Battle of Friedland in the Napoleonic Wars

The Battle of Friedland was fought on June 14, 1807, during the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-1807). Conflict Leading up to the Battle of Friedland With the beginning of the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806, Napoleon advanced against Prussia and won stunning victories at Jena and Auerstadt. Having brought Prussia to heel, the French pushed into Poland with the goal of inflicting a similar defeat on the Russians. Following a series of minor actions, Napoleon elected to enter winter quarters to give his men a chance to recover from the campaigning season. Opposing the French were Russian forces led by General Count von Bennigsen. Seeing an opportunity to strike at the French, he began moving against the isolated corps of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. Sensing a chance to cripple the Russians, Napoleon ordered Bernadotte to fall back while he moved with the main army to cut off the Russians. Slowly drawing Bennigsen into his trap, Napoleon was foiled when a copy of his plan was captured by the Russians. Pursuing Bennigsen, the French army became spread over the countryside. On February 7, the Russians turned to make a stand near Eylau. In the resulting Battle of Eylau, the French were checked by Bennigsen on February 7-8, 1807. Departing the field, the Russians retreated north and both sides moved into winter quarters. Armies Commanders French Napoleon Bonaparte71,000 men Russians General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen76,000 men Moving to Friedland Renewing the campaign that spring, Napoleon moved against the Russian position at Heilsberg. Having taken a strong defensive stance, Bennigsen repelled several French assaults on June 10, inflicting over 10,000 casualties. Though his lines had held, Bennigsen elected to fall back again, this time towards Friedland. On June 13, Russian cavalry, under General Dmitry Golitsyn, cleared the area around Friedland of French outposts. This done, Bennigsen crossed the Alle River and occupied the town. Situated on the west bank of the Alle, Friedland occupied a finger of land between the river and a mill stream. The Battle of Friedland Begins Pursuing the Russians, Napoleons army advanced over several routes in multiple columns. The first to arrive in the vicinity of Friedland was that Marshal Jean Lannes. Encountering Russian troops west of Friedland a few hours after midnight on June 14, the French deployed and fighting began in the Sortlack Wood and in front of the village of Posthenen. As the engagement grew in scope, both sides began racing to extend their lines north to Heinrichsdorf. This contest was won by the French when cavalry led by the Marquis de Grouchy occupied the village. Pushing men over the river, Bennigsens forces had swollen to around 50,000 by 6:00 AM. While his troops were exerting pressure on Lannes, he deployed his men from the Heinrichsdorf-Friedland Road south to the upper bends of the Alle. Additional troops pushed north as far as Schwonau, while reserve cavalry moved into position to support the growing battle in the Sortlack Wood. As the morning progressed, Lannes struggled to hold his position. He was soon aided by the arrival of Marshal Edouard Mortiers VIII Corps which approached Heinrichsdorf and swept the Russians out of Schwonau (See a map). By midday, Napoleon had arrived on the field with reinforcements. Ordering Marshal Michel Neys VI Corps to assume a position south of Lannes, these troops formed between Posthenen and Sortlack Wood. While Mortier and Grouchy formed the French left, Marshal Claude Victor-Perrins I Corps and the Imperial Guard moved into a reserve position west of Posthenen. Covering his movements with artillery, Napoleon finished forming his troops around 5:00 PM. Assessing the confined terrain around Friedland due to the river and Posthenen mill stream, he decided to strike at the Russian left. The Main Attack Moving behind a massive artillery barrage, Neys men advanced on the Sortlack Wood. Quickly overcoming the Russian opposition, they forced the enemy back. On the far left, General Jean Gabriel Marchand succeeded in driving the Russians into the Alle near Sortlack. In an attempt to retrieve the situation, the Russian cavalry mounted a determined attack on Marchands left. Surging forward, the Marquis de Latour-Maubourgs dragoon division met and repulsed this attack. Pushing forward, Neys men succeeded in penning the Russians into the bends of the Alle before being halted. Though the sun was setting, Napoleon sought to achieve a decisive victory and was unwilling to let the Russians escape. Ordering forward General Pierre Duponts division from the reserve, he sent it against the mass of Russian troops. It was aided by the French cavalry which pushed back its Russian counterparts. As the battle re-ignited, General Alexandre-Antoine de Sà ©narmont deployed his artillery at close range and delivered a stunning barrage of case-shot. Tearing through the Russian lines, fire from Sà ©narmonts guns shattered the enemy position causing them to fall back and flee through the streets of Friedland. With Neys men in pursuit, the fighting at the southern end of the field became a rout. As the assault against the Russian left had moved forward, Lannes and Mortier had endeavored to pin the Russian center and right in place. Spotting smoke rising from a burning Friedland, they both advanced against the enemy. As this attack moved forward, Dupont shifted his attack north, forded the mill stream, and assaulted the flank of the Russian center. Though the Russians offered fierce resistance, they were ultimately compelled to retreat. While the Russian right was able to escape via the Allenburg Road, the remainder struggled back across the Alle with many drowning in the river. Aftermath of Friedland In the fighting at Friedland, the Russians suffered around 30,000 casualties while the French incurred around 10,000. With his primary army in shambles, Tsar Alexander I began suing for peace less than a week after the battle. This effectively ended the War of the Fourth Coalition as Alexander and Napoleon concluded the Treaty of Tilsit on July 7. This agreement ended hostilities and began an alliance between France and Russia. While France agreed to aid Russia against the Ottoman Empire, the latter joined the Continental System against Great Britain. A second Treaty of Tilsit was signed on July 9 between France and Prussia. Eager to weaken and humiliate the Prussians, Napoleon stripped them of half their territory. Sources and Further Reading French Order of Battle for Friedland: 14 June 1807.Napoleon Guide: Battle of Friedland.Harvey, Robert.  The War of Wars: The Epic Struggle Between Britain and France, 1789-1815. 2007.

