Men’s Review of the Film ‘Honey’

90 minutes worth of seductive Jessica Alba parading around wearing nothing more than just knickers and bra, one might think they were in for an enjoyable ride. My dear friend, how very wrong you are! As we watch Honey progress from club dancer to music video choreographer we can't help but snigger at the dreadfully cheesy script, and tedious clichis that partner this film. An example which would fittingly highlight this point would be the incident where the line â€Å"Bitch, how you gonna play me like that? is spoken. Now on first hearing this, if you are fortunate enough to have not endured this amateur movie you may primarily believe it is exclaimed by a young, intimidating, black New York thug. Even with such a description, its' likely you will still cringe. However, please prepare yourself for what is written beneath, I have no guarantee that you will survive reading this next section without a frightening, unhealthy bout of laughter erupting from you. The line is not spoken by a young man, as opposed to this, he is somebody we would instead consider most definitely over middle aged, nor is he intimidating either, the big time video director, Michael Ellis,(David Moscow) has middle length curly hair, is that not enough said? And in addition to this, the culprit is far from black; his skin instead is more of a milky colour, enriched with the misfortune of freckles and blemishes. I think a recap is most definitely necessary! â€Å"Bitch how you gonna play me like that? I can confirm, is spoken by a middle aged, approachable white man ! Based on this fact alone, I think I have given you more than enough evidence to suggest that five pounds of your hard earned money should not be spent on such garbage! Moving swiftly on, with a predictable storyline that's been covered far too many times already, please do not give yourself credit if you are on of the majority who correctly guesses the ending to this film. After just ten minutes had you not already guessed Honey would end up with the too good to be true barber (Mekhi Phifer)? Did you not already know that somehow, someway Honey Daniels would transform the lives of hundreds of children and did you not instantly figure out that another ten minutes of such dreadful drizzle would have you in a deep sleep, never wanting to awake? Yes, she might have an attractive face, and yes a somewhat mind-boggling figure, but it seems that Billy Woodruff (director) only selected Alba based on these two unessential facts. With facial expressions to rival a manikin's, and body language consisting of only gyrating and walking, it seems Alba has as good acting skills as one of the spice girls, and in my opinion, far worse dance moves. Now, if you're a naive thirteen year old girl, I can, on some level, understand how you may find this film bearable. However, the way in which the film has been produced means the target audience is extremely narrow, meaning anybody older, with more intelligence and depth would undoubtedly react in a similar way to me, that being a long undisputable chain of snores. Finally, to conclude I shall finish by saying, if you were contemplating going to see ‘Honey' this weekend . . . DON'T! The vital thing to remember here is that you only live once, so not only is it a waste of five pounds but additionally a waste of an hour and a half of your life. To put yourself through such torture will only be a decision you later regret. Take my advice and leave this movie for those teenage girls who simply aspire to be Honey Daniels, and think they understand the cringe worthy language spoken throughout. So remember, if ‘you're flavour's hot', I'm hoping that means your taste is too, I repeat, do not go and see this film !

Native American Story Telling Essay

Story telling was the heart of Native American culture. The way natives executed everyday tasks and their way of thinking came from what they heard as children from stories that were passed through multiple generations. When White Settlers started tearing tribe by tribe apart and claiming Native American land as their own, a dwindling effect on the rich Native’s culture became noticeable. The sense of unity they once knew so well was becoming an unknown aspect which ultimately left each individual shattered because they were so used to being and acting like one whole. Storytelling became a sort of glue that united and healed the damage done by the White Settlers. Already being the basic guidelines that each Native survived on, stories became even more valued because they were the things that kept the culture from becoming extinct. Storytelling re-taught the natives the way their ancestors taught and spoke, how their surroundings came to be and how to live a good, pious life. It was how they so eagerly grasped for sanity when they were basically stripped from all rights they had from the Colonials. Native American storytelling incorporates many themes and structures, some more evident that others, such as poetic writing styles that include morals, and an explanation of how the world came to be. Morals were a crucial factor why ancestors passed stories down to their offspring, other than just for enjoyment. They incorporated what they thought were major principals of living or not living a good life into stories by writing them in between the lines. A little child that was listening to an elder recalling a story might be listening for the mere amusement but also leaving with a lesson learned. In â€Å"The Sky Tree† from the Huron- Eastern Woodland tradition, the extremes the wife of the old man goes through to save her husband is definitely admirable, regardless if the story is true or not. The moral of trying to do all you can to save a loved one can be taken from this tale. This concept of Native American stories having morals is also found in â€Å"Coyote Finishes His Work† from the Nez Perce tradition. After reading the overly confident coyote correcting the wrongs on earth and then getting punished for his mischief, one can take away the lesson of being humble and not abuse power no matter how capable you are. These texts that heavily included morals helped remind the Natives how to repair and establish a meaningful life, even after being influenced by the White Men. As the Native’s became unsure of how the world even worked anymore when seeing the odd lifestyle of the Whites, storytelling reminded the way their ancestors explained their surroundings. The simplest aspects of life, like how a turtle got its shell, was explained in Native American stories. As said in â€Å"The Sky Tree†, the turtle got its shell when telling all the animals to dive down into a deep pit in order to save the wife of the old man and bring up the soil and place it on his back. This simple explanation showed the thought process of the oldest Native’s and helped bring a sense of unity among the broken ones. Broader ideas, such as how the world came to be, were also included in these tales. According to â€Å"Coyote Finishes His Work†, the coyote gave people names, taught them languages and how to hunt. Some way or another, humans learned how to these perform basic tasks. Native Americans explained how their people achieved these tasks by claiming The Coyote taught them. This concept was easier to take in rather than the Theory of Evolution, especially in an era where science was less developed. Creating stories of how the world worked when confused was what the Native Americans did best. Imagining how utterly lost the Natives were when the colonials came, one can assume that more stories were created. Stories of how strange men with snow skin must have calmed the nerves of scared Indians and settled the uproar. It is human nature to become less agitated of an unknown idea if an explanation was given. In this case, Native Americans produced hundreds of stories so that their people could live in peace without having to consistently question everything in existence. Incorporating basic ideas of how the world functions and principals of being a generally good person in Native American storytelling influenced how Natives lived and perceived the world around them. Without these stories the Indians would have no sense of culture to latch on to as settlers tried to change their ways. Each significant society of people throughout the years had some sort of guidelines on which their people believed. Egyptians having their stories written in hieroglyphics which were carved into walls to Christians having their fundamentals in the Bible. Aside from being the rules people acted upon, maybe each civilization came up with their perspective on life to authenticate their establishments. Whatever the reasoning was behind storytelling, Native Americans definitely did not exclude that factor in their culture. Storytelling was their culture.

Ethics of Peer to Peer downloading and Sharing Essay

Abstract In the short time that computers and internet have existed in the modern era, the world has seen a complete 360 degree turn and in the various forms of electronic entertainment that people all over the world are now using. In the days before CD’s, DVD’s and the internet, not much was said if a vinyl album (remember these?), VHS cassette (or these?) or an audio cassette was loaned to a friend for their listening / viewing pleasure, but today with the availability of sending an email with three or four megabytes (mb) of information, one can enjoy a borrowed song but is assumed that it is piracy or stealing. Is this a fair assumption? This Author will not give his opinion but rather discuss both sides of the Peer to Peer (P2P) downloading and sharing issues and let the reader form their own opinions. Peer downloading and Sharing: Definition and History â€Å"Peer-to-Peer† technology, what is meant when this phrase is mentioned in the world of electronic entertainment or computers? Usually in today’s environment, this phrase has a negative connotation assigned to it, but this phrase deserves a deeper investigation into all aspects of the concept. Peer-to-Peer technology is defined by the textbook of this class as â€Å"technology which permits easy transfer of files over the Internet by large numbers of strangers without a centralized system or service.† (Baase, 2008) When this definition is read, does it imply an impartial connotation or is the definition insinuating that this technology is wrong without some form of centralized system or service? Who knows? This is up to the reader to decide, but much probably depends on the readers personal opinion on the matter. With the textbook’s definition stated, what is actually meant by P2P technology? In Basic English, P2P technology is the ability share / loan / give an electronic file of any sort, be it music, software, video or documents, with anyone that is logged onto to the same server or network as the person in possession of the file. Another important definition that needs to be stated is that of â€Å"Copyrights.† Copyrights are defined by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary as â€Å": the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something (as a literary, musical, or artistic work)† (Merriam-Webster 2011) Again in Basic English this translates to that the original owner of a product has all rights to make profits from their product or service. But, there is always a but, as this definition does not state, do these legal rights apply to the sharing of a product or service and thereby not making a profit from the product? There seems to be two main questions that need to be answered and they are: 1) What is the legal definition of â€Å"sharing?† and 2) What is the legal definition of â€Å"making a profit?† It would seem that until someone legally defines these, this will be the never ending question that will continue plague the electronic world of entertainment. These two questions will be discussed later in this document. As with many things in life and technology, when these ideas and concepts were initially invented or designed, apparently these people did not look to the future and what may become of these ideas or designs. When the initial copyright law was passed in 1790, computers, MP3’s and various other forms of electronic technology did not exist and this law only covered books, maps and charts and protected them for 14 years. (Baas, 2008) It wasn’t for almost 130 years that the US Congress updated the law to include photos, sound recording, and movies but again nothing is done to define profit or sharing as it relates to this topic of conversation. As time has passed, various countries, including the USA, have passed and enforced stricter laws, mostly in favor of the entertainment industry. i.e. copyright infringement, illegal sharing of copyrighted material, and profiting from copyrighted material. All of these examples seem very similar but in reality they have some very fine differences that if you ask any judge to define, you may end up with as many different answers from each different judge asked. This is where the dilemma starts. As time has passed and technologies have become available to the average people of the world, including those with lesser amounts of disposable money, the ability to â€Å"share or loan† electronic material has become increasingly popular. The question still remains in the mind of this author; what is the difference between sharing and audio cassette with a friend and sharing an MP3 that has been legally copied from disk or downloaded from Itunes? In the eyes of many people, there is not a difference in these two concepts. In the eyes of many, the concept of sharing a MP3 is that same as sharing a cassette but has followed the theory of evolution and grown from the era of physical items, like cassettes, and evolved to the electronic media market. This sharing concept brings forth another question. Why did music industry and other various media companies not try to enforce the existing laws when it was only video and audio cassettes? Could it be that â€Å"back in the day†, the number of cassettes / albums being shared were not near the numbers of electronic media being shared today? This seems to be the probable answer because to share a cassette or album there needs to be some form of physical contact between the two participants and to share electronic media the two participants can be miles apart and only need a computer with internet or email access. Back in the day, the amounts of profits lost were not worth the legal fees to fight the practice of â€Å"Sharing.† Present Day Operations So now let’s jump to the present day and discuss the practice of Sharing as it is being practiced today. By present day, it is to include the modern era of computers and the Internet. With the invention of the Internet, CD’S, DVD’s and other forms of electronic technologies came to associated people that would eventually try to use these inventions to their fullest extent. This too included the sharing of files, music and software. Napster was one of the first agencies to openly advertise that you could â€Å"share† files with their P2P software. What happened? According to History.com, Napster began operation in 2000 and by later in the year, some 60 million users were freely â€Å"sharing electronic media of various forms. This is where the modern practice of enforcing the existing versions of copyright laws was being challenged in court. Napster, as it originally operated, only lasted for about a year and a half before the legal eagles of the media industry came at them with a vengeance and essentially shut them down. These lawyers, representing just about all aspects of the music industry, â€Å"filed suit against the company, alleging â€Å"vicarious copyright infringement† under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1996.† (history.com) Although Napster continued to exist in various forms since 2000, after going legit, they just have not had the same impact on the P2P world that they had back then. As of 30 Nov 2011 Napster, who was owned by Best Buy, has been sold to Rhapsody in an effort to increase Rhapsody leading music subscriber database. (cnnmoney.com. 2011) Along the same time as the Napster rise and fall, other P2P companies were trying to find every legal loop hole to be able to continue operating without worry of legal action from these media moguls. These companies included, but were not limited to Grokster, Kazaa and the nearly legal Limewire. Throughout the years that followed, these companies tried every possible exception to the laws to circumvent the laws but in the end even Limewire was shut down by the US Gov’t. In the past, when you loaded Limewire’s website, their page was loaded with ads, software download links and various other stuff, but now all you get is the official seal of the US Justice department and a warning that you are trying to access a seized webpage and/or to stop distributing their P2P software. What is interesting now is that the P2P software industry and music / movie are not the only ones trying to stop the use of computers and the internet to share files, now TV moguls are also trying to jump on this bandwagon. In recent years, websites and various users have been streaming live sporting events to the internet via their personal paid cable TV services such as Comcast or DirectTV. The websites included rojadirecta and ahdte, but again if you visit these sites you will be met with the justice department seal and a disclaimer saying they have been seized and shutdown for illegal operations such as copyright infringement. The question now is what is considered ownership of the pay per view service? For example, if customer A uses the pay per view option on his/her cable box, does he/she now own the program and therefore has the right to reproduce the item as they see fit? Or, do they still have to obey the original reproduction laws. Another concept is this. If Customer A purchases the right to view a program and then puts said program available for viewing by friends that visit his/her house, is this copyright infringement? The list of questions goes on and on. If customer A purchases the right to view the program and then chooses to stream the program to a free and public website, can others log onto this website, view the program and not be guilty of breaking any laws. Although there may be some ethical and moral questions to answer for, these do not affect the legality of this arena. Customer A did not make a profit by streaming the program to a free website. Customer A did allow friends to view a program that by legal intention of the law was for the viewing of customer A only. Viewing live streaming is not the exact same as that of P2P sharing of files but does have the same implications. Someone is receiving a product or service that was not paid for, At least this is what the media industry would like the legal system to believe. In the 2011 it would appear that the media industry is winning the legal battles, albeit they are having much more success within the USA than other parts of the world. This is especially true in the more disadvantaged countries. This author will use his current country of Colombia, South America as an example. Here it is very common place to purchase or download shared versions of music, movies and computer software. Why is this? Quite frankly this is a poor country and without these shared versions of these products, people here could not afford any of these products at regular corporate pricing. After experiencing the technological environment here, one can understand why the â€Å"shared† file industry is so important. Ethical Questions So! Many views and examples have been shown for both sides of the P2P and file sharing argument. Now the questions need to be presented as to what laws are actually being violated. The media industry would have you believe that by sending a legally purchased MP3, for example, to a friend for their listening pleasure, that both parties are now breaking the copyright laws for that artist. Furthermore, the media industry wants you to think that if you would not have shared this MP3 with your friend, then this friend would have to go to a store and purchase this same song on a disk. The general public counters these arguments with these answers. The persons sharing the MP3, would argue that they are not violating the law because they are only sharing the music with each other and neither party is making a profit off the item and that by sharing the item first, one can make an informed decision on whether to spend more money for the entire disk or possibly only purchase the single. These same arguments apply to almost all portions of the P2P file sharing industry and live streaming of television events as well. Conclusion Basically it comes down to this. The media industries want to continue receiving and growing their profits and the general public would things for the lowest possible price. Whether or not to use P2P file sharing technology or view live event streaming on computers will always be a moral and ethical question that only one person can answer. That person is, the person that is deciding whether to use the P2P technology or not and will always be a personal issue that each and every one that uses these technologies will have live with. Everyone will have to answer this for themselves. References Baase, S. (2008). A gift of fire. (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform (N.D.). Windows Server 2008 R2, Retrieved Merriam-webster online dictionary (2011) Definition of copyright. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copyright History channel (N. D.). The death spiral of Napster begins Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-spiral-of-napster-begins CNN Money(N.D.), Today is Napster’s last day of existence, Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/30/technology/napster_rhapsody/index.htm

