Tula de Hidalgo (Mexico) Toltec Capital City of Tollan

The archaeological ruins of Tula (now known as Tula de Hidalgo or Tula de Allende) are located in the southwestern part of the Mexican state of Hidalgo, about 45 miles northwest of Mexico City. The site is located within the alluvial bottoms and adjacent uplands of the Tula and Rosas Rivers, and it lies partially buried beneath the modern town of Tula de Allende. Chronology Based on extensive ethnohistorical research by Wigberto Jimenez-Moreno and archaeological investigations by Jorge Acosta, Tula is considered the likely candidate for Tollan, the legendary capital of the Toltec Empire between the 10th and 12th centuries. Also, Tulas construction bridges the Classic and Postclassic periods in Mesoamerica, when the power of Teotihuacan and the southern Maya lowlands were fading, to be replaced by political alliances, trade routes, and art styles at Tula, and at Xochicalco, Cacaxtla, Cholula and Chichà ©n Itzà ¡. Tollan/Tula was established as a fairly small town (about 1.5 square miles) around 750, as the Teotihuacan empire was crumbling during the Epiclassic period (750 to 900). During the height of Tulas power, between 900 and 1100, the city covered an area of some 5 square miles, with a population perhaps as high as 60,000. Tulas architecture was set in a diverse environment, including a reedy marsh and adjacent hills and slopes. Within this varied landscape are hundreds of mounds and terraces that represent residential structures in a planned cityscape with alleys, passageways, and paved streets. Coatepantli Frieze or Mural of the Serpents The heart of Tula was its civic-ceremonial district called the Sacred Precinct, a large, open, quadrangular plaza surrounded by two L-shaped buildings, as well as Pyramid C, Pyramid B, and the Quemado Palace. The Quemado Palace has three large rooms, sculpted benches, columns, and pilasters. Tula is justly famed for its art, including two interesting friezes worth discussing in detail: the Coatepantli Frieze and the Vestibule Frieze. The Coatepantli Frieze is the best-known artwork at Tula, believed to date to the Early Postclassic period (900 to 1230). It is a carved into a 7.5-foot tall, free-standing wall running for 130 feet along the north side of Pyramid B. The wall seems to channel and restrict pedestrian traffic on the north side, creating a narrow, enclosed passageway. It was named coatepantli, serpent in the Aztec language, by excavator Jorge Acosta. The Coatepantli Frieze was made from slabs of local sedimentary stone, carved in relief and brightly painted. Some of the slabs were borrowed from other monuments. The frieze is capped by a row of spiral merlons, and its facade shows several reclining human skeletons intertwined with serpents. Some scholars have interpreted this as a representation of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent in pan-Mesoamerican mythology, while others point to the Classic Maya Vision Serpent. Frieze of the Caciques or Vestibule Frieze The Vestibule Frieze, while lesser-known than that of the Coatepantli, is no less interesting. A carved, stuccoed, and brightly painted frieze that illustrates a procession of ornately dressed men, it is located on the interior walls of Vestibule 1. Vestibule 1 is an L-shaped, colonnaded hall that links Pyramid B with the main plaza. The hallway had a sunken patio and two hearths, with 48 square pillars supporting its roof. The frieze is in the northwest corner of Vestibule 1 on a nearly square bench measuring 37 inches high by 42 inches wide. The frieze is 1.6 by 27 feet. The 19 men shown in the frieze have been interpreted at various times as caciques (local chiefs), priests, or warriors, but based on the architectural setting, composition, costumes, and color, these figures represent merchants engaged in long-distance trade. Sixteen of the 19 figures carry staffs, one appears to wear a backpack, and one carries a fan, which are all elements associated with travelers. Resources and Further Reading Bernal, Stephen Castillo. El Anciano Alado del Edificio K de Tula, Hidalgo. Latin American Antiquity, vol. 26, no. 1, Mar. 2015, pp. 49-63.Healan, Dan M., et al. Excavation and Preliminary Analysis of an Obsidian Workshop in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico. Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 10, no. 2, 1983, pp. 127-145.Jordan, Keith. Serpents, Skeletons, And Ancestors?: The Tula Coatepantli Revisited. Ancient Mesoamerica, vol. 24, no. 2, Fall 2013, pp. 243-274.Kristan-Graham, Cynthia. The Business of Narrative at Tula: An Analysis of the Vestibule Frieze, Trade, and Ritual. Latin American Antiquity, vol. 4, no. 1, Mar. 1993, pp. 3-21.Ringle, William M., et al. The Return of Quetzalcoatl: Evidence for the Spread of a World Religion During the Epiclassic Period. Ancient Mesoamerica, vol. 9, no. 2, Fall 1998, pp. 183-232.Stocker, Terrance L., and Michael W. Spence. Trilobal Eccentrics at Teotihuacan and Tula. American Antiquity, vol. 38, no. 2, Apr. 1973, pp. 195-199.Stocker, Terrance L., et al. â€Å"Wheeled Figurines From Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico.†Ã‚  Mexicon, vol. 8, no. 4, 30 July 1986, pp. 69-73.

The Holy Virgin Mary Essay - 2247 Words

What a sensation was made about the Sensation exhibition in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The focus of Mayor Giulianis outcry was the piece The Holy Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili. Funny, he didnt give attention to some of the other outrageous works including the pubescent female mannequins studded with erect penises, vaginas, and anuses, fused together in various postures of sexual coupling, or the portrait of a child molester and murder made from what appears like child hand prints or bisected animals in plexiglass tanks full of formaldehyde. Would it ever have made headlines with a different title, like Afro-lady? I dont think so. I guess targeting religion gets a little too personal. Giuliani said, You dont have the right to†¦show more content†¦If you think about it, many African cultures had no use for gold until the Europeans came along. But in America, dung is a bad, nasty thing. We even have pooper scoopers for our house pets excretions on public property. No one should h ave to deal with that! No, no one wants to see poop! We use gold to gild halos on our saints. Poop? How atrocious! You cant use feces in art! But, how many people know that artists used human urine as a fixative in pigments of religious works such as the Last Supper and the ceilings of the Vatican? How many know that Old Master painters used mummy brown, yep you guessed it, a pigment consisting of pulverized Egyptian mummies? No one complains about shadows in 18th century paintings of the Virgin being made out of dead people. As for the porn pictures, they suggest putti just as the Virgin Marys symbology reflects fertility. So whats the big deal? Do you think people get too focused on the medium instead of the message? Does it matter what material the artist is using to get the message across? What is acceptable? The norm would be oil, different types of earth, egg, rock and wood. Lets take a look at a little history in medieval art. There was a movement towards the end of the first millennium called Iconoclasm. This factor hated images and icons which were believed to be endowed with mysterious powers that could work miracles by intervention from the saints. This Iconoclastic Controversy defined and declined the creation ofShow MoreRelatedThe Holy Virgin Mary By Chris Ofili Essay767 Words   |  4 PagesThe Holy Virgin Mary was created by Chris Ofili in 1996. It is a mixed media painting, including paper collage, oil paint, glitter, polyester resin, map pins and elephant dung on linen with the size of 243.8 cm X 182.9 cm. The artwork portrays Mary, a black virgin, wearing a blue cape covers from her head down to her body. The cape wraps around her body, leaving an open space that reveals her right breast that was actually a dried lump of elephant dung. The woman was positioned standing in the centerRead MoreHow Was Jesus Conceived From The Holy Ghost?1174 W ords   |  5 Pages The Father enjoyed a perfect relationship with His Only Begotten Son, and with The Holy Spirit, before time began. In this relationship there was perfect sweet communion, peace, contentment with nothing or anyone to pollute their eternal existence, to curse their Creator, and reject God. Certainly God did not create us because He was lonely, or that He was in need of anything. With such eternal peace and pleasure, God created heavens, the earth, and all they contain. Surely the eternal GodRead MoreJoseph Of The Holy Ghost1229 Words   |  5 Pageshere as the husband of Mary, which makes Joseph legally the father of Jesus. It is not the flesh, nor the blood that makes Jesus legally heir and gives Him the right to the throne of David, but being a son through Joseph s marriage does. 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Full Metal Jacket Free Essays

