The Revolution of Digital Technology

Introduction Digital Revolution refers to the change in technology that has been going on in the last 40 years from analog technology and mechanical technology to the digital technology.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Revolution of Digital Technology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The revolution have been characterized by rapid developments in the information technology with the computers becoming,faster,cheaper,powerful and smaller and this has information technology to be part and parcel of lives as it is embedded in almost all the products and people are adjusting very fast to the rapid pace that the information environment is changing. Other developments that have been realized as far as the revolution is concerned includes the digital television, digital democracy,gaming,mobile phone, the world wide web, online social networking,vitual communities, music and multimedia, digital divide among others. Th e following essay covers the issues relating to the revolution of information and the challenges that are hinder the effective revolution of digital technology. History and timeline of digital technology The invention of personal compute in the mid 20th century enhanced the invention of new technologies by converging the previous analog technology to digital format. This made it possible to make identical copies of the original and hence the ability of accessing and distributing information remotely between media. A significant development as far as the digital revolution is concerned is the transition of music from analog to recorded digital one in they early 1980s (Hoare,1998). The whole phenomenon behind digital revolution started with the invention of a transistor which in turn facilitated the invention of a microprocessor. The microprocessor saw the development of the personal computers and it was the invention of the personal computers that paved way for other digital devices that are present today. The transistor that facilitated the invention of digital computers was invented in 1947 and so the computers came onto being in the mid 1950s and it was only the government, military and the organizations that had the computer systems.As a result of digital computers invention, the World Wide Web was created.Advertising Looking for essay on computer science? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The personal computers were later invented in the 1970s in which the time sharing between computers was effectively realized. The general public became familiar with the computers in the 1980s in the industrialized nations such as U.S, Geramny, France among others. Thus people bought the computers for home and business use.Many people became conversant with the computers and also many jobs were created as a result. It is also in the 1980s that the first cell phone was created by Motorola (Creeber Martin, 2008). The p eriod between 1990s and 2000 was also characterized by significant developments in the digital era. First, the internet was released by the World Wide Web and so many businesses had the chance of advertising themselves. People from the developed nations were the first beneficiary of internet invention but the digital revolution eventually spread to the entire globe in 1990s implying that even people from the developing countries had the access to internet. The cell phone was also developed in this era but much later which had the effect of enhancing communication among people. The Social-economic Impacts of digital revolution The revolution of digital technology has had both positive as well as negative impact as far as social and economic aspects are concerned. The positive impacts of the revolution of the digital technology include the fact that it has enhanced interconnectedness among people. The interconnectedness has reduced costs and time as far as sending and receiving the in formation is concerned. In the past, people used to spend much money in an order to convey information (Hofstede, 1997). The digital technology has also made information to be easily accessible unlike in the past and this have resulted to great efficiency in organizations and hence enabling them to achieve their objectives. The World Wide Web has been of much assistance as it has facilitated the outsourcing by the companies and hence enhancing interaction between the companies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Revolution of Digital Technology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The new innovations have also brought about economic growth through globalization whereby one can even buy and sell products online without necessarily having to travel long distances in order to carry out negotiations and so everyday life of people have been made easier. Electronic commerce as a result of internet allows efficiency on th e consumer’s prices for goods and services because middlemen which have the effect of increasing the prices are eliminated as the supplier is able to sell his or her goods directly to the consumers. The negative effects as a result of revolution of digital technology includes the fact that the companies’ productivity is often reduced as employees spends much time pursuing their own interests using the digital devices that are found in the workplace e.g. playing computer games, chatting on the social network sites such as facebook and twitter,accesing emails e.t.c. The other negative impact as far as the revolution of digital technology is concerned is that there is less privacy because the information that is stored in the digital devices is susceptible to be accessed by people who were not intended to view it. Some of the information that is found in they internet for instance may not be suitable for people of all ages such as underage as it have unethical elements su ch as pornography e.t.c. due to the fact that organizations as well as individuals are allowed to publish any topic whatsoever to the world at large at minimal costs (World Culture Report, 1998). This has been a major concern for many parents as the students performance in schools continue to deteriorate because they spends much of their time either listening to music with their iPods, downloading music, watching movies and video clips e.t.c.instead of concentrating in their studies (Creeber Martin, 2008). There has also been an increase in frauds as far as the revolution in digital technology is concerned e.g. the cyber crime with the World Wide Web which has resulted to huge losses among the victims (Vikas, 2002).Advertising Looking for essay on computer science? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Challenges of digital revolution The path towards digital revolution has not been all smooth as it has been met with challenges and the main one being digital divide (Challoner Gribbin, 2002). The gap between those who have access to information technology and those who do not have is quite wide and this has made the revolution in digital technology not to be uniform because there are societies that continues to lag behind and resulting into digital divide. The digital divide occurs mainly in the low developed nations with many people being unaware of the current digital technologies and so the revolution process cannot be carried out effectively as the people behind revolution cannot be able to get feedback on the existing products. Another challenge that is common in the digital revolution is the rate at which the evolution takes place implying that ones digital gadgets as well as programs are always at a risk of becoming obsolete due to the revolution of more effective ones and hence a person will be required to seek for the digital devices that are currently in use which is a bit costly (Hofstede, 1997). There are also concerns about trademarks and copyrights as a result of revolution of the digital technology as consumers have resulted to duplicating the original protected works instead of purchasing the original product from the manufacturers. The music and film industry is the one that has been greatly affected by these violations. This has in turn led to the killing of the morale of the original manufacturers. The emergence of counterfeit products in the market have also made it hard for the consumers both differentiate between the original products and the fake ones and this have the effect of hindering the product innovation Conclusion The digital revolution have spurred economic growth as a result of the innovations and with the personal computers advent, information management about products, people and processes became crucial in each and every s ector of the economy. The mere convergence of communication, computing and the content enhanced the digital revolution as well as digital economy. In today’s world, societies have adequate infrastructure concerning information and communication technology as revolution still continues and thus reaping benefits as a result of the advancement in technology. As competition increases in businesses, innovation is being considered as the key factor for success and so there is need to encourage the under developed nations to be innovative enough so that they can be able to compete effectively with the developed nations (Hofstede, 1997). Reference List Challoner, J. Gribbin, J (2002).The Digital Revolution. London: DK Pub Creeber, G. Martin, R. (2008).Digital cultures. London: Open University Press. Hoare, S. (1998).Digital Revolutiion: 20th century inventions. Whyman: Raintree Steck- Vaughn. Hofstede, G. (1997).Culture and Organizations Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw Hill. Vikas, M. (2002).Annals of Indian Language Computing: Goa International. UK: Conference on Universal Knowledge and Language. World Culture Report. (1998).Culture, Creativity and Markets. US: UNESCO This essay on The Revolution of Digital Technology was written and submitted by user Melanie Calderon to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Gcp story Essays

Gcp story Essays Gcp story Essay Gcp story Essay Daft is the closest competing firm in Italian frozen dinners segment that has been stable with 25% market share and is preparing to launch Healthy food options. Apart from the above, Natural food retailers and restaurants also pose a threat to GCP (FFD) revenues. CONTEXT GCP needs to have an above industry average growth to meet the expectations of financial markets (Wall Street). The gross revenue and marketing margin have been less than expected so far (till August 2008). Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for frozen food industry has been reducing since 2007. Super markets and retailers influence is increasing in promoting any product in frozen food industry. GCP needs to re-strategize its promotion plan to meet the planned financial figures. On the technical frontier there is a lack of measurable metric to gauge the success of promotions. Question 2: What is your advice to Sanchez regarding the national sales promotion? Shcould the funds be allocated to: (a) Dinardos 32-ounce package, (b) Dinardos 16-ounce package, or (c) Natural Meals? : Justify your decision by developing ppropriate criteria and conducting an analysis based on those criteria. Situational Analysis Impact of promotions of individual brands: Dinardos32: GCP has done national level promotion for Dinardos32 four times in last 2 years. Key highlights of the promotion are: Average % Retailer participating in national promotion : 27. 07% Iincrease in sales volume of Dinardos32 : 45% Cannibalization of Dinardos16 : 88% decline in sales volume of Dinardo16 Net impact on Top-line revenue: Decrease by $1. 2 million dollars. Net impact on Marketing Margin of FFD : Decrease by $4. 5 million ROMI : -1. 2 Dinardds16: GCP has done national level promotion for Dinardos16 five times in last national promotion : 30. 8% Iincrease in sales volume of Dinardos16 : 63% Cannibalization of Dinardos32 : 20% decline in sales volume of Dinardo16 Net impact on Top-line revenue: Iincrease by $2. 8 million dollars. Net impact on Marketing Margin of FFD : Decrease by $2. 5 million ROMI : -0. 57 Natural Meals: This brand has never been premoted at national level by GCP because of fear of tarnishing the premium brand image. However, the projections of national promotion (if carried out) seem positive economically positive. There has been very little or no correlation between the promotion of D32 or D16 and sales of Naturals ea s Ine data Inalcates tnat tnere nas Deen no cannlDallzatlon on sales 0T Natural Meals because of promotion of D32 or Dl exhibit 3). Also, this is the brand which has shown the y-o-y growth of 15% which is a potential oopportunity in the food industry. To forecast the national promotion impact of Natural meals on the financials of FFD, we assumed that 25% of the retailers will agree to premote the brand. Key highlights of the analysis: Average % Retailer participating in national romotion : 25% Iincrease in sales volume of Natural Meals : 50% No significant cannibalization of other brands Net impact on Top-line revenue: Iincrease by $6. 7 million dollars. Net impact on Marketing Margin of FFD : Iincrease by $0. 5 million ROMI : 0. 12 Seasonal sales analysis and impact of promotion on Forward-buying: Refer Exhibit 2. There is no consistent seasonal impact of months on the total sales of each brand in last two years. The maxima in the graphs are due to promotion of the brand and minima are due to the promotion of other brand (Cannibalization). The subsequent onths do not show any drop in the sales which confirms that there is no significant Forward-buying concern. Strategic Options GCP has an option of promoting Dinardos32, Dinardos16 and/or Natural Meals in the last four months of the year to boost its marketing margins to meet the annual target. Below are the Pros and Cons of promoting each brand. Dinardos32 Dinardos16 Natural Meals pros Cons Iincrease in sales revenue of D32 Huge Cannibalization of D16. Negative sales revenue for FFD. (Exhibit 4) Iincrease in sales revenue of D16 Significant Cannibalization of D32. (Refer Exhibit 4) Iincrease in sales revenue Premium product image tarnishing. Negligible stock piling Negative ROMI (-1. 2). (including the effect of cannibalization) Negligible stock piling Negative ROMI(-O. 57). (including the effect of cannibalization) Ppositive ROMI (0. 12) Aggressive promotion response from Daft. Iincrease in marketing margin of D32 High promotion cost Decrease in Marketing margin of D16. No significant cannibalization (Reter ExnlDlt 1 Tor more aetalls) Comparison of Promotion Strategies: GCP has three options to engage in promotional activities with the retailers and super markets i. , Off Invoice, Pay for Performance and Target Based. GCP has been traditionally going for pay-for-performance strategy in promotion of D32 and D16. Off Invoice Pay-for performance Target-based Iincrease in sales because of forward buying. Retailers may not pass cost benefit to end customers. Iincrease in sales. Retailers apprehension. No forward buying Retailers apprehension Benefit and incentives for Retailers. No tracking of actual sales. Measurable outcome. Only 25-30% retailers participation. Measurable outcome Retailers participation may go down below 25% Key Analysis: GCP has been traditionally going for pay-for-performance strategy in promotion of D32 and D16. However, we would recommend GCP to go for a mix of off invoice and pay for performance strategies for promotion of Natural Meals brand. Under this scheme, the retailers would receive 50% of promotion incentive when they first place an order with GCP (Off invoice promotion). The remaining 50% of promotion incentive will be paid to them when these items are sold to the end customer at promotional prices (pay-for-performance). This would reduce the retailers apprehension as they will be getting an advance amount for promotion. We expect this strategy would result into increase in the % of store participation to minimum 40% from current estimated 25%. We have noticed that promotions of D32 and D16 have a negative impact on sales of the other due to cannibalization. As the end effect, the marketing margin gets affected if we premote any of the two. Data shows that, there is a negative impact of every promotion (regional or national) of D32 or D16. *(Refer exhibit 1- Part I and Part II and Exhibit 4). For every promotion ppercentage of D32, average sales of D16 are reduced by 171 ,752. This shows that even during the verage regional promotion of D32 at 7. 3%, sales of D16 are getting affected by 1,275,903. i. e. if we stop the regional promotion of D32, there will be rise in monthly sales of D16 by 1,275,903. In this case, the sales of D32 will be equal to baseline sales ana promotlon expenalture will De u Ssimilarly, tnere wlll De rise In montnly Iincrease in sales of D32 by 437,428 by reducing the promotion of D16 to O. Also, the average sales of D16 without promotion will be equal to baseline sales. It has also been noted that, even for Dinardos other, considering only the baseline volume and bringing the egional promotion down to O helps in improving the bottom-line. GCP is losing money by doing regional promotions on Dinardos other as promotion costs are higher than marketing margin gained by the promotions. As ROMI on Natural Meals is positive, we would recommend 40% national promotion of the same for two months out of four months remaining. This will be possible because of new promotion strategy of mix of off invoice and pay-for -performance strategies. Advice: As a conclusion, our advice to Mr. Sanchez will be stop promotion of Dinardos brands (both regional and national) for next four months and run a national promotion for Natural Meals in 40% of the stores in two of the next four months. This would help FFD to meet their annual target (Marketing Margin/Profit will be approximately equal to the planned profit for 2008). Refer exhibit 5. (Table for last four months projected volume). Positioning Statement Keeping in mind the positive ROMI and ppercentage increase in per year sales (15% increase) of Natural Meals, we plan to achieve our targeted revenue for 2008 by exploiting its popularity among health-conscious customers and launching its promotion campaign at National Level in two of the next four months. We will also top promotion of all the Dinardos products both at regional and national level. Implementation Strategy 1 . Product: Banking on the success in regional promotion of Natural Meals, Ppositive Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) and expected increase in participation from retailers (owing to mix of off-invoice promotion strategy and pay-per-performance strategy), we will premote Natural Meals for 2 months at National Level. 2. Promotion: 50% for pay-per-performance strategy and 50% for off-invoice strategy We expect the participation of retailers would increase from anticipated 25% currently using pay-per-performance approach) to 40% (using combination of off-invoice and pay-per-performance approaches). This would help us reduce significantly the impact of competitors product launch as we will have sthronger ties with retailers and we will leverage the deal-conscious nature of consumers. 3. Price: By promoting Natural Meals, we will give the consumers attractive discount keeping the marked price same. 4. Place: Leveraging the good relations with super markets and retailers, we will strive to secure front-end displays for Natural Meals, highlighting its key features and attractive discounts. M Model of marketing communications is used to increase Natural Meals brand-awareness. Market Encourage existing customers to buy more at discounted prices. Attract new customers by highlighting health-benefits and discounted prices. Mission To meet the annual plan for FFD to improve the bottom-line. Message Consume low fat foods free of any added preservatives at reasonable costs. Media Advertise in print-media to raise awareness about the promotion campaign Money Encouraging customers to buy in volumes by offering discounts in sales period. Measurement ROMI ana nlgner MarKetlng-Marglns to meet annual target. Question 3: Shcould the FFD division be running promotions at all?

