Sunday, January 26, 2020

Bilingualism and Brain Lateralization

Bilingualism and Brain Lateralization Polina Gavrilova Brain Lateralization and Neural Networks in Bilinguals In recent years, various studies have been conducted on bilingualism in regard to the neural basis of the first language (L1) and second language (L2) processing. The new technical advances, such as position emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are used to determine whether L1 and L2 share a common neural network or whether languages are represented in different areas of the brain (Dehaene et al., 1997; Perani et al., 1998; Liu, Hu, and Peng, 2010). Studies in neuropsychology have shown that for most people language processing takes place in the perisylvian areas of the left hemisphere. Research on bilinguals and polyglots who suffered brain injury revealed that occasionally aphasia affects only one of the languages that were previously acquired. This finding suggests that languages are represented in different parts of the brain (Paradis, 1995, cited in Perani et al., 1998) and that L2 has reduced leftward lateralization (Albert Obler, 1978, ci ted in Dehaene et al., 1997). Various studies that examined bilinguals and their language processing have shown that L2 in comparison to L1 doesn’t consistently activate the same neural networks across subjects. The inconsistency between participants could be attributed to the age of acquisition and proficiency level of L2 (Dehaene et al., 1997; Perani et al., 1998; Liu, Hu, and Peng, 2010). This paper examines whether L1 and L2 are supported by a common neural system or whether a dedicated cortical area represents each language. Furthermore, this paper identifies neural substrates activated by L1 and L2 during auditory, word production, and picture naming tasks. Dehaene et al. (1997) examined bilinguals (French-English) who acquired L2 after the age of seven. The researchers found that while listening to a task the superior temporal sulcus (STS), superior and middle temporal guri (STG and MTG), temporal pole (TP), and left angular gyrus (AG) were constantly activated in the left hemisphere for L1. STS and TP were also activated in the right hemisphere but it varied across subjects and the activation wasn’t as strong as in the left hemisphere. In addition, the neural pathway didn’t extend to AG. The findings for L2 showed greater inter-subject variability than for L1. The results of fMRI found that six subjects activated STS, STG, and MTG in the left temporal lobe for L2. However, the pixels of these activations were dispersed compared to the results for L1. The second language didn’t cause any activation in the left TP and AG. Also, some of the subjects didn’t show any neural activation in the left temporal region , which suggests that L2 is mostly dominated by their right hemisphere. The results also displayed that subjects activated additional resources while listening to L2. These additional sub-regions were the right STG and STS in the right temporal lobe. In addition, results of L2 showed that some subjects activated various networks outside the temporal lobe. Specifically, these subjects used the left inferior frontal gyrus, located in the Broca’s area, the inferior precentral sulcus, and the anterior cingulate. The research shows that L1 consistently activated the temporal lobe, especially stimulating the STS, STG, and MTG in the left hemisphere. Some subjects also activated these cerebral regions for L2 but with greater dispersion. Participants had strong leftward lateralization for L1 and inconsistent lateralization patterns for L2 across subjects. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that L1 is represented in the left hemisphere for most people. Furthermore, the study suggests that late bilinguals require additional neural networks for L2. Therefore, some subjects recruited left inferior frontal gyrus, which is responsible for language production to help maintain L2 while processing it during tasks. The anterior cingulate was another additional resource, which is responsible for attention and control. This suggests that L2 is not as autonomic as L1 and subjects needed more resources and attention to process L2 (Pardo et al., 1990; Posner Dehaene, 1994; Paulesu, Frith, Frack owiak, 1993, cited in Dehaene et al., 1997). Perani et al. (1998) studied cortical responses by evaluating bilinguals with high proficiency, late acquisition (HPLA) and high proficiency, early acquisitions (HPEA) and comparing their results with low proficiency, late acquisition (LPLA) study (Perani et al., 1996). Similar to previous studies, L1 of the LPLA bilinguals activated the left hemisphere, including perisylvian areas and temporal lobes and L2 activated different networks across subjects (Perani et al., 1996; Dehaene et al., 1997, cited in Perani et al., 1998). On the other hand, the results demonstrated that balanced bilinguals, HPLA and HPEA, activated similar networks while listening to stories in their native and acquired languages. HPLA subjects activated left hemisphere in the temporal pole, the STS, MTG and hippocampal structures for L1, which is consistent with previous results. However, L2 activated similar neural pathways, which suggests that when L2 is acquired to a high proficiency the speakers activate the same areas of the brain for both languages. HPEA subjects activated temporal poles, hippocampal structures and lingual gyrus for both, L1 and L2, which is similar to the results of HPLA speakers. These results show that once the proficiency level of L2 increase, the speakers recruit less networks to maintain L2 and the activation foci between languages doesn’t vary as it does with unbalanced bilinguals (e.g., LPLA). Furthermore, the results showed that the temporal lobes were consistently activated during tasks. Previous studies showed that the temporal poles get activated during tasks that require listening, reading, or speaking (Mazoyer et al., 1993; Perani et al., 1996, cited in Perani et al., 1998). Therefore, the authors suggest that the temporal poles are responsible for processing at the sentence level rather than unconnected word level. In another study, Liu, Hu, and Peng (2010) examined Chinese-English bilinguals using word production and picture naming tasks. The results showed that there was increased activation for L2 in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), left precentral gyrus, Brodman’s area (BA) and bilateral basal ganglia, including the putamen, globys pallidus, and caudate, and bilateral cerebella.The bilateral SMA, left precentral gurys, and the cerebella functions are related to motor processing for word production; therefore, activation in these regions might be related to phonological and articulatory processing in language production. The researchers also found that L2 activated Brodman’s area of BA44/45/48; the BA44 and BA 45 are known are Broca’s area, which is responsible for motor planning and articulation, as well as phonological processing. Activations in these areas suggest that L2 is less autonomic and requires more neural pathwa ys to maintain and control language production for L2 (Braun et al., 2001, cited in Liu, Hu, and Peng, 2010). L2 also activated regions of basal ganglia, which is related to motor behavior and cognition functions (Graybiel, 2000) and regulates planning and execution of actions, and speech motor control. The activations in these areas could be attributed to the fact that unbalanced bilinguals try to reduce interference from a more dominant L1 (Elsinger et al., 2006; Alm, 2004, cited in Liu, Hu, and Peng, 2010). Interestingly, the authors found that L1 activated the right putamen and right globus pallidus of the right basal ganglia. The dissociation between L1 and L2, which activated the left basal ganglia, suggests that different regions of basal ganglia are responsible for different levels of speech execution( Jueptner and Weiller, 1998, cited in the study). The difference between activation of basal ganglia could also be attributed to the fact that Chinese and English use different phonological systems and language scripts, which might activate different parts of basal ganglia (Liu et al., 2006, cited in Liu, Hu, and Peng, 2010). The results also showed overlapping between neural pathways for L1 and L2. Both languages activated the left IFG, which is associated with semantics and phonology, posterior perisylvian area which is responsible for linguistic functions and the cingulate gyrus for cognition and motor control. The literature review and the present studies concur that L1 has a consistent neural pathway within the left hemisphere and L2 has a more varied cerebral activation patterns. The differences between L1 and L2 are being attributed to the language proficiency of L2 Dehaene et al., 1997; Perani et al., 1998; Liu, Hu, and Peng, 2010). Nonetheless, L1 and L2 also activate common neural system, which differed from one study to another due to the tasks, languages involved, and the level of L2 acquisition. The results of the studies suggest that L2 is less autonomic than L1 and requires more resources to maintain the L2, however as the proficiency of L2 increases the need to activate varied neural pathways decreases, as L2 becomes competent to L1. It’s important to study about the way languages are represented in peoples’ brain as these studies will contribute to our understanding of brain plasticity, language acquisition and neurological diseases, such as aphasia in bilinguals . Also, new studies using advanced technologies will help to clarify agreed upon hypothesis of language lateralization and representation in the human brain. References Dehaene, S., Dupoux E., Mehler, J., Cohen, L., Paulesu, E., Perani, D., et al. (1997). Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language. Neuroreport, 8, 3809–15. Liu, H., Hu, Z., Guo, T., Peng, D. (2010). Speaking words in two languages with one brain: neural overlap and dissociation. Brain Research, 1316, 75-82. Perani, D., Paulesu, E., Galles, N.S., Dupoux E, Dehaene S, Bettinardi V, et al.(1998). The bilingual brain: proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language. Brain, 121, 1841–52.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Microsoft’s Management Planning

