Notes on Madonna and Child Essay Example

Notes on Madonna and Child Essay Madonna and Child, a tempera on panel piece from about 1215, utilizes rich, deep tones and smooth brush strokes to convey the reflective nature of this piece. Mother and child are shown both looking down, which leads one to believe that they are in deep reflection. The overall tone of the painting is rather somber, as expressed by the deep colors and shadowed effect on the subject of the piece. The composition is traditional portrait style, with a naturalistic approach to the subjects in a plain, centered orientation. This allows for the focus to lie on subject and child, which can be inferred to be Madonna and Child. The background of the painting shows a supposed view of a country road through the window, which adds a simplistic and calming feel to the painting. It can be inferred that the painter wished to portray the deep reflection Madonna and Child are enduring. This is done through the composition as a whole, but specifically, the physical positioning of mother and child, the deep tones and color palette chosen, and the stance and direction of the subjects glance. The focal point of this piece lies in the mothers grip of the child. By the manner in which she embraces the child, it is apparent that she is in deep reflection. The fact that they are looking downward is also significant, as that provides a saddened connotation for their thoughts. This also permits the piece to maintain its sentimental feel, which is empathized by the viewer. It is profoundly remarkable that the described sentimental, reflective disposition of the piece could be empathized by the viewer, and that positions the artist as doing his job successfully. Inherently, the viewer feels that there is some source of conflict to the right hand side of the subject and her child, as neither subject is engaged at the painter painting their portrait, but something off to the side of the portraits frame. The deep tones and

How Segregation Was Ruled Illegal in U.S.

How Segregation Was Ruled Illegal in U.S. In 1896, the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case determined that separate but equal was constitutional. The opinion of the Supreme Court stated, A statute which implies merely a legal distinction between the white and colored races- a distinction which is founded in the color of the two races, and which must always exist so long as white men are distinguished from the other race by color - has no tendency to destroy the legal equality of the two races, or re-establish a state of involuntary servitude. The decision remained the law of the land until it was overturned by the Supreme Court in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954. Plessy v. Ferguson The Plessy v. Ferguson legitimized the numerous state and local laws that had been created around the United States after the Civil War. Across the country, blacks and whites were legally forced to use separate train cars, separate drinking fountains, separate schools, separate entrances into buildings, and much more. Segregation was the law. Segregation Ruling Reversed On May 17, 1954, the law was changed. In the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson ​decision by ruling that segregation was inherently unequal. Although the Brown v. Board of Education was specifically for the field of education, the decision had a much broader scope. Brown v. Board of Education Although the Brown v. Board of Education decision overturned all the segregation laws in the country, the enactment of integration was not immediate. In actuality, it took many years, much turmoil, and even bloodshed to integrate the country. This monumental decision was one of the most important rulings handed down by the United States Supreme Court in the 20th century.

The experience of child-soldiers upon their return in the local Essay - 1

The experience of child-soldiers upon their return in the local communities (Nepal case) - Essay Example Demobilisation is the withdrawal of soldiers from armed groups, and reintegration implies the return of soldiers to civilian life. Reintegration is usually viewed to be an indefinite economic and social mechanism that occurs in communities locally (Wessells, 2006). This essay analyses the experience of child soldiers in Nepal upon their return in the local communities. The first section explains the social and psychological issues of redistributed child soldiers, followed by an analysis of the initiatives taken by the Nepal government and other organisations to help in the process. And the final section presents suggestions for possible alternative approaches. The United Nations considers the return of child soldiers in their local communities a complicated, continuous process that necessitates substantial resources. The urgent task is finding the families of the child soldiers in order to bring them back to their families and communities (Kuper, 1997). Although this may seem easy, it is often filled with difficulties. In numerous cases, the families and communities may have been severely damaged by war, are in dismal financial condition, and cannot take care of or support returning combatants. According to Gates (2010), even though it is at t imes claimed that child soldiers must be capable of regaining their ‘lost childhood,’ this is practically unattainable. The Maoists’ practice of enlisting children for combat or military assistance is one of the most troubling realities of the civil war in Nepal. The Maoists have exploited various methods for recruiting children (e.g. use of misleading campaigns, kidnapping of children) (Aryal, 2011). At the peak of the civil war, in territories strongly ruled by Maoists, the rebels enforced a ‘one family, one child’ policy in which every family had to offer a recruit or suffer serious punishment (Human Rights Watch, 2007, p. 5). The

