Philippe Halsman Essay

Philippe Halsman (2 May 1906 Riga, Latvia – 25 June 1979, New York City) was a portrait photographer who made major contributions to the world of modern movement in photography as a fine art. Although Halsman studied electrical engineering, he took up photography as a profession. Halsman left Austria for France. There he began his career as a photographer to fashion magazines such as Vogue and soon became one of the most reputed portrait photographers in France. By 1936, Halsman became one of the leading portrait photographers. His repute lay in the use of sharp, dark images rather than soft and mellowed focus of the old school. When France was attacked during World War II, Halsman eventually migrated to U. S. A , and lived there till death in 1979. In America, Halsman stepped into the world of fashion photography when his image of model Constance Ford was used by the cosmetics firm Elizabeth Arden in advertising â€Å"Victory Red† lipstick. Halsman could make a niche for himself in the photographs of the fashion magazines where his bold sharp portrait images could make a distinct departure from the earlier soft mellowed appearances. (PSGB, 1963) Halsman left his mark on fashion photography, through the many assignments that he took up over the years in various prestigious magazines; eventually he became the staff photographer for Life magazine, for which magazine he did more than one hundred covers, the first being the one portraying a model in a Lilly Dache hat. When Philippe Halsman’s portrait appeared on the cover of Life in 1942, it immediately reached a huge audience and created a major uproar. When Halsman joined Life, the magazine was young, and photojournalism was a new field, waiting to be explored, and Halsman embarked on the task diligently with his acumen of creating bright, sharp images. One of Halsman’s famous jump photos of Marilyn Monroe on the cover of Life magazine. (www. iphotocentral. com/†¦ /256/Philippe+Halsman) The photos of Albert Einstein taken in 1947 went on to become one of the most famous ones taken by Halsman. During the photography session, Einstein shared with him his regrets about his involvement with the United States in pursuing the atom bomb. This portrait was later used in 1966 on a U. S. postage stamp and in 1999, on the cover of Time Magazine, when Time named Einstein the â€Å"Person of the Century. † (Boni, 1962) Apart from the freshness and the new technique that he brought to portrait and fashion photography, Philippe Halsman’s contribution to the world of photography can be gauged in terms of the following focal areas: SURREALISM PSYCHOLOGICAL PORTRAITURE JUMPOLOGY SURREALISM: Though Philippe Halsman drew upon the works of surrealists, he could internalize the experiment within himself lending a distinctive edge to the evolving leitmotif, in terms of insertion of homely and uncannily disturbing details which held his subjects in a pictorial taut: his deep inroads into the surrealists’ delving of the erotic unconscious had gelled into his subconscious, making him combine so delicately the ordinates of sex, glamour and heightened energy, so synergistically, in the individual portraits of such sensual idols as Merilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot. In fact, an eminently rewarding outcome of a long and enduring friendship that he shared with the noted surrealist, Salvador Dali for over 3 decades in the early 20th century was a series of tableaux like Dali Atomicus, exploring the playful fantasies of an artist, his canvas, a bucket of water, cats appearing in a suspended flux. Halsman’s title of this photograph has indirect allusions to Dali’s work ‘Leda Atomica’. visible at the right end of the photograph, behind the cats. The degree of Halsman’s continuous striving for perfectionism can be gauged from one of his observations where he averred that he made 28 attempts before his final work could meet his stamp of approval. (ABC-CIS, 1976) Dali Atomicus (1948) by Halsman in an unretouched version, showing the devices which held up the various props and missing the painting in the frame on the easel. Another important collaborative effort between Dali and Halsman was seen in Voluptas Mors, a portrait of Dali near a verisimilitude of a skull composed of 7 interlocked nudes. Salvador Dali portrait, In Voluptas Mors (1951) In this joint effort Halsman assiduously exerted full 3 hours for arranging the models in terms of the sketch done by Dali. The posters for the films ‘Silence of the Lambs’ and ‘The Descent’ made use of the photographic version of Voluptas Mors, though in fairly subtle and not so subtle modes. (T-L Books, 1977) The master of surrealism, Salvador Dali had shared an intimate chemistry with Philippe Halsman. Dali habitually visualised the problems of creating and presenting the depth and intricacies of surrealist art and Halsman almost always managed to resolve these problems for him. ‘Voluptas Mors’ and ‘Dali Atomicus’ are only two examples of their collaborative endeavour that profoundly changed the outlook of the people towards photography as a form of fine art. (Halsman, 1989)

