Analysis of the competitiveness of the Smartphone industry in Taiwan The WritePass Journal

Analysis of the competitiveness of the Smartphone industry in Taiwan Abstract Analysis of the competitiveness of the Smartphone industry in Taiwan Abstract1 Introduction2 Methodology3 Porter’s Five Forces3.1 The competition among existing industries or countries that carry out their activities in the same area:3.2 Entry Barriers:3.3 Bargaining Power: 3.4 Substitute Products:3.5 Complements3.6 Rivalry 4 PESTLE Analyses5 SWOT analyses5.1 Identifying company strengths:5.2 Identifying company weaknesses:5.3 Identifying company’s market opportunities:5.4 Identifying of the threats to a company’s profitability:6 ConclusionReferencesRelated Abstract Now these days the Smartphone industry along with the other sectors the one main thing is the competitiveness that declares the successfulness or failure in the global market place.   As in the case of the Smartphone industry being competitive means that the industry can be able to offer a product of higher quality compared to its rivals, but at the same time, with a similar price. The Smartphone industry has achieved (reached) this competitiveness mainly because of its vertical integrated production chain.   This specific coordination, besides reducing transaction costs, push toward a production of excellent quality, which can be immediately adjusted according to the consumer demand. Keywords: Competitiveness, Smartphone Industry 1 Introduction Recently, there have been many articles written about the Smartphone industry and this attention is because of/due to the fact that such a small country could have such a large production.  Ã‚   Smartphones most definitely will become the information center as well as the device most everyone in public choose to own for entertainment. An increase in acceptance as well the prevalent usage of smartphone’s is not only a good sign for the makers of smart phones, but as well as the entire wireless industry. In 2011, recently, a market research firm mentioned the fact that worldwide, the smartphone market would nearly grow by as much as 50% and the leading operating system would be taken over by Google’s Android. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), in 2011 more than 450 million smart phones compared to last year’s 303.4 million smart phones were shipped by vendors of smart phones. IDC also said that the smart phone market will grow greater than four times quicker compared to the overall mobile phone market as consumers as well as enterprise users’ upgrade from their basic handsets to smart phones that have many advanced capabilities.   The research firm also believes in 2011, the Android likely will surpass Nokia’s Symbian and will take over in becoming the most smart phone platform that leads the market. 2 Methodology The various methods used in order to carry out a thorough analysis of the competitive environment comes from Porter’s Five Forces, while describing the industry’s strength as well as its capabilities and the technique of SWOT can be used. 3 Porter’s Five Forces In order to make a complete analysis of the environment of how the smartphone industry operates we need to evaluate those forces that work in it as well as seeing how the forces share its competitive environment.   The forces that are taken into consideration normally are: the technology available technology its development, the economy at large, the competitiveness, government legislation, population demographics, societal values and lifestyles.   Even if some of these forces can’t be directly influenced from the industry is anyway important to evaluate each one of them to fully understand the forces behind the smartphone dynamics. Michael Porter suggested that competitiveness as the force that most likely has the most impact on the industry and it can very much affect the environment where companies move their steps. The competitiveness generates pressure on the industry players and this pressure is captured by Porter’s forces.   Porter’s framework suggests the following 5 forces as components of competition. The competitions among current industries or countries that carry out their activities in the same area are as follows: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The threat from new potential entrants 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The threat from substitute products 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The bargaining power stemming from suppliers The bargaining power stemming from buyers Figure 1. The Five Factors or Forces Affecting Competition in an Industry modified from (Porter, 1980). 3.1 The competition among existing industries or countries that carry out their activities in the same area: This force is likely the strongest of the five, the rivalry increases both because of one or more industries foresee the opportunity to increase their market share to the detriment of others. 3.2 Entry Barriers: Under normal conditions, new entrants to a market bring an increment of production capacity and the desire to gain new market share.   To determine how serious this threat from new entries, the two things we should think carefully about are as follows: barriers to entry as well as the expected reactions of firms already available in the market. Several types of entry barriers are as follows: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fixed costs: necessary research and development 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reputation of incumbent firms: people buy phones from companies they trust 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Networking: people buy phones that their friends and acquaintances use 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Switching costs: people buy phones that their friends and acquaintances use 5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Differentiation: limited ability to differentiate from other phones 3.3 Bargaining Power: Smart phone firms possess relatively weak bargaining power.   There are some reasons that include the following: 1) Substitutes: many substitutes (as seen below) 2) Elastic demand: Smart phones aren’t a necessary product; therefore there is an elastic demand for them 3) Information: Customers tend to research capabilities of smart phones because of price as well as high reliance on the product 4) Differentiation: Limited ability to differentiate from other competitors 5) Switching costs: Limited incentives for users to change phone companies 3.4 Substitute Products: A number of substitutes exist for smart phones.   The main purpose of smartphones is for mobile access to information.   The following are some products that share similar uses: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cellular phones 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Laptops 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Organizers or pen and paper 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pager In particular, notebooks and cell phones provide sufficient the services that are most needed for mobile access to information. 3.5 Complements For smart phones, any application that works well with the phones can be considered a complement.   Google owns a large number of such applications that will be mentioned later.   Some of the complements include the following: 1) Email 2) Data manipulation applications (documents) 3) Maps and GPS 4) Organization applications 5) Other internet applications and essentially any software available on phones 6) Music and other media content 7) Computers (in order to install manipulate software on the phone) 8) Products involved in travel and mobility 3.6 Rivalry The smartphone industry is rather competitive.   Although there are a few strong competitors, the industry does not support many firms.   The following are reasons for this: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Differentiation: There is only a limited ability that distinguishes smartphones from a competitor’s besides the interface.   Nonetheless, for smart phones, a considerable differentiation exists between business and home users.   This allows for multiple firms to exist, despite the fact that the total number may be still somewhat small. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Economy of Scale: There is almost no scalability to create more software, so this doesn’t force the market toward a small number of firms. 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Prices: Generally speaking, customers value quality significantly over price when considering buying a phone that they will often use frequently.   The reason is that most prices between phones are generally similar, and prices are mostly similar, and prices are insignificant compared to the usefulness and amount of time customers will use the phone.   Hence, no room to differentiate for price exists and companies that perceive low quality and low budgets for R D won’t survive. 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Networking: Because there may be cheaper service between the same phones, people purchase the same phones as their friends. 5)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brand Name: Customers care about buying a phone from popular or reliable companies, so as a result, the existence of multiple small firms are limited. As a result, the smart phone industry supports multiple firms due to ability to differentiate between business and home users, but does not support a large number of smaller firms. Then, the smart phone industry is very rivalrous as competitors fight to become one of these few firms. 4 PESTLE Analyses â€Å"PESTLE analysis stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental analysis and describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of strategic management.†(Wikipedia 2011). PESTLE analysis-Smartphone Industry Political/Legal current legislation home market future legislation international legislation government policies Economic economy situation economy trends overseas economies and trends market and trade cycles specific industry factors market routes distribution trends Social lifestyle trends demographics consumer attitudes and opinions media views brand, company, technology image consumer buying patterns buying access and trends Technological competing technology development replacement technology/solutions maturity of technology manufacturing maturity information and communications consumer buying technology legislation intellectual property issues global communications 5 SWOT analyses After we have discussed the main features of the external environment where the Smartphone industry is set, in the following second section of the paper, we will carry out a general evaluation of the company’s internal resource capabilities and competitive advantage versus rivals. By exploring these factors, we can use the analytical technique of SWOT (acronym of Strength, Weakness,Opportunity, and threats. 5.1 Identifying company strengths: HTC Corporation is the Taiwan-based manufacturer for smartphone industry.  Ã‚   HTC is most known for its innovation as the company is always expanding upon its product line- introducing new devices that support specific applications.   HTC made its name as the company behind many of the most popular operator-branded devices on the market. It has established unique partnerships with key mobile brands, including the leading five operators in Europe, the top four in theUS, and many fast-growing Asian operators. It has also brought products to market with industry leading OEM partners and, since June 2006, under its own HTC brand. â€Å"HTC is one of the fastest-growing companies in the mobile sector and has achieved remarkable recognition over the past couple of years. Business Week ranked HTC as the second best performing technology company inAsiain 2007 as well as giving the company the number 3 spot in its Global listing in 2006† (HTC 2011). 5.2 Identifying company weaknesses: In the world,Taiwanis a small country with a small population.   Hence, there is a small market for smartphones which limits the potential for sales.   Because of the small market. 5.3 Identifying company’s market opportunities: Many OEM factories could brand their products easily.   These factories could step out from OEM factories into a brand.   BecauseTaiwanis such a small country, in order to meet increasing demand,Taiwan’s leading smartphone producer HTC likely will outsource its smartphone production. 5.4 Identifying of the threats to a company’s profitability: Because of the obvious dominance in the world market place,Chinabeing one of the largest countries in the world, besides theUnited States, definitely poses a large threat toTaiwan’s smartphone industry.   The market place inChinais quite large, which consequently means there is more competition.   The population inChinais quite large and because of the large population size, in the market place, there are more consumers which create a bigger demand for supply. Some other threats for theTaiwanmarketplace are other companies manufacturing cheap phones (many similar or substitute products).   These cheap phones will affect the marketplace because those consumers who can’t afford the expensive items will buy these cheaper versions.   These cheap phones may offer the same features but the quality might not be as good. Taiwan’s smartphone industry faces major competition from other companies’ worldwide (intense competition from major rivals).   Some major competitors forTaiwanare as follows: 1)   United States- Apple (iPhone) 2)   Japan-Sony Ericcsson 3)   Canada- Research In Motion aka RIM (BlackBerry) 4)   Finland- Nokia 5)  Samsung-Korea 6 Conclusion For a new firm that is considering entering the smartphone industry, the firm will need a lot of capital because intellectual property (IP) for smartphones is extremely important to license or create.   Also, capital is necessary because lawsuits over patents are very common, which is probably a reason to avoid entering it altogether.   Secondly, the smartphone industry is extremely fast moving; it’s a combination of computer technology (IT) with communication technology, a whole new industry called by some (ICT).   So, as a result, good resources are needed in both areas.   That’s the reason thatFinland’s Nokia is struggling in the market.   Nokia never made computers.   And the reasons above show why Apple is dominating the market with the iPhone.   Apple has the computer know-how; they have tons of money for RD to churn out designs, as well as having a very strong brand name, which is another huge factor.   So, without having an established bra nd, it will be extremely hard to enter the smartphone industry.   Acer as well is trying to become competitive in the industry.   Acer is trying to leverage its brand (which is only known for PCs so far) and experience in PC design and marketing.   A lot of companies are trying to jump on the bandwagon, probably all big PC makers, as well as Google, so it will be quite tough for newcomers to get a share of the market.   Every new product will be measured against the iPhone which has set itself as the standard for smartphones, as it’s hard to compete against it. Q2 In Richard Whittington’s book, â€Å"What is Strategy and does it Matter† he discusses four different approaches to strategy.   The different approaches are as follows: 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Classical 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Evolutionary 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Processual 4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Systemic When knowing the difference between these theories, businesses can choose which theory matches its needs.   These four different strategic approaches are different in terms of their point of view and position.   The classical approach focuses on long term goals and objectives and is top-down driven (internal plans). Managers using the classical approach focus on profit-maximization.   The classical approach is analytical and its key influences are economics as well as military. The Evolutionary approach’s rationale is survival, while focusing on external (markets).   The process behind the evolutionary approach is Darwinian, while its key influences are economics and biology.   The Processual approach is vague while focusing on internal (politics/cognition).   The processes behind this approach are bargaining and learning.   Psychology is the primary influence for this approach.  Ã‚   Systemic approach’s rationale is local while focusing on external (societies). While the process behind it is social and its key influence is Sociology. By using these four different strategic approaches, businesses are able to compare rational implications of the different theories while in various situations.   Management in businesses faces the challenge of implementing as well as evaluating these various strategy-making approaches.   While doing so, leaders in management can use these different theories in an effective manner. References HTC. (2011). About HTC-Company Info-HTC Mobile Phones Innovation. Available: htc.com/us/about. Last accessed 4th May 2011. Collins D. J., Cynthia A. M., (1995), Competing on Resources: Strategy in the 1990s, Harvard Business Rewiw 73 No. 4, pp. 118-28 D ´Aveni, Richard A., (1994), Hypercompetition,New York: Free Press Ganapati, Priya . (2011). Strapped to Android, HTC Takes a Dizzying Ride to the Top. Available: wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/12/android-htc-profile/. Last accessed 4th May 2011. Hundebà ¸ll, K., (2003), Personal interwiev, Foreign Trade Director of DLG,Kà ¸benhavn,Denmark Porter M.E., (1980), Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors,New York: Gree Press, Chapter 1. Porter M.E., (1985), Competitive Advantage,New York: Free Press, Chapter 2 Thompson A., Strickland A.J., (2001), Crafting and Executive Strategies, McGraw-Hill Education –Europe Wikipedia: PEST analysis [online]. (2011) [Accessed 6th May 2011]. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEST_analysis. Zack M. H., (1999), Developing a Knowledge Strategy,California Management Review 41, No. 3, pp. 125-45.