Microsoft’s Management Planning Paper Within this paper Microsoft’s organization will be assessed with the planning functions of management. Along with a brief analysis of Microsoft’s history and the impact that legal issues, ethics and corporate social responsibility have on the planning functions of management. It will also analyze the factors that influence the Microsoft’s strategic, operational, and contingency planning. The Microsoft corporation is one of the most prevalent and powerful companies in the private computer business. Established in 1975 by Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Microsoft has the strongest presence in just about all areas of computer software, from applications to programming tools. Bill Gates wanted to create a healthy, productive work environment that maintained its employees values and commitment of excellence. In building a corporation based on the principles of diversity and respect of one another’s individuality, Bill wanted to bring in the right people to manage his corporation that had the same common goals to achieve the main goal of having a thriving corporation. Planning is important at all levels of management within Microsoft. However, its distinctiveness differs by level of management. Within Microsoft the key terms of planning management functions are vision, mission, objectives and goals. Planning requires a organized approach and an establishment of objectives. It starts with setting goals and objectives that can be achieved. Those objectives provide a underlying principle for a variety of tasks as well as designate course of efforts. Additionally those objectives also focus the attention of the managers on the final results wanted to be achieved. Objectives are the core to the planning process. Consequently, objectives should be stated in a obvious, accurate and unequivocal manner. Otherwise the tasks to be carried out are sure to be inadequate. The establishment of planning principles are the hypothesis about the profile of prospective events. They serve as a basis of planning. It assists in finding out the obstacles in the way of business throughout the course of the process. Planning principles may be or external or internal. Internal consist of asset investment plans, executive labor affairs, beliefs of management. While external includes political, social, and economical transformation. Internal principles are controllable while external are not controllable. To facilitate the management of Microsoft the company is run by a Board of Directors. This is a strategic form of planning that impacts the legal issues, ethics and corporate and social responsibility of the company. The committees include the Compensation Committee, which grants compensation for the CEO and supplementary employees of the corporation; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which takes care of an assortment of corporate matters as well as nomination of the board; the Finance Committee, which takes care of financial matters such as recommended unifications and acquirements; the Audit Committee, which takes care of accounting issues with the corporation together with reports and audits; and the Antitrust Compliance Committee, which puts forth efforts to put a stop to company practice from violating antitrust laws. Other aspects to the corporate configuration are there is a Executive Team, comprised of sixteen corporate officers around the world, which is in charge of a variety of duties including making sure staff understand Microsoft's traditions of business. That team handles the worldwide matters. With planning being the primary function of management and what the other functions of management develop from, a manager can only organize and staff after strategies to obtain goals are in place. Microsoft management is accountable for and are evaluated on how they meet the organizational goals through the functional and competent use of their resources. They are evaluated by their performance in getting the goals obtained proficiently and successfully through their staff. Management is also evaluated on their decision-making abilities to put to use the four functions of management to achieve the organizational goals. There are different stages of management and within all of them the first function of management, the planning function, is involved. The three factors that influence Microsoft’s strategic, operational, and contingency planning are external and internal factors and environment. Strategic planning is one particular style of planning. Strategies are the result of strategic planning. Microsoft’s strategies classify its business, the criterion for entering the business, and the fundamental events that Microsoft will pursue in carrying out its business. Strategies are key plans that assign huge amounts of the company’s capital to projected events, intended to attain the main goals and objectives. Operational Planning views future as something that needs to be implemented now. This style of planning focuses on setting interim objectives. Takes on a larger amount of comprehensive planning regarding the way in which activities are to be achieved Now a solid contingency plan has a massive value for the organization and it responds to major changes in the environment. The development of a all-inclusive contingency plan completes an external and internal environmental study, evaluates vision, mission and objectives, and establishes strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Microsoft’s mission statement is clear as stated (2008) on the website, â€Å"As a company, and as individuals, we value integrity, honesty, openness, personal excellence, constructive self-criticism, continual self-improvement, and mutual respect. We are committed to our customers and partners and have a passion for technology. We take on big challenges, and pride ourselves on seeing them through. We hold ourselves accountable to our customers, shareholders, partners, and employees by honoring our commitments, providing results, and striving for the highest quality. Microsoft promotes a diverse, supportive, and dynamic work environment. Within the frame work of the relationships build amongst each other they strive to be open, honest and respectful with everyone’s ideas and thoughts and input. Microsoft encourages a diverse workforce at all levels of the corporation. It is in that belief system that creating a work environment that enables people to fully appreciate t he diverse talents that others have to offer leads to improved modernization and creativeness within the products and services that the corporation provides to the public. Microsoft also encourages a cooperative and fruitful work environment by supporting the cultural and ethnic diversity of its workforce. They are dedicated to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants that are qualified. Planning is a decision making function that involves innovative thinking and imagination that eventually leads to advance methods and function for growth and wealth of an organization. Microsoft’s planning begins with purpose of objectives. Microsoft has big corporations resources with a small corporations suppleness and heart. Every flourishing corporation has the ability to use its resources and power to make a positive impact on the world and its people and with the Microsoft corporation being one of the most prevalent and powerful companies in the private computer industry, it has proven without a shadow of a doubt that it has done just that. They draw attention to the purposes for which various activities are to be carried out. With this the planning help in focusing the attention of staff on the objectives or goals of the organization. Without planning Microsoft has no direction. It requires manager to prepare a outline of the course of action that are to be followed for all completion of objectives and consequently bringing organization and level-headedness into the company. The duty and principles to help people and realize the true potential is what sets the Microsoft corporation apart from the rest.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Introduction to Myth

Introduction to Myth: Mythos – Greek word for story (not necessarily true or false) Mythology – the study of myths Primitive people needed to make stories/myths in an effort to understand what was going on in their world. Humans are the only beings with a need to understand things; a dog doesn’t think â€Å"why me †. Primitive people, when scared, hurt, depressed, created myths to explain their pain or discomfort. All cultures make myths in their early development. Around 1200 B. C. , ancient Greeks began to take written history and to make rational and logical stories. Myth-making came to an end once this began.Myths â€Å"illustrate† the truth, much as Jesus did in his parables. He did not give an exact point, but told a story that showed what he meant. Myths may not tell the literal truth, but they illustrate human nature and human experience. Theories: Max Muller – concluded that all ancient myths are about nature and natural phenomenon. Carl Jung – noted that same kinds of myths turn up in all different cultures, such as each culture having their own version of the Great Flood. He developed his theory of the Collective Unconscious – that all humans are born with these same ideas in their brains, lying deep and unconscious.He said that myths explore these deep ideas of the collective unconscious. Claude Levi-Strauss – research on human brain, that different sides were responsible for different functions. Noted that the body is binary (2 arms, 2 ears, 2 legs†¦) and says that we think in pairs with ideas (on & off, right & wrong, good & evil, yes & no). They are pairs of opposites in conflict with each other. Levi-Strauss says that man’s entire experience is based on conflict, and that myths present the conflicts, then resolve them within the story. The 20th century was in ways spent examining and interpreting the ideas of the 19th century.Despite technological strides, it has been sai d that no ideas came from the 20th century. For example, 20th century scholars spent their lives working on the 19th century ideas of Darwin, Marx and Freud. Sigmund Freud – all human nature is driven by sex. Freud started psychotherapy. He turned his focus to myths and concluded that all myths are about sex and are a way of revealing sexual fears and desires without having to confront them every day. Characters: Zeus, Semele, Hera Zeus – lord and king of the gods. Constantly making love to females of all kinds. In this story, Zeus is making love to Semele.But Zeus is married to his sister, Hera, who always finds out about his infidelities. Hera disguises herself as an old human woman and visits Semele, who confesses that not only is she making time with Zeus, but that he love her more than his own wife! Hera says that no, he doesn’t, because with his own wife, he appears to her as he really is – as an almighty god. Usually, Zeus appears as a human â€⠀œ tall, strong, distinguished, a little bit of gray. So the next time Zeus comes around, Semele asks him to appear as he really is. Zeus denies her, saying that she doesn’t want to see that.So she bitches and moans until he gives in, makes love to her, and appears to her as the god that he is – at which point she is immediately destroyed by a bolt of lightning. That story can be analyzed by the four theories listed above. Is any single theory correct? Are none of them correct? 