Amy Tan and Functionalism Essay

This essay will explore the real life of Amy Tan and the translation of her life through her large body of work. The research will not only involve biographical information but quotes from her books as they relate to her life and the influence of Asian culture on those works as well as her life. The works that will be focused on in this essay will The Joy Luck Club and other others. The main development of the essay will be based upon the comparing qualities found in The Joy Luck Club. This essay will be partly analytical and partly research based in its design. Amy Tan’s work, though broad in theme will usually bear the relationship of the mother-daughter paradigm in the weight of the story incorporating a functionalist theory. Cognitive processes performed by the brain allow for construction of an internal model of reality from the sensory data. This also coincides with consensual reality or perceived reality which is the function of the normal processes of the brain. Sensory perception is a crux by which cognitive science develops its theories. As such, the mind is in a continuous learning equation. The brain chronically categorizes representations of reality (objects, feelings, events, etc) and learns how to problem solve, and compute these different sensory receptions. This is a self-organizing process by which the mind acts like a computer and stores information from sensory events into a coded mechanism. Amy Tan writes about the way in which an Asian woman grows up in a Western culture and the effects of this on the mother-daughter relationship. Thus, not only is the theme of the familial relationship relevant but also the theme of the first generation Asian American important. Especially in the novel The Joy Luck Club the view of Asian values as they are pitted against Western culture is examined, just as in Amy Tan’s life, such issues were relevant. Tan’s novels peak with relevance to the negotiation of the characters toward their assimilation into Western society †¦Asian American culture emerges out of the contradictions of Asian immigration, which in the last century and a half of Asian entry into the United States have placed Asians within the United States nation-state, its workplaces, and its markets, yet linguistically, culturally and racially marked Asians as foreign and outside the national polity. Under such contradictions, late nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants labored in mining agriculture, and railroad construction but were excluded from citizenship and political participations in the state†¦By insisting on Asian American formation as contradictory, and therefore as dialectical and critical†¦while immigration has been the locus of legal and political restriction of Asians as the other in America, immigration has simultaneously been the site fro the emergence of critical negations of the nation-state for which those legislations are the expression†¦The national institutionalization of unity becomes the measure of the nation’s condition of heterogeneity. If the nation proposes American culture as the key site for ht resolution of inequalities and stratifications that cannot be resoled on the political terrain of representative democracy, then that culture performs that reconciliation by naturalizing a universality that exempts the non-American from its history or aestheticizes ethnic differences as if they could be separated form history (Lowe 11). Asian Americans are prone to negotiation and this interaction between cultures as well as between generations is especially prevalent in The Joy Luck Club as it relates to Tan’s life. In the context of this process is the history of Tan’s own life. She was a first generation Asian American born in Oakland California. Her parents were Chinese immigrants. Her father was a Baptist minister and her mother was a Shanghai nurse. When Tan was fourteen years old, her father as well as her elder brother died of brain tumors. After the death of the figurehead of the family and the brother, Tan, her mother Daisy and the younger brother Peter moved to Montreux, Switzerland. As Tan grew older she began to realize the great gap that existed between herself and her mother due to their difference in culture. As Tan grew up she realized that there was much tension between herself and her mother. Tan eventually moved away from home and gained her master’s degree in linguistics at San Jose State University. Tan’s first job was as a children’s speech therapist. Within the context of Tan’s writing there exists these elements of her life; integration, acceptance, alienation both in terms of culture and through this culture of familial ties. The ideal behind the immigration to America is extrapolated in her novels as a way of achieving the American dream. This issue is brought subtly to the foreground by way of the parents’ expectations of their children and the children’s noncompliance to these wishes, a sort of shucking off of the parents’ ideal for the children’s own interest, Although ‘Asian values’ have continued to define the material success of Asian Americans in American culture and society since the 1980’s, these values have equally been deployed to suggest the inability of Asian Americans to embrace the American Dream, a problem that would culminate in the myth of ‘perpetual foreigner. ’†¦the history of Asians in America can be fully understood only if we regard them as both immigrants and members of nonwhite minority groups precisely because Asian Americans have never been completely absorbed into American society and its body politic (Shu 93). Thus, Tan’s novels, as juxtaposed with her life emphasize the alienation first generation Asian Americans deal with as being ostracized from either culture, Culture is the medium of the present—the imagined equivalences and identifications through which the individual invents lived relationship with the national collective. But it is simultaneously the site that mediates the past, through whih history is grasped as difference, as fragments, shocks, and flashes of disjunction. It is through culture that the subject becomes, acts, and speaks itself as American. It is likewise in culture that individuals and collectivities struggle and remember, and in that difficult remembering, imagine and practice both subject and community differently (Lowe 10). In Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club the main attraction for readers resides in the focus of the four main Chinese-American families. These families unite in the club they formed called The Joy Luck Club in which the mothers, and towards the end of the novel the daughters play the Chinese game Mahjong for money while also partaking of a myriad of Chinese dishes. In fact, Tan brings a lot of Chinese culture into her stories through food. The novel is written in a vignettes style in which the characters lives are portrayed in sixteen chapters divided into four sections where the narrative is dedicated to both the mother and the daughter. The beginning of the novel begins with Jing-Mei or ‘June’ who has at this point lost her mother Suyuan to an aneurysm. The Joy Luck Club requests that June take the place of her mother at their game. This begins the novel in a fashion of exploration and a journey in which June discovers who her mother was and thereby finds her own identity through her mother on behalf of the information gleaned from Suyuan’s friends. This topic of finding the self through the mother relates to Tan’s own life and her relationship with her mother. This is also a cultural issue in which the daughter denies her heritage, in this case both Tan and June, and only through this journey of discovering who the mother is does the daughter begin to understand her own self, In contrast, the cultural productions emerging out of the contradictions of immigrant marginality displace the fiction of reconciliation, disrupt the myth of national identity by revealing its gaps and fissures, an intervene in the narrative of national development that would illegitimately locate the immigrant before history, or exempt the immigrant from history. The universals proposed by the political and cultural forms of the nation precisely generate the critical acts that negate those universals. These acts compose the agency of Asian immigrants and Asian Americas: the acts of labor, resistance, memory, and survival as well as the politicized cultural work that emerges from dislocation and disidentification. Asian immigrants and Asian Americans have not only been subject to immigration exclusion and restriction, but have also been subjects of the migration process and are agents of political change, cultural expression, and social transformation (Lowe 11-12). Tan’s novels also focus on the American dream as it is reinterpreted by her characters. Tan’s use of culture as it applies to the characters is also applicable through the identity of being an immigrant. The loss of self through the loss of culture becomes a very viable source of depression for the characters in the novel just as Tan wrote that her own family suffered from this disease. Depression is prevalent with the daughters of the novel in struggling to find their identity and for June in finding out who her mother was as a person and as a mother. The novel deals greatly in behind the scene actions and events that are not revealed to the protagonist until the right time toward the end of the novel. In a way the old adage of a woman not becoming a woman until the death of her mother plays a specific role in this novel just as it does for Tan’s life. When June’s mother dies June must take on her mother’s responsibilities in the Joy Luck Club and in a way become her mother for these women. It is in this position that June learns of Suyuan’s life before being a mother just as much as she is an identity as a mother. Tan stated that her mother Daisy witnessed her mother’s suicide. This theme was emphasized in The Bonesetter’s Daughter when the mother tried to contact Precious Auntie. The form of contact that June clutches to in The Joy Luck Club is found in Suyuan’s circle of friends My father has asked me to be the fourth corner at the Joy Luck Club. I am to replace my mother whose seat at the mah jong table has been empty since she died two months ago. My father thinks she was killed by her own thoughts†¦My mother could sense that the women of these families also had unspeakable tragedies they left behind in China and hopes they couldn’t begin to express in their fragile English. Or at least, my mother recognized the numbness in these women’s faces. And she saw how quickly their eyes moved as she told them her idea for the Joy Luck Club (Tan 19-20). The pressure that mother insists upon the daughter is prevalent in Tan’s live as well as it is presented in the lives of her characters, especially June. There is a theme concurrent with this idea of memory, escape and eventual recognition in The Joy Luck Club which persists with the image and symbolism of the piano. Jing-mei’s mother Mrs. Woo insists that Jing-mei is a musical prodigy but during her debut recital both mother and daughter realize how bad she is at playing the instrument. As a result of this terrible recital Jing-mei shouts at her mother that she wishes she had never been born, that she were dead like those twins Mrs. Woo had to abandon. The mother then backs off and allows Jing-mei to forget about the piano. Later in the story the piano is given to Jing-mei as a thirtieth birthday presents and in this gift Jing-mei realizes that her mother only wanted her to find something worthwhile in her life. The gift of the piano reminds Jing-mei of the daughters that her mother had to leave behind, however, it is only after her mother’s death that Jing-mei can come to accept the gift of the piano. As she plays the piano Tan’s underlying theme becomes refocused on the American Dream translated into Chinese culture. Jing-mei’s mother wanted her to make something of herself, hence the piano. In Jing-mei’s ugly comment about wanting to be dead like her twin sisters the reader realizes that this is a metaphorical death, that Jing-mei is realizing that she is the product of a Chinese household but with ever growing dreams persuade by Western culture. Jing-mei eventually goes to China to meet with her twin sisters and in so doing she becomes reunited with her mother in the stories that she must give them, but all is revealed in that initial hug between the sisters. The mother’s children unite thereby uniting the family after so many years dislocated. In this way Tan’s focus is one of Diaspora, in the lack of home and the journey emotionally, spiritually and physically that each character in The Joy Luck Club must undertake to come to recognition with their identity, as Asian Americans, immigrants, products of a cultural dichotomy and as daughters and mothers, Tan also explores the effect of popular culture on the immigrant. Mrs. Woo gets her ideas from television and popular magazines. She does not question the validity of these sources. The magazines range from the bizarre—Ripley’s Believe It or Not—to the commonplace—Good Housekeeping and Reader’s Digest. Everything has been predigested for mass consumption (Shu 93). This predigested concept elicits for Tan the idea of self as seen through culture. The mother in this passage is seeking to redefine and assimilate into a culture for which she is ill designed. The theme then, as it was for Tan who was a first generation Asian American who later moved to Switzerland and then back to the San Francisco Bay area, is this idea of relocation, Diaspora. Through this concept of Diaspora through Tan’s novels it is easy to understand the psyche of her characters in relation to her own sentiments about life, immigration, identity as they in turn relate back, each of them, to the mother and daughter relationship. These forced concepts of becoming a woman and struggling with identity as it pertains to these outside forces is a daunting realization for each other Tan’s characters as it must have been difficult for her to define her life growing up a first generation Asian American. Amy Tan’s talent for writing is based on her affiliation with true life events which is a very functionalist way to write. Thus, when she writes her fiction novels she is also writing in part her biography as the thoughts of the characters are revealed to be strikingly similar to the sentiments that Tan must have felt growing up and finding out the history of her own mother who witnessed her mother’s suicide. Through the incorporation of these personal thoughts there is also the element in this way of thinking that focuses on Asian culture. The concept of the immigrant as it applies to Western culture is inclusive of being ostracized. Thus, the characters in Tan’s novels are in search of identity; identity as it relates to the dichotomy of Asian and Western culture, mother-daughter relationships, and the self. Through the arrival of the mother’s past revealed to the daughters in each of Tan’s novel, the daughter comes to an epiphany. The daughter realizes that she is her mother in part, and that is where her home is found. Thus, Tan is able to transfer this personal quest of self in the novel, as well as her real life, into the notion of the self being identified through the struggle of the mother for the daughter and the sacrifice therein. This concept is proved especially with June’s character, but for Tan , the idea of the mother defining the daughter is constant. Work Cited Lowe, Lisa. â€Å"The Power of Culture†. Journal of Asian American Studies. Vol. 1, No. 1. 1996. Shu, Yuan. â€Å"Globalization and ‘Asian Values’: Teaching and Theorizing Asian American Literature. † College Literature. Vol. 32, No. 1. Winter 2005. Tan, Amy. â€Å"The Joy Luck Club†. Putnam. 1989. Tan, Amy. â€Å"The Bonesetter’s Daughter. † Putnam. 2001.