Meaning and purpose can be defined depending on the reader and the author that is defining it. The meaning and purpose of any form of literature is the main point of the piece of work, why it was created and what the author wants the reader to understand or get from his or her work. As for the movie Full Metal Jacket, the director, Stanley Kubrick, wanted to have a combination of comedy as well as a sense of realization when it comes to a soldier becoming a marine and what it takes to be one. We will write a custom essay sample on Full Metal Jacket or any similar topic only for you Order Now The characters throughout the movie each show a different way of nderstanding and dealing with the problems that they had to quickly overcome. Full Metal Jacket is a movie that shows the different roles and stages of the marines that were stationed in the Vietnam War. The first half of the movie had an entertaining way of showing the audience how they were trained and how they learned that they were indeed â€Å"born to kill†. The main purpose of the first part of the movie was to show the audience what the soldiers had to go through first in order to make it as a marine. It had to be a hard as well as somewhat brutal and life-changing experience n order for them to be ready to become the killing machines that they were forced to be. The changes that the characters have shown make the second half of the movie very different in terms of their attitudes, what each soldier viewed as right and wrong, as well as the events that take place throughout the movie. This part of Full Metal Jacket was geared more towards the actual Vietnam War and revealed the reasons as to why they had to become heartless in a way during their training. Throughout the course of the war, some of the soldiers slowly but surely slipped out f their sanity and become cold-hearted killers in order to survive themselves. Each marine in Full Metal Jacket had to be able to prove that they were worthy enough to take on certain obstacles in the first half of the movie, such as emotional and mental hazing. Stanley Kubrick made sure to incorporate as much of the hazing as possible within the first half of the movie in order to show the audience how much work each soldier had to put into the beginning of their Journey into becoming a marine. If they could not take control of the rate of hazing they received it would be seen as a eakness, therefore proving that they are not ready for the war. For example, Pyle who was a soldier that as overweight clumsy and slow-witted, could not take the stress and harassment that came with the training of becoming a marine and he could not endure the embarrassment that was thrown at him every time he did something wrong, which in turn made him decide to commit suicide as well as murder Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the drill instructor who trains the recruits in order to turn them into marines. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman seemed to have caused ll of the anger and frustration that Pyle had to go through, therefore Pyle’s actions proved to the audience and to the marines that were involved, that not everyone can make it as a marine and may end up losing their sanity over it. The whole point of allowing the audience to view this is to reinforce the level of maturity that would be required to fully understand the troubles that comes with being a marine. The first half of Full Metal Jacket mainly focuses on how much a person can take while preparing for war, being in war, and knowing how to act and react to certain issues and perceived throughout the movie. In The Green Berets, Sargent Peterson, a Special Forces sergeant, quickly realized that he needed to make sure that Hamchunk, a homeless Vietnamese child, was safe and well accounted for when their base was being attacked. This quick form of action shows the audience that he was well trained and knew exactly what to do and when to do it. Full Metal Jacket revealed other ways of bringing out a characters sense of maturity and therefore had a different aspect compared to that scene, and basically the entire movie of The Green Berets. Full Metal Jacket was meant to make the audience completely understand hy the soldiers had to go through training the way that they did. It all comes together once the audience sees firsthand what can happen when a soldier loses his focus or is not fully prepared for what may happen next. The series of events that happens during the second half of the movie could make or break anyone who may not be tough enough to endure all of the negativity. Full Metal Jacket is supposed to be an eye opener and should cause a sense of realization for the audience. In the scene where Doc Jay and Eight Ball, two very brave marines, were being attacked by a niper, Animal Mother, a tough marine, did everything he could think of doing in order to try and save his dying friends, even though he knew that there was no chance of their survival. Regardless, Animal Mother went out alone, against his direct orders, to try and find the sniper and kill her in retaliation. Granted, he could not do it alone, he called the rest of the soldiers to try and track her down. Once they found her, they shot her, made her suffer in pain for a little bit and then killed her. In a normal world, doing these actions would seem horrific and Just not right, but due to heir previous training and sudden attack from this woman, the soldiers were forced to murder this woman and left her there. This type of action or retaliation enforces the moral or immorality that ties in within the movie. Murdering the sniper, especially her being a woman, opens up a more intriguing way of the audience socially analyzing the situation. Making the audience decide whether or not murdering her and allowing her to suffer was acceptable or hard to accept due to her being a woman. As for the soldiers, this decision was made easily and as the sniper as laying down suffering, the audience could easily see the reactions that each marine made, showing their different views on their daily lives. Each soldier had their own morals and values compared to other soldiers. Obviously, each soldier has his own personality which brings a different outlook on what it is that they have to do, and how they are supposed to do it. Each soldier must fulfill their mission, and do what they are instructed to do. In Full Metal Jacket, the soldiers seemed to have similar values, and seem to have been brought up or trained almost identically. Due o the first half of the movie where they had been trained to know and love their rifles and to be ready to shoot and kill whatever was not considered one of them.. Every soldier knew what they had to do and they were all comfortable when it came to killing the enemy and possibly sacrificing themselves in the process. Unlike Full Metal Jacket, in the movie Platoon, Sometimes the soldiers take their main source of responsibility and manipulate it. For instance, some of the soldiers took a young girl from the village that they took over and tried to rape her in order to satisfy their ersonal needs, until Chris, the main character as well as the marine who decided to human being and should not be raped Just because of her unfortunate circumstances. This scene showed the audience how some soldiers will have the wrong mentality due to their current hectic lifestyles, while other soldiers know and remember their rights and wrongs from â€Å"back home† when it comes to doing things that they can personally control. Full Metal Jacket seemed to have been made for the audience to view and understand the troubles and obstacles that each soldier has to o through beginning from his training all the way through his actual fght in the war. The audience is supposed to learn and begin to understand how the soldiers are supposed to be trained in order for them to make it during the war, or in order to know what to do to help whoever is directly associated with the war. Stanley Kubrick wanted to open up the eyes of the â€Å"outside world† and allow people to realize what each marine has to go through and their purpose for becoming a marine. They are not always out and about trying to rape and murder every woman they encounter as well as taking over everything that they see. There is a process that each soldier must go through in order to make it where they need to be. Full Metal Jacket compared to Platoon and The Green Berets makes the audience see both sides of a soldiers’ life whereas the other two movies only show the second half of the soldiers’ life when he is already trained and in the battle field. The other two movies don’t show how the soldiers came up to where they are now, it reveals only what they have already accomplished within themselves, and they already have their own views on life depending on the amount of negative series of events that they have encountered. Full Metal Jacket has more than one meaning, and more than one purpose. Stanley Kubrick wanted to make sure that the audience was able to interpret and take back with them the struggles and the achievements of a marine. What it takes to become one and what it takes to remain one at all times during the hardships of being in a war. Due to that, the movie seemed as if it should have been two separate movies, which makes it unique, compared to The Green Berets and Platoon where each movie was based solely on the war. Although, all three movies showed the different kinds of ttitudes that evolved into a marine as they each evolved or became a different person whilst being a part of the war. Some characters showed emotion while some didn’t show any emotion at all, displaying the different levels of maturity that each marine must have. Displaying the different emotions was meant to allow the audience to see the war in different aspects based on certain marines in the movies. Full Metal Jacket allowed the audience to watch the marines as they evolved from viewing things in different ways. Regardless, the movie was supposed to be a sense of realization and knowledge. How to cite Full Metal Jacket, Papers