Child Abuse and Porn essays

Child Abuse and Porn essays Child sexual abuse can be defined as any form of sexual activity with a child. It may include showing a child pornographic materials, placing the childs hand on another persons genitals, touching a childs genitals and to the more extreme form of penetration. (Kali Munro) It is essential to understand what child abuse through pornography is, what it can do to a child and why this kind of abuse continues. Someone who knows what pornography can do to a child is a thirty-one year old, mother of two named Bonnie. Bonnie spoke to the Attorney Generals Commission on Pornography about her experience with pornography and child abuse. Both of Bonnies husbands were into pornography and abused her and her two daughters, Michelle and Debbie. The account of the abuse that took place between Bonnies second husband, Paul and her daughters are as follows: He seemed to enjoy showing them pornographic material. The girls remember specifically a time when Paul showed them a picture of a naked lady dressed in the bottom of a leopard skin outfit and holding a whip. He asked them what they thought of it. Both children said they were disgusted at viewing the picture. My daughters told me . . . that Paul asked them if they wanted to be photographed like the girls in the magazines. The girls also told me that Paul sometimes played a game with them in which their feet were tied up tightly with a rope. The molestations included bad touching and exhibitionism by Paul . . . . If I ever questioned either her (Michelle) or Paul about what was the matter, Michelle would look scared at Paul and say, Nothings wrong, Mommy. After I left Paul, Michelle told me why she never said what was wrong. If she had told, Paul threatened to put her in a large garbage bag and dump her in a lake. Even after I filed for divorce and Paul was put on probat ion, the damage ha...