Sex Trafficking

Comparative Review March 11, 2013 Thesis: Legalizing Prostitution will stop the spread of illicit Sex Trafficking. It seems like a normal day in her little village, until two shady men come and take her and all the young girls around the same age as her from their families. She is terrified and is scared of what may come next. The man repeatedly compliments her on her beauty and touches her silk soft skin. Crying only makes things worse and makes the man very angry. He hits them and calls them bad names as a punishment. Its been days since they took us, and has only given us little amounts of water to stay some what hydrated; and no food.This feeling is so surreal and this stuff actually does happen, beyond what people may think they know women and kids are being taken. In the article Enslaved in America by Tina Frundt it explains how typically Americans look the other way when they see prostitution but, neglect that these girls 50 percent of the time are forced into the Sex Traffick ing lifestyle. On the other hand Brenda Zurita’s article Legalization or harm reduction of prostitution and sexual trafficking writes about the government and the Sex trafficking laws says a different story.Sex Trafficking is illegal in the United States but why is there girls forced out of their homes and into this modern day slavery still occurring. In Bruce Kennedy’s Would legalizing prostitution help the US economy, it explains in simple terms how much one difference will create safer jobs and bring it much needed money to our economy. Which brings me to my next point; Prostitution should be legalized for those who want to retire in this way of life. It will have a positive effect on the economy bringing in billions in taxable income.In the increasing epidemic with Sex Trafficking; Tina Frundt, explains why this is truly a big issue worldwide. With this crime being unrecognized to a certain degree as it should in the shadows its really happening. The purpose of thi s article is to help understand the reasons â€Å"why. † Truthfully when I think of this topic I think of all the girls overseas who are being taken from their homes. As Frundt explains this is not only my opinion; most people have the same thoughts and are in the blind that this happens so close to home too. Not everything is said out to be the way it really is.All the bliss and publicity that the â€Å"pimps† is point blank ridiculous. â€Å"Young people use â€Å"pimp† in everyday conversation: â€Å"my ride is pimped out,† â€Å"your clothes are pimping. † They do not understand the reality behind the term. (Frundt)† This is a subliminal message about Sex Trafficking, the word is so powerful that it is misused and now taken for what it really is. Sex trafficking victims live in a cold, heartless, mistreated, and world full of violence. Raped and beat on the daily bases is only the least of these victims’ worries.Finding a way to e scape and lead a different life is the biggest and hardest goal to acquire. How are these victims found if they aren’t ever missed of even looked for? A promise for a better life, a good job and a new start is how many people end up in these types of situations. Having such a personal intake of Sex Trafficking, Frundt’s article is an essential piece that I find necessary to write about in my research. Unlike Frundt who shares a very particular share in Sex Trafficking, Brenda Zurita speaks from a point where anyone can understand more broadly.When the demand for prostituted people exceeds the available supply, women, children and sometimes men are trafficked in to meet the demand (Zurita). Children and women are usually the two that are easier to manipulate by letting them know what they want to hear. Often they are showered with gifts and affection that leave them wanting more. Than to keep an even tighter leash threatening comes to play, captors threaten their lives and the lives of their families. Which often leave victims to scared to leave to keep their families safe.The US government opposes prostitution for the reason that it is dehumanizing and harmful for people. Sex trafficking is what should be the center of focus. Trying to stop something that is known today, as â€Å"Modern Day Slavery† cannot just be stopped all together. In this case, and at the time former president George W. Bush stated that work in this field is not legitimate and should be not tolerated for humans of any sort. By legalizing we are creating a safer environment for those who chose this way of life.Traffickers often beat, humiliate, and torture their victims and can ultimately lead to murder. Pimps and traffickers, in order to make a profit, cater to their customer’s desires and supply prostituted people to fulfill their fantasies (Zurita). The legalization of Prostitution reduced the need for Sex Traffickers. Bruce Kennedy is all for the legalizatio n of prostitution, in my opinion it provides an economical relief. From the time that I can remember the US has been struggling with money. By legalizing this it brings in an outstanding 18 billion in taxable income from the sex industry.Although crime rates seem to stay the same, legalizing creates a better environment for those women who choose this life style. It brings better working conditions and makes it safer by not having pimps abuse their â€Å"hoes. † The challenge that seems to be faced is all the crime that would still happen. Technically pimps watch over their girls and make sure the guys they leave with are safe and will return the girls back accordingly. Without this it is expected that more kidnappings and murders are to be committed.A nights earning is expected to be around 500$ a night which attracts the criminal industry. The message and the information that I acquired from (Frundt), (Zurita, 2013) and (Kennedy, 2012) are essential to creating a strong res earch paper. They are all statistically inclined and include different examples of different situations that will help me outline my paper. Since Frundt’s article is the strongest of the three I plan on strategically planning out her experiences in a way that will coherently compare it to the others.Being a woman, myself I feel like I have a stronger connection with my topic because I could be categorized as well as other girls my age in the range how the Pimps choose their girls. I could not imagine myself in the position that hundreds of girls find themselves everyday. Spreading awareness on the topic is the way people are going to be more involved with the stop of Sex Trafficking. How is something going to be stopped if its only been advertised as a good thing, when in true reality it is the complete opposite. References Frundt, T. (n. d. ).Enslaved in America: Sex trafficking in the United States. WFN, Retrieved from http://www. womensfundingnetwork. org/resource/past-art icles/enslaved-in-america-sex-trafficking-in-the-united-states Kennedy, B. (2010). Would legalizing prostitution help the us economy?. Retrieved from http://money. msn. com/now/post. aspx? post=49c1f746-9b02-4ba4-a60f-67d3ccc1a6b5 Zurita, B. (2012). Legalization or harm reduction of prostitution and sexual trafficking. Retrieved from http://www. cwfa. org/articledisplay. asp? id=12632&department=BLI&categoryid=dotcommentary