The Importance Of A Social Work Field - 1594 Words

The social work field is solely dedicated to the giving back of others. A person in the career must be willing to spend hours working to make differences in clients’ lives. Children and family social work can be a very rewarding profession but yet challenging at times. Employees help others in need, advocate for important causes, and all around make positive impacts in the world. Many people interested in social work have personal motivations from their own lives steering them towards the profession of giving back (Unwinn and Hogg). People who are wanting to make positive changes in the lives of others are attracted to this career (Vu). To be successful, one must have a strong passion for helping others (Campus Explorer). Specific skills required are active listening, speaking, reading comprehension, social perceptiveness, critical thinking, monitoring, and service orientation (Career Info). Workers must know how to handle personal services in order to build and strengthen rel ationships with clients (Career Info). Knowledge in sociology and anthropology is beneficial to every child and family social worker (Career Info). All social workers in general must have a good understanding of psychology, human behavior, and differences in individuals (Career Info). Therapy and counseling are two major factors that play into this field (Career Info). Workers must know correct procedures and guidance steps (Career Info). Children and family social workers must have the appropriateShow MoreRelatedThe Importance Of A Social Work Field1064 Words   |  5 PagesBeing in the Social Work field has its risks as well as its benefits. As social workers, you are assisting people that are in need of help in certain areas of their lives. 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Knowledge Management System in TPG Telecom-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Implementation Process of a new Knowledge management system in a company named TPG Telecom Limited. Answer: Introduction Knowledge management system is very effective e to enhance the performance of a business process in the competitive business environment. The current report focuses on the implementation of knowledge management system in TPG Telecom Limited. Knowledge management is the most important corporate asset for any business as knowledge possessed by the employees is helpful in gaining competitive advantage. So, employees within the company must have clear communication regarding the process of knowledge management (Dalkir Liebowitz, 2011). Once employees would be capable to identify with the significance of knowledge management process then it would not be complicated for the company in the implementation of the knowledge management system in the business. Previously, it was analyzed that company has to face some major challenges while capturing organizational knowledge. This report focuses on some recommendations to implement knowledge management model in the company which was previously p rovided. Report also provides the implementation roadmap of knowledge management system. Proposed knowledge management strategy Knowledge management system is an integral part of the process of KM. Knowledge management system can be defined as any IT system used by the business organization in order to gain knowledge, improvements of collaboration and to locate the source of knowledge. In case of TPG Telecom, company is using Data Mining and Data Warehousing as the knowledge management systems. But there are some issues and challenges faced by the company related to KM process. Company has to face challenges in terms of providing proper security to the important information. Thus, there is the need of a new knowledge management strategy in order to minimize the challenges faced by the company (Hislop, 2013). Previously, a new knowledge management strategy i.e. KM model of Gamble and Blackwell is recommended. Figure 1: KM Model (Source: Gamble and Blackwell, 2001) Gamble and Blackwell (2001) identified social capital as the characteristics of communities of practices that impact on the creation and sharing of knowledge within an organization. They basically defined inter-related dimensions of social capital. In the figure, the model includes four key stages. In the first stage, the role of the organization is to provide various resources of knowledge among the employees. Developing knowledge sources is a significant factor of this model (Argote, 2012). Further, in the second stage, the accountability of the supervision of organization is to acquire the knowledge to analyze the strength and weakness of the organization. So, second step is organizing the information. Third stage is socializing that is helpful for the management of the company to use various techniques and methods to share the knowledge within the organization. Fourth and last stage is internationalization by which management can internationalize the knowledge. This model is help ful in implementing effective knowledge management. So, it is advised to TPG Telecom to implement KM Model of Gamble and Blackwell. Research literature Knowledge management is the set of procedures that is helpful in eliminating the business problems within the organization. Additional issues in the business are resolved by the knowledge management system. Knowledge management is highly interdisciplinary filed that attracts various authors and scholars from various fields (Barnes, 2002). Various scholars have stated that knowledge management gets the correct information in front of correct people at the accurate time. There are some crucial aspects that important to implement knowledge management in the organizations and those factors are competitive differentiation, globalization effects, organizational survival and aging workforce. This is the fact that every organization competes based on their knowledge as products and services are becoming very complex (Solano, 2010). There is the requirement of life-long learning because the rate of innovation is rising. That is the reason that knowledge management is important. Along with thi s, knowledge management system is important as increasing mobility of workforce and early retirements lead to the loss of knowledge in some specific areas. Managing knowledge provides primary opportunity to the companies to achieve the considerable savings important developments in the performance of the employees and competitive advantage (Holsapple, 2013). It is important to align the knowledge management strategy with the organizational strategy. According to Plessis (2007), the knowledge management strategy is helpful in developing a considerate of the knowledge management resources of the organization for the long term benefits. Various models, strategies, tools and techniques are introduced by various researchers for knowledge management. Ali and Fehmida (2004) have designed a mapping model that described about explicit and tacit knowledge. Along with this, Naveed and Kathwala (2004) have developed knowledge city model based on futuristic technologies. This model is useful for enhancing education, business, socio-cultural, and business. Another researcher Saba (2012) designed a conceptual model in order to share the knowledge based on qualitative research on existing tools and models. For the Company TPG Telecom Limited, knowledge management model of Gamble and Blackwell is recommended. Knowledge management model of Gamble and Blackwell depicts the process of implementing the strategy for management in order to divest, build, and improve the knowledge assets. This is the model that focuses on when and why aspects. This model basically puts the knowledge management actions into context. This KM model provides general hypothetical structure and detailed procedures for the execution (Cham, Lim Cheng and Lee, 2016). Strategy implementation In TPG Telecom, there are two knowledge management process used by the company i.e. Data mining and Data warehousing. Along with this, the company is using centralized system in order to store the organizational data. Now, there is the need of new knowledge management system in order to fill the gap of knowledge. After identifying the new knowledge management strategy for TPG Telecom, it is important to develop an effective process to implement the KM strategy. There are various steps i.e. strategy, planning and requirement gatherings that would be included in the implementation process of new strategy (Alavi Leidne, 2001). The decision to apply new knowledge management process can be a critical task for the company TPG Telecom. So, it is necessary to have a strong management support for KM to be successful. First, it is important to understand that KM is the organized procedure in order to create, maintain and look after the company in order to make best use of knowledge so that su stainable competitive advantage or high performance can be achieved (Rao, 2012). The implementation process for new KM strategy in TPG Telecom is described below: Identifying knowledge management program objectives- Before implementing new strategy, defining the process and developing workflows, TPG Telecom needs to identify the key objectives for knowledge management. In order to establish suitable program objective, it is important to identify the business problems. In case of TPG, there are various challenges like cultural changes and conflicts in the leadership. It is observed that company is facing challenges in terms of motivating the employees to overcome the cultural changes. Along with this, keeping the information relevant is another challenge for TPG Telecom. There are some security issues also in the company as it is important to provide security to the relevant information. So, there is the need to implement new KM strategy in order to deal with all these challenges (Abbasi Farashahian, 2011). Preparing for change- Knowledge management is more than just a function of expertise. It basically involves cultural changes among the employees. In case of TPG Telecom, company needs to create a collaborative culture which is required to redesign the organizational values and implementing incentives to meet the organizational goals. For the company, time and support are two important success factors to knowledge management and employees with the time for knowledge management also require coaching and help. Company will provide required training and coaching with the technical tools. Successful implementation of new knowledge management program needs changes in the shared values and norms of the company and employees might resist in the company. In order to minimize the negative impact of the changes, company will establish the approach for managing cultural changes (AlRowaily AlRowaily, 2012). Performing knowledge audit- TPG Telecom will perform a knowledge audit in order to solve the business problems. The knowledge audit will identify the sources of knowledge which are required in the company to solve business challenges. In the knowledge audit process, management of the company will work with the employees to locate the knowledge which they need to solve the business related problems. The audit will start by breaking the information into two catagories i.e. what knowledge is currently used by the company and what knowledge is required. In case of TPG Telecom, there are some factors i.e. leadership, culture, knowledge processes organizational structure and technology infrastructure that impact on the knowledge management system (Albers, 2009). Figure 2: Factors affecting KM strategy (Source: Albers, 2009) In the company TPG Telecom, the knowledge audit will identify what, where, and how exiting knowledge resources are used. In the audit process, there will be cycle processes i.e. acquisition, formation, codification, sharing, access, function and recycle. In the company, management will focus on the business needs, gaps and issues and knowledge required to fill the gaps. Performing IT assessment- In the company, management will focus on information technology assessment including diagnostic areas i.e. IT assets, IT management process, and IT investment performance. Based on the objectives, management will identify the knowledge management technology needs. TPG Telecom needs to provide security to the relevant and important information so; management of the company will identify the right applications and functionality in order to support the business process (Borghoff Pareschi, 2013). The management of the company will examine the IT project management skills i.e. strategic and technical direction setting, and execution and review of the projects. TPG Telecom needs to redesign its IT infrastructure in order to implement new knowledge management system effectively (Martin, 2015). Building blocks for knowledge management- For applying the knowledge management system, there is the requirement of a phased approach. In case of TPG Telecom, management will use technological building blocks and will take a phased approach that will balance the need of knowledge in order to achieve long-term goal. Every block will contribute to the ultimate knowledge management system. Blocks will provide beneficial outcomes to the entire company and each phase in the process will provide the foundation for the implementation. Implementation roadmap Figure 3: Implementation Roadmap The above given figure describes the roadmap of implementing knowledge management system in TPG Telecom. The process of implementation is as follows: Strategic assessment- This is the first step of developing KM initiatives. The overall strategy of the company is to provide high-quality services with the focus on development, productivity and consumer faithfulness. So, the management of the company will perform back-office functions in order to analyze the required business functions in the effective and efficient manner (Albers Whitmore, 2006). Knowledge audit- This will be the second stage while implementing the knowledge management system. Knowledge audit will be done in order to identify the gaps between what is known and what must be known. TPG Telecom is currently lacking with the cohesive knowledge management program. The company is not focused on developing dedicated platforms for sharing the knowledge. This is a basic strategy to focus on the own business objectives (Kebede, 2010). Aligning knowledge strategy with business strategy- After identifying the gaps, it is important to develop appropriate knowledge relationships in the company. Aligning knowledge strategy with business strategy will be helpful in maintaining the efficient process to record the accurate and desired results. This process will be accurate easily understood and readily available. For this manner, communication is the best element that can be used by the management of the company. So, management of the company will connect the identified knowledge strategy with the business strategy (Rollett, 2012). Knowledge management team- After completing the strategic reviews, management will focus on identifying the resources and knowledge management initiatives with the dedicated employees. New initiatives will be sponsored as they will present high probability of success and benefits to the company. Knowledge management team will be prepared that will identify the opportunity cost for implementing new KM system. The KM program will be successful by establishing benefits, determining value and associating benefits with the costs. In the KM team, there will be senior manager, knowledge manager, and knowledge committee including cross-functional team members (Omotayo, 2015). IT assessment and change management strategies- The KM framework will focus on the IT resources i.e. how those resources can be used for the knowledge management. The company relies on providing effective communication services to many customers. IT department operates in the production environment so; management would request to update other production platforms. This competitive industry needs the continuous changes in the services and new offerings so, more business analysts will be assigned to gather the functional requirements. It is observed that there is the lack of exchange and capture of the information. So, there would be organizational learning facilities in order to implement the change and make the employees ready to adapt the changes (Kuo Lee, 2011). Organizational change management strategies- The value and objectives of new knowledge management system is clearly defined. The principles of management provide an environment to the employees to operate efficiently. The culture of TPG Telecom needs to become more collaborative. For this manner, team-building events will be conducted by the management of the company. The employees need to rely on each other for solving the problems in order to reduce the time wasted. The reward system i.e. rewards and recognition, gifts and certificates will also be redesigned. In order to achieve benefits from the KM system, the leadership team in the company will develop an approval for knowledge management and hold the official execution of KM process. Deployment of KM system- KM system and initiatives will be most successful when it will be implemented in phases over a period of time. In case of TPG Telecom, company is using Data Mining and Data Warehousing as the knowledge management systems. But, after identifying the issues in current knowledge management system, KM model of Gamble and Blackwell will be implanted. In order to implement successfully, there would be some efforts i.e. make knowledge associable, conducting employees training, enhancing the flow of information, reducing the work cost and productivity losses. Management of TPG Telecom will deploy number of KM initiatives during the short term (Groff Jones, 2012). Measurement system- Management of the company will measure the effectiveness of knowledge management program. For this manner, various feedbacks will be taken from the employees who are using new knowledge management process. The manager will be accountable to take feedback from this team. Other measures will also be helpful in determining the effectiveness of knowledge management. Employee satisfaction survey will provide the indicator of employee perception and morale. Conclusion Based on the above discussion, it is analyzed that there is the need of new knowledge management system in TPG Telecom as the current knowledge management system is not so much effective to deal with various challenges. There are two knowledge management process used by the company i.e. Data mining and Data warehousing. But, it is recommended that company should use Knowledge management model of Gamble and Blackwell in order to provide the effective and appropriate knowledge to the employees. The roadmap of the system implementation is provided in the report that would be helpful for the company for the effective implementation of new KM system. References Abbasi, A. Farashahian, Y., (2011). Design the Implementation of Knowledge Management System. Retrieved on 11th February 2018 from https://www.community-of-knowledge.de/beitrag/design-the-implementation-of-knowledge-management-system/ Alavi, M. Leidne, D. E. (2001). Review: knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues: MIS Quarterly. 25 (1). pp. 107-136 Albers, J. A., Whitmore, B., (2006). Knowledge Management In An Accounting Organization: Journal of Knowledge Management Practice. 7(4). Albers, J. A., (2009). A Practical Approach To Implementing Knowledge Management: Journal of Knowledge Management Practice. 10(1). AlRowaily, K AlRowaily, A. O. (2012). Integration of Knowledge Management system in Telecommunication: A case Study of Saudi Telecom: IJCSNS International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security. 12 (11). Argote, L., (2012). Organizational learning: Creating, retaining and transferring knowledge. Springer Science Business Media. Barnes, S. (2002). Knowledge management systems. Austalia: Thomson Learning. Borghoff, U.M. and Pareschi, R. (2013). Information technology for knowledge management. Springer Science Business Media. Cham, T.H., Lim, Y.M., Cheng, B.L. and Lee, T.H., (2016). Determinants of knowledge management systems success in the banking industry: VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems. 46(1). pp.2-20. Dalkir, K. and Liebowitz, J., (2011). Knowledge management in theory and practice. MIT press Groff, T. and Jones, T., (2012). Introduction to knowledge management. UK: Routledge. Hislop, D., (2013). Knowledge management in organizations: A critical introduction. Oxford University Press. Holsapple, C. (2013). Handbook on knowledge management: Knowledge matters. Springer Science Business Media. Kebede, G., (2010). Knowledge management: An information science perspective. International Journal of Information Management. 30(5). pp.416-424. Kuo, R.Z. and Lee, G.G., (2011). Knowledge management system adoption: exploring the effects of empowering leadership, task-technology fit and compatibility: Behaviour Information Technology. 30(1). pp.113-129. Martin, (2015). How to Implement Company-Wide Knowledge Management System. Retrieved on 11th February 2018 from https://www.cleverism.com/how-to-implement-knowledge-management-system/ Omotayo, F. O. (2015). Knowledge Management as an important tool in Organisational Management: A Review of Literature. Retrieved on 11th February 2018 from https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3330context=libphilprac Rao, M., (2012). Knowledge management tools and techniques. UK: Routledge. Rollett, H., (2012). Knowledge management: Processes and technologies. Springer Science Business Media. Solano, B. R. (2010). Organizational politics, personality and willingness to share knowledge: The meditational role of employee engagement. ProQuest Dissertations Theses