Party of Liberals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Party of Liberals - Essay Example We don't believe in the theory that supporters of abortion should be called anti-life, immoral or unethical. We never advocate killing of human life but only believe in the full fledged form of women's liberation. Termination of pregnancy should not be misunderstood as killing of human life. Our party is strongly of the opinion that any human embryo carried by a pregnant woman up to the medically terminable stage should not be considered life. Even though spermatozoa, ovum, pre-embryo, embryo, fetus, newborn, and infant are different forms of human life, they don't carry the equal value in relation to its meaning (Definition of terms, human life). The issue of abortion has once again come to the fore with the Mayoral elections nearing. You may recall that we have severely condemned the practice of abortion as unethical at our last delegates meeting. We once again reiterate our commitment to stand by the resolution adopted unanimously at that meeting in which we pledged to ban all abortion clinics in our city if our party candidate became the Mayor of the city. We assure you we will go to any extent to protect your traditional rights and cultural aspects on which the society has built up the social and moral fabric over a period. Abortion is equal to killing the innocent and it is unethical and immoral too.

My Personal Code of Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My Personal Code of Ethics - Essay Example Still others have no real faith and try to build a moral foundation out of their personal experience adding rules and content to it as the years go by. In this essay I will look at some of the most popular moral schemas—and the obligations that come from them—and then describe my own view on this vast and important subject. I was brought up in a religious family and was baptized in the church. Not all of my family was very religious, but my mother and my brother and sister were. I was instructed in the Sunday school with the typical Christian moral precepts: the Golden Rule, love they neighbour, the Ten Commandments. But these ideas seemed to me to be much more like common sense then in any idea that needed to be divinely revealed. I didn’t really understand why a god was required to supervise or implement these rules as it seemed to me that most people basically followed them anyway. I did, however, become interested in the way that this sort of morality influenced American politics and how many of the principles of the constitution seemed to be based of Judea-Christian values. I totally agree with the French history Alexis de Tocqueville when he visited American hundreds of years ago and wrote: The principles of New England †¦ now extend their influence beyond its limits, over the whole American world. The civilization of New England has been like a beacon lit upon a hill†¦. †¦ Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but corresponded in many points with the most absolute democratic and republican theories. †¦Nathaniel Morton, the historian of the first years of the settlement, thus opens his subject: â€Å"we may not hide from our children, showing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord; that especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen ( Psalm cv. 5, 6 ), may remember his marvellous works in the beginning †¦ â€Å" †¦ The general principles which are the groundwork of modern

The Glass Menagerie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Glass Menagerie - Essay Example She would rattle off the numerous names of her suitors and she would recount their consequent fame and fortune after some years. However, she would always refer to her husband with a note of regret and sadness. Amanda also failed to accept the disability of her daughter, Laura, who is a cripple, so she refused to face the reality that Laura would naturally have fewer suitors due to this disability. Instead, she would say that there must be a typhoon on a certain day since Laura has no gentleman callers. Amanda also exercises considerable control over her children. For instance, Amanda demands that Tom, her son should join them during meals. One of her dreams is that Laura gets to marry a fine gentleman. She also wants Laura to study the typewriter and practice the shorthand so that the gentlemen callers will perceive that she is well-bred. Laura has a low self-esteem as shown by her deep sensitivity to the negative perceptions of other people. She also seems to have an unstable mental condition. Instead of braving the negative perceptions of her classmates at the Business College, she instead chose to stay at home and be comforted by the presence of her glass collection. Hence, she settled for a less daunting feat: playing with beautiful glass figurines everyday.