1. Muller’s Nature Theory – because primitive people are in constant contact and conflict with nature. Zeus is the ultimate god, even over the god of thunder, and they find thunder frightening. Lightning is Zeus’ weapon, and experiencing a lightning bolt is the closest that they could get to Zeus. So to them, a lightning bolt IS Zeus.Getting struck by lightning is getting hit by Zeus. That’s where nature comes in. Zeus is frequently depicted with a lightning bolt. 2. Jung’s Collective Unconscious – two of his ideas – Anima and Animus. Anima is the male idea of the ideal woman, the universal woman, who makes men crazy and keeps them off balance by nagging and manipulating. Animus is the idea that all women have of men – violent, destructive, aggressive, rapists. So myths provide an expression for these ideas, which lie deep in the unconscious. Both appear in this Zeus story – she nags him like crazy and he destroys her. 3.Levi-Strauss – humans are obsessed with conflict and resolution. Each of the three characters in this story are in conflict with every other conflict. But as soon as you get rid of Semele, all conflicts are resolved. 4. Freud – it’s all about sex; Castration Anxiety – a boy has one, a girl doesn’t. The boy thinks she must have cut hers off and worries that she’ll cut his off. Penis Envy – the girl looks, he has something she doesn’t, she k nows she’s never had one, and she wants one. In this myth, Semele insists to see Zeus â€Å"as he really is†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦or naked. She’s obsessed about it (penis envy).But when he stands there naked, he has to kill her (castration anxiety). Creation Know that myths conflict and contradict each other, and the Greeks did not have them in a logical order. One does, through, give a story of creation, which we compare to Genesis from the Bible. Genesis – God is already in existence at the beginning of Genesis, then he creates the universe; the creation order matches the evolutionary order. The climax of the story is when god creates the first man. But then, man complains that he needs a companion, so woman is created. Greek – starts with chaos, which in Greek means â€Å"emptiness† or â€Å"nothing†.So you start with nothing. Then five beings come into existence: * Ge – (pro. ‘gay’) – the earth (feminine; any word that ends in ‘e’ in Greek is feminine) * Tartarus – dark terrible prison located beneath the earth * Eros – passionate love * Erebus – darkness * Night – night Of the five, three are frightening and dark. It’s scary because 90% of human animal information comes from sight, and human animal has poor night vision. So night was scary for primitive humans, because their predators had either excellent night vision or great sense of smell. Night is a time when we’re defenseless.Only one of the five was imagined by Greeks to be in human form. Eros was an adolescent boy. They knew a 16-year-old boy could impregnate more women at that age than at any other time in his life. When Romans took over Eros, they turned him into the five-year-old boy we know as Cupid. Next, Ge gives birth, with no help from a man, to Mountains, Seas and Heavens: Ge does this without the help of any male. It was assumed for a long time that women made babies all on their own, with no help from men. This gave them a position of importance and prominence in society, while the men were unimportant.After all, sex was just for fun, and there was no immediate effect. No one put it together until man learned how to count – that was a bad day for women. They figured out the solar year, then the months, then that 9 months after sex, the baby came along. So it was the man involved after all. And eggs were inside and invisible, while the male secretion was obvious. So it was the man that actually parented the child, the woman was just a carrier. So now men were the most important. So later, Ge needed a husband, since men were necessary after all.She married her son Heaven, or Uranus (Ouranos). Since Uranus was the man and Ge was the woman, Uranus got all the credit. After a long dry spell when the rains came and the land became green again, it was Uranus up in the heavens that fertilized his wife Ge and gave them crops. Also, heaven must be male b ecause he’s on top and above Mother Earth. Primitive people, like children, saw the world in terms of themselves – they thought rain from the sky was male sperm impregnating the earth. Anthropomorphism – the process by which we give human form to things that are not really human.His current example was Barney, but the Greek gods had the same range of emotions (hatred, jealousy) that Greek humans had. This is man making god in man’s image, since it was the only form they knew well. (i. e. marriage of heaven and earth – putting a human occurrence to the supernatural) (True of Greek gods) So we’ve got Ge and Uranus. But Uranus hated his children – he thought they were ugly. So he stuffed each one of them back into the body of Ge (earth). Ge was in pain so she asked the kids inside of her for help, but only Cronus (youngest child) would help her.She got some iron from inside herself and formed a sickle (common instrument with curved blade to cut grain), and gave it to Cronus. Cronus hid in the evening until Uranus came back to sleep with his wife, then Cronus jumped out, grabbed Uranus’ genitals, chopped them off, and threw them into the sea, where they floated. A foam formed around the genitals, and out of that foam came Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love. (Remember: god of love is Eros) How does Cronus get out? Does he stand on his mother Ge, since she is the earth? Is Uranus the heavens or is he a man with genitals?The Greeks weren’t concerned with realistic details (didn’t think that way) – the more bizarre, irrational and violent the story, the older and more primitive it is. Now, the male is the only real parent, since he provides the visible sperm and the woman is just a carrier. So the male is the head of the family, and a male king rules over all families. So since baby-making was the important part, a castrated male could not be in charge. So Uranus was no longer chief â €“ Cronus, his defeater, became the chief god Once, he became the chief god, Cronus let all of his siblings out of Ge.And he needed to marry so he could make babies. So he married his sister Rhea. They had kids, but Cronus knew from his own experience that kids could endanger his power. So he swallowed each child whole. Rhea was distressed, him swallowing the kids and all, and went to Ge and Uranus for advice. They said to give him a rock wrapped in baby clothes next time, that he’d never know the difference. So she hid the next child, Zeus, and Cronus swallowed a rock instead. Rhea took Zeus to Crete and hid him in a cave to grow up safely away from Cronus.Once grown, Zeus tricked Cronus into spitting up all of his brothers and sisters, and there was a war between Cronus and Rhea’s generation and Zeus’ generation. Cronus’ generation (his brothers and sisters) were called the Titans. Zeus’ people chose Mt. Olympus as their war base, and after w inning, he and his siblings lived on Mt. Olympus (a mountaintop, where primitive Greeks would expect their gods to live). Zeus and crew were called the Olympians. Zeus used lightning bolts as his weapon to lead the Olympians to victory over the Titans, and Zeus took over as god of the universe until the end of mythology.Zeus hurled most of the Titans (his aunts and uncles) down to Tartarus (the deep prison) so that they could never challenge his power. But he couldn’t bring himself to do that to Cronus, his father. Cronus was sent west into exile (traveled west because it was the direction of death), never to return to Greece. Cronus went to Italy and hid there, where he used the Latin name Saturn, which â€Å"Saturday† was named after. (Hiding place of Cronus: Lateo, Latium, Latini). Cronus was still a god and presided over a golden age in Italy.Then we went further west , but the Italians recalled the golden age with a mid-winter festival called Saturnalia, in which the high point was December 25th. On that day, no one worked or went to school, and families exchanged gifts with each other. When the Catholic church took over Rome, the took over existing festival days (smoother transition), and Saturnalia was changed to celebrate the Mass of Christ (Christmas). Generations: Ge & Uranus Cronus & Rhea Zeus & Hera Creating People: The creation of the first man (male) was very unimportant.Myth is not even clear as to who did it. Some versions say Zeus created man out of dirt. Others say Zeus’ cousin Prometheus (son of one of the Titians) created man and had sympathy for humans. But male human life was pathetic and weak and helpless and inferior to animals – humans can only walk better. So Prometheus went to heaven and stole fire and gave it to man. Now, every human had fire for warmth, light and protection. When Zeus found out, he was so angry that he wanted to offset the gift of fire, so he gave man something very terrible – wom an. The creation of woman was a big deal.Hephaestus, the craftsman, constructed the first woman and handed her over to Aphrodite, the goddess of passionate love and the most beautiful. Aphrodite gave woman irresistible beauty and charm, then handed her over to Athena, goddess of wisdom. Athena taught woman important and useful skills, then handed her over to the god Hermes, who among other things is god of the practical joke. Hermes gave woman the character of a thief and the mind of a bitch. Then all of these gods – Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Athena, and Hermes – brought woman before Zeus, who named her â€Å"all gifts†, or Pandora. Zeus had a gift for Pandora – a big jar (not a box!! , ceramic, 4 or 5 feet tall. She asked what was in it, but Zeus refused to answer – just take it with you, he said. Zeus took her and her jar down to earth and the society of men. Prometheus had an earthly brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus means â€Å"forethought†, and thinking before speaking or acting. His brother Epimetheus†¦well, not so much. Afterthought. Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept any gifts from gods, but he took one look at Pandora, she of irresistible beauty and charm, and took her and her jar in. Life was good for a while, but Pandora was so curious about the jar.She’d go and listen to it, shake it, smell it. Finally, one day she opened the seal, and out came all of the ills that we face – sickness, death, disease, pain, famine, drought – only hope was left in the jar, and it remained there when she finally got the lid back on. So, hope was left in the jar – what was â€Å"hope† doing in a jar full of evils? The Greeks were deeply pessimistic and felt that life was hard and cruel, with no â€Å"happy ending†. Note that most myths end unhappily and violent. So to them, hope was the greatest evil of all – hope makes you think none of the evils would happen to you .But the certain future is that we’re all going to die, so the Greek pessimism is based in reality. But hope makes us think that none of that will happen to us. Second Creation – The Great Flood: In the Old Testament, God wipes out horrible man and saves only Noah’s family. God tells him to build an ark, and despite sure ridicule, Noah does. He puts a male and female of each animal on the ark with his family, and survive when the rains come and flood the land. He sends out doves until one returns with an olive branch – a sign of dry land. The ark sets down on Mt. Ararat and Noah and his family reproductively recreate the human race.Every culture has a flood story. Were the Biblical stories made up as the myths were to make sense of the world around them? But there are flood stories all over the world – proof of a great flood? The earth goes through warming and cooling periods – did a warmth come through and melt the glaciers, flooding all in habitable land? Many ancient cities were built in river valleys – at some point or another, every river will challenge its banks and flood, which would create a version of the same story all over the world. So some myths may well be based in reality. The Greek Flood version:Zeus went down to earth disguised as a human to check out human society and found it disgusting, corrupt, evil and treacherous. So Zeus returned to Mt. Olympus and told the other gods that he was going to flood the earth to get rid of the evil human race. The other gods provided an answer to the question â€Å"why does man exist? † If Zeus destroyed all humans, there would be no one left to worship the gods. That are how humans were perceived in greek myth; they were only there to worship the gods. So Zeus goes back and finds a husband/wife worth saving, Deucalion and Pyrrha.They were pious and just – they had the right relationship with the gods and they had right in their dealings with othe r humans. (This parallels Jesus’ two great commandments – love only one god and love thy neighbor). Usually, Greek myth is not concerned with human morality, but here it mattered to Zeus. So Zeus puts Deucalion and Pyrrha in a boat and flooded the land. After the waters subsided, Deucalion and Pyrrha saw that they were the only people left, and they were terrified. Being pious, they prayed to the gods for advice. They were told â€Å"Take the bones of your mother and throw them over your shoulder. You often see strange answers when people talk to gods. This was even weirder because the Greeks prioritized proper burial, so digging up bones didn’t sound appropriate. So Deucalion and Pyrrha tried to figure it out, and came up with ‘mother’ was Ge, Mother Earth. So they threw rocks and stones over their shoulders, and where they landed, the new human race formed. But why did they have to throw it over their shoulder? That parallels Lot and his wife lea ving Sodom and Gomorrah. She looks back over her shoulder after being warned not to, and is turned to a pillar of salt.She wasn’t supposed to see the supernatural. So that’s why they threw ‘bones’ over their shoulders – so they couldn’t see the supernatural event. You can’t watch – you’ll destroy yourself (Zeus destroying Semele) or you cancel out the event. Greek religion was not a monotheism (one god), or a polytheism (many gods), but a form of polytheism, henotheism – belief in one god most powerful, but other gods exist. Zeus is the powerful one here, over other gods and humans. Now, Zeus was sleeping with any woman he could get his hands on – human, goddess, nymph – because his power came from baby-making.Unsentimentally, â€Å"father† is like a dog that sires, just a baby-maker. Morality didn’t matter, Zeus was the great father god up in heaven, a carouser (but that’s due to anthropomorphism as well). So Zeus marries his sister Hera and appoints two of his brothers to control parts of the universe, under his command and authority. Poseidon, god of the sea, and Hades, god of the world of the dead. Zeus has control over heavens and the earth Hera is the goddess of marriage – she understands marriage, she’s not nice or sweet, but cunning and cruel, with sexual jealousy being the worst.Her Latin name is Juno, so June weddings are traditional and girls wanted to marry in her month to gain her blessing. Poseidon – god of the sea – Latin name Neptune, often shown as jolly, but he’s not. Poseidon was associated with horror, sea monsters, tidal waves and earthquakes. He also constantly was having affairs, one with a human girl named Scylla. Poseidon’s wife (no name given) finds out about the affair, waits for Scylla to get in the bathtub, then poisons the water. When Scylla stood up, she had a ring of wolves heads growi ng out of her waist.Poseidon came back to make love to her – no way, wolfie. She begged him to hide her, so he put her in a cave near the edge of the Mediterranean sea, where she waited for sailors to come too close, where she’d capture them and feed them to the wolf heads. Poseidon is an example of gods being more than just gods. Poseidon is god of the sea, but Poseidon also is the sea. The Mediterranean is violent, like Poseidon. Gods always have the character of what they’re god of. Hades is god of the dead. There were no temples built to Hades to honor him with statues and sacrifices.Every human makes his individual sacrifice to Hades by their own death. The earth had three layers – the top layer which Greeks walked on, the land of the dead (underworld), and Tartarus, the deep prison in which the Titans were kept. Dead people go to the underworld. The Greeks believed in immortality of the soul, and that the souls of all people go to these dark, unhapp y caverns for eternity. Odyssey – Homer – told the stories of the travels of Odysseus, who goes to the entrance of the world of the dead and looks in (the west’s oldest account of death).He saw that the ghosts of the dead were transparent, recognizable, and too weak to talk or to touch, and they shrieked like bats. Odysseus kills an animal and drains its blood, which they drink to give them the strength to talk to him. This makes sense – the body rots away when you die, leaving only bones and eventually dust. The Greeks knew to love live, because the afterlife had none of the pleasurable experiences of life in the body. To the Greeks, the afterlife had no place of reward nor punishment – all souls went to the same gloomy place, longing for physical life and the pleasures of the body.Alternatively, Christianity teaches that the pleasures of the soul are better than of the body – that the body is somehow dirty. Gymnasium literally means to tak e off close in the gym. The Greeks, though, praised nudity. They figured that God made the body, so every part of it, down to the armpits, should be considered beautiful. So the Greeks imagined gods in beautiful human forms, thinking there was no form any higher or more beautiful. Cronus & Rhea Hestia —– Hades —– Poseidon —– Demeter —– Hera —– Zeus Hestia is one of the oldest children, the goddess of hearth (fireplace).She is elusive in Greek myth. She just stayed home and kept the fire going – never married, just stayed home. The Temples to Hestia always had fire going for people who needed it. Her Roman name was Vesta, as in Vestal Virgins. No real stories about Hestia. Demeter – Zeus’s sister, goddess of Agriculture; recall that the father is the only real parent, but if the mom/female doesn’t feed and nourish the child, it dies. Therefore, the earth, which provides food to people, i s female. So Demeter is also the goddess of Motherhood. Anthropomorphic form of mother Ge.Demeter’s daughter is Persephone, whose father is unclear, maybe Zeus. The father is irreverent between the mother and child relationship. Demeter completely loved her child (an anthropomorphic transference of emotion). Hades was Persephone’s uncle, but he fell in love with her. Being god of the dead, he knew he could not persuade her to love him, so he opened up the earth, rose up in his chariot, swept her up, and took her back with him to the underworld as the earth closed. So Demeter comes back and can’t find her daughter. She goes nuts. Searched and searched.Finally, the sun, who sees all, tells her that Hades had abducted her. Now, gods cannot interfere with other gods – only Zeus has that power, so she knew there was nothing that she could do, and couldn’t get Persephone back. Demeter disguised herself as an old human woman and went to work for a family with a newborn baby. She transferred the love she had to someone else’s child. She loved the child, and wanted to give the human child a divine gift. So every night, she’d hold him in the fire to make him immortal. One night, the real mother walks in and sees her holding her baby in the fire.She screamed madly and rushed toward Demeter. Demeter became very angry and threw the child on the floor – angry because the fantasy she had built up to battle her own grief had been shattered. Now she had to face the fact that her child Persephone was gone. The family of the baby found out she was a goddess and were very frightened, and built her a temple on that very spot. Demeter walked into the temple and started to grieve. The Earth went barren and would give no fruit, responding to Demeter’s grief. Recall that the goddess of earth IS earth. Without food, people started dying in droves.Eventually, the other gods went to Zeus to get him to do something – if all the people died, there’d be no one to worship them. Zeus sent a messenger to Hades to give it up. Hades stood before Persephone and handed her a pomegranate. She took one bite and handed it back to him. He then took her in his chariot and brought her back up to earth and set her down next to Demeter’s temple. Demeter saw her and was overjoyed, and the earth bloomed and grew. But because she ate part of the pomegranate, she must go back to Hades for part of each year, and during that time, Demeter grieves for her and the earth does not give food.This fits into Muller and nature – it explains the seasons and why food does not grow during certain parts of the year. Putting the story in such human terms made it easy for the Greeks to understand that season. In some societies, a man and woman sharing a meal (the pomegranate), especially in his home, means that they’re married. This is still continued with the bride and groom sharing cake, the oldest part of the modern ceremony. New story: Orpheus was the best musician in the Greek world. â€Å"Orpheum† theatres are still named after him. He was so good that wild animals would come to listen to him, such as the lion in the statue.He played a lyre, a stringed harp-like instrument. Trees would also uproot themselves and move closer to him when he played, and rocks would roll over toward him. This shows the power of music – it has no physical benefit, yet it has a tremendous effect on us. On Orpheus’ wedding day to Eurydice, his bride stepped on a poisonous snake, was bitten, and died. So Orpheus went to Hades and pleaded for him to send his dead wife’s soul back to earth. He brought his lyre, and got ready to play to persuade Hades. Orpheus appeared before the court of Hades and began to sing about how much he missed Eurydice.It was so moving and powerful that even Hades, god of the dead, wept. So Hades allowed the soul of Eurydice to return to earth, but Or pheus was told he must walk back up to earth the way he had come and Eurydice would be sent after him. But – Orpheus could not turn around and look behind him to see if she was indeed following him. Remember, you can’t look at the supernatural, such as the dead coming back to life. So Orpheus starts walking back up the dark, gloomy corridors, excited about getting his Eurydice back. He tries to listen for her behind him – he tries to look peripherally at the walls to detect her shadow moving.He sees nothing, and begins to doubt. After all, the gods had never allowed the dead to come back to life before – maybe Hades had just told him that to get rid of him. He became convinced he would never get his Eurydice back, and grief overtook him. It seemed so simple when Hades agreed, but now he simply could not believe it was true. So he turned around – and there was Eurydice, right behind him, beautiful as ever. But as soon as Orpheus looked, she was snat ched back to the land of the dead – he had cancelled the miracle and had lost her again, but this time it was entirely his own fault!He ran back down to Hades to beg him to let her return, but Hades said he would not grant it a second time. So Orpheus had to return to earth alone. He became a hater of women – not because they had wronged him, but because Orpheus was afraid of getting hurt again. So now he became famous for two reasons – his music and his hatred of women. He was singing in the woods one day, alone he thought, when a group of women came upon him and killed him, tearing him apart. He then joined Eurydice in the underworld.The Greeks made this myth to show that, theoretically, it was possible to survive permanent death in some joy, if you did exactly what the gods or priests said. The Great Greek Gods of Olympia: Aphrodite – name means â€Å"born from the foam†, that being the foam of her father Uranus’ genitals when they were c ast into the sea. Her Roman name is â€Å"Venus†, and she is the Greek goddess of love, being the most beautiful of all gods and goddess. But it’s not hand-holding warm and fuzzy love – it’s uncontrollable sexual desire that makes you crazy and not concerned with the risks or consequences of such passion.Now the Greeks through the powers of the weather came from heaven, that the sea’s power was from the gods, and even the earth can feed or starve – they personify the powers of nature in gods. So why sex? They thought that inside you there are also powerful forces, and Greeks needed to understand why sexual wantonness was so powerful, so there’s a goddess for it. Now since gods are what they represent, Aphrodite is sex – a real slut. Humans are not instinctively monogamous – promiscuity was instinctive, and Aphrodite is the goddess of the promiscuity. She did sleep around a lot, with human and with god.But Aphrodite was m arried to Hephaestus, the god of craftsmen who crafted Pandora. Hephaestus is the only physically imperfect god, having crippled legs. So the only imperfect god is married to the most perfect goddess. The Greeks that only a disabled person would stay inside all day (outside good to Greeks! ) and make things with his hands. Manliness was defined by fighting and hunting, but Hephaestus cannot fight. Now Hephaestus had a brother, Ares (Roman – Mars), the god of war, and because war was hated, Ares was the most hated god, even among the other gods. But he was a perfect physical specimen.As soon as Hephaestus would leave for his shop, Ares would sneak in the back door for a little lovin’ from Aphrodite. Eventually, the sun, who sees all, told Hephaestus about the affair. So Hephaestus made a giant, strong net and concealed it above the bed. The next day after he left for work and Ares came in, the net came down and held them in place, so tightly that they could not even mov e out of their lovemaking position. So Hephaestus comes in, but gods cannot harm one another – so he went out and invited all the other gods and goddesses to come in and take a long look.The goddesses were too modest, but the gods came in. They laughed, pointed, measured, discussed what they would do if they were in Ares position, which many of them probably had been. So there was no physical violence, but lots of laughing and humiliation. Hephaestus freed them, and Ares never entertained Aphrodite again. So sexuality was beyond the Greeks control – that’s why they had to have a god for it. Pygmalion – a rare Greek happily-ever-after myth. Pygmalion (a guy) was a sculptor, but he was very lonely. So he carved a statue of a beautiful woman and eventually fell in love with the statue.So he went to the temple of Aphrodite, made sacrifices, and prayed for the statue to be a real woman. So he gets home, and the statue comes alive. They lived happily ever after . So how does this parallel Greek life? The man who finds the perfect woman is the man who creates her himself. This reflects the frustration that the Greek people had in finding someone to love. This myth was a fantasy – not of coping with reality, but of escaping from it. Cybele – not a Greek myth, but a Near-Eastern legend on which a Greek myth was based, but changed and adjusted, as we’ll see.Most Greek culture was adapted from ancient near east. The story is violent and bizarre. Cybele was the great mother goddess, who was both male and female. She decided that she’d be much better off just being female, so she cut off her male genitalia and threw it away. Where it landed, the first almond tree grew. Along came Nana, a nymph (Greek for â€Å"bride†) – nymphs are half-human and half-divine, they live forever and are always young and beautiful, but they have no god-like power and cannot leave the area where they’re assigned. Nana t ook a white blossom off that first almond tree and put it between her breasts.It disappeared there and she turned up pregnant. She named her son Attis, and he was a perfect example of a young man. So much so that Cybele, mother goddess, fell in love with him. But Attis loved someone else, so Cybele’s love drove him insane until finally he castrated himself and died from the wound. Cybele was so distraught that she asked the other gods to bring him back to life. They agreed, but with the condition that he’d have to be castrated and die every year. The Greek version: Myrrha – Myrrha was a human girl whose only real parent was her father, since her mother died when she was very young.She loved her father dearly and deeply – too much, because she realized that she wanted to sleep with him, even though she knew it was wrong. She eventually became physically lovesick and depressed over it. When the nanny who raised her noticed that Myrrha was sick, she asked wh y. Myrrha tried to hide it, but eventually blurted out the truth. Well, the old woman nanny was only concerned with Myrrha’s happiness, so she went to the father and told him that a young girl in town wanted to sleep with him – but the girl was shy and wanted her identity to be concealed, so there must be no lights.He agreed. So the old woman told Myrrha that she had arranged it, and Myrrha was horrified! She had wanted it, yes, but now that it was possible†¦. Eventually, she decided to go ahead with it. So she started to visit her father repeatedly in his dark room. She got pregnant. In the meantime, the father was getting curious about who his lover was, tried to recognize her around town and couldn’t, so one night he hid a lantern in the cupboard and closed the door. While his lover was in his dark room, he took out the lantern, saw his own daughter, and realized what he had done.He was furious that he had been tricked and tried to kill Myrrha, who praye d to Aphrodite. Aphrodite transformed her into a myrrh tree (which is where the name came from). Myrrh trees give off an aromatic sap that was used in embalming – the symbolism of Jesus getting a gift of myrrh signified that he would die. This myth helps explain why myrrh sap is used in embalming – death is associated with sadness, and the sap is the sad tears of Myrrha. But Aphrodite saved Myrrha’s baby – a boy child named Adonis. Adonis was a perfect young man, and Aphrodite herself fell in love with him.It was a dangerous world, and Aphrodite was concerned about Adonis, but he didn’t care, and he went boar hunting. Boar hunting was very challenging and dangerous because the boars are smart and would hunt their hunters. So boar hunting was done in groups – they’d use dogs to track and corner a boar into a cave. The hunters formed a semicircle around the cave and the dogs would drive the boar out. The plan was that when the boar came out and saw all the hunters, it would freeze for just a second – long enough for the hunters to kill it. But some boars didn’t freeze – they just charged out and killed a hunter or two in the process.Charge – bye Adonis. Aphrodite grieved and asked the gods to bring Adonis back. They agreed, but once a year Adonis would have to be killed by a boar and come back again. Both Attis and Adonis are called ‘resurrection gods’. With a woman loving both of their dead bodies, we saw a statue of how that resembles Mary holding the body of crucified Jesus. A whole religion grew out of Adonis. Now, for a god to fall in love with a human was considered disgusting to the gods, much like a human falling in love with a chicken. But Aphrodite delighted in making gods fall in love with humans for her amusement.So Zeus decreed that Aphrodite would fall in love with the next human she saw. That human was a shepherd named Anchises. It was summer, and in the summ er shepherds worked naked. So she transformed herself into a beautiful human girl and approached him – told him that she was under a spell and the only way to break the spell was for him to sleep with her. Anchises became uneasy†¦he could tell she was a god because 1) gods were tall, where Greeks were short, 2) gods were blonde, where Greeks were dark, and 3) gods smell good, not like meat-eating Greeks who stank.Anchises thought it was too good to be true, but still he agreed. Afterward, he rolled over and went to sleep. Aphrodite didn’t care about him any more – she had conquered and the novelty was gone, so she decided to tell him her real identity. She woke him up and told him and Anchises was filled with terror – thinking she had used him up and that he’d be impotent. She laughed at him and assured him it would still work. So she went back to Olympus, and he, like any other guy, went to the nearby city of Troy and bragged that he had made love to the goddess Aphrodite.Bad move, he should’ve kept quiet. Zeus was angry with him and struck him with a lightning bolt which crippled him. Aphrodite, on the other hand with it being revealed that she had slept with a human, was mocked, ridiculed and humiliated. Test 1 info: Need a sheet of paper 25 short answer questions (fill in the blank) 1 extra credit question (from book) Zeus’ generation was named from ___? Name one of â€Å"Heaven† daughters? Greek name for â€Å"heaven† was Uranus Rhea Who said that myth resolved conflict? Levi struass

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Advertising Of The Marlboro Brand - 886 Words

Tobacco agriculture could decrease costs scored a 4 for each strategy. This is considered to be most acceptable since the potential for lower costs could directly impact the cost of production, making tobacco products more affordable to lower income consumers under both plans. Once the consumers can afford the products by purchasing at a lower price, they become attracted or addicted, and are likely to continuing purchasing the product. New markets that lack awareness of major brands scored a 2 for expansion of Marlboro through next generation technology and a 3 for expansion into India. PMI has been successful marketing the perceived value of quality to consumers making this factor possibly acceptable as expanding the Marlboro brand through next generation technology could be â€Å"the next big thing.† The cigarette market is so large it is often more challenging for new innovative ideas to break through barriers. Expanding into India should be more receptive to advertising of the Marlboro brand. Through perception and brand loyalty, Marlboro has the potential to capture a new market share expanding their sales growth in this market. Legislation of marijuana scored a 3 for the expansion of the Marlboro brand through technology and brand migration due to the innovative concepts revolving around the use of marijuana in today’s society. The topic is still being debated. This factor rates probably acceptable due to the ability to expand into regulated markets. Expansion into IndiaShow MoreRelatedPhilip Morris1160 Words   |  5 Pages1. How would you describe Marlboro s competitive position in early 1993? Marlboro, the leading cigarette brand for Philip Morris, was the dominant player in the premium priced market. While RJR was the second largest player in the market, RJR’s cigarette brands were fragmented. At the end of 1992, Marlboro had 24.4% unit market share, while each of the RJR brand cigarettes had less than 7% market share. Philip Morris, at 53% operating contribution margin, was significantly more profitable thanRead MorePop Culture Icons: Memorable Advertising Strategies897 Words   |  4 Pagescreated in a sort of diabolical genius fashion, like The Marlboro Man and Joe Camel, characters who were created as a way to deter from the seriousness of smoking. Major tobacco companies, including Phillip Morris and R.J Reynolds, created a way to ease the smokers mind and, perhaps worst of all, to ease the minds of smokers children while creating icons of world proportion. The Phillip Morris tobacco company enlisted the services of The Marlboro Man, a rugged cowboy usually seen in natural settingsRead MoreSegmentation, Targeting, And Positioning Of Marlbbury1353 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Marlboro is the largest selling brand of cigarettes in the world. 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PMI tried to promote itsRead MoreMarlboros Archetype1502 Words   |  7 Pagesromance-based fictions. In cigarettes, the archetype proved useful still, and evolved into what is now known as the ‘Marlboro Man.’ The Marlboro Man is the ultimate archetype: simple, independent, and highly marketable, as a dramatic spike in sales to young males in the 18th century have shown.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Though Marlboro originally marketed cigarettes to a female demographic, its advertising campaign underwent a drastic revision in the 1950’s and began marketing to young men. Naturally, this had the potentialRead MoreThe World War II Era1212 Words   |  5 Pageslong – term effects it might create. Modern advertising has changed dramatically, with the advancement of so many fields; we have more information about the products that are being sold, and there are many more regulations about truth in advertising. It’s a completely different playing field for marketing firms today, they have to employ far more creativity to hook an audience and get their message across than our counterparts in the WWII era. Advertising has a powerful role in shaping the cultureRead MoreThe Ethical Concerns Involving Tobacco1680 Words   |  7 Pageschildren, are less talked about. Some of the early marketing decisions of tobacco can be traced back to one of the most renow ned and valuable cigarette brands in the world, Marlboro. Marlboro first emerged onto the tobacco scene at the beginning of the nineteenth century. They originally were a cigarette brand with a female-based target market. Marlboros were considered feminine cigarettes because they had filters, which were very unpopular for men at the time because the purpose of the filter was toRead MoreThe Issue Of Marlboro s Ethical Violations938 Words   |  4 PagesMarlboro is one of the most well known top brands of the maker Phillip Morris. In 1924, Marlobor was initially launched as a woman’s cigarette it was a filtered brand. In the earlier years, a filtered cigarette was considered to be safer than an unfiltered cigarette. One of Marlboro’s ethical violations is a breach of their own ethical code which states â€Å"We do not and will not market our products to minors, including the use of images and content with particular appeal to minors†. They triedRead MoreEssay on Smoking in America1122 Words   |  5 Pagessmoking, why is it still so popular? Guy Smith, a Phillip Morris Tobacco Company executive, claims that their research shows that advertising is the top reason people start smoking (Bailey 34). Most people will argue that this is not true because the do not like to be â€Å"sold† and do not like to admit advertising affects them. Despite their claims, more Americans buy brand name and heavily advertised products than any other country in the world (Bailey 33). Smoking in the mass media is advertised andRead More Teen Smoking Essay764 Words   |  4 Pages Tobacco Advertising and its dangerous effects on young people. Tobacco Advertising Makes Young People Their Chief Target nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Everyday 3,000 children start smoking, most them between the ages of 10 and 18. These kids account for 90 percent of all new smokers. In fact, 90 percent of all adult smokers said that they first lit up as teenagers (Roberts). These statistics clearly show that young people are the prime target in the tobacco wars. The cigarette manufacturers

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

The Stolen Generations By Ashley Condon - 1013 Words

Stolen Generations Speech- Ashley Condon The Stolen Generations is a term that is well known by nearly every Australian Nationwide. They were the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders that we forcibly removed from their families whilst still children. The removals of these children occurred between 1909 and 1969. It is unknown how many suffered this but it is estimated to be around 100,000. The children were generally taken by Australian government officials or State and territory authorities as well as police men or other agents of the state. They had enough power to remove and then locate these children to other non-indigenous homes, communities or places like institutions or camps. Such institutions existed in places like Moore River Native Settlement in Western Australia, Doomadgee Aboriginal Mission in Queensland, Ebenezer Mission in Victoria and Wellington Valley Mission in New South Wales. Aboriginal children were targeted because the Australian public and governments believed that they were disadvantaged, at risk in their homes and communities, they need a better education or a better family. They were being removed to be brought up in a white Australian family therefore adopting their habits and values. They wanted to limit the amount of children being neglected by their parents as well as those being affected by malnourishment because of their parent’s poor wages. This was known as racial assimilation, meaning they had the right to live as members of a single

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Poverty in the Dominican Republic Essay - 1362 Words

Development throughout the life of a person depends on nourishment, shelter, education, and many other factors. A person cannot lead a full life without catering to their needs and interests, and living in poverty does not help. Poverty levels affect many people all over the world, specifically, the Dominican Republic. I recently took a trip there with my mother, and, during this trip, I noticed many dilapidated homes that housed under-nourished families. I feel that these situations do not help people develop successfully or practice all of their beliefs. To further research my assumptions, I interviewed Yadiris Aleman who was born and raised in a small town outside of Santiago. She moved to America when she was 20 with her family, and†¦show more content†¦Many of the housing conditions also did not meet the par for even normal poverty stricken families in the United States. Countless homes did not have windows: just curtains. I feel that situations such as this only happen as a result of the corrupt government in the Dominican Republic. The police force is corrupt and does no justice for the public safety of the local people. Instead of giving attention to the country’s extreme societal issues, most of the government officials only look to be elected in order to obtain bribes while in office. The government has been devoting much time and money to the developing tourist resorts because they are a main source of the growing economy. On the other hand, â€Å"[m]any local inhabitants sense a loss of local hegemony and fear that tourism is disrupting the social fabric of community life† (Freitag). As a result of her extreme poverty before she came to America, Yadiris feels that one of her hardest parts of adjusting in America was the city life because she was born and raised in a small town, where her floors were cement and her roof was a piece of scrap metal. She went on to tell me how they were only permitted an hour of electricity a day causing food to spoil faster and allowed for no hot water. While the government is putting money into the many extravagant tourist resorts, the Dominican Republic’s inhabitants are living in shams with few schools or health clinics left after tropicalShow MoreRelatedDominican Republic vs. Haiti1245 Words   |  5 PagesDomin ican Republic and Haiti: A Comparison of How One Island Has Two Complete Different Ends Dominican Republic and Haiti: A Comparison of How One Island Has Two Complete Different Ends The Hispaniola is a small island in the Caribbean which is currently composed by the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Haiti. These two countries despite sharing an island and historical institutions are completely different. 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Monday, December 9, 2019

Crisis Management Plan

Question: Discuss about theCrisis Management Plan. Answer: Introduction The current business scenario is surrounded with many of the challenging situations. The organisations have to deal with such sudden emergencies. The implementation of the crisis management plan provides the solutions of these hazardous situations. It is noted that application of the proper communication plan is quite beneficial for mitigating the underlying risks and resolving the emerging issues (Jin, Liu and Austin 2014). The study will shed lights on the crisis management scenario in Coles in Australia. The structured crisis management plan will be discussed in this study by concentrating on the identified issues. The analysis of the theory based perceptions will also be discussed in this study. Identification of the Crisis In recent time, Coles face a significant challenge with the public relation practices. There is the allegation against Coles was unable to sell the alternatives to the supermarket milk brands. The shoppers were very furious when the Facebook pages flooded with photos of empty shelves of other milks brands (News.com.au 2016). Along with Coles, Woolworths face the same scenario during such times. The angry shoppers exclaimed that Coles is deliberately holding back the supplies of different milk brands for selling their brands more effectively. The dairy farmers started encouraging people to purchase only the branded milk except the milk brand of Coles. Coles introduced the new pricing strategy to knock down the other milk brands. The company started selling the milk at $1/L, which was a bold move and it was transformed into the higher risks. The issue created the significant impact on the business functionalities (News.com.au 2016). Analysis of the Issues The identified issue highlights the recent crisis faced by Coles, which is a renowned retail brand in Australian market. The allegations against the company imply that the company faced most of the challenges in the decision making process. The inefficient decision making process led the business towards the crisis, which affected the business functionalities in a significant manner. It is noted that the company went against the business ethics and started knocking down the other milk brands. It affected the morale of the consumers and they alleged against the company by being very furious. The issue emerged since the management failed to make the proper communication with the associated employees (Alexander, 2014). The mismanagement of the business promotions is also one of the major reasons for such crisis scenario. The publicity in the social media was quite insignificant for the business reputation. The pictures of empty milk vessels shared in the Facebook pages made the customer s more furious. However, concentrating on such crisis scenario, it is necessary to analyse the case study by describing the theoretical perspectives of business ethics and crisis management. Theory of Crisis Management The crisis management theory indicates that the business management requires identify the proper transparency and the efforts for resolving the underlying issues. Maintaining the proper communicational transparency and implementing the proper strategic decision is beneficial for mitigating the crisis scenario (Spinks, 2015). There are some of the crisis management theories, which have the significant impact in managing the situational hazards of the organisations. These theories are discussed further: Structural Functions Systems Theory According to Snyder and Diesing (2015), the structural functions system theory is mainly depending on the high level of communication. The communication transparency plays the pivotal role in this theoretical process. If the management is efficient enough in discussing the undertaken organisational functionalities with the employees by establishing the proper communication level, it will be helpful enough in ensuring the better performance parameter. During any crisis situation, the management needs to stand up and face the people. Avoiding the situation will not resolve the conflicts. The open communication is the major weapon in managing such theoretical perspectives. Diffusion of Innovation Theory The Diffusion of Innovation Theory indicates that the organisation must share the relevant information during the situational emergencies (Sung and Hwang, 2014). Sharing the proper information regarding the crisis scenario may bring more innovative ideas to resolve the issues. When the management is sharing such information with the associated workers, they come up with alternative ideas. The application of the innovative ideas would be much beneficial for the company to take the company out of the crisis scenario. Unequal Human Capital Theory If the workplace maintains the discriminations between the diverse working groups, it may lead towards severe form of conflicts in the internal management scenario. Discriminations on the grounds of job profile, caste, race, and salary would lead the employees towards job dissatisfaction (Snyder and Diesing 2015). Automatically, the organisational productivity will be decreased due to the lack of motivations and discriminative attitudes (Ayios et al. 2014). During such time, the company may face the internal conflicts, which may affect the business functions in a significant manner. Crisis Management Model The model of crisis management is recognised through three different stages. These stages of crisis management are addressed further: Stage 1: Diagnosis of the Crisis The first stage of crisis management indicates the identification of the emergency situations that have the special impacts on the organisational functions. The managers and the leaders need to derive the sense of warning during such stage (Sung and Hwang 2014). In this case study, the management firstly needed to be concentrated about the promotional process of the milk brands. The Facebook posts and dominating the other milk brands in the market were the most insignificant decisions made by the upper management. However, once the issue was identified, it is essential for the management of Coles to monitor the decision making process and the promotional activities. Stage 2: Planning The second stage refers to the structured planning for managing the crisis situation. During the crisis situation, the management of Coles needs to talk to the employees and suggest the good strategies to be implemented. It will be helpful in mitigating the current conflicts and get the reputed position back. Stage 3: Adjustments with the Changes Change is evitable and adopting the changes can bring more efficiency in the business context. When any crisis situation arises, the company faces the difficult scenario and enormous changes (Coombs 2014). It is necessary to adopt these changes that can create the effective consequences to strengthen the organisational position. The management of Coles also needs to focus on these stages of Crisis Management Model. Incorporating these theoretical perspectives in the business context will be helpful for Coles to get out of this crisis situation. However, the management of the company has to take such initiatives to implement such strategic model. Ethical Considerations in Crisis Management The crisis is considered as the unpredictable threat that creates the negative influence in the organisational scenario, stakeholders, and industries. Therefore, it is necessary to maintain some of the business ethics, which protect the companies from these hazardous situations. The business companies needs to follow the ethical virtues that recognise the potential impacts of the community during a crisis situation. The concentration on the excellence virtue determines that the management of the company requires undertaking the significant performance for the each phases of crisis management (Weiss 2014). The integrity virtue ethics is focused on the multi-disciplined level of proper behavioural aspects that can resolve the emerging conflicts. Finally, the judgment virtue initiates the idea of the appropriate course of actions that will create the positive impacts on the organisational performance (Schnackenberg and Tomlinson 2016). Maintenance of these ethical virtues may lead the organisation towards achieving the business goals by mitigating the underlying issues. Moreover, it is even necessary to apply these codes of ethics to manage a crisis scenario. Environmental Scanning and Media The public media and the environmental scanning are the major factors for the survival of an organisation. In order to identify the organisational situation, the SWOT analysis would be much preferable. Strengths The well-known brand Product varieties Well established customer base Low price of the goods Weakness Lack of information sharing system Lack of communication transparency Ineffective decision making Opportunities Demands for the retail products and milk brands The open public media for promotions Exploring the market niches Establishment of business innovations (Grimmer, Miles, and Grimmer 2016). Threats Aggressive promotional marketing Dominating the other milk brands Presence of other branded milk or dairy farmers The identification of the environment specifies that the company has enormous opportunities to explore the business areas if the management can implement the proper business strategy (Coombs 2013). Deriving help from the media for the promotional purposes is one of the most efficient strategies for a business. However, if the business fails to use the media benefits properly, it becomes the threatening scenario for the company. The company introduced the low price of the milk. The aggressive promotions through social media were also quite inefficient step undertaken by Coles. Therefore, it is seen that the company faced such crisis situations which is affecting the business functions in a significant way. Stakeholder Analysis The major stakeholders of Coles are: Internal Stakeholders External Stakeholders 1. Employees 2. Management 1. Customers 2. Suppliers 3. Local Communities 4. Interest Groups Table 1: Stakeholders of Coles The company is committed towards engaging the stakeholders for creating the long term values. Coles is mainly focusing on providing the satisfactory returns for the associated shareholders (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2016). Therefore, the shareholders can invest more capitals for the business procedures and establishing the long term sustainability. Strategy and Tactics The crisis scenario of Coles indicates that the management took the wrong decision of promoting the milk brand through social media. Concentrating on such consequences, it can be inferred that the company requires implementing the proper business strategy, which will mitigate the emerged issues. If the company can establish the communicational transparency among the stakeholders, it will be beneficial to share the purpose or information of the business marketing (Olsson 2014). The maintenance of the proper communication transparency level will be helpful for the employees to bring out the effective performance parameter, which is essential. Moreover, when the company will share the information with the stakeholder group, it will be easier to resolve such conflicting scenario (Kim and Sung 2014). The information sharing through the effective communication channel is one of the most significant strategies that can help the organisation to mitigate such issues. Professional Presentation The study identifies the current crisis situation faced by Coles, the giant retail chain in Australian market. The aggressive promotional marketing through social media brought hazardous situations for the company. However, the analysis of the current business functionalities, it is noted that the company lacks the effective communication transparency and the high level of information sharing systems. Therefore, the management of Coles needs to pay attention towards establishing the communication transparency for sharing the necessary information. The effective communication can even create positive impacts on the business decision making scenario. Hence, the company requires focusing on implementing the business strategy and tactics wisely. Conclusion The study points out the crisis management scenario at Coles, which is a renowned retail chain in Australia. Recently, the company introduced the lower price of the milk. In order to promote the brand, the company shared the pictures of the empty milk vessels and accused the other milk brands. This step made the customers and dairy farmers much angry and they put the allegations against Coles. However, the inefficient decision making and the lack of communicational transparency are the major reasons for such crisis scenario. However, the business strategy suggests that the company requires maintaining the proper virtue ethics of business as well as implementing the proper communication transparency for sharing information. Maintaining these steps is helpful enough for the company to mitigate the crisis scenario. Moreover, the company can establish the long term value with their potential stakeholders. Eventually, such steps will lead the business towards achieving the long term susta inability by gaining back its reputation. Following such strategic decisions would be beneficial for the associated workers as well. References Alexander, D.E., 2014. Social media in disaster risk reduction and crisis management.Science and Engineering Ethics,20(3), pp.717-733. Ayios, A., Jeurissen, R., Manning, P. and Spence, L.J., 2014. Social capital: a review from an ethics perspective.Business Ethics: A European Review,23(1), pp.108-124. 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Revisiting the effectiveness of base crisis response strategies in comparison of reputation management crisis responses.Journal of Public Relations Research,26(1), pp.62-78. News.com.au, 2016. Shoppers fury over milk shortage. [online] NewsComAu. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/shoppers-furious-over-milk-shortage/news-story/c8600a8a77678e2309489dca70204c7a [Accessed 29 Jan. 2017]. Olsson, E.K., 2014. Crisis communication in public organisations: Dimensions of crisis communication revisited.Journal of Contingencies and Crisis management,22(2), pp.113-125. Schnackenberg, A.K. and Tomlinson, E.C., 2016. Organizational transparency: A new perspective on managing trust in organization-stakeholder relationships.Journal of Management,42(7), pp.1784-1810. Snyder, G.H. and Diesing, P., 2015.Conflict among nations: Bargaining, decision making, and system structure in international crises. Princeton University Press. Spinks, M., 2015. Crisis management.Emergency Nurse,22(9), pp.12-12. Sung, M. and Hwang, J.S., 2014. Who drives a crisis? The diffusion of an issue through social networks.Computers in Human Behavior,36, pp.246-257. Weiss, J.W., 2014.Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Wesfarmers.com.au. 2016. Coles. [online] Sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au. Available at: https://sustainability.wesfarmers.com.au/our-businesses/coles/coles/ [Accessed 29 Jan. 2017].