I. Introduction Information technology in SJU Essay Example For Students

I. Introduction Information technology in SJU Essay KM Founded in 1870 by the Vincentian Community, St. Johns is one of Americas leading Catholic universities. At St. Johns, you will find world-class programs, a vibrant campus, and access to the superb resources of New York City. St. Johns offers the technology and resources you expect from a great university. The university meet 21st-century demands by giving students access to a wide variety of academic facilities, including: More than 100 high-tech classrooms; St. Johns University is committed to preparing its students with the technological skills necessary to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century marketplace. Students have access to four newly upgraded microcomputer laboratories, more than 100 multimedia classrooms, microcomputer classrooms, library patron computers, and a newly added cyber lounge for resident students. Deployment of desktop computers to these facilities now total more that 825 Intel Pentium III based workstations and more than 125 high-end Macintosh computers. The Universitys state-of-the-art network enables each microcomputer to access a wide range of software, electronic mail, and the Internet through World Wide Web. A variety of educational, business, statistical and other electronic information resources are accessible through the Universitys high speed 310 Mbps ATM backbone, with 100 Mbps switched Ethernet to each desktop computer. Internet connectivity is provided through a fractional T3 3 MB link to NYSERNET. Remote 56.K dial-in access for Internet connectivity is available as well. In addition, Distance Learning, using interactive video conferencing technology as well as Web based course support tools (e.g. Web CT and Virtual University), is available for use at all three campuses. Two of the Microcomputer laboratories are newly upgraded and located at the Queens campus, one in Staten Island, and the fourth in Rome, Italy. All three campuses are linked via high-speed communications lines. Most classrooms include computer and projection equipment to enhance the teaching/learning process. Whenever space and budget permit, the University will continue to expand facilities in areas to meet the growing demand for computing resources. For every piece of equipment added, two new users are created. Information Technology is a key member of the campus community charged with creating a productive environment for use of electronic communications and technologies in teaching and learning. IT is expected to establish an organizational climate and a working environment within the University that encourages creativity, adaptability and cost effectiveness in meeting St. Johns Universitys manifold needs in the areas of telecommunications and technology. Development and operation of the University telecommunications infrastructure is a major component of these services. During the KM research, the following important facts were found: The Universitys micro-labs served over 6,500 students in 61,000 sessions during Spring 1995. Comparatively, the labs served over 10,500 students in over 95,000 sessions during Spring 2000 semester. During the semester, the labs operate from 7 AM through 11 PM Monday through Thursday and 7 AM through 6 PM on Friday. One cyber lounge is open 24 hours everyday of the year. As a result of major hardware/software upgrades completed recently, we now have many Pentium III 1 GHz platforms with 128 megabytes of RAM matched by multimedia monitors, Windows 2000 operating system (OS) (the most powerful MS Windows based OS), the MS Office 2000 Premium suite as well as over 100 other Windows 95/NT based applications. All the computers are connected to the campus network, UNIX servers, and Windows NT file servers. Macintosh computing resources consist of primarily Power G4 series PowerPCs, with internal zip drives, 128 Megabytes of RAM, and running MAC X OS. Printing facilities consist of shared high-speed B and color laser printers. Although back in 1995, there were no desktop computers deployed to faculty, presently 784 faculty members have networked office desktop computers at the Queens and Staten Island campuses. An additional 500 computers are available to personnel in faculty support roles. Computers deployed since 1995 are primarily Pentium II class computers. They are presently scheduled to be replaced on a three-year cycle. Based on the types of calls the Desktop Services Unit receives from faculty and faculty survey results, they are using their computers in the following ways: 97% of faculty wrote letters and memos Course work (syllabi, course descriptions, course handouts, inboxes and outboxes for students to submit .