Hauling Job Sturges House Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Hauling Job Sturges House - Research Paper Example The paper "Hauling Job Sturge’s House" explores the painting by David Blackwood. David Blackwood was born in the 1941 in Wesleyville, Newfoundland. The small community on Bonavista Bay received its name from John Wesley, who was a leader of the Methodist movement at the time, which was 1884. This decline was due in part to the brutal struggle of the people to survive in an unforgiving climate. The province of Newfoundland and Labrador has a volatile climate, with an average of six-months of winter each year. The temperatures for the province range from about -5 to -30 degrees Centigrade for extended periods of time. Frequent precipitation, fog and high winds, create a distinct problem for travelers in any venue (Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2010). This is the norm for the area, and considering the people at the turn of the century did not have the capacity to understand or protect themselves from such an environment, made life that much more difficult to sustain. T he first people to visit Newfoundland were the Vikings, but it wasn’t until 1497 that John Cabot arrived and announced a â€Å"new found isle† for the King of England. The inhabitants of Newfoundland were the Beothuk people, who hunted caribou and fished. These Native people, also called the Inuit people, survived here for thousands of years before the European’s arrival. These intrepid Eroupean settlers came from France, England, Spain, Ireland, Scotland and Portugal to fish the legendary waters of the Grand Banks. (Greenpeace, USA, 2005). These hunters and fisherman were not aware of the hardships they were preparing to face in their trek to this new land. The frigid temperatures, brutally bone chilling winds and seemingly endless snow took their toll on these settlers. It was only the strongest, most determined of people who were able to survive this hostile climate. They battled the Atlantic to make a living hunting seals and fishing for cod like the native Inuit people. Through the harshest of conditions, these tough, hardy people survived and have created what we know as the Newfoundland of today. David Blackwood has worked throughout his career to keep the way of life of these hardy people alive in his works. Newfoundlanders fought hard to keep the new British North American colony within the British Empire out of their back yards. The mere idea of confederation was abhorred, but Newfoundland and Canada had to try to negotiate and settle many issues throughout the 19th century. It was only because of the collapse of government in 1934 that Newfoundland allowed Canada into its midst. In 1949, Newfoundlanders became Canadian citizens, a mere 8 years after David Blackwood was born. This undoubtedly had an affect on this young man’s psyche, showing him that there may be weaknesses or there may be strength in the decision that Newfoundland made, but no one knows for certain. Certainly, Blackwood has childhood memories that the soc ial construct of the world has all but washed away. This is where his art is so outstanding. His focus is on the age-old traditions and way of life of the early settlers of Newfoundland, which have been forgotten by many. He has chosen to make it his life’s work to ensure that these memories are regaled, enjoyed, embraced by a new generation and ultimately, never die. Blackwood’s talent for etching is expressed in many different ways, but his primary genre is of Newfoundland’s age old traditions and ways of life. His use of etching and aquatint on wove paper is unique to Blackwood himself. Not so much the materials as the technique that he uses in his artworks. His main inspiration was his early years, growing up in the isolated town of Wesleyville on Bonavista Bay in Newfoundland. He relives the culture and rituals

Christine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Christine - Essay Example in women or cars and that is perhaps the reason why King used a feminine personification for the car to make Arnie’s relationship with it look like a love triangle, that is, if Leigh is added in the picture. Using a male personification for the car could not have as compelling as when it was given a female name. In the following paragraphs, it will be made clear that if Christopher took the character of Christine, the story would not have been impressive or effective for King’s objectives in the novel. In addition, the standard perception of men in relation to cars, the stereotypical female lover who is possessive, jealous, cunning, devious and their unconventional characteristic of being a hero will be discussed to further explain why Christopher cannot be as an effective character as Christine. Arnie is the bullied type of character in his school and hometown. He is described in the novel as â€Å"pizza-face† with his pimples often oozing and he had only one friend, Dennis. This means, he was the type of guy who surely is still a virgin when his age mates changed girlfriends a number of times already. With such physical characteristics, King’s story would not be believable if Arnie suddenly turns into an extreme character, dating the most beautiful girl in school. Therefore, the author uses an obsession to an old car that Arnie thinks he could turn into a beauty, as the reason for Arnie’s transformation. When Arnie bought the car, there have been changes in his character which only girls can have an influence on in boys, or at least that is how parents often see it. He turned from the â€Å"yes sir/yes ma’am† boy he had been for seventeen years to a â€Å"man† who fights for the things he believes in. Yes, he turned into a man just like when a boy does when he gets his first sexual experience. Although Arnie’s relationship with the car is not sexual at all, the fact that it is named Christine, a female name, it is made to look like he just had his

Fire-Resistant Properties of Building Materials Assignment

Fire-Resistant Properties of Building Materials - Assignment Example In addition, a recommendation will be made on the building materials best suited for the construction of a proposed building. Fires generally produce temperatures of approximately 1000C which can seriously affect the structural integrity of a building. Among the effects of fire is the loss of strength of the building material which can result in building collapse. In addition, thermal expansion associated with high temperatures may affect structures that are not directly in the vicinity of the fire. With the exception of timber, all materials used in building construction will begin to lose strength at temperatures exceeding 250C. This effect may be permanent. Metals begin to form droplets beginning at 300-350C. Concrete changes colour to pink at 250-300C. Chemical effects occur at 650C for aluminium and its alloys, and 1100-1200C for copper and iron (Prentice, 1990). Timber is one of the oldest materials used in building construction. The properties of timber are dependent on the type of wood used in construction, and how it has been treated. Wood responds well to tensional and compression forces but can bend due to the fibrous nature of this material. Wood can be a fire resistant material as it is subject to charring, which means that the wood in the centre may be protected during combustion to retain the structural integrity of the building. For the most part, however, timber is rapidly consumed by fire and can enhance the intensity of a fire since the material is subject to combustion. Timber used in building materials can be made more fire-resistant by coating the surface of the timber with fire-resistant chemicals such as ammonium phosphate and soleplate, borax and boric acid (Jones, 1986). Heavy wood timbers may be fire-resistant since the wood burns slowly inward causing charring of the exterior while the inner wood layers remain protected for significant periods of time.     Ã‚  

Parental Support and Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Parental Support and Education - Essay Example To excel in studies, it is not only the talent that is required. It takes a lot more things that include but are not limited to psychological health, physical health, emotional support of the parents, trust and confidence of the parents, financial support by the parents and encouragement by the parents upon achievement of goals. Children take parent’s appreciation as a reward for their hard work and feel more motivated to excel in studies and make their parents’ proud. On the other hand, when children know that their parents are indifferent to their success or failure, they are hardly left with any interest in studies. It is common for children to choose the profession of their parents. There is an intrinsic urge to follow the parents in their footsteps. This is the fundamental reason why the children of most doctors end up becoming doctors and the children of military officers also join military. Most of the children adopt their parents’ profession because they are used to the kind of life their parents have spent being associated with a certain profession. Just like a parent’s profession has a huge influence upon the selection of profession by the child, a parent’s level of education is also one of the key drivers of a child’s education. ... If the child does, he/she would not be appreciated. There are many external factors that also play an important role in the development of such a culture. People expect PhDs to educate their children to the same level. If they do not, they are not quite successful in the eyes of the society. Thus, many external and internal factors mutually work to make the children adjust their academic career in accordance with the career of the parents. Parental education is extremely important for the education of children. Educated parents are better able to understand the physical and psychological needs of their children because of the fact that they have themselves experienced the same obstacles in their time as their children do. In many conservative societies, parents still discourage their children from the use of computer because to them, computer is nothing more than a source of evil spread in the society. A vast majority of people who think in the same way are illiterate and are not at all aware of the wonders of the cyber world. These parents can not think beyond this that their child would watch porn if allowed to sit on the computer, while this is not true. A lot of children in these conservative societies take much longer to learn computer and develop sufficient competence in its operation and use as compared to the children in advanced societies with encouraging and supportive parents. In fact, the repulsive attitude towards technology cultivated in the minds of these children by their parents does not allow the children to interact with the technology the way they should for a long period of time even when they are away from their parents. In light of the points discussed in this paper, it can be concluded that parental

Globalisation is Not Always a Solution to Poverty And Inequality Essay

Globalisation is Not Always a Solution to Poverty And Inequality - Essay Example Because of its sheer force and power, many people are wont to think that it can automatically eradicate poverty. Economic, political and social factors within the domestic arena play a big part in ensuring that inequality and poverty are addressed with sustainable solutions. This paper argues that without internal governance and social stability in the domestic arena, globalization can exacerbate rather than mitigate the problem. It will argue this point by examining the case of Brazil, and why, despite its large land size and the investments in bioethanol, the economic benefits have yet to trickle down to the poor and inequality and poverty remain to be pervasive. This paper will proceed as follows: first, it will give a brief background of globalization, second, it will give a brief overview on Brazil, third it will provide an analysis of the internal political and social conditions in the country that explain why the benefits of the globalization are not spread equally across the population. Globalization did not take place by happenstance. It was the culmination of a long process that began after the end of World War 2 in what was called the Bretton Woods Agreements. The Bretton Woods Agreements resulted in the creation of three organizations: the International Monetary Fund or IMF, the World Bank, and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT. (ibid, page 2) Powerful countries converging around a specific set of economic interests came together to hammer out the specifics and details of these institutions that they believed could shepherd the world out of the wreckage of the Second World War and out of the specter of Communism, and create a new world order based on the Capitalist framework. The United States played a lead role in making this all come together.