Budgets Essay Example for Free

Budgets Essay Essay Topic: Budgets Choose cite format: APA MLA Harvard Chicago ASA IEEE AMA company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints There are certain elements that are to be considered in studying and defining the budget, especially in the field of public administration. These elements include economic, political, and ideological concerns that affect the processes budget goes through. A fourth element that defines budget is societal concerns, which proves to be an important factor for the success of the budget. The budget is said to be economic such that it paints a picture where there is a supply and demand. The supply of funds available for the organization would likewise be met by a demand by its components. The scarcity in funds, as is mostly the situation for finite resources, results to the competition of the different departments for their share in the budget. On the other hand, the political and ideological concerns would mostly be found in the budget process as reflected by the final appropriations. The debate that it has to go through in the respective legislative bodies entails a political and ideological working where each actor would pursue their interests. The last component is the concern for societal welfare. A budget, no matter how big, if it is hounded by cold gigantic infrastructures is said to be a failure. It is important that behind every amount pursued for in the budget, there should be a corresponding impact on raising the quality of life of the people for whom it is intended for. The elements of the budget? economic, ideological, political, and societal? are important elements that play several important roles during the existence of the budget and will continue to serve their purpose to make an effective appropriation. Budgets. (2016, Oct 31).

Employment prospects beyond the year 2010 Term Paper

Employment prospects beyond the year 2010 - Term Paper Example The wide extent of policy actions applied by different governments during the beginning of the recession has helped stabilize financial markets and advance faster recovery, but there are still structural problems that should be conquered, and this happens to be the more challenging aspect of addressing systemic causes of the recession (United Nations, 2011, p.1). For instance, even when the banking sector made some progress in disposing some problematic assets, it is still susceptible to multiple risks. Those risks can further depreciate real estate markets, distress sovereign debt markets, and reinforce low credit growth (United Nations, 2011, p.1). Many developing countries and economies in transition, however, are demonstrating more positive signs of growth, since the third quarter of 2009 (United Nations, 2011, p.1). A strong economic rebound has been posted by emerging economies in Asia and Latin America, chiefly China, India and Brazil (United Nations, 2011, p.1). These countri es mostly used policy buffers, such as sufficient fiscal space and foreign-exchange reserves, to generate â€Å"aggressive stimulus packages† (United Nations, 2011, p.1). ... Constant high levels of unemployment, with rising numbers of workers who lacked jobs for protracted periods, are holding back private consumption demand (United Nations, 2011, p.1). They also contribute to escalating housing foreclosures, which are adding to the frailty of the financial system (United Nations, 2011, p.1). High unemployment and underemployment also harm public finances too (United Nations, 2011, p.1). This paper will explore the employment prospects beyond 2010 for the United States, Europe, and Asia. Employment Prospects The financial fragility of global economic conditions has affected remunerative employment growth and the latter stands for the â€Å"weakest link in the recovery† (United Nations, 2011, p.10). From 2007 to the end of 2009, around 30 million lost their jobs due to the global financial crisis (United Nations, 2011, p.10). This figure is said to even underestimate the entire intensity of the job crisis, since it relies on official labor statisti cs, which for numerous developing countries, only make up the formal sector employment in urban areas, and so it indicates that there is unrecorded unemployed found in low-productivity and unofficial rural economic activities (United Nations, 2011, p.10). The economic output, especially for developed countries, remain below expected rates, and slow economic growth did not provide enough jobs to hire back all those who lost their jobs since the recession took place (United Nations, 2011, p.10). Furthermore, governments that continue to follow fiscal tightening, which comprises of tax hikes and spending cuts, only depreciate possibilities of greater employment growth rates (United Nations, 2011, p.10). Some developed economies,

Leadership Presentations Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Leadership Presentations - Coursework Example The leader did not deliver his arguments in a comprehensible manner, and he did not use visual aid (images, PowerPoint, and video) to present his ideas. This omission led to a dull presentation with poor audience engagement. In order to develop a fruitful and entertaining presentation, I would embrace elements of proper communication skills as well as presentation considerations as discussed below. Conducting proper research for getting better understanding of my subject matter is a primary consideration. This factor involves carrying out research on the issue at hand to get familiar with facts, as well as limitations. The study builds on confidence and is important in designing presentations (Eggleston, 2015). Drawing knowledge of my audience so as to know how to tailor my presentation and make adjustments where necessary to yield maximum engagement of my audience. This knowledge will help me in delivering a speech that is relevant and concise to the target audience (Eggleston, 2015). Understanding and acting on personal limits. To make a presentation engaging, I will offer all I can rather than trying what is beyond my capacity. It is considered annoying to the audience if inappropriate jokes make part of my presentation. Lastly, it is wise to prepare presentation notes such as speech script with brief and proper introduction to set the stage and engage the audience. An elaborate body and a simple reinstatement summary are essential requirements for an effective leadership presentation (Eggleston,

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Parliament Essay Example for Free

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Parliament Essay Weaknesses †¢ Investigation and implementation of new laws is time consuming and parliament is not always able to keep up with changes in society. †¢ Delegated authorities are not all elected by the people and there may be too many bodies making laws. †¢ It is not always possible to change the law in accordance with changing values in society. †¢ Parliament can make laws retrospectively, which can be unfair. †¢ Cabinet’s legislative proposals may dominate law-making by parliament, particularly where the government controls both houses. Parliament’s response to community views may not be adequate. * Makes laws whenever the need arises Strengths †¢ Parliament can make law in futuro, which means they can make laws even before the need arises. †¢ Parliament can investigate the whole topic and make a comprehensive set of laws. †¢ Parliament can delegate its power to make law to expert bodies, which can make the regulations much faster than parliament. †¢ Parliament is able to involve the public in law-making. †¢ Parliament can change the law as the need arises (in comparison to courts). Weaknesses Investigation and implementation of new laws is time consuming and parliament is not always able to keep up with changes in society. †¢ The process of passing a Bill is time consuming. †¢ Parliament is not always sitting, so changes in the law may have to wait some time. †¢ Changes in the law may involve financial outlay, which may not be economically viable at the time. †¢ The division of law-making powers between the federal and state parliaments is in dispute from time to time, therefore often a law may be ‘put on hold’. †¢ Parliament’s Upper House can ‘rubber stamp’ or deliberately obstruct legislation. The government of the day might decide for political reasons that they do not wish to make a law, even though there may be a need for it. Following is an extract that critically examines two strengths of parliamentary law-making, as required by the question. It is true that parliament can create informed laws that reflect the views of the community because it is able to consult with the public through speaking with voters and also examining the opinion of voters through investigations conducted by formal law reform bodies such as the ALRC. However, members of parliament may not legislate on controversial issues such as euthanasia because they fear voter backlash. Thus, this can limit the law-making ability of parliament to truly represent the views of the entire community. The political nature of parliament, whereby there are two distinct parties controlling most of the seats can also limit the ability of parliament to reflect the views of the community because MPs will almost always vote on party lines, often preventing law reform that reflects the views of the community.

Investigating the effect of varying concentration on the reaction betwe

Investigating the effect of varying concentration on the reaction between magnesium ribbon and hydrochloric acid Aim It is to tell how the reaction between magnesium and hydrochloric acid will be effected if we change the concentration of hydrochloric acid. Introduction In the experiment the magnesium reacts with the hydrochloric acid to create magnesium chloride and hydrogen. The balanced formula for this is: Mg(s) + 2HCL(aq) MgCl2(aq) + H2(g) Magnesium + hydrochloric acid Magnesium Chloride + Hydrogen Magnesium will react with hydrochloric acid, because it is higher in the reactivity series than hydrogen. The magnesium displaces the hydrogen in the acid, so it forms magnesium chloride and hydrogen gas. Magnesium strip Hydrochloric acid particles There are many variables that I can change, which are the temperature and concentration of the hydrochloric acid, and the mass and the surface area of the magnesium strip. This is all true because they all link to the collision theory of particles colliding with enough energy to make a reaction. It is based on the idea that for a chemical reaction to take place, the reacting particles have to hit each other hard enough to break or form new bonds. This is called a successful collision. When particles get stimulated or increased in number, the reaction will increase in rate because faster collisions will take place making more successful collisions. This diagram shows five solutions hydrochloric acid and magnesium ribbon that are reacting. The arrows represent a simplified way to show how many successful collisions occur each second; therefore the more arrows there are, the faster the rate of reaction. They show how different factors can affect the rate of reaction against t... ...at are very hard to keep constant so it would have been helpful to repeat the experiment again or even more. The syringe could have stuck on the barrel around it giving me lower readings on curtain points or when the reaction stopped. I should have put some lubricant around it to stop this from possibly happening. Further Work I could test the concentrations for the ones in between like 0.25 and 0.75 to see how the rate of reaction changes. I could also change the acid reactant to sulphuric acid or phosphoric acid to see and compare the results with different molecular make-ups. The other reactant that I could change is the type of metal I use. Using the less reactive metals like zinc, aluminium, iron or lead enables me to test the higher concentrations like 3M or 4M because the reaction will go slower so I will be able to read the results off the syringe properly.

Roland Barthes the Death of the Author

The Death of the Author In his story Sarrasine, Balzac, speaking of a castrato disguised as a woman, writes this sentence: â€Å"It was Woman, with her sudden fears, her irrational whims, her instinctive fears, her unprovoked bravado, her daring and her delicious delicacy of feeling† Who is speaking in this way? Is it the story's hero, concerned to ignore the castrato concealed beneath the woman? Is it the man Balzac, endowed by his personal experience with a philosophy of Woman?Is it the author Balzac, professing certain â€Å"literary† ideas of femininity? Is it universal wisdom? or romantic psychology? It will always be impossible to know, for the good reason that all writing is itself this special voice, consisting of several indiscernible voices, and that literature is precisely the invention of this voice, to which we cannot assign a specific origin: literature is that neuter, that composite, that oblique into which every subject escapes, the trap where all identi ty is lost, beginning with the very identity of the body that writes.Probably this has always been the case: once an action is recounted, for intransitive ends, and no longer in order to act directly upon reality – that is, finally external to any function but the very exercise of the symbol – this disjunction occurs, the voice loses its origin, the author enters his own death, writing begins.Nevertheless, the feeling about this phenomenon has been variable; in primitive societies, narrative is never undertaken by a person, but by a mediator, shaman or speaker, whose â€Å"performance† may be admired (that is, his mastery of the narrative code), but not his â€Å"genius† The author is a modern figure, produced no doubt by our society insofar as, at the end of the middle ages, with English empiricism, French rationalism and the personal faith of the Reformation, it discovered the prestige of the individual, or, to put it more nobly, of the â€Å"human per son† Hence it is logical that with regard to literature it should be positivism, resume and the result of capitalist ideology, which has accorded the greatest importance to the author's â€Å"person†The author still rules in manuals of literary history, in biographies of writers, in magazine interviews, and even in the awareness of literary men, anxious to unite, by their private journals, their person and their work; the image of literature to be found in contemporary culture is tyrannically centered on the author, his person, his history, his tastes, his passions; criticism still consists, ost of the time, in saying that Baudelaire's work is the failure of the man Baudelaire, Van Gogh's work his madness, Tchaikovsky's his vice: the explanation of the work is always sought in the man who has produced it, as if, through the more or less transparent allegory of fiction, it was always finally the voice of one and the same person, the author, which delivered his â€Å"con fidence. â€Å"Though the Author's empire is still very powerful (recent criticism has often merely consolidated it), it is evident that for a long time now certain writers have attempted to topple it. In France, Mallarme was doubtless the first to see and foresee in its full extent the necessity of substituting language itself for the man who hitherto was supposed to own it; for Mallarme, as for us, it is language which speaks, not the author: to write is to reach, through a preexisting impersonality never to be confused with the castrating objectivity of the realistic ovelist – that point where language alone acts, â€Å"performs,† and not â€Å"oneself†: Mallarme's entire poetics consists in suppressing the author for the sake of the writing (which is, as we shall see, to restore the status of the reader. ) Valery, encumbered with a psychology of the Self, greatly edulcorated Mallarme's theory, but, turning in a preference for classicism to the lessons of rh etoric, he unceasingly questioned and mocked the Author, emphasized the linguistic and almost â€Å"chance† nature of his activity, and throughout his prose works championed the essentially verbal condition of literature, in the face of which any recourse to the writer's inferiority seemed to him pure superstition.It is clear that Proust himself, despite the apparent psychological character of what is called his analyses, undertook the responsibility of inexorably blurring, by an extreme subtilization, the relation of the writer and his characters: by making the narrator not the person who has seen or felt, nor even the person who writes, but the person who will write (the young man of the novel – but, in fact, how old is he, and who is he? – wants to write but cannot, and the novel ends when at last the writing becomes possible), Proust has given modern writing its epic: by a radical reversal, instead of putting his life into his novel, as we say so often, he m akes his very life into a work for which his own book was in a sense the model, so that it is quite obvious to us that it is not Charlus who imitates Montesquiou, but that Montesquiou in his anecdotal, historical reality is merely a secondary fragment, derived from Charlus.Surrealism lastly – to remain on the level of this prehistory of modernity – surrealism doubtless could not accord language a sovereign place, since language is a system and since what the movement sought was, romantically, a direct subversion of all codes – an illusory subversion, moreover, for a code cannot be destroyed, it can only be â€Å"played with†; but by abruptly violating expected meanings (this was the famous surrealist â€Å"jolt†), by entrusting to the hand the responsibility of writing as fast as possible what the head itself ignores (this was automatic writing), by accepting the principle and the experience of a collective writing, surrealism helped secularize the image of the Author.Finally, outside of literature itself (actually, these distinctions are being superseded), linguistics has just furnished the destruction of the Author with a precious analytic instrument by showing that utterance in its entirety is a void process, which functions perfectly without requiring to be filled by the person of the interlocutors: linguistically, the author is never anything more than the man who writes, just as I is no more than the man who says I: language knows a â€Å"subject,† not a â€Å"person,† end this subject, void outside of the very utterance which defines it, suffices to make language â€Å"work,† that is, to exhaust it. The absence of the Author (with Brecht, we might speak here of a real â€Å"alienation:' the Author diminishing like a tiny figure at the far end of the literary stage) is not only a historical fact or an act of writing: it utterly transforms the modern text (or – what is the same thing – the text is henceforth written and read so that in it, on every level, the Author absents himself). Time, first of all, is no longer the same.The Author, when we believe in him, is always conceived as the past of his own book: the book and the author take their places of their own accord on the same line, cast as a before and an after: the Author is supposed to feed the book – that is, he pre-exists it, thinks, suffers, lives for it; he maintains with his work the same relation of antecedence a father maintains with his child. Quite the contrary, the modern writer (scriptor) is born simultaneously with his text; he is in no way supplied with a being which precedes or transcends his writing, he is in no way the subject of which his book is the predicate; there is no other time than that of the utterance, and every text is eternally written here and now.This is because (or: it follows that) to write can no longer designate an operation of recording, of observing, of representi ng, of â€Å"painting† (as the Classic writers put it), but rather what the linguisticians, following the vocabulary of the Oxford school, call a performative, a rare verbal form (exclusively given to the first person and to the present), in which utterance has no other content than the act by which it is uttered: something like the / Command of kings or the I Sing of the early bards; the modern writer, having buried the Author, can therefore no longer believe, according to the â€Å"pathos† of his predecessors, that his hand is too slow for his thought or his passion, and that in consequence, making a law out of necessity, he must accentuate this gap and endlessly â€Å"elaborate† his form; for him, on the contrary, his hand, detached from any voice, borne by a pure gesture of inscription (and not of expression), traces a field without origin – or which, at least, has no other origin than language itself, that is, the very thing which ceaselessly questio ns any origin. We know that a text does not consist of a line of words, releasing a single â€Å"theological† meaning (the â€Å"message† of the Author-God), but is a space of many dimensions, in which are wedded and contested various kinds of writing, no one of which is original: the text is a tissue of citations, resulting from the thousand sources of culture.Like Bouvard and Pecuchet, those eternal copyists, both sublime and comical and whose profound absurdity precisely designates the truth of writing, the writer can only imitate a gesture forever anterior, never original; his only power is to combine the different kinds of writing, to oppose some by others, so as never to sustain himself by just one of them; if he wants to express himself, at least he should know that the internal â€Å"thing† he claims to â€Å"translate† is itself only a readymade dictionary whose words can be explained (defined) only by other words, and so on ad infinitum: an expe rience which occurred in an exemplary fashion to the young De Quincey, so gifted in Greek that in order to translate into that dead language certain absolutely modern ideas and images, Baudelaire tells us, â€Å"he created for it a standing dictionary much more complex and extensive than the one which results from the vulgar patience of purely literary themes† (Paradis Artificiels). succeeding the Author, the writer no longer contains within himself passions, humors, sentiments, impressions, but that enormous dictionary, from which he derives a writing which can know no end or halt: life can only imitate the book, and the book itself is only a tissue of signs, a lost, infinitely remote imitation.Once the Author is gone, the claim to â€Å"decipher† a text becomes quite useless. To give an Author to a text is to impose upon that text a stop clause, to furnish it with a final signification, to close the writing. This conception perfectly suits criticism, which can then t ake as its major task the discovery of the Author (or his hypostases: society, history, the psyche, freedom) beneath the work: once the Author is discovered, the text is â€Å"explained:' the critic has conquered; hence it is scarcely surprising not only that, historically, the reign of the Author should also have been that of the Critic, but that criticism (even â€Å"new criticism†) should be overthrown along with the Author. In a ultiple writing, indeed, everything is to be distinguished, but nothing deciphered; structure can be followed, â€Å"threaded† (like a stocking that has run) in all its recurrences and all its stages, but there is no underlying ground; the space of the writing is to be traversed, not penetrated: writing ceaselessly posits meaning but always in order to evaporate it: it proceeds to a systematic exemption of meaning. Thus literature (it would be better, henceforth, to say writing), by refusing to assign to the text (and to the world as text) a â€Å"secret:' that is, an ultimate meaning, liberates an activity which we might call counter-theological, properly revolutionary, for to refuse to arrest meaning is finally to refuse God and his hypostases, reason, science, the law.Let us return to Balzac's sentence: no one (that is, no â€Å"person†) utters it: its source, its voice is not to be located; and yet it is perfectly read; this is because the true locus of writing is reading. Another very specific example can make this understood: recent investigations (J. P. Vernant) have shed light upon the constitutively ambiguous nature of Greek tragedy, the text of which is woven with words that have double meanings, each character understanding them unilaterally (this perpetual misunderstanding is precisely what is meant by â€Å"the tragic†); yet there is someone who understands each word in its duplicity, and understands further, one might say, the very deafness of the characters speaking in front of him: this someone is precisely the reader (or here the spectator).In this way is revealed the whole being of writing: a text consists of multiple writings, issuing from several cultures and entering into dialogue with each other, into parody, into contestation; but there is one place where this multiplicity is collected, united, and this place is not the author, as we have hitherto said it was, but the reader: the reader is the very space in which are inscribed, without any being lost, all the citations a writing consists of; the unity of a text is not in its origin, it is in its destination; but this destination can no longer be personal: the reader is a man without history, without biography, without psychology; he is only that someone who holds gathered into a single field all the paths of which the text is constituted.This is why it is absurd to hear the new writing condemned in the name of a humanism which hypocritically appoints itself the champion of the reader's rights. The reader ha s never been the concern of classical criticism; for it, there is no other man in literature but the one who writes. We are now beginning to be the dupes no longer of such antiphrases, by which our society proudly champions precisely what it dismisses, ignores, smothers or destroys; we know that to restore to writing its future, we must reverse its myth: the birth of the reader must be ransomed by the death of the Author.

Self-sacrifice: Sacrifice and Ancient Rome

In ancient Rome and Greece, during the Olympics, as many as 100 bulls would be sacrificed to show the relationship between humans and nature. In the photo, Mother and Child by Jerome Liebling, the mother is holding a bull which could be exemplifying the relation between the mother and child. In this unique relationship there are many sacrifices made for each other, the clich © is that the mother is always sacrificing for their children but there are always aspects that are given up by the child.The sacrifices that are made to keep the correlation amiable between a mother nd child have to be made from both parties The mother in the photo is holding a baby and a miniscule basket full of groceries. We can assume she had bought these groceries for herself and her child, and by the look on her face it took a lot of work to get the food. The mother is also holding a bull which can be inferred exhibits the sacrifices that she has made for her child.This photo embodies the relationship bet ween a mother and child and the compassion that is between them. Although all of the above is true, mothers do sacrifice a lot for their offspring in all species but the children also give up certain aspects for their parents. In eighth grade my mother was admitted to the hospital for several different health concerns including esophagus cancer, severe gall stones, and thyroid infection. Because of the different concerns I had to miss a lot of school and dance to care for her.Missing so much school put a plethora of pressure on me but I diligently stayed at the hospital for the beginning of the time she spent there. After around a month I started becoming frustrated that I was missing a lot because of the time I spent at the hospital. I eventually quit dancing for the rest of the year because treatment for my mom ecame expensive and I was inevitably falling behind. I did sacrifice a lot in the beginning but became fed up with it after a while. This shows that, at first the capabilit y for sacrifice is a lot larger for short term than longer.In adolescence you are trying to fgure out who you are and not being able to go to school and spending countless hours in the hospital is disheartening. The mother in the photo looks to be quite young so she could be trying to find herself or she could be very concerned about the health of her child. The mother will also have to face challenging circumstances due to the child, I also had to face challenging ircumstances because every day I was in a conundrum to either go to the hospital and support my mother or go to school, and this forced me to develop great fortitude.In the beginning I chose to go to the hospital but after a while I felt that I had done my duty by missing school and quitting dance so I started going less frequently. Consequently, in young adulthood I regret not going to support my mother in a time of adversity where she needed her family and it is evident that I was selfish with my time and did not sacrif ice nearly as much as I could have and should have at the ime. Because of this remorse I now try my best to do anything that I can for people that I care for because I don't want to regret anything else that could have been prevented.Sacrificing anything can be hard but needs to be done in order to keep relationships in your life. The mother in the photo by Jerome Liebling and I resemble each other because we botn nave nad to sacrifice tor the sake ot keeping the relationship between a family member. The situations I have been in have influenced my capacity for self-sacrifice because of situations I was put in at a young age I ecame very precocious and concerned for the well-being of others.

Anaerobic reaction of yeast Essay Example

Anaerobic reaction of yeast Essay Example Anaerobic reaction of yeast Paper Anaerobic reaction of yeast Paper I am going to investigate the anaerobic reaction of Yeast. Anaerobic respiration requires: Glucose == Co2+Alcohol. Whilst Aerobic respiration, which we use to breathe, requires: Glucose + Oxygen == Co2+H20+ heat energy. To observe and record results of this reaction I will measure the amount of Co2 this experiment produces. There are a number of variables I need to consider beforehand that could dramatically affect my experiment. I have also made predictions where appropriate Temperature This can make the rate of reaction speed up or slow down. It will noticeably slow down the reaction when the water is cooled. But the Yeast will speed up until a point where it cannot survive anymore. I would expect my graph to show the Yeast speeding up and then dying. As I heat the water, the particles start to move faster, this makes them collide at a faster speed, speeding up the rate of reaction. Amount of Yeast I will keep the amount at a constant by using a test-tube to measure out an exact amount. If I added too much yeast it would be more too react with the Co2, this would slow down the particles and they would all be used up. As the amount of yeast increases there is more particles to collide with, and this would also use up all the glucose. Osmosis (osmosis occurs when glucose is added) The diffusion of solvent particles through a selectively permeable membrane from a region of high solvent concentration to a region of lower solvent concentration. These membranes have tiny pores, which allow rapid passage of small water particles, but restrict the passage of larger solute particles. Since the membrane is selectively permeable, osmosis is important in the passage of water into and out of cells and organisms, the speed depends on osmosis pressure. I predict that the more heat that is applied to this the faster this reaction happens. I have chosen to investigate the variable of temperature and test it from temperatures from 20-80 degrees. I think seriously about my prediction of the speeding up and slowing down reactions, temperature can cause. Glucose When we add more glucose there are more particles to collide with at first, then the solution on the outside of the yeast becomes concentrated so water moves out of yeast by osmosis and the yeast dehydrates. Water If the mount of water increases effectively it will reduce the concentration so there are less collisions. Safety I will wear a lab coat and be really careful with any hot waters that I will handle. Apparatus The apparatus that I will use will be: 1 beaker, 1trough, 1 kettle (to obtain water), 1 measuring tube, 1 thermometer and 1 tube and bung. For each experiment I will use 10cm3 of the stock solution. The solution is 20g of yeast, 20g glucose and 200cm3 of water. Method I will: ? Fill the water bath with water that has been put to a certain temperature ? Get a boiling tube and put 10cm3 of solution in it ? Put a bung and pipe in the end ? fill the beaker with water to the right temperature ? Fill graduated tube water ? Put the tube into the test-tube ? Put the boiling tube in the beaker ? Leave for 3mins to get to temperature ? Time for 5mins ? Measure amount of Co2 produced. ?Then I will alter to a different temperature in this case my temperature is altering 10 each time so I will use the kettle to alter this temperature making sure it is the right temperature by using a thermometer. ?I will use the same amount of yeast for each run to eliminate solution variation. As I am obtaining these results, I will make sure I use the correct amount of ingredients and make sure I keep my variables (i. e. amount of yeast the same throughout experiment) to what I have predicted they should stay at in experiment. I will record my results in a table as underneath, but I may need to repeat some results, if they look out of place when compared to my results or conclusion. Temp Time Run1 (cm) Run2 (cm) Average (cm) 20 5mins 30 5mins 40 5mins 50 5mins 60 5mins 70 5mins 80 5mins Obtaining evidence After I conducting my experiment to record my results, I found that out that the yeast speeded up from 30 to 50 but then slowly started to deplete from 50-70 and then it died a Analyses As I can see from my graph, the amount of Co2 being produced starts to increase till about 50 degrees where it reaches it reaches its peak after the yeast starts to die. As explained in my plan under variables and prediction I have discovered that when I heat the yeast it speeds up until it gets to a point where the particles starts to die off because of the temperature gets too hot for the enzymes to function and breath properly so they can not work at this temperature which slowly kills them. Because enzymes cannot function past a certain temperature (past 50 degrees in this case) but they do speed up when heated to a controlled amount under this temperature. My prediction is backed up by the evidence that I have gained from my Obtaining evidence. Take heat for example my chosen variable; as predicted in planning it did increase the speed of the reaction, when I heated the yeast e. g. From 1 to 5. 5 in just altering it by 10 degrees from 30 to 40. Evaluation I think the procedure I used was a reliable and efficient method in testing for Co2 in the anaerobic respiration of yeast. The results matched my prediction and I think it was right to repeat each test twice to pin point any rogue result if there is one. I think that I can form the conclusion that the yeast can only perform anaerobic respiration past a certain temperature (20) and under a certain temperature (80). As temperature was my chosen variable to alter and measure this is what I have discovered. I think if I could extend my study of this I could make changes to keep in my experiment set up to keep nearly all my variables at a constant, e. g. I could use a more reliable source of heating the water other than a kettle, this would greatly improve the reliability of the experiment, I may get more accurate and even better results than I have now by taking recordings of the Co2 in the yeast every 5 degrees, this would give me a better indication of whether the results are on course to being accurate and I could have a better chance at pin pointing when Co2 stops being produced. I think I experiment was a success I have spotted when the yeast stops anaerobically reacting and when it starts anaerobically reacting. I have found out that the enzymes in the yeast start to rapidly speed up when they are heated but too much heat will kill them as we have seen in my experiment.

Use the sources below to extend the paper to a 4-pages research(MLA Essay

Use the sources below to extend the paper to a 4-pages research(MLA Style) - Essay Example At Southern most labors the slaves were freed, the following new issues were different with the antebellum U.S. As the winner, the changes between the Northern which promoted the industrial capitalism and the freed slavery south was embedded after the Civil War was ended. The most popular questions were: would the Black people go or stay? Where should the 4 million go or stay? Under the wave of abolishing the slavery, the capitalism creates a special group: The Sharecropper. What influence did sharecropping have, and was it good or bad for the black people? Who started sharecropping? Was the situation the same as the president Lincoln had suggested? What influenced the U.S. and what was different between sharecropping and slavery? My opinion on this is that sharecropping did not change the black people’s situation and it did not lead the African Americans to an economic independence and autonomy fundamentally â€Å"All facts suggest that black sharecropper’s income was less than white sharecropper’s income. This is not astonishing given the history of slavery, which was bestowed to the blacks† (Federico 261). So, what is sharecropping? Sharecropping is a way of agriculture in which a landowner allows their tenant to utilize their land in return for a split of the crops produced on the land. The tenant signs a contract for such arrangements. Somehow this seemed like freedom for the blacks, but it was not. â€Å"Sharecroppers compensated their lease to the landlord as portions of their crop yield; this gave room for exploitation by the landlords† (Roumasset and James 640). Sharecropping, along with tenant farming, was a dominant form in the cotton and especially in the South from the period between 1870s to the 1950s, among both whites and blacks, but it is largely disappearing since 1966 when Civil Rights and the Workers Union abolished Peonage (Forced Labor). The word,

Islamic finance PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Islamic finance - PowerPoint Presentation Example Instead Islam asks for an equitable distribution of wealth so that all members of society can prosper together. Concentration of wealth in a few hands is not desirable. Islam strikes a balance between conventional socialism and capitalism. One allows only for private ownership, while the other negates it outright. It is the Islamic way that has sought a path between the two extremes for the betterment of man. Unlike conventional systems, Islam recognizes only 3 factors of production which include capital, land and labor. The returns generated from the combination of these three are distributed accordingly. Capital gains return in the form of profits, land in the form of rent and labor in the form of wages. Islamic Contracts Islamic contracts govern the business conventions on how trade transactions must be entered into. First of all, the trade must be permissible in the light of Shariah. It cannot contain any element of Riba’, Gharar, Mysur, Haram etc. Secondly, there are many conditions which must be fulfilled in order for a contract to be rendered valid. They include: A condition which is not against the contract is a valid condition A condition which seems to be against the contract, but is normal market practice, is no void unless proved in the light of Shariah. A condition which seems to be against the contract and not market practice but favors any one participant is void. A condition which is against the contract, not market practice, and doesn’t favor anyone is a void condition. Sales in Islamic Finance The concept of sales in Islam is the exchange of a thing of value with another thing of value. However, it is very strict on the core principles of sales. In the contract, there must be offer and acceptance for the contract to be executed. Furthermore, the individuals must be sane and of proper age to enter into agreements such as this one. The commodity/asset under consideration must exist. It must also have some intrinsic value to as to c ater to the sale. Furthermore, it should be capable of showing ownership. For example, no one can point to the moon and claim that they own it. It exists, and must have some value. But since it cannot be owned, it cannot be transacted. Furthermore, the asset must be deliverable to the buyer, the quantity and quality must be aforementioned. The price of the trade must be addressed at the start so as to avoid any misunderstandings between the parties. Lastly, either physical or constructive possession of the asset must be taken in order to render the sale complete. Modes of Islamic Finance The modes of Islamic Finance, while seemingly like their conventional counterparts, are free from all the Haram (unlawful) ways which have been prohibited in Islam. Following are the types of Islamic Financing: 1. Musharakah In a Musharakah agreement, two parties come together to form an alliance for commercial enterprise and share the profits according to a set ratio. This is decided at the time of entering into the alliance. However, if a loss occurs then the parties distribute that according to the rate of participation of initial investment from each individual. There are two explicit types of Musharakah. In the first type, the partnership arises out of a joint ownership of an asset. For example, two brothers inherit their father’s sugarcane factory. Hence they become partners through the joint ownership which exists. The second kind is via contracts. In this case, the two individuals enter into an