Effects of ESOL Teaching on Social Integration

Effects of ESOL Teaching on Social Integration The effects of ESOL teaching on learners in relation to social integration, identity and social cohesion Introduction This paper will investigate the affect that current ESOL teaching practice can have in terms of impacting on a variety of diverse groups of learners. It is important to consider that ESOL provision is taught across a number of disciplines and exists in various capacities within colleges, community settings, in the workplace and even prison and detention centres. The types of learners undertaking ESL courses represent a rich mix of backgrounds and come with a number of incentives to learn English. For the benefit of focusing on an area that is potentially vast in its research, this dissertation will concentrate predominantly on the UK systems and the teaching of diverse communities that represent different ethnicity, cultural background and citizenship. Breaking the Language Barriers published by the DfES in 2000 documents the findings of a report into ESOL provision in the UK and identifies a number of issues that needed addressing. The report categorizes ESOL students into four types of learner: Settled communities Refugees and asylum seekers Migrant workers Partners and spouses of students. (DfES, 2000) From these categories they determined that a great many ESOL students particularly refugees and asylum seekers experienced a range of problems including; financial, legal, social, physical and mental issues and clarified that they were marginalized, often excluded and living in poverty, subject to frequent discrimination and racism. (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/Projects/esol-enquiry/documents/ESOL-Committee-Issues.doc, Date accessed, 21/11/08 What the report also highlighted was the variable levels of teaching ability, which has been attributed to the shortage of adequately trained teachers, the lack of use of the learners’ first language as a learning resource and the lack of support for students with special learning needs. (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/Projects/esol-enquiry/documents/ESOL-Committee-Issues.doc, Date accessed, 21/11/08 The way in which the link between social cohesion and teaching can be made is perhaps best summarised by the work of Dagenais et al in Intersections of Social Cohesion, Education, and Identity in Teachers, Discourses, and Practices. There paper examines the debate surrounding government policy on promoting social cohesion. It exemplifies programmes in Canada where local and national schools and teachers work with professional agencies to develop policy directives that are geared around building social cohesion practices within a bilingual and multicultural framework. Dagenais et al took this developmental work a stage further by undertaking teacher-researcher collaboration to determine how teachers utilize both their own cultural backgrounds as well as their student’s backgrounds in order to achieve an inclusive classroom setting. Teachers were seen to adopt learning techniques which were innovative in their ability to incite inclusion. Consequently the research project conclu ded that teachers have the ability to help inform policymakers, researchers and other learning practitioners about the link between ‘identity, language and education implicated in social cohesion projects’ (Dagenais et al, 2008) The link between social cohesion and teaching is not a modern concept. Historically it has played a significant role from the mid nineteenth century to the present day. Jewish settlers arrived in Victorian London and were assisted by voluntary organisations and a small series of published self-help texts. The next wave of refugees came about from those fleeing persecution in the Spanish Civil War and to escape Nazi Europe. It was during this time between the 1930’s and the 1950’s that the Berlitz guide and the linguaphone emerged. Over the next couple of decades following the post-war immigration to the UK the government began to respond as to local education authorities and the birth of the official ESOL teacher came about during the 1960’s. (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/C/CriticalHistory.asp, Date accessed, 22/11/08) Ten years later and the Russell Report was published. The Russell Report of 1973 was to ‘prove a milestone in adult le arning in the UK’. With Russell emphasising the special needs of adults and the necessity to provide for them by developing a variety of courses at different levels. (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/Publications/R/Russell.asp, Date accessed, 22/11/08). This was an important decade again in terms of refugees entering the UK from Latin America, Uganda, Cambodia and Vietnam. The 1980’s witnessed the abolition of the Industrial Language Training and adult and community education was experiencing one of its most vulnerable periods. But at the same time other community languages were being recognized. During the 1990’s there was a significant move towards recognizing ESOL which was positioned within the newly established Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit within the central government education department. (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/publications/C/CriticalHistory.asp, Date accessed, 22/11/08) Today this exists as The Skills for Life Strategy Unit which is based in the Department for Innovation, Universitiesand Skills and has been operational under its new identity sinceNovember 2000. The Unit works in tangent with other partner organisations including the Prison Service, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Learning and Skills Development Agency in addition to voluntary and civil service. Its main objective is to take forward the Government’s Skills for Life agenda. In short it encourages continual improvement with literacy, languageand numeracy skills both at a national and local level. The Skills for Life Strategy Unit is categorized thus: Access and Inclusion ESOL Policy Learner Achievement Learner Engagement and Communications Level 2 and Level 2 PSAs Migration Strategy Quality and Teacher Education Workplace Engagement and Public Sector (Sourced from: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/readwriteplus/who_we_are, Date accessed, 22/11/08) It is from the perspective of the twentieth century that this paper will scrutinize the historical relationship between ESOL provision and the wider community including its modern day responsibility to contribute to the framework of social cohesion and inclusivity. Chapter one will concentrate on the existing evidence to suggest that there is a definite need to enhance current learning experiences for those people in society who may be at risk of exclusion or requiring greater understanding of their social, political and cultural background where the teaching of the English language is concerned. Recent research and investigative projects working with minority groups and diverse learners will be explored for consideration in the broader argument to suggest legitimizing these theories. Chapter two will then examine what is currently being achieved in relation to forward thinking and strategic change taking into consideration the moves by government and learning bodies to begin the process of applying new curriculum and teaching developments that respond to the needs of a wider community of learners. Chapter One: Identifying problems and issues amongst learners and tutors The purpose of this chapter will be to outline an indication of the types of problems that exist for a variety of people in terms of how they are taught ESOL, to identify the characteristics and needs of the learners by way of case studies and examples. Consequently the teaching methods, ESOL curriculum and identified issues in these areas will be analysed. The perceptions of English Language teaching vary greatly between different societies in accordance with their demographic, political situation and the sanctioned education systems of the country. For example in the United States second language tuition is considered the medium through which non-English speaking children are fast-tracked into English in the shortest amount of time, with little scope for quality of provision. (Julios, 2008) To give another example, Pacific communities born into New Zealand life are currently facing a crisis with ESL provision in that while English is important to them economically and socially they are being denied their ancestral culture by losing their language and until further research has been carried out in this field it is feared the long-term issues of the teaching of English to Pacific ESL learners will remain problematic. (Sourced from: http://www.clesol.org.nz/2008/CLESOL08SaturdayAbstracts.pdf, Date accessed, 21/11/08) It is not just basic fundamental issues relating to culture or quality of teaching practice, other complications arise when learners have other specific learning needs which can further limit their academic success on an ESL course. For example individuals may experience low levels of literacy, no formal educational background or unfamiliarity with the standardized Roman-script. Recent studies in the UK reveal that within a cross- section of ESOL classes. ‘59 per cent of learners have had 11 or more years of Education, with 23 per cent having more than 15 years in education. Males were more likely than females to have no qualifications 37 per cent compared with 32 per cent of females’. (DfES, 2005) Some of these individuals may be survivors of torture and trauma as well as being older in years and require more time and attention in the classroom. The educational researcher McPherson determined that ‘classes formed on the basis of a range of characteristics which indicate a slow pace of learning, will often result in such a disparate group that their different language and literacy needs will not be effectively met.’ (Hinkel, 2005) Refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers as well as established settled communities want to learn English. Amongst these individuals there exists a huge diversity as well as some obvious common themes like those already touched upon. All of which bring with them a set of needs and different expectations as to what students require from a course of ESL teaching. Their backgrounds and life histories are often complicated. A number of ESOL Pathfinder projects were commissioned in 2002 across ten locations in England with the intention of contributing to the Government’s Public Services Agreement Target to ‘improve the literacy, language and numeracy levels of 2.25 million adults between the launch of Skills for Life in 2001 and 2010’ (DfES, 2005) The ESOL initiatives were evaluated later that same year and stressed the diversity of learning characteristics within this sector, with interesting figures emerging about the slightly increased numbers of women than men undertaking the courses. This suggests that there may be a number of challenges for women trying to support their children at home. Gender in itself is another significant point of interest in this study as many women can be believed to have lived in England for a number of years and have never learnt the language or only speak elements of it, these women are often most recognized in Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities where they have very different cultural responsibilities and therefore less opportunities to attend beneficial ESL courses. (Heath and Cheung 2006) In particular women who are asylum seekers or refugees can experience tremendous isolation and feel restricted with access to health services, not being able to speak the language as well as being potenti ally more vulnerable to abuse or violence from a cultural perspective. The ESOL evaluation revealed that almost half of all learners were less than thirty years of age emanating from a broad sphere of ethnic origin. This ethnic breakdown included White and other students totaling 16 per cent, African, 15 per cent, Pakistani, 13 per cent and Other Asian 13 per cent. The Learner Survey revealed over fifty-four different first languages spoken by learners. Half were married or living with a partner and one in six were living away from their partner who resided outside of the UK. (DfES, 2005) The 2008 NIACE report ESOL: the context and issues also corroborates this evidence and adds that students of English are learning for a variety of purposes which include securing or progressing into long-term employment, supporting their children, being able to access services, being able to integrate more into their surrounding community and aspiring to embrace the British culture and British political systems. (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/lifelonglearninginquiry/docs/Jane-Ward-migration-evidence.pdf, date accessed, 21/11/08 Most recent studies reflect the need to improve on the way in which ESOL is delivered and encouraged for the benefit of the inclusion of a variety of needs and abilities. It is clear however that this issue has been apparent for a number of years which makes the prospect of re-developing curriculum provision and teaching methods in this complex area of teaching particularly difficult. ESOL has inherently adopted a style which serves a purpose, designed for the masses often to be delivered and completed within a limited timeframe. In 1989 a study of 13 Adult Education ESOL centres across the UK were investigated focusing on bilingual migrant learners. This early analysis captured the attitudes and motivations of these learners and emphasized their desire to maintain their mother tongue and heritage whilst being taught the language and customs of their new host country. (Lal Khanna, et al, 1998) One of the most interesting and informative research projects to date in this area is reflected in the Adult Learners’ Lives (All) working with people who are learning within adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL groups to understand and appreciate their concept of the learning experience in relation to their wider lives; covering the regions of Blackburn, Lancaster and Liverpool. As part of this initiative a recent commissioned piece of research was carried out amongst ESOL students who were enrolled on an evening class at Blackburn College. The findings of this report share some of the most important data in existence relating to primary first hand interviews with students. The outcomes reveal both positive and negative opinions relating to ESOL provision, which essentially can be interpreted in both a positive and negative light. The participants believed that more than anything their work experience had provided them with the best opportunity to encourage their learning of the English language an was much less restricted that the classroom. For many this was their only chance to utilize the language outside of the classroom. The learners were critical about the amount of provision available and found it affected their learning capabilities. One participant in particular, Mahmood found that working all day and then studying English in the evening prevented him from finding a vocational course in a different practical subject that could increase his chances of gaining better employment. In terms of issues relating to their background and culture, many familiar examples of diversity were apparent across the group as were their complex needs and considerations. Frederick carried the scars of war in his country and suffered considerably both physically and psychologically. Despite this his motivation levels were extremely high. Iqbal came to England in order to be with his new wife. The transition from his old life and professional career had left him very dissatisfied. Proving earlier references to gender and cultural relationship issues Ammara was studying at degree level and had been instructed by her husband to discontinue with it. This had repercussions on here work life which she had to compromise with and learn English accordingly. Below are some of the edited extracts detailing the participant’s interviews taken from this report. Frederick’s story: ‘Frederick came to England for the reasons above and more. He arrived in England with nothing. He didn’t have permission to work, couldn’t speak the language and had no friends or networks. His first step of integration in to the country was his attendance on an ESOL course at Blackburn College. Despite his desperate situation he was anxious to start again and enrolled almost immediately upon his arrival in Blackburn. Although he was aware of the importance of learning English he found the classes very difficult at first: â€Å"It was my first time, the first time it was so difficult.