Territorial Dispute between Japan and South Korea. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. pages. drexel. edu/~tm76/politics. doc Dokdo East Sea. (2009). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. korea. net/issues/issue_dokdo_eastsea. asp? from=dokdo_eastsea The Far East of the Korean Territory. (2004). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. dokdocorea. com/ The History of Dokdo. (2007). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www. dokdocorea. com/report/history_dokdo. pdf Dokdo in the East Sea of Korea. (2005). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www.indymedia. org. uk/en/regions/london/2005/03/307419. html Disputes over Ullungdo and Tokdo at the End of the 17th Century. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://www2. gol. com/users/hsmr/Content/East%20Asia/Korea/Dokto_Island/History/Shin_Yong-ha_3. html Japans Unfounded Territorial Claims about Dokdo Dispute. (2007). Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://english. dokdohistory. com/dokdo-history/dokdo-dispute. html Weinstein, M. (2006, May). South Korea-Japan Dokdo/Takeshima Dispute: Toward Confrontation. Japan Focus. Retrieved March 27, 2009, from http://japanfocus.

Benefits of Art in Education

Benefits of Art in Education In the following text will be announcement about art and how it influences in develop of creativity and intelligence in the kids. The human being always has been in contact with the art since we were born for that reason art has a huge impact in us. Each people born with innate ability of create but with the pass of the years this has lost. When we incorporate art in academic develop the students have a best interpersonal relationship and also their brain development is better. In addition the implementation of art in the schools have been increasing obtaining excellent results to academic level and also there is a new technical for better our education system across of games. This technical is called ludic learning that is based in games of this forms the students can learning better are be more outgoing also put more attention in their classes because they are not stressful nor boring. There they develop their creativity and imagination. For this reason, art is fundamental for grow th intellectual in the kids. Since every human being had born with an innate ability of imagination and create. For that reason art, music, even sports always they were with us. The obsolete education system leaves aside our innate ability of relationship and its focus on the critical and rational thing. Subjects like mathematics, chemistry and physics have greater relevance than art, music and sports but this will change. All the people around the world are completely different is for this reason we need different form of teach because each people learn of different way. Art is a fundamental tool for better in the intellectual growth of the children. The actual schools should founded the develop of art in the classes because of this form the kids can better their abilities like reason and their creativity and this away could be in the future a excellences people that they have good interpersonal relationship and also be good professionals. Art could be work it since a very young age because it encourages develop childrens brain. Allowing them develop right hemisphere and so to have a vast intelligence to expand others skills like relationship between people, capacity for to lean others languages, even their self-esteem is better. Also, art acts positively in the life of the people because many people have fallen in drug addition, vandalism between others, but they have been able leave this thanks the positively encourage of art. When we grow up lost our innate skills of imagine and create, but if we develop the abilities of children since very young with games, paintings, etc. They can better these abilities. According to the National Institutes of Health, developmental milestones around age three should include drawing a circle and beginning to use safety scissors. Around age four, children may be able to draw a square and begin cutting straight lines with scissors. Many preschool programs emphasize the use of scissors because it develops the dexterity children will need for writing. For this way we can improving their develop of brain and have a better education though art. ( Lynch, G. 2012) A report by Americans for the Arts states that young people who participate regularly in the arts (three hours a day on three days each week through one full year) are four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement. To participate in a math and science fair or to win an award for writing an essay or poem than children who do not participate. (Lynch, G. 2012). When the art is in the schools the students are more relaxed because across of art they can express their ideas and feel more rested. Nowadays our interpersonal relationship is broken because the people prefer their computer or use internet. But this can change across the art. Art is the door of our things and feelings. Many people cannot have a good relationship with words, this was because when they was children cannot express their feelings but if we teach kids others ways to express their feelings we can improve the interpersonal relationship. According to choreographer, Diana F. Green (2015) Art like dance uses the body as an instrument the body could be a form to express their feelings and for this way they improving their emotional intelligence. Current research have revealed the importance of the arts implementation in the schools as tool for intellectual growth in kids. In fact, the artistic disciplines are involved in pedagogical practices. They infuse the creative