Analysing data production

Analysing data production The process of research is not only about learning and discovering, but also about sharing these discoveries with others, so that society as a whole can benefit from the efforts put in by the individual. When it comes to complex academic concepts, the choice of words for how a concept is described can make a difference to how well it is understood by others , especially when moving between research domains.    Hence we make such use of metaphors and analogies when it comes to describing complex concepts. Tying a concept (for example, quantum superposition) to a real world â€Å"thing† (for example, a cat in a box ) allows people unfamiliar with the original concept to connect it with something they have experience of, and provides a foundation which can be elaborated on. If, upon further examination, it is found that the analogy gets stretched beyond all reason, then that is acceptable, as long as those using it don’t simply rely on it as an article of blind faith. Analogies and metaphors require critical thinking. Scientific concepts are formulated in human language, and as such, are intended to be processed by the human brain (even if that brain needs to be highly trained before it can properly grasp the concepts being described). Scientific data, on the other hand, is designed to be machine consumable (as well as predominantly machine produced). Measurements are often not useful without the context surrounding them. It is one thing to know that a particular river level rose by 10cm. It is only by knowing where this happened, how high the river was to begin with, and how high the rise would have to be at that location to flood the houses built there, that we are able to put the data into context, and make it useful. Yet we still need that data. If a homeowner who got flooded wished to claim on their insurance for flood repairs, having that data and context available means they’d have proof that it was river flooding that caused the damage, rather than a burst pipe. We also need to have the research data which underpins key research findings available and understandable, both for reproducibility and to prevent fraud/misuse. Making data usable by others takes effort and time and is often unrewarded by the current system for gaining academic credit. Metaphors and Analogies â€Å"No one metaphor satisfies enough key data system attributes and that multiple metaphors need to co-exist in support of a healthy data ecosystem†(Parsons Fox, 2013) Data publication as a metaphor has been addressed extensively in (Parsons Fox, 2013), leading to the quote above. But before we dive into examples of metaphor and analogy in the data domain, it is helpful to review what they mean. From (Gentner Jeziorski, 1993): ‘Analogy can he viewed as a kind of highly selective similarity. In processing analogy, people implicitly focus on certain kinds of commonalities and ignore others. Imagine a bright student reading the analogy â€Å"a cell is like a factory.† She is unlikely to decide that cells are buildings made of brick and steel. Instead she might guess that, like a factory, a cell takes in resources to keep itself operating and to generate its products. This focus on common relational abstractions is what makes analogy illuminating.’ (Gentner Jeziorski, 1993) p448 This action of focussing on some commonalities and ignoring others is crucial when using analogies to illustrate scientific concepts. We can produce an analogy that â€Å"a dataset is like a book†. Commonalities include that both contain information, in a structured and formatted way, which is consumable by a user, and both are the product of sustained effort, potentially from a wide range of actors. The differences between them make it just as easy to say â€Å"a dataset is not like a book†, in that a dataset can be constantly changing; may not be a physical, but a virtual object; mostly isn’t designed for humans to read unassisted ; and often a dataset isn’t a self-contained unit (as it requires extra information and metadata to make it understandable and usable). Obviously, it is possible to push analogies too far, and have them break. This is more likely to happen when users of the analogy don’t have a good understanding of each of the two things being compared. In the (Gentner Jeziorski, 1993) quote above, if the student didn’t have any other concept of what a cell was, she could easily imagine that they were tiny buildings made of bricks and steel, and the analogy used would do nothing to correct that misapprehension. It’s also important to remember that analogy is not causation – if two phenomena are analogous, it does not imply that one causes the other. Types of metaphor and real world scientific examples: Data Publication Data publication, as a metaphor, came about as a result of the drive for researchers to publish as many works as possible in as many high impact journals as possible, and the need for those involved in creating datasets to be given recognition for their work, and their efforts to make the data findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. This resulted in pressure to squeeze all research outputs into shapes that resemble publications, hence the proliferation of the data journal, a place where researchers can publish a paper about their dataset, linked via permanent identifier to the dataset itself (stored in a trustworthy repository). The data paper then can be cited and used as a proxy for the dataset when reporting the importance and impact of the researcher’s work. A real-world example of a dataset that has been published in a data journal is the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) datasets (Callaghan et al., 2013), measurements from a radio propagation dataset investigating how rain and clouds impact signal levels from a geosynchronous satellite beacon at radio frequencies of 20.7 GHz. The data streams linked to the paper, and which the paper describes in detail, are the result of a definite, discrete experiment, resulting in a well-defined, discrete and fully completed dataset, which will not change in the future. The dataset has been through two levels of quality assurance: the first was performed on ingestion into CEDA , where the file formats were standardised and metadata was checked and completed. The second level of quality assurance was performed as part of the scientific peer review process carried out when the data paper and dataset were submitted to the Geoscience Data Journal for review and publication. As this dataset is complete, well-documented and quality assured, it can be considered to be a first-class, reference-able, scientific artefact. There are other peer-reviewed journal articles which use the GBS data as the basis for their results, see for example (Callaghan et al., 2008) . However, datasets can be discrete, complete, well-defined and permanently available without the need for the proxy of a data paper, or any other publication attached to them. This is of particular value when it comes to publishing negative results, or data that don’t support the hypothesis they were collected to verify, but may be useful for testing other hypotheses. These types of datasets are possibly the closest thing we have to the â€Å"dataset as a book† analogy, and therefore are the easiest to fit into the data publication mould. Unfortunately, many other datasets do not fit in with this shape. Many datasets are dynamic, and are modified or added to as time progresses. Then there are issues with granularity – some researchers may only need a subset of a larger dataset for their work, but need to accurately and permanently identify that subset. Citing at the level of every one of the subsets results in reference lists that are long and unwieldy, and can make it difficult to find the subset required in a long list of very similarly named datasets. For text based items, such as books and articles, tools exist to compare text from one instance of an article to another, allowing the reader to be sure that the contents of two instances are the same, regardless of the format they are in (for example, an article in hard copy in a journal as compared with a pdf). We currently do not have a way of evaluating the scientific equivalence of datasets regardless of their format. The ease with which it’s possible to modify datasets (and not track the changes made) also means that it can be very hard to tell which dataset is the canonical, original version, or even what the differences are. Data publication can work very well as a metaphor, but users must be aware that it really is only applicable to the subset of datasets which can be made complete, well-documented, well-defined, discrete and quality controlled. Big Iron (industrialised data production) Big Iron, as defined in (Parsons Fox, 2013) typically deals with massive volumes of data that are relatively homogenous and well defined but highly dynamic and with high throughput. It is an industrialised process, relying on large, sophisticated, well-controlled, technical infrastructures, often requiring supercomputing centres, dedicated networks, substantial budgets, and specialized interfaces. An example of this is the data from the Large Hadron Collider, CERN, but in the Earth Sciences, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Projects (CMIP) are another. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regularly issues Assessment Reports, detailing the current state of the art of climate models, and their predictions for future climate change. These reports are supported by the data from the climate model runs performed as part of CMIP. Each CMIP is an international collaboration, where climate modelling centres around the world run the same experiments on their different climate models, collect and document the data in standard ways and make it all available for the wider community to use, via custom built web portals. CMIP5, the most recent complete CMIP, resulted in datasets totalling over 2 PB of data. As this data is the foundation for the IPCC assessment and recommendations, it is vital that the data is stored and archived properly . Dealing with these data volumes requires not only custom built infrastructure, but also standards for file and metadata formats (e.g. NetCDF, CF Conventions, CMOR, etc.). Collecting the metadata describing the experiments that were run to create the datasets alone took several weeks’ worth of effort, and several years of effort to design and build the CMIP5 questionnaire which collected the metadata (Guilyardi et al, 2013). The industrialised production of data is likely to increase over the next years, given the increased ability of researchers to create and manage big data. The opposite of this analogy is also valid in many cases, as described in the next section. Artist’s studio (small scale data production, unique and non-standard output) Similar to Big Iron, this analogy focusses on the method of production of a dataset, rather than the dataset itself. The artist studio analogy covers the long tail of data produced by small groups or even single researchers, working in relative isolation. Artist studios generally produce one-of-a-kind pieces, which may have standard shapes and forms (e.g. oil paintings) but may equally come in non-standard shapes, sizes and materials (e.g. sculptures, video and audio installations, performance art etc.) The aim is to produce something of use/interest to a consumer, even if they are part of a limited domain. Similarly, it’s often not easy, or even possible to share the outputs of the studio (it is possible to make copies/prints of paintings, and smaller models of sculptures, but other objects of art, like Damien Hirst’s famous shark in formaldehyde (Hirst, 1991) are nearly impossible to reproduce ). Datasets produced by small research groups follow this analogy. The emphasis is on the production of the finished product, sometimes with the supporting documentation and metadata being neglected, due to lack of time, effort and potentially interest on the part of the creator. If the dataset is only aimed at a small user group, then the metadata is provided as jargon, or users are simply assumed to have a sufficient level of background knowledge. Sharing the data is often not considered, as for the researchers, holding the only copy of the data makes it more valuable, and therefore more likely that they’ll receive extra funding. An example â€Å"artist studio† is the Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research (CFARR) . It is a small facility, located in Hampshire, UK, with approximately 6 permanent staff, who collectively build, maintain and run a selection of meteorological and radio research instruments. In recent years, the focus of the facility has been on collaborations with other research groups in universities and other research centres. Previously the facility had been more focussed on radio research, and as such had developed its own data format for the instruments it built, rather than tying in with existing community standards. Similarly, the data was stored on a variety of servers, with a bespoke tape backup system. When CFARR’s funding structure changed, pressure was put on the staff to archive all new data and the majority of existing data in CEDA. This made it easier for the facility staff, in that they no longer needed to maintain servers or the backup system, but it made things harder in that effort was needed to convert the data files to netCDF, and to collect and agree on the metadata that should accompany them. The culture change to move from the artist studio model to a more standardised and collaborative model took effort and time, and should not be underestimated. Science Support Science support is what CEDA do on an operational, everyday basis. Even though we’re not directly (or physically) embedded in a research organisation , we interact with researchers and research centres on a regular basis to ensure that the processes for data ingestion are carried out smoothly and efficiently. For data centres embedded in a research centre, data management can be seen as a component of the broader â€Å"science support† infrastructure of the lab or the project, equivalent to facilities management, field logistics, administrative support, systems administration, equipment development, etc. In our case, CEDA concentrates on data management, and providing services to make it and use of data easier for the researcher. Different data centres will have different ways of providing science support to their core user base. For example, an institutional data repository, responsible for all the data being produced by, for example, a university, will have datasets which are non-standardised and are usually geared towards a specific set of intended uses and local reuse in conjunction with other local data. In terms of the â€Å"artist studio† analogy, an institutional repository is like an art gallery or museum, where different datasets will have different data management requirements. By contrast CEDA, which has multiple PB of data in the archives, must standardise in terms of file formats, metadata models etc., hence moving towards a more â€Å"Big Iron† metaphor. In common with institutional repositories, CEDA also focusses on managing data (and sometimes merging datasets to create more useful resources) in order to meet the needs of our user community, which is international in scope and covers a wide range of users, from schoolchildren, to policy makers, to field researchers and theoreticians. Map Making Map making as a metaphor refers to the final representation of the data, and the process of putting the data into a context, primarily geographical. Maps also help to define the boundaries of what is known, and what isn’t. Though data presented in this way tend to be fixed in time, maps are useful for showing dynamical datasets, or time slices through complex multidimensional processes, e.g. the four dimensional structures of clouds/rain changing in time. The results of map making, the maps themselves, are datasets in their own right, and so need to be treated in the same way as other datasets with regard to preservation, metadata etc. The act of plotting some parameter on a geographical map results in a well-standardised structure for intercomparison and visualisation. Linked Data The â€Å"data† in Linked Data are defined extremely broadly and are envisioned as small, independent things with specific names (URIs) interconnected through defined semantic relationships (predicates) using model and language standards (e.g. the Resource Description Framework, RDF). It has a major emphasis on Open Data, as linked data focuses on enabling the interoperability of data and capitalising on the interconnected nature of the Internet. Linked data isn’t commonly used for dealing with scientific data, but instead, is predominantly used in our metadata, where we have complete focus on preservation, curation and quality, unlike other linked datasets available elsewhere. Using linked data for metadata structures does require standardisation and agreement on the formal semantics and ontologies. Linked data is very flexible, and lends itself well to distributed and interdisciplinary connections, provided the formal semantics can be agreed to be applicable across multiple domains. Linked data as a concept unfortunately hasn’t fully permeated the research environment as yet – many scientific researchers don’t understand the semantics (and have little interest in them). Linked data is often used as a support structure for Big Iron. The Cloud: â€Å"x as a service† There is an argument that the mechanisms for data publication should be invisible, and data should be accessible and understandable without any prior knowledge. Cloud services such as Dropbox allow users to store their data, and access them from any web browser, or mobile app, provided they have an internet connection. â€Å"Data as a service† ties in with â€Å"software as a service†, in that the users only take the data they need at any given moment, and in some cases may not even download it, instead using dedicated computing resources elsewhere to perform the manipulations needed on the data. An example of this is JASMIN , a system that provides petascale storage and cloud computing for big data challenges in environmental science. JASMIN provides flexible data access to users, allowing them to collaborate in self-managing group workspaces. JASMIN brings compute and data together to enable models and algorithms to be evaluated alongside curated archive data, and for data to be shared and evaluated before being deposited in the permanent archive. Data, in this context, aren’t the fixed and complete products described in other analogies, but instead are more fluid and dynamic. Still, once the datasets are deposited in the permanent archive, they become fixed products, and are citeable and publishable. Providing significant resources for data manipulation is undoubtedly useful, but the focus with this system is on the service, not necessarily on the data. The data however, is the backbone of the system – there is no point having the service without the data and the users who want to analyse it. Conclusions It goes without saying that all analogies are wrong, but some are useful, and hence should come with a health warning – especially when following an analogy to the furthest reaches of its logic can result in sheer absurdity . When dealing with data, just like in life, there is no all-encompassing metaphor for what we do. Instead, metaphors and analogies should be used in ways to illuminate and clarify, but we should always remember that metaphors are useful tools for thinking about things, but can also limit how we think about things. (Ball, 2011). Pushing an analogy so far that it breaks can be a useful process, in that it helps determine the limits of understanding, especially as part of an ongoing conversation. Finally, for this essay, the author would like to leave the reader with some very appropriate words from (Polya, 1954, page 15): â€Å"And remember, do not neglect vague analogies. But if you wish them respectable, try to clarify them.†