Brand Management Through Narrowing The Gap - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Brand Management Through Narrowing The Gap. Answer: Introduction Brand is a name or symbol that provides identity to an organisation and the product it manufactures. Brand management is important for managers, as customers tend to recognise products based on the brand image (Rosenbaum-Elliott, Percy and Pervan 2015). Brand identity helps in gaining a competitive advantage in the market. The assignment discusses the ways by which organisations can create a brand by depending on the various factors that define a brand. The assignment analysis Aakers brand identify model (ABIM) in order to understand the importance of such brands. Comparisons are made between ABIM and Keller's model in order to clearly understand the differences between the brands. Each perspective of the ABIM is analysed in the assignment in detail. Discussion on how organisations create its brand Concept of brand identity and its importance According to Vigneron and Johnson (2017), brand identity is considered as a different concept than brand image. It establishes a proper intention for branding. It can be said as a collection of various brand elements that a company creates in order to satisfy the organisational goals and attain customer satisfaction. Brand identity provides liberty to a company to choose its design, logo and the colour schemes that can attract customers to the organisation. In this regard, the benefits of brand identity can be analysed. As stated by Solomon (2014) a proper brand identity allows a company to establish itself firmly in the market. It helps in the creation of an image that is bigger than the organisation. Through brand identity, the prospects of a company increase that help it to succeed in the business world. Moreover, it helps in building loyalty and trust among the customers so that it can effectively succeed in the satisfaction of the customers. This is an important benefit for an o rganisation as a loyal customer is an important stakeholder as well as an asset (He and Lai 2014). Thus, brand identity is considered as an important aspect of an organisation. Aakers brand identity model (ABIM) Concept of ABIM David Aaker, a professor of marketing at the University of California, created Aaker's brand identity model (ABIM). The model aims to combine brand awareness with brand equity. Apart from this brand, loyalty and brand associations are also considered as part of the marketing model that helps in engaging customers and create brand loyalty. Kelley, Sheehan and Jugenheimer (2015) stated that ABIM adds up the factors that make up a brand image in an organisation. It provides for an extended identity element as it plays a key role in the success of an organisation. It also enables the brand to adapt to different products and the markets of different countries. ABIM perceives brand in four different manners. The brand is seen as individual entities that are formed together in order to provide a competitive advantage for an organisation. The four perspectives of the brand include product, organisation, person and symbol. Bravo et al. (2017) stated that this model is different from the brand equity model suggested by Keller. Keller divided branding stating that in order to build a strong brand it is necessary that the managers think as per customers. They need to maintain four essential stages that can help in the proper identification of customers and gain the loyalty of the customers. Several steps are considered that are used to create a proper brand image among the customers and gain importance in the market. However, Aaker (2013) stated that ABIM provides separate entity of branding that helps in analysing the features that are needed for creating a proper brand image. On the other hand, a different model such as Kapferers brand identity model differences between brand identity and the image. This model highlights that brand identity focuses on the company and is a production of the managerial activities. The identity provides the ultimate approval required to understand a particular brand. Brand image focuses on the target market of an organisation. It is formed mainly due to the perceptions of the customers. Thus, the varied manner in which this model describes branding has brought about many criticisms. The aspects of the prism are too complex for forming a proper opinion about branding. The reason for choosing ABIM is the fact that unlike the other two models, ABIM provides a more comprehensive and systematic approach to understand the concept of brand identity. Figure 1: Kellers brand equity model (Source: Schallehn, Burmann and Riley 2014) Figure 2: ABIM brand identity model (Source: Kelley, Sheehan and Jugenheimer 2015) Figure 3: Kapferers brand identity prism (Source: MacInnis, Park and Priester 2014) ABIM Perspective Brand as a product According to Wheeler (2017), the product is important for organisations in order to impress the customers and ensure that the financial stability of an organisation is maintained. Without proper manufacturing and selling of products, an organisation cannot exist in the modern competing market. Products are also an element of the marketing mix that marketers focus in order to gain a competitive advantage in the market. In the case of ABIM, branding is considered as a product as it provides opportunities for organisations to expand itself in the market. As stated by the perception of the brand as a product, it is seen that products consist of the scope and the attributes. These factors are important in order to understand the limitations and the features of a particular product. Based on this, marketers can decide upon the target market and sell the product as per the qualities it possesses. According to Ghodeswar (2017), the country of origin also plays a huge role in the selling of p roducts. An example can be provided in order to support this statement. Singapore Airline represents the services provided by the Singapore Airlines. Based on the type of service presented by the airline, people tend to put their faith in the airlines. The airline company flies to 64 locations around the world and uses its brand identity to gain advantage over the rivals (Singaporeair.com 2018). The perspective of the customers about the brand helped it to increase its brand equity. One of the ways by which Singapore Airlines have managed to improve its brand image is by is by providing comfortable flights on a consistent basis. ABIM Perspective Brand as an organisation As an organisation brand can be considered as a mirror image of an organisation. The features of an organisation consist of the novelty, care about the customers and the reliability of the products (De Chernatony 2016). These features are important as it helps an organisation to understand the goals and the ways by which it can be aligned with the interests of the customers. The brand identity developed by the organisation can be both global as well local. This is an important aspect as it helps in the expansion of the brand identity of the organisation. This particular perspective of a brand as an organisation can be considered as an opportunity of the organisations to present itself in the market. The culture of the organisation depends upon the brand identity it sets up for itself, thereby gaining importance in the market. An example can be considered in this regard to help in the understanding of the perspective of a brand as an organisation. An example can be provided by a non-profit organisation named Kaplan that specialises in providing higher education programs to students. The institution was founded in 1938 and since then has grown into a reputed education centre in Florida. The fact that it encourages students to pursue education reflects the cultural factor of the institute. The institute in order to ensure that the people of the country are educated and earn a proper living provides almost all levels of education (Kaplan.com 2018). This proves the branding as an organisation phenomenon as the institute uses its name in order to gain recognition in the society. According to Ferrandi, Valette-Florence and Fine-Falcy (2015), this can be considered as an important prospect for Kaplan in gaining the trust of the customers. The fame of Kaplan is not only in Asia but also in the United States. The university also publishes journals that are useful for future studies and gaining knowledge about various things in the worl d. Thus, the brand of the organisation is recognised in this manner. ABIM Perspective Brand as a person Sung et al. (2105) observed that brand as a person determines the relationship that exists between the brand and the customers. In this case, the brand becomes a part of the person and tries to manipulate its thoughts based on the customers. The advantage of this is that it can help in identifying the target market with ease. Psychologists suggest that branding is also based taking into consideration some of the attributes of a person. These attributes include sincerity of a person, the active level of an individual and the reliability of a person. It can be said that customers can connect with a brand once it feels that the particular brand represents the personality possessed by the individual. In this regard, it can be said that a particular person can also be used as a creator of the brand. Okonkwo (2016) argued in favour of this stating logo and colours not only depict a brand but a famous icon such as characters from Disney can also be considered as a brand. People can easily recognise a character like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck as one of the Disney characters, as these are famous icons. The target market for this can be the young children that have a craze for following such icons. Thus, a company like Walt Disney use such characters as a mascot and help in creating other mascots for eventful events so that the reputation of the brand can be maintained (Thewaltdisneycompany.com 2018). ABIM Perspective Brand as a symbol Symbols can be used in order to covey various types of information. It is one method of communication that is used in order to convey a message to different people. Symbols are mainly the logo or colour that represents an organisation. According to Keller (2017), symbols help in the inheritance of the brand image and the manner in which an organisation is displayed. The symbols or logo of famous brands is not hard to be guessed by the customers. Thereby, it is important that the symbols of the organisation represent the culture and the name of the organisation. Some companies also use the symbols as a metaphor for representing the true self of the organisation. Therefore, an example can be provided in order to understand the perspective more clearly. Tiger balm is a medical item that helps people to heal from the pain. Aw Cheng Chye family manufactured the product and today it is one of the famous brands all over China. The symbol of the balm is a tiger that represents the name of the balm and provides a metaphorical implication that like tigers the balm is quick in the work that it does (Tigerbalm.com 2018). Thus, it can be said that symbols represent a hidden message of an organisation and provide an opportunity for customers to recognise the brand and remain loyal to it. Thus, this is also an important part of forming a brand identity for an organisation. Conclusion Thus, after the analysis, it can be said that branding is an important part of an organisation. The implication of brand image can help every organisation to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Branding helps in the recognition of the brand and provides opportunities for expansion into new ventures. The implementation of ABIM can help brand managers to identify the proper manner in which brands can be developed. Treating brands individually as per different perceptions can help an organisation to understand the various features that are involved while setting up a brand image. In this regard, the use of ABIM can help in creating a proper branding of a product. The examples provided show the fact that the application of ABIM can help managers to segregate the features required for creating a proper branding of a particular product. Comparison to Keller's model of brand equity sheds light on the advantages and disadvantages that ABIM possesses. It can be concluded that Kellers model follows a systematic analysis of the various stages of branding. The perception of the customers is determined by linking the products with the thoughts of the customers. Establishing an identity, identifying the meaning, analysing the response and creating relationships with the customers and brand are essential in order to create a proper image in the market. However, the application of ABIM can segregate the branding characteristic and provide a proper understanding of the implementation of branding. The organisations mentioned above use the segments in a unique manner and ensure that customers both locally and globally can gain knowledge about the type of products and services that are offered by the organisations. Hence, it can be stated that in order to identify a proper application of branding the use of ABIM is effective in the market. Reference Aaker, J.L., 2013. Dimensions of brand personality.Journal of marketing research, pp.347-356. Bravo, R., Bravo, R., Buil, I., Buil, I., de Chernatony, L., de Chernatony, L., Martnez, E. and Martnez, E., 2017. Managing brand identity: effects on the employees.International Journal of Bank Marketing,35(1), pp.2-23. De Chernatony, L., 2016. Brand management through narrowing the gap between brand identity and brand reputation.Journal of marketing management,15(1-3), pp.157-179. Ferrandi, J.M., Valette-Florence, P. and Fine-Falcy, S., 2015. Aakers brand personality scale in a French context: a replication and a preliminary test of its validity. InProceedings of the 2000 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 7-13). Springer, Cham. Ghodeswar, B.M., 2017. Building brand identity in competitive markets: a conceptual model.Journal of product brand management,17(1), pp.4-12. He, Y. and Lai, K.K., 2014. The effect of corporate social responsibility on brand loyalty: the mediating role of brand image.Total Quality Management Business Excellence,25(3-4), pp.249-263. Kaplan.com. (2018).Home - Kaplan. [online] Available at: https://kaplan.com/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018]. Keller, K.L., 2017. Managing the growth tradeoff: Challenges and opportunities in luxury branding. InAdvances in Luxury Brand Management(pp. 179-198). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Kelley, L., Sheehan, K. and Jugenheimer, D.W., 2015.Advertising media planning: a brand management approach. Routledge. MacInnis, D.J., Park, C.W. and Priester, J.W., 2014.Handbook of brand relationships. Routledge. Okonkwo, U., 2016.Luxury fashion branding: trends, tactics, techniques. Springer. Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., Percy, L. and Pervan, S., 2015.Strategic brand management. Oxford University Press, USA. Schallehn, M., Burmann, C. and Riley, N., 2014. Brand authenticity: model development and empirical testing.Journal of Product Brand Management,23(3), pp.192-199. Singaporeair.com. (2018).Singapore Airlines Official Website | Book flights from India. [online] Singaporeair.com. Available at: https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/in/home [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018]. Solomon, M.R., 2014.Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being(Vol. 10). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Sung, Y., Choi, S.M., Ahn, H. and Song, Y.A., 2015. Dimensions of luxury brand personality: Scale development and validation.Psychology Marketing,32(1), pp.121-132. Thewaltdisneycompany.com. (2018).The Walt Disney Company. [online] Available at: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/ [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018]. Tigerbalm.com. (2018).Tiger Balm. [online] Tigerbalm.com. Available at: https://www.tigerbalm.com/sg [Accessed 2 Jan. 2018]. Vigneron, F. and Johnson, L.W., 2017. Measuring perceptions of brand luxury. InAdvances in Luxury Brand Management(pp. 199-234). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Wheeler, A., 2017.Designing brand identity: an essential guide for the whole branding team. John Wiley Sons.

WordPress vs Drupal SEO, Security, Extensions ... All Compared

When it comes to content management systems, there are two names that stand out: WordPress vs Drupal. Each has its own loyal community, a long list of popular websites that it powers, as well as a wide range of features and functionality.It is common knowledge that WordPress is easier to use and more popular, as compared to Drupal that has a smaller community and a steeper learning curve. But apart from that, what really separates the two? In this article, I shall attempt to compare WordPress vs Drupal across a given set of fields.WordPress vs Drupal: 4-round comparisonWordPress vs Drupal usage stats, according to https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all1. Search engine optimizationSearch engine optimization, or SEO, is of utmost importance for the health of your website. If your site does not do well in terms of page ranks and search results, your online presence will suffer, badly.As a matter of fact, both WordPress vs Drupal are good with SEO. To be honest, Google (or any other search engine for that matter) does not truly care which platform you are using, as long as your content is in order and you follow the SEO norms. However, Matt Cutts of Google has stated that WordPress is a good choice in terms of SEO, as shown in this video:And of course, WordPress users have the luxury of amazing plugins such as All in One SEO Pack and Yoast SEO that can help in terms of SEO.However, it is also worth pointing out that Drupal is not a minnow when it comes to search engines Yoast SEO, for example, is available for Drupal as well. Furthermore, it is often unknown to non-users of Drupal, but the software comes with SEO-friendly features that WordPress lacks in the absence of external plugins. For instance, native caching is supported by Drupal out of the box, whereas WordPress needs additional plugins for caching. Page caching leads to faster load times and that, obviously, is a very useful metric to boost your pagerank.All things considered, W ordPress wins the SEO round due to the number of available plugins that can help your sites SEO in many different ways.2. SecurityFor anything on the internet, security is a concept that is really vital, but can never be absolutely achieved. Nothing on the internet is 100% safe or secure, nor can it ever be. We can only try to achieve a great level of security, and the same applies to both WordPress and Drupal, as well as any other similar piece of software.Drupal has, over the years, earned a reputation for its secure and robust performance. While it has had its own share of issues, such as numerous SQL injection vulnerabilities, the community has been quick to respond and for the most part, Drupal has fared well in terms of combating security threats. The fact that the likes of The White House and The Economist prefer to rely on Drupal is a testimony to this effect.WordPress, however, is not weak in terms of security either. While this is a known fact that WordPress gets way more security threats and malware attacks than any other software, this has more to do with WPs popularity and less to do with any potential lack of security practices.Yet, all said and done, there is less margin for error in terms of security when using Drupal as compared to WordPress, simply because there is a ridiculously large number of plugins and themes that are readily available for WordPress, and are poorly coded and can pose a security issue for your website. The WordPress community is very quick to respond to any such issue, but there is still a window for error as an obsolete plugin can compromise a website. Since the number of such plugins and themes is smaller for Drupal, the window for error too becomes smaller.This round goes to Drupal.3. Ability to extend and customizeWordPress is backed by a large number of themes and plugins (both free and premium) that you can use to extend its functionality and features. You can create eCommerce stores, news sites, portfolio sites, an d a lot more with WordPress by using the right combination of plugins and themes.Drupal too is backed by extensions and modules that can help you extend its functionality, but this number is comparatively smaller. This does not mean you cannot customize Drupal; you still can do a lot with it, but the learning curve is steeper, and you require a lot more efforts when accomplishing something unique with Drupal as you might when doing the same with WordPress. That said, as a developer, you can tweak Drupal to your hearts extent, and this is probably why we see many Drupal sites with a very unique nature. But for non-developers, WordPress is still the way to go when thinking WordPress vs Drupal.This round goes to WordPress.4. Content management and performanceBoth Drupal and WordPress can do a lot in terms of content management and performance. While user interface and ease of use are a matter of perspective, as what is usable and familiar for one user might be unusable for the other, t here are certain areas where each of these two CMSs can prove its worth.In terms of resources, both WordPress vs Drupal are universally supported, coded mostly in PHP, and work well on even the lesser powerful servers or shared platforms. Of course, installation of additional modules or plugins can cause either of the two CMSs to bloat down a WordPress installation with 45 plugins is definitely likely to slow down, and the same applies to Drupal. But there has been a tendency among Drupal users to rely on lesser modules this can be attributed to the fact that the Drupal community has a larger number of developers, whereas WordPress user base has a very lenient distribution of end users as well.All said and done, Drupal has a very noticeable downside as compared to WordPress. Basic tasks such as updating your CMS are more time-consuming in Drupal and way easier in WordPress. Plus, the fact that there are more publications and outlets for WordPress-related content is another advanta geous situation: you can learn about WordPress at a faster pace as compared to Drupal.The final round goes to WordPress.ConclusionDrupal offers a lot of a features out of the box, such as page caching, and a lot more. It is a flexible system, and once you master the ropes, you can virtually create any genre or nature of website using Drupal.But WordPress is still highly usable and in a better overall situation than Drupal. It is more popular (and therefore better supported), and easier to use and deploy. By using the right combination of plugins and themes, WordPress can serve your web design and development projects very well.As you look at the points above, WordPress takes it today in our WordPress vs Drupal comparison. But were probably a bit biased, in all honestyWhat do you think? Are WordPress and Drupal capable of running equal websites and serving their users with the same level of quality? Share your thoughts in the comments below!Free guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips.