† In spite of his worries he continued the classes and vastly improved his English during his first year here. Also significant was the beneficial effect ESOL classes had on his social life. He made many new friends, who helped ease the loneliness of living in a new country, and gave him an extra chance to practice his English.’ Ammara’s story: ‘Ammara sees a close relationship between education and work. She clearly perceives education and training as a stepping-stone into work. She has shown that she is quite adept at completing courses and using the obtained qualifications to find work. Her biggest problem is language related. She had quite a good decent overall level of English when she arrived in England particularly with regards to reading and writing. Due to the high level of education she obtained in Pakistan she was able to complete the courses she took here easily because she had a good level of literacy skills in English. The language issues she is facing these days arise from her limited oral grasp of English and this appears to be most noticeable to her in her working life. With regards to work and language, Ammara feels she can manage but feels she regularly encounters difficulties. She has numerous concerns about language. She feels very unconfident about her use of grammar and structure when she is speaking. She believes that despite having a good knowledge of English, her speaking ‘imperfections’ lead to a barrier to her professional development. She also thinks that what she describes as a limited vocabulary is a barrier to communication and explanation. This has various implications for Ammara in the workplace. Because she lacks confidence she believes that her language prevents her from using her initiative at work, and so she ‘keeps quiet’. â€Å"sometimes I know somebody is wrong and even if the person is senior, I can explain but I just kept quiet because I feel like everyone is picking on me.† She also thinks that people’s perceptions of her professionally will change just because of her language proble ms.’ Mahmood’s story: ‘While he was waiting for the Home Office to grant him permission to work, Mahmood was unemployed for six months. He used this time to start English classes and familiarise himself with his new country and surroundings. Upon receiving his ‘leave to remain’ and permission to work from the Home Office he got a job at a sewing factory in Blackburn, where he still works. His role is to sew medical paraphernalia such as bandages and neck braces. He says that initially he found this job quite easy, as he was able to use the skills and experience gained from his sewing job in Afghanistan. He does however worry about his future. He says there is little chance of promotion in this job and therefore he is keen to look for different work. He has started to think about a change. When asked about his future ambitions with regards to work, Mahmood says he would like to do a building job. He thinks that this will be difficult for him to achieve because he doesn’t feel he has enough experience. He doesn’t feel that the experience he gained from his sealing job in Afghanistan will be of use to him here, as he believes that methods of building vary from the two countries. Mahmood is aware that he will have to do a course to help him achieve his aims, but has little knowledge about the courses available to him and thinks that it will be difficult to do a part time course, work full time and continue with his English classes. Mahmood believes that his job in England has had a positive impact on his language. He gets indirect language support from his work peers: â€Å"and if I’ve got any problem with any word, pronunciation they will help me.† He is able to use informal English at work in a mostly friendly atmosphere. He is also positive about the support he has gained from his boss with regards to his language. He says that right from the start of his employment his boss encouraged him to attend English classes. If overtime clashes with his twice weekly evening English class then his boss is always flexible, he will say, â€Å"OK you don’t have to work you go to college.† Mahmood is extremely aware of his language needs and is very motivated to improve. He told me that he uses friends at work to practice language covered in class, and his level of motivation can be seen in his 100% attendance in English class and the huge improvements he has made over the last two years. (Sirling, 2005) Accessed from: http://www.literacy.lancs.ac.uk/workpapers/wp08-esol-blackburn.pdf What is visibly obvious here are the feelings, aspirations and characteristics of a group of learners who may well require much of the special attention to teaching that this paper is attempting to argue. Although an already fairly advanced English language speaker, Ammara could like so many others at that level benefit from tutoring in just a few specific areas of English acquisition and at a time of the day when she does not have to juggle her family and several other jobs. And we see with Frederick that despite finding it hard to study and adjust to the cultural and social restraints of a new country he has actually achieved a sense of community and belonging by way of attending ESOL classes. It is clear that it must not be assumed that all migrant peoples, asylum seekers and diverse ethnicities should be labeled marginalized and socially excluded as there are many who do not experience this type of isolation. Nonetheless it is dependant on the type of teacher, classroom environment and delivery techniques which need to be made consistent in their quality and accessibility. Returning to Jane Ward’s ESOL into Context paper, she is very specific about the issues relating to the shortage of specialist ESOL teachers which impacts on the overall quality of provision across the UK with long waiting lists and minimized teaching time occurring in a number of venues offering ESOL tuition in urban areas. Rurally too where many migrant workers are being placed on entry to the country there is an inadequacy where teaching experience and expertise to deal with theses communities exists. Ward also stresses that in rural areas ‘learners accessing vocational programmes too often encounter subject tutors who have little awareness or training in language learning.’ (Sourced from: http://www.niace.org.uk/lifelonglearninginquiry/docs/Jane-Ward-migration-evidence.pdf, date accessed, 21/11/08 Chapter Two: Solutions and future provision Just as the former chapter dealt with the identification of the problems and consequences of inadequacies with ESOL teaching in respect of achieving a holistic and inclusive approach, this chapter will seek to establish potential solutions and recommendations for taking forward initiatives for future change within the current ESOL sector. This will be achieved by way of exploring current government objectives and responses to recent research which has exposed the levels of insufficient delivery within the sector. In 2003 the National Research and Development Centre for Adult Literacy published a comprehensive review of recent research projects carried out in the field of Adult ESOL. In particular that which ‘focuses on learners who need English for the UK workplace, for study in further and higher education and for living in the community. The review mainly concentrates on research that has taken place in the last 15 years and it has attempted to include all of the research that has been carried out within the UK. As most of this has been fairly small scale or not directly concerned with pedagogy, research that has been carried out in the USA, Australia, Canada and Europe is also included and its relevance to the UK context is discussed.’ (Sourced from: http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=424ArticleID=353, Date, accessed, 22/11/08) The recommendations that emerged from this review have been summarised below: It is recommended that a large scale study of actual practice in different settings is carried out. Alongside this larger study there should be a number of smaller ethnographic studies of good practice in ESOL classes, covering: learners with little prior experience of the written language; bilingual literacy provision; workplace courses; and language support on mainstream courses. The aim of these studies is to provide accounts that can be disseminated to other practitioners. There should be ongoing research into the relationships between teaching and learning in formal contexts. This could be based around a programme of practitioner research, with support from established researchers. This research should explore: specific classroom tasks to address issues of accuracy and fluency in the spoken language an investigation of different media of learning, including written materials and new technology learners discursive experiences and practices outside the classroom, and how classroom practices can take account of them learners expectations and learning strategies. And that primarily there is a need to track learners in terms of their learning ability and experience (both in and out of the classroom) as well as gleaning specific information relating to them as individuals, the key aims being to determine: learners who arrive in the UK with professional qualifications and experience, but low levels of English learners whose first language is an English based Creole or dialect learners with trauma. (Sourced from: http://www.nrdc.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=424ArticleID=353, Date, accessed, 22/11/08) This is a refreshing indication that learning practitioners are now heavily involved in a dialogue that recognises both the necessity to investigate further into the practices of ESOL and its students nationally. This also compliments the Government’s new commitment within its ‘Community Cohesion and Migration, 2007-08’ report which makes recommendations as well as recognising localised ‘Further Education Colleges, as the centres of ESOL training in the front-line for new arrivals, in particular as they are often the first official agency encountered.’ The report goes on to clarify that teaching staff working within ESOL should be providing ‘support and help to new arrivals and referral to other agencies’. The Government continues in its conviction for change by allocating funding to this area of support. (House of Commons Report, 2007) This is however not sufficient action for many academics working in the field. As Linda Morrice demonstrates in her paper Lifelong learning and the social integration of refugees in the UK: the significance of social capital. Morrice challenges the UK Government on its recent measures to account for the inclusion and integration of refugees in the face of an increasing migrant population. She refers to the learning issues of refugees and argues that current education systems and opportunities do not adequately address the issues that they face and declares rather that ‘for refugees to become integrated and useful members of society requires a shift away from the present focus on formal, individualised education provision to a greater recognition of informal and social learning opportunities’. (Morrice, 2007) Alongside this â€Å"Discourses on social cohesion widely acknowledge that public education systems provide critical contexts for constructing social cohesion among their diverse communities† (Dagenais et al, 2008 p 85). What this seems to show is that ESOL provision to date may be serving the political ends of British society by covert mechanism of social control. In her paper Action Research: Exploring Learner Diversity Pam McPherson carried out a class-room project in an Australian adult migrant English language class. It succeeded in profiling as well as discovering the learning needs of disparate learners. She trialed a number of teaching exercises and different learning techniques from course design, resources and even the room layout. In terms of responding to students with limited formal education and low levels of literacy, she suggested the following actions should be taken and integrated into ESOL courses: Assessment and referral schemes that can identify special needs at entry into the programme Bilingual assistance for course information, goal clarification, language and learning. Low intensity courses A teaching methodology that has explicit goals, the development of language learning strategies and spoken and written language for community access Teachers trained to identify special needs and develop appropriate strategies to meet them. Recognition within the certificates in spoken and written English in order to achieve language goals related to settlement needs and the need for further education and training. (Hinkel,2005) McPherson also recognises a specific type of approach for asylum seekers and those who have experienced trauma and the tortures of War. That their physical, Social and psychological needs require specialist attention. Assuming that many of these individuals are likely to feel overwhelmed, out of control as well as possessing memory loss and poor concentration it is likely that they will have difficulty with the amount of control and concentration that is associated with language learning. (Hinkle, 2005) Perhaps a solution might be to make ESOL classes more flexible and the level of participation and communication compliant with the needs of the students. Many of McPherson’s findings inspired the government in Australia to make significant changes to their systems of resettlement and language instruction. What then have the g