Crime-Prevention Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Crime-Prevention Strategies - Essay Example Crime prevention techniques are being introduced by the criminologists so that the people avoid doing any crimes. These crime prevention techniques are basically designed to lessen the prospects of committing specific crimes by people. And these techniques are further known as the Situational Crime Prevention Techniques. In the world today the crime rate is increasing day by day as the punishments granted by the government have not proved enough for the culprit to avoid the offense the next time. Seeing this situation in the world the criminologists have adopted the way of preventing crime rather than bringing the criminals to justice. And thus the process of 'Situational Crime Prevention' came into use. This word derived by the criminologists meant to make the offenders avoid the crimes they are about to commit through different ways. The opportunities which the offenders get due to lack of security and other factors are analyzed by the criminologists. By the process of Situational Crime Prevention the criminologists aim to lessen the opportunities which the offenders are getting to commit the crime. i.e. if a person who is rich and does not get protection from guards may have the chance to get robbed. And here the role of the Crime Prevention comes when they make the rich person have proper securi ty. The problem of crime was arising in the housing sector when the burglars were entering the houses and robbing the people of their possessions. This situation was closely analyzed by the criminologists and a solution was sorted out with the help of Situational Crime Prevention. This solution made the houses have a good architectural design which would make the offenders avoid entering the premises of the house. For e.g. if the house is well lit in the night and secured, the offenders would avoid taking the risk of entering it. Similarly other Situational Crime Prevention techniques make use of such tools and designs. The techniques included the better structuring of buildings and the possible targets being secured more properly. The possible targets were analyzed by their market demand. Situational Crime Prevention is based on some principles so as to the crime can be fully avoided. The set-up of a certain possible target is made such that the effort required to rob or commit a c rime on that target is made much higher. This discourages the offender from committing the crime. For e.g. to enter a certain building one may have to cross the walls but the walls of the building would be made so tall that no person would be able to enter it without support. Similarly the risk involved in committing a crime would be made such that the offender would not dare to commit it. For e.g. the security alarms would be so enhanced that any person who may enter the premises may be caught or the person may be shot dead at the very moment. In particular the security of a certain place or person would be increased. The rewards or the loot of the possible target would be made as lower as possible so it wouldn't attract the offenders. The governments are taking such measures that the stolen material is not easily sold in the market. And anyone caught selling it may be brought to justice by the court of law. Car stereos are being made removable so that it is not easy to steal these stereos. And lastly the feeling

Markus Wolf in Stasi Regime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Markus Wolf in Stasi Regime - Essay Example A positive contrast between the two states may be that the NS was an actual German creation that was further deep-seated, but the Communist state of dictatorship was actually an external imposition which gradually turned softer. An intellectual revolution took place after the serene insurgency in 1989, as swiftly the DDR's furtive papers were controlled by Bundesrepublik Deutschland. BRD had adequate inducement to publicize the secrets of a previous opponent. Through the meticulousness and purposeful promptness of Germans a great number of documents were provided to scholars who hardly had an expectation to smack it so heavily. The new Russian government was not much likely to reveal its history like the Germans; however, a number of its massive records had been searched out in connection with its previous settlement. Chronicles at the back of the Iron Curtain, due to which one may previously have to seek for the grains of corn in the middle of the heap of chaff, have only the natural limitations of memories. Investigating the outlawed Secret Police records in authoritarianism has a brilliant association to it. While all is required to be reserved undisclosed, these police should have kept the secrets. When the public was to know nothing, the Secret Police were supposed to know everything. (Peterson, 2001) As stated by Koehler (1999) Stasi is a... As stated by Koehler (1999) Stasi is actually the title of the ministry of State security of East Germany its actual name in German language is "Ministerium fur Staatssicherheit", which is abbreviated as "Stasi" and pronounced as "Tazi". Stasi took fame as the secret police service of East Germany. It had its command center in East Berlin in a huge multiplex building and has a number of minor amenities all over the East Berlin. It has been well known as a successful and exploitive secret police service. Stasi used to have slogan which was translated as "Defense and Weapon of the Party" which reveals its association with Socialists and corresponding to the Communists also. It came into being in 1950 with Zaisser Wilhelm as the first security state minister of Germany. In 1957 Markus Wolf was selected as the person in command for HVA in the department of foreign intelligence. He gradually attained eminent accomplishments by utilizing his secret agents for revealing the secrets of not only in business and political groups but government as well. (Childs & Popplewell, 1996) Markus Johannes Wolf Wolf, Markus, head of East Germany's international intelligence service and developer of one of the Cold War's most effective espionage operations. Markus Johannes Wolf was born on Jan. 19, 1923, in Hechingen, Southern Wurttemberg, the son of a Marxist playwright of Jewish origin, Friedrich Wolf. When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, the Wolf family went into exile to Switzerland and France and finally immigrated to the Soviet Union in 1934. In 1940 Wolf entered the Moscow Institute for Aircraft Building, aspiring to become an aeronautics engineer. Sincerely believing that communism could save his country, which was blinded by Nazi ideology, Wolf