Fool Chapter 18

EIGHTEEN KITTEN'S CLAWS We entered Castle Gloucester in stealth, which does not suit me, as you might guess. I am better suited to entering a room with a series of somersaults, a clack-stick, rude noise, and a â€Å"top o' the mornin' to ye, tossers!† I'm fitted out in bells and puppets, for fuck's sake. All this sneaking and subterfuge was wearing on me. I followed the Earl of Gloucester through a secret hatch in the stable and into a tunnel that passed under the moat. We waded through a foot of cold water in the dark, making for a slosh in my step as well as a jingle. I'd never fit Drool through the narrow passage, even if I could chase the dark with a torch. The tunnel opened through another hatch in the floor of the dungeon. The earl took his leave in the very torture chamber where I had met Regan. â€Å"I'm off to arrange the passage for your master to Dover, fool. I still have a few servants who are true to me.† I felt indebted to the old man for helping me into the castle, especially given his former bitterness toward me. â€Å"Steer clear of the bastard, your grace. I know he is your favored son, but not rightly so. He's a villain.† â€Å"Don't disparage Edmund, fool. I know your conniving ways. Only last evening he stood with me in protest against Cornwall's treatment of the king.† I could tell Gloucester about the letter I'd forged in Edgar's hand, about the bastard's plan to usurp his brother, but what could he do? Likely he'd storm into Edmund's quarters and the bastard would murder him on the spot. â€Å"Right, then,† said I. â€Å"Be careful, my lord. Cornwall and Regan are a four-fanged viper, and if they should turn their venom on Edmund, you must let him go. Do not come to his aid, lest you, too, are scratched with poisonous pricks.† â€Å"My last true son. Shame on you, fool,† said the earl. He scoffed and hurried out of the dungeon and up the stairs. I thought to prevail upon one god or another to protect the old man, but if the gods were working in my favor, they would continue unbidden, and if they opposed, there was no need to alert them to my cause. It pained me, but I took off my shoes and hat and tucked them into my jerkin to still the bells. Jones had remained back at the hovel with Lear. The laundry lay in the lower levels of the castle, so I made my way there first. The laundress with the aforementioned knockers of the smashing persuasion was hanging a basketload of shirts by the fire when I entered. â€Å"Where's Drool, love?† I asked. â€Å"Hidden,† she said. â€Å"I know he's bloody hidden, otherwise asking would have been superfluous, wouldn't it?† â€Å"Just want me to give him up, then? How do I know you're not out to kill him? That old knight who brought him here said not to let anyone know where he was.† â€Å"But I'm here to get him out of the castle. Rescue him, as it were.† â€Å"Aye, you say that, but – â€Å" â€Å"Listen, you bloody tart, give up the git!† â€Å"Emma,† said the laundress. I sat down on the hearth and rested my head in my hands. â€Å"Love, I've spent the night in a storm with a witch and two raving nutters. I've a brace of wars to see to, as well as the summary violation of two princesses and consequent cuckolding of a pair of dukes. I'm heartbroken, aggrieved for the loss of a friend, and the great drooling lummox that is my apprentice is evidently wandering the castle in search of a mortal chest wound. Pity a fool, love – another non sequitur may dash my brittle sanity to splinters.† â€Å"My name is Emma,† said the laundress. â€Å"I'm right here, Pocket,† said Drool, standing up in the great cauldron. A pile of laundry on his head had been concealing his great empty melon as he lurked in the water. â€Å"Knockers hided me. She's a love.† â€Å"You see,† said Emma. â€Å"He keeps calling me Knockers.† â€Å"It's a compliment, love.† â€Å"It's disrespectful,† she said. â€Å"My name's Emma.† I will never understand women. The laundress, it would seem, dressed in a manner that accentuated, indeed, celebrated her bosoms – a tightly cinched waist pushing bits up until they bloomed out of a swooping neckline – yet a chap notices and the lady takes offense. I will never understand it. â€Å"You know he's a complete nitwit, don't you, Emma?† â€Å"Just the same.† â€Å"Fine. Drool, apologize to Emma for saying how smashing her knockers are.† â€Å"Sorry about your knockers,† said Drool, bowing his head so his laundry hat dropped back into the drink. â€Å"Satisfied, Emma?† I asked. â€Å"I suppose.† â€Å"Good. Now, do you know where Captain Curan, the commander of King Lear's knights might be?† â€Å"Oh yes,† said Emma. â€Å"Lord Edmund and the duke consulted me this morning on all the military matters, as they are wont to do – me being a laundress and having access to all the best bloody tactics and strategies and the lot.† â€Å"Sarcasm will make your tits fall off,† said I. â€Å"Will not,† said she, her arm going to a support position. â€Å"It's a known fact,† I said, nodding earnestly, then looking to Drool, who also nodded earnestly and said, â€Å"It's a known fact,† note for note in my voice. â€Å"That's bloody spooky.† Emma shuddered. â€Å"You lot can get out of my laundry.† â€Å"Very well, then,† said I. I motioned for Drool to climb out of the cauldron. â€Å"I thank you for looking after the Natural, Emma. I wish there were something I could – â€Å" â€Å"Kill Edmund,† she said. â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"The son of a guild builder were going to marry me before I came to work here. A respected man. Edmund took me against my will and bragged about it in the village. My lad wouldn't have me then. No one worth his salt will have me, except the bastard, and him whenever he wants. ‘Tis Edmund who commanded that I wear this low frock. Says he'll set me out with the pigs if I don't give him service. Kill him for me.† â€Å"But lass, I'm just a fool. A clown. A small one at that.† â€Å"There's more to you than that, you black-hatted rascal. I've seen them wicked daggers at your back, and I can see who's pulling the strings round this castle, and it ain't the duke or the old king. Kill the bastard.† â€Å"Edmund beated me,† said Drool. â€Å"And she do have smashing knockers.† â€Å"Drool!† â€Å"Well, she do.† â€Å"All right, then,† said I, taking the laundress's hand. â€Å"But in time. We've things to accomplish first.† I bowed over her hand, kissed it, then turned on my heel and padded barefoot out of the laundry to set history. â€Å"Heinous fuckery,† Drool whispered to the laundress with a wink. I hid Drool in the gatehouse among the heavy chains that I had used for my escape when I pursued Lear into the storm. Getting the lummox up on the wall and to the gatehouse undetected was no small task, and he left a dripping trail on the stones until we gained the castle exterior, but the guard was light in the tempest, so most of the way we went across the top of the walls unseen. My feet felt as if they'd been set in ice by the time I came back in to a fire, but there was no other way. Drool in the tight space of the secret tunnel, with his fear of the dark was not something I would wish on an enemy. I found a woolen blanket and wrapped the lout in it to await my return. â€Å"Guard my shoes and my satchel, Drool.† I made my way, dodging from nook to cranny, through the kitchen, to the servants' entrance into the great hall, hoping I might get a moment with Regan there. The hall's massive fireplace would be an enticement for the princess on such a frigid day, for as much as she took to the activities of a dungeon, she was drawn to heat like a cat. Because Castle Gloucester had no curtain wall, even the great hall was fitted with arrow loops, so the edifice might be defended at all levels from an attack by water. The arrow loops, while shuttered, were notoriously drafty, so arrases[40] were hung over the alcoves against the wind – the perfect place for a fool to watch, warm himself, and find his moment. I slipped into the room behind a brace of serving girls and into the alcove nearest the fireplace. She was there, by the fire, in a heavy, hooded, black fur robe, only her face revealed to the world. I pulled the tapestry aside and was about to call to her when the latch was thrown on the hall's main doors and the Duke of Cornwall entered, wearing his usual finery with the red lion crest on his chest, but more pointedly, Lear's crown – the one the old man had thrown on the table that fateful night at the White Tower. Even Regan seemed startled to see it on the head of her husband. â€Å"My lord, is it prudent to wear the crown of Britain when our sister is still in the castle?† â€Å"Right, right, we must keep up appearances as if we don't know that Albany raises an army against us.† Cornwall took the crown off and hid it under a cushion by the hearth. â€Å"I am to meet Edmund here and lay a plan for the duke's undoing. One hopes that your sister can be kept out of harm's way.† Regan shrugged. â€Å"If she throws herself under destiny's hooves, who are we to save her brains from being pulped?† Cornwall took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. Oh lady, thought I, push him away lest you debase your lovely lips with villainy. Then it occurred to me, and perhaps rather later than it should have, that she would no more taste villainy than a garlic eater will taste the stinking rose on another. The lady had evil on her breath already. Even as the duke held her tight and professed his adoration of her, she wiped her mouth on her sleeve behind his back. She pushed the duke away when the bastard Edmund entered the hall. â€Å"My lord,† said Edmund, only nodding to Regan. â€Å"Our plans for Albany must be delayed. Look at this letter.† The duke took the parchment from Edmund. â€Å"What?† said Regan. â€Å"What, what, what?† â€Å"France has landed forces. He knows of unrest between ourselves and Albany and has hidden forces in coastal cities all over Britain.† Regan snatched the parchment out of Cornwall's hand and read it for herself. â€Å"This is addressed to Gloucester.† Edmund bowed in false contrition. â€Å"Aye, milady, I found it in his closet and brought it here as soon as I saw its contents.† â€Å"Guard!† called Cornwall. The great doors opened and a soldier looked in. â€Å"Bring me the Earl of Gloucester. Give no deference to his title, he is a traitor.