Queen Anne an Example of the Topic History Essays by

Queen Anne In any discussion of Queen Annes war, it is perhaps best to begin with an understanding of Queen Anne herself. In many ways, it is odd that she would ever have become queen at all. When Anne Stuart was born, her uncle Charles II was King of England. She was the second oldest of the kings nieces; her sister Mary was the eldest. When Charles II died without heirs, the throne passed to his brother James II. The politics of England were odd at that time and though her parents were Catholic, the bishops of England insisted that Mary and Anne be raised at Protestants, setting Anne at odds with her family over religion. Before their father took the throne of England, James married his eldest daughter off to William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant. Anne was married to Prince George of Denmark in a move many hoped would create an Anglo-Danish alliance against William and the Dutch. The marriage was arranged with assistance from King Louis XIV of France (Blthye, 1998). Need essay sample on "Queen Anne" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed As a fairly distant relative to the royal line and a sickly female child, Anne was not educated in the manner befitting someone who would become the monarch. She was educated in music and literature, but history, civil law and military theory were not among the things that she was taught. By most accounts, the marriage between Prince George and Princess Anne was a loving one and they conceived more than a dozen children but none survived. It is believed that Annes many long-standing illnesses and her bout with small pox as a young woman may have contributed to the weakness and deaths of her children (Blythe, 1998). After her sister married William, Anne and Mary grew distant and Mary even snubbed her little sister while they were in mourning for their father (Bucholz, 1991). James II tried to bring Catholic rule back to England and to rule without input from Parliament. For that, his daughters joined Parliament in opposing him in 1688 in the Glorious Revolution. The revolution changed Britain to a constitutional monarchy and made William and Mary is rulers (Blythe, 1998) Though William and Mary did not treat Anne well during their reign, she was named successor to the throne in 1702 when William died. In 1701, the English had agreed via treaty that if Anne died without heirs the throne of England would pass to the Hanover lineage, distant heirs to the throne in Germany. This angered some Scots who wanted the Stuart line to remain on the throne regardless of religion and thought that if and when Anne died, the throne should pass to her half brother James, another Stuart. To avoid further problems with the Scots, one of Annes first and most lasting acts as Queen was the Act of Union, uniting England and Scotland under one crown (Blythe, 1998). Anne would p rove to be the last Stuart on the throne and was the first married woman to serve as Queen of England. She had 17 pregnancies, including 12 miscarriages and none of her children lived to adulthood. Her husband, Prince George, was an alcohol with breathing troubles and the royal family often travelled to Bath in an attempt to heal their various ills. Queen Anne was treated with the finest medical treatments of the day, including bleeding and burning with flat irons in an attempt to heal her. The final years of her reign were marked by the extreme illness of the Queen (Blythe, 1998). When taking the throne of England, Anne had an axe to grind. The first queen born to an English mother and raised almost exclusively in Britain since Queen Elizabeth, she knew she had a lot to live up to. Additionally, Princess Anne had not been treated well by other royals and was looking forward to making those who had mistreated her, such as William and Mary, pay for their indiscretion (Bucholz, 1991). Though her sister and brother-in-law were dead, Anne desparately wanted the recognition they had failed to give her. So it was that the Queen, who many called weak-willed and easily led, determined after the death of Charles II in Spain that France and Spain, sworn enemies of the British Empire, should not be allowed to come together under a common royal lineage. Inter-marrying among the nobles of Europe was common at that time and those in line for the throne in both France and Spain could also in theory be an heir to the throne in the other country. This seems to be the most obvious goal of Queen Annes War, avoid allowing one ruler to rule the huge colonial powers of Spain and France. But dominance and colonization were also among the Queens goals. "In the War of the Spanish Succession and the ensuing negotiation of the several treaties signed at Utrecht on 11 April 1713, questions of trade and colonies were never far from the minds of French, British, and Dutch statesmen. Louis XIV himself went so far as to write in 1709 that the "object" of the war was "the trade of the Indies"." (Miquelon 2001) At the beginning of the war, Spain and France were the powerhouses in colonization, especially in the Americas. Queen Annes War helped to give the British a major foothold in Canada and also re-wrote the makeup of the Caribbean islands. Queen Anne decided that it was in her countrys best interest not to let the grandchildren of Louis XIV of France rule Spain and France under a united throne.. Allied with the Dutch, Anne determined that the war, in Europe known as the War of Spanish Succession, would not end with a united France and Spain. Whigs in Parliament were calling for the complete destruction of France and Queen Anne was among the most vocal supporters of the war effort (Bucholz, 1991). Almost as soon as the war was declared, the country was solidly behind its Queen and wanted nothing more than for her to crush their colonial rivals, Spain and France. In November, 1702, even graffiti artists expressed their support for the Queen and her war, writing, "As threatening Spain did to Eliza bow, So France and Spain shall do to Anna now" (Bucholz, 1991). Queen Annes objective in the war was quite simple: prevent the French and Spanish from becoming long-term allies. With the death of Charles II of Spain, it was clear that the intermingled royal blood of France and Spain had left numerous heirs with claims to both thrones. England and most of Britain feared the results of a unified France and Spain, because of their colonial dominance and their access to trade around the world. Charles II named his closest relative in the female line, the man who would become Phillip V, heir to the throne. The Hapsburgs in Austria disputed this line of ascension, largely because Phillip was also the grandson of the French King Louis XIV. ("The Treaties" 2002) If Charles Ii had reached back further in the royal lineage, he could have named one of the Austrian Hapsburgs as successor to the throne. Of course, the immediate effect of the war was an alliance of Spain and France, but by 1706, and again in 1709, the French were suing for peace and Britain simply wasnt listening. The queen also had other goals for the war. Louis XIV himself said the war was about trade and colonies (Rich, 1954). Her allies also had important goals. The Holy Roman Empire wanted the Hapsburgs to be named as the rightful heirs to the Spanish throne and Queen Anne wanted to make sure that no one would dispute the claim of the House of Hanover, the Protestants, as heirs to the British throne (Hill, 1973). She had no desire to see her half-brother, a Catholic on the throne of England. By the time the war was done, most of what Queen Anne wanted would come to true and her allies would be left with whatever leftovers the British happened to give them. One of the first provisions of the treaty, though it is not spelled out quite that way, is to name Anne the rightful Queen of Britain and to acknowledge her lineage as the rightful heirs to the throne. This is done via the wording of the first article of the treat in which the two declare, "That there be an universal perpetual peace, and a true and sincere friendship, between the most Serene and most Potent Princess Anne, Queen of Great Britain, and the most Serene and most Potent Prince Lewis XIV, the most Christian King, and their Heirs and Successors, as also the Kingdoms, States, and Subjects of both, as well without as within Europe;" ("Treaty" 2001). By acknowledging Queen Anne as the Queen of Britain and declaring a perpetual peace between the two nations, Louis XIV is giving credence to Anne Stuarts claim that the House of Hanover is the legitimate heirs to the British throne and is in essence saying that his country will not dispute her claim to the throne. For Anne, who had been maligned by the Catholic royalty of Europe this was an important concession of the treaty (Bucholz, 1991). For Queen Anne, the acknowledgement from her peers in Europe that she was the supreme monarch of the British empire was every bit as important as the concessions in the New World and other colonial regions. The Queen preferred rules and regulations to the merchants concerns of worldwide trade and colonization. In Articles 12 and 13 of the treaty, the French agree to grant Britain control of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, but retained for France the right to fish in the waters near Newfoundland and to erect small drying huts there to process the fish ("Treaty" 2001). For Queen Anne, this was something of an unexpected boon; for the Whigs, this was a small portion of the debt that France should have to pay to be granted peace. The treaty further granted that Phillip V would indeed be acknowledged as the King of Spain, despite the objection of many of Britains allies. But to prevent a combining of France and Spain under one ruler ever, Phillip V had to renounce all claims for him and his descendants to the throne of France and Phillips family, the other grandsons of Louis XIV had to renounce all claims to the Spanish throne ("The Treaties" 2002). The series of treaties and renunciations of the end of the war is almost unheard of at other times in history. Emperor Karl IV had to renounce his claims to Spain and Spain have to cede territories to many of the Grand Alliance, including giving parts of Italy to Austria. In short, the in-breeding among European nobles had left several people with indirect claims to the throne of more than one country. The Austrians had hoped to instill one of their own as King in Spain, gaining more power in the colonization process and access to the sea. In a concession to France, and because the Queen did not care if the Austrians were satisfied or not, Louis XIVs grandson as allowed to take his place as the new King. But, the Queen did not want France and Spain to end up in the hands of a single ruler and did not want to offend Austria too much, so she added provisions for everyone to renounce their claims to everyone elses throne. The legality of this maneuver is still debated by those who believe descendants of Phillip V should have a claim to the French throne even though the monarchy no longer exists. Also important to the English queen, her war helped secure British control of the New World, striking back at the French foothold on North America and ushering in three decades of peace between Britain and France in Europe. The two countries divided and re-divided the colonies at a whim over the years and skirmishes were fought in the colonies during the 30-year peace, but both countries longed for and got peace in Europe. WORKS CITED Blythe, Richard. "Queen Anne Stuart" February, 1998. http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/anne.html July 6, 2007. Bucholz, R.O. "Nothing But Ceremony" Queen Anne and the Limitations of Royal Ritual, Journal of British Studies, July 1991, p. 288-323, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0021-9371%28199107%2930%3A3%3C288%3A%22BCQAA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23>, July 5, 2007. Miquelon, Dale. "Envisioning the French Empire: Utrecht, 1711-1713" French Historical Studies, Vol. 24, No. 4. (Autumn, 2001). pp. 653-677 Rich, E. E. "The Hudsons Bay Company and the Treaty of Utrecht" Cambridge Histroical Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2 (1954), pp. 183-203 "The Treaty of Utrecht", 2004. "The Treaties of Utrecht" , November 21, 2002.