South Koreas Economic Indicators and Recent Growth Rate Assignment

South Koreas Economic Indicators and Recent Growth Rate - Assignment Example The growth theory places emphasis on increasing government expenditure, net exports (exports-imports) and investments which are obtained from savings. South Korea’s GDP growth levels can be traced to its increase in export levels, investment levels, and government expenditure. Therefore, the growth theory matches quite well with the economic development and growth in South Korea and its contributing factors-investment, exports and government expenditure. Rapid growth levels coincide with extensive government interventions on the economy. Economic and political policies were geared towards a free capitalistic economy with little government interference except in adjusting externalities resulting from the market failure. The political structure was also adjusted in order to support a capitalistic economy. Investment in human capital refers to investing in nutrition and health, schools and higher education, investment in children, migration, fertility rates, infant mortality rates and maternal healthcare. For example, by analyzing the infant mortality rates or literacy levels of the population, there is a clear positive correlation between an increase in the levels of literacy and infant mortality and an increase in GDP. Investing in children is particularly crucial for long-term economic growth and development of any country. Investment in human capital plays an integral role in any country’s economic growth and development. From the data, it is easy to identify the correlation between GDP and initial human and physical capital. Therefore, countries with greater human capital have greater economic growth Ceteris Paribas. The high human and physical capital levels determine the productivity levels of South Korea.

Why gas prices are so high in America Speech or Presentation

Why gas prices are so high in America - Speech or Presentation Example The rising fuel cost has compelled people to drive less. The rise in the prices of gas has resulted in a change in the American life style. (Keen and Overberg) The price rise resulted in a trade deficit in the country as it rose to 15 percent in January 2011. (U.S. trade deficit rose 15% in January on higher oil prices) Texas the second largest state in US experienced a steady rise in the gas prices. The latest data available shows that in the year 2011 the oil price in the state of Texas showed a slow but decreasing trend, where the retail gasoline price has changed from $3.727 per gallon on the 23rd of May 2011 to $3.589 per gallon on 6th June 2011. But considering the same month last year that is in 2010, the gas price has increased by 0.976 dollar per gallon. Houston the largest city of Texas has also experienced an escalation in the price of gas by 1.023 per gallon in 2011 from that of the previous year. (Retail Gasoline Historical prices)

Major Events in our Country Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Major Events in our Country - Essay Example ople left displaced and unemployed as a result of the hurricane posed a major economic strain on the government, which was forced to come up with tax relief measures for the affected population. Hurricane Katrina did not have positive effects on anyone, although oil and gas producers may have benefitted from the increased prices of the two commodities. The United States economy has in both negative and positive ways, been affected by the influx of illegal immigrants into the country. On the positive side, illegal immigrants as Jacobe writes, expand the American economy by accepting low wages, paying taxes, and spending money (1). However, critics of illegal immigration, according to Jacobe are of the opinion that the government loses a lot of expenditure in providing basic services to these immigrants (1). This is because the taxes paid by the latter are not enough to cover the costs of their basic services. There is also the notion that illegal immigrants take up the jobs originally meant for Native Americans, the reducing the total wages of the latter group. Illegal immigrants arguably get the most benefits, considering the free public services given to them, regardless of the minimal taxes paid by this group. The rate of high school dropouts in America is at an all time high, with data showing that the graduation rate stood at 52 per cent as of 2008 (Fields 1). The effect of this high dropout rate on the national economy is that there are fewer people joining the workforce, hence reduced tax revenue. According to Fields, if the number of high school dropouts was reduced by half, the United States would collect approximately $45 billion in tax revenue per annum (1). The dropouts also suffer economically, in terms of a significant reduction in their lifetime earnings. According to Fields high school graduates have approximately 40 per cent more lifetime savings than their dropout counterparts (1). In this case, therefore, both the federal government and the