† I looked for a way back to the kitchen, to perhaps find Gloucester and warn him of the bastard's treachery, but Edmund faced the alcove where I was hiding and there was no getting out undiscovered. I opened the shutter to the arrow loop. Even if I could manage to wiggle through it, the wall was a sheer drop to the lake below. I palmed the shutter closed and latched it. The latch on the main doors clanked again and I returned to the gap between the wall and the tapestry, from which I saw Goneril enter, trailed by two soldiers who held Gloucester by the arms. The old man looked as if he had given up already and hung between the soldiers like a drowned man. â€Å"Hang him,† said Regan, turning to warm her hands by the fire. â€Å"What is this?† said Goneril. Cornwall handed her the letter and stood looking over her shoulder while she read. â€Å"Pluck out his eyes,† she said, making an effort not to look at Gloucester. Cornwall took the letter gently from her hand and put his hand on her shoulder in brotherly support. â€Å"Leave him to our displeasure, sister. Edmund, keep our sister company and see her safely home. Lady, tell your duke we must unite against this foreign force. We'll send dispatches quickly between us. Go now, Earl of Gloucester, you do not want to see the dealings with this traitor.† Edmund couldn't conceal a smile upon being addressed by the title he had lusted after for so many years. â€Å"I will,† said Edmund. He offered his arm to Goneril, who took it. They started out of the hall. â€Å"No!† said Regan. Everyone stopped. Cornwall stepped between Regan and her sister. â€Å"Lady, now is the time when we must all be united against the foreign power.† Regan gritted her teeth and turned back to the fire, waving them away. â€Å"Go.† Edmund and Goneril left the hall. â€Å"Bind him to that chair, then leave us,† Cornwall commanded his soldiers. They tied the old earl to a heavy chair and stood back. â€Å"You are my guests,† said Gloucester. â€Å"Do me no foul play.† â€Å"Filthy traitor,† said Regan. She took the letter from her husband and threw it in the old man's face. She grabbed a pinch of Gloucester's beard and yanked it out. The earl yowled. â€Å"So white, and such a traitor,† she said. â€Å"I am no traitor. I am loyal to my king.† She pulled another pinch from his beard. â€Å"What letters do you have late from France? What is their plan?† Gloucester looked at the parchment on the floor. â€Å"I have only that.† Cornwall charged up to Gloucester and pulled the old man's head back by the back of his hair. â€Å"Speak now, to whose hands have you sent the lunatic king? We know you've sent him aid.† â€Å"To Dover. I sent him to Dover. Only a few hours ago.† â€Å"Why Dover?† said Regan. â€Å"Because I would not see your cruel nails pluck out his old eyes or your sister tear his flesh with her boarish fangs. Because there are those who would care for him there. Not put him out in the storm.† â€Å"He lies,† said Regan. â€Å"There's a smashing torture chamber in the dungeon, shall we?† But Cornwall would not wait. In a second he was sitting astraddle the old man and was digging his thumb into Gloucester's eye socket. Gloucester screamed until his voice broke and there was a sickening pop. I reached for one of my throwing daggers. The main door to the hall cracked and heads popped up in the stairwell from the kitchen. â€Å"Why Dover?† said Regan. â€Å"Thou carrion bird!† said Gloucester with a cough. â€Å"Thou she-devil, I'll not say.† â€Å"Then you'll not see light again,† said Cornwall, and he was on the old man again. I would not have it. I drew back my dagger to cast it, but before I could, a band like ice encircled my wrist and I looked to see the girl ghost right beside me, staying my throw, in fact, paralyzing me. I could move only my eyes to look back on the horror playing out in the great hall. Suddenly a boy brandishing a long butcher knife ran out of the kitchen stairwell and leapt on the duke. Cornwall stood and tried to draw his sword, but could not get it clear of the scabbard before the boy was on him, plunging the knife into his side. As the lad pulled back to stab again Regan drew a dagger from the sleeve of her robe and plunged it into the boy's neck, then stepped back from the spray of blood. The boy clawed at his neck and fell. â€Å"Away!† Regan shrieked, waving the dagger at the servants in the kitchen stairwell and the main door and they all disappeared like frightened mice. Cornwall climbed unsteadily to his feet and plunged his sword into the boy's heart. Then he sheathed his sword and felt his side. His hand came away bloody. â€Å"Serves you right, you scurvy vermin,† said Gloucester. With that Cornwall was on him again. â€Å"Out, foul jelly!† he shouted, digging his thumb into the earl's good eye, but in that instant Regan's dagger snapped down and took the eye. â€Å"Don't trouble yourself, my lord.† Gloucester passed out then from the pain and hung limp in his bonds. Cornwall stood and kicked the old man's chest, knocking him over backward. The duke looked on Regan with adoring eyes, filled with the warmth and affection that can only come from watching your wife dirk another man's eye out on your behalf, evidently. â€Å"Your wound?† said Regan. Cornwall held his arm out to his wife and she walked into his embrace. â€Å"It glanced across my ribs. I'll bleed some and it pains me, but if bound, it'll not be mortal.† â€Å"Pity,† said Regan, and she plunged her dagger under his sternum and held it as his heart's blood poured over her snowy-white hand. The duke seemed somewhat surprised. â€Å"Bugger,† he said, then he fell. Regan wiped her dagger and her hands on his tunic. She sheathed the blade in her sleeve, then went to the cushion where Cornwall had hidden her father's crown, pulled back her hood, and fitted it on her head. â€Å"Well, Pocket,† said the Duchess, without turning to the alcove where I was hidden. â€Å"How does it fit?† I was somewhat surprised (although somewhat less so than the duke). The ghost released me then, and I stood behind the tapestry, my knife still poised for the throw. â€Å"You'll grow into it, kitten,† said I. She looked to my alcove and grinned. â€Å"Yes, I will, won't I? Did you want something?† â€Å"Let the old man go,† I said. â€Å"King Jeff of France has landed his army at Dover, that's why Gloucester sent Lear there. You'd be wise to set a camp farther south. Rally your forces, with Edmund's and Albany's at the White Tower, perhaps.† The great doors creaked and a head peeked in, a helmeted soldier. â€Å"Send for a physician,† Regan called, trying to sound distressed. â€Å"My lord has been wounded. Throw his attacker on the dung heap and cast this traitor out the front gate. He can smell his way to Dover and his decrepit king.† In a moment the chamber was filled with soldiers and servants and Regan walked out, casting one last look and a sly smile to my hiding place. I have no idea why she left me alive. I suspect it's because she still fancied me. I slipped out through the kitchen and made my way back to the gatehouse. The ghost stood over Drool, who was cowering under his blanket in the corner. â€Å"Come on, you lovely brute, give us a proper snog.† â€Å"Leave him be, wisp!† said I, although she was nearly as solid as a mortal woman. â€Å"Balls up[41] your jaunty murdering for the day, did I, fool?† â€Å"I might have saved the old man's second eye.† â€Å"You wouldn't have.† â€Å"I might have sent Regan to join her duke in whatever hell he inhabits.† â€Å"No, you wouldn't have.† Then she held up a ghostly finger, cleared her throat, and rhymed: â€Å"When a second sibling's base derision, Proffers lies that cloud the vision, And severs ties that families bind, Shall a madman rise to lead the blind.† â€Å"You've said that one, already.† â€Å"I know. Bit prematurely, too. Sorry. I think you'll find it much more relevant now. Even a slow git like yourself can solve the riddle now, I reckon.† â€Å"Or you could just fucking tell me what it means,† said I. â€Å"Sorry, can't do it. Ghostly mystery and whatnot. Ta.† And with that she faded away through the stone wall. â€Å"I dinna shag the ghost, Pocket,† wailed Drool. â€Å"I dinna shag her.† â€Å"I know, lad. She's gone. Get up now, we've got to monkey down the drawbridge chains and find the blind earl.†

The native american problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The native american problem - Essay Example The Native American has been ridiculed through stereotypes like dirty and savage. For instance, there have been programs aimed that forcing the red Indians from the ancestral lands that they held with high regard for serving cultural and traditional purposes. Many factors contributed to the Native American problem amidst challenges facing the native occupants like poor health, fewer job opportunities, and housing problems among others. The Spanish Native Americans have also been a subject of the Native American problem. Christopher Columbus conquered the natives who were living on Santo Domingo and was also the discoverer of New World which according the natives, was the world they lived (Templeton 1). Christopher Columbus is thus the pioneer to current Native American problem since he kidnaped some Spaniards in the Santo Domingo and took them back with him to Spain. However, the destruction of the colony and killing of the Tainos shows how the rest of perceived the natives of low regards. In this case, the Spanish had oppressed and enslaved the Native Americans in their ancestral lands. History holds that discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus led to killings of many Native Americans, since they wanted the tribes wiped out (Templeton 1). History holds that the French were a bit lenient to the Native Americans since they ensured that there existed a mutual relationship with tribes. The French had come to America mainly to trade in fur, an activity that was common with the natives. The movie Black Robe shows the good relationship between French and the Native Americans where the French tried to convert red Indians to Catholicism (Templeton 1). The Indians were a bit smarter and the French presumed they were a valuable community. History holds that the English were major mixed reactions to the natives or the tribes in America, and they had less contact with the natives. In this case, the English had less to do with