Risk Assessment for Non-profit Hospital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Risk Assessment for Non-profit Hospital - Essay Example book as a whole provides the readers with a comprehensive view of multiple risk assessment techniques along with a detailed analysis of current methodologies and concepts in risk assessment practices. It clearly defines the concept of risk assessment giving specific focus to the current day ‘messy business’ environment. Hospital Data Project (HDP) is a project initiated by the European Union Health Monitoring Programme (HMP), and it intends ‘to develop comparable hospital utilization data and indicators between Member States (MS)’. This data, loaded into the Commission’s pilot system has turned to be the hub of health information. The document describes the objectives of HDP with regard to data collection methodology and the creation of a pilot data set. This book is an excellent source of information on emerging trends, legal requirements, and challenges associated with internal information transfers and SSH integration. It gives a good account of SSH2 as a reliable tool that complies with the latest standards of communication security norms. This book is a ‘must read’ for learners of advanced risk assessment practices. This excerpt from online encyclopedia gives a brief account of Nessus-one of the most comprehensive vulnerability scanning program available today. It describes how the program helps clients to assess the level of their system’s vulnerability to data theft or virus attack. The website gives very detailed information about the vulnerability scanning tool-Nessus. The site has included several frequently asked questions and their answers along with the basic instructions for its users. One who goes through the site will get a clear idea of the total functions of Nessus. The relevance of this book is clear as it has been stated in the introduction, â€Å"each technical advance brings new security holes†. It reminds us of the incessant threat persisting over the internet which has the potential to assault thousands of computers in no

Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 4

Management - Essay Example The bank offers a wide range of banking services responding to the needs of individuals, businesses and corporations. The bank is going to enter the Brazilian market. A branch of the firm will open in Brazil. The relevant project will be completed by the end of the year. The employees will be mainly nationals who will be appropriately trained by Australians on the bank’s services and products. The aim of the organization is to continuously develop its customer relationships and its employee relationships (Westpac 2011). Moreover, the bank aims to ‘be a leader in the community’ (Westpac 2011). Current report aims to present the issues that managers in Westpac should take into consideration before the bank enters the Brazilian market. The Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions model and a SWOT analysis have been employed for presenting the characteristics of the environment in which the specific initiative will be attempted. 2.0 Political Environment 2.1 Government s tability The current president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has been the first woman president in Brazil ever. The last elections were held in October 2010. The country is characterized by political stability. During the presidency of the country’s previous president, President Lula, the quality of life of people in Brazil was improved (BBC News 2011). 2.2 Government and contribution The country’s government tries to keep good relations with other states; recently an agreement was developed between Brazil and Germany for the promotion of bilateral partnership and innovation (Federative Republic of Brazil 2011). The last years the Brazilian government tries to improve the quality of life of people and the limitation of poverty (BBC News 2011). 2.3 Analysis Local authorities will provide to Westpac the necessary support, a fact critical for the successful entrance of the bank in the Brazilian market. 3.0 Legal Environment 3.1 Regulatory framework The most important legisla tive text of the country is the Constitution. At the next level, supplementary laws have the power to regulate important issues; ordinary and delegated laws follow these laws. At the bottom of the hierarchy of laws in Brazil are the legislative decrees (Brazil Government 2011). 3.2 Business laws The Constitution of the country is used, along with the Taxation law, as described above, for regulating business activities across Brazil. The new Civil Code Law 10.406 is the main legislative text regulating the activities of businesses in Brazil (Nogueira 2004). The Law No. 9279/ 1996 is also used in cases that conflicts appear on Industrial property (Brazil Government 2011). 3.3 Labour laws The key legal texts regulating the labor in Brazil is the Federal Constitution of 1988 along with the Consolidation of Labor Laws (C.L.T.) (Brazil Government 2011). 3.4 Taxation laws Taxation in Brazil is regulated by the Federal Constitution (Title VI); additionally, the Law 5.172 (National Tax Code) is applied for any potential issue, which is not regulated by the Constitution (Brazil Governmen

In what ways does social media has improve the sell of products from Annotated Bibliography

In what ways does social media has improve the sell of products from department stores - Annotated Bibliography Example This study analyzes the psychological connection between consumers and social networks. The results of this study will provide scientific reasoning for the observations to be made by the current study. The direct impacts of online marketing techniques through social network are explored in this work. The results of this study can be used to analyze the observations on trends in retail markets made by the current research. The objective of this study is to investigate the connections between knowledge structures and retail sales performance. As social networks heavily influence the knowledge structures of the consumers, this study will support the thesis of the current research. This work has special emphasis on the impact of Social Network Advertising on Pakistani consumers. The positive influence of social networks as assumed by the hypothesis of the current study is thus

Short Guide to Answering Exam Questions Essay Example for Free

Short Guide to Answering Exam Questions Essay Such questions are usually very straightforward. You would usually be asked to â€Å"discuss†, â€Å"explain† or â€Å"write short notes†. However, the examiner may sometimes ask you to â€Å"compare†, â€Å"identify the difference: or â€Å"explain the difference†. This type of question would expect you to list out what the respective characteristics of the terms are and then identify the differences. Just be careful of overconfidence. Hypothetical questions Look first at the question the examiner wants you to answer. It is usually found in the last sentence(s) of the question. This will influence the way you look at the hypothetical facts given. If you look at the facts before you look at the question, you may form your own question and this may result in the inappropriate answer. 1. 1. 2. Identifying applicable law (applicable to all questions) Once you have identified the question, this also narrows down the principles you have to use to answer. The applicable principles can be very wide or very narrow. A contract question is obviously about the law of contract. But the law of contract covers many different sub-topics. Even these can be very general. For example, you have misrepresentation, mistake, lack of capacity etc. Under mistake, you have unilateral or bilateral mistakes. And the list goes on. Once you identify the appropriate legal principle, you should quickly write down the key points. Being able to narrow down the specific law being asked also means that you can elaborate more on the specific point. This will mean less time wasted on unnecessary points. 1. 1. 3. Identifying the key factors for liability (applicable to all questions) As you study, you would realize that the law is very much like a mathematical formula. To establish liability under a principle, you would usually have to establish certain factors exist. The hypothetical usually requires you to discuss one or more of these factors. Before you are able to proceed further, you should therefore identify the key factors. Example is that for a contract to be formed, you must have the factors of offer, acceptance of the offer, an intention to create legal relationship and consideration. Once you identify the appropriate key principle, you should quickly jot down the key words as well as the key case to be used. Identifying the key facts (not applicable to pure theoretical questions) Once the key points have been identified, you are now ready to look at the facts of the case. As you read the facts, you will be now looking to see how many of the factors actually exist in the problem. You have to carefully identify the â€Å"missing† or â€Å"contentious† facts. For other questions, you have to identify what the examiner wants from you. If it is similarity or difference, then you look for the similarities or differences in the principles you are expected to compare. For one thing, a lot of students think they if they cover everything, they are bound to hit something. The problem often is that you do not discuss enough about the relevant issues and much about the irrelevant ones. The student also runs out of time and this is often the reason why students find that they have not enough time. †¢ Criticizing the law. Students sometimes feel it necessary to criticize a legal principle. The mistake is that you spend all the time criticizing the principle without solving the problem. Focus on solving the problem first before criticizing the law. Ignoring the law. Sometimes the legal answer seems wrong from a practice point of view. The student then decides to give â€Å"practical† advice instead of focusing on the legal aspects of the case. Again, give your legal solution first before embarking on the â€Å"practical† solution. †¢ Confusing the solution. Students try very hard to solve the entire problem at the same time. This o ften leads to convoluted and incomprehensible answers. In short, no one (including the student) understands the answer. Solve one problem at a time and then give the overall view at the end.