Legality Of Same-Sex Marriages Essays - Baehr V. Miike, Free Essays

Legality Of Same-Sex Marriages Essays - Baehr V. Miike, Free Essays Legality of Same-Sex Marriages The proposed legalization of same-sex marriage is one of the most significant issues in contemporary American family law. Presently, it is one of the most vigorously advocated reforms discussed in law reviews, one of the most explosive political questions facing lawmakers, and one of the most provocative issues emerging before American courts. If same-sex marriage is legalized, it could be one of the most revolutionary policy decisions in the history of American family law. The potential consequences, positive or negative, for children, parents, same-sex couples, families, social structure public health, and the status of women are enormous. Given the importance of the issue, the value of comprehensive debate of the reasons for and against legalizing same-sex marriage should be obvious. Marriage is much more than merely a commitment to love one another. Aside from societal and religious conventions, marriage entails legally imposed financial responsibility and legally authorized financial benefits. Marriage provides automatic legal protections for the spouse, including medical visitation, succession of a deceased spouse's property, as well as pension and other rights. When two adults desire to "contract" in the eyes of the law, as well a perhaps promise in the eyes of the Lord and their friends and family, to be responsible for the obligations of marriage as well as to enjoy its benefits, should the law prohibit their request merely because they are of the same gender? I intend to prove that because of Article IV of the United States Constitution, there is no reason why the federal government nor any state government should restrict marriage to a predefined heterosexual relationship. Marriage has changed throughout the years. In Western law, wives are now equal rather than subordinate partners; interracial marriage is now widely accepted, both in statute and in society; and marital failure itself, rather than the fault of one partner, may be grounds for a divorce. Societal change have been felt in marriages over the past 25 years as divorce rates have increased and have been integrated into even upper class families. Proposals to legalize same-sex marriage or to enact broad domestic partnership laws are currently being promoted by gay and lesbian activists, especially in Europe and North America. The trend in western European nations during the past decade has been to increase legal aid to homosexual relations and has included marriage benefits to some same-sex couples. For example, within the past six years, three Scandinavian countries have enacted domestic partnership laws allowing same-sex couples in which at least one partner is a citizen of the specified country therefore allowing many benefits that heterosexual marriages are given. In the Netherlands, the Parliament is considering domestic partnership status for same-sex couples, all major political parties favor recognizing same-sex relations, and more than a dozen towns have already done so. Finland provides governmental social benefits to same-sex partners. Belgium allows gay prisoners the right to have conjugal visits from same-sex partners. An overwhelming majority of European nations have granted partial legal status to homosexual relationships. The European Parliament also has passed a resolution calling for equal rights for gays and lesbians. In the United States, efforts to legalize same-sex domestic partnership have had some, limited success. The Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. reported that by mid-1995, thirty-six municipalities, eight counties, three states, five state agencies, and two federal agencies extended some benefits to, or registered for some official purposes, same-sex domestic partnerships. In 1994, the California legislature passed a domestic partnership bill that provided official state registration of same-sex couples and provided limited marital rights and privileges relating to hospital visitation, wills and estates, and powers of attorney. While California's Governor Wilson eventually vetoed the bill, its passage by the legislature represented a notable political achievement for advocates of same-sex marriage. The most significant prospects for legalizing same-sex marriage in the near future are in Hawaii, where advocates of same-sex marriage have won a major judicial victory that could lead to the judicial legalization of same-sex marriage or to legislation authorizing same-sex domestic partnership in that state. In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court, in Baehr v. Lewin, vacated a state circuit court judgment dismissing same-sex marriage claims and ruled that Hawaii's marriage law allowing

Government-Fostered Ownership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Government-Fostered Ownership - Essay Example The so called concentration of media is a term given to the concentration of ownership rights into the hands of few individuals or entities which control the major chunk of the media including radio. The question of whether the US government allowed the concentration of ownership into the monopoly or oligopoly ownership structure with the radio industry is question of great debate because over the period of time, radio industry has been subject to various regulations. The FCC’s verdicts also indicated that the US government was more than willing to consolidate the ownership of radio industry in few hands apparently for reasons which may not be fully understood. (Compaine, 2005). The radio and other allied industries such as railways as well as TV in US evolved under the private ownership as against in UK and elsewhere. The fact that the radio industry evolved under the private ownership has provided much flexibility as well freedom to operate. It is also important to note that the radio as a private invention and as such the ownership of broadcasting also remained within the hands of the private owners. The policy of the US government has been to allow the flourishing of the radio industry under the private ownership. It is also however, critical to note that the US government has over the period of time regulated the industry in a bid to keep it under the tight control however, the ownership of the industry remained within the private owners, and as such it was also gradually culminated into the monopoly or oligopoly. One of the reasons for this which is often cited is the assumption that the strict government control over the radio may be a barrier to entry and as such the freedom of speech as well as other fundamental rights may be subjugated by the government. Further, the government control might have resulted into the barriers to creativity as strict government control could have resulted into

The role of leadership in organisational change Essay

The role of leadership in organisational change - Essay Example This tendency is caused by companies’ desire to be successful and earn money hand over fist. Let us refer to appropriate sources in order to define the role of leadership in organizational change. Elving in conducted research (2005, pp. 129-138) claims that organizational change requires changes in communication. This study suggests that communication in organization creates a community and serves as an informative methodology. The researcher presents six propositions of communication factors which influence changes rejection. Nevertheless the author underlines that informative role of communication can positively influence readiness for changes in organization while it develops organizational commitment and give certainty to employees. Bovey (2001, pp. 534-548) explores resistance to organizational change. The author interestingly emphasizes that resistance to change is rooted not in individual, but in organization itself. He offers 5 mechanisms to resist organizational changes. Thus in case of following suggested mechanisms such as humor, anticipation etc employees and managers will easily adapt to newly introduced changes. Caldwell’s research (2003, pp. 285-293) explores change leaders as transformed managers. The author claims that change leaders are on the top of the company and they work out strategy of change and change managers translate their strategies into actions. We can correlate this study with the work by Smith C. (2002, pp. 448-460) on leading change which intrigues us with its correlation with Jungian interpretations of the book of Job. The story of Job from the Bible is considered to be the basis of current organizational life. The image of Job is a predecessor of modern leader. Transformation of Job in modern manager and change leaders as transformed managers has many traits in common. Modern world is anxious and modern leaders should have skills to react to all evoking

Global Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Global Study - Assignment Example According to the article â€Å"The Chinese Century† by Joseph E. Stigitz, China overtook the US as the largest Economy of the world. The writer states that it is a wakeup call that came as a surprise for the US. Is it true that China is the words largest economy as of now, and what are the future expectations? China enters the year 2015 as the world’s largest economy (Stiglitz). Latest news show that China has truly become the world’s leading economy and the US is number 2 after 142 years (Since 1872). The economy of the Chinese is worthy $17.6 trillion while that of the US is worth $17.4 trillion. China’s economy will still grow further: IMF estimates it to be 27 trillion in 2019. The New York Times article â€Å"China’s Economic Empire† by Heriberto and Juan America and Europe has become uncomfortable with China’s rise economically. Is it true that China is taking over American and European companies? What is evident is that China has bought large companies of the west such as the American pork producer, Smithfield Foods and Club Med (HERIBERTO and JUAN). According to BBC news, Chinese companies have 2 ways in which they expand overseas: ‘organically’ through scaling their processes, or ‘organically’ acquisition of foreign