The Walt Disney Company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Walt Disney Company - Research Paper Example The company was later reincorporated in 1929 as Walt Disney Productions, Ltd, and it became a publicly-traded company in 1938. The company became a leading American animation industry before it was diversified into live-action film production, television, and travel. The Walt Disney Company is well known for its Walt Disney Pictures Group and presently it is one of the leading studios in Hollywood. The Walt Disney has formed a $7 billion agreement with Pixar Animation Studios where Steve Jobs is the Chief Executive Officer and 50.6% owner. On the strength of this deal, Jobs will become the largest shareholder at Disney and acquire a major position in its director board. This alliance ensures the collaborated business operation of both Pixar and Disney animation studios. Management experts opine that this acquisition would assist the Disney to continue its dominance in American animation industry. Presently, both the Disney and Pixar possess considerable managerial strengths which off er prosperous future for the integrated operations. This paper will evaluate the scope of the Disney-Pixar alliance by focusing more on different aspects of this acquisition strategy. Steve Jobs’ influence on Walt Disney Steve Jobs who is blessed with an innovative brain is the co-founder of Apple Inc; whereas, the Disney has already gained a good stature among its customers across the globe. The case study indicates that the Disney’s long run success can be mainly attributed to its value creation through diversification. The company’s three dimensional corporate strategies include horizontal and geographic expansion as well as vertical integration. When the Disney takes advantages of all available expansional opportunities or choices of businesses, Steve Jobs tries to develop new products in accordance with changing market interests. Hence, Disney’s repute and Jobs’ technical expertise together would assist the Walt Disney to achieve infinite heig hts in market. On the strength of Job’s long years’ experience in technological innovation, the Disney can minimize its research and development costs to a large extent. In addition, this strategic alliance would assist the Disney to reduce the intensity of market competition and the situation may add value to the company’s future vision and strategies. As Mungenast (2007) points out, the Pixar Animation Studios also possess a series of competitive strengths including CGI-animate feature films developed with PhotoRealistic RenderMan that generates high quality images (p.9). Therefore, the planned acquisition may assist the Disney to increase the number of its potential customer groups. It is known to everyone that Jobs’ relentless effort was the only factor that lifted Pixar and Apple sky-high. If he can bring his innovativeness to this new venture, he will uplift the staid company to a leading laboratory for media convergence. Management of Digital Age C orporation After his astounding success in Apple and Pixar, Steve Jobs sets a new bar for how to manage a Digital Age corporation. As music, movies, and photography go digital, customer interests have switched from complex product structures to elegant simple devices. From the case study, it is clear that Jobs in an obsessive perfectionist who demands total control over each and every aspect of product, from hardware and software to its applications. Jobs’ efficient leadership also contributes to the effective management of a

Management Accounting Scenarios and Applications Assignment

Management Accounting Scenarios and Applications - Assignment Example In this way, a proper mechanism can be developed which can easily assist the departmental head regarding the cost patterns (Drury, 2006). Variance Analysis Variance Analysis is the next tool which can be used by the departmental heads after the incurrence of actual costs (Drury, 2006). This tool supports the departmental managers as to identify the cost which is actually representing more deviations from the estimated/budgeted/standard cost. Once the cost is identified to have shown deviations, proper investigations should be conducted as to find out the causes of the deviations of that cost. The variance can be either favorable or adverse; however, the departmental heads should investigate both types of variances because at times the favorable variances occur due to using substandard raw materials or other similar issues. By utilizing the above mentioned tools, the departmental heads can easily trace as well as monitor and control the cost patterns of their department. Email 2: The following response is generated to guide Brenda in respect of the equipment to be included in the capital budgeting process: Identification of Cash Flows For any equipment to be included in the capital budgeting process, the first and foremost step of including the particular item is the identification of all possible cash inflows and outflows along with their evaluation (Garrison, 2009). All the equipments have a particular initial outlay followed by the benefits (cash inflows in monitory terms) over its remaining useful life. However, the exact amount of cash inflows to be received is a bit judgmental task and needs careful estimation and forecast. The scenario mentioned in the case, needs a little adjustment as the printing machine to be purchased has a useful life of less than a year. Generally, equipments which are included in the capital budgeting process have a useful life of more than a year and their cash flows are estimated on yearly basis. In this scenario, the situation is a bit different. Here, an adjustment can be made such that a discount factor on monthly basis should be used by Brenda, and the Net Present Value of the printing machine should be calculated on monthly cash flow basis. If the NPV of the printing machine comes in positive figures, then the printing machines should be recommended for the final capital budgeting process. However, in case if the negative figure comes up for NPV, then plan for acquiring the printing machine should be discarded as it is no more feasible for Brenda to exploit the machine in best possible manner (Gupta, 2001). Email 3: Breakeven Quantities This response is presented for Carl’s inquiry regarding the breakeven quantity. Under the existing situation when fuel changes are not added in the cost of the product, the contribution earned is $1.87. However, if the cost of fuel is added, then contribution is decreased to around $1.72. As a result of this change in the cost of the product, the breakeven quant ity to be sold is also changed such that before the increase in the cost, the breakeven quantity is around 445,283 units. However, after the increase in the cost, the breakeven quantity is increased to around 484,116 units. Target Profits Assuming if the company is also interested in earning some profits of let’s say $100,000 then in that case, the company needs to sell some more units so that they can earn this much profit. It can be

MKT Unit 3 IP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

MKT Unit 3 IP - Research Paper Example Organization which can adapt itself with the changing business needs and scenarios are in a greater position to remain sustainable and competitive in the long term. The rise of technology has transformed the global markets in to a single connected entity. As businesses around the world engage in cross border transactions with individuals and other business entities, the issue of security in online financial transactions has gained high importance. This project introduces a new online product, which belongs to the online transaction market. This new product will try to resolve consumer issues faced in regards to existence of high service charges as well as level of security and confidentiality provided by the online transaction service provider. Introduction The world of business today has undergone a significant amount of change as compared to the early decades. Due to the rise of technology and internet, the extent of doing business for organizations as well as individuals comprises of various markets around the world. In the context of engaging business in various markets, the individuals and organizations has to engage in online transfer of high value transactions. As of the recent times, the financial options that are available to facilitate the online money transfer has some strong drawbacks in regards to the financial cap allowed as well as the application of high service charges. ... n as well as effective integration of the various elements of the promotion mix like advertising, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing with the multiple other elements of the marketing mix of the brand like product, place and price (Shimp, 2013, p. 12). It is important to remember that in the context of integrated marketing communication, the AIDA concept holds tremendous importance. The AIDA framework talks about generating awareness, interest, desire and action from the consumers. The various elements of the communication mix like advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, public relations campaign as well as personal selling helps the marketer in implementing the AIDA concept for the purpose of value communication of their product or service. In the course of discussing the aspects of integrated marketing communications, each of the elements will be explained in details while weighing their respective pros and cons. Advertising Advertising is a paid and mediat ed form of communication which originates from a reliable and identifiable source, whose responsibility comprises of generating consumer interest or consumer action in regards to the value offered through the product or service (Shimp, 2010, p. 182). Advertising in the modern day world can happen through the traditional channels like the print and electronic media as well as through the digitized channels like the internet and online social media. Since the channels of advertising have become diversified in nature with the advancement of technology, so the advantages and disadvantages of advertising has to be evaluated in a separate case by case basis. While judging the advantage of traditional channels like the print and electronic media, the factor of geographical selection, content

A mere stream of unconnected representations could not be called Essay

A mere stream of unconnected representations could not be called knowledge. As Kant puts it These perceptions would not then - Essay Example Therefore, Immanuel Kant implied that all posteriori judgments are because experience alone cannot be used to comprehend the meaning of something. It only means some judgments but not all synthetic judgments can be said to be posteriori since geometrical and mathematical judgments cannot be based on experience. This is because, they could not have been known from senses or experience. Kant consents that it is right for rationalists to argue that we know what we know or about things in this world with reason or certainty while empiricists are also correct by stating that such knowledge attained by certainty cannot be limited to truths by definitions nor cannot it be offered by experience. Instead, Kant argues that we know and understand about the world as we experience it in accordance with the unchanging and universally shared frame of mind. We reason or think about the world in terms of space, categories (like cause and effect), time, possibility, reality, and substance. That is to say that whatever people think or reason, they ought to think about it in certain manner (For instance, as having existing or not existing), not because that is the manner in which the world is, but instead that is the way that our brain or mind command experience. (Dicker, 2004). In sum, Kant argued that we cannot claim to have knowledge without sensation but sense alone cannot offer knowledge either. People cannot clam to know things about the world not because we go outside our mind to compare and contrast what we experience with reality outside it but instead, the world we know is already structured and organized according to certain innate pattern that is the human brain or mind. Knowledge is possible due to the fact that it is about how things appear to us in this world and not about how things are made. Therefore, reason offers us the form or structure of what we know while the senses on the other hand, offer the content or information. Kant arguments were that we can claim t o know about things we experience and structure in terms of mind’s form. For instance, soul or God and metaphysics cannot be claimed to known because we have not experienced them. In addition, Kant’s philosophies on theory of knowledge were that we would not be in a position to know if our concepts about the world are real or true. Further, it implies that we have to redefine what is true as that which we experience instead of that which senses or experience presents (Ameriks, 2003). In simple terms, Kant meant that human beings are limited to things as they appear thus either we will never at one particular point know if our concepts are real or true or if we ought to redefine what truth means. Kant argued that space and time are pure intuitions of human senses while ideas of physics such as inertia and causations are pure intuitions of human understanding. According to Kant, sensory experience is meaningful because the faculty of human sensibility evaluates and analy zes it thus organizing it in a coherent manner of space and time. These intuitions are the where human beings obtain mathematical knowledge (Gardner, 1999). Events that occur in time and space would have no meaning if it were not for human comprehension that asses and organizes perceptions and experiences according to notions such as causation which make the tenets of natural science. If space and time are the activities of the mind, then people might wonder what is