Communication Aspect of technology :: essays papers

Communication Aspect of technology Communication is a big barrier that comes between teachers and students with special needs. In a survey done it was shown that in North America 2.5% to 6% of all students in special education classrooms due to severe communication impairments cannot be understood by their teachers or peers. Many of these students also had disabilities decreasing their ability to write. This is a problem not only academically, but socially as well. Students need to be able to communicate with teachers and peers in order to interact, and solve problems. Communication is very important in our world. Without some form of communication, we would not be able to accomplish many goals. We would also have a decreased amount of social skills and development. It is very important for students with special needs to have devices to communicate because some students cannot communicate otherwise. It is important for students to have a strong bond with those around them because of the dependency of some for e veryday things. Students also need to be able to communicate with other students whether they have disabilities also or not because of the lack of self-esteem without a broad social arena. Some devices used to communicate are very simple everyday objects that are used at home now that could be incorporated into a classroom if made available. One device is simply computer instant messaging for those with hearing loss. They are able to communicate through writing, and receiving messages from others. This could be used in a classroom with hard of hearing children where a general message is displayed on they screen for all children from the teacher. The children could then each respond to the message. Another way is through the computer-activated speakers where the student would type what they want to say, and the computer says it. All of these devices are good for use in classrooms. Communication is the key to success, and without it, it is very hard to achieve goals. Academic Aspect of Technology Many students have a difficult time academically because of disabilities. This can be they can solve some of these problems through the use of devices, and adaptations for devices. A way that these problems are being solved is through different assistive devices such as manual signs or communication boards, voice output computer aids, and computers.

Moving to a New House

Annonymous Professor Licata Enc 1101 W, 17 21 Oct. 2011 We Need More Room To hear the news of my mother’s new pregnancy was quite an excitement, yet I knew I would have to discuss with my mother why I believed it would be of essence to move to a much bigger house, this would mean that the new triplets would have a room of their own, and my brother Alex and I could have one as well. I informed my mother of the three important differences between our real house and our dream home would be the size, amenities, and location are more important factors with a larger family. One important difference between our real home and our dream home would be size. Our current home is only 1,007 square feet. This is not going to be sufficient space for our increasing family. Like two lions fighting over whom will eat the buffalo, we would be fighting over living space, specially with eight people living in an overcrowded house that has only two bedrooms and one bathroom. If we moved to a house that was 6,589 square feet, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, we would be more contented with all the additional space. No more fussing about who gets to use the bathroom next. Like animals, humans are also very territorial, and the less space we have to live in, the more hostile our environment becomes. A more important difference between our real house and our dream house would be amenities. Seeing as to how we are a family that loves to watch movies and have family time after dinner, having a Sony WEGA 32 inch television is not cutting it for us. There are times when the quality of the TV is so terrible, that we cannot even recognize the different colors being displayed on the screen. â€Å"Tell me it wouldn’t be better if we had our own Yalos Diamond LCD TV in our new home! † I said to her. Everyone could sit around the TV and enjoy more flicks, with an HD quality. â€Å"Also, you wouldn’t have to worry about me and Alex ever fighting about who gets to use the Nintendo 64 Next during our family time. † In our dream house we would have our own gaming room filled with a WII, Xbox 360, and Play Stations. Although, amenities are important, they are not the most important difference as to why we should move to a bigger house. The most important difference between our current home and our dream home would have to be location. â€Å"But what does Location have to do with anything that matters? † asked my mom as she sat on the small rocking chair outside our front door. â€Å"It makes a big difference mom! † I exclaimed to her. We live in a neighborhood called Oakridge in Orlando, Florida. This is an exceptionally dangerous area to be at late at night, and to make matters worse, a reporter from the News 13 said and I quote â€Å"This is a neighborhood where the criminal and robbery rate are occurring more often. † We live in the poor regions of Oakridge where we are most vulnerable to all these approaching dangers. â€Å"Do you really want to bring three baby infants into this environment? † However, if we were to move to Windermere, we would still be able to live in Orlando, Florida and in a more family oriented, safe environment. Mom, they are a gated community, no more distressing about break-ins or somebody robbing us. Everyone would be safe and secure at all times. Our family can finally be at ease mom. † To conclude all, the three differences between our real house and dream house are very important because of the new triplets. It would be in our best interest to move to our dream house. We would all live more comfortably in a larger size home , have extra fun during our family time thanks to the additional amenities, and our family will be much safer in the new location we move to.