Representation Of Women In Mainstream Film Studies Essay

Representation Of Women In Mainstream Film Studies Essay According to Laura Mulvey women stand in patriarchal culture as signifier for the male other, bound by a symbolic order in which man can live out his fantasies and obsessions through linguistic command by imposing them on the silent image of woman still tied to her place as bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning. This argument can be seen in countless movies across generations and cultures. Mainstream Hindi film industry churned out countless movies where women represented as bearer rather than maker of meaning. However, the film No One Killed Jessica seems to be a departure from this trend. The film is based on the true murder story of Jessica Lal. In a crowded nightclub, Jessica Lal, a model working as a celebrity bartender, refused to serve Manu Sharma and two of his friends. Incensed, Manu Sharma pulls out a gun intending just to give Jessica a scare shoots her dead. More than 300 people were witnessed the event at the exclusive nightclub when Jessica was killed, but nobody came forward to tell the truth in court. The family of Jessica Lal fought legal battle against the rich and powerful for more than a decade and finally got justice. The film, No One Killed Jessica was purposively chosen keeping in view of its commercial success and audience acceptability. Its successful run at the box office implies most of the audience identifies with the films representation of society and individuals. As per general perception through various news media, it had a strong impact on the society regarding the changing image of women. The film can be clearly established on a syntagmatic level; the director (Raj Kumar Gupta), the script (amalgamations of fiction and reality), the directors relationship with his earlier film Aamir (2008). In addition to that, there were snapshots of today in the film in the form of models, fashion, glamour, journalism, sting operations, even stereotypes. All in all the film was a total explosive concoction. The most integral aspect was successful completion of process of making a film as a paradigm in itself.   No One Killed Jessica perhaps one of the rare films where the male gaze is absent, largely because there are no male protagonists, no song and dance sequences, and no overt sexualisation. The female lead is represented in a very masculine form. The film paved the way for newer films to represent women and their everyday issues in a positive light by breaking the existing stereotypes. Bollywood, considered to be among the top three film industries across the world, has time and again successfully adapted to new dimensions to understand and reflect the relatively quick changes in the evolving culture of Indian society. It also reaches Middle East, South Asia, Africa and among South Asian diasporas, world over. This further marks the study of mainstream commercial Hindi film as essential. The study can be taken as a critical base and can be re-examined for upcoming films. Theoretical Framework In mass media, representation is often perceived as the construction of reality in a virtual medium. Such a notion of representation is analogous to the mistaken assumption of a one-to-one correspondence of every word with its referent a language-world isomorphism (Saussure, 1983). Representation in cinema begins with building up of concepts of reality that include human beings, objects, places, cultural identities, and events and extends to the establishment of abstract concepts. In classical aesthetics, Plato identified representation as mimesis i.e. imitation without narration, somewhere close to theatre and differentiated it with the concept of diegesis i.e narration without imitation. Aristotle went further in his seminal work Poetics and suggested that mimesis can never reach the truth because on one hand the audiences are required to feel distant from it so that they can experience catharsis and on the other hand it has to strive hard to imitate reality as close as possible. In fact, Aristotle exclaimed that, Mimesis involves a framing of reality that announces that what is contained within the frame is simply not real. Thus the more real the imitation the more fraudulent it becomes. (Gebauer and Wulf, 1992) The modern aestheticist M. C. Beardsley (1958) proposed a classification of Representation as Depiction (i.e. representation of a type of object), Portrayal (i.e. representation of an individual), and Symbolizing (i.e. representation through a suggested or non-literal meaning). Incorporating all these typifications, representation can be approached from two standpoints. Towing the line of Aristotles interpretation of mimesis, Constructivists tend to believe that cinema is a construction of reality, where reality as an object can be perceived, consumed and witnessed in still as well as moving images and texts but with a catch this perception will always be plagued by cinematic alteration and manipulation and therefore, will always be distinct from reality itself. In other words, our perception of a film will be dependent on our body of knowledge i.e. epistemology, especially our knowledge that this is a film and therefore cannot be real. Thus, Myra Karn is able to portray Jessica Lal because the spectators have agreed to a suspension of disbelief about this fact. However, once this agreement is reached, it immediately leads to a subconscious apprehension that ultimately this is not the complete truth. On the other hand, Realists take an almost opposite viewpoint, best described by Bazins notion that film as a medium is subject to reality by the very incorporation of this capacity of capturing reality in the film-making process itself (Bazin, 1967; pp 21). Bazin went on to establish that there is a style of filmmaking which may be termed as realist which he ascribed to the likes of Jean Renoir, Orson Welles and Italian neorealist Roberto Rossellini all following techniques which render the projected image as close to reality as possible. With time constructivism went on to incorporate structuralism, Barthesian textual analysis, Marxist ideological analysis, Lacanian psychoanalysis, etc. leading to the foundation of cine-semiotics. This led to the birth of feminist film theory which incorporated feminist ideological criticism, cultural studies, psychoanalysis etc. According to Feminist Film Theories, cinema has been an important path on which debates, culture and identity is talked about and even challenged. There have been major theoretical developments and frequent discussions on woman as an object of desire, female spectatorship and cinematic pleasure. Many theorists have contributed to this school of thought. Mulvey in her essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1973, printed in 1975), highlights the concept of women as passive role players in films. According to her it baselines the concept of film as visual pleasure. She further stressed that such roles make women as tools of erotic visual effect for male v oyeurism. Mulvey points that in Cinema a womans representation is being a carrier of the meaning rather than making the meaning. Molly Haskell in From Reverence to Rape: The treatment of women in Movies (1974), analyzes how women are portrayed in films, the stereotypes depicted, the extent to which women are projected as passive or active. She also comments upon the amount of screen time given to women. Doane (1987), searches for the type of women representation in the women-oriented films. She insists that women refer to signifier of modernity, rebellious sexuality. According to her, woman as object is single terminology in systems of positioning. Linda Williams (1988) tells us that understanding of spectatorship is a result of representation through three-sided meeting historical and physical subjectivity; contradictory meanings; positions and pleasures. Julia Kristeva (1982) uses the term abject in direct contrast to Lacans object petit a (object of desire) to refer to the spect ators reaction of horror towards a possibly endangered deconstruction in the meaning caused due to the loss of power. Post-structuralist feminist philosopher Judith Butler theorized that gender is different from sex and while the later is biological, gender is actually performative and this performance is driven by rules put in place by strong patriarchal hegemonic structures (Butler, 1999). However, Feminist film theory has also met with strong criticism from various detractors, prominent being Christine Gledhill, who argues for a realist epistemology to underline contemporary feminist film theory (Gledhill, 1984). This follows from the premise that if a feminist film theorist asks the question whether a particular representation in a film is true to womens condition and nature, she has automatically assumed that there is a reality of womens condition and nature (Casebier, 1991; pp 121). In this paper, we attempt to provide a subtextual realism to applied feminist film theory principles using relevant phenomenological theories for example, Benjamins Angel of History and Heideggers Poiesis. Inspired by French Revolutions in 1789, 1830, 1848 and the Paris Commune of 1870, Walter Benjamin interpreted Paul Klees painting, Angelus Novus (1920) in his seminal work, On the Concept of History (1940). The Angel of History, as Benjamin dubbed it, has its face turned towards its past and sees a single catastrophe of revolutionary events, a pile of rubble on its feet even as it is caught up in a storm that drives him towards the future. Benjamin labeled this storm as progress. Further [1973 (1935)], he argued in favor of death of ritual with the birth of camera and mechanical images. Heidegger, M. [(1977) 1954], in The Question Concerning Technology, insisted that the essence of technology is not technological He used the term poiesis to find out forms of authentic production, one where every aspect of production process right from the creator to created is dependent and entangled with each other. As a result, there is a loss of being, individuality and freedom. It brings humanity to a position of servitude. Due to this a person speaks something but thinks absolutely differently. Heidegger takes the example of a fast and free-flowing river The Rhine when the river is controlled by a dam, which is built by humans, leads to curtailment of the rivers freedom. However, it also results in servitude of humanity because now they have to manage the dam as an additional work bound to their lives. Gender representation and Hindi cinema As discussed earlier, construction of reality presupposes the establishment of reality. The basic premise of cinematic suspension of disbelief is the realization that all that appears real on screen is actually a construction of reality. Similarly, to take up the subject of representation of women in Hindi cinema, first we must try to comprehend the existing reality of women, their status in India. Numerous Indian mythologies have given great respect to women, to the extent of calling them Mother Goddess. The contextual reality though is quite different. Unlike many nations, India has a larger male population as compared to females. One of the major reasons is women die even before they can reach adulthood. A large number of them are murdered in their mothers womb. The other important fatal imbalance is the mistreatment of these women. They do not have enough decision-making power and economic independence, face violence in and out of their families, face atrocities like murder, mole station, rape and every possible kind of sexual molestation to the extent that India stands at a miserable 56 rank out of 86 nations in the Social Institutions and Gender Index (OECD SIGI, 2012). This reality of Indian women has found its way straight into the silver screen. Since beginning, women in popular Hindi Cinema have their set roles somebodys daughter, wife, sister or mother. A modern woman has been portrayed to possess a loose character. She can be bar dancer or a college student, who is not at all interested in her career. Rare are the cases when lead female characters are depicted as strong individuals. We hardly witness them to be lawyers, journalists, business magnets, doctors etc. Even if they are portraying these, they are supposed to be holy, cultured, catering to males need and wishes. Even the song and dance sequences demand them to be voluptuous and good dancers. Their maximum achievement in life looks to be a shift from song and dance in discs and pubs to escape in Hindi cinema and do the same around trees. Woman as a maker of meaning: Gender representation in No One Killed Jessica An important precursor to the analysis of No One Killed Jessica is the actual Jessica Lal murder case. Jessica was a professional model who happened to volunteer as a bartender at a socialite gathering and was shot dead by a politicians son for refusing to serve him liquor at 2 am in the night. The case shocked Indian youth and generated a public outcry when the perpetrators were acquitted in a lower court. Subsequently, the media took up the case rigorously and managed to pressurize the higher courts to reopen the case and finally the guilty were put behind bars. No One Killed Jessica starts in a format of a hard-hitting documentary. Later the glamour quotient seeps in reminding us of watching a mainstream commercial Hindi cinema. Still throughout, the film showed touches of serious cinema as