The Visual Feedback From Video Games Media Essay

The Visual Feedback From Video Games Media Essay Video games are electronic games that engage the user through an interactive interface. The interaction involves the use of visual feedback mechanism which is generated on a specially designed video device. Just like any other medium, the use of video games can be used as an effective communication channel. The content of the specific game is however the determinant of the specific ideology that it expresses. It has been proven through elaborate research that video games have a profound influence in the manner which an individual thinks and behave. Certain experimental and analytical data shows that the playing of video games has a direct influence on ones thoughts. The playing of violent video games has been proven to increase the level of aggressive and hostile thoughts (Anderson, Buckley, Gentile, 2007; Anderson, Carnagey, Flanagan, Benjamin, Eubanks Valentine, 2004).The engagement of a player in games that have positive content has also been proven to elicit positive outcomes. A perfect example is the playing of video games by children which has been proven to help in weight management. In this paper we explicitly investigate whether video games side with certain British political ideologies. In the recent past, researchers have questioned the validity of passing on political ideologies in videogames. This has always drawn the conclusion that the reputation of the video game industry despite being a disposable form of entertainment which serves a very wide audience does in fact have a degree of political discourse. This notion of political ideologies being encoded in the some games is true but has a degree of flaw. Thus notion for example overlooks the effort of certain independent game designers and developers. Games such as Super Columbine massacre RPG and Cutthroat Capitalism go to a large extent to dispute the notion of apolitical landscape in the industry of videogames. The level of success in the process of communicating the various political statements which incorporate military, social and economic issues just illustrate the political nature of these videogames. Video games by design and existence are a true example of cultural artifacts which bear a certain degree of political messages. It is a proven fact that even the simplest of the video games despite their low level of mindlessness can never fail to portray the politics of the underlying culture in which they are designed. The mainstream video which games do seem to lack political ideologies in actual sense have an implicit political undertone. The basic design of these games is not supposed to handle or tackle any form of political issue directly. The design also does not allow for the carrying of political messages covertly. The reality however is that the games do reflect the underlying social values and most of the popular ideologies of the resident culture in which the game was intended to be deployed in. Even in the conservative and economically centered eighties or even the liberal society, politics are in fact intertwined in the very underlying codes of the video games that we do enjoy Video Games and the Brain Researchers have in past conducted experiments to investigate the influence the mechanism and relationship that occurs in the brain when an individual is playing a computer game. The work of researchers published in Nature (1998) ,a British journal indicated that the brain secrets a special hormone called dopamine when one is laying a computer game. Dopamine is a pleasure inducing chemical that is secreted whenever an individual engages his/her mind in the playing f video games. The New brain research that was conducted years back (Bartholow, Bushman Sestir, 2006) was the first to show that the playing of violent video games results in bad health of the players. The emphatic responses of the brain to the simulation of certain real-life violence such as shooting with a gun and bombing are also elicited. It was also explained by Walsh (2004, 2006). That the exposure of a teenaged brain to video games results in certain violent long-lasting effects. A group of British researchers embarked on a research to understand the neurochemical outcomes of playing video games (Koepp et al. 1998).They measured the amount of dopamine hormone which gets released whenever subjects were engaged in playing a video game. The video games were of action genre. The action game involved the maneuvering through a battlefield full of landmines and tanks. Dopamine is a special neurotransmitter that necessitates the modulation of certain information that is passed from one brain area to another. The particular interest in dopamine was because of its role in the control and influence of a wide range of human behavior. Some of the behaviors that it influences are pleasure, learning and even addiction. An example is the fact that in most cases of drug addiction, pleasure is achieved by increasing the level of dopamine in the brain. By employing a special form of brain imaging technique called (Positron Emission Tomograph) the researchers were in a position to determine the effects of playing a video game on the level of dopamine that is released. The result showed a rapid surge in the amount of dopamine that was released in the brain. The areas that were most noted to have these dopamine surges/release are the areas that are attributed to learning and reward. The injection of amphetamines intravenously gave out comparable results. The observed surge in dopamine and its resulting implications are never well known but is a success in rats. This implies that dopamine may indeed be very crucial in the process of modifying the brain following a certain period of perpetual engagement in training activities. Bao Etal conducted a study using groups of rats. One group of rats was paired with the presentation of a certain tone of about 9-kHz.The observation made was that there was a particular expansion in the brain area that is devoted to the used tone. This was just in the rats that had concurrent of dopamine simulation. (Bao, CHan, and Merze nich,2001).Their conclusion therefore was that dopamine plays a very integral role in the process of learning. This was what caused the neural realignment in the rats. The conclusion from this experiment is that the large increase in the amount of dopamine that is observed when a person plays a video games has a role that is similar to the one in the rats. The dopamine released leads to a faster rate of learning and pleasure. The Dominant British political Ideology The term ideology was first made use of by French philosopher Destutt de Tracy in the nineteenth century. He used it to refer to the science of human ideas. However several definitions have been coined for the word. The term ideology is however used to refer to a certain particular set of ideas and assumptions that are necessary in the shaping of ones understanding of the world. It was however argued by Leys (1983:14) that ideology refers to any set of social ideas that become part of the operative assumptions of the general political practice of a certain particular social group. The very nature of an ideology is usually interpreted to be very coherent in that the main ideas within the specific ideology will usually tend to show a high degree of coherent with one another. The main ideologies that dominate the British way of life are conservatism, socialism and liberalism. Methodology Participants The participants were gathered from a certain popular social online video gaming platform. To explore the questions as to how often the participants engage themselves in playing video games and How this video games affect politics, the research was undertaken by interviewing six hundred participants of which the majority were male compared to females. There were 65% of males compared to 45% females. The participants were aged between eighteen years and