Essay Sample on Personal Identity in the Paradox of Time

Essay Sample on Personal Identity in the Paradox of Time Sample essay on Personal Identity: According to David Lewis in the â€Å"paradox of time,† four thematic concerns arise that seek to explain which of the persons travelling in time is really him. The identity problem refers to the paradox where a time traveler’s personal time coincides with an external time and he meets his younger or older self. These four themes seek to prove the above point and answer the question of whether time travel is practically and theoretically possible and if so, then how can we avoid the paradoxes such as the grandfather’s paradox. In this regard, how is it possible to identify the real self of this time traveler given that the identity is the paradox of time coincidence between the traveler’s personal time and external time? We must first identify the reason behind the notion how can two events, the traveler’s departure and arrival be separated by two unequal amounts of time. If we successfully address this question, then we are on the brink of identifying which of the persons present are really him. Besides, dealing with the problem of identity problems posed by time travel is much of an answer to identifying the real self, as defined by the time travel concept. Inevitably, it involves a discrepancy between time and time, such that when any traveler leaves and then arrives at their destination, then the time elapsed from departure to arrival is the duration of the journey (Lewis, 1976, p 34). However, if he is a time traveler, the situation is different because the separation in time flanked by departure and arrival does not equal the duration with their order in external time. Fission can also provide an insight in this case. Consequently, fission can be quite pivotal in tackling the personal identity problems. In the fission experiment, there is the removal of X’s brain from the body of person X. After the brain has been removed, the body of person X is destroyed. In the removed X’s brain, there is a special part called the Corpus callosum. In this region of the brain, there are a bundle of fibers which are involved in the facilitating the transfer of information from one brain hemisphere to the other. Therefore, in fission, this part of the brain is severed. The result of the severing of this part is that two equipollent hemispheres of the brain will be left. With the lower brain, it is divided so that it becomes possible for the transplantation of each hemisphere into one of the two bodies that are qualitatively identical, resulting in Y1 and Y2 as the fission outcomes. Consequently, according to the alleged intuition, the psychological characteristics Y1 and Y2 are the same as those from X. In this case, both Y1 and Y2 are going to be candidates since they are identical with X. Even if one was absent, the other will also be identical with X. On the other hand, according to the alleged conclusion, fission violates the time travel of identity. This is because the aspect of psychological similarity is considered false. Besides, the question of whether the stage of person X at time t1 and the stage of person Y1 at time t2 have temporal parts of the brain from the same person is in this case dependent on facts that not only concern X and Y1 but also Y2. As per many suggestions from commentators, fission remains to be an up to standard test to the theories pertaining to the personal identity. The acceptability of the fission scenario however present some challenges for the psychological criterion in particular. This is because both the fission results Y1 and Y2 are psychologically in line with X, and are therefore, both identical, according to the psychological approach with X. Each of the outcomes is however, by congruence, not identical with the other. The Y1 and Y2 have many features in common. However, even at the particular time of the completion of fission operation, they had marked difference especially in terms of spatio-temporal location. Fission disagrees with the transitivity of identity since it shows that there is the possibility of a thing being identical with two other things, which are not identical to each other. Some commentators claim that because of fission scenarios. It is not sufficient to equate psychological continuity with personal identity. According to these commentators, the non-branching proviso can adequately complement the psychological approach in the sense that even though there would be the survival of X as Y1 or Y2 incase the other was non-existing, the fact that the other exists means that X will cease existing. On the other hand, according to the best candidate clause or the closest-continuer, it is the best candidate between Y1 and Y2 is the one that will bear a lot of resemblance with original X, and hence will be identical with X. According to Lewis, what matters for survival are the continued existence of your mummified corpse and the continued existence of a spiritual substance? On the other hand, according to Derek Parfit argues that identity is not what matters and that what matters is psychological (Parfit, D. (1971, p 21). He argues that identity is one-one and does not admit of degree and that what matter for survival is psychological continuity. As such, identity is not what matters for survival. In the case of a simple fission and fusion, then psychological continuity is not one-one. He defends his argument that in the case of fission, psychological continuity seems to be a matter of degree. For the case of fission, one item splits up to become two while in fusion, they merge to become one. Parfit believes this is trouble since identity is one-one and â€Å"becoming† cannot be identity. The fission case implies that psychological continuity maybe a matter of degree. On the other hand, Lewis use s the case of Methuselah to argue that psychological continuity may be a matter of degree. The line between fission and identity is clear in Lewis arguments as he states that identity does not always predicate the express properties of maximal fissions of the R-interrelated counterparts. As such, identity borrows from the previous solution of the time travel to predicate express properties of the interrelated fissions, where in time travel, the persistence through time leads to the real self, while in fission, they split to become two. According to Parfit, two people share the same stage prior to fission, something that Lewis disagree and believes that it a matter of psychological continuity. In solving the fission problem, we can apply Lewis time travel solutions. Time travel solutions provided by Lewis depend on external or personal time and real identity to one self. Two people are believed to share the same stage prior to the fission, just like the younger or older self in the time travel. To solve such a problem, one must undergo the systematic steps of time travel fo r fission. Subject the fission process to two time intervals; one depicting external and the other personal time. The persistence through time and the preserved self-predicate fission is an identity, according to Lewis. Considering the case he uses to defend his argument on fission, he splits the number of years Methuselah lives to his ability to remember his childhood and progressive memories. At the age of 100, he still remembers his childhood, but new memories fill his old life as he continued to live. At 150, he could hardly remember any memories at his twenties. As the years progress, he can hardly remember his memories and at the age of 969, he can hardly remember any memories of his 850th year. Just like a time traveler, external time changes properties of travel just as it does to existence. Personal time changes nothing and only offers psychological continuity connectedness (Lewis, 1976, p 148). Assuming that psychological continuity has temporal stages at different times, then the connection flanked by stages of the same person at different times is not identity. This method of solving the time travel to conclude on identity based on external and personal time helps to derive the fission concept. A person must develop through stages in the past through the present to the future measured with both external of personal time. In the future, using external time, so many things have changed and he can hardly recollect his memories because there is no psychological continuity. However, the identity remains his old self via personal time because nothing has shifted to change his real self. Only time is the factor separating the two concepts as Lewis concludes that identity and psychological continuity are compatible and both right, only that the relationships between stages or the same person at dissimilar times is not identity (Lewis, 1976, p 151). In conclusion, the psychological approach provides clear evidence that the stage of person X, at time t1 are psychologically in line the stage of person Y1 or Y2 at a time t2. This implies that it is the psychological similarity, which is making the time traveler’s personal time to coincide with and external time and thus enabling the traveler to meet his younger or older self. This is also true because the experiment on fission also claim that the only likely difference between the two persons is their spacio-temporal location. Therefore, the fission approach agrees with Lewis conclusion that there is an agreement and compatibility between the personal identity and the psychological continuity in the time traveler. Feel free to get professional essay writing help on this topic from professional academic writers at CustomWritings.com! Our essay writers will help you online, starting at $10/page!