Medical Research and Ethics essays

Medical Research and Ethics essays Medical ethics tends to be a problematic issue, particularly where certain types of research are concerned. Indeed, some practitioners hold the public good in such high regard that they violate human rights for its sake. Of particular importance here is patient consent. Indeed, this issue is central to whether medical ethics are being violated or not. If patient consent is obtained, and researcher has provided full disclosure of the nature and risks of the study, the ethical requirements of the study have been met. Some researchers are however tempted to violate these requirements for the sake of results. An extreme case of such a violation is the Tuskegee syphilis study, which as become widely publicized as an example of gross human rights violations in favor of medical research. Another case to be addressed later is the one of a doctor taking blood samples from children without full disclosure to their parents. The General Medical Council (1998) is very clear on the ethical requirements for consent in the case of children or those who are incapable of making their own medical decisions. According to the General Medical Council (1998), the physician is to establish decision-making capacity prior to proceeding with medical investigation or treatment. It emphasizes the need to seek the help of the appropriate professional bodies if this appears to be necessary. In the case of fluctuating capacity, the Council suggests that physicians continually assess the patients understanding and the consistency of his or her compliance with the proposed procedures. In the case of mental incapacity, the physicians assessment of the patients best interest is subject to the Mental Health Act of 1983 and the Code of Practice of the Mental Health Commission. Controversial or experimental treatments that are unconnected to the mental disorder are subject to court approval. Mentally incapacitated patients therefore enjoy ...

Peer response Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Peer response - Assignment Example Further, one also agrees that there is no such thing as a perfect study. This is the reason why limitations should be noted to take into consideration those aspects that could be incorporated in future research. Researchers should have the hindsight to anticipate that the studies undertaken are made possible with utmost regard for objectivity to address the questions at hand. Yet, in no case would the conclusions be finite and further studies could be undertaken to improve on the results or verify whether the outcome would be consistent despite addressing the limitations which were previously noted. The initial reaction to your post is the widely encompassing scope of your proposed topic on remedial education. The research questions, though highly interesting, should be justified in terms of the new learning on the subject matter. The suggestion I could propose is to streamline your topic from a particular perspective: would your research focus on remedial education from the point of view of students taking remedial classes? Or would your research thrust emphasize the factors that impact the success (or failure) of remedial education? Another suggestion is to explore the relationship between students who took remedial classes to their ability to gain future employment. The point is to decide which point of view you would like to focus on and to streamline the variables to be used in the proposed

Reading response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 26

Reading response - Essay Example The meaning, that is used by Shames regarding the American culture, is that having more is and has been an essential idea of the country. From my reading of â€Å"The More Factor†, Shame has the opinion that it is already part of the culture of Americans to desire for more, however, I should say that most people desire for more in their lives and not only Americans. This is true because even me I desired and still desire for more in my life. Most of all, I felt greatly surprised by what Shames described as like Americans have lost focus in what is very important as he says â€Å"Americans have been somewhat backward in adopting values, hopes, ambitions that have to do with things other than moreâ€Å". It surprised me because all, what Americans have done, is to find ways to grow and expand. Shames puts it out clearly that lost focus because they became selfish and greedy since they only bothered to help themselves and not others. In any event in 1800,s the speculators built towns and would pay individuals to move into their town and provide for them a home to live in. The fact of the matter was to build the railroad for a real town to develop. I feel that the idea of "more" is not such a terrible thing. I mean it is useful for individuals to need to have a better life and succeed, to goals and aspirations. However, it is my opinion that everything ought to have a limit, or in any event, we ought to know when to stop and enjoy life. I believe that everybody needs to live a life that is full of commodities. I do so as well. I need to go to visit new places around the globe, have things I didnt have and provided my family a home, as well as a better life. Shames’s idea of the concept of more reminds me of my childhood friend. We used to share a lot, do almost all things together; however, the guy did not accept defeat. He was ever competing and always liked to be in the front line in everything. I used to pity him because no

Critically evaluate Karl Barth's theology of religion and work Essay

Critically evaluate Karl Barth's theology of religion and work - Essay Example Barth work resulted to great effect on how the society interprets and apply Christian teachings. The unpopular and radical approach of Barthian theological thinking about work and Sabbath earned him great criticisms from the mainstream society but his work remains an important component of the current theological scholars and knowledge about Christianity faith. Barth claims that work or human labor is solely utilitarian intended to keep us alive. In this regard, he emphasizes on the importance of observing Sabbath, in order for man to resist the temptation of worshipping work at the expense of serving God (Hughes, 2007). In Barth ideology of Sabbath, the command to rest does not validate man to work for the remaining days of the week. He argues that Sabbath should take precedence of all other activities that man does for the service of God, so that He can reveal His purpose for him. Therefore, Sabbath day according to Barth (2009) gives the meaning and direction of man’s activ ities for the rest of his working days in the week. During Sabbath, man should not consider it as leisure or passive time but rather a day to join God in celebrating His Creation (Barth, 2009). Work or active life is not entirely, what God requires from man, but an activity that man does for survival (Barth, 2009). In this case, Barth argues that Jesus Christ called his disciples to abandon their work and follow him in his ministry but not join work. From his arguments, it is not necessary for man to work because it is worldly and cannot lead to salvation. I disagree with Barth’s opinion on work and Sabbath. When God was creating the universe, all Creations were made in six days and on the seventh day, He rested (Alister, 1999). In this case, God did not rest and then proceed to the work of creation. Though man’s activities do not add up to God’s creations, his actions have a profound effect on the entire universe and its inhabitants. God created man to be the m aster of the universe and its creations, and to fulfill the purpose, man must work not only for his own survival, but for the sake of other creations (Alister, 1999). In poor and underprivileged societies, rest days are liability to such people who struggle hard to afford even a single meal in a day. To such people, taking a break from work in Sabbath amounts to starvation, psychological suffering including anxiety, self-humiliation and depression. Thus, considering economic and social status of people, Barth idea of work and Sabbath is a luxury only the rich can afford. A true Sabbath should result after six days of working earnestly, without deceit or oppression, so that all people regardless of their economic status can fellowship with God and celebrate His Creation. 2. Critically evaluate an issue affecting employers or employees in relation to religious faith and practice Different religions have distinct practices that they instill on their followers and believers. These pract ices normally dictate their daily activities such as mode of dressing, nutrition, duties and responsibilities, health, ways of praying among other behaviors. Alister ( 1999) noted that strict observation of these practices determine the commitment of the believers and more importantly, their desire to attain the highest form of spiritual purity dictated by the teachings of the respective religious denomination. Many religious teachings from diverse backgrounds contain punitive measures meted on followers who fail to comply with the said practices. The punishments are normally carried out by the leaders and/or, adherents of the particular religious grouping on the errant followers (Alister, 1999).