forty years with the mean age being 25year and a standard deviation of 0.64. Procedure Data collection was done between the months of January and February the year 2010. The affair was random and after informing the officials of the underlying research it was on. The participants were recruited randomly through random sampling technique which was geared towards a generalized finding that gives a wider scope of views from the respondents, and avoidance of biasness. This was done to eradicate biasness and to get various views from different people who comes from all forms of employment. The main concern of the research was to analyze how people especially teenagers look up for political information online. Secondly there was a concern was how they had persuaded people into voting in elections; thirdly they sort to know how the people had been living informed on politics and other current affairs in the past six months, forth is whether they have stayed committed to their civic participation. And lastly the research sort to see how interested the participants are in polit ical issues around them. The research engage in analyzing both the activities and interests of the participant from that earlier ages because though teenagers do not always involve themselves in political issues as compared to their adult counterparts, they are at a critical age where experimentation are eminent that can help in the development of new political ideologies that give them certain political identities. Each person participating filled an anonymous survey questionnaire that was to give details of their attitudes towards videogames, what they know about them, how often they play and lastly, their perception of politics and how video games affects it. The participants were told that video games included any games played on a computer, video arcades, and handheld devices among others. The data collectors were also taught and trained the manner in which the survey was to be conducted. (Walsh, 2000) The research uses logistic regression and multivariate linear methods in their analysis between the participants background information variables and their civic quality in playing video games together with the above five concerns of the research on what the participants engage in. the games can then be categorized under various groupings such as those that tries to coin the thoughts of participants on moral issues, how they help people learn about problems in the society, how they help in influencing communities decision making procedures, and the nation at large. And lastly some are categorized on how they help in teaching about social issues. The above statistical methods are used because they assist in controlling factors such as how parent may influence the civil participation of the youths and also how participants incomes can affect their civil and political participation. The analysis due to past researches on the topic goes ahead to categorize influencing measures in four different categories that includes; the political characteristics of the games played which talks about how the participants and whether they have any civic experiences that influence political issues or supports them. Another is the social context of the games played which assesses the way the games are played. This could be in solitude or in groups. It also assesses the political behaviors and attitudes, this deal with the magnitude of involvement of the participants to gamming and their political involvement. Also there are demographic variables. They include analysis on age, gender, race and also household incomes. It also analyses the frequency of the games played. Therefore on this research our main concern will be on the variables listed below. Variables Amount of time spent on video games: the participants were asked how much time they spend playing their favorite video games. This time was categorized into week days and weekends which helped in calculating the amount of time people use in playing the video games weekly. Video games exposure: the participants were again asked to name at least three of their favorite video games. On each video game named the participants were expected to rate how often they play this game on a seven point Likert scale. Also the participants were asked to rate how the video game related to politics on the same Likert scale. On the scale it is interpreted that 1 represent a no relation to politics while 7 mean a higher relationship to politics. The video game political relation score was calculated. The participants were also asked to rate their video games relation on a 1 to 10 scale to show how much trends of politics in video games has changed in the past two to three years. Video game limit: the participants were again asked how often they limit themselves from playing video and the period of time they use in playing the video games. Underlying video game political inclination: The participants were asked to state the general mood that laying the game elicited as concerns the major British political ideologies. The model There exists broad based and multidisciplinary body of research work that deal with the effects of video games on various social phenomena, some borrow their relevance applications, game theory. DeGroot (1974) came up with a perfect self updating model , whereby persons adjust their personal belief regarding a certain event (also called the state of the world) by way of observing all persons with whom they have a common social tie and in effect taking an average of their friends averages. Political ideologies and beliefs do necessarily involve a certain level of personal stubbornness but is not explicitly explored by the model, however the DeGroot updating model is still relevant towards the process of forming a political ideology, especially when the aspect of social video gaming which is so connected and impressionable is concerned. In this research however, we do a slight modification of the DeGroots model in order to include an element of political judgment as well as a decreasing level of an individuals sensitivity to others views in a bid to capture the overall maturation state and solidification of the various political views and ideologies. For this purpose we begin by employing DeGroot model which has a simple stochastic configuration having the following parameters. The model is employed in gauging a persons view regarding the elements of British political ideologies that they derive or perceive to be entailed in the video games. The model is a follows. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.(1) Where n is denotes the number of direct links that an individual i has with certain other people j in the online gaming network. I reconfigured the model to incorporate some of the most observed realities of British political ideology acquisition. In the model we assume that a person maintains an autoregressive component in his or her ideology. The model then becomes as follows. . à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦(2) Allowing the general political ideology to start out at time 1 as i b~ + e , in which ÃŽÂ µi is a random error term which is drawn from N(0,s 2 ) . The expectation of ÃŽÂ ²i, and 2 is b~ is arrived at by inspection, as the expectation ( ) i E b~ + e is b~ , Which leads us back to equation (2). Variance of ÃŽÂ ²i,2 is evaluated the equation Nis clearly decreasing. Therefore, one can boldly infer that more connections of n can lead to correponding ÃŽÂ ²s which quickly converges to the equilibrium of mb~ and to each other.2 This model however comes with a certain number of assumptions, some of which are more concrete than others. The initial assumption is that it does not take into account the weightings or a measure of the strength of the various different ties. Conclusion Video games have been proven to have profound effects on the players thoughts. Certain ideologies can also be passed or rather contained in the video games. The exact nature of the ideology that a particular game may pass varies significantly with the nature of the game. Certain games have specific political ideologies that dominate their main theme. The study reveals that a great degree of political ideology is encapsulated in the British games. The designers of various games area at times motivated by certain political ambitions in the process of designing the games. The main political ideology that is eminent in most games is conservationism and it is mainly expressed in terms of strategy of the games. Most British gamers enjoy playing games that replicate the old battlefields campaigns. Literature Review Many theorists have come up with similar and different arguments concerning the relations of video games, politics and culture of different regions of the earth. When participating in these social practices, players of the game have the opportunity to involve themselves in new identities. For example, while playing the game Sims Online a presidential political contest of Alphaville erupted between, Baynes who is 21 years old, and Laura who is a 14 year old girl. Political jockeying and voter fraud accusations emerged just like it would in a real political activity. These occurrences created learning opportunities to Laura and Baynes about the realities of real politics and what they entail. This very election attracted national attention as pundits engaged in debates on the significance of games where players could not only run political systems in their virtual lives, but could also engage in political debates and arguments. Lauras political campaign, platform and alliances were substantial enough to initiate a stronger police force and run an overhaul of the system of judiciary. This creates an understanding of how deep it can be to gain ex perience in online virtual worlds. These games contain very rich contexts for learning since players are able to have new and powerful identities and actually experiment on them.( Shaffer 2004) According to Terry Flew (2005) digital games are on the increase in society, a thing which has created social isolation especially teenage boys, who hide in bedrooms; thus fail to actively engage in the society. David Marshal (2002) agrees with Flew though he is against the effects of the out come of his research He found out that games are dynamically social and extensive social conversations emerge from online gaming in huge multi-player formats. For example, the Sims Online has created entire social and political structures in some communities that have adopted a social gaming prospect in their daily lives. These online gamers actively participate in various forms of communication which includes one-on-one correspondence. These kinds of games are massive, social and intimate. On the other hand, McArthur (2008) argues that the amount of time young people play, or the frequency of the plays are significantly related to most outcomes of both civic and political occurrences in pour daily lives. McArthur continues to emphasize that the gaming influence to games has increasingly persuaded others on the voting process, charity contribution, volunteer work, and also in growing interest as far as political views and events are concerned. MacArthur finds very little evidence supporting the aspect of videogames in the promotion of attitudes and behavior that undermine behavior as well as civic commitments. On the same note, there is also little evidence supporting an association of video game playing and that of a vibrant civic and political life. McArthur concluded that the frequency of playing games was associated with only two political and civics outcomes i.e. an increase in political interest and protesting with variations that only emerge according to the leve l of frequency a gamer has to play. Henry Jenkins, a prominent scholar in digital media highlighted potential participation of cultures that come up as a result of engagement with the digital media. Such participatory cultures are in support of communities that share the same interest and involve themselves in sharing and creating what they create with others. Those with experience join in to mentor those who are coming up. With the kind of report put forth by Jenkins, the newly created participatory culture presents more opportunities for gamers to, participate in community life as opposed to isolation, engage in civic debates, or to be leaders in politics. Extensive opportunities through participation may gradually change self perception and encourage social ties with other inhabitants. In order to be empowered, one is supposed to make meaningful decisions within a civic point of view. For example, citizenship skills are learnt through engaging into political acting in order to understand choices to be made in politi cal terms; all these require steps from watching political news and acting politically. This is more like having interest in politics acting in a game world and then acting politically in the real world. Henry Jenkins (2007) Developmental Psychologists concerned with adolescent behavior have suggested that nurturing is very important during the early years in life i.e. child and teenage years. This is the time that teenagers try to anticipate the lives of adulthood and work hard to understand who they are, who they want to be and how they relate to the society. Gibson (2003) notes that the development of sociopolitical orientations is very critical; therefore assessment of the importance to which young members of the society experiment with civic and political activities available to them is crucial in development of future participation. Brown and Thomas in their arguments in virtual worlds write that players learn to create new innovations within networked environments that are well suited to social interactions, problem solving and effective communication. For example, in world of warcraft, players generally come together to form guilds in which they associate together and coordinate in how to attack and destroy the enemy as well as plan to raid the enemy. When new members are recruited, they undergo training as well as ways of resolving conflict among the guild members. This calls for the establishment of an implicit or explicit code of conduct. This kind of interaction and social influence prepares young people on the future stance of their lives. Douglas Thomas (2008) Sasha Barab and Kurt Squire have qualitatively studied the content of the game Civilization IV. This is a game where players begin to join a group settlers living in an underdeveloped land. After joining the piece of land, they try to think deeply on how they will develop the land to the standards of a big city; they therefore send a number of scouts to go and explore the territories that surround them. In order to do this, they are expected to set up a group of warriors who are supposed to fight and protect their city. These players start their ways from the Stone Age period and keep moving until the modern twenty first century. This is a process where they have to develop ideas and make wise decision on how to introduce religion, reading e.t.c at the same time; trade negotiations take place as well as talks on governing their territories especially financially and politically. This kind of simulation enables players to have opportunities of learning about the dynamics of political, economical, as well as the legal system that are stipulated in a real government. This simulation also provides opportunity for players to acknowledge their civic identities due to their experience as civic leaders in the virtual world. Such cognitions and attitude coincide with the players behavior, thus help them develop and practice civic skills. With this study, Squire and Borab concluded that young people gain both civic and political knowledge through playing commercial video games such as Civilization IV. Borab and Squire (2004). There also have been games purely designed to be used within a basic education context. Games such as Quest Atlantis include a narration based on a storyline of young male and female protagonists. This is meant to initiate a proper understanding in pupils about the purpose of some of the activities they carry out in their daily prospects. This game has also helped students perform batter in their studies, especially in subjects like, language arts, social studies and science. For example, in social studies; students have developed and appreciated history and its relationship to their present lives and the adoption of various perspectives of making decisions. As far as gaming in an educational setting is concerned, studies show that players under the guidance and intervention of adults yield more productivity and worthiness as opposed to the players under the reflection of peer groups. Other arguments though state that games with more distinct design features can facilitate greater ci vic learning conditions without the intervention of an adult. Borab and Squire (2004). More literacy scholars have introduced the new versus the old literacy in this new technology era of global understanding. Meyer and rose (1999) interprets the old literacy concept based on the assumption that the basic carrier of information in our culture is the print and the most important knowledge is the ability of students to express and understand themselves through text. Right now technology is catching up, thus the new definition of literacy has changed to mean the ability of a student tot be able to express self through digital technology which is rapidly becoming the sole carrier of information. This is critical in todays education context. This education context requires the knowledge of print literacy; this call for both the old (print) and this new (digital) concept to enhance more skilled literacy. It simply shows that there is a perverse challenge of literacy in both the digital and the non-digital innovations of our daily lives. (Meyer Rose, 1999) Electronic games have actually been used in the classroom by teachers to associate the traditional ways of teaching. Young people have always been inspired by some character in the games. This invokes some sense of attention and concentration which are part of the teachers goals in the teaching process. After the digital game use, pupils begin to reveal some real enthusiasm for writing diaries, text, coloring and making drawings; this also motivate them to keep proper records for what they have learned and drafted in the classroom. They also go on to discuss their projects in broader perspectives, thanks to the games their teachers introduce to them in classroom. The game world in schools is particularly stronger in the United Kingdom for the sole contribution of contributing and advancing personal skills in innovation and creativity. These games develop intellectual and social skills that includes self confidence, ability to explore and cooperate, enterprise and initiative, responsi bility, independence e.t.c. (Meyer Rose, 1999) According to Zimmerman and Salen, games are forms of organized play with a set of rules and guide to players. If a game is well designed with a meaningful purpose, then the game will definitely yield positive results meaningful play which is a very good learning condition. This definition of meaningful play simply means the results of the relationship between the outcome and the action in a game which are integrated and discernable into the wider view of the game. When the real design focuses on meaningful learning results, then it is able to preserve playfulness which is deserved by children and at the same time serious learning. Games really motivate players to concentrate on mastering their tasks according to how the game is supposed to be played. The innovation of very distinct elements of game design such as rewards, goals, rules, multisensory cues, interactivity, and narrative context, have proven necessary to kindle the expected outcomes of learning. For example, EVE Online is an online game that one has to subscribe to in order to play. Its nature as a casual game doesnt in any way undermine the gain of knowledge while playing it. EVE Online is all about dominating a market by setting up a number of corporations. This game has attracted so many prominent personnel including, MBAs, city traders, economists, chief executives e.t.c. to gain knowledge of complex financial lessons that they can practice in the real world. One of the gamers was interviewed and explained that once one has managed to conquer a virtual corporation spanning the universe, you can then easily be able to manage a real corporation spanning the earth. (Zimmerman and Salen 2004) Games are interactive mediums with to fully understand becomes a core challenge. Within game worlds, players have the agency. These games are therefore inhabited by the gamers, within the theories of digital games, a reliable game should be able to constrain players through the narratives and the rules that they are bound to. It is also important that the players be given the actual control for entering the virtual world. Kreimeier, 2000 continues to explain that the game developers desire is always be able to design games that enable the players to fully engage themselves in the game world. In this way, games are constructions by both the players as well as the authors. For example, the Grand Theft is a game representing the inner L.A in a way that leads players to understand some of the limited choices urban youth have, this game also has a way of inviting them to try the personae of the black man in the inner city; and the experience the sensations of the urban culture and the lif e of an urban gang member. The Grand Theft game allows gamers to inhabit this for a particular view point and also help in the development of the identities within them. (Squire, 2004). Deux Ex is a very popular game design as a science fiction game. It contains characters of duplicitous leaders of the government, very powerful corporations and also full of terrorists who are sponsored by the government. Warren Spector who designed the game offers moral choices to the gamers on whether to trust organizations or to trust individual people. In a world where no moral decision is right, the player is left tot rethink of who he wants to joint the competing organizations such, as family royalties, government or corporations. This kind of game helps us know the must important things and choices to make; as well as what to ignore when making very important decisions. All these game are differently understood and interpreted by different player.(Black 2004) According to Tom Malone (1981), there is an intrinsic motivation of games to players through challenge, control, fantasy, curiosity and opportunities for competition, collaborative play and social interaction. He goes on arguing that games have a way of creating presence, or emotional immediacy which is one of their most appealing features; the core to this is that we are entering the word to this and not merely manipulating the screen pixels. Clinton (2004) says on the other hand that immersion is fundamentally built through the game world interaction. These verbs given to players- jumping, punching, running, diving and kicking through and over enemies and few other obstacles are the building blocks through which gamers become war lords, action heroes, or civilization leaders. Clinton maintains that the digital worlds cognition is mediated thoroughly by players action capacity. Thus the players actions become the players interface with the world. Clintons observations go on proving that the first thing a player does before playing a particular game is to familiarize him with the game controls. This action gives him total control of the characters body and what he can do in the virtual world. In the real world this helps a player to conform and find out his abilities that he can use to venture through his day-to-day

Networks And Connectivity :: essays research papers

Networks and Connectivity Trying to give a definition to the term COMMUNICATIONS we can say that “Communications is the dispatch of a message from one point to another and the confirmation of the complete , right and conceivable receiving of the message by the authorized addressee'; . As we can see from the history there was a huge try to achieve the communication between people . The signals of smoke , the sounds of the drum , the fire were some of the basic ways for the transfer of a message in a era years ago . But these ways of communication was neither accurate nor has the certainty of the success . Also the transfer speed of the information was small , the size of the information tiny and the security of the communication was almost absence . The need for networks appears for the first time when Graham Bell set in use the telephone . He was talking with a friend of his with a single line , but later when he wanted to talk to another friend of his he needed to use another line to connect his phone and the phone of his friend . So imagine that he has X friends , he would need X(X-1)/2 lines and X-1 phones , that was impossible so the need of networks come up . The network first developed for the need of the voice communication but after the appearance of data communications need the same network was used . From the time that electricity and electronics had developed there was rapidly changes at the section of the communications . After the decade of the 1950 the computers started developing , and the communications started playing an important role in peoples life . Also the evolution of the voice communication has created an extensive telephone network which today covers a very large part of the planet , and computers have taken advantage of that network in a great rate so as to satisfy their needs for data communication . Terms Talking about our days , when we are referring to the term computer connectivity we have a complex of hardware , software and physical appliance, and we mean the way and how computers can communicate and share common sources with the use of an intelligent or common network . With the term Data Communication we mean the exchange of information under the form of data between Data Terminal Equipment .

Ikea Enntering the Russian Market Essay

The best way to search for viable alternative entry strategies is to watch the mistakes IKEA made and the problems they had by entering the Russian market. But first there are several company related attributes to mention. IKEA is a company which is highly related to their Swedish tradition and origin as this is a basically part of their marketing strategy and corporate identity. Many people are connecting IKEA’s Swedish image with the way IKEA is communicating their product range: Cheap, easy and yet reliable and stylish. Because of these conditions given, IKEA is forced to make sure that they are able to transfer these elements of their corporate idea into the Russian market. Of course there always are slightly differences from country to country in the way IKEA communicates to their customers, but adoptions should be limited to executive marketing decisions and not interfere with IKEA’s basic business idea. These previous points are strongly limiting any kind of indirect entry strategy. IKEA needs to keep the conceptional differences between their home markets and the Russian points of sale as small as possible. That means as further the gap is between the original shops and the ones in Russia, the bigger is the chance of a flawed identity. Therefore entry strategies like franchising, licensing and indirect export over all could not be an opportunity to enter the Russian market. The reason is simple: It will get quite hard to find a Russian businessman who is familiar enough with Swedish culture. The franchise guidelines IKEA would be forced to give out would probably fill up thousands of pages and even then, Russian IKEA franchise businesses would communicate anything else but Swedish family piece to their customers. IKEA remains facing the more viable entry strategies of a direct export in terms of opening their own stores in Russia as they did, or to start an alliance as a strategica lly partnership or joint venture. The major problem they IKEA faced by choosing the direct export as an entry strategy was the missing knowledge and experience about the Russian market, its further development, the people and the Russian culture as well as Russian living conditions. The arrangement and adaption of the communication strategy and the product range took place steadily and needed time. Therefore, even if the Russian market potential was still growing and expanding IKEA lost market share and sales power because of wasted resources and by performing a not optimally adjusted marketing strategy. A solution to face these problems from the start of the market  entry would have been to search for a Russian partner company that is capable of IKEA’s missing knowledge. The different opportunities in here are based in the shaping and the form of alliance. IKEA can be sure that they have got a very well working business model. They don’t want to share their success even if a deeper alliance would probably allow them to share loss as well in case of failure. IKEA wants to keep control of the company as it is still private hold and they want to keep it that way in Russia. In addition a joint venture alliance usually is kind of a long term relationship. IKEA indeed just needs a partner to get started in the market Russia. Once they catch on they might want to quickly quit former alliances. In my opinion the best solution would have been a strategic alliance with a possibly quite small partner as the object of trade for IKEA is just knowledge. A small, traditional company that enables IKEA the transfer and arrangement of their culture and company politics into the Russian market by providing all the information IKEA needs to prevent the above-mentioned mistakes. The partner company is not needed to perform in any physical goods business as their relationship to IKEA will only be based on information access. After the successful market entry, the strategic, information based alliance could be quit quickly and easy or getting changed into a usual business relationship, depending on the need of future information supply of IKEA.

On Being Insane in Sane Places essays

On Being Insane in Sane Places essays Just how insane or sane is sanity? Is it possible to tell a sane person from someone that is insane? How is it that one psychiatrist can testify that a person is insane, while another equally qualified one argues that they are sane? Obviously, notions of normality are not as accurate as the general populous would believe. In fact, psychological categorization of mental illnesses has been said to be useless at best and harmful at its worst. One experiment set out to find out just how accurate these categorizations are. The experiment involved sending eight pseudopatients into twelve various hospitals. Out of the eight patients, one was in his twenties, while the other seven were older and considered to be established. Also, five were men and three were women. Each gained admission on the claim that they had been hearing voices. Except their fake names and occupations used at admission, the significant occurrences that they each described were actual life experiences that the y had been through. Once admitted to the various psychiatric facilities, the pseudopatients ceased any abnormal behaviors. The pseudopatients spent their time observing both the staff and other patients and even took notes on their observations. Despite the fact that the counterfeit patients acted normally and even took notes publicly, none of the them were discovered by the hospital staff. However, many of the other patients at the institutions continually saw through the fake patients and stated that they must be journalists checking up on the hospital and the staff. Anyway, not to restate everything in the article, the labels that are used for the sane and the insane are not always accurate, and that some of those housed in such institutions are quite possible not insane at all. After reading this article, I find myself somewhat enlightened. Even though I worked in a prison that housed mental patients, I too never ...

Black Panther Party essays

Black Panther Party essays In 1966, the national Black Panther party was created. Their platform and it's ideals struck a chord with blacks across the country, especially in the inner cities of the north. The Panthers were able to organize and unite these blacks. This alarmed the federal government. They instituted many controversial, illegal programs of harassment, infiltration, and instigation, which led to the deaths of many Panthers. From their inception, the Black Panthers were treated with disdain and contempt. The Panthers wrote out a platform called "What We Want, What We Believe." Their ideas and methods appealed greatly to blacks. The past few years had seen the civil rights struggle rise, and had left many blacks with the feeling that not enough was being accomplished. Many Blacks shared the view of the Panthers in that violence was needed to defend themselves until true equality could be achieved. Aside from being militant, the Panthers did things that helped the community. They set up break fast, and helped people to clean up their neighborhoods. The Black Panthers gave many urban black communities a sense of unity and identity that they hadn't had before. The Panther's rhetoric of violence alarmed the government. In March of 1968, the Panther newspaper printed this warning to police, "Halt in the name of humanity! You shall make no more war on unarmed people. You will not kill another black person and walk on the streets of the black community to gloat about it and sneer at the defenseless relatives of your victims. From now on, when you murder a black person in this Babylon or Babylons, you may as well give it up because we will get your ass and God can't hide you."1 This gave the government cause for alarm, and they stepped up their "efforts" accordingly. The government went through great lengths to keep up the status quo. They began campaigns of disinformation against the Panthers i...

Population Control and Earths Sustainability Research Paper

Population Control and Earths Sustainability - Research Paper Example No matter the increase in population, the earth cannot exceed its ‘carrying capacity’. Proponents of population control argue that if the current trend of increase in world’s population continues without any action taken to control, it will lead to overpopulation that would exceed the earth’s capacity (Navarro 1). However, the big question raised here is what is the carrying earth’s capacity and is it possible to measure this capacity? This is because one needs to know the exact carrying capacity of the earth for them to say that it would be exceeded with the bulging human population. The truth is there is no conclusive evidence showing the carrying capacity of the earth and indicating that if the world’s population exceeds a certain level, the earth will not be able to sustain it. In fact, the earth can comfortably sustain the human population as it still has enough resources to achieve this. However, to achieve this requires proper maintenan ce of these resources to avoid wastage. In addition, the earth still has vast land and resources to cater for the population. For example, Tanzania in East Africa has a population of about California and Virginia’s population combined, but with a land larger than Virginia, Arizona, Michigan, and California combined (Navarro 2). This is just an example of several countries with vast land enough to sustain their populations, and the populations beyond. Increase in population does not automatically lead to a reduction in earth’s resources for the population causing famine and starvation.

Leaving a Job between Shannon kaiser and Tomoyuki Iwashita Essay

Leaving a Job between Shannon kaiser and Tomoyuki Iwashita - Essay Example In the case of Shannon Kaiser, she had been dragging herself and crying on her way to work due to the severe emptiness that she feels about her work that she is seeing it to be a cage. In her words, she â€Å"followed a career path that felt soulless†. Clive Offley typified the regular upscale life of a Japanese â€Å"yuppie† where they work for a prestigious that is desired by many. But Offley was so tired of because the amount of work that they do is already taking toll on the quality of their lives. He spoke of Karoshi or death from work to emphasize how Japanese companies will make you work to death. This was highlighted in his article when he â€Å"collapsed from working too hard†. But instead of being taken cared off, he was instead admonished by his boss that â€Å"it's your own fault if you get sick†. This kind of life was succinctly described by Kaiser as â€Å"I followed a career path that felt soulless†. It has perks that can make one fee l successful and supposed to be happy due to the accompanying superficial trappings that goes with the perks. Kaiser for a time had it. She had a fancy car, awards, achievements and money she could get. But instead of being happy, she instead felt an animal that is caged longing to come out. She longed to be with the â€Å"three-story tall maple tree. ... His workplace also provided everything that he never felt the need to leave the building. There is a barber shop there, doctor, sauna and other facilities and amenities that would cater to his needs. But all of these privileges have their price. And the price is worth more than the privileges because the change of lifestyle that his work wrought deteriorated the quality of his life instead of improving it. Suddenly, his life was reduced to work and his dormitory with the commuter train in between. They also have to work hard to the point of Karoshi or death from work in the company that they do not have anything left for their personal lives. The demand of work deprives them to find girlfriends (for the bachelor) and if an employee is married, they have less time to spend with their wives and their children. The predicament about work that was articulated by Kaiser and Iwashita represents the situation that many people are in with their work. Kaiser and Iwashita is not an isolated ca se and is shared by many people. Most of the time, we are doing the jobs that we are doing because we needed the job to pay our bills, mortgages, send children to school, etch. Or, it is because we are trapped by the impression of prestige of working in top companies and the trappings that goes with it that even if we feel miserable, we still stayed with the company just to keep the respect of other people. What made Kaiser and Iwashita’s casespecial was because they had the courage and opportunity to break free from the bondage of their work which Kaiser put it as â€Å"A giant ball of energy burst outward from my †¦ For the first time, I had let my inner voice, my heart, speak its truth.  I felt alive. For the first time in my