History of Olmec Art and Sculpture

History of Olmec Art and Sculpture The Olmec culture was the first great Mesoamerican civilization, developing along Mexicos Gulf coast from about 1200-400 B.C. before going into a mysterious decline. The Olmec were very talented artists and sculptors who are today best remembered for their monumental stonework and cave paintings. Although relatively few pieces of Olmec art survive today, they are quite striking and show that artistically speaking, the Olmec were far ahead of their time. The massive colossal heads found at four Olmec sites are a good example. Most surviving Olmec art seems to have had a religious or political significance, i.e. the pieces show gods or rulers. The Olmec Civilization The Olmec were the first great Mesoamerican civilization. The city of San Lorenzo (its original name has been lost to time) flourished around 1200-900 B.C. and was the first major city in ancient Mexico. The Olmecs were great traders, warriors, and artists, and they developed writing systems and calendars which were perfected by later cultures. Other Mesoamerican cultures, such as the Aztecs and Maya, borrowed heavily from the Olmecs. Because the Olmec society went into decline two thousand years before the first Europeans arrived in the region, much of their culture has been lost. Nevertheless, diligent anthropologists and archaeologists continue to make great strides in understanding this lost culture. The surviving artwork is one of the best tools they have for doing so. Olmec Art The Olmec were gifted artists who produced stone carvings, woodcarvings and cave paintings. They made carvings of all sizes, from tiny celts and figurines to massive stone heads. The stonework is made of many different types of stone, including basalt and jadeite. Only a handful of Olmec woodcarvings remain, busts excavated from a bog at the El Manatà ­ archaeological site. The cave paintings are found mostly in mountains in the present-day Mexican state of Guerrero. The Olmec Colossal Heads The most striking pieces of surviving Olmec art are without a doubt the colossal heads. These heads, carved from basalt boulders mined many miles away from where they were eventually carved, depict enormous male heads wearing a sort of helmet or headdress. The largest head was found at the La Cobata archaeological site and is nearly ten feet tall and weighs about 40 tons. Even the smallest of the colossal heads is still over four feet high. In all, seventeen Olmec colossal heads have been discovered at four different archaeological sites: 10 of them are at San Lorenzo. They are thought to depict individual kings or rulers. Olmec Thrones Olmec sculptors also made many enormous thrones, great squarish blocks of basalt with detailed carvings on the sides thought to have been used as platforms or thrones by the nobility or priests. One of the thrones depicts two pudgy dwarves holding up a flat tabletop while others show scenes of humans carrying were-jaguar infants. The purpose of the thrones was discovered when a cave painting of an Olmec ruler seated on one was discovered. Statues and Stelae Olmec artists sometimes made statues or stelae. One famous set of statues was discovered at the El Azuzul site near San Lorenzo. It consists of three pieces: two identical twins facing a jaguar. This scene is often interpreted as depicting a Mesoamerican myth of some sort: heroic twins play an important role in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Maya. The Olmecs created several statues: another significant one found near the summit of the San Martà ­n Pajapan Volcano. The Olmecs created relatively few stelae - tall standing stones with inscribed or carved surfaces - but some significant examples have been found at the La Venta and Tres Zapotes sites. Celts, Figurines and Masks All in all, some 250 examples of monumental Olmec art such as colossal heads and statues are known. There are countless smaller pieces, however, including figurines, small statues, celts (small pieces with designs roughly shaped like an ax head), masks and ornaments. One famous smaller statue is the wrestler, a lifelike depiction of a cross-legged man with his arms in the air. Another smaller statue of great importance is Las Limas Monument 1, which depicts a seated youth holding a were-jaguar baby. Symbols of four Olmec gods are inscribed on his legs and shoulders, making it a very valuable artifact indeed. The Olmec were avid mask makers, producing life-sized masks, possibly worn during ceremonies, and smaller masks used as adornments. Olmec Cave Painting To the west of the traditional Olmec lands, in the mountains of the present-day Mexican State of Guerrero, two caves containing several paintings attributed to the Olmec have been discovered. The Olmec associated caves with the Earth Dragon, one of their gods, and it is likely that the caves were sacred places. Juxtlahuaca Cave contains a depiction of a feathered serpent and a pouncing jaguar, but the best painting is a colorful Olmec ruler standing next to a smaller, kneeling figure. The ruler holds a wavy-shaped object in one hand (a serpent?) and a three-pronged device in the other, possibly a weapon. The ruler is clearly bearded, a rarity in Olmec art. The paintings in Oxtotitln Cave feature a man with a detailed headdress styled after an owl, a crocodile monster and an Olmec man standing behind a jaguar. Although Olmec-style cave paintings have been discovered in other caves in the region, the ones at Oxtotitln and Juxtlahuaca are the most important. Importance of Olmec Art As artists, the Olmec were centuries ahead of their time. Many modern Mexican artists find inspiration in their Olmec heritage. Olmec art has many modern fans: replica colossal heads can be found around the world (one is at the University of Texas, Austin). You can even buy a small replica colossal head for your home, or a quality printed photograph of some of the more famous statues. As the first great Mesoamerican civilization, the Olmec were extremely influential. Late-era Olmec reliefs look like Mayan art to the untrained eye, and other cultures such as the Toltecs borrowed stylistically from them. Sources Coe, Michael D., and Rex Koontz. Mexico: From the Olmecs to the Aztecs. 6th Edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2008Diehl, Richard A. The Olmecs: Americas First Civilization. London: Thames and Hudson, 2004.

World War II Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

World War II - Essay Example ond World War was really a continuation of the former and many of the causes of the Second World War are to be found in the resentment over and the unfinished agenda of the First World War. An event as catastrophic and disastrous, as a world war, cannot be the result of any single event. Like a volcano that is simmering, till the inner pressures cause it to erupt, so too the simmering discontent of the German people, finally resulted in the Second World War. During the months and years after the First World War, political and economic events like the treaty of Versailles, the great economic depression of 1929 and the rise of Nazism, and Hitler’s ambitions for German expansion were some of the causes of the Second World War. The humiliating terms of the treaty of Versailles whipped up feelings of anger and frustration among the Germans. The heads of the British and French governments bowed before the anger of their people. â€Å"If these things are hardships for Germany, they are hardships which Germany has brought upon herself.† (Clemenceau, 1919) was the sentiment of the allies. The German army and navy was reduced, the map of Europe was redrawn, causing Germany to lose large tracts of her land, to countries like France, Poland, Belgium, Denmark and Czechoslovakia; and Germany was held solely responsible for the hardships and misery caused to the rest of the world. As Hitler’s popularity grew in a country still smarting under the humiliation of World War I and embattled with economic problems, Hitler began to increase the size of the army, building up weapons and aircraft as well as his navy. â€Å"We are all proud that through Gods powerful aid we have become once more true Germans."( Hitler, 1933) he told his fellow countrymen, after he became Chancellor. Britain and France were aware of this buildup but did nothing hoping that this would prevent the spread of communism from Russia to the west. When German troops entered Rhineland in 1936, Hitler’s

Laboratory Questions set 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Laboratory Questions set 4 - Essay Example A. Factors affecting strength- 1.Although men's and women's muscle tissue are characteristically the same, men generally have more muscle tissue than women do because muscle size is increased by the presence of testosterone, the male sex hormone. The larger the muscles, the stronger the person; this is why most men are stronger than most women.2. The point of tendon insertion also influences muscle strength. For example, for two people with the same arm and muscle length, if one person's biceps tendon attaches to the forearm farther from the elbow joint than the other person's, that person will have a biomechanical advantage and be able to lift more weight than the other in biceps exercises such as the biceps curl. (Tackett 2003) Factors affecting power: 1. The ability to transport oxygen to the muscles by the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. The energy systems can be classified into the anaerobic and aerobic system and most activities generally require the use of a combination of systems for energy fulfillment. The anaerobic system is classified further into the immediate supply via the "alactic" or adenosine triphosphate-creatine phosphate (ATP-CP) and the short term energy supply from the "lactic" or gylcolytic pathways of energy supply. For more sustained and longer term energy supply the aerobic system is utilised by the process of oxidation. The ATP-CP system provides for the first 5-10 seconds and relates to speed and strength activities thus being very important to the production of power within performance. The recovery of this system is relatively quick with only periods of 30 seconds required to be replenished and then apply repeat effort. If high energy tasks are required greater than 10 seconds then the breakdown of glycogen to glucose and