Building Economics And Life Cycle Costs Construction Essay

Building Economics And Life Cycle Costs Construction Essay Economic understanding regarding building designs usually aim for steering building decisions to achieve for two situations: economic efficiency and/or cost effectiveness. For instance, a building design that, besides assuring to be profitable is promising to be more profitable than other available solutions, can be considered to be the economically efficient choice for an investor. Yet, a building decision that is considered cost-effective, guarantees, for instance, that a design solution with benefits equal or better to those of competing alternatives has lower costs. Cost-effectiveness is thus understood as a subset of economic efficiency; yet, both conditions can appear in one solution, but dont have to. The use of optimization thus reflects the strategy of achieving specific economic goals. Consequently, by minimizing life-cycle costs or maximizing net benefits, an economic analysis is applied to determine the most cost-effective or the economic efficient choice respectively . Overview The reflection and analysis of life-cycle costs (LCC) is an economic evaluation technique that determines the total amount of cost of a product or project over time. Having in common that the role is to provide insight in future matters regarding all occurring costs, LCC assessment in business organizations today, serves mainly three purposes : To be an effective engineering tool for use in design, planning and project execution To be a design and engineering tool for environmental purposes To be applied proactively in cost management. A similar understanding applies to the building sector. With the increasing need to deliver economic solutions, developers, designers, planners, engineers and managers try to foresee, steer and control costs at all stages of a buildings life-cycle. By overseeing a building projects inherent costs and directing attention toward its root causes, building projects can get useful decision support before, during and after its realization, performed on large and small buildings, on partial building elements, or on isolated building systems . Throughout the design, development and operation of building projects, LCC can thus be successfully used to compare alternatives to find the most cost effective solution . With the growing pressure of governments to hold companies responsible for the costs that their products generate to society and its environment, consumers are likely to benefit from the use of LCC assessment. Sustainable building strategies require foreseeing a reduction and control of significant LCC, such as energy costs for projected building designs. Consequently, organizations such as the National Institute for Building Science or the Whole System Integrative Process (WSIP, 2006) demand for early integration of cost related planning issues into the building design process. Eventually, future building designs that are less costly may also be considered better in terms of quality when all costs of a buildings life-cycle are adequately included. A strong commitment of building design is thus to enhance the practical value of buildings. While the value of products is defined as proportionate to the satisfaction of needs divided by the use of resources, its value is proportionate to quality divided by costs . Value-driven building designs therefore require being both: quality driven and cost conscious. In addition, probably the most important condition for resource optimization is appreciation of the built structure by its users: only buildings that are valued will achieve a long lifespan (Eberle, 2007). Proactive cost management is understood as an effort to eliminate product costs before they occur, as opposed to reducing costs after they are incurred, which is considered reactive cost management . Expecting the design and planning of building projects to be proactive view is inevitable, since changes in the later planning and execution phases or even during building operation become more and more difficult to deal with. Especially during initial design stage, the consideration of LCC can help designers to make their decision-making process become more cost efficient . In reality, a proactive involvement of cost might not be the case. Essentially, comparisons or studies on the building design and its influence on the cost of building operations over the life of a building are barely explored during the early design phase. If of any concern, financial aspects during early stages of design are mainly focusing on preventing uncontrolled cost expansion of initial, predominantly constru ction costs. The possibility of actively integrating all LCC members during the early design stages remains difficult to achieve as current methods of sequential design and cost estimation make it hard to foresee the impact of investment and to reduce building operation costs to an extent that would change the perception of these capital costs. In addition, the implementation of such proactive cost management quite often incurs more costs up front, for instance for the extended amount of research and development that projects then require for. Such consequences, and with them the traditional view on cost management can easily challenge the implementation of proactive consideration of LCC assessment, where necessary time and funding for the early stages of design and planning appears insufficient . A consideration of proactive design understanding and its use of LCC assessment thus also involve necessary changes in terms of thinking, such as from a partial focus to holistic thinking (Eberle, 2010), from structure orientation to process orientation or from cost allocation to cost tracing . Life Cycle Cost (LCC) With emphasis on cost-effectiveness the consideration of life-cycle costs (LCC) is used to evaluate competing alternatives primarily on the basis of costs, allowing for choices for a given building, facility or system. The method is to compute the LCC for a particular course of action by summing all significant, time adjusted costs associated with it over the relevant period of time. The method of using LCC is thus applicable to building decisions that require for cost related decision-support, such as system modification, replacements or combinations of interdependent budgets, budget allocations, or lease or buy decisions. Yet, it is also applicable for the evaluation of competing building designs; suitable, when focusing on cost rather than benefits for two or more mutually exclusive project alternatives. Typically, the analysis or assessment of LCC includes all initial and future costs that are affected by the decision and excludes others that are not. The exclusion of costs is no t necessarily required when their contribution can help to better understand the impact between cost consideration and the amount of improvement (Ruegg Marshall, 1990). LCC of building projects are often distinguished according to the building projects phase and are likely to be separated into initial (capital) cost, operational and post-operational costs Pushkar et al. (Pushkar, et al., 2005). Figure 2.x: Life-cycle Costs of a building life cycle The diagram in Figure 2.x illustrates the occurrence of different LCC members of the BVO model over growing operation time. It also demonstrates the increasing significance of continuous, operation costs over a projects running time, as its percentage of the total expenditure steadily increases compared to the initial investments at the project commencement. Net Present value (NPV) Besides LCC considerations of evaluating building designs, economic understanding of monetary systems requires to foresee their change of value over time, due to inflation, its investment to generate future profit, or both. In the building sector, the most commonly used methods of LCC assessment are accounting systems, initially developed to determine the financial worth of an investment; they are as follows : Simple payback: defined as the time taken for the return on an investment to repay the investment. Net present value: defined as the sum of money that needs to be invested today to meet all future financial requirements as they arise throughout the life of the investment. Internal rate of return: defined as the percentage earned on the amount of capital invested in each year of the life of the project after allowing for the repayment of the sum originally invested. LCC analysis is commonly performed using present value currency representation. In the following, the use of net present value is explained more closely as it has been implemented in the BVO model as it complies with the decision to use LCC for the assessment of design and its use allows for appropriate representation of costs elements in reference to their timely occurrence. The use and implementation of Net Present Value (NPV) models enables the adjustment of currency amounts in relation to their time of occurrence. It is thus a considerable measure when include costs elements of different time occurrences. The NPV is thus typically suggested to analyze the profitability of long term investments or projects, or the evaluation of available options (Dale, 1993). Essentially, it compares the value of money today to the value of that same amount in the future, taking inflation and returns into account. Among others, Ruegg (1990) defines the net present value as: (x) , where is the estimated cost in year t, d is the discount rate, and T is the period of analysis in years. The NPV of a building project takes into account all the apparent variables acting upon a cash stream; it is thus sensitive to the  reliability of future cash inflows that an investment or project will yield.  If the NPV is positive, it should be accepted. However, if NPV is negative, the project should possibly be rejected because cash flows will also be negative. Discount rate The discount rate is a method of determining the time value of money. To prevent the value of investment eroding by the effects of inflation, the factor of inflation can be integrated into the discount rate, known as the net of inflation discount rate and calculated as : (x) For instance, if inflation is 5% per annum and interest is received at 10%, then: (x) Thus, to make the influence of the discount rate become realistic it requires for reliable input to foresee the appropriate adjustment of financial aspect of interest and inflation. Similar to the typically practiced modification of construction costs that are based of earlier cases, such modification is necessary for future costs to remain representative. The accuracy of predicting and adjusting the monetary value may appear, however, problematic with growing life-time estimations of a building, as long term predictions become increasingly vague. Setting the study period The consideration of a LCC study period is expected to relate to the following factors such as the investors and stakeholders projected time horizon, the anticipated life time of the building, project, etc., the decision whether to accept or reject the choice, or whether the perspective is individually private or public perspective oriented. For instance, an investor or project developer might only be interested in short term cost as it is intended in creating revenue from the sale of the finished building project, while a building owner or operator might rather focus on evaluation the operative cost of a building design and their involvement over the complete life-cycle. When considering the overall sustainability of a building project, the complete life-cycle must be considered and anticipated. LCC assembly Buildings LCC are categorized by the three phases that they go through during their life-cycle. They are the initial or capital cost (1) at the beginning of a building project that involve its planning, design and realization, the operational cost (2) occurring during the buildings active phase of use, and the post-operational cost (3) that assemble the costs at a building lifes end. Though the three life cycle phases for buildings are clearly defined, their transition at a specific point of time can be vague, for example a building might already be partly operating while other areas of the building are still under construction. Figure 2.x describes the three phases and their overlapping character of transition between them. Figure 2.x: A buildings life-cycle phases In addition, operational phases can be interrupted, or at least obstructed by renovation or refurbishment phases to ensure or reinstall a buildings quality and use. For instance, building developments of industrialized countries with a high demand on energy costs, suggest that a buildings life-cycle performance can be improved when taking a renovation period of 25-30 years with a constant improvement of the buildings insulation properties into account . Figure 2.x describes how the buildings life cycles can be extend through periodic renovations and/or refurbishments. Figure 2.x: Extend a buildings operational phase through periodical renovations and refurbishments Initial (Capital) Cost The initial (capital) cost comprises all the costs necessary that ensure the building realization up to the moment of its active building use. Occurring costs are thus not only the construction of a building but also all related processes of project planning and development that are involved such as: Land costs, such as costs for acquisitions and necessary preparation of land. Professional fees, which apply for involvement of building planning professionals such as architect, engineer, lawyer, etc. Construction Cost, encompass all cost for the erection of the building and installment of projected building systems Commissioning Cost, comprising all cost applicable to certify necessary fulfillment of standards and requirements or the approval for building operations of building systems involved. Promotional and sale cost, for informing the  prospects  about special discounts,  sale, or  schemes. Funding costs, In general,  price  of obtaining  equity capital Management costs, comprising all cost necessary for the organizing  and  coordinating  the  activities  of an enterprise in accordance with certain  policies  and in achievement of project realization. Operational Cost The operational phase encompasses all the cost necessary to utilize and use the building according to its original purpose. Operational cost are becoming more and more noticeable over the life cycle of a project; due to the long period of building use they can grow significantly bigger than initial costs (). For instance, when à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ According to Ruegg and Marshall (1990), operational costs can be identified as: Energy Costs, includes necessary fuel and all applicable energy costs Operation and Maintenance Cost, includes non-fuel operation costs, such as management, cleaning, servicing, rates and taxes, sewerage, salvage, funding costs, routine maintenance, furnishings, supply à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (check Ruegg) Repair and Refurbishment Costs, includes appraisal of all foreseen and estimated cost for repair or replacements of building systems or elements during a buildings use. Post-Operational Cost Post-operational cost includes the collection of all cost necessary cost that may appear at a building end of use. Mostly due to economic needs or owner related circumstances the buildings operational use becomes infeasible and a variety of options require to be considered. Unlike industrial products, the end of a buildings life cycle does not necessarily determine the end of a buildings life but instead refers to the end of a buildings original determined use. A building can thus have more than one operational cycle, when through post-operational interventions a new cycle of building use can be created. Post-operational cost can thus be categorized as Renovations Cost, represent minor repairs and makeovers necessary to maintain or reinstall building quality and use. Refurbishment Cost, include the cost necessary for major overhauls of buildings or building elements that otherwise result in obsolete building conditions. Refurbishment may also include the change of a buildings original use. Demolition, Disassembly and Recycling Cost likely occur at the end of a building life cycle. While in typical product life cycle the terms represent individual strategies involving separate specifications and costs, contemporary building removals mostly include the three them associating to separate treatment of individual buildings elements. Moreover, a number of regained materials and building elements may even create cost reduction due to their existing value possible reuse or recycling purposes. Sale, though the sale of a building does not essentially represent a cost per se, such case can occur when the new owner faces major difficulties for further use of the facility (i.e. due to contamination). Still, even if not a cost, the sale of a building can be used for LCC considerations, for instance if the sale of a building can be seen as a considerable reduction of buildings LCC due to the buildings inherited value. LCC declaration During a programming phase of building projects, cost estimations require to determine individual element of cost or benefits. To do such Tempelmans Plat (2001) points out that each demand and supply requires being determined in terms of quality, quantity, time and money. While quite often there is no or little basis of estimating future cost, estimations of future costs start by reflecting the current cost or benefit values as point of departure. Since cost estimations are subject to time related changes, costs or benefits require thought, whether to expect fundamental changes in the demand and supply of goods and services in question over time, or if considerable change of service or quality of goods are to be expected. If there is no sound basis to believe otherwise, it deems appropriate to assume that changes of prices will be approximately the same as prices in general (Ruegg Marshall, 1990). Still, the estimation of all cost elements usually poses a major difficulty due to their probabilistic nature and the distinctive character between individual costs elements. Common uncertainties for the prediction of long-life projects are: its life-cycles prediction, the interpretation of operation and maintenance costs, revenues and unforeseen or unpredictable factors that affect project economics. Since dealing with so many unknowns, it appears difficult to anticipate cost and benefit related developments. Existing methods of dealing with high risk exposure are best guess, relating to individual risk attitudes and risk adjustment through the introduction of methods using probability and statistics (Ruegg Marshall, 1990). The consideration of a LCC study period is expected to relate to the following factors such as the investors and stakeholders projected time horizon, the anticipated life time of the building, project, etc., the decision whether to accept or reject the choice, or whether the perspective is individually private or public perspective oriented. For instance, an investor or project developer might only be interested in short term cost as it is intended in creating revenue from the sale of the finished building project, while a building owner or operator might rather focus on evaluation the operative cost of a building design and their involvement over the complete life-cycle. When considering the overall sustainability of a building project, the complete life-cycle must be considered and anticipated. Cost estimation during early design stages During a schematic design phase of a building design, traditionally only construction costs are estimated. Such procedure comes with the disadvantage that long term costs that, if considered, may significantly influence design outcomes are usually not reflected. The practice of introducing operational and/or post operational costs thus require for designers specific estimation and understanding to prevent a decision-making and in a premature design situation. Since experiences of cost estimation for construction costs originate from knowledge gained during earlier comparable projects, a case-based oriented approach, such as suggested by Sowa and Hovestadt (2008), can also be used and practiced for other LCC members. Because such estimation and declaration of costs generally requires for extensive experience, the use and creation of databases that allow for differentiation and declaration may not easily compensate for. Cost estimators usually have considerable experience gained through working in the building construction industry, estimating and monitoring building costs through all the stages realization stages of a project (NIBS, 2010). The estimation of cost thus not only require for skills such as a clear judgment and straightforward attitude, but for qualities such as awareness, uniformity, consistency, verification, documentation, evaluation, and analysis . Yet, with the growing complexity of building projects, it seems vital to have the cost estimations involved right from the very beginning to ensure that the project estimations reflect the decisions made. Especially during the early design stage, changes will require estimates to be prepared at different levels during the design process with increasing degrees of information provided. At any point of a design, not all portions of the design would be at the same level of completeness. Yet typical, such contingencies for the aforementioned will be reduced as more design documentation is produced (NIBS, 2010). For instance, the estimation of construction costs typically corresponds to the phases of the building design and development process in a top-down manner, meaning that cost estimates improve their precision and detailing with the progressing stages of design realization. In addition, cost estimates usually try to comply with considered standards within the building industry. In the United States, for instance, a widely accepted system provided for cost estimates is the UniFormatà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ or, for later planning stages the MasterFormatà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ (CSI, 2011) system, which allows design teams to evaluate  alternative building designs and systems. In Europe, cost estimates are usually practiced according to DIN regulations such as the DIN 276/277 for cost estimation and declaration of building designs (Frà ¶hlich, 2007). A building projects first cost estimates can already appear during the architectural programming phase with the purpose to facilitate budgetary and feasibility determinations. Usually based on past information with adjustments made for specific project conditions such estimates are prepared to develop a project budget. At such level, design schemes normally do not yet exit, required data for cost appraisals are thus drawn from general functional description, schematic layout, and geographic location, building size expressed as floor-area, numbers of people, seats, cars, etc., and intended use. Respective estimates are thus based on costs per square units, and/or alternatively number of cars/rooms/seats, etc. During the schematic design phase, the purpose of estimate is to create a more complete assessment that is typically based on a better definition of the scope of work. While also compared to earlier budgetary and feasibility determinations, an estimate at this level may be used to price various design schemes in order to see which scheme best fits the budget, or it may be used to price various design alternatives, or construction materials and methods for comparison. The more developed schematic design criteria such as a detailed building program, schematic drawings, sketches, renderings, diagrams, conceptual plans, elevations, sections and preliminary specifications are reflected. Available information is typically supplemented with descriptions of soil and geotechnical conditions, utility requirements, foundation requirements, construction type/size determinations, and any other information that may have an impact on the estimated construction cost. The goal at the end of schematic design is to have a design scheme, program, and estimate that can be contained within budget . Net Benefits (NB) LCC considerations are typically used to make cost-effective choices, as its technique is to compare alternatives competing primarily on the basis of costs (Ruegg Marshall, 1990). Yet, if a building design is planned to generate revenue, a comparison of invested costs to its predicted returns can help to determine advantages between designs options. In such case, the method of calculating the net benefits (NB) of a building option is considered an applicable way of finding the most economically efficient choice among alternatives. In such case, the calculation of NB is achieved by subtracting the time-adjusted costs of an investment from its time-adjusted benefits (Ruegg and Marshall, 1990). In relation to building-volume optimization, because the optimization of cost is generally expected to steer a building-volume design towards minimized volume/surface ratio, window/opening ratio and/or net surface areas, the integration of revenue considerations can help to justify the amount of indispensable volume reduction when practicing BVO. Similar to cost considerations, the estimation of buildings projected revenue can be established by floor-area declarations. In addition, while a buildings annual income is expected to change depended on its market value over the span of a buildings life-cycle; the diagram in figure 2.x shows how a buildings generated income can be perceived as originating from a products marketing perspective, which consists of at least four stages of introduction, growth, maturity and decline . Figure 2.x: A products marketing perspective over a life cycle. Source: Kà ¶nig (2009) The prediction of generating buildings revenue thus requires for understanding and forecasting these changes over a given period; its moments of rise and decline that strongly depend on a buildings perceived value and its decay due to intensity of use (elaborate further, see Koenig). Shown in Figure 2.x, when plotting a typical development of cost and revenue predictions the financial profitability of building occurs at point a, and becomes obsolete when the cost of become larger than the income generated. Such situation appears at operation time b with operation cost appearing higher than the income; at least at this point the buildings economic purpose becomes unsuccessful. Figure 2.x Cost vs. Revenue. Source: Kà ¶nig (2009) When adapting a buildings foreseen lifecycle to this understanding, a buildings lifetime and the creation of revenue can be exceeded by interference of the maturity process through possible renovation or refurbishment measures. In Figure 2.x a buildings generated income during a foreseen life-cycle may thus be illustrated by separating the building operation period by new construction constructions phases that are required for the renovation and/or refurbishment of the building. Figure 2.x: A buildings generated income extended through renovation and refurbishment top. Source: Kà ¶nig (2009) In reality, the periods between theses interventions very much vary from the owners intention to keep high-level building quality or the necessity to prevent a building from becoming obsolete or having higher operation costs that income. From an economic standpoint, interventions to improve the buildings ideally take place when profitability can be increased or maintained. For instance, Kà ¶nig et al. (2009) suggest that, in an industrialized country, a replacement and improvement of buildings insulation performance should take place after a period of 20-30 years. Especially with the amount of operation costs strongly increasing due to continuously rising energy costs, the need for innovations and improvement for reducing buildings energy consumptions became highly prominent. Finally, because a clear definition of a buildings income require for experiences of earlier comparable cases, the use of existing data are necessary to help predicting the revenue curve and the point of interventions for necessary building improvements. An optimization, particularly of passive resource oriented building improvement thus depends on well implemented predictions and assumptions of a buildings foreseen life-cycle and performances. Yet, when of a designer existing experience or the amount available data is not sufficient and/or its quality is questionable, the building-volume optimization process may clearly suffer from it. Conclusion The use of assessing life-cycle costs (LCC) is seen as tool that helps associating estimated costs over a projects foreseen life span. LCC of a building or a building system are defined as the total discounted amount of cost of owning, operating, maintaining and disposing over a defined period of time . The consideration to use life-cycle cost as an objective for the BVO model is based on its ability to include different building costs over a specified period, allowing for comparison and impact analysis between, for instance, initial and operational costs. The establishment of LCC as an objective for building performance optimization thus defines the primary BVO model goal. To be effective, the attempt of reducing overall building costs requires for a cost distribution that allows for effective declaration and activation of significant building elements during early architectural design stages. According to volume geometry, this can be building-volume surfaces as well as building flo or-areas. With the possibility to link costs to selected areas, the model requires a wider variation of costs to be successful. Because early design stages mostly refer to estimated costs; cost distribution and specification is more likely to be based on users experience or existing available data originating from earlier comparable building design cases . For the BVO model currently only initial and operational have been integrated because convincing and direct associations between post-operational costs and building elements at a buildings lifes end are hard to foresee and the available options appear diverse. Still, eventual costs for the renovation or refurbishment of buildings or building parts can be integrated as they are usually more common and estimations based on area declaration exist. While the main aim of the BVO model lies in the improvement of the buildings geometry (volume of the building) and not in the building system that eventually operates it, the induced process is understood as to eliminate or reduce the amount of incurring cost of a projected design before they occur. Once a building-volume design is established, system considerations may then further reduce costs by means of using appropriate technology as practiced by engineers. As mentioned earlier, Eberle (2007) suggested that active and passive design features are responsive towards each other, thus the priority in the design process should aim for optimizing passive design features first as they do not require the use of additional resources. Because constant definitions already include premade assumptions and partial definitions on an incorporated system they should be chosen wisely as not to affect unrealistic results. BVO design is thus understood proactive, as its primary intention is the improving passive design elements of the building-volume. Yet, the integration of LCC helps to understand significance of individual cost members and effectively use the diff

Strategies for Marketing Organic Food Products

Strategies for Marketing Organic Food Products There is a global growing demand and supply for organic foods. This has resulted from increased health awareness and food safety, a growing demand to protect the environment and animal welfare. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movement (IFOAM) defines organic production as a process that relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects (IFOAM, 2010). Marketing the product will provide the link that will satisfy both the demand and the supply. Thus marketing the products will provide the link between the producers and the consumers. While the marketing of these products is developed in the U.S.A, the Asian marketing is just developing. This essay will analyze marketing of organic food products in the U.S. and in Asia. The organic food production in the Asian countries is mainly done for the export market as the domestic consumption is still emerging (IFOAM, 2004). This is in contra st with the U.S. market where the number of organic food product consumers has been increasing gradually (Dimitri Oberholtzer, 2009). Production In most Asian countries organic production is mainly for small farmers in order to assist them to be self sufficient and improve the quality of the soil. It is mainly done for export. Organic food production in Asia is yet to develop. Though the Asian countries form 25 percent of the members of (IFOAM) the area engaged in organic farming is still very small as by 2003 all the Asian countries had only utilized less than 1 percent of all agricultural land in organic farming with the exception of china IFOAM, 2004). The local markets in Asia are not established and are only emerging. Marketing initiatives are in the process of being launched. There are National Initiatives to develop the organic sector. There are initiatives by NGOs supporting to practice organic agriculture and training them on how to market the organic food products. Most of the organic farming has support from the grassroots level. In most Asian countries there are very rare national scale of organic production and only India has a government initiative. The Indian government (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APFPEDA)) initiative is only meant to assist in exporting of the organic food and not to develop the domestic market. APFPEDA offers training to producers and certification agencies, research and development services: promoting certification programs, developing policies, improving quality of services, promoting Indian organic foods. Lack of proper regulations and certification processes has hindered the development of the organic food production and marketing. However this trend is changing as there are already several countries that have developed National Organic Regulations to promote both export and domestic production. The regulations are responsible for setting the standards. Currently most of the Asian organic foods are certified by foreign bodies, with only China, Israel, Japan, Thailand, India and Philippines being the only Asian countries with their own certification (IFOAM, 2004). As one of the largest consumers and one of the countries with a high per capita income, any change in the U.S consumption trend will have an effect. Thus organic food production and growth has been affected by the U.S consumption. The organic food production industry noted an increase of 16-21 percent in 2008. The industry receives government support both in monetary terms and in developing policies. This contrasts with the Asian industry which is still in the process of setting policies (Report buyer, 2010). The 2008 Farm Act allocated $5 million to do further research on the marketing system of organic food products in U.S. There are regulations in the U.S. which are provided by the 2002 USDA National Organic Standards. Challenges The main challenges facing the organic food marketing are the pricing competition and logistics arrangements. The organic foods have to compete with other non-organic foods in terms of pricing, varieties and the frequency of production. The organic food products are expensive to produce. Their infrastructure is yet to be developed and thus it is hard for the marketing organizations to sell them at a competitive price. The organic food products are expensive both in the Asian countries and in US. In US organic foods are 10 to 30 percent more expensive than the conventional food products (Dimitri Oberholtzer, 209). The domestic consumers are not informed on the benefits of using organic products. Consumers have little information on organic food products and most consumers will only compare the prices of the food products as they do not know the benefits of organic foods to themselves and to the nature. Apart from this, the organic foods have faced competition with the already developed conventional food products. Since there are only a few informed consumers, the organic food companies have to compete for this small number of consumers. There is a need to create consumer awareness. There is therefore a need for the relevant authorities to device ways to first develop a domestic market for organic foods. There is potential of growth that results from the fact that there are concerns by most consumers with the high chemical such as pesticides remnants in many foods. In addition to this organic foods are also preferred by those who are been sick. Another challenge faced in Asia is that the producers lack in marketing skills. This leads to the producers facing challenges from having to compete with supermarket chains. Most of the organic suppliers are smaller as compared to the conventional food suppliers. This leads to discontinuation of those organic foods that are slow moving, thus disrupting the already developing trend. In addition to this, most of the countries have not developed labeling laws. Consumers will have more confidence when purchasing labeled products. This is crucial for assurance of quality considering there are many self proclaimed organic products in the market. In the U.S the organic foods are sold in branded product lines as well as private-label organic products, whereby this has resulted to an increase of the private-label products from 35 in 2003 to 540 in 2007 (Dimitri Oberholtzer, 2009) . There is a high consumption of organic products in the U.S. The consumption rate continues to increase. As a result of this increase, the retail prices of organic food products increased from $3.6 billion in 1997 to $21.1 billion in 2008, (Dimitri Oberholtzer, 2009). The growth rate was partly as a result of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) efforts of setting standards that gave consumers confidence in using the products. USDA also gave a guideline on how one would recognize that a product is an organic product. The consumption rate has however increased at a higher rate than the growth of the organic foods, thus creating a shortage in the supply of the products. This has mainly been attributed to the regulations that are required in converting and certifying a farmland to an organic farm. Product and marketing development In the Asian countries the farmers lack confidence in the organic food production. Again, the supply of the products has been growing at a higher rate than the demand, thus farmers have been left with surpluses of their produces. The marketing organizations will at times fail to buy all the produces from the farmers, thus the farmers have to look for their own markets. This frustrates the farmers who will shift to other farm produces. Being a new and young developing market, the producers have had to compete with unscrupulous traders. Again, the structure of marketing organization has had an effect in developing the market. Most of the marketing organizations were small organizations and they faced challenges, e.g. recruiting and retaining quality staff. Again due to the challenges of shortage of investments funds, they will go for direct marketing, such as home deliveries and mobile markets. There is a need for the producers and markets to unit and cooperate in order to fight these unscrupulous traders. The Asian market is in the same position as the U.S. market in the 1990s where independent small chain outlets and food-cooperatives were the sole distributors of the organic food products. Currently these food products are mainly supplied in the supermarkets. This is a trend catching up in the Asian markets. There are ways to develop and help support the marketing organizations for the organic food products in Asia. The local initiatives should provide those strategies that eliminate intermediaries, thus reducing the prices of the products and thus encouraging more buyers, while at the same time promoting the producers. Any non-commercial external funding should accompanied with organizations own increase in capital investment. This assures continuity after the external funding is pulled out. Most of the marketing organizations start small whereby some do not even have an office, and operate from home. This may be satisfactory to start with, but as the company grows, it should have an official location of operation. The location chosen is very important. It should be close and easily accessible to the customers and close enough to the producers. This gives it a professional appearance. The company should be particular on the choice of produce it starts with, e.g., vegetables, and then add the products as it grows. Pricing is crucial for the marketing organization, thus it should come up with the preferred pricing strategy. Most organic food products marketing organization prefer price differentiation. Another point to be considered is the connection between the producer and the consumer. This should be discussed so as to reduce disagreements between the two. The marketing organizations should learn to market themselves through the press. The marketing organization should learn the target market and stay updated on any new products that they may require. Conclusion The marketing of organic food products is more advanced in the U.S than it is in the U.S. The success in the U.S. market can be attributed to development of policies and guidelines that especially encourages the domestic consumption. The Asian countries should learn from the U.S. and develop their own domestic market. In addition to this, there is a shortage in the U.S of the organic products. Proper marketing strategies in Asian countries should satisfy this demand in the US market. Something the Asian authorities should think about and act on.

Destiny, Fate, and Free Will in Oedipus the King - A Victim of Fate :: Oedipus Rex Essays

Oedipus the King as a Victim of Fate Among the first thing a historian discovers in his study of early civilization are records of people's belief, or faith, in powers greater than themselves, and their desire to understand what causes these powers to act. People everywhere wonder about the marvelous things in the sky and on the earth. What makes the rain? How do the plants and animals live and grow and die? Why are some people lucky and others unlucky? Some believe in free will while others believe in fate or destiny. In the play Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Oedipus was a true victim of fate. Gods and goddesses were believed to be responsible for the wonders of science, and the vagaries of human nature; therefore, according to the facts of this story, Oedipus was a true victim of fate for several reasons. Laius and Jocasta, the childless king and queen of Thebes, were told by the god Apollo that their son would kill his father and marry his mother (page 56). A son was born to them, and they tried to make sure that the prophecy would not come true. They drove a metal pin through the infants ankles and gave it to a shepherd, with instructions to leave it to die. The shepherd pitied the little infant so he gave the child to another shepherd. This shepherd gave the baby to a childless king and queen of Corinth, Polybus and Merope. This royal couple named the boy Oedipus, which in its Greek form Oidipous means "swollen foot." Oedipus was brought up believing that Polybus and Merope were his real parents, and Lauis and Jocasta believed that their child was dead and the prophecy of Apollo was false. Many years later, he was told by a drunk man at a banquet that he was not a true heir of Polybus (page 55). He then went to the oracle of Apollo, to ask the god who his real parents were. All he was told was that he would kill his father and marry his mother (page 56). He resolved never to return to Corinth, to Polybus and Merope, and started out to make a new life for

Upon the Edge of My Endeavor : Understanding How to Learn. :: Free Essays Online

Upon the Edge of My Endeavor : Understanding How to Learn. I stand awake and alert. A first year college student with my sights fixed firmly ahead and my goals just within reach. A positive light is cast upon my future endeavors. Yet, as I reflect upon my educational experiences, I find myself drawing parallels between the direction in which my life is headed now and the similar paths I have traveled along before. I am forced to ask myself if I am truly prepared for what lies ahead. I have asked myself the same thing many times. I was once in a similar position. A fledgling student wavering just between the lines of hesitancy and motivation. I was beginning my freshman year at Oakmont Regional High School in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Ashburnham Massachusetts is the stereotypical image of the small New England town. Its boundaries are drawn not by geographic limitations but by the unspoken societal messages that all students are exposed to at some point during their educational experience. "Dress a certain way, don't ask too many questions, don't ask the wrong questions, always follow the directions, etc†¦" Most of the incoming freshman had been born there and had experienced similar opportunities from the day they all learned to tie their shoelaces to the day they received their high school diploma and shook hands with the superintendent. I was the exception to the rule in some respects for I had moved to Massachusetts from the Philadelphia area at the end of elementary school. I had not had the same experience as my peers. Not to say that my previous education was in any way superior to the one I was about to receive. However, I did encounter a bit of a culture shock upon my arrival. Freshman year of high school careened past my very eyes before I had the maturity to fully comprehend the knowledge and life experience that was being imparted to my young impressionable intellect. The somewhat nebulous idea of high school loomed before me, acting as both a mirage and a reality. The atmosphere itself was cramped. Every detail about the school was small, building size, classrooms, the student population. Yet in a broader sense I was overwhelmed by the enormousness of the task that lay before me. I was more concerned with surviving the first year than with anything else. Quite obviously I did survive, but not entirely because of the welcoming and nurturing environment that public school systems are expected to adopt. Upon the Edge of My Endeavor : Understanding How to Learn. :: Free Essays Online Upon the Edge of My Endeavor : Understanding How to Learn. I stand awake and alert. A first year college student with my sights fixed firmly ahead and my goals just within reach. A positive light is cast upon my future endeavors. Yet, as I reflect upon my educational experiences, I find myself drawing parallels between the direction in which my life is headed now and the similar paths I have traveled along before. I am forced to ask myself if I am truly prepared for what lies ahead. I have asked myself the same thing many times. I was once in a similar position. A fledgling student wavering just between the lines of hesitancy and motivation. I was beginning my freshman year at Oakmont Regional High School in Ashburnham, Massachusetts. Ashburnham Massachusetts is the stereotypical image of the small New England town. Its boundaries are drawn not by geographic limitations but by the unspoken societal messages that all students are exposed to at some point during their educational experience. "Dress a certain way, don't ask too many questions, don't ask the wrong questions, always follow the directions, etc†¦" Most of the incoming freshman had been born there and had experienced similar opportunities from the day they all learned to tie their shoelaces to the day they received their high school diploma and shook hands with the superintendent. I was the exception to the rule in some respects for I had moved to Massachusetts from the Philadelphia area at the end of elementary school. I had not had the same experience as my peers. Not to say that my previous education was in any way superior to the one I was about to receive. However, I did encounter a bit of a culture shock upon my arrival. Freshman year of high school careened past my very eyes before I had the maturity to fully comprehend the knowledge and life experience that was being imparted to my young impressionable intellect. The somewhat nebulous idea of high school loomed before me, acting as both a mirage and a reality. The atmosphere itself was cramped. Every detail about the school was small, building size, classrooms, the student population. Yet in a broader sense I was overwhelmed by the enormousness of the task that lay before me. I was more concerned with surviving the first year than with anything else. Quite obviously I did survive, but not entirely because of the welcoming and nurturing environment that public school systems are expected to adopt.

Research on Work-Family Balance Essay

Introduction The mastering of a foreign language opens the roads for the transit of citizens whether for work, business, or tourism purposes, as well as for cultural and informational exchanges of all kinds. In this light, the status of English as a global language in politics, economics, education and the media, especially the Internet, is widely acknowledged. Typically, ESP has functioned to help language learners cope with the features of language or to develop the competences needed to function in a discipline, profession, or workplace.(Helen. Basturkman. 2006:6) Learning, as a language based activity, is fundamentally and profoundly dependent on vocabulary knowledge. Learners must have access to the meanings of words which is technical, related to their subject matter. †¦knowing the technical terms†¦is not a sufficient condition for successful reading of specialized material. It was, in fact, the non-technical terms which created more of a problem. (Cohen et al. 1988:162) For many people vocabulary, particularly specialist vocabulary (or terminology), is a key element of ESP. Despite this, vocabulary studies and, in particular, the teaching of vocabulary appear to have been somewhat neglected in ESP( Laufer p-167, Swales p224). Reading, for students of English for specific purposes (ESP), is probably the most important skill in terms of acquiring new knowledge. It does, however, often pose learning problems, especially with respect to vocabulary. The psycholinguistic model of reading widely favoured in linguistics and cognitive psychology in the 1960s and 1970s considered that the main constructs underlying reading are making predictions and deducing meaning from context (cf.Goodman 1976:127). However, during the 1980s, the interactive approach to reading became dominant, in which it was proposed that successful comprehension is achieved by the interactive use of two reading strategies: the top-down approach (i.e. making use of the readers’ previous knowledge, expectations and experience in reading the text) and the bottom-up approach(i.e. understa nding a text mainly by analyzing the words and sentences in the text itself: cf. Sanford &Garrod 1981; Van Dijk&Kintsch 1983; Carrell 1988. Research in ESP reading (e.gSelinker& Trimble 1974; Cohen et al. 1988) provides empirical support for the interactive framework, finding morphonographemic word-processing skills to be a major component of reading. It has also, since the 1980s, been broadly agreed among researchers (cf. Kennedy & Bolitho 1984; Trimble 1985; Cohen et al. 1988) that for non-native ESP readers the most problematic element in comprehending scientific and technical (ST) texts is a set of vocabulary items that has been variously labeled technical and semi-technical. Whatever the name given to the words in this group, if they appear to hinder students of ESP in comprehending texts in their discipline, it is worthwhile for language teachers and ESP practitioners to seek ways in which learners’ lexical repertoires can be raised to at least the threshold level of skilled readership in their chosen fields. It is known to most second language learners that the acquisition of vocabulary is a fundamental and important component in the course of their learning. A good mastery of vocabulary is essential for ESP/EFL learners, especially for those who learn for specific purpose or expect to operate at an advanced level in English. ‘It is wise to direct vocabulary learning to more specialized areas when learners have mastered the 2000-3000 words of general usefulness in English’ (Nation, 2001:187). I will identify the types of vocabulary in ESP texts and their relative importance. I will provide an overview of some key issues relating to the teaching of ESP vocabulary. Types of vocabulary In teaching and learning vocabulary, it’s essential to distinguish between different types of vocabulary because different types of vocabulary need different focus and treatment or some types of vocabulary will be given priorities and emphases in teaching and learning according to leaners’ different aims of learning. 1. Core and non-core vocabulary One way of looking at the status of words in lexical fields is to consider whether some words are more core, or central to the language, than others. The idea that there might be a core or basic vocabulary of words at the heart of any language is quite an appealing one to language educators, for if we could isolate that vocabulary then we could equip learners with a survival kit of core words that they could use in virtually any situation, whether spoken or written, formal or informal, or any situation where an absolutely precise term, might be elusive and where a core word would do. (McCarthy.1990:49) As the word ‘core’ suggests, core vocabulary refers to those words that are more central to the language than other words and tend to be the most frequently occurring ones. ‘People prefer to use such words because they do have core meaning-potential’ (McCarthy, 1990). They are thought to be more ‘core’ because it is easy to find an antonym, also t hey are neutral in formality and usable in a wide variety of situations. Furthermore, an important point is that such words can be used to paraphrase or give definitions of other words. For example, (McCarthy, 1990) the following instruction is given : [decide which is the core word in the set of words: slim, slender, thin, emaciated and scrawny and we can easily figure out that ‘thin’ is the core word] Core vocabulary: words of neutral meaning in any lexical set; core words collocate more readily with a wide range of words, they may be used in a wider range of registers, and are usually involved in the definition of non-core members of their set. In ESP teaching, we may come across subject-specific vocabulary, which is non-core as far as the language as a whole is concerned. ‘This is because it is not neutral in field and is associated with a specialized topic’ (Carter, 1988:172).They are subject-specific core vocabulary; conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, limestone and dolomite, gypsum, phosphate, iron, oxide, crude oil, hydrocarbons-compounds, hydrogen, sulpher, oxygen and nitrogen, gaseous fuels, methane, synthetics, fossil fuels, igne ous rocks, metamorphic rocks. In fact that the need of ESP students is to learn such above mentioned core vocabulary in written and spoken language in their profession, ESP students with specific and academic purpose may need to acquire technical and semi-technical words in their specialist texts which are in need for them to learn and use it in speech and writing documents. Specialist vocabulary can be core in the job establishment where specialist use it frequently and in need, as well as during the ESP classes where ESP teacher and student’ fruitful interaction and it is very central for communication, especially, writing documentations where specialist uses core-specialist vocabulary as well as ESP student may learn that core vocabulary in texts which are full of technical and semi-technical vocabulary and which is central to learning. 2. Spoken and written vocabulary The spoken text is an example of what Ure(1971) calls ‘language-in-action’, that is , people are using language as an accompaniment to the action they are engaged in, and the feeling of lightness or heaviness of vocabulary is what Ure calls ‘lexical density’(McCarthy:1990:71) The written text is less dependent on physical context and its words make specific reference to items in the situation. Speaking versus writing is one important dimension affecting lexical density, but some spoken modes(e.g. oral narrative, or a formal lecture) might be lexically quite dense.(McCarthy.1990:71) Although most of the existing literature on vocabulary has grown out of the study of written texts. spoken texts seem less ‘dense’ than the most written texts in vocabulary items, which is characterized in language-in –action texts; repetition and lexical negotiation occur much more often in spoken discourse than in written texts; vague and rather general words are more frequently used in everyday talk than in written texts. Spoken vocabulary is what we got from written vocabulary to use orally, by contrast we can’t use full written information in speech as well as possible, there are a lot of written information in the past and in the present, for using significant ideas, at first, we should consider which is more available and more demanding for job and for daily life to use. ESP students who study the written texts, based on technical and semi-technical vocabulary, consequently, will product spoken vocabulary which is resulted from the information of written vocabulary. That’s why spoken and written vocabulary is essential in ESP courses. 3. Procedural vocabulary Vocabulary used to explain other words, to structure and organize their meaning. Procedural Vocabulary consists of words with a high indexical potential, which means that they can be interpreted in a wide range of ways. Identifying items in the lexicon that seem to carry a heavy work-load(e.g. the core vocabulary) must include a consideration of how some words are characteristically used to talk about other words, to paraphrase them and define them and to organize them in communication. Widdowson(1983) describes this kind of vocabulary as ‘procedural’. Robinson (1988) refers to ‘this simple lexis of paraphrase and explanation’ to illustrate procedural vocabulary and calls the procedural words ‘the main element in our interpretation and categorization of specific frames of reference’:Ver-mic-u-lite-type of Mica that is a very light material made up of threadlike parts, that can be used for keeping heat inside buildings, growing seeds in, etc.(McC arthy.1990:51) We need sense (relations between words) and denotation (relations between words and the world) in conjunction. However, learners at all levels will need to confront the procedural lexicon of the language they are learning (McCarthy.1990:52) Widdowson (1983:92) makes a distinction between words which are schematically bound and words of high indexical (or procedural –they are synonymous) potential. The schematically bound words narrow the frames of reference and identify particular fields; ‘hydrometer’ has low indexical potential and will occur in a narrow range of texts identifiable within certain scientific and technical fields (McCarthy.1990:51) Procedural vocabulary is characteristically used to talk about, paraphrase, define and organize words in communication. They are commonly used in dictionaries to give definitions. Students of Petroleum engineering may find them useful when learning other words for the accumulation of their vocabulary. It is true that students are required procedural vocabulary that helps them understand the technical vocabulary used in the process of establishing word meaning. The important role of procedural vocabulary lies, therefore, in the assumption that meaning is not static, but can be negotiated through interaction between participants hence, demanding when? and why? Because of unknown technical and semi-technical vocabulary, which is quite complicated to understand, and is the main tool in the texts to apprehend their own specialty. ESP teachers should give definitions by using procedural vocabulary, which may give a specific description of the word. On the other hand, to use procedural vocabulary, ESP students need to know, approximately 2000 vocabulary words. After having gained them, students are able to define the technical and semi-technical vocabularies which are very complicated to comprehend and to predict. However, with the help of procedural vocabulary use, I believe that ESP teachers, after having used the procedural vocabulary, could give the exact definition of the unknown word. Consequently, ESP students may guess what it is in L1. That’s why the use of procedural vocabulary is essential in ESP classes. 4.Technical and semi-technical vocabulary Many ESP teachers have found that vocabulary can be one of the major problems that effect students’ understanding of scientific and technical texts. According to Kennedy & Bolitho (1984), Trimble(1985) and Nation (1990), the difficulty lies not with technical vocabulary as such but, as Cohen et al. (1988: 153) put it: †¦even students with mastery over the technical terms become so frustrated in reading technical English that they seek native-language summaries of the English texts, or native-language books covering roughly the same material, or do not read the material at all, but concentrate rather on taking verbatim lecture notes. ESP students generally find their difficulties in reading Petroleum engineering texts because of not knowing technical and semi-technical vocabulary in L2, and this does indeed appear to be one of their major problems in comprehending texts of their subject area, especially during second and third years of study. Many of the problems that the students encounter in using English are related to comprehension, and are caused by their limited knowledge of vocabulary, including crucially, a lack of awareness of polysemy. Increasingly researchers have favoured the view that such an area of vocabulary creates significant barriers to students’ understanding of (ST) texts, but the discussion has been complicated by the use of several different terms for what appears to be the same intermediate-level area of difficulty, for which commentators such as Cowan (1974), Robinson (1980), Trimble(1985) and Tong(1993a, 1993b) use the term sub-technical vocabulary, while others use non-technical with or without (cf. Barber 1962; Nation 1990; Tao 1994), and still others use semi-technical (St John & Dudley-Evans 1980; Farrell 1990; McArthur 1996b). We cannot teach our scientific and technical students the whole of the scientific vocabulary: this is beyond the capacity of any individual. Nor do we normally want to teach them the specialized technical terms of their own subject†¦.what the English teacher can usually hope to do is to teach a vocabulary which is generally useful to students of science and technology-words that occur frequently in scientific and technical literature of different types. Some of these words will be technical ones, but many will not. The real justification for having highly specialized texts is to achieve face validity. Learners may be more motivated by them, because they make the language seem more relevant. But learners can be fickle. And if the use of such texts makes work in the classroom difficult, learners will soon lose their liking for such texts (Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters.1995:162) Coxed and Nation(2001) categorize vocabulary for teaching and learning into four groups of words: high frequency words, academic vocabulary, technical vocabulary, and low frequency vocabulary. They argue: ‘when learners have mastered control of the 2,000 words of general usefulness in English, it is wise to direct vocabulary learning to more specialized areas depending on the aims of the learners’ (p. 252-253).( Helen. Basturkemn.2006:17). According to Bloor and Bloor(1986), teaching a specific variety of English (ESP) can start at any level including beginners. Moreover, learning from the specific variety of English ( for example, English for doctors, English for hospitality), is highly effective as learners acquire structures in relation to the range of meanings in which they are used in their academic, workplace, or professional environments (Helen. Basturkmen. 2006:17) Sager(p-98) writes: terminology is an applicable field of study concerned with the creation, collection and ordering of the vocabulary of special languages†¦..this work is carried out by relatively few people for the benefit of all users of special languages. Sager notes the assumption that specialized communication can be made more effective If terms are formed according to certain prevailing patterns which have a predictive value. Alber-De Wolf( p-167) suggests that a good knowledge of term-formation processes improves the reading skills necessary for reading foreign LSP but most work in terminology is aimed not at teachers but at translators and, increasingly, at machine translation and the development of term banks( Ross, Thomas). Sager makes the important observation that terminology is not so fixed as might be supposed. (Pauline Robinson. 1991:27) Voracek compares terminology across the natural sciences and social sciences. He suggests that because political terminology can never be emotionally neutral, it can be hardly accurate and unambiguous and it will always cause problems for translators and interpreters. Economic terms, while emotionally neutral, also cause problems of translation across economic systems (Pauline Robinson.1991:27). In fact, technical terms which are used only in a specialized field are sometimes less troublesome than vocabulary that looks familiar. Students recognize the need to find meanings for technical terms, and most dictionaries define them. On the other hand, students assume they already know the meaning of an ordinary word, so they do not try to find a specialized meaning for it (Virginia French Allen.1983:88). Technical vocabulary is words or phrases that are used primarily in a specific line of work or profession. Similarly, engineer of petroleum engineering field needs to know technical words such as organic decay, conglomerates, clay schist , siltstone, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, phosphate, iron, oxide, crude oil, hydrocarbons-compounds, hydrogen, sulpher, oxygen and nitrogen, gaseous fuels, methane, synthetics, fossil fuels, igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks and may acquire technical and semi-technical vocabulary in the Petroleum engineering texts where they come across frequently, and words which most people outside of that industry never use. In terms of language content, there is little reason why , say, a Biology text should be more useful to a Biology than, say, a Physics text. There is no grammatical structure, function or discourse structure that can be identified specifically with Biology or any particular subject. Such things are product of the communicative situation (lecture, conversation, experiment, instructions) and the level (engineer, technician, manager, mechanic, university)there are only two ways in which the subject has any kind of influence on the language content We can distinguish four types of vocabulary: -structural: are, this, only, however; -general: table, run, dog, road, weather, cause; -sub-technical: engine, spring, valve, acid, budged; -technical: auricle, schist some, fissure, electrophoresis. Technical vocabulary was used far less frequently than the non-technical. These technical terms are also likely to pose the least problems for learners: they are often internationally used or can be worked out from knowledge of the subject matter and common root. (Tom Hutchinson and Alan Waters.1995:166) Comprehension in the ESP classroom is often more difficult than in real life, because texts are taken in isolation. In the outside world a text would normally appear in a context, which provides reference points to assist understanding (Tom Hutchinson and Waters.1995:16) In terms of teaching in ESP, it is most important to make a distinction between the two types of vocabulary: technical and semi-technical because they are of great importance for learners to study English for specific purposes and academic purposes. Baker(1988) lists six categories of vocabulary, all of which relate to EAP. They are: 1. Items which express notions general to all specialized disciplines; 2. General language items that have a specialized meaning in one or more disciplines; 3. Specialized items that have different meanings in different disciplines; 4. General language items that have restricted meanings in different disciplines; 5. General language items that are used to describe or comment on technical processes or functions in preference to other items with the same meaning, for example occur rather than happen. 6. Items used to signal the writer’s intentions or evaluation of material presented (Dudley-Evans and St John. 1998:83). Dudley-Evans and St John (1998:83) suggest resolving the overlapping six categories (Baker, 1988:91) into two broad areas: A) Vocabulary that is used in general language but has a higher frequency of occurrence in specific and technical description and discussion. B) Vocabulary that has specialized and restricted meanings in certain disciplines and which may vary in meaning across discipline. It is quite clear that the first area would be referred to as semi-technical and the second area would be regarded as technical vocabulary. We can examine the following text to illustrate the difference among them below. Some extracts are taken from the texts of Petroleum engineering field, to analyze which is technical and semi-technical and what students of this area study during the class and what kind of information a ESP teacher should provide within the class. These texts are central in the heart of learning and there is a need, lack, desire of students to be competent with. In the second and third year courses, students of the Petroleum engineering field, in Karshi Engineering-Economics institute, the faculty of Oil and Gas, in Karshi, Uzbekistan, study this specialty in English during English classes. How may we inform them about the specific knowledge of their profession if we are not subject matter teachers? We are English language teachers who did not study the specialty of these students at all. Consequently, only the job for us to do is to teach these texts, which are written in English and specially contain technical and semi-technical vocabulary. 1. The thickness of the layers of sedimentary rocks may vary greatly from place to place. They can be formed by the mechanical action of water, wind, frost and organic decay. Such sedimentary as gravel, sand, and clay at the beginning and conglomerates, sandstones and clay schists later are the result of the accumulation of materials achieved by the destructive mechanical action of water and wind (extract from the text ‘Sedimentary Rocks’ M.Ya. Barakova.1977:74-75) 2.The most principal kinds of sedimentary rocks are conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, limestone and dolomite. Many other kinds with large practical value include common salt, gypsum, phosphate, iron oxide and coal (extract from the text ‘Sedimentary Rocks’ M.Ya. Barakova.1977:74-75) 3. Fossils are usually found in sedimentary rocks, although, sometimes they may be found in igneous and metamorphic rocks as well. They are most abundant in mudstone, shale and limestone, but also found in sandstone, dolomite and conglomerates (extract from the text ‘Fossil Fuels’ M. Ya. Barakova.1977: 108-109) 4. Liquid fuels are derived almost from petroleum. In general, natural petroleum, or crude oil, as it is widely known, is the basis of practically all industrial fuels. Petroleum is a mixture of hundreds of different hydrocarbons-compounds composed of hydrogen and carbon together with the small amount of other elements such as sulphur, oxygen and nitrogen. Petroleum is associated with water and natural gas(extract from the text ‘Fossil Fuels’ M. Ya. Barakova.1977:108-109) 5. Of gaseous fuels the most important are those derived from natural gas, chiefly methane or petroleum. Using gaseous fuels makes it possible to obtain high thermal efficiency, ease of distribution and control. Today, gas is widely utilized in the home and as a raw material for producing synthetics. (extract from the text ‘Fossil Fuels) (extract from the text ‘Fossil Fuels’ M. Ya. Barakova.1977:108-109) The technical vocabulary is quite obvious. The items are: organic decay, conglomerates, clay schist , siltstone, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, phosphate, iron, oxide, crude oil, hydrocarbons-compounds, hydrogen, sulpher, oxygen and nitrogen, gaseous fuels, methane, synthetics, fossil fuels, igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks, and etc. The semi-technical vocabulary items are as follows: mechanical action, liquid fuels, petroleum, industrial fuels, natural gas, raw material, layers, abundant, accumulation, destructive and chiefly, ease of distribution and control etc. As every specialist has their own specific vocabulary to use in speech and writing, the technical and semi-technical vocabulary is also the main source for Petroleum engineering students to go through. In fact, to succeed in comprehending the written vocabulary and spoken language in this area, ESP students should have access to these technical texts where they can find a way to know about this specialty in English. Technical and semi-technical vocabulary is the main instrument for survival in this area of study. As we can see from above, learners who will do academic study in English must focus on academic vocabulary which is variously known as ‘general useful scientific vocabulary’ (Barber, 1962) and semi-technical vocabulary (Farrell, 1990), because they need to exhibit a wide range of academic skills like reading about research papers in their own fields, listening to teachers speak about their work, writing academic papers and presenting oral or written evaluations of methods or results in many cases, or writing documentations of the industrial company where the learner may use technical words , which is very needful , and use it for communication with foreign company by doing export or import business. Technical and semi-technical vocabulary, which is used in this text, may not be occurred in the texts of other fields of study, for example, medicine, business, but it can occur in other parts of engineering areas. We may use general vocabulary in all fields of study where technical and semi-technical vocabularies of petroleum engineering field occur. With its importance shown above, technical vocabulary or semi-technical vocabulary should be given priority in teaching by ESP teachers because, according to Dudley-Evans and St John (1998:83), this type of vocabulary is used in general life contexts but has a higher frequency of occurrence in scientific and technical descriptions and discussions, especially in their specific field and conferences, meetings referring to specialty. ESP teachers should teach learners general vocabulary as well as technical vocabulary that has a higher frequency in a scientific field such as: -general: thickness, place, wind, frost, value, common, and etc. -petroleum engineering: organic decay, conglomerates, siltstone, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, phosphate, iron, oxide, crude oil, hydrocarbons-compounds, sulpher, oxygen and nitrogen, gaseous fuels, methane, synthetics and etc. -verbs: vary, achieve, found, form, derive from, include, compose, associate, obtain, utilize, produce. -collocations: destructive mechanical action, organic decay, accumulation of materials, hydrocarbons-compounds, associate with. The issue of teaching technical vocabulary It is often claimed that it is not the job of the ESP teachers to teach technical vocabulary (Barber, 1964; Higgens, 1966; Cowan, 1974). In general, we agree it is not but it may be the duty of ESP teachers to teach vocabulary in certain circumstances. Beyond the duty of ESP teacher In discussing the teaching of ESP it has often been said (Hutchinson and Waters, 1987; Higgins, 1966)that the teaching technical vocabulary is not the responsibility of the EAP teacher and that priority should be given to the teaching of ‘semi-technical’ or ‘core vocabulary’. The technical vocabulary is rather more complicated than the simple notion that the ESP teacher should not touch it. While in general we agree that it should not be the responsibility of the ESP teacher to teach technical vocabulary, in certain specific contexts it may be the duty of the ESP teacher to check that learners have understood technical vocabulary appearing as carrier content for an exercise. It may also be necessary to ensure that learners have understood technical language presented by a subject specialist or assumed to be known by a subject specialist (Dudley-Evans and St John. 1998:81) In any ESP exercise which exploits a particular context, that context will use certain technical vocabulary. It is important that both the teacher and the learners appreciate that this vocabulary is acting as carrier content for an exercise, and is not the real content of the exercise. However, students usually need to be able to understand the technical vocabulary in order to do exercise (Dudley-Evans and St John. 1998:81) How do we deal with this technical vocabulary? In some circumstances a term will be cognate with the equivalent term in the students’ first language and will not therefore cause difficulty. If the term is not cognate and is unfamiliar, then it may need to be introduced and explained before the exercise is tackled. In many cases there is a one-to-one relationship between the terms in English and the learners’ L1 and so it will be enough to translate the term into the L1 after a brief explanation (Dudley-Evans and St John. 1998:81) A technical word is one that is recognizably specific to a particular topic, field or discipline. It is likely that they can only be learned and understood by studying the field. Such words are considered to be the responsibility of the subject teachers. Strevens (1973:223) claims ‘that learners who know the scientific field may have little difficulty with technical words; but a teacher who may not have a great deal. We can examine the examples in the given text. Technical words like organic decay, sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic rocks, limestone, clay schist, methane and others are specialized words in the field of petroleum engineering, which may be quite easy for a student in L1, who studies the petroleum engineering. However, it is a different matter for ESP teachers. There are some other technical words that are quite familiar to learners even if learners are not studying the specific discipline to which the technical words belong because the words are widely, even internationally, known. Some very frequently occurring words in computer science, such as browser, program, log, hypertext and internet, are quite familiar to learners and these technical words have a high frequency occurrence in the texts of computer sciences and in information. The English teacher is an ideal informant, who may inform the students of the petroleum engineering field with the information of their profession in L2 for non-native speakers. Even if it is the beyond of his/her duty, the English teacher should certainly explain the technical and semi-technical words in L1 or in L2 for successful learning. As a matter of fact that English teacher teaches texts, which are full of technical and semi-technical vocabulary. That’s why ESP teacher should know the subject matter in L1 and in L2, if not, not be able to teach the students of petroleum engineering field because of not knowing specialist knowledge. Furthermore, even he/she can’t translate the text. As a result, no well-designed teaching will be done. A teacher of General English may not know the technical and semi-technical words because she/he is not a specialist of this area. For example, the English teacher who teaches medical students should know the medical terminology. If she/he does not know the technical vocabulary relating to medicine, how can she/he help the translation of meaning of medical treatments or drugs which is being manufactured in Foreign country, most medicine production instruction is written and explained, given information about medical drugs, and available devices in English. That’ why the role of Technical and semi-technical vocabulary is not only valuable in the Petroleum engineering field, but also important in other fields of study. The ESP teacher should corporate with subject matter teacher in order to know subject matter for successful teaching. Which vocabulary type should the ESP teacher teach? According to Hutchinson and Waters, (1987) ESP should be seen as an approach to language teaching, which is directed by specific and apparent reasons for learning. The main of their vocabulary acquisition is surely academic vocabulary and they mainly learn technical and semi-technical vocabulary of their specialty in texts, which are main support for learning their specific field through unfamiliar words. The text is an informant where has full of special information for learners’ desire, and learners try to predict what the word is about with his/her specific background knowledge and define the word. Nowadays, a lot of Educational grant programmes demand English knowledge as well as with specific disciplines, where learners study subject matter in English. That’s why learner, who is willing to study in European or US, Foreign universities and desires to make a progress in profession, consequently, needs to learn technical vocabulary. Learning technical and semi-technic al vocabulary is the most essential need for such desire, and teaching technical and semi-technical vocabulary is more demanding. Learnability Ease or difficult in the learnability of vocabulary is not unconnected with the notion of frequency, since the most frequent words will probably be absorbed and learnt simply because they occur regularly. But words may be easy or difficult for a variety of other reasons, and may need special attention or focus in teaching. 1. Words may present spelling difficulties. Even native speakers of English have difficulty remembering whether single or double consonants appear in words like ‘occurrence’, ‘parallel’, and ‘beginning’. Languages with more regular spelling patterns present fewer difficulties of this kind. 2. Words may present phonological difficulties, either because they contain awkward clusters of sounds ( English ‘thrive’, ‘crisps’), or because spelling interfaces with perception of what the sound is (English ‘worry’ is regularly pronounced by learners as if it rhymed with ‘sorry’). Such words may be effectively learned in all other respects, but pronunciation may remain a long-term difficulty, especially where old habits are ingrained. 3. The syntactic properties of words often make them difficult. In English, ‘want’ presents fewer syntactic difficulties than ‘wish’, ‘want’ is followed by an infinitive and / or an object; ‘wish’ may be followed by a variety of verb patterns in ‘that’ clauses, as well as by the infinitive. 4. Words may be perceived as very close in meaning by the learner, and therefore difficult to separate one from another. ‘Make’ and ‘do’ are notorious in this respect in English. Learners of Spanish often find it difficult to separate ‘ser’ and ‘estar’, which to the English-speaker seem both to mean ‘be’. The difficulty, or lack of difficulty, a word presents may override its frequency and/or range, and decisions to bring forward or postpone the teaching of an item may be based on learnability. Published materials handle features of learnability and difficulty in different ways.p-86 (McCarthy) Difficulty and learnability cut right across the notions of frequency and range. We cannot predict that just because a word is frequent it will be learnt quickly and thoroughly or, conversely, that, because a word is infrequent, it will not be easily learnt. Technical and semi-technical vocabulary has also difficulties for pronunciation and for communication to study.