Practical Interaction Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Practical Interaction Design - Essay Example 18). HCI is a tool-rich methodological system that provides practicality to most of the established paradigms of artistic and aesthetic studies involving interaction design in its purest sense. Physical interaction design is based on PID. It focuses more on the PID elements such as ideation and familiarity, encompassing the techniques of voice based and/or tools based conversations. Physical interaction design studies are aimed to address the issues which call for usage of some physical form and material contour. These are explicit, objective gadgets which can facilitate or mediate an interaction process. A physical interaction designer must be sensitive towards the usefulness or playfulness of the objects whose physical forms can be used to interpret human gestures. For example, students in Carnegie Mellon and Victoria University of Wellington have created gadgets of paper having objective shape, size and appearance. The gadgets have been built in such a way that they can illustrate the amalgamation of technological knowledge and emotional quotient (see Figure – 1). These gadgets (which are supplied with specialised electronic effectors and receptors) can be programmed to respond towards sound, light, Internet chatting, users’ commands, etc. The responses are expressed as motions. (Baskinger and Gross, 2010) Figure – 1: Designs adaptable with users’ gestures (Baskinger and Gross, 2010, p. 9) Advantages of Physical Interaction Physical interaction design is based on models and gadgets that can respond to the user’s physical gestures. Physical gestures can engage the whole body of the user. Hence, interactive platforms involving physical gestures can be pleasing and interesting. Physical interaction, when synchronised with biometrics and electronics, can help the designers to innovate intelligent exercising machines for enhanced biomedical/biomechanical usage. (Norman, 2010) If aspectual paradigms of physical interactions are e xplored, we can take numerous ideas from existing machines and gadgets. These ideas can be interpreted with more stress on interactivity and uniqueness of design. In 2009, Sobolewska, Smith and Turner partook in a survey-cum-experiment involving a diverse group of students (most of them had undergraduate computing degrees). Each of them was given the task of describing an electronic gadget of his/her choice. In the course of this research, one of the students described a K10D midsized digital SLR as â€Å"very solid† (Sobolewska, Smith and Turner, 2009, p. 95), in which all the openings are sealed to protect the gadget from temperature, dust, etc. Importantly, â€Å"The camera has a large right hand grip, so it’s easy to hold† (Sobolewska, Smith and Turner, 2009, p. 95). This is how the basic paradigm of physical interaction design evolves: The gadget must be made not only easy but also pleasurable and comfortable to handle. Figure – 2: The large right ha nd grip of a K10D digital SLR camera (Adapted from Letsgodigital.org, 2012) Contextually, Baskinger and Gross (2010, p. 9) have illustrated the example of â€Å"Hit Me Interactive† lighting device in their research. This model lamp with LED display instantaneously responds to touch and gestures of hands and fingers (Figure – 3). This sort of gadgets can be used to manufacture convenient and high speed signalling systems. Figure – 3: The Hit Me Interactive device that can be used

Book Report The Disciple Making Church Bill Hull author Essay

Book Report The Disciple Making Church Bill Hull author - Essay Example True, with the many religions making up the society right now, there had been a branched out reasoning as to what Christianity actually pertains to. The doctrines that it posses, according to Millard Erickson, author of the book Introducing Christian Doctrine, Christianity could be identified and assessed. In this Chapter Summary Review, the different points presented through the book of Millard shall be noted so as to give a brief overview of the different parts of the author's understanding of Christianity. Theology, as a primary study of God and his ways has actually affected the society for several years of human civilization already. From generation to generation though, the human knowledge about God also changes. With the emergence of philosophical ideas that govern the human society today, the belief about an existing God has been inevitably considered as an important part of the development of the lives of human today. Such belief even assisted the human generations in becoming concerned with their moral standards in life and the way that they follow such guidelines with the things and situations that they are further expected to deal with in life everyday. From this particular part of the discussion featured by the author, he has mentioned that it is indeed necessary that the human society today be able to recognize the major issues with regards the existence of God thus making them realize how much they are supposed to be affected by the said fact about a more superior persona living beyond their understanding. Along with this, understanding about the Bible is actually the main procedure by which a person could learn much about who God is. Certainly, studying and understanding the Bible is the basis of real and trustworthy foundation of theology. Understanding the Bible is not that easy to do. The context of the entire book stresses a certain deepness that is not that easy to comprehend with. Certainly, the procedure in studying the Bible is then perceived to have more complicated vitalities. How then could an individual understand the Bible without actually going to theological institutions and getting a formal education Are individ ual owners of the Bible given the privilege to understand the Bible Certainly! The Bible is made available and understandable to anybody wanting to gain knowledge from it. Furthermore, the author adds the need to create leaders who would be able to naturally increase the possibility of further making a better ministering process of the churches today. Critical Analysis Understanding the Bible is not that easy to do. The context of the entire book stresses a certain deepness that is not that easy to comprehend with. Certainly, the procedure in studying the Bible is then perceived to have more complicated vitalities. How then could an individual understand the Bible without actually going to theological institutions and getting a formal education Are individual owners of the Bible given the privilege to understand the Bible Certainly! The Bible is made available and understandable to anybody wanting to gain knowledge from it. Elements of Scriptural Convincing Before an individual even starts to study the Bible, he must be primarily convinced that he really believes the principles and the laws that are found in the Bible. How does one assure himself of this truth The following elements shall help him have a

Competitive Antagonism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Competitive Antagonism - Essay Example Here, ACh is the agonist of muscarinic receptors. Mechanism of smooth muscle contraction – When ACh stimulates the G-protein coupled muscarinic receptors, a conformational change occurs, leading to the activation of the G-protein. The activated G-protein activates the intracellular enzyme, PLC (phospholipase C). This enzyme in turn hydrolyses PI(4,5)P2 (phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate). This hydrolysis results in the production of two compounds – DAG (diacylglycerol) and IP3 (inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate). IP3 is soluble and diffuses through the cytosol. It binds to receptors on the endoplasmic reticulum resulting in the release of calcium ions (Ca2+) from the intracellular stores. The rise in intracellular calcium ions results in contraction of the smooth muscle. This happens when the intracellular calcium ions bind to calmodulin and activate it. Activation of calmodulin results in activation of the myosin light-chain kinase (MLCK) enzyme by the calcium-calmodulin complex, which then catalyzes the transfer of ph osphate group from ATP to myosin cross bridges. The phosphorylated myosin cross bridges then interact with actin, causing shortening of the fiber. This results in muscle contraction. The cross-bridge cycle is powered by ATP. Second messenger involved - IP3 (inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate) is the second messenger, as it relays the signal from outside the cell to the inside, resulting in the release of calcium ions that cause muscle contraction. Acetylcholine (ACh) and adrenaline (Ad) are two agonists whose actions are independent of one another and result in opposite effects. Ad brings about the relaxation of pre-contracted smooth muscle by acting via the G-protein coupled ÃŽ ²-adrenergic receptors on the cells. Mechanism of Ad induced relaxation of pre-contracted smooth muscle – Ad binds to the G-protein linked ÃŽ ²-adrenergic receptor causing a conformational change in the G-protein. This activates the enzyme adenylate cyclase.

Binomial and Black and Scholes Pricing models Essay Example for Free

Binomial and Black and Scholes Pricing models Essay The binomial and the Black and Schole models are option valuing models, the Binomial model involves determining the value of options using a tree like format whereby the value of the option is determined by the expiration time period of the option and volatility, for the Black and Schole model the value of options is determined by simply getting a derivative that helps get the discount rates of options. Binomial pricing model: The binomial pricing model was introduced by Ross, Cox and Rubinstein in 1979; it provides a numerical method, in which valuation of options can be undertaken. Application: This model breaks down the option into many potential outcomes during the time period of the option, this steps form a tree like format where by the model assumes that the value of the option will rise or go down, this value is calculated and it is determined by the expiration time and volatility. Finally at the end of the tree of the option the final possible value is determined because the value is equal to the intrinsic value. Assumptions: †¢ The model also assumes that the market is efficient in that people cannot predict the direction of change in the stock prices. †¢ The interest rates are constant and known and therefore they do not change in the time we consider an option. †¢ The model assumes that there are no dividends paid during the period in which one considers the option. †¢ The model assumes that the returns on the stocks are normally distributed. †¢ It also assumes that no commission is paid when buying or selling stock.

Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Cluster Environment

Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Cluster Environment Victoria Mamatova Trends and analysis of the effectiveness of the cluster environment Abstract Today competitiveness is a common? topic in the world, and it is used as a device to reach the optimal economic growth and stable development. Among the main problems for the development of industrial clusters in the absence of an obvious approach is to evaluating its performance. This research has reviewed the economic effectiveness indicators of innovative clusters. This work provides a review of several methods and approaches of evaluating the cluster performance. Then the most appropriate and fully describing approach will be chosen as the most optimum one. Introduction Clusters, due to their inherent capability to support cooperation between different innovation actors in a region, provide a favourable environment encouraging RD driven innovation closely linked to the markets needs. Clusters are now a new trend in the field of innovation and new technologies. In developed countries, they have long been a platform where innovative ideas are born and implemented into practice. Russia also recently discovered a similar phenomenon, but already rapidly developing more and more opportunities in this area. The aim of this work is to study the methods for assessing the effectiveness of innovation clusters, and identifying common trends in the development of the cluster environment. This research proposal expects to have the following outcomes by the end of the project. First, it is important to define the measurement of the economic effectiveness of each cluster. The next objective is to develop quantitative and qualitative indicators that evaluate the effectiveness of clusters, to apply these indicators to the analysis of clusters and confirm the validity of these indicators. Then the analysis of the mechanism and methods required for analysis of cluster environment will be discovered.   In addition, it will be discussed the different approaches towards clusters and find the most appropriate one. Then given a review on the consequences of these concepts for economic and industrial policy. Finally, it will provide description of national and regional approaches in supporting clus ters and identifies the main challenges that clusters meet today for its proper functioning and development. Nowadays there is no any system or standard accepted, where would be a unite criteria for estimating performance of the cluster. Clusters can be estimated by each criteria separately. However, it is hard to define the whole effectiveness of cluster with separated values such as profit or performance or sustainability etc. Recent publications in foreign literature offer a variety of ways and methods to assess performance and efficiency of the cluster. However, many of them are evaluated in only one cluster parameter. Literature Review The origin of clusters. The current state of research regarding the cluster concept has evolved based on the studies conducted on agglomeration of firms. The first studies in this field started with four empirical observations (Marshall, 1890; Krugman, 1991; Malmberg, Solvell Zander, 1996): most part of the world, national economic and industrial areas are concentrated in very few regions. In these regions investors, universities, government or any other stakeholders of companies are operating. These companies have a longer life and effectiveness than isolated one due to the concentration of resources in this area. The later studies conducted by Porter (1990) and Krugman (1991) highlighted and added new dimensions to Marshalls observations. Despite criticisms regarding the generality of the approach, the widely accepted descriptions regarding clusters are: Geographic concentrations of interconnected companies and Institutions in the particular field (Porter, 1998, p. 45). Clusters a re not seen as fixed flows of goods and services, but rather as dynamic arrangements based on knowledge creation, increasing returns and innovation in a broad sense (Krugman, 1991). Porter (2000) redefines the cluster concept in a new analysis, concentrating on the type of relations that exists between cluster members à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢a geographically proximate group of inter connected companies and associated institutions in a particular field, linked by commonalities and complementaritiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬- (Porter, 2000), and defining its boundaries that can à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢range from a single city or state to a country or even a group of neighbouring countries (Porter, 2000). Modern clusters. Now there is a cluster concept (Porter, 2007) that says that companies gain more competiveness and therefore effectiveness inside the cluster. It also claims that firms in the cluster have a longer life than other isolated companies. There is competition within the cluster. This competition can be among cluster members in an advanced way in the international market. It is worth mentioning that reducing competition is the most important goal among members of the cluster. The idea of reducing competition means ensuring agencies to cooperate more clusters to have an easy access to commercial inputs. Reaching the above goals in cluster facilitates outer-cluster competition and also business and enterprise firms can make the cluster ready for international competition (Kim, 2002). Nowadays there are two problems concerning clusters: economic integration and cluster effectiveness. Economic integration of clusters should be supported by the government with laws (Litzel, 2009), while clusters should consider the intensive intra-regional relationship between its elements (businesses, suppliers, institutions etc.). A cluster model. In order to understand the cluster model from the viewpoint of relations between firms, researchers have defined different models that take into account supplier chains relations, directly based on specific characteristics of urban areas, and clusters which define a typology (Malmberg, Solvell, Zander, 1996) that describes four different agglomerations, which highlights the conceptual differences between the clusters and the other three models.   Based on the role of different cluster members and the interaction between them, Markusen (1996) has defined four models of clusters. Markusen compares its models of modern clusters with the Marshal one, in which the cluster is rather comprising small firms that collaborate with each other, are in direct competition or in a supplier-producer relation. In a hub-and-spoke cluster, there are few dominant firms that represent the core of the cluster and are surrounded by numerous small firms that are linked directly to t hem. In a satellite platform cluster, a group of branch facilities of externally based multi-plant firms (Markusen, 1996) are located in a particular geographic region in order to benefit from governmental facilities or low costs with supplies and workforce. The last category, the state centered (He Fallah, 2011) or state anchored cluster (Markusen, 1996) is defined around a public, governmental or non-profit organization that dominates the region and the economic relation between cluster members. In short, the industrial cluster literature highlights the importance of cluster governance operating horizontally between cluster firms and institutions in local contexts, be it learning and innovation for economic upgrading or implementing CSR measures for social upgrading. This horizontal governance can be contrasted with the vertical governance in GVCs that links global lead firms to both first-tier and local suppliers in international production networks (see below). Cluster firms in developing economies often find themselves confronted by conflicting demands from global buyers, which seek lower labor costs while simultaneously requiring suppliers to comply with higher quality or social standards that would incur additional expenditures (Barrientos Smith 2007; Lund-Thomsen Pillay 2012). The fear of global buyers being foot-loose can keep cluster actors from making sustained investments in infrastructure or workforce development, thereby hindering local joint action. Such anxie ty has grown in the face of global economic recessions (Ruwanpura Wrigley 2011). Industrial clusters. A number of studies have been conducted to show the investment criteria for choosing the industrial clusters in decision-making, which can be separated into several strands. A main group of studies presents that firms will select investment location depending on the development of an innovation system or a technological system in a region (Braunerhjelm et al., 2000, Malerba, 2002, Cooke, 2002, Yeh Chang, 2003, Fleming and Sorenson, 2003, Chang and Shih, 2004, Bell, 2005, Asheim Coenen, 2005). It is reasonable to expect that industrial clusters will emerge from the location where innovation opportunity is available and accessible, as in the link between firms clustering and their probability to innovate (Baptista and Swann, 1998). These building blocks in the innovation system research institution, infrastructure, innovation network, and technology transfer mechanism, will affect the competitiveness of the industrial cluster. Network externality (Dayasindhu, 200 2) and market proximity (Krugman, 1995, Cook et al., 2001) are sometimes the critical criteria when creating a new start-up in an industrial cluster. Innovational clusters. Innovation through industrial clusters can be defined as a way to increase the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises by reaping the benefits generated by the local structures and synergies via cooperative relationship (Idrissia, Amaraa and Landrya, 2012). The clusters provide alliances, which among other things promote flexibility in terms of production volume and variety, reductions in investment costs, reduction in transaction costs and increase in operational efficiency, increased bargaining power, and the development of technology innovation processes (Rabellotti, 1999; Solvell, Ketels and Lindqvist, 2008; Bas, Amoros and Kunc, 2008). The synergy of industrial clusters is also recognized as a relationship network including companies in the same industry sector and that offer them the possibility to achieve innovation and improve product and process development. According to Kuei-Hsien, Miles and Ghung-Shing (2008), network relationships can differ entiate the value of the productive chain when the partners are engaged in activities of common interests allowing the improvement of pro-active actions in the final product or service, which creates a stimulating environment for the innovation process. Engel and del-Palacio (2009) extended Porters (year) definition of industrial agglomeration to delineate a Global Cluster of Innovation Framework that describes business clusters defined not primarily by industry specialization but by the stage of development and innovation of the clusters constituents. While industry concentrations do exist, they are not definitive. It is rather the nature and the behavior of the components that is distinctive-the rapid emergence of new firms commercializing new technologies, creating new markets, and addressing global markets. Methodology The purpose of my research is to estimate the economic effectiveness of clusters performance. Therefore, the main methods of evaluating cluster effectiveness would be economic methods of evaluating project effectiveness. These methods allow seeing the economic feasibility of investment and detecting one of the most financially advantageous of clusters. It is accepted to divide methods of evaluating to dynamic, those that take into account the time factor, and static: accounts. The first group to overview is static methods. The rate of profit is the ratio of the average annual income to total investment costs (Rutherford, 2002). This method can be used to compare several alternatives to capital investment. The most profitable cluster will be considered as one if its rate of profit is not less than the rate of return alternative. The second method is method of determining the payback period. Payback period is a period of time through which the full return on investment due to income from the project (Rutherford, 2002). The payback period of a given cluster is an important determinant of whether to undertake the position or project, as longer payback periods are typically not desirable for investment positions. The next group is dynamic methods. The first is method of net present value (NVP). This method compares the investment volume of the cluster with a total sum of the discounted net cash flows generated during the period of the intended investment. NPV shows if used in the calculation of the rate of return reach R (where R is Interest rate) of the investment within the project life cycle. It should be noted that disadvantages of this method is impossibility to assess which of the alternative cluster are better with great NPV and a long payback period, or a lower NPV, but faster payback. The method of internal rate of return (IRR) This method shows the rate at which the present value of the net revenue from the investment of the project is equal to the present value of the investment and the value of net present value: zero. The disadvantage of this method is that the IRR analysis is not suitable for ordinary investment flows. Then all quantitive and qualitive should be summerised to get number that actually describes effectiveness of each cluster. Each number describes one cluster, so there will be 5 numbers for 5 clusters. The method that will be used to summerise all the criteria is analytic hierarchy process developed by Saaty (2008). This method helps to determine the root of any problem through a hierarchical view of the elements. The main idea of the method is to split the problem into smaller elements, the next step they are compared in pairs. Then the next level is estimated by stating priorities and values each criteria. The output is a relative degree of interaction of the elements in the hierarchy. Overall, these are the main methods that will be used in my study. All of them are quantitative methods. That means that it requires quantifiable data involving numerical and statistical explanations. That is why firstly there will be data collected and analysed from financial and performance monthly reports. Statistica or MS Excel will be used to proceed the data and define the main financial and performance values and then count PP, NVP, IRR that mentioned above. There is no particular soft to build the analytic hierarchy process, so MS Excel is an appropriate option. Anticipated Results By the end of this project there will be five values that fully describe the effectiveness of each (of five) cluster. According to these values, it is possible to choose the most effective one. Therefore, it is very useful tool for investors that can easily define the cluster to invest. Companies also can define their weak sides and where they should improve performance, as priority system is used in the hierarchy analytical method. As it was mentioned before, there is no union system to identify the overall cluster effectiveness. This project will be an example of another working tool for measuring the most effective cluster. Moreover, after finishing project there will be gaps and mistakes revealed (if there any). And then recommendations will be given considering these gaps and how to fix them or improve it. Conclusion The purpose of this review was to view trends in evaluating the economic effectiveness of clusters performance within the past five years and see the rapid improvement in innovation clusters. It is clear from the research that creating and integrating clusters and cluster policy is widely practiced in todays economy. That is why there are plenty of methods of estimating cluster effectiveness such as static and dynamic methods of effectiveness analysis. These methods will be analyzed to find out the one that can fully describe the effectiveness. In this research the most appropriate method will be found and reviewed on the consequences of concepts for economic and industrial policy, as today clusters meet some challenges for its proper functioning and development. References Baptista, R., Swann, P. (1998). Do firms in clusters innovate more?. Research policy, 27(5), 525-540. Krugman, P. (1991). History and industry location: The case of the manufacturing belt. The American Economic Review, 81(2), 80-83. Kuei-Hsien, N., Miles, G., Chung-Shing, L. (2008). Strategic development of network clusters. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 18(3), 176-81. Litzel, N., Mà ¶ller, J. (2009). Industrial clusters and economic integration: theoretic concepts and an application to the European Metropolitan Region Nuremberg, 44-47. Malmberg, A., Sà ¶lvell, ÃÆ'-., Zander, I. (1996). Spatial clustering, local accumulation of knowledge and firm competitiveness. Geografiska Annaler. Series B. Human Geography, 85-97. Marshall, A. (1890). Principles of economics: An introductory volume (Eighth Edition). London: Macmillan. Ortega-Colomer, F. J., Molina-Morales, F. X., Fernà ¡ndez de Lucio, I. (2016). Discussing the Concepts of Cluster and Industrial District. Journal of Technology Management Innovation, 11(2), 139-147. Porter, M. E. (2000). Location, competition, and economic development: Local clusters in a global economy. Economic Development Quarterly, 14(1), 15-34. Porter, M. (2007). Clusters and economic policy: Aligning public policy with the new economics of competition. Cambridge: Harvard Business School, 2. Rutherford D. (2002). In Routledge Dictionary of Economics (2d ed.). London, New York: Routledge. Ruwanpura, K. N., Wrigley, N. (2011). The costs of compliance? Views of Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers in times of global economic crisis. Journal of Economic Geography, 11(6), 1031-1049. Saaty, T. L. (2008). Decision making with the analytic hierarchy process. International journal of services sciences, 1(1), 83-98.