well. This movie boasts of two main characters Sabrina Lal (Vidya Balan) and Meera Gaity (Rani Mukherjee). Sabrina is shown to be simple, calm, nerdy, and docile and appears to be contended in her own space. She takes a back-seat in all the aspects of life as compared to her sister (Jessica Lal) and many other female counterparts. She is media shy and far from the glamorous personality of Jessica and Meera. Her usual attire is dull colored loose shirts and straight fit jeans and doesnt use make-up, establishing her as a person who tones down her sexuality. Meera is a fictional character, loosely symbolizing sensational but powerful Indian electronic media of the new millennium. The character is built around the famous journalist from NDTV Barkha Dutt, who had handled the case and is also the inspiration for the coverage of Kargil war and Kandahar hijack episode. Unfortunately, the film completely ignores print media journalists, who were among the first ones to uncover the truth and in fact, the sting operation was done by Harinder Baweja from Tehelka. In the movies credits, there is a caption congratulating Tehelka for their efforts but going by the general Indian film viewing standard, people do not sit back and watch credits. Ramani (2011) implored that the movie goes so far to accommodate the case for electronic media that it excludes and almost totally ignores contribution of main heroes of the story, i.e. the print media. Meera is established from the beginning of her film, first through her voice which delivers a monologue on Delhis inherent complexity and its fascination with power and then her credentials are established through her coverage of important but difficult news assignments like Kargil war and Kandahar hijack incident. From the very beginning, Meeras character is celebrated as a woman of substance, but subliminally, it is established as a transgendered male performance, as if the lines and the role was written for a male character but the sex was changed at the last moment. Thus Meera goes to great lengths to establish her gender performativity as male using tropes like frequent verbal abuse; dominant and emotionally detached frequent physical relationships; absence of family issues etc. Her stance of sitting and drinking tea in the office, her behavior with her colleagues and her maid furthers this establishment. The contrast lies in, the real women journalists who actually went to grea t lengths to solve this case and is comfortable in their gender, e.g. Harinder Baweja frequently wears Saris and flaunts her femininity without any reservations, and is quite humble in her interviews. Professionally, Meera comes out as a hard-hitting reporter. Her character is smart, dynamic, selfish, bitchy, successful, and manipulative. In fact, it seems as if the director of the film has a deliberate intention of creating such contrasting characters on the same platform. The downside of such a contrast is that, when played with the mise-en-scà ¨ne and sequence of events, the film impresses upon the audience that, a successful woman tends to have man-like attributes; at least her perfomative gender should be male. Otherwise she will absolutely fade away in the harsh realities of life. In an establishing scene, while returning from the Kargil war zone, she hurls expletives at a fellow male passenger something that is employed to make her representation adhere to the stereotypes of cool and bitch, as there appears no visible reason for such an outburst. However, we must give due respect to the makers of the film that they have not aimed at creating perfect heroines, although all these characters are seen to reflect certain exciting stereotypes. Jessica Lal, the omnipresent character throughout the film, even after her death, is the actual anchor of the story. Her character evolves as a young model free-spirited and modern an individual who is not scared to pick a fight while protecting her sister (Sabrina) against harassment. However, the stereotyping does not leave her ever. In the scene where she fights the street harassers, one can observe a multitude of gender and class representations. The harassers are on a cheap bicycle and apparently symbolize members of the lower economic class. Whether or not this scene is fictional, it reeks of class irony she was shot dead by a higher economic class male while these fellows were projected to be weak in front of her rage and verbal abuses. Another irony is that the verbal abuses that s he used are themselves misogynist. Further on in the film, her modernity is objectified in pure Kristevan (1982) sense by establishing her vulnerability as a vilified girl who likes to have a nice time, parties hard, drinks heavily and stays out till late. So in the film there are a number of scenes where Jessicas character develops against Sabrina in a contrast of bad vs. good. In one frame, Jessica invites Sabrina to a party which symbolically implies the one where she was shot dead and she is wearing a mini-skirt while Sabrina is in desexualized jeans and an oversized shirt. At the sequence leading to Jessicas murder, there is frequent jump cut between Sabrina sleeping in her bed while Jessica is serving drinks in the party. The dance sequence reeks of voyeuristic male pleasure with head to toe camera movements amplifying a mini-skirt clad female figure montage with extreme close-up shots of drunken men trying to get too close to her the sub-text is clearly pointing out that thi s image of a girl dancing in a short dress is easily approachable. The paradigm in the series of shots and the delicate imagery tend to establish a dangerous line of thought those who try to move away from the patriarchal hegemonies in place will have to face the brunt one day the audience is prepared to see Jessica get the bullet! This moment is the very mimetic driver that will lead the audience to witness the fight for justice and the road to catharsis, the final judgment in favor of justice. But the montage and the mise-en-scene establishing this mimesis subliminally also feed the stereotype of the vulnerability of the female gender. The conflict scene between Jessica and Manu is a more serious effort and focuses on her mid, close-up and extreme close-up shots as well as a good performance by Myra to highlight Jessicas strong personality. The audience senses the danger even more closely as the first gunshot goes off and yet another Jessica is hit in the head. Her fall in slow motion takes its time to ensure that the moment is mimetically established and mourned in the subconscious of the viewers. Phenomenologically, this moment is akin to Benjamins Angel of History where the angel is looking at the past and has no hope for the future. The storm from paradise has ensured that all progress lies in the rubble of history. As with Benjamins catastrophe of the Holocaust, the audience is forced to have a full gaze at the tragedy that unfolds on-screen. Although Meera Gaity operates on similar thoughts of rebellion and modernity, she is shown to have a different end a victorious one! Her male performative attributes have been discussed earlier as well. She uses the f word like her second skin and is abusive in speech just like any of her male colleague journalists. She does not pay any heed to the so-called moral police of the society sleeps out of wedlock, smokes frequently and is at top of her career by climbing certain manipulative ladders. In order to come out in the top league, she is not afraid to pull the right strings and take help of the crooks themselves. Her frequent use of abusive language and behaving very manly recreates the stereotype of women can be successful only when and if she behaves like a man. Her dialogues like when she says screw ethics confirms her revolting personality. She is shown to be rude both to her colleagues (she often call her colleagues bitch), and even to her maid at home. Further Meera confir ms her male performance by saying sentences like, this is the time to give back to those sons of bitches; lets nail the bastard; that bastard should be in jail and not at the next happening party; I think I deserve a much bigger and better story and many more. Despite all this, throughout the film Meera is no less than a hero. In contrast, Sabrinas character is deliberately underplayed. She could have easily been made the hero of the story. However she was shown to be easily dominated first by her sister, then by witnesses, culprit, media and Meera. Perhaps this was done to signify, that the good has to lean on the bad to fight and win over the ugly. That is, after she has literally broken down in her fight for justice for Jessica, Sabrina grabs the hand of Meera to fine the justice against the evil doers. As mentioned in the review of literature, psychologists Yassour Borochowitz, Dalit Buchbinder, Eli (2010) discovered a couple of aspects that explains a female weakness to violence. They said that language is not the base to create a meaning; in fact, it is the crux to create concept of whole world. For example, the language of Sabrina is measured, slow, and subtle; revealing her desexualized personality. Her not going to her sisters parties, her avoidance of drinks, her even stopping Jessica from fight ing against goons who tease her, shying away from media and trusting the witness in vein. All these hint at her contrasting personality and the course of events in the film. Despite these stereotypes, the characters of Meera and Sabrina are very important, especially for Hindi Cinema. Apart from the male mannerisms and extremities of the characters; both of them shown to be strong in their own right (Sabrina to start the battle of justice and Meera to finish it). In fact, Meera is projected to ultimately possess a conscience and in following that she leaves no stone unturned to get justice for Jessicas murder case. There have been very few movies that show women in such revolutionary light. Also it is noteworthy that this movie again shows two female leads and males as supporting cast. It is a breather that we could see Vidya Balan in what she does best (no-glamorously glamorous avatar) after a long time. What was more like a water-drop in the desert is Rani Mukherjees fire-crackling role. Moreover women in this movie are shown to be focused on their respective goals and not just running around the bush to chase for their prince charming and night in the shining armor. No One Killed Jessica is perfect example of globalization, digitization and repercussions. The mixed language used, slang, abusive words, are in a way helper for general audience to relate with the movie and the reality of the story. Moreover, it was Jessica that helped find her wings of freedom. However it was the same globalization and development that made her life so cheap so as to make her loose it just over one drink. This is where her rubble of progress carries her from her past of hope to the future of loss in the effects and counter effects of Justice for Jessica, just like Benjamins concept of Angel of History. Similarly, Heideggers digitization has its own weight in studying the film. The whole movie screams of inter-mixing of technology and perceptions. For example the March for Justice at India Gate could be possible because of mass interconnectivity owing to the SMS/MMS revolution. It brought about the adoption of hacktivism in the movie. The positive side of this technological paradigm is seen as a march of change after people watch and get inspired by the movie Rang De Basanti in a theatre. In a true Heideggerian irony, the movie subtly carries the negativity of Gestell or enframing as well. Over glamorization of digitization resulted in ignoring the essential facts. Print media was ignored and deprived of its due credit. (Ramani, 2011) The movie was biased in its promotion of sting operations and did not care to highlight the negative aspects of such acts. The overt projection of globalization made the urban city image as digital hurdle. Above all, the woman in the film has been given an out of the box characteristics, making them look league apart from the rest. However, the reality is there stereotypes of images have been created and recreated consciously or unconsciously by the makers. The audience perception of the film is of applause, yet they in a way identify their stereotypical perceptions with the created reality in No One Killed Jessica. Conclusion To conclude, there is an obvious difference between the reality and representation. However, presence of stereotypes weakens the boundary of this differences and the line thins further to an extent of creating almost a complete identification with each other. The film commendably made an effort to break the gender stereotypes by projecting the image of women as a maker rather than a bearer of meaning in the mainstream commercial Hindi Cinema. However, many major instances prove that this change is not frequent enough. These efforts may be genuine, yet are not enough to overcome stereotypes. Hence the change is not strong enough to bring about a change in thoughts, outlook, perception, projection as well as representation. What we need is more frequency and refinement in order to break the existing stereotypes that even No One Killed Jessica could not break in totality. Representation is there for sure. A bright future lies ahead for Bollywood an opportunity to resist the natural ins tinct of creating and adhering to negative gender stereotypes with conviction and courage.