Developing and Managing Performance (Organisation Essay

Developing and Managing Performance (Organisation - Essay Example In order to enhance performance, it will be essential to develop a reward system whereby the best performing individuals will be rewarding, thus promoting competency in their undertakings. (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2012, p.1). The senior management team will also undergo extensive training on various management perspectives, which will ensure that they will guide their juniors appropriately. This will be implanted in line with the current technological developments to ensure that efficiency is enhanced, which would consequently improve the overall performance of the company. 6 Strategies to Implement 6 Reward System 8 Challenges and How to Overcome Them 8 Conclusion and Recommendations 10 Developing and Managing Performance in an Organisation Executive Summary This report contains a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the different challenges faced when implementing and developing performance management and reward strategy. It puts forward the Bath model e laborating on how it can be used for performance management; moreover, a reward strategy has also been put in place with its significance being indicated. Significantly, the report starts by evaluating the challenges that are known to initiate from implementation, since this is known to be the basis of all the other problems, and proposed a number of ways that they can be countered so as to ensure that the strategic plan goes through to the end without any difficulties altogether. Introduction Over the years, there has been a lot of attention given to performance management and development with the demand for thorough information being actually intensified with the economic downfall. Human resources specialists have toiled to make sure that they keenly evaluate performance between relevant and fair measures putting most of their focus and efforts on essential aspects of any business. Essentially, the different efforts have circled around making sure that the processes are similar in nature with the requirements of a changing breed of line manager, and stream line the systems that are paper based and facilitate admittance through media. Nonetheless, most of the human resource strategies that have been implemented in the past are also focused on ensuring that managing the performance delivers in an environment where the evolution of numbers and effect on organisational brand and innovation is based on the ways of the business success. Concurrently, the report focuses on evaluating the challenges an organisation may incur when putting into place a performance and reward strategy using knowledge from the results of past case studies and theories from different specialists on the field, but mostly on human resources. Currently, the nature of work is altering with diverse organisations and corporations operating in more of a specialized network that is also flexible and natural; basically, the frequency of strategic partnering arrangements between organisations incr easing the need for management relationships to be managed beyond the organisation and hence further work is required. On the other hand, reward systems are also a critical part of any organisations design and how well they are compatible with the rest of the systems has an equal effect on to what extent they will be

Online Social Networking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Online Social Networking - Essay Example Boyd and Ellison (210) define online social networking (OSN) as an online platform, site, or service that is focused on facilitating the building and reflection of online social relations among people with common social ties, interests, or who do similar activities. These sites allow users to display information about themselves like age, location, interests, and activities among others. OSN is achieved through social networking services (SNSs) like Facebook, Google+, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, Linkedin, Spoke and Cyworld. The main function of OSN is to provide a link through which people can communicate. According to Papacharissi (120), OSN sites allow people to create a profile for representing themselves and interacting through instant messaging, email and other integrated communication channels. There is a section on these sites that is dedicated to comments, friends, and other people with similar interests. Some of them allow users to create contact groups for ease of sharing common interests. They also allow users to hold discussion forums over the internet through services like chat rooms. Secondly, OSN provides a powerful means through which people can share information and personal data among other things. SNSs offer individually-centered services which allow users to share personal data, activities, events, information, interests, and ideas within their individual networks. Thirdly, OSN provides a quick way of expanding one’s social base. The social sites allow users to view or search people that share the same interests. Individuals or organizations can also compile and share lists of contacts. They also allow users to suggest more friends to their own friends. OSN has played a role in recent conflicts. The social sites have allowed people to communicate quickly and easily.

Cost Acccounting Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cost Acccounting - Case Study Example The resulting amount is then deducted by the work in process beginning to come up with cost of goods manufactured. The cost of goods manufactured is then added to the finished goods beginning to come up with goods available for sale. The goods available for sale is deducted by the amount equal to finished goods ending inventory to arrive at COST OF GOODS SOLD. The cost of production report is a major tool for decision making. The cost accounting system shows us the true picture of the Elan company. Based on Table 1 in the Appendix, for the year ended December 31, 1999, When the cost of goods sold amount of $137,935 is divided by the total revenue for the same year of $676,734, the cost of goods ratio of 20.38 percent. When the cost of goods sold for the year ended December 31, 1997 amounting to $106,182 is divided by the total revenue amount for the same year of $384,181, cost of goods ratio is 27.64 percent. To be more conservative, we can divide the cost of goods sold for the year 1998 of $137,935 by only the product sale of $342,078, the cost of gold ratio increase to 40.32 percent. As for the year 1997, when we divide the cost of goods sold amount of $ 106,182 by the total product sales of $215,486 then the cost of goods sold for the year will increase to 49.28%. The table shows that the product selling price is higher than cost of goods sold. The... The direct materials are the ingredients that used in making the drugs and other products. The second production cost is the direct labor. The direct labor is the total amount paid for factory workers who are directly making those products. The third kind of production cost is the Factory overhead. All factory cost that cannot be identified as direct materials and direct labor are lumped under the account title factory overhead costs. Examples of factory overhead are indirect materials, indirect labor or janitor, electricity cost and telephone expenses. The production cost is an actual amount and not estimated. Factory overhead costs can be divided into two kinds. The first kind is fixed cost. This means that the amount will generally be the same for the current accounting period irregardless of the increase or decrease in the number of products that are being processed. An example of fixed cost is factory supervisor salary and the factory rent expense. The second kind of production cost is the variable cost. The variable cost is named so because the cost or expense amount will increase if production of goods will increase and the amount of such cost or expense decreases when the production of goods will decrease. Examples of variable production cost are direct materials and direct labor. The production cost is an actual amount and not estimated. (B)Assess the extent to which the system provides useful information for pricing,decision making, planning, control and performance measurement.(80 marks)The cost accounting system presented in section (A) above EXTENSIVELY will provide all the minimum requirements that the pricing and decision makers in the Elan company will need for their decision making functions. The