Religious Views On Abortion Religion Essay

Religious Views On Abortion Religion Essay Abortion is defined in different ways by different people; the medical dictionary defines abortion as a premature exit of the product of conception from the uterus. It is the loss of pregnancy (MedicineNet.com, 1998).Religion is a key factor in the control of morality in the society today; in examining the concept of abortion and the perspective of the religion on abortion one must find how the different religions in the society influence this concept. Within the various religious circles, it is argued and continuously debated whether a fetus is a living being. The main argument is on when or at what stage does the state and religion consider a fetus to be a living being. Some religions argue against the state with the point that a fetus is not a living person. The arguments on the morality of abortion are often based on the religious beliefs. On the grounds of religion, each religious belief has its views on the concept of abortion, In Christianity abortion is considered a bad omen, an evil practice and non-acceptable by God, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that abortion is wrong and any member of the church found involved in the practice can be excommunicated from the church. The Jehovah witness also do share the common belief with the catholic that abortion is wrong, it is concluded that in most Christian denominations, abortion is highly prohibited and at no time accepted in the churches. Like other fellow Christian communities, the protestant churches does not allow abortion, in the Northern Ireland the catholics as well as protestants have come together to oppose the concept of abortion, this does not imply that all the Christians denominations against the act and concept abortion (SPUC,2010). Some of the Christian denominations are pro abortion and believe that abortion can help save lives if carefully carried out with the help of doctors and professionals in the field of medicine such as in the Baptists and Methodists churches. In these cases, a woman was not disgraced after having an abortion unless she went against the advice of a professional. The consistency of the Catholic Church against the abortion has raised questions; however this question was answered by catholic theorist James McCarthy. His argument was based on whether the life of a child begin ate the point of conception or not. It is however clear that there has been no clear church teaching on this matter, there has been lots of argument at what point does a fetus become a human being. Others argue that a person is more than just the biological parts, and believes that a living person has more advance characteristics that a fetus do not posses, like the ability to think and make relationships with other people (McCarthy,1996). The pro -life proponents also argue that the ability of a fetus to exist independently defines it as a person, there argument is based on the right to life and they believe that the fetus can live given time and good environment just like any other human beings. It is however realistic that the Catholics will still view abortion evil no matter what argument are brought forward (Dombrowski, 2000). From this argument we can easily conclude that the Catholics has viewed and will always view abortion as evil regardless of any positive contribution it has in the society; it is also not clear whether they view fetus as a living human being. It therefore raises questions as to why the Catholics carry out fetal baptisms, which were practiced early 1700s. The contradiction is clearly evident, the McCarthy claims that a fetus is not a human being and the early church carried out fatal baptism (McCarthy,1996).From this argument it is evident that most of the religious belief and concept on abortion is based on the human life, and the point at which it is considered to begin. Hinduism view In the Hinduism faith, abortion is considered evil; however some of the Hindus texts prove abortion to be a necessary evil, since it save lives. The Hindu scripture reference the act of abortion as gorha-batta meaning womb killing, the abortionist is referenced as the greatest sinner in the society as described by Atharva Veda. It is therefore clear that in the Hindus faith abortion is an abormination. The Vedas does not show when life begins or whether a fetus is a living being but it is clear that abortion is a sinful activity.This is as outlined in the part of the Aryan scriptures is in the Vedas which states; Whpe off, O Pushan [Lord], the sins of him that practiseth abortion. (Sacred Books of the East). Another compelling evidence that abortion is unacceptable in the Hindu religion is contained in the books of Chandrasekhar (1974) in which he pointed out that induced abortion, which he referred to as bhrunahatya (foetus murder) is a sin. He pointed out that according to Vishnu Smriti (c. 100 B.C. to 100 A.D.) ,the act of abortion which is the destruction an embryo can be considered as the killing of a holy person (Chandrasekhar,1974) Christian view The concept of abortion in the Jewish law is not as strict as the Christian way; the Jewish legal authorities have not established principles by which to determine the morality and validity of abortion in the society. The issue is complex and always refers back to the bible. The Bible on the other hand has a lot to say regarding the concept of abortion, the Biblical arguments indicated that the unborn child is a human being and constitutes Gods creation. God came up with three creations. The conceived life on the conception of God is a living, after conception the result is referred to as the child in the likeness of God, as per the Bible the infant, child, son or daughter refer to the same thing since they are all creation of God. Other phrases of the Bible indicates that when men fight and one of them hit a woman who is expecting with the result of a miscarriage, the responsible person will be charged based on the womans husband judgment, but if other issues occur, the penalty will be life for life (Bible Exodus 21:22). Life for life indicate the miscarriage is the loss of life, the life loss as a result of miscarriage is equivalent to the life of the responsible person. It is therefore concluded that the stands of the Bible on the miscarriage or abortion is defined clearly, in loss of life through abortion is equivalent to the life lost for an existing human being. It is however not easy to simplify what the Bible state concerning abortion, several scholars has indicated that it is not easy to determine the real knowledge on the matters relating to abortion. Most of the Christians however, are just told that abortion is prohibited and not allowed in the society. This concept just simplifies what is hard to comprehend in our society. It has become a matter of doing what God requires from his disciples, no matter what the consequences are to the living and the unborn; the final judgment is however the Almighty God. (Ward,1978). In summary it is evident that the Bible controls most of the judgment in the Christian faith concerning abortion. This is however only true if the decision is in congruence with Gods demands as outlined in the Holy Bible Buddhism view Buddhism on the other hand has a more relaxed approach to abortion. This is evident in the Buddhas way of life, as it tries to get away from making finalization and judgment on matters. Buddha advised his followers not to accept or believe in any teaching from other religions not even Buddha himself. His emphasis was to investigate the teaching on how abortion is viewed from the people themselves and the society of the Buddhist. If an individual within oneself finds a teaching to be true, then he should practice the teaching, but not trust any teaching by simply trusting them. Buddha first percepts state I will not harm any living creature this does not only apply to the human being community but to all animals, once a fetus is alive the Buddhism faith protest not to harm the fetus and protect the fetus. The Buddhist approach to ethical and social issues relating to abortion is based on the concept on compassion. The concept of compassion is important to the Buddhist than any other doctrines r laws set by the land. It is therefore important on any judgment as to whether abortion is good or evil in the land of the Buddhist one should bring in light the concept of compassion to the fetus before any argument is made. Most Buddhist feel that in relation to the concept of compassion abortion is wrong, and regrettable, it is viewed as the act of depriving the unborn the compassionate right to live, however the compassion should be both to the fetus and the mother, it may be to a level where the compassionate on the fetus may deprive the mother the right to life. In this case Buddha then indicates that you do what I feel is right, such circumstances are allowed so that each individual arrive at the right conclusion and not judgmental. In conclusion, reviews of literature from various Buddhist ethicists do bear a universal consensus that education is the best policy in tackling abortion. In this light, they advocate birth control as well as encouraging the use of contraceptives (Tsomo,1998) Discussions This research however makes me to misunderstand the result of engaging in abortion, it relays that if a woman from the Buddhist faith engages in the act of abortion, she should be comforted with compassion rather than judgment and punishment.These religious have had their share of impact in different societies, and they have brought different views on the concept of abortion example, most of the United States population claims to be Catholic (Dombrowski, 2000); however there is no religion that stick to there rules and doctrines. It would be hard to say that religious factors are insignificant considering Roman Catholicism is the leading opponent of abortion (Abernethy, 1994). Hindus had been very firm and so many people. The Catholics have always been strict and against the act, but it is evident that most of the faithful indulge in such activities and the church assume not to know as a result of not losing the faithful. The religion has therefore left us in the dark whether abortio n is good or not allowed within the church. It therefore calls for a personal judgment and that why this question, Is abortion Right? Is an open ended question that can be answered based on the individual judgment and not religious grounds and the doctrines of the church. Conclusions On my opinion the concept of compassion brought in the Buddhist faith, is more appealing, however abortion should be carried out with the assistant of a health professional, and only when it is dangerous to either the mother or the child. The mother side should be given precedence since she is a living being in existence as to the un-born as believed by the Buddhist. It is therefore depended on individual judgment whether to carry out abortion or not. The Buddhist vie of abortion is more liberal this is because it leaves the decision to the person who engages in the act to a large extent. The contemporary society is fuelled largely by the freedom of personal choice and technology. These doctrines seem to be well illustrated in the Buddhist view of abortion. To support my choice for Buddhist way of handling the abortion issue, I present the general universal consensus that the various Buddhist ethicists have advanced. In fact their approach to abortion has been considered by other sch olars and organizations as being the best as pointed out by SPUC (2010). Tsomo (1998) further points out that Buddhists do recognize the level of incongruity that exists in the ethical theory of abortion as well as in the actual practice of the abortion. They however do not in any way condone the inappropriate, meaningless and taking of life. They therefore use their views of morality of abortion to advocate for a universal understanding as well as the expression of compassion towards all forms of living things. Their views are nonjudgmental while respecting both the rights as well as the freedom of all human beings in the making of their own choices.

Comparing Confucianism and Christianity Essay -- Christianity Confuciu

Comparing Confucianism and Christianity The premise of Confucian teachings are centered around the idea of Jen or the  ³virtue of humanity (Ching 68). ² To accomplish this divinity, five relationships must be honored: ruler and minister, father and son, husband and wife, elder and younger brother, and friend and friend (Hopfe). These relationships led a push for a revolution of the political system to adopt the methods of Jen. Confucius sought to revive the ancient Chinese culture by redefining the importance of society and government. He described a society governed by  ³reasonable, humane, and just sensibilities, not by the passions of individuals arbitrarily empowered by hereditary status ² (Clearly). He felt that this could be achieved through education and the unification of cultural beliefs. He believed that a nation would be benefited by citizens that were  ³ cultivated people whose intellects and emotions had been developed and matured by conscious people ² (Clearly). He felt that those born into the feudal system were had a personal duty to excel socially by means of power. Those who were of lesser class should also seek out education to better themselves. All purposes for betterment of man and society as one whole is known as Li. Li means  ³the rationalized social order ² (Yutang). Confucius felt that love and respect for authority was a key to a perfect society; this strict respect was practiced through rituals and magic (Smith). The Confucius traditions have caused a tradition to set within its institution and is extremely active. It has, unfortunately, allowed the political institution to manipulate the Confucius system. As with Christianity. Christianity also preaches a divine, brotherly love. Modern Christianity seeks to discover a  ³rational understanding of the person ² as did Confucius (Ess ed. 381); yet, Christianity feels that faith in the Jesus Christ as a personal savior is essential to this enlightenment. It was also under the guise of Christianity that it had to confront totalitarian systems  ³[dehumanize] uses of power in its sphere of influence (state and church, and [these] systems triumphed under the banner of de-Christianization (Ess ed. 384). Unlike Confucius reformers of their corrupt state pushed the beliefs of the true ideals of Confucius, Christians believed in an  ³Absolute against all absolvi... ...942. Hughes, E. R. and K. Religion in China. Hutchinson's University Library, London; 1950. Kelen, Betty. Confucius: In Life and Legend. Thomas Nelson INC., New York; 1971. King. Hans and ed. Christianity and the World Religions. Doubleday, New York; 1986 McCuen., Gary E. The Religious Right. Hudson, Wisconsin; 1989. O'Briare, S. J. Fifty Years of Chinese Garment. Lutterworth Press, London; 1951. Siu, R. G. H. The Man of Many Qualities: A Legacy of the I Ching. Smith, Huston. The Religions of Man. Harper & Row, New York; 1958 Smith, Howard. Confucius. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 1973 Soper, Edmund Davison. The Religions of Mankind. Abingdon Press, New York; 1966. Toynbee, Arnold. Christianity Among the Religions of the World. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 1957 Weber, Max. The Religion of China. The Free Press, New York; 1951. Wieger, L. History of Religious Belief and Philosophical Opinions in China. Catholic Mission, Hsein-sein, China; 1927. Yang, C. K. Religion in Chinese Society. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles; 1961. Yutang, Lin. The Wisdom of Confucius. The Modern library, New York; 1938.

Amazon.com Company Essay

Amazon.com is an e-commerce company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, Amazon was one of the first companies to sell goods on the internet. After it launches, it has been the largest retailer on the worldwide web with its fast growths. Amazon is classified as Consumer Discretionary sector and also Internet Retail industry which sells a broad range of items from books to consumer electronics to home and garden products. Today, Amazon, now became one of Fortune 500 company, was ranked 35th among the largest U.S corporation. The company’s management team consisted of Jeff Bezos who is Chairman of the Board of Amazon.com and also Chief Executive Officer, and an eight-member board of directors. Amazon.com started its business with only a unit of book. Jeff Bezos decided to sell books for first on his website with some special reasons. In 1994, when he started Amazon.com, customer’s reliability on e-commerce was rather lower, so people used to be afr aid of getting delivered wrong products from internet purchases. Therefore, people used to keep aloof from buying products online. Considered this, Jeff Bezos selected books that people could be guaranteed same quality of product regardless of where they purchase. One more interesting about Amazon.com is that it launched in 1994, but the actual transaction happened a year after, in 1995. They established databases of enormous amount of books and convenient purchasing services for a year. In result, Amazon.com was able to carry more than 110 M kinds of book. Amazon.com has brought $ 74,452M revenue which is an increase of 17.9% from 2012. Amazon.com controlled $32.555M in 2012 and $40.159 in 2013. It also profits $274 M which is an increase of 114% from 2012. In 2013, their total cost of goods sold was $18.806 M and gross markup reached to 27.2%.By introducing two new product categories every year for almost a decade, its market share represents one third of U.S e-commerce sales. Amazon.com is often referred as The Everything Store. As we can notice from its second name, Amazon.com carries every items that web retailer could sell. Its top three business units are including books, electronics and Toy & Games. Book has been one of the bestselling categories of Amazon.com. As demand of e-book is going up, electronic book also has recorded high sales (actually, higher than its book sales). With Its own table for e-book and various kinds of books they carry, Amazon not only has competitive advantage among its competitors, but also has already been making high sales on them.  Another bestselling product of Amazon.com is tablets. Amazon has launched its own tablet ‘Fire HD’ which has similar feathers and its own OS but price is much cheaper than any other tablets currently selling in the market. Currently, Amazon has 5.8 percent shares and it maintain in third place following after Apple and Samsung. With its own tablet, Amazon is increasing their market shares on tablets. Amazon already has its own game studio to produce video games and its own Fire receiver, so that they attracted many gamers. Recently, Amazon is planning to take over the video game streaming video platform twitch TV to start their new game business. With so many different products and services, Amazon has a divisional structure. In a divisional structure, different departments for different products and services allow department heads to appropriately focus their resources and results, as well as monitor the organization’s performance. This structure is best for such a large organization because it is the most flexible. Amazon’s organizational structure is comprised of CEO and founder Jeffery Bezos and an eight-member board of directors. The CEO oversees the Chief Financial Officer, the Chief Technology Officer and the 8 departments: Business Development, e-Commerce Platform, International Retail, North America Retail, Web Services, Digital Media, Legal & Secretary, and Kindle. The CFO oversees the Real Estate and Control department. International Retail oversees three separate departments: China, Europe and India. North America Retail oversees the following five departments: Seller Services, Operations, Toys, Sports & Home Improvement, Amazon Publishing and Music & Video. The Web Services department oversees Amazon S3 and Database Services. Other departments include Product Development & Studios, Europe Operations, Global Advertising Sales, Computing Services, and Global Customer Fulfillment. 1.3 E-businesses are rapidly evolving and intensely competitive. The principal competitive factors in its retail businesses include selection, price, and convenience, including fast and reliable fulfillment. Additional competitive factors for its seller and enterprise services include the quality, speed, and reliability of our services and tools. As consider these factors, the two top competitors of Amazon.com are E-bay.inc and Google.com. First, between Amazon and Google, the two companies now compete in a wide range of areas such as online advertising, distribution, mobile terminals, cloud computing. Currently, Google is challenging to amazon’s main businesses which are shipping and shopping. So, Google recently has launched its own shipping service ‘Google Shopping Express’ which feathers same as like Amazon prime but with cheaper annual membership fees to enhance its competitiveness. Amazon.com also entered to ‘cloud’ market which Google has strong power on the market to compete. Amazon is expanding the territory of business, so that it is becoming integrated IT enterprise like google. Therefore, of the two companies, are expected to go over further intensify competition. If we put those groups in comparison by company performance, Amazon.com made $ 74,452 M and Google had $59,825M revenues in 2013 which means Amazon.com has more revenue than Google by 19.6%. On the other hands, for the profit and total asset of companies, Google is in the higher position. Google controls $110,920M of total asset, while Amazon controls $40,159M. In addition, Google profits $12,920M, while Amazon is a mere $745M. For number of employees, Google has 52,069 employees and Amazon.com has 132,600 employees. Second, between E-bay and Amazon, E-Bay is always been pointed out as amazon’s top competitors. eBay Inc., (stylized as e bay), is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. E-bay has same feather as it is running retail business with Amazon.com, but there is critical difference in that e-bay has auction-style sales. When we look at E-bay’s company performance, it has less revenue which is $16,047M than any its competitors referred above. However, it controls $41,488M which is bigger than amazon has for their total asset. Also, E-bay profits $2,856M in 2013, while Amazon.com did $274M, meaning E-bay made 10times more profits than Amazon.com. E-bay has made 33,500 employees. Alibaba which is noticed as a big foreign competitor of Amazon is a company founded in china. Alibaba’s consumer-to-consumer portal Taobao, similar to eBay, features nearly a billion products and is one of the 20 most-visited websites globally. The Group’s websites accounted for over 60% of the  parcels delivered in China by March 2013, and 80% of the nation’s online sales by September 2014. Alipay, an online payment escrow service, accounts for roughly half of all online payment transactions within China. China’s huge trading merchant Ali Baba’s company value has estimated as $215 billion dollars by IPO. This is astounding figure which is higher than Amazon and e-bay combined and also because other its competitors such as Google and Amazon.com have made better sales than Ali Baba. Investors focus on its high profit and fast growth. Also, it possesses many its stores in china and it has still a high potential for growth within China. Amazon.com,10K, 2013 Emil Protalinski â€Å"IDC: Apple’s iPad fell to 33.8% tablet share in Q4 2013, Samsung took second with 18.8%, Amazon third with 7.6%† from TNW blog. Google.com/finance (income statement, annual data) www.Amazon.com/ investor relation (Annual Reports and Proxies and officer and directors) Ryan mac â€Å"Amazon Pounces On Twitch After Google Balks Due To Antitrust Concerns† on Forbes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alibaba_Group (Amazon.com main financial performance for 2013) from google finance (E-bay main financial performance for 2013) from google finance (Google.com main financial performance for 2013) from google finance

Electromagnets essays

Electromagnets essays Hans Christian Oersted was the first scientist to study electromagnetism. He was a physics professor at the University of Copenhagen. In 1819 he discovered that a magnetic needle is deflected at right angles to a wire carrying an electric current, thus initiating the study of electromagnetism. This discovery, which showed a connection between electricity and magnetism, was followed up by the French scientist Andr Marie Ampre, who studied the forces between wires carrying electric currents, and by the French physicist Dominique Franà §ois Jean Arago, who magnetized a piece of iron by placing it near a current-carrying wire. In 1831 the English scientist Michael Faraday discovered that moving a magnet near a wire induces an electric current in that wire, the inverse effect to that found by Oersted: Oersted showed that an electric current creates a magnetic field, while Faraday showed that a magnetic field can be used to create an electric current. The English physicist James Clerk Maxwell, who predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves and identified light as an electromagnetic phenomenon, achieved the full unification of the theories of electricity and magnetism. The Briton William Sturgeon invented the first electromagnet in 1823. An electromagnet is a temporary magnet, where the magnetic field only exists when electric current if flowing. An electromagnet is a device consisting of a solenoid (usually a cylindrical coil of insulated wire wound in the form of a helix), in which an iron core is placed. An electric current passed through the coil induces a strong magnetic field along the axis of the helix. When the iron core is placed in this field, microscopic domains that can be considered small permanent magnets in the iron align themselves in the direction of the field, thus increasing greatly the strength of the magnetic field produced by the solenoid. The electric current around the sol ...

Blah, Blah, Blah

Blah, Blah, Blah Blah, Blah, Blah Blah, Blah, Blah By Maeve Maddox Since ancient times, speakers of every language have made up nonsense syllables to indicate contempt for what other people were saying to them. We’ve even inherited the ancient Greek nonsense syllables bar-bar-bar in the word barbarian: The Greek word barbaros meant â€Å"foreign, strange, ignorant.† According to the OnlineEtymology Dictionary, the word barbaros was an onomatopoeic formation echoing the unintelligible speech of a foreigner. The most common nonsense syllable used to represent empty talk in the United States is blah: The earliest OED documentation of blah in the sense of â€Å"meaningless, insincere, or pretentious talk or writing; nonsense, bunkum† is 1918. Blah is usually repeated when the sense is â€Å"empty talk†: When big data is just so much â€Å"blah, blah, blah† Getting Past â€Å"Blah, Blah, Blah† When Talking to Prospects Sometimes a single blah means the same thing: Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of jabber in the world – its a vast cloud of blah. As a plural noun, â€Å"the blahs† are a state of despondency: You’ve got the blahs.   You’re not feeling hopeless, but you’re not feeling good either. As an adjective, blah means â€Å"lethargic, unenthusiastic, listless, or torpid†: What to Do When You Feel Blah About Your Job â€Å"Blah, blah, blah† recently found its way into the news when a political candidate in Oregon blasted a newspaper reporter who demonstrated his lack of interest in what another candidate was saying by writing down â€Å"blah, blah, blah† instead of her actual words. And perhaps the longest sequence to date of this string of nonsense syllables occurs in a television ad in which actor Gary Oldman holds a telephone to his ear and says â€Å"blah blah blah† for five seconds straight. Another set of nonsense syllables is â€Å"yada yada yada.† Variations of this utterance are documented in the OED beginning in 1947. I first heard it on the Jerry Seinfeld show where I understood it to mean â€Å"details too boring to mention.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should AvoidThe Four Sounds of the Spelling OU"To Tide You Over"

Research and Discuss the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Term Paper

Research and Discuss the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 - Term Paper Example Key Components and Primary Objectives of the Act: The basic matters identified and revised in the act included the creation of regulatory board to oversee the activities of the public accounting audit firms, revised standards for auditor’s independence and audit committee, requirement of certification of the SEC’s reports by the executives of the public companies, restricts the rules to prevent insider dealings by the directors and executives, increase in the liability for the non-compliance to the federal securities laws and imposes additional responsibility of the attorney to report non compliance and conflict of interests. (Lipman & Lipman. 2006) 1. Establishment of Public Company Oversight Board: Sarbanes Oxley Act established the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to oversee the audits of the public listed companies. It was established to regulate the activities of the auditing firms including the issues of quality control, ethics and independence of auditor s. The aim for its establishment was to increase the confidence of investors and general public. 2. Auditor’s Independence: It focused on strengthening the auditor’s independence by prohibiting the provision of non-audit services (book keeping, internal audit, management, HR functions etc.) to the public companies by the external auditors, mandating the rotation of audit partners on a five year basis and rotation of registered public accounting firms and ensuring no ethical issue arises between the external auditors and the company such as conflict of interest. 3. Enhanced Corporate Governance Requirements: The corporate governance requirements were enhanced in many areas which included the role of audit committee which nave been responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of external auditors, who are required to directly report to the audit committee. Further the audit committee should be made up of independent non- executive directors. Sa rbanes Oxley Act further prohibits the maintenance of any credit or loan or extension of the same to directors or executives of the public companies. The Act even requires the executives such as CEO and the CFO of every public company to certify in each annual and quarterly report to the SEC that the reports have been reviewed and make the representation of the effectiveness of controls specified. 4. Enhanced Disclosure Requirements: Sarbanes Oxley Act enhances the disclosure requirements for the public companies which included increased reporting on the effectiveness of internal controls and financial reporting procedures, disclosures on codes of ethics and explanations in case of non-compliance and disclosures about the transactions by the directors, management and other stakeholders that can cause security concerns. 5. Commission Resources and Enhanced Authority: In order for the SEC to work effectively, provision of additional funding was ensured. Apart from that more power and authority was given to SEC and federal courts to be exercised on companies and individuals where prohibitions are required. It requires the federal regulatory bodies to conduct researches and make reports about the credit rating agencies, roles of investment banks and financial advisors, consolidation of accounting firms and some other matters etc. 6. Enhanced Accountability: The Act strict the rules and regulations and imposes stricter and larger penalties regarding the breach of law, exercising improper