Shadow And Custodial President Essay examples -- essays research paper

Shadow and Custodial Presidents Grant (1868) – Cleveland (1892)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the history of the world there have been many people remembered for their actions and a great deal more forgotten for no real reason. This does not exempt more recent history. After the American Civil War, six lesser-known Presidents, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison, have been given titles of either shadow or custodial presidents. A shadow, is a section of darkness, or a part that follows behind. Some of the Presidents seem to have fallen into the shadows of other events, people, and issues. Others put themselves there, just stepping out long enough to take care of a few urgent tasks then sink back into the unknown. â€Å"Custodial Presidents† a term implying that the man is there only to fix problems already out of hand. He does not create policies or change the course of the nation, just keeps it on its way. Truthfully, some of these men are deserving of these titles. Others may not be. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant 1868-1876   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Towards the end of President Johnson’s term in office, Johnson and Grant began to have public disagreements about the state of the Union. Due to these quarrels Grant aligned himself with the Radical Republican political party. Grant was already well known for his triumphs during the Civil War and was thus, the popular choice for Presidential Nominee.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grant was the son of an Ohio tanner. He was educated at West Point, where he graduated 21st out of 39. Grant fought in both the Mexican and Civil Wars. In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln appointed Grant to the Position of General in Chief.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As President, grant had difficulty in making wise judgements. He was a man who tried, in most ways; to be honest, but still found himself in association to dishonest acts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Grant was known to accept a considerable amount of gifts from political admirers. He was also seen with the speculators, Jay Gould and James Fisk. Two men, who were planning to corner the market in gold. Grant did realize their plan, and he tried to put an abrupt halt to it. However his action caused a tremendous amount of fiduciary turmoil. Grant in no way curbed Radical Reconstruction, in the South. At times he aided it with military force.   &... ... of Presidency Harrison focused on was foreign policy. In 1889 the Pan American Congress met in Washington to establish an information center. Harrison also tried to annex Hawaii.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Within the country Harrison expanded the navy, made subsidies for steamships lines available, and signed bills for internal improvements. He also wanted to protect the American consumer from monopolies, so he signed the Sherman Anti-Trust act.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Harrison had great problem, the tariff, facing him. He tried to make revisions in the tariff. These revisions made it so the Treasury surplus was nonexistent before the end of his term in office. Along with the surplus went the prosperity of most of the working class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Harrison mostly focused, in his presidency, on issues that were important at the moment, but not so important as to be memorable. His time as President has fallen into the shadows. No great travesties or victories occurred during his time and so he will remain a shadow president.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After is retirement in Indianapolis and marriage in 1869, Benjamin Harrison died in1901, a respected man.

Native American Informative Essay

Indian reservations across America are lands that are reserved for Native Americans. On the reservation, the Native children are taught an education and ways to interact with others. On most reservations the children are taught the Indian language, but are also taught how to speak English. They mainly keep most of the Native American techniques and heritage. In a way these lands set aside are best for the Native Americans since they were on this land first. In North America there were seven main groups of tribes. In the far north there were Eskimos. Next were the Mackenzie-Yukon caribou Hunters. In the East was the Eastern woodland Indians. The Plains Indians were in Central America. In the Northwest were the fishermen, California and Intermountain seed gatherers, and finally in the southwest were the Southwest Farmers and Hunters. Native American education is a very important topic to today’s way of living. What percentage of Indians for to what schools? In the 1990’s, about 40,000 Native students (10% of the total) attended some 170 Bureau of Indian Affairs. The BIA is an organization which helps fund the reservation schools. There were also about 10,000 (3%) attended private schools, and over 300,000 (87%) attended public schools. In these schools, a disproportionate number of Native students achieve below national averages. On the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading assessment, 40% of white fourth graders scored at or above proficient, compared to only 17% of Native American students. New performance standards are being served to American Indians and Alaska Native Indians. The new standards are challenging Native students more. New performance standards outline shows how well students learn from the content, and new assessments measure their learning capability. The new content standards hold promise for Indian education for several reasons. First, they may help create a more common curriculum among schools within states, and clearer learning expectations across states. This could prove helpful to Indian educators in meeting the needs of the many students who transfer between schools. Second, because the content standards drive the curriculum, educators, parents, and students can refer to them to provide increased focus for teaching and learning. Bureau of Indian Affairs schools have chosen to adopt the content standards for their individual states, a curriculum which is more common to nearby schools. Third, new content standards may help improve the quality of instruction for Indian students. The constructivist approach promoted by national and most state content standards allows for a more holistic, real-life, active learning sort of pedagogy, which consists of more traditional American Indian ways of teaching and learning. Before others started moving here, North American education was geared to teaching children how to survive. Social Education taught children their responsibilities to their extended family and the group, clan, band, or tribe. Vocational education taught the children about farming, hunting, gathering, and fishing. Basically all the techniques needed to grow food for hunt for the food they ate. Native Americans have educated the ways we live in so many ways. They had techniques for growing many foods. Native farmers were the first in the world to domesticate potatoes, tomatoes, and many other plants that helped feed the peoples in the world today. You may ask yourself, Where did the Indians come from? Like the white settlers, the first Indians were immigrants. Anthropologists say they came from northeastern Asia. They resembled the early Mongoloid people of that region. Nobody knows when or how they came. They probably arrived when ice sheets covered much of Northern North America. This may have been 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. They may have come because they were wondering hunters hunting for food. How did the Native Americans start to be called Indians? The Native Americans had lived in America for thousands of years when the first European explorer set foot on their land. When Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, he called the Native people â€Å"indios† (Spanish for Indians) because he thought he had reached India. The first people to inhabit the North American continent were the Indians. Their settlements ranged across the western hemisphere and were built on many of the sites where modern cities now rise. They hunted deer, buffalo, and other game and cultivated land where today’s crops still grow. Their hunters, warriors, and traders used paths now followed by roads and railways. Indians words dot the map of the United States. Twenty-seven states and large numbers of cities, towns, rivers, and lakes bear names from the languages of the first Americans. Native Americans were dieing of diseases that had spread all through the countryside. The European invasion that began in the 15th century brought tremendous changes to the life of Indians. The Europeans brought over many diseases, such as the measles and smallpox. The Indians did not have any immunities for these diseases which could be life taking. Medicines were not invented in past years, as they are today to cure smallpox and the measles. After all the Europeans and other immigrants had entered the North American continent. The government was starting to be established. With the establishment of the United States, the federal government was faced with the â€Å"Indian Problem†. To deal with the Indians, the government established the Indian Bureau in the war department in 1824. Later in years, under President Andrew Jackson, the government established the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. After four centuries of precipitous population decline to a low of about 237,000 in 1990. American Indian and Alaska Native population in the U. S. began to increase in the turn of the century. The population of Native Americans has more than doubled in the past 30 years, from one million to almost two and a half million. Half of this population lives in urban areas and less than a third lives on a reservation. Poverty and social problems have plagued American Indians. They want political and economic equality, and want to region their native identities. Which includes their languages and traditions that historically were suppressed in schools. By recovering the past through a strong sense of identity and by using culturally appropriate curriculum and instruction, some Indians and Alaska Native students are achieving education success that therefore proved elusive. In the early 1970’s Indian activism, part of the civil rights movement, created an atmosphere that led to the passage of the 1972 Indian Education Act. It also led to the 1975 Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. The Self-Determination Act is the idea that the Indians decide what is the best for them, not the government. Now the Indians were receiving less federal funding. They are still for the Self-Determination Act because they have more control over the Indian people and Indian Education. The 2,476,000 Native Americans represent some 500 different tribes, each having their unique culture, and 200 surviving languages. Today as the population increases, American Indian languages and cultures are being lost, partly as a result of federal and state education policies for the â€Å"Americanization† of Indian students. Now that the government is calling for this, Native are not being able to be in cultures and use the own unique techniques. All Indian tribes had their own way of surviving and gathering food. The Indians lived in different ways in various parts of the country. When a roaming band of Indians found a place with good hunting and plenty of seeds and berries, they settled down. Gradually they learned to utilize the area’s trees and plants, its animals, fish, and birds. Stones and earth were also a great part in surviving. Indians in different areas had other types of foods and ways to live. Clothing and shelter was fit to the surroundings around them. Before the Indians had gained the benefit of having horses, the hunters had worked out cunning methods by which they could kill enough buffalo to supply the tribe with meat and hides. In snowy weather, Indians would encircle a herd and kill many of the animals before they could flounder away in the drifts or get lost in a blizzard. Indians did not always have to work. They also had time to play games and other activities. The tribal members would come together for festivals that lasted a week or more. The gatherings usually had religious ceremonies as their main purpose, but there was time for games and visiting, storytelling, and social singing and dancing. At the festivals the braves would paint their bodies for dances and for the battle. The designs might be special â€Å"medicine†, or magic to protect their lives. They may be used to look more ferocious. For paint the Indians used red and white clays, black charcoal, and yellow pigment from mulberries or moss. They first smeared their bodies with buffalo or dear fat, and then rubbed on the colors. The women also had to dress up for the ceremonies. Women used the softer, finer skins of deer and antelope for most garments. They embroidered the ceremonial costumes with dyed porcupine quills ad painted the carrying cases and the tepee linings. In the designs, they drew triangles, diamonds, and other geometrical figures. They beaded the costumes after traders brought in beads. Native Americans have a large part on the countries history. They were the originating people on this land and are being pushed aside by other people who now live in the United States. The government had to set aside land for them, but now that land is becoming smaller and smaller. If the Native Americans would receive a proper education, I am sure they would fit into today society better.