Mary Shelley vs. Frankenstein Essay Example for Free

Mary Shelley vs. Frankenstein Essay In the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the author relates her life to the events that happened in the book. Certain events in her life led her to write the horror story that eerie, rainy night at Lord Byrons mansion in London. Mary Shelley experienced many tragedies and losses. Writing a novel like Frankenstein was her way of mourning and dealing with her grief. Her environment also had an effect on her for it inspired her to write the way she did, why she did, and why she wrote it in the first place. Mary Shelley had a desire, a wish, a craving for something she hasnt experienced and probably never will motherhood. Writing Frankenstein made her feel the power of creation and that she can take care of others. She spreads the lesson that if we dont take care of something that needs that attention, it can lead to things we dont like. From the beginning, it was a failure. When Mary Shelley was born, her mother, Mary Wollestonecraft the well-known woman who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman died during labor. Mary Shelley never really had a mother figure around. Her father, William Godwin, on the other hand, was always busy with business and writings that all she would do is sit around whenever her father had meetings with his fellow writers. Mary Shelley grew up in the dawn of the British Industrial Age. Britain was one of the first nations to industrialize. It was a time for the advance in technology and new things. This era could have had an effect on Mary Shelley by influencing her to use electricity and water to create the monster that Frankenstein created. It wasnt only technology that was affected during the Industrial Revolution. Social patterns started changing too. The population boomed and new social classes appeared. There were gaps between levels of society and the upper class usually looked down on everyone else. Reading Wollenstonecrafts Maria and The Rights of Woman, Godwins Memoirs of her mother or his Political Justice, undoubtedly provided intellectual justification for Mary Shelleys defiance of social values. 1 Mary Shelley was surrounded by workers for reforms, philosophers, a changing social climate, and even the feminist movements that her own mother started, and this caused her to write the social gaps between characters in her novel, Frankenstein. Women werent allowed to write before either. Her mother and other feminists who worked to be as equal as the men in society had influenced her and made her try to show the world that she, too, like any other men, can write a good novel. Mary Shelley ran away with a married man, Percy B. Shelley, to France when she was only 19 years old. Percy B. Shelley was one of her fathers friends and doing this caused her father to refuse to communicate with her for the next two and a half years. She traveled all around Europe, seeing many people and things. Percy B. Shelley impregnated her, and there was times that he left her all alone since had business to do. Mary Shelley wrote many journals. She was excited to have a baby. In February of 1815, she finally gave birth to her first child, Clara. She was two months premature and soon died early the following month. Later on after that, Mary Shelley kept attempting to have children but they kept dying. She longed to be a mother but all her attempts failed. She became depressed because of this. One summer night in 1816, Mary Shelley and many other philosophers and writers came to Lord Byrons house in London. They couldnt go outside because of the heavy rain so Lord Byron decided to have a contest on who can write the best horror story. Later that night, Mary Shelley had a dream. She wrote in her journal, I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life His success would terrify the artist; he would rush away hope that this thing would subside into dead matter he opens his eyes; behold the horrid thing stands at his bedside, opening his curtains 2 This of course, is the main concept of her novel which she called, Frankenstein. There are many events in Frankenstein that are related to Mary Shelleys own life. For example, she named the first child to die in the novel William. Mary Shelley had a son who died from malaria when he was only three years old. His name was also William. Coincidence? Maybe. But there were more of these relations. During inclement weather on a family vacation, Frankenstein happens upon the writings of Cornelius Agrippa, and is immediately fired with the longing to penetrate the secrets of life and death. Similarly it was during a wet, ungenial summer in Switzerland that Mary, Shelley, Byron and several others picked up a volume of ghost stories and decided to write [ ]3 It took Victor Frankenstein a while and first researched about how to create a life. He gathered many materials and received information from many of his professors. His mother was dying and he couldnt accept the fact that one day life just passes someone by. He wanted to create life and this was what Mary Shelley desired also. She had suffered many losses and tragedies; first and foremost she lost her mother, then all those babies she lost. She wanted to create life also play God. Mary Shelley had radical views and strict outlooks on society. She saw that leaving a person alone just because they were different was wrong. Mary Shelley was a caring person and she wanted to show love to all. When she eloped with Percy B. Shelley, she was misunderstood and became an outcast for she was seen as one of those. She understood how the monster in her novel felt and she could relate a lot to it. The monster in the novel says that all he wanted was some love and he would have been better. It seemed as if Mary Shelley spoke through the monster in the novel. Frankenstein, in other words, can be read as the story of the experience of writing Frankenstein. What is at stake in Marys introduction as well as in the novel is the description of a primal sense of creation. 4 Writing Frankenstein was more like writing an autobiography of Mary Shelleys life. She put so many evens in her life into the novel that it could have been her own life story, except that she made it more interesting and more horrific. She expressed her grief and pain through the words of the novel. Citations Page 1. Poovey, Mary. My Hideous Progeny: The Lady and the Monster. Page 81 2. http://www. kimwoodbirdge. com/maryshel/summer. shtml 3. Johnson, Barbara. My Monster / My Self. Page 62 4. Johnson, Barbara. My Monster / My Self. Page 63Â   Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