How Technology Has Progressed Over The Years History Essay

How Technology Has Progressed Over The Years History Essay Throughout history technology has been progressing very rapidly. Man has created things that are used in daily life everyday. Inventions from the creation of fire to the telephone have changed life immensely. In the year 2010 people do not notice how life would be without our everyday tools such as the computer or the light bulb. People today heavily rely on these items that it would be very difficult to live without them. One invention that changed life was the creation of the automobile. Looking back the automobile has been here for a very long time. Since the 1700s Man has tried to create a tool that would help someone progress faster than on foot. From the steam engine to the electric car the automobiles design has came a long way. The automobile was created for one simple method of easy and faster way of travel. Through time the automobiles main function has changed. When it was created its sole purpose was just take someone from point A to point B. In the 1930s the role of cars changed. During the 1930s America was going through the Great depression. The Great Depression was a very struggling time for many Americans. Many families were forced into poverty and their everyday lifestyle changed. Cars became a big part of society. Even with many people in debt during that time there was still a need to have social class. The few individuals that could afford to pay for more luxurious cars bought to show how hard times do not affect them. Back then cars did not come with all the gadgets they have today but there was a difference in class. Cars were not just a method of travel but to some during those times, it was there home. In the 1930s there was a variety of new innovative cars being processed into the world. In the 1920s America was going through the vintage era. In the 1920s most cars were just a luxury but through time it became easier for cars to become produced faster and cheaper. New techniques such as the assembly line help build the widespread of cars. The ford model t was one of the first cars to be mass-produced with the assembly line. By the time the 1930s came around cars have already been apart of average American life. When the Great depression hit the production of cars in America had decreased immensely. Cars such as the Auburn 1931 Convertible Cabriolet were very affordable during those times. It was priced at $1045 Includes finest leather upholstery specially designed window construction that positively prevents rattle finger tip door handles and adjustable steering wheel in the Convertible Cabriolet. Another Car that set new standaards for cars was the Cadillac v-16. The new car attr acted rave reviews from the press and huge public attention. Cadillac started production of the new car immediately. January production averaged a couple of cars per day, but was then ramped up to twenty-two cars per day. By April, 1,000 units had been built, and by June, 2,000 cars. These could be ordered with a wide variety of bodywork. The Fleetwood catalog for the 1930 V-16 included 10 basic body styles; there was also an envelope containing some 30 additional designers drawings. Research by the Cadillac-La Salle Club, Inc. puts at 70 the number of different job/style numbers built by Fisher and Fleetwood on the sixteen chassis. Beginning in June 1930, six new V-16s participated in a promotional tour of major European cities including Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, Frankfurt, Hamburg, MÃ ¼nich, NÃ ¼remberg, Vienna (where they won prizes), Berne, Geneva, Lausanne, ZÃ ¼rich, Madrid, San Sebastian, La Baule and Ange rs. On the return journey from Spain, the V16 caravan stopped also in the town of Cadillac, in south-western France, although that city bears no relationship to the marque, other than its name. After the peak in V-16 orders in mid 1930, production fell precipitously. During October 1930, only 54 cars were built. The lowest figures for the 452/452A cars of 1930-31 were August 1931 (7 units) and November 1931 (6 units). Minimum production continued throughout the rest of the decade with a mere 50 units being built both in 1935 and in 1937. 1940 was only marginally better with a total of 51 units. Not surprisingly, Cadillac later estimated that they lost money on every single V-16 they sold. But during that time your car was not just a car but your home. In the 1930s because of the great depression, your car became your home for many. The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century, and is used in the 21st century as an example of how far the worlds economy can decline. The depression originated in the United States, starting with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday), but quickly spread to almost every country in the world. Many people because of this had lost there homes because they could not afford to live in it anymore, they began to use there cars as there homes. The first mobile homes were created during the 1930s. In order to save on gas people would use there cars as a wagon by attaching horses to the vehicle. Man y farmers used this method to travel. The term hitchhike was first originated in the 1930s.Because not everyone could afford a car but needed to travel,they would try to hitch a ride with passer byers.Many people charged hitchhikers a small fee.People tried to make business of each other in order to fight the depression. The idea that in order to survive ment that you had to do anything in order to save yourself. Your car was probably the only item that you kept since the depression. Everything that would not help americans would get rid off because it would only hold them back from survival. Even with the Great Depression there were stilll grand prix racing taking place. Beginning in 1934, the Germans stopped painting their cars, after the paint had been left off a Mercedes-Benz W25 in an effort to reduce weight. The unpainted metal soon had the German vehicles dubbed by the media as the Silver Arrows.French cars continued to dominate (led by Bugatti, but also including Delage and Delahaye) until the late 1920s, when the Italians (Alfa Romeo and Maserati) began to beat the French cars regularly. At the time, the Germans engineered unique race vehicles as seen in the photo here with the Benz aerodynamic teardrop body introduced at the 1923 European Grand Prix at Monza by Karl Benz. In the 1930s, however, nationalism entered a new phase when the Nazis encouraged Mercedes and Auto Union to further the glory of the Reich. (The government did provide some money to the two manufacturers, but the extent of the aid into their hands was exaggerated in the media; government subsid ies amounted to perhaps 10% or less of the costs of running the two racing teams.)[6] The two German marques utterly dominated the period from 1935 to 1939, winning all but three of the official Championship Grands Prix races run in those years. The cars by this time were single-seaters (the riding mechanic vanished in the early 1920s), with 8 to 16 cylinder supercharged engines producing upwards of 600Â  hp (450Â  kW) on alcohol fuels. As early as October 1923, the idea of an automobile championship was discussed at the annual autumn conference of the AIACR (Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus) in Paris. However, discussion centered around the increased interest in racing by manufacturers and holding the first European Grand Prix at Monza in 1923. The first World Championship took place in 1925, but it was for manufacturers only, consisting of four races of at least 800Â  km (497Â  mi) in length. The races that formed the first Constructors Championship wer e the Indianapolis 500, the European Grand Prix, and the French and Italian Grands Prix. A European Championship, consisting of the major Grand Prix in a number of countries (named Grandes Epreuves) was instituted for drivers in 1935, and was competed every year until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Cars during 1930s influenced American life in many ways. They set a new standard for living. Even with the hard times and stuggle americans still felt the importance of buying cars. Automobiles has been something since time that had grabbed Americas wallets since the begginging. Today there is still the same basic need ot have the best car. Every year there is a new must have design that people want to buy. Cars are something that is a basic necessity. No one knows what will be the next big thing in the automobile indusrty.

Process Essay - Preparing Dinner for the In-laws -- Expository Process

Preparing Dinner for the In-laws We have all had those dinners with our in-laws, or in-laws to be, that we detest. The following steps will ensure that the in-laws never accept another invitation to dinner at your house. Please understand, the invitation must still be extended, as that is a spouse's duty; however, they will not accept the invitation again. In preparation for the evening, there are several crucial steps. For the process to be effective, some research may be involved. Start by gathering as much information as you can about your in-laws likes and dislikes; focus on the dislikes is crucial, and be certain to exclude anything on the list of likes. Schedule the dinner on a day that will allow for several hours of preparation. First, It is a good idea...

Perspectives of the Characters in The Young Housewife :: Young Housewife Essays

Perspectives of the Characters in The Young Housewife From the first stanza we decipher that there is a young housewife moving about her husbands house in negligee. Some important questions that come to my mind are: Is she alone?, and why is she moving? The answer to both of these questions we do not know. Is this young housewife dancing around the house in her negligee because her and her husband had a wonderfully romantic night, or is she merely shuffling along performing her wifely chores and duties? Better yet, does the young housewife really exist, or is she just a fantasy of the passer-by? This brings me to my next question . . .Is the narrator a man or a woman? It seems very easy to assume that the narrator is a man, because the author is a man, but other than that there is no real evidence proving narrative gender. In stanza one all we know about the narrator is that they are alone in a car. In stanza two all we know is that the narrator compares the young housewife to a "fallen leaf". And in stanza three, the final stanza, as the narrator passes on by, he or she bows, and smiles. As far as I am concerned the passer-by could be a female who is a close friend or relative who is merely commenting on the housewife as they pass by her house. To me The Young House Wife is about beauty, not beauty from a young fertile woman alone in negligee, but the beauty of everyday, the beauty of life. This driver, who is her passer-by compares the housewife to a fallen leaf. This fallen leaf could mean many things. The narrator could be insinuating that the young housewife is in a fallen state, maybe trapped in some kind of extra-marital sin perhaps. Maybe the narrator is trying to warn us that the housewife is sick and perhaps that is why she is not yet properly dressed though the morning is almost at an end. The meaning that I prefer to take with me is somewhat different from these perspectives. I would like to think of the young housewife as the beauty of autumn.