Case portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case portfolio - Essay Example iii. Compact Disk: This disk similar to the first evidence could have been used to store data which might have appertained to the pending case. This disk can also be preserved in a tamper proof evidence material/bag while awaiting transportation to the law enforcement agency or pending analysis. iv. The Hard Disk Drive: This material is always used to store all the information in a computer system. As the primary storage source, this evidence could reveal most of the data required in determining this case. In storing this, the data in the drive can be copied to another independent one for precautionary reasons. The disk should also be stored in a tamper proof material awaiting analysis or transfer to the law enforcement agency. v. The telephone: Mr. Didit might have used this phone for his communications and as such this item would be major evidence in the case. The call history should be tapped and stored in a safe and permanent place. Obtaining the call logs will reveal the information he was communicating and the recipients of the same and whether in his communications he talked of child pornography at all. The internal memory of the phone should be able to reveal all the evidence pertaining to this case if there is any made. vi. The computers: Since it is the computers that were mainly used in the major communications, these computers in the office provide crucial evidence as to the validity of the case. Together with their components, they should be analyzed to determine the information in their internal memories and as well be kept safely without being moved by unauthorized personalities. I secured the computers and components and transported the same to the law enforcement authority. vii. The computer mouse: This is used to input specific commands especially when accessing file. The fingerprints of the user can be traced on it which can then

Analyze the data in paragraphs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Analyze the data in paragraphs - Essay Example When asked whether ELI classrooms temperature is usually suitable, 4 out of 30(13%) of the students agreed that the temperature is ok, 22 out of 30(74%) disagreed and thought that the temperature is not suitable and 4 out of 30(13%) were neutral. The fourth question was about whether ELI classrooms are provided with comfortable chairs and tables.9 out of 30(30%) of students interviewed answered in the affirmative, 14 out of 30(47%) of the students did not think that the tables and chairs are comfortable and 7 out of 30(23%) were undecided and hence neutral. The last question was about whether ELI classrooms are near to each other and usually taken in same building.8 out of 30(27%) replied in the affirmative,16 out of 30(53%) disagreed and 6 out of 30(20%) were neutral. The survey clearly indicates that ELI classrooms temperature is not suitable to most students and also the classrooms should be provided with comfortable chairs and tables. Majority of the students (53%) also do not think that ELI classrooms are near to each other and usually taken in same building. This should also be evaluated and implemented by concerned party, since it touches on the well being of the students directly, which is very crucial for their learning process. The ELI classrooms are however designed to be comfortable and practical for most students and are well equipped with technical tools which help in learning

Peter Eisenman Essay Example for Free

Peter Eisenman Essay Introduction * Peter Eisenman was born in 1932 in Newark, New Jersey. He studied architecture from 1951 to 1955 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and later at Columbia University in New York City, and concluded his academic training in 1963 with a doctoral thesis on design theory. * He worked together with Charles Gwathmay, John Hejduk, Michael Graves and Richard Meier in the architects’ group  »The New York Five. At this time, Eisenman developed his principles for design theory in a number of key publications. * At the beginning of the 1980s, Eisenman established his own architectural practice in New York, and since that time has created a number of important and diverse structures. * A recurrent topic is his thesis about an architecture of memory, from which he derives the postulate of a place-oriented or  »textual « architecture, which affords the observer a unique experience, difficult to express adequately, of space and time. MEMORIAL OF MURDERED JEWS, BERLIN INTRODUCTION * The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, also known as the Holocaust Memorial, is a memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. * The Berlin Holocaust memorial was the outcome of a process which extended over a period of 17 years, moving from a grass-roots initiative to a government resolution and eventually a multi-stage competition. * Peter Eisenman won the competition and construction of project started in April 2003. It was inaugurated on May 10’ 2005, sixty years after the end of World War II. CONCEPT * Generally, while experiencing a building a person walks through the building perceiving columns on the left and moving around and again there are columns on the right, so there can be a sort of conclusion about the building being symmetric, axial etc. So understanding of a buildings comes from being presence in the experience.But in the holocaust memorial, experiencing the building does not give you understanding of the monument. In this project, when we move, we do not learn anything, there is no specific path to follow, any point within the memorial is no different than any other point.The underlying idea behind the memorial was to reduce the meaning of experience because this relates to what happened in camps. The memorial intends to show the absence of meaning in the executions carried out in camps.The memorial is an analogy to experience of the camps but also an analogy to the idea of breaking down the relationship between experience and understanding. * Often referred to as a â€Å"field of stelae,† the memorial consists of 2711 concrete stelae (95 cm x 2.37 m), with heights varying from less than a meter to 4 meters. * The stelae are separated by a space equal to the width of an individual stele, or enough room for a single individual to pass through. * The memorial is traditional in the sense of using material such as concrete, which is a common means for the construction of memorials, but it is innovative in its form and design. * There is a quality of indeterminacy to the entire field, despite what appears to be a regularly spaced grid. Regularity is only perceived when standing on top of one of the lower pillars at the perimeter or in an aerial photograph. * Upon approaching the site, one might assume that the stelae are evenly spaced but the undulating ground surface defeats the sense of a grid, as does the actual experience of walking through the relatively confined spaces and the existence of varying views framed and obstructed by the stelae. * Eisenman relates this monument to a living memory rather than a sentimental memory as the holocaust cannot be remembered in the first, nostalgic mode, as its horror forever ruptured the link between nostalgia and memory. Remembering the Holocaust can, therefore, only be a living condition in which the past remains active in the present. * The space of the memorial is not overwhelming in scale, the instability of the ground and unpredictability of the heights of the stelae interact to frustrate understanding of the space. * One is further confused or disoriented by the narrow alleys which are not truly perceived as straight lines, due to the varying heights of the concrete slabs and the uneven ground plane. * Perhaps even more disorienting is the fact that there are no written cues or symbols of any sort. Immediately discounting the notion that one should â€Å"read† the pillars as tombstones is the absence of any language and any apparent â€Å"right† or â€Å"wrong† direction or ending point. INFORMATION CENTER * The Information Centre beneath the Field of Stelae documents the persecution and destruction of the Jews of Europe and the historical sites of the crimes. * The focus of the exhibition lies on the personalisation of the victims and on the geographical dimension of the Holocaust. * A major section of the information centre that supplements the memorial is dedicated to informing the visitor about authentic sites – even about the ones that do not exist any more for reasons of concealment during the Third Reich. * The information centre stresses the importance of authentic sites and encourages the visitation thereof. AUTHENTICITY AND PURPOSE OF MEMORIAL * During the painful debates about erecting such a memorial, a major aspect of criticism was the danger of authentic sites of the holocaust losing their importance. Thus, it is vital to distinguish the different roles of authentic sites from the artificially created monument. * The more specified function was read in the resolution by the German bundestag (a legislative body) of June 1999. â€Å"With the memorial we intend to honour the murdered victims, keep alive the memory of these inconceivable events in German history ,admonish all future generations never again to violate human rights, to defend the democratic constitutional state at all times, to secure equality before the law for all people and to resist all forms of dictatorship and regimes based on violence.† * Peter Eisenman,the architect of the memorial says about its intention that â€Å"The enormity and scale of the horror of the Holocaust is such that any attempt to represent it by traditional means is inevitably inadequate Our memorial attempts to present a new idea of memory as distinct from nostalgia We can only know the past today through a manifestation in the present.† * The design is to turn the visit of the memorial into an individual experience that causes the visitor to reflect about the genocide. * Each individual entering the field of stelae will find him- or herself wandering alone, because the paths in between the concrete slabs are not wide enough for two people to walk next to each other. Thus, the visitation turns into an individual experience. * Lea Rosh, the initiator of the memorial stated that this meant to raise the murdered above their murderers and to raise the victims above the perpetrators. CONCLUSION * Looking at the historical significance of the claimed area, the memorial gains a layer of authenticity, but what is almost of more importance is the setting of the memorial in the government quarter and in the heart of the capital. * Time will show if the memorial will live up to the definition of authenticity in the sense of heritage conservation where it is understood â€Å"as the ability of a property to convey its cultural significance over time†. * For one thing is sure, that the memorial’s cultural significance is complex for being a monument to honour the Jewish victims of the holocaust and at the same time a testimony of Germany’s accounting with the past. WEXNER CENTER OF ARTS, OHIO INTRODUCTION * The firm of Peter Eisenman and Richard Trott won the design competition for Wexner Center of Arts. * Eisenman wowed the Jury with his bold ideas for the art center, which were aimed at linking the past to the present (â€Å"Timeless Earth 1), through the use of unconventional means. * The end result became both Peter Eisenman’s first large public commission and one of the first large scale constructions of Deconstructivist Architecture. * The building is tucked in between the Mershon Auditorium and Weigel Hall both of which are home to programs that were to be consolidated into the Wexner Center. DESIGN PROCESS * The literal use of the rotated grid is used by Eisenman as an extensive method of giving the architecture its own voice. * The identification of the dialectic grids stems from conditions that exist at the boundary of the site, Eisenman then grafts one grid on top of the other and seeks potential connections or ‘event sites’ at the urban, local, and interior scales. * Scalar operations are performed as a means of mediating the scale of the urban grid towards a pedestrian or human scale, lastly, the results of these operations serves as a map that is used to locate program, pathways, structure, interior forms, excavations, and views along the newly afforded possibilities of ‘event sites’ in both the horizontal and vertical planes. * The results of these operations are visible in almost every aspect of the construction, from the module in the curtainwall, the tiling of the pavers, planters and trees on site. * To add to the depth of possibilities afforded by this excavation of the immediate condition of the grid Eisenman grafts figured scaffolding onto the site and integrates this figure into the primary circuit or pathway of the building. * The scaffolding is scaled to represent the module of the grid that is interpretable at a human scale. * The scaffold is reduced to its raw type, to the essential condition that signifies the essence of its existence that being an impermanent accessory to architecture that allows its construction, but does not necessarily shelter. * This architecture of non-shelter is aligned directly adjacent to an interior pathway within the building that does enclose and protect. * Eisenman coupled his grid abstractions with a series of figures that would play a key role in his aim of linking the past with the present. * The most prominent of these figures exists as a reconstruction of a part of the armoury that occupied the site from 1898 until it was terminally damaged by fire on May 17th 1958. * The figure of the armoury Eisenman has presented along the south pedestrian access (the most visually accessible elevation of the building) has been reduced to a series of fragments of armoury-like forms that indicate the ‘essence’ of the armoury without reproducing any of the original intricate detail. * Within the armoury forms the negative space carved out of the solid brick masses that make up these figures is cast with a dark tinted curtain wall, within which is an aluminum mullion pattern evocative of the use of grid. * The contrast created by the anodized aluminum of the mullions intensifies the impenetrable depth of the glass. * The lack of historical fidelity in the reconstruction of the armoury, the fragmentation of the form, and the insertion of dark glass into the voids left between these fragments seems to speak of the disjointed manner in which we reflect the past, and in turn, it serves to remind us of a past we have lost and can never return to. * In revisiting the design devices that Eisenman used in the design of the Wexner Center for the Arts is has been possible to determine that much of the abstraction of form derives itself from co-related processes. * Initiated by a series of processes which appropriate and manipulate ‘rotate’ the coordinates of the urban and pedestrian, horizontal and vertical, and the past and the present Eisenman produces three very distinctive extensive and intensive operations of shifting, figuring, fragmenting that coalesce into an engaging ecology for the celebration of creative thought. HOUSE VI * In the earlier stage of his career he designed a series of houses, named as house I to house X. His House II, VI and X are most famous projects of his initial ones. * Eisenman, one of the New York Five, designed the house for Mr. and Mrs. Richard Frank between 1972-1975 who found great admiration for the architect’s work despite previously being known as a â€Å"paper architect† and theorist. * By giving Eisenman a chance to put his theories to practice, one of the most famous, and difficult, houses emerged in the United States. * Situated on a flat site in Cornwall, House VI stands its own ground as a sculpture in its surroundings. * The design emerged from a conceptual process that began with a grid. Eisenman manipulated the grid in a way so that the house was divided into four sections and when completed the building itself could be a â€Å"record of the design process.† * Therefore structural elements, were revealed so that the construction process was evident, but not always understood. * Thus, the house became a study between the actual structure and architectural theory. The house was effeciently constructed using a simple post and beam system. * However some columns or beams play no structural role and are incorporated to enhance the conceptual design. For example one column in the kitchen hovers over the kitchen table, not even touching the ground! In other spaces, beams meet but do not intersect, creating a cluster of supports. * The structure was incorporated into Eisenman’s grid to convey the module that created the interior spaces with a series of planes that slipped through each other. * Purposely ignoring the idea of form following function, Eisenman created spaces that were quirky and well-lit, but rather unconventional to live with. * He made it difficult for the users so that they would have to grow accustom to the architecture and constantly be aware of it. For instance, in the bedroom there is a glass slot in the center of the wall continuing through the floor that divides the room in half, forcing there to be separate beds on either side of the room. * Another curious aspect is an upside down staircase, the element which portrays the axis of the house and is painted red to draw attention. * There are also many other difficult aspects that disrupt conventional living, such as the column hanging over the dinner table that separates diners and the single bathroom that is only accessible through a bedroom. * Eisenman was able to constantly remind the users of the architecture around them and how it affects their lives. * He succeeded in building a structure that functioned both as a house and a work of art, but changing the priority of both so that function followed the art. * He built a home where man was forced to live in a work of art, a sculpture, and according to the clients who enjoyed inhabiting Eisenman’s artwork and poetry, the house was very successful. MICHAEL GRAVES * Michael Graves arrived in Princeton in 1962, when university offered him first ‘real’ job. * He had worked briefly for architect George Nelson in New York before spending two years at American Academy in Rome, a sojourn which was to have the most profound influence on his mature architecture. * Michael Graves and his two firms have received over 200 awards for design excellence in architecture, planning, interior design, product design and graphic design. Graves is the recipient of the 2001 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects. * Michael Graves is considered as one of the five architects, known as ‘New York Five’, which includes (Eisenman, Graves, Meier, Hejduk and Charles Gwathmey.) GRAVES WAREHOUSE RESIDENCE * Michael Graves house in the university town of Princeton, New Jersey, is a highly personal work by an architect best known for large-scale projects. * The residence is being renovated from a ruined warehouse. So Graves often address his house as ‘warehouse’. * Modest in scale and virtually invisible from the public street, the ‘Warehouse’ is nonetheless a symbol of Graves’ passionate belief in an architecture which is both natural and humane. Its quiet grandeur reflects his final rejection of the machine aesthetic of the Modern Movement. * The house is a personal statement and a private retreat, where Graves keep the furniture, pictures, books, sculptures and other objects accumulated during a lifetime of collecting. * Graves like John Soane, sees his house as a place to display his collections, which will one day be available to the interested public. John Soane’s museum house has always been an inspiration for Graves. * The warehouse is an L-shaped building, consisting of a northern wing and an eastern wing. * The original north wing, hidden from the street, had large doors where trucks regularly disgorged loads of household accessories. * The later wing, at right angle, was much narrower. It was here that Graves first made his home. He installed a kitchen and bathroom and lived like a student at first. * In mid eighties with his practice booming, he tackled the northern wing, bringing in other members of his office to assist and began work on the garden. This second phase of work took four years and was followed by a year of work in the kitchen wing. * The formal inauguration of house take place in 1992, when a conference of US Governors took place in Princeton and Graves held a garden party for the Governors’ spouses. EXTERIOR * The exterior has a quiet monumentality, which derives from the vernacular barns and farmhouses of the Italian countryside. * Graves have rejected ‘canonic’ classicism in favour of a freer and more ‘natural’ approach to design and stresses that the house is intended as a practical place to live rather than a monument, despite his long term plans to preserve it and possibly house an archive of his work there. * The elevation of the house cannot be read in terms of conventional classical design. Informal and vernacular in inspiration, they equally have an almost Cubist abstraction which suggests connection with Graves’ earlier houses. * The chimney stack in particular, is a boldly expressed sculptural design. * The unity of house and garden is key theme. Graves seeks an idealized landscape, recalling those he loves to paint in Italy, and planting is subordinated to an overall architectural intent. The warm and slightly irregular texture of the stucco, contributes greatly to the overall effect of the exterior. * Highly sculptural in treatment and rigorous in its exclusion of ornament, the Warehouse looks beyond replication and more genuine ‘traditionalism’. * The entrance court at the house is a dynamic and yet comfortable space, open to the sky and preparing guests for the relatively low and intense entrance hall. * The dining room looks into this space, which has an agreeable ‘inside/out’ quality. INTERIOR LIBRARY * The Library is placed such that it behaves as connecting area between Living room and East garden. * The library has a sense of verticality and highly architectural in treatment, like a street of colonnaded buildings. * Skylight enlightens the volume of the library from the top. WORKSPACE * The house is close to Graves’ office, but he occasionally works in here and keeps a small functional study room on the first floor. * He often expresses himself in the delicate, enigmatic water colours he paints, on his tours. * Study room is lit by the square window on the front wall. LIVING ROOM * Graves’ living room is equally made for comfort rather than mere show. The relatively low floor to ceiling heights in the building – dictated by the original structure – have been cleverly utilized to produce interiors of some intensity. * Alcoves to the living room are distinctly Soanean in form, but reflects the dimension of original store rooms used by Princeton students to store everything from books to grand pianos. * A terra-cotta-colored wall sets off furnishings that range from antiques to chairs designed by Michael Graves. DINING ROOM * The dining room is lit by tall metal framed windows which look onto the courtyard which seems to form a natural extension to the space. * The chimney-piece has an austerity which is more Modernist than Classical. * Many of the accessories in this room were sold as Grand Tour souvenirs a century ago. Michael designed the glass-and-metal centerpiece vessel for Steuben (Manufacturer of handmade art glass and crystal). CONCLUSION * The Warehouse is a highly personal building, which expresses not just Michael Graves, master builder, but equally Graves the sceptic and questioner of orthodoxies, whether modern or ‘traditional’. The house is clearly both modern and traditional. * If its plan is essentially Classical and its use of light and shade specifically Soanean, the easy flow of the spaces and the essential informality of the building provide a reminder of its architect’s roots in the Modern movement * The Warehouse is indeed, a clear statement of a lively traditionalism which remains a powerful strand in contemporary American design. * Its quiet beauty is the work of a man who has played a key role in reshaping the face of architecture in the late twentieth century. DENVER CENTRAL LIBRARY * Michael Graves was commissioned in 1990 to renovate and design an extension to the Denver Central Library. * Sitting adjacent to Denver Art Museum, the Denver Central Library stands as the 8th largest library in the United States. * The 405,000 s.f. addition to the existing library allows for the original building designed by Burnham Hoyt in 1956 to maintain its own identity. * So much so that Graves’ addition and the original library are two parts in a larger composition that are connected by a three story atrium. * The expansive atrium serves as a new main entrance that becomes the main focal point for visitor orientation and circulation to either wing of the library. * For a post-modern building, the interior of the library is fairly conservative when it comes to the decorative aesthetics. * Most of the spaces appear as traditional library spaces composed of natural wood evoking a sense of grandeur and extravagance. * Only in the reading rooms is there any trace of the post-modern aesthetic. * One begins to understand the abstracted colonnades, vaulting, and colorful painting creating more of a fun learning environment rather than a stark, serious library space. * In addition to the extensive literary collections, the library functions as a community gathering space consisting of multipurpose rooms, meeting facilities, shops, a cafà ©, and a special â€Å"museum-like† collection on the American West. * The Denver Central Library sits affixed in Downtown Denver as not only an academic institution, but as part of a larger cultural epicenter. MARITIME EXPERIENTIAL MUSEUM * The Maritime Xperiential Museum is an iconic structure that draws its inspiration from sea-going vessels and thus embodies the stories contained in the exhibits and programs presented inside. * Throughout the day, the shadows and dappled light cast by the ribbed frame will enliven the interior exhibits. * The interactive exhibits and the circular 300-seat Typhoon Theater, provide a wide variety of experiences for visitors. * The exhibit focuses on the maritime Silk Route, which historically stretched from Southeast Asia to Oman. Geographically, Singapore is an important part of this history. * The Museum is set back from the water’s edge by an esplanade with a covered pedestrian loggia that allows visitors to enjoy the view of the mainland across the bay. * At night, when viewed from the water, the glass facade of the Museum will reveal the brightly-lit interior, becoming a beacon on the water and a landmark on the horizon. * West of the Museum, a small marina will display examples of sailing vessels, a tourist attraction in its own right, which lends an air of authenticity to the museum complex. * The Museum and Marina are thematically linked to the adjacent outdoor Marine Life Park and form a rich tourist experience focused on the sea, marine life and maritime experiences. * Along the waterfront at the base of Universal Plaza is the Showplace Theater, with large stone steps creating a seating area for 2,000 people. * With views across the bay to the main island, this is the location of the Crane Dance, a nightly sound and light show in the water that epitomizes the fun and drama of Resorts World.