Antioxidant Activity of Banana Peel

Antioxidant Activity of Banana Peel According to several authors, banana peel recorded stronger antioxidant activity, pooled more quantity of phenolic compounds (Someya et al., 2002), greater range of phenolics composition and higher in minerals content than banana pulp. Banana pulp had been reported as having various antioxidants such as vitamins (A, B and E), ÃŽÂ ² carotene (Kanazawa Sakakibara, 2000) and phenolic compounds like catechin, epicatechin, lignin, tannin (Someya et al., 2002), gallocatechin and anthocyanins like peonidin and malvidine. There several type of antioxidant such as vitamin C, E, A, beta-carotene, lycopene and also other substances. Antioxidants are abundant in fruits and vegetables, as well as in nuts, grains, and some meats, and fish. Combination of vitamin C with other antioxidants, including vitamin E, b-carotene, and selenium, provides a synergistic antihypertensive effect. Experimental evidences prove that antioxidants can protect human body from free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) effects. Antioxidants are substances that can prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body and also may protect cells from the damage caused by free radicals. Free radicals are unstable molecules or highly reactive chemical that often contains oxygen and is produced during oxidation. Exposure to various environmental factors will lead to free radical formation such as tobacco smoke and radiation. Free radicals can damage important cellular molecules such as DNA or lipids or other parts of the cell and als o may lead to cancer. Banana peel also demonstrated the presence of various phenolic compounds such as gallocatechin and anthocyanins like peonidin and malvidin. Phenolic compounds are secondary metabolites, which have been associated with flavour and colour characteristics of fruits and vegetables and are gaining considerable attention because of their potent antioxidant and health promoting properties (Kaur Kapoor, 2001). Extraction of phenolic compounds in plant materials is influenced by many factors including the extraction method employed, types of solvent polarity used, storage time, presence of interfering substances, sample particle size and conditions as well as their chemical nature. Bananas were enriched with minerals like potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium. Banana peel could be a good source of carbohydrates and fiber. The high fiber content also indicates that the peels could help treat constipation and improve general health and well being (Anhwange, B. A. et al., 2009). Natural antioxidant are compound from plant or animals sources that retard oxidative rancidity of oil, fats and fat soluble components, thus protecting them while delaying the development of unpleasant flavors and odors resulting from oxidation process. Antioxidant are present naturally in most raw food sources. Processing of the fruit can remove or trigger the degradation of these antioxidant. Nowadays, the most widely used antioxidant were synthetic antioxidant such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), tertiary butylhydroxyanisole (TBHQ), and propyl gallate (PG). Figure 1.1 show the molecular structure of the available synthetic antioxidant. Problem Statement Doubt on the safety of the synthetic arose first in the 1960s and led to an increased interest and broad research on natural antioxidant (). Natural antioxidant particularly found in fruit and vegetables have gain interest among consumer and the scientific community because epidemiological studies have indicate that frequent consumption of natural antioxidant is associate with the lower risk of cardiovascular and cancer (Renoud et al.1998). Natural antioxidants are perceived safe, less toxic and beneficial for human health. However, natural antioxidants is very expensive and have been not widely commercialized. In the recent years, there had been an explosive interest in studying antioxidants of some fruits due to their health promoting properties. A large number of studies have been demonstrated either on the effect of extraction time and extraction temperature or drying temperature toward antioxidant activity, phenolic content and minerals in banana peel. Antioxidant activity could influence by geographical origin, cultivar and harvest storage time. (C. Guo et al., 2003). These statements show that different origin of banana peel will have different value of antioxidant. This present studies are focusing on the banana peel that originally harvest in Malaysia because banana peel from Malaysia origin is rarely being studied before. Objective The objective of this research project is to establish the optimal condition for obtaining the banana peel extract with high antioxidant activity, phenolic content and minerals by using solvent extraction. Research Scope Following tasks will be undertaken as a part of the proposed research:- Different drying temperatures of 50Â °C, 55Â °C, 60Â °C, 65Â °C and 70Â °C used to dry the sample. 70% acetone was use as the extracting solvent. Antioxidant activity and phenolic content was analyst by using Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay and Folin-Ciocalteus calorimetric (FC) respectively. The detection of the products was performed by using UV-visible Spectrophotometer. The sample of 60Â °C drying temperature was extract by using different solvent (methanol, acetone and water) with different dilution ratio (90%, 70%, 50%) in the hot water extraction. The extraction was done at 50Â °C for 1 hour. Antioxidant activity and phenolic content were analyst by using FRAP assay and FC assay respectively. The detection of the product was performed by using UV-visible Spectrophotometer. Time of extraction vary from 1minutes-120 minutes was used to determined the effect of extraction time on antioxidant activity and phenolic content. Banana peel drying at 60Â °C extracted with 70% acetone was used as the sample. Analysis were done by using FRAP and FC assay where the detection was performed by using UV-visible Spectrophotometer Different extraction temperatures of 40Â °C, 50Â °C, 55Â °C and 60Â °C were for the hot water extraction. Banana peel drying at 60Â °C extracted with 70% acetone was used as the sample. Duration of the extraction process was 2 hours. Analyst for antioxidant activity and phenolic content were performed. Verification of the Ascorbic acid existence in the banana peel extract was performed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) unit. Banana peel drying at 60Â °C extracted with 70% acetone was use as the sample. The extraction process was done at 55oC for 2 hours. Sodium(Na), Magnesium(Mg) and Calcium(Ca) compositions in banana peel extracted with 70% acetone and undergo 2 hours extraction at 55oC were investigate by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) unit. Rationale and Significance Banana is one of the source of natural antioxidant. Besides, banana is easy to get because it is not a seasonal fruit and it grow well in Malaysia. Banana peels are waste from banana fruit and they contain high amount of antioxidant, phenolic content and also mineral. This peel is biodegradable and it will produce environmental problem due to it nitrogen and phosphorus quantity. Therefore extracting the banana peel will be the best solution in order to protect human being, gaining some profit and also creating waste to wealth. Banana peel also can be commercialize because it qualitative and quantitatively contain more antioxidant than it pulp. It also will have does not compete with banana pulp in producing end product especially in the food industry.