think in the children. Besides this develops a deep think, less systematic. Likewise, the children can find many ways for resolve a problem because art is joined with creativity and further enhances growth of the intellectual development. There are many researches that exposes that children influenced for music have better grades in their schools. An article published in 2009 by Kimberly L. music and apprenticeship show that neuroscience society found some areas of our brain that involve movement and coordination are better in musical people and less in common people. In addition many experts recommend to parents make listen classic and harmonic music to their children. Of this away their sensory, emotional and auditory teaches is developed. Through of time the education system has been changed. For this reason countries like Finland has art, music and sports involved the academic life of the students. They since have started their studies have a lot of hours for developing their imagination and creativity through of paint, play an instrument, write and others. Also, it has been implemented a new art of teaching called playful learning. This new form of teaching is based on touch with games. It makes the kids learn very quickly and better. In the same way, has been inserted in the school this method is getting huge results. The students pay more attention and are very outgoing in classes because when they make games like teaching they are more open to learning and their stress levels are drastically reduced. Between these playful practices, art is always present because it allows to expand our skylines on the subject of teaching. According an article by the magazine Artz said demonstrates intelligences relation to creativity, one that is vital for not only understanding creative thinking, but for improving it. The creativity which encompasses art and imagination are tightly join to intelligence. At present it is not enough be only a genius, but also have the capacity to relate to people, of expanding your ideas, or create and invent. In addition many people around the world thing that art does not have any bonding with the intelligence but this is not correct because the artist people development more parts of their brain that ordinal people. Also, the art can take us away is so in the newspaper called el comercio it said Quito urban places has transform in a canvas of a new form of language (Flores G., 2016). Ecuador is changing its form of seeing this street art because art symbolizes for artist a form to express their feelings, a develop emotional intelligence. Is for that thanks to a lot of graffiti paintings in the capital has led Ecuador to be recognized internationally for its art. In conclusion, the human being always had a need to show that their feelings of different forms. For that we born with an innate ability to create that it is reflected in the art. However, art for many years was separate from intelligence because thought that they are things completely different. Nowadays, and thanks many researches and experiments had been determined that art and intelligent go hand in hand. It is more people do not just involve the science, but also their art. They develop do not only left hemisphere, but also right hemisphere. It gives them as result the increase of some abilities that with the pass of the years and for many factors they had lost it. In addition, many experts say that stimulating babies with music, art and others positively affects the brain of the children as it enhances the cognitive response of the right hemisphere. It is for this reason that the implementation of art as an aid to improve intelligence has been incorporated in schools where children from an early age are motivated with games, songs, paintings, etc. To learn from what they have obtained very good results because the students are more relaxed and pay more attention to a didactic class than an absolute. In addition, thanks to the involvement of art in schools, children are not only educated to be great professionals, but also develop as people because through art their ability to create and imagine, their interpersonal relationship improves are less systematic. Fortunately art is no longer left aside, but rather placed as an importance in the development of the child since it has come to take the place that corresponds because without art, without creativity the intelligence would not develop completely, in fact the Creativity allows us to look at other ways, other ways to reach the same goal, this is extremely important in the intelligence of the people because it allows us to be human beings with a greater reasoning and a criterion more vast when making decisions. References: Cooper, B. (2013, November 20). 8 Surprising Ways Music Affects and Benefits our Brains. . Retrieved November 19, 2016, from https://blog.bufferapp.com/music-and-the-brain. Flores, G. (2016, January 09) El arte urbano de Quito es reconocido internacionalmente. Retroceded November 19, 2016, from http://www.elcomercio.com/tendencias/arteurbano-quito-grafiti-warmipaint-detonarte.html Jurvetson, S. (2013, January 21). The relationship between creativity and intelligence. Retrieved November 19,2016, from http://creativesomething.net/post/41103661291/the-relationship-between-creativity-and Reyes, f. (2014, October 17). El aprendizaje là ºdico: una novedosa estrategia de capacitacià ³n. Retrieved November 19, 2016, Wai, j. (2011, April 12). If you are creative, are you also intelligent? Retrieved November 19, 2016, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/finding-the-next-einstein/201104/if-you-are-creative-are-you-also-intelligent. from https://sp-marketing.com/el-aprendizaje-ludico-como-estrategia-de-capacitacion/