The Daimon and Anti-Self Concepts in Per Amica Silentia Lunae by William Yeats :: Per Amica Silentia Lunae William Yeats Essays

The Daimon and Anti-Self Concepts in Per Amica Silentia Lunae by William Yeats In July of 1914 Yeats began communicating during seances with a spirit which he called his "daimon," one Leo Africanus, a Renaissance geographer and traveller. At Leo's request, through the voice of the medium, Yeats began a written correspondence in which he would write questions and observations to Leo, and Leo would answer through Yeats's hand. This correspondence would prove influential in Yeats's evolving concept of the sources of artistic inspiration as emanating from the interaction between the physical and the spiritual worlds. This paper will explore the growth of the daimon concept out of Yeats's divided-self theory during his correspondence with Leo Africanus and then its explication in the 1917 Per Amica Silentia Lunae. Background From the beginning of his literary career Yeats, like many authors in this age of a dawning awareness of modern psychology and concept of the sub-conscious, had been fascinated with the concept of an divided self or anti-self or a self which is covered by a mask or "pose." In these early John Sherman stories, the the dreamy, unsophisticated John Sherman is tempted by the elegant, citified, and High Church Rev. William Howard. In the Rosa Alchemica stories of 1897, we are introduced to two characters who will remain staples of Yeats's oeuvre: the pious, conventional John Aherne who is "educated" and tempted by the mysterious Michael Robartes, with his secrets of the "Order of the Alchemical Rose." In On Baile's Strand (1904) the instinctive, active warrior Cuchulain struggles against the wiles of the crafty, domesticated ruler Conchubar. By the 1900's, Yeats is using the metaphor of the mask to portray this dichotomy in man. "The mask," Richard Ellmann says, "had come to occupy in his system during the first decade of this century the position which the rose had held in it during the 'nineties" (190). In 1907 he begins The Player Queen, in which each character seeks an antithetical self, and he introduces it with the explicit song "The Mask." Whatever exactly "the mask" is--an alter-ego, a heroic ideal, a protective shield--it is a metaphor for an internal struggle, a psychological process. The next step would be to give this process more cosmic implications by making the struggle involve an outside force, a representative from the "spirit world" who could put one in contact with the "beyond." This would happen when Yeats discovered his Daimon. The Daimon and Anti-Self Concepts in Per Amica Silentia Lunae by William Yeats :: Per Amica Silentia Lunae William Yeats Essays The Daimon and Anti-Self Concepts in Per Amica Silentia Lunae by William Yeats In July of 1914 Yeats began communicating during seances with a spirit which he called his "daimon," one Leo Africanus, a Renaissance geographer and traveller. At Leo's request, through the voice of the medium, Yeats began a written correspondence in which he would write questions and observations to Leo, and Leo would answer through Yeats's hand. This correspondence would prove influential in Yeats's evolving concept of the sources of artistic inspiration as emanating from the interaction between the physical and the spiritual worlds. This paper will explore the growth of the daimon concept out of Yeats's divided-self theory during his correspondence with Leo Africanus and then its explication in the 1917 Per Amica Silentia Lunae. Background From the beginning of his literary career Yeats, like many authors in this age of a dawning awareness of modern psychology and concept of the sub-conscious, had been fascinated with the concept of an divided self or anti-self or a self which is covered by a mask or "pose." In these early John Sherman stories, the the dreamy, unsophisticated John Sherman is tempted by the elegant, citified, and High Church Rev. William Howard. In the Rosa Alchemica stories of 1897, we are introduced to two characters who will remain staples of Yeats's oeuvre: the pious, conventional John Aherne who is "educated" and tempted by the mysterious Michael Robartes, with his secrets of the "Order of the Alchemical Rose." In On Baile's Strand (1904) the instinctive, active warrior Cuchulain struggles against the wiles of the crafty, domesticated ruler Conchubar. By the 1900's, Yeats is using the metaphor of the mask to portray this dichotomy in man. "The mask," Richard Ellmann says, "had come to occupy in his system during the first decade of this century the position which the rose had held in it during the 'nineties" (190). In 1907 he begins The Player Queen, in which each character seeks an antithetical self, and he introduces it with the explicit song "The Mask." Whatever exactly "the mask" is--an alter-ego, a heroic ideal, a protective shield--it is a metaphor for an internal struggle, a psychological process. The next step would be to give this process more cosmic implications by making the struggle involve an outside force, a representative from the "spirit world" who could put one in contact with the "beyond." This would happen when Yeats discovered his Daimon.

North American Free Trade Agreement

The NAFTA agreement was signed in 1992, ratified in 1993 and implemented in 1994. It was designed to completely rescind trade barriers between these three nations. It had been surmised that this agreement would enhance employment due to increase in trade (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , 1995).This agreement, which is second only to the European Economic Area in trade volumes, constitutes a single free trading zone for approximately three hundred and sixty – five million consumers of these three countries. It set aside import duties on a large number of goods that were exported from the US to Mexico and over a period of fourteen years, hoped to eliminate all tariffs. Subsequently, sections on affording protection to workers and the environment were included (Vogel, 2007).An agreement was reached between Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, whereby a free trade zone was to be created between these countries. This was termed as the North American Free Tr ade Agreement or the NAFTA. It has been instrumental in providing a platform for resolving trade related disputes amongst these nations. Furthermore, the NAFTA has actively taken up the safeguarding of intellectual property rights and compliance with the laws relating to the protection of such rights (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , 2003).The NAFTA has engendered bitter and persistent opposition. A number of collective bargaining organizations have highlighted the fact that the prevalence of abundant and comparatively cheaper labor in Mexico has prompted several manufacturers to shift their operations to that country. The result of this relocation has been a drastic reduction of jobs in the US. However, opponents to this contention have argued that the free trade brought about by the NAFTA has generated more jobs than it has destroyed in the US (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , 2002).There has been a marked increase in unemployment in the US. Moreover, the number of immigrants, both legal and illegal, into the US has depicted an unprecedented increase. The mass immigration of Mexicans is so grave that on many an occasion, they have risked their lives to enter the US. A meaningful decision regarding the various disputes besetting NAFTA has not been taken and it seems to have failed miserably (Tonelson, 2004).The consensus of most of the authentic reports has been that NAFTA has benefited only the transnational corporations. Workers, farmers and small businesses in Canada, Mexico and the US have uniformly been put to a huge loss. In addition, the environment has also sustained considerable damage due to this agreement. The health, safety and rights of labor in all three countries were badly compromised. However, there was a significant boost to the economy of the US and Mexico (Brown). Therefore, it can be stated, unequivocally, that the NAFTA, has by and large been a fiasco and the only beneficiaries have been the transnational corpor ations. â€Å"North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).† The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin. 2002. CredoReference. 18 December 2007 . The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin, 2002, s.v. â€Å"North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),† DISPLAYURL (accessed December 18, 2007). http://www.credoreference.com/entry/2444726ReferencesBrown, G. (n.d.). Speak Out: Portrait of a Failure, NAFTA and Workplace Health and Safety. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from MHSSN: http://mhssn.igc.org/brown_synergist.htmNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) . (2002). Retrieved December 18 , 2007, from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/2444726North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) . (1995). Retrieved December 18 , 2007, from In Dictionary of Economics, Wiley: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/2765482North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)North American Free Trade Agreemen t (NAFTA) . (2003). Retrieved December 18, 2007, from Webster's New World Finance and Investment Dictionary: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/Tonelson, A. (2004, January 20). NAFTA at 10 – A Miserable Failure. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from American Economic Alert: http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/view_art.asp?Prod_ID=936Vogel, D. (2007). North American Free Trade Agreement . Microsoft ® Student 2008 [DVD] . Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation  ® 2008.  © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA agreement was signed in 1992, ratified in 1993 and implemented in 1994. It was designed to completely rescind trade barriers between these three nations. It had been surmised that this agreement would enhance employment due to increase in trade (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , 1995).This agreement, which is second only to the European Economic Area in trade volumes, constitutes a single free trading zone for approximately three hundred and sixty – five million consumers of these three countries. It set aside import duties on a large number of goods that were exported from the US to Mexico and over a period of fourteen years, hoped to eliminate all tariffs. Subsequently, sections on affording protection to workers and the environment were included (Vogel, 2007).An agreement was reached between Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, whereby a free trade zone was to be created between these countries. This was termed as the North American Free Trade Agreement or the NAFTA. It has been instrumental in providing a platform for resolving trade related disputes amongst these nations. Furthermore, the NAFTA has actively taken up the safeguarding of intellectual property rights and compliance with the laws relating to the protection of such rights (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , 2003).The NAFTA has engendered bitter and persistent opposition. A number of collective bargaining organizations have highlighted the fact that the prevalence of abundant and comparatively cheaper labor in Mexico has prompted several manufacturers to shift their operations to that country. The result of this relocation has been a drastic reduction of jobs in the US. However, opponents to this contention have argued that the free trade brought about by the NAFTA has generated more jobs than it has destroyed in the US (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) , 2002).There has been a marked increase in unemployment in the US. Moreover, the num ber of immigrants, both legal and illegal, into the US has depicted an unprecedented increase. The mass immigration of Mexicans is so grave that on many an occasion, they have risked their lives to enter the US. A meaningful decision regarding the various disputes besetting NAFTA has not been taken and it seems to have failed miserably (Tonelson, 2004).The consensus of most of the authentic reports has been that NAFTA has benefited only the transnational corporations. Workers, farmers and small businesses in Canada, Mexico and the US have uniformly been put to a huge loss. In addition, the environment has also sustained considerable damage due to this agreement. The health, safety and rights of labor in all three countries were badly compromised. However, there was a significant boost to the economy of the US and Mexico (Brown). Therefore, it can be stated, unequivocally, that the NAFTA, has by and large been a fiasco and the only beneficiaries have been the transnational corporatio ns. â€Å"North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).† The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin. 2002. CredoReference. 18 December 2007 . The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin, 2002, s.v. â€Å"North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),† DISPLAYURL (accessed December 18, 2007). http://www.credoreference.com/entry/2444726ReferencesBrown, G. (n.d.). Speak Out: Portrait of a Failure, NAFTA and Workplace Health and Safety. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from MHSSN: http://mhssn.igc.org/brown_synergist.htmNorth American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) . (2002). Retrieved December 18 , 2007, from The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Houghton Mifflin: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/2444726North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) . (1995). Retrieved December 18 , 2007, from In Dictionary of Economics, Wiley: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/2765482North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)North American Free Trade Agreement (N AFTA) . (2003). Retrieved December 18, 2007, from Webster's New World Finance and Investment Dictionary: http://www.credoreference.com/entry/Tonelson, A. (2004, January 20). NAFTA at 10 – A Miserable Failure. Retrieved December 18, 2007, from American Economic Alert: http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/view_art.asp?Prod_ID=936Vogel, D. (2007). North American Free Trade Agreement . Microsoft ® Student 2008 [DVD] . Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation  ® 2008.  © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation.