Filipino Children’s Uses of the Internet and Mobile Phone Essay

I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM How do Filipino children integrate the Internet and mobile phone into their everyday life and peer and family relationships? This study is a response to a suggestion by Sonia Livingstone (2003) to investigate further children’s relationships in the new media environment. It also seeks to address the lack of empirical studies on Filipino children’s engagements with and in the new media, specifically the Internet and mobile phone. Why children? As children become more exposed to new media through school and Home, it is important to investigate how they use and appropriate these technologies in their everyday life. Do these technologies allow for continuity or change in children’s experience of leisure, school, peer and family relationships? II. HYPOTHESIS No stated hypothesis in the study. III. RESEARCH METHOD III.a Research Design Since the objective is to identify, describe and explain children’s activities in the new media environment and how they use these technologies, a qualitative design was employed for the study. This approach allows us to probe further into the contextual realm of children’s engagements with and in the new media. III.b Instrument Data were gathered through a depth interview guide, which allowed respondents to narrate and explain their uses of the Internet and mobile phone as well as their relationships online. The following are the concepts investigated and the corresponding questions: a. Access and Usage of the Mobile Phone/Internet 1. How did you come to own one? Why? 2. How long have you been using a mobile phone? 3. How often do you use the phone? 4. Where do you have Internet access? Why? 5. How often do you use the Internet? Why? b. Uses and Contexts of the Mobile Phone 1. What do you do with your cell phone? Why? 2. What types of messages do you send? Why? IV. CONCLUSION Acknowledging the lack of empirical studies on children and new media, this study asked how a sample of Filipino children integrated new media into their everyday lives and in their relationships with peers and family members. It sought to understand the uses of the Internet and mobile phone in the context of home (family life), school, and leisure activities of children. A contextual approach to the use of new media looks at how these technologies are incorporated into everyday routines and acknowledges how values and social practices influence new media uses. By comparing Internet and mobile phone uses, this preliminary study sought to ascertain the  meanings of these two different but related media among Filipino children. Data suggested that the contexts of family, school, and leisure defined the uses of the new media. The Internet was used mainly for information seeking related to school and interests, relational maintenance (friends and relatives) and leisure. On the other hand, the mobile phone was used for coordinating day-to-day practicalities, relational maintenance among family members and peers, and was deployed by parents as a means to monitor their children’s whereabouts and activities. In turn participants construed the medium as an extension of parental presence. The study also probed into family and peer relationships of participants in the new media environment. The goal was to provide evidence that would support or contradict opinion regarding the potential of the medium as an environment where social relations are created or maintained. Findings suggested that the media were used primarily to maintain the participants’ existing social networks rather than creating new ones. Rarely was the medium used to create new relations. It is important to note that existing relational dynamics in the family largely influence interactions on the mobile phone. Although the phone provided accessibility, it was not a guarantee in improving relations between parents and children, and among siblings. IV. ANALYSIS The obvious change is the accessibility and convenience that these new media provide to facilitate information search and communication. The impact can be seen in the way children do research and regard reading books. As the study unveiled, participants tended to spend less time in the library and get their material instead online, where information is easily copied. The ways school children do research on the Internet could be investigated in future studies. This finding also suggests a need to emphasize critical media literacy among young people that would train them to be critical consumers and users of online information. Almost all of the Filipinos of today are well-oriented when it comes to latest gadgets and its uses, especially the adolescents who used this in almost all of the time. However, there is a big problem when it comes to the â€Å"proper† use of technology. Some Filipinos tend to be abusing the true  essence of technology. Some used it for cyber bullying and any sort of crime related to this. Accessibility does not necessarily alter existing social and cultural practices; for example, participants tended to communicate more within their network of relations. Indeed for this sample of children, Filipino family and peer relational dynamics still find their way in the new media environment. V. REFERENCES Bakardjieva, M. and Smith, R. (2001). The internet in everyday life. New Media and Society. 3 (1): 67-83. Jones, S. (1995). Community in the information age. In S. E. Jones [Ed.]. Cybersociety: Computer Mediated Communication and Community. London: Sage. Leung, L. & Wei, R. (2000). More than just talk on the move: Uses and gratifications of the cellular phone. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. 77 (2): 308-320. Lievrouw, L. & Livingstone, S. (2002). Handbook of New Media: Social Shaping and Consequences of ICTs. London: Sage. Livingstone, S. & Bovill, M. (1999). Young people, new media. Report of the Research Project. Children, young people and the changing media environment. London School of Economics and Political Science. Available: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whosWho/soniaLivingstonePublications3.htm Livingstone, S. (2002). Children’s Use of the Internet: A Review of Research Literature. National Children’s Bureau. Available: http://www.ncb.org.uk/publications/publication Livingstone, S. (2003). Children’s use of the internet: reflections on the emerging research agenda. New Media and Society. 5 (2): 147-166. http://www.amic.org.sg/Resources/Research_Materials/Media_Youth_and_Children/Filipino%20Children%20Uses%20of%20the%20Internet%20and%20Mobile%20Phone.pdf

DICOM VS Captiva Case Study Essay

1. What are the key business success factors and risks for DICOM and Captiva? DICOM is a Swiss company that has sales in Europe, Asia, and the United States. They provide services ranging from structured, semi-structured, and unstructured information capture products. DICOM also sells hardware, primarily scanners, through its group sales force. DICOM has differentiated their product offering for the different regions that it operates. And the products that are provided are developed through research and development and also acquisitions. This allows DICOM to provide a diverse set of products that can cover many markets and many different users. DICOM operates in the U.S. under Kofax capture software that was bought in 2004 and primarily offers the information capture software’s to their consumers. There are risks in this industry. DICOM operates in many different markets and is subject to inflation, interest, and foreign currency risks. DICOM operates in three different geographic segments that are managed independently of each other. Each market has their own inherent risks and DICOM needs to be aware of every possible circumstance in order to remain prosperous. Captiva Corporation is a U.S. based company that provides similar services as DICOM. Captiva sells structure, semi-structured, and unstructured information capture products, but also sells hardware. Captiva uses its own research and development, as well as strategic acquisitions to provide customers with the different types of information capture products. Captiva sells primarily in the United States, but is able to sell in the areas of insurance, financial services, technology, government, and manufacturing. Involvement in so many distinct markets allows Captiva to hedge their risks better against harsh economic times and different interest rate risks. Additionally, Captiva has a large chain of resellers, which accounts for nearly 39% of revenues. Future profits will best be achieved by leveraging to existing customer base, increase reseller sales, moving into new markets, and broadening the product offering. But like DICOM, Captiva has business risks that they need to be aware of in their industry. Captiva has 80% of their sales in the United and States and cannot hedge their risks if a crisis develops in that country. Captiva has a large amount of revenues coming from resellers and a drop in this segment could lose the company millions. 2. Do the financial statements for the two firms enable you to compare their performance? If not, what changes need to be made to ensure comparability? The financial statements are for two different governmental requirements from two different countries. DICOM operates under the European system of IFRS and Captiva operates under GAAP. With this said, just looking at the financial statements makes it extremely difficult to determine performance. To be able to make a comparison between the two companies easier, their needs to be a reconciliation of the two different accounting systems. IFRS and GAAP need to be put together to form one individual accounting entity. What exactly need to be changed are the standards. When looking at the balance sheet, you are able to see just how different the systems operate. In GAAP, cash is the first line, but in IFRS Fixed assets are the first line. Changing to a consolidated system would allow for the best way to make an accurate comparison between t wo firms in different geographical regions. 3. What financial ratios would you use to judge performance of DICOM and Captiva? How do they compare on these dimensions? The financial ratio used to give us a better assessment of performance is return on equity. Return on equity is the amount of income earned from shareholder investments. And this gives us a look at how much money a company is able to generate from their shareholders. Return on equity is profit margin X asset turnover X financial leverage. The table below shows the ROE for the two companies in the periods of 2003 and 2004. As we can tell from the chart, Captiva earns more money per dollar of shareholder investment than DICOM. To further get a better understanding of the companies, we can use financial, liquidity, and debt ratios to measure performance. DICOM has a better return on assets than Captiva, but not by much. So, we can determine that they both are similar in this area. Captiva has higher gross margins and lower debt than DICOM. So, it is predictable that Captiva has access to money faster and can leverage this pool of resources to invest in R&D and acquiring new companies. 4. Which company do you rate as the better investment? WHY? Both companies are in a fast paced, technology based industry. Before investing, you need to do the proper due diligence into all functions of the business before investing. In this case, it is decided that we would invest in Captiva. Captiva is a U.S. based company that is diversified into many different sectors. They sell to government, insurance, technology, and manufacturing. This would help them hedge against economic risks. Captiva is also not as affected by inflation, currency, and interest rate risk as DICOM. Captiva also is currently providing a higher return on equity on their investments. This shows that the money that is provided is being used efficiently. Captiva seems to be doing well in the U.S. domestic market and has a secondary reseller section that provides stability and consistent revenues. Captiva seems to be the company that can provide the growth and sufficient returns on investments that we are currently look for.

Blessing

Blessing is a poem by Imtiaz Dharker and is set in a village in Pakistan. This is a descriptive poem, which uses imagery to illustrate sights and sounds, and creates an atmosphere of frantic joy. The poem also consists of some inconsistent usage of end-rhyme, followed by some usage of metaphors, personification, simile, assonance and alliteration. The poet uses free verse in this poem to emphasize what the poem is about and to make the reader think about the situation and to think about the words used. It has no fixed metrical pattern. The poem begins with a simile ‘The skin cracks like a pod’ this line immediately give the reader an impression of drought and a shortage of water. The usage of the word ‘skin’ could be a literal reference to a person’s skin that had become chapped by constant exposure to the sun or it could be a more figurative reference to the dry, dusty ground that cracks and splits during heat waves and droughts. The word ‘pod’ can refer to a seed pod that opens in the hot weather to release it seeds. The poet uses words that remind the reader that what we are dealing with is a hot country where thirst is common and where after all, ‘there never is enough water. ’ By the words of the first two-lined stanza we are in no doubt to the fact that the villagers here are desperate for water and how much of an amazing and special thing it is for them. The poet involves the reader by asking us to ‘imagine the drip of it’, which is telling us how small the quantity is and to imagine the tiny splash as the water droplet hits the bottom of the cup. It seems as though the person describing the dripping water hasn’t had a drink in a very long time and is fantasizing about that special and delicious drop of water. The fact that the tiny droplet of water creates an ‘echo’ in the mug suggests that the tin mug is almost empty and is like a drop of water hitting a parched tongue. It also makes you think, what kind of person would own a tin mug? Would it be a rich person or a poor person? The reference of a tin mug may imply that the person who owns a tin mug must be poor and not very fortunate. The last line of the second stanza has a religious reference. It personifies the echoing splash of the water as the ‘voice of a kindly god. ’ God is seen as the provider of water and every drop received is a kind of gesture and therefore it is something miraculous and deeply special. The third stanza is the longest one of the poem. It tells us a story of a burst water pipe and how suddenly this ordinary small pipe is transformed into a powerful overflow of water. Water has so much importance and value to these people that throughout the poem it is referred to as if it was a precious metal like gold or silver. The municipal pipe bursts’ tells us the burst of this public (municipal) pipe is an amazing and incidental occasion. It is described by the metaphor ‘the sudden rush of fortune’, like somebody winning the jackpot and the money is rushing out of the machine. As the precious water splashes onto the ground the word ‘rush’ could mean that people are ‘rushing’ around trying to save as m uch water as they possibly can, as it is precious. This same idea is echoed in another metaphor ‘silver crashes to the ground. ’ When caught in the right light water can look like silver or a high polished mirror. The poet may have used the word ‘silver’ to emphasise how precious it is. Line ten flows to line eleven, and the water is described as a ‘flow’ that gives rise to a sudden burst of noise from the villagers, ‘a roar of tongues’. The word ‘roar’ could refer to a group of people since we only have one tongue each and therefore the plural ‘tongues’ suggest a group. The tongues could be roaring with thirst or maybe they are shouting and their combined voices becomes a ‘roar. ’ In this same stanza, the use of the word ‘congregation’ may have two important meanings to the context of the poem. Firstly it may refer to a congregation or group of people, but it also may refer to a group of people in church or being given a religious instruction. We see that the poet uses religious language, the affect being to make the process of saving the spilling water a kind of religious ritual. The poet has already described the water as a gift from a kindly god, so it is only right that collecting it should have some resemblance to a religious ritual. Pakistan is a place where many of them are very religious and have many ways of worship. The men, woman and children are all eager for their share of the spilled water and come with any container that they are first able to see. The stanza concludes with the phrase ‘frantic hands’, which once again emphasizes the desperation that leads the villagers to take even handfuls of water. The poet uses enjambment to link the third stanza to the fourth and final one. This focuses on the children of the village, where the children are described as naked and delighted of the chance to bathe in the water. ‘Screaming in the liquid sun’ is a metaphor that aligns the water to the sun to emphasise the pleasure and warmth of the experience. It shows that all is not doom and gloom since the small children are playing in the water. Alliteration is also used in the phrases ‘polished to perfection’ and ‘the blessing sings’, they combine alliteration and assonance, which creates vivid imagery to portray the excitement of the occasion. The word blessing continues the religious theme which has been running through the poem. The final line flows from the previous one ‘sings/over their small bones. ’ It is a gentle ending, focusing on the children of the village who are in great need of this water.

Performance Pay at Safelite Auto Glass Case Study

Performance Pay at Safelite Auto Glass - Case Study Example Performance Management is undoubtedly one of the most important areas in managing the operations of a business enterprise. It is clear that the present management of Safelite Auto Glass, particularly the CEO John Barlow and COO Staglin want the firm to be profitable and expand into new markets. Ever since the change of management in 1987, there have been efforts towards expanding Safelite’s reach and markets. For this purpose, Barlow hit upon the idea of allowing the setup of franchise operations all across the USA, a move which increased the number of Safelite outlets from 250 to 550 within two years from 1987 to1989 (Hall et al., p 1) . The problem here was that stores were opened up rather haphazardly and customers had problems locating the stores. To deal with this issue, the CEO then hit upon the idea of using mobile trucks to provide repair and installation services to the customers at their own location. There was no need to bring the vehicle to the repair outlet. But h ere again the problems faced were coordinating the needs of the customers and reaching the locations correctly. To solve these issues, it was decided to open up warehouse style locations complete with technicians and fitters who could service, repair and fit out a car windshield all from this central location. The communications network installed here was used to route calls to the technicians so that service and repair work could be carried out with a minimum of time wastage. A limiting factor here was that too many calls came into the more central and popular locations while others stayed idle, but this too was being addressed by forwarding calls to locations that were not so busy. It is quite evident that these expansion efforts came with a cost. To make more use of idle capacity on the part of those warehouse locations that were not too busy, the managers of those locations had themselves been put on a performance pay plan that required them to do some actual fitting, repairing and servicing when the place was not too busy. Quite possibly some of the managers might have resented this double role. Yet the fact is that they had to improve the productivity of the warehouse before they could be considered for a rating upgrade. While it is clear that the present performance pay plan is not working, part of the reason is management’s lack of strategic long term thinking. This is evident from the way that problems creep up and are solved on the run. In the beginning the franchise system created a glut of stores in some locations and scarcity in others; it also created internal competition which was counterproductive. The use of trucks as mobile repair shops was innovative but included a cost that should have been considered before launching this initiative. Safelite’s own deficiencies in the current performance pay plan make it seem that the workers are being discriminated against after the initial guarantee period of 12 weeks have passed. At the in itial stage, the worker is being guaranteed a 12-week basic wage rate depending on his previous productivity. But after 12 weeks have passed, the worker has to prove himself again by meeting the difference and also make efforts to increase his productivity. This might not always be possible due to seasonal variations, intensity of competition and manager bias in a particular warehouse. As indicated, the workers would take it easy in the first 12 weeks of the plan unless pushed by conscientious managers. They would prefer to play pinochle (Hall et al., p 5) while maintaining a minimum of productivity. Secondly, despite the best communication systems there is a lack of proper coordination between the order takers on phone and the technicians and the drivers. This point needs to be addressed because it is having an

Soils report Lab Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Soils - Lab Report Example The moisture content at the boundary is normally defined as the water content at which the two halves of the soil cake will flow together for a distance of about half inch. The plasticity index on the other hand is the numerical difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit and this number is normally dimensionless (Day, 2005). Both the liquid and the plastic limits are used to express the moisture content in the soil. The plasticity index is the difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit. For the consolidation test, the pressure void relationship in the soil can be determined. This data is very important in the determination of the compression index of the soil and the pre-consolidation pressure (Day, 2005). Additionally, this data can be used o determine the coefficient of consolidation of the soil. The sieve test is carried out to determine the percentage of the different grains that are contained in the soil. The mechanical sieve analysis is carried out to determine the distribution of the coarse and the medium grained grains. It must be conducted within the ASTM D 422 - Standard Test Method for Particle-Size Analysis of Soils. The soil sample is weighed and recorded. The sizes of the particles are determined on a size with different sizes of the sieve holes. The soil is dried on an oven at a temperature of about 1050C -1100C. The weight of the dry soil is measured and recorded. The same procedure is repeated for the medium grained soil particles and the coarse grained particles for comparison. A sample of soil is taken and transferred to a glass plate. Water is added to the soil sample and mixed to for a paste. The soil paste is then placed in an airtight container. Using the penetration cone, the top surface of the soil is touched to and used as the starting point for the measurements. The dial gauge is then lowered to connect the cone shaft and the reading on the dial gauge is

LITERATURE REVIEW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

LITERATURE REVIEW - Essay Example According to Gupta (2012), the systolic BP as well as the heart rate of old people is higher as compared to their counterparts who are in pre-retirement age. He attributes the above physiological characteristics to increased stress, anxiety, and depression amongst the old people. He argues that participation in cognitive activities could help old people counterweigh the physiological factors. Rockwood, Mitnitski and Rockwood (2010), did a research to test if deficit accumulation leads to loss of redundancy. They tested the relationship between age and FI-CGA. They found out that deficit accumulation decreases with increasing frailty, a state of helplessness arising due to old age. Nelson et al (2007) posit that the older people require to be engaged in exercise to improve their health as they age. Their report argues that America incurs a lot of cost treating the old people of diseases resulting from inactivity. They thus recommend inclusion of exercise programs for the old to help o ffset ailments such as cardiovascular complications, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cancers such as of colon and breast. Additionally they argue that exercise helps reduce stress and depression, which trigger other diseases. Psychological Characteristics Loneliness, which is a common aspect characterizing the life of most old people is a major cause of many psychological as well as physiological problems. In most cases, loneliness contributes to depression, which is associated with declined cognitive capability particularly among the old people. Luanaigh & Lawlor (2008) suggest the need for research on possible interventions that could be used to decrease loneliness amongst the old. Dozeman et al (2009) suggest that old people, particularly those above 75 years are more vulnerable to depression. Their study on the prevalence of depressive symptoms across different ages showed that clinically related depressive symptoms are considerably high amongst the old people. They claim that such depressive symptoms are disadvantageous because they lead to reduced quality of life and make the old persons vulnerable to other conditions such as dysthymia. Sociological Characteristics According to Eliutina (2012), the problems faced by the old couples have received minimal attention by researchers. Their study showed that the number of old couples has decreased rapidly over the recent past due to increased death rate of men. After the death of their spouses, few widows choose to remarry due to fear of divorce. Additionally, the study revealed that old couples are often despised by the society and are given minimal attention. The old thus end up suffering of depression. The old couples are also likely to face individual differences among themselves, which call for the need for sociopsychological support programs to help the old people. Since most old people suffer from physiological as well as psychological problems, there is need for establishment of social programs such a s physical fitness programs to aid the old persons in the society (Meadows, Marechal & Catalan, 1998). Current Health and Activity Status When people get older, they become frail and dependent. Gurina, Frolova & Degryse (2011) categorize the health problems facing the old people. T

Graduate reflection paper 1a Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Graduate reflection paper 1a - Essay Example In this way, they can enhance their own learning as well as enhance the development of their students. Different environments also help teachers learn about the needs of the adult learner and how they learn best. Another area that is important to understand is that of assessment, evaluation and the adaptation of materials for adult learners. Sometimes a teacher may run across some pertinent material in preparing for a class, that one wants to incorporate into the class. Sometimes the material can be adapted "as is," but most of the time, it must be adapted to fit the needs of the students and the teacher. The teacher must have developed the skills to easily integrate the information in order to be most effective. When students enter any type of training or educational pursuit, they bring with them a wealth of professional and personal experience. Some students are used to being in educational environments while others are the first from their families to enter college. There are many learning theories that assist in learning about teaching styles. Beginning theorists like B.F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov through their behaviorism gave an understanding of how to help adult learners learn when they are struggling. As an example, many students may struggle with a concept at work that needs to be done efficiently. Using the behavior theories, this concept can be broken down into smaller parts. This is one way that a lesson could be adapted for more than one type of learner. The cognitive theories are important to teaching and learning because they rely on an individuals internal stimuli to measure performance. For the adult learner who is attempting to move forward with their lives, the concepts of motivation, self-direction, decision making, problem solving, and learning to think in positive frameworks, are very important. These theories encourage teachers to understand how students learn. A central group of

Discuss critically how you would bring about an identified change in Assignment

Discuss critically how you would bring about an identified change in an organisation (or organisational unit) you are familiar with - Assignment Example This is a good example of the need for change in our organizations. Clients are now able to access information, which they require at the comfort of their homes or different work places. This has spurred a lot of pressure to their service providers and media, as they need to live up to the expectations of their clients. Organizational change is an issue that most organizations need to embrace and adopt in order to survive and keep up with the business world today. Failure to do this, such firms and organization will experience a competitive environment that may need to them failing to achieve their goals in the near future. Organizations and firms must learn and embrace organizational change at their different work places. This is very essential and important to them. However, sometimes it is difficult to enhance change in an organization. This is because most employees have adopted a certain culture and routines, which they really embrace at their workplaces. A lot of resistance from these employees may be evident if this kid of change has to be implemented. When parties and stakeholders who are involved follow the right steps, this kind of change can be implemented successfully without much resistance from the employees. Organizational change can affect any department in the organization; hence, the heads of these departments must remain positive and open to any change, which might come along. Firms and organization are prone to changes in today’s business world that is greatly evolving Armenakis (Armenakis and Harris 2009). Both internal and external environmental factors can prompt change to occur in an organization. External changes can originate from the global business market. First and foremost, competition in the might take a higher notch that may require an organization to make some changes in its entire structure. At such a situation, the organization is supposed to come up with different marketing

Black Hole. Characteristics and nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Black Hole. Characteristics and nature - Essay Example 87, 2004). The presumption of ‘general relativity’ calculates that an adequately dense mass will distort space-time to shape a black hole. In the region of a black hole there is a scientifically described surface known as event sphere that considered being the ‘point of no return’. It is termed black as it soaks up all the radiance that strikes the sphere, not reflecting anything, just similar to an ideal black substance in thermodynamics. According to quantum mechanics, black hole discharges emission similar to a black substance with a restricted temperature. â€Å"This temperature is inversely proportional to the mass of the black hole† (Taylor & Wheeler, p. 194, 2000), and makes it complicated to examine this emission for black hole of astrophysical mass or bigger. It is currently believed that at the core of every galaxy, there is an extremely enormous black hole that is billions of times weightier as compared to the sun. The enormous black hole c onfines nearby stars and pulls them into a spinning accumulation disk. A ‘torus’ within the internal accumulation guards the black hole within those structures that are considered edge on. In a number of these structures, a jet is emitted at a 90 degree angle to the disk and is observed within the visual as well as radio wavebands. In the extreme innermost regions, the disk turns so warm that the discharge is within the â€Å"X-ray and Gamma-ray bands† (Susskind & Lindesay, p. 103, 2004). In spite of its imperceptible centre, the existence of a black hole can be deduced by its contact with other matter. Astronomers have recognized several astrophysical black hole in ‘binary systems’, by learning their contact with their cohort stars. There is rising consent that extremely enormous black holes are real and present at the cores of the majority of galaxies. Specially, there is strong proof of a black hole of above 4 million solar masses at the core of t he ‘Milky Way’. A black hole has a dominant gravitational field that catches all that goes in its vicinity. Scientists now think that a number of galaxies have enormous black holes at their cores. These black holes discharge massive quantities of energy that controls the active happenings that take place in the galaxy. According to scientists, the energy for the black hole may be the â€Å"trapped gas, stars, and dust† (Taylor & Wheeler, p. 78, 2000) that are drawn into the hole. Gas that is drawn into a black hole spins down within the hole much similar to a whirlpool. By means of a â€Å"spectroscope, the Hubble Space Telescope† (Raine & Edwin, p. 28, 2009) has the facility to watch the pace of this gas as it spins around the opening to the hole. The pace with which the gas whirls is said to be the ‘black hole's signature’. By identifying the pace of the gas, the mass of the black hole can be estimated. A black hole at the core of a galaxy i s said to have a â€Å"mass equal to that of 3 billion Suns† (Raine & Edwin, p. 73, 2009). When an object drops into a black hole, any fact regarding the form of that object or allocation of charge on it is consistently spread all along the sphere of the black hole, and is vanished for external viewers. The behaviour of the sphere during this condition is a dissipative structure that is directly equivalent to that of a conductive flexible covering with friction as well as electrical resistance - the covering theory. This is not similar to other field theories such as electromagnetism (Raine & Edwin, p. 70-75, 2009), which have no friction or resistivity on the microscopic point, since they are time reversible. In view of the fact that a black hole ultimately

Community Preparedness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Community Preparedness - Essay Example As the study outlines EMI is resourceful in terms of preparing the knowledge of a person with regards to disaster. In this respect, it teaches one on the preparedness strategies which are common in all disasters. It informs a person on various hazards and emergencies which may affect a community. One can learn of the various hazards that may strike the community. This also includes the risks that are associated with these hazards. EMI also has information of the modalities that should be followed as plans for warning and evacuation. Through this resource, a student can acquire adept knowledge on classification of various hazards. The natural hazards include hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, thunderstorms and lightning, winter storms and extreme cold, earthquakes and volcanoes, tsunamis, wild fires among others. The technological disasters that a community may encounter include nuclear power plants and hazardous materials. The terrorism associated disasters include explosions, chemical t hreats, biological threats and nuclear blasts. EMI also has information on how to obtain spatial distribution of these disasters. This is by employment of hazard maps. EMI also imparts knowledge pertaining to warning systems and signals that the community should employ in cases of disaster incidences. A student can learn on the various methods that can be employed in warning the community about potential disasters. EMI also offers information pertaining to the methods of community evacuation in cases of disaster. It gives evacuation guidelines that are imperative to a community. It has information on the transportation arrangements and escape routes and what to do when evacuating. Through EMI, one can learn of the importance of emergency plans for various institutions in preparedness for disasters. One can also learn of the various water conservation tips.  

Perfume and North America Essay Example for Free

Perfume and North America Essay 2. Dior uses different market segmentations to sell their product. First of all, there is a geographic segmentation. Perfumes are luxury products. Thus, they target wealthier areas like North America, Western Europe, Japan, etc. Since Dior is popular worldwide, we can obviously find it everywhere, but their market is based on these areas’ needs. Then, they use demographic segmentation. They target adult women who have quite high incomes. Perfumes are something not everybody can afford. This fragrance can be worn for any occasion, special as well as regular; it is light but demonstrates personality and feminity. They are trying to get a medium to strong loyalty status. As for any perfume, if a woman likes it; she will probably buy it again. It is a very accessible product. Any store like Macy’s, Nordstrom or Sephora in North America or â€Å"perfumeries† in Western Europe will sell J’adore. The segment is very large, because many people, even if they do not fall in one category, will buy perfumes for special occasions, like Christmas. This is a gift that always makes a woman happy, and Dior develops its marketing around that. Indeed, during Christmas, they make a lot of offers that combines a lotion with the perfume for example. Also, there are no separate segments between women; all women want to wear perfume. 2. Dior uses different market segmentations to sell their product. First of all, there is a geographic segmentation. Perfumes are luxury products. Thus, they target wealthier areas like North America, Western Europe, Japan, etc. Since Dior is popular worldwide, we can obviously find it everywhere, but their market is based on these areas’ needs. Then, they use demographic segmentation. They target adult women who have quite high incomes. Perfumes are something not everybody can afford. This fragrance can be worn for any occasion, special as well as regular; it is light but demonstrates personality and feminity. They are trying to get a medium to strong loyalty status. As for any perfume, if a woman likes it; she will probably buy it again. It is a very accessible product. Any store like Macy’s, Nordstrom or Sephora in North America or â€Å"perfumeries† in Western Europe will sell J’adore. The segment is very large, because many people, even if they do not fall in one category, will buy perfumes for special occasions, like Christmas. This is a gift that always makes a woman happy, and Dior develops its marketing around that. Indeed, during Christmas, they make a lot of  offers that combines a lotion with the perfume for example. Also, there are no separate segments between women; all women want to wear perfume.

Revenue Recognition Essay Example for Free

Revenue Recognition Essay Companies that produce to order under production or construction contracts often attempt to spread prospective revenues, related costs, and resulting net income over the life of the contract in proportion to the work accomplished. The method used to accomplish this spreading of revenues, costs, and income is called the percentage of- completion or production method. †¢Sales Basis. The sales (or accrual) basis is the most widely used method for recognizing revenues. Revenues are assumed to be earned at the time the sale is made, even though the cash may not have been collected from customers. For companies that produce to open stock, the sale is the critical event for revenue recognition. Even though value is added to goods through the production process, these companies face considerable uncertainty about who the customer will be and about the amount and timing of the sale. It is necessary to have an arm’s length transaction, in which the customer is legally obligated to pay for the merchandise or service. Such factors as the signing of a sales contract and the delivery of the product provide evidence that the sale has been made. At the time of the sale, revenue is recognized and the amount due from the customer is reflected as an asset such as accounts receivable. †¢Cash Receipts Basis. In some cases, the receipt of cash is considered to be the critical event for revenue recognition. There are three reasons for using the cash receipts basis. First, for some taxpayers, the use of the cash receipt basis is allowable for computing taxable income and may result in some postponement of tax payments. Second, when collection from customers is regarded as very uncertain, the cash receipts basis may be the best indication of actual revenues. Finally, the cash receipts basis is more conservative than the sales basis. It is important to realize that when the cash receipts basis of revenue recognition is used, the product must also have been delivered to customers before revenue is recognized. Thus, if cash is received in advance (such as with magazine subscriptions), the receipt of cash would not be considered sufficient evidence for recognizing revenue. Reference link: http://classof1. com/homework-help/finance-homework-help

Aesthetics In Piano Music From Romanticsm To Modernism Music Essay

Aesthetics In Piano Music From Romanticsm To Modernism Music Essay Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty (Aesthetics, 2010, Online). It is also a study of relationship between human and reality in an aesthetical investigation. Arts is the main object of investigation particularly, where its essence of beauty, ugly, sublime and other aesthetical aspects are examined. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory which is also called the judgements of sentiment and taste (Aesthetics, 2010, Online). The study of aesthetics is very diverse. It can be a speculative approach to philosophical ideas; it can also be drawn on current research methods through other related disciplines such as psychological analysis, anthropological and sociological methods, linguistics and culture learning methods, description of experience and so on. The perception of beauty is very subjective as it is basically based on our personal feeling and own experience. Different people have different feelings towards an aesthetical object thus often arguments are speculative and changed along with time and experience. Therefore, aesthetics is an independent discipline where the essence of beauty and its significance are examined. In this essay, the aesthetic of piano music in both Romanticism and Modernism will be discussed. As we know, these two neighbouring periods showed a tremendous different contrast in social development and movements, hence music as well had been morphed into a new aspect. Moreover, the style of piano playing was also changed due to the aesthetical values of composers and pianists were also affected. 1. Piano Music in Romanticism 1.1 Romantic Characteristics The term romantic derived from the medieval romance which has several meanings. A romance was a poem or tale about heroic events or persons, or it could also connote something distant, legendary, and fantastic. Basically, it suggested something imaginary, far away from reality. In the nineteenth century, the term was applied to literature, music, and art. The term contrasted with classic poetry, which was objectively beautiful. Thus, romantic poetry, which was not bound by rules and limits, focused more on the individuality of expression (Burkholder, 2010a, Online). Instrumental music was regarded as an ideal art in Romanticism as it started to grow more importance compared to vocal music. It is because of the genre was free from words, images, characterised costumes, props and others. However, composers imagination often led them to explore new sounds although they still kept their works in a Classical framework. Besides, many romantics composers were also writers or had friends who were writers, such as Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and others. They always linked the intrumental pieces to literary works so as to draw out the inner meanings of the text through the music. At times, the use of literatures and descriptive titles were also added after the work was created (Burkholder, 2010a, Online). Hence, distinctions were made between types of instrumental music absolute music and programmatic music, which later indirectly led to arguments between these two camps. Romantic views of music have been influential. Composers created music to express their own ideas and feelings rather than to suit the tastes of their patrons or audiences (Burkholder, 2010a, Online). Originality was hence importance for composers and tradition was balanced with their own individuality and creativity. 1.2 The Aesthetic of Romanticism Musical Expression and Emotion In the Romanticism, music had reached the peak of emotionalism which was shaped by the lyrical melodies, daring harmonies, colourful instrumentation, and the strong contrast of form. Musical expression and emotion had been such a powerful force to influence the composers. The most crucial figure in the nineteenth century culture would be Richard Wagner. He was also one of the most influential musicians of all times. He brought German Romantic opera to a new height, created the music drama, as well as his rich chromatic idiom influenced later composers (A History of European Music, 2010, Online). Not only in composing great music, Wagner also wrote a number of essays regarding music and aesthetics, causing huge arguments among scholars at that time including the famous German philosopher and music critic Eduard Hanslick. In a series of essays, Wagner argued that music should serve dramatic expression. He felt that Beethoven had exhausted instrumental music because in his opinion the Ninth Symphony showed the path to the future with its union of music and words. He saw himself as the true successor to Beethoven. He therefore created Gesmatkunstwerk (total or collective artwork) as he felt that poetry, scenic design, staging, action, and music should work together. In other words, the words or texts related the events and situations, while the orchestra conveyed the inner drama (Burkholder, 2010b, Online). Although Wagner and his contemporaries such as Liszt saw the legacy of Beethoven pointing toward new genres and musical approaches, Johannes Brahms on the other hand matured himself as a composer in the Classical repertory. He combined Classicism with Romantic sensibility. He composed in Classical traditions but he also added new elements in order to appeal to contemporary audiences. Overall, he has been viewed as conservative, but he was a trailblazer. He was among the first to draw upon both the music of the past and present, a process or method that has been repeated by numerous composers of the twentieth century (Burkholder, 2010b, Online). In the mid Romanticism, the term New German School was coined as Wagner, Liszt, and Berlioz were leaders. Although Liszt and Berlioz were not Germans, Beethoven was their model. However, the term helped polarized the division between supporters of Liszt and Wagner, and supporters of Brahms and Hanslick. Among the composers who sided with Wagner and Liszt are Bruckner, Wolf, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler. These two camps debated the topics of music and its aesthetics, especially in musical meaning and expression, absolute and program music, tradition and innovation, Classical genres and forms as well as the new ones, and the list goes on. 1.3 Wagner versus Hanslick Expression was the growing importance as a source of aesthetic value. It pays no heed to the claims of formal convention. Music was viewed as a medium of expression and it has the power to influence listeners mind. The use of poetic titles was a manifestation of Romanticism, which signifying musics expressive powers. For instance the post-Beethoven composers especially Liszt, employed poetry to give a clearer expression so as to elevate the art to a powerful metaphysical status. Whatever its subject matter, the status of poetic or programme music was hotly debated in late nineteenth century music criticism and it naturally invoked the related concept of absolute music. In 1854, Eduard Hanslick wrote his own reflections on the nature of the beautiful in music (Vom Musikalisch-Schà ¶nen). In his book, he argues about music and feelings and disagrees with the exaggerated philosophical and cultural pretensions of the writings by Wagner and Liszt. Hanslicks convincing arguments quickly brought his book to attention. This indirectly overshadowed Hanslick as the leading critical antagonist of Richard Wagner and the New German School in general. Hanslick opposed their claims that programmatic instrumental music and the symphonically through-composed declaimed music drama represented the way of the musical future (Grey, 2010, Online). In other words, he is a typical classical formalist. Hanslick was the protagonist of Brahms. They both advocated for the continuity of classical tradition and opposed the radical dissolution of melodic and formal convention celebrated by the progressives of the day as a means of achieving greater expressive truth or the articulation of an ideal or conceptual content (Grey, 2010, Online). Hanslick writes: Music is not contingent upon, or in need of, any subject introduced from without, but it consists of sounds artistically combined. The ingenious coordination of intrinsically pleasing sounds, their consonance and contrast, their flight and reapproach, their increasing and diminishing strength this it is, which in free and unimpeded forms, presents itself to our Mental Vision. What is it then that music expresses? The answer is musical ideas. Now, a musical idea, reproduced in its entirety, is not only an object of intrinsic beauty, but also an end in itself and not a means for representing feelings and thoughts. The essence of music is sound in motion (1986, p.64). Hanslick thinks that the expression or representation of distinct feelings cannot be considered the content of music or the basis of its aesthetic value. He describes the content of music as tonally moving forms. He articulated that instrumental music is not a representational medium, and that representational impulses are likely to distract both composer and listener from musics true nature as beautiful (and freely or abstractly expressive) form (Grey, 2010, Online). The Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwek, however, provoked Hanslicks never ending opposition. He never agreed the composers exaggerated self-promotion and the dramatic and poetic expression. Hanslick thinks that music is purely autonomous while Wagner (who is also an anti-Semitic) portrays the postulate of autonomous musical beauty as a kind of ideological conspiracy to promote the ideals of a Judaized musical culture (Grey, 2010, Online). For Wagner, the content of music is not only sound but also the connotation of emotion that blended together. He thinks that the study of the aesthetics of music as autonomous restrains the beauty of music. 1.4 Programmatic Piano Music Piano music in the Romantic period was still expanding the formal structure from the Classical. However, the expansion of form (those elements related to form, key, instrumentation, harmony, and the like) within a typical composition made the pieces more passionate and expressive. So, it became easier to identify an artist based on the work. Piano music basically struggled to increase emotional expression and power to describe these deeper truths, while preserving or even extending the formal structures from the classical period. But are the composers aims in the romantic period just to focus in expressing their music? What kind of aesthetic value instilled in the listeners mind at that time? The most successful piano music composers in the romantic period certainly were Chopin and Liszt. They not only sought to fuse the large structure harmonic planning with chromatic innovations, but also brought the piano music to a virtuosic level. They also analogized piano music to poetry and its rhapsodic and narrative structures, while creating a more systematic basis for the composing and performing of concert music (Romantic Music, 2010, Online). In other words, they continued using previous practices such as the sonata form but extended them with increasing focus on impressive melodies, emotional harmonies, and themes. The use of literary inspiration was paramount to the composers. For instance, Chopin famous four ballades were inspired by Adam Mickiewiczs poems; while Liszts Sonettos were inspired by Francesco Petrarcas (Petratch) poems. Liszt also transcribed a huge number of songs from Schubert particularly where the texts came from Goethe, as well as transcribed from operas. Besides poetry and literature, composers also composed piano music through their experience and travel. Liszts Annà ©es de pà ¨lerinage (Years of Pilgrimage) is a good example when he travelled to Swiss, Italy, and France he wrote the music. This shows his complete mature musical style which ranges from virtuosic fireworks to sincerely moving emotional statements where he gained from his experience of life and travel. Another example will be the piano cycles, Kinderszenen of Robert Schumann which came from the composers reminiscences of childhood. Obviously, audience at that time were fully influenced by the powerful emotion through the aids of text, poetry and literature. They no longer restricted themselves in the frame of stereotyped abstract titles like Sonata in C Major, Rondo in A minor, Prelude and Fugue and so on, but they had more variety of direct programmatic titles such as Romance, La Campanella, Wanderer Fantasy and the like. The music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas and let the audience experience the unique emotions. Generally, composers had more freedom in form and design so that a more intense personal expression of emotion in which fantasy, imagination and a quest for adventure play an important part (Romantic Music, 2010, Online). 1.5 Piano Playing Style in Romanticism Moreover, the piano performing style in the romantic period was virtuosic and phenomenal. Virtuoso concerts became immensely popular. This phenomenon was actually pioneered by Niccolo Paganini, the famous violin virtuoso, and it was then developed by Liszt on piano. Carl Czerny claimed Liszt was a natural player who played according to feeling, and reviews of his concerts especially praise the brilliance, strength and precision in his playing (Liszt, 2010, online). One of the most detailed descriptions of his playing from this time comes from the winter of 1831/1832, during which he was earning a living primarily as a teacher in Paris. Among his pupils was Valerie Boissier, whose mother Caroline kept a careful diary of the lessons. From her we learn that: M. Liszts playing contains abandonment, a liberated feeling, but even when it becomes impetuous and energetic in his fortissimo, it is still without harshness and dryness. [] [He] draws from the piano tones that are purer, mellower and stronger than anyone has been able to do; his touch has an indescribable charm. [] He is the enemy of affected, stilted, contorted expressions. Most of all, he wants truth in musical sentiment, and so he makes a psychological study of his emotions to convey them as they are. Thus, a strong expression is often followed by a sense of fatigue and dejection, a kind of coldness, because this is the way nature works. (Liszt, 2010, online). From the quotation above, the piano playing style of Liszt is full of emotion. As we know it was the performance practice that every pianist would play the piano with beautiful tone colour, especially what the Chopin had called the Bel Canto playing in shaping lyrical melodies. Moreover Liszts facial expression and gestures at the piano would reflect what he played (Liszt, 2010, online). Also noted that the extravagant liberties he took created a dramatic feeling. Hence, pianists started to take tempo rubato for granted with their ancillary body movements so as to communicate with the audience more musically and successfully. Generally, the aesthetics of piano music in Romanticism were multi-facets. Performers not only swayed their body to make an intimate relationship with music, but also from their movements they conveyed emotional intentions to the audience. They made the piano sings with touching tone colour as well as their virtuosic playing and stage presence made vivid impressions to the ectasied audiences. However, these beautiful piano playing styles were then fully rejected in the Modernism by Prokofiev, Schoenberg, and Cage. These will be discussed in the later chapters. 2. Piano Music in Modernism 2.1 Modern Characteristics Modern music must be understood in terms of their own frame of reference and what artists (whether composers or performers) are trying to do. It was dissonant, controversial and shocking as compared to the prevailing Romantic period. Composers tried to achieve disorder rather than order. The art of creating sometimes replaces the importance of the object created. During that time, the Establishment considered modernism scandalous and an offense to good taste, common sense, and the conventions of polite society. It was also considered rebellious and threatening to the establishment order. However, when the arts of the modernists began to achieve world-wide attention and became more common, acceptance eventually followed. Museums were founded to exhibit modernist works, symphony hall started to promote more modern music, and middle-class society became collectors as modernist paintings rose in commercial value. These indirectly made a new establishment for modernism in art, music, literature, and architecture. In the era of modernism, lots of movements were created such as expressionism, serialism, cubism, dadaism, surrealism, and others. All of these separate movements within modernism combined to produce some distinct characteristics. Modernity has no respect for the past, even its own past. Therefore, it not only entails a ruthless break with any or all preceding historical conditions, but it is characterized by a never-ending process of internal ruptures and fragmentations within itself (Harvey, 1990, pg. 12). The image of creative destruction is very important to understanding modernity. How could new art, music, literature, and architecture be created without destroying much that had gone before? Artist Pablo Picasso and composer Arnold Schoenberg adopt through their individual works that the modernist must destroy in order to create, and the only way to be truly creative is through a process of destruction that is liable in the end to be itself destructive of those creations. (Harvey, 1990, pg. 19). It is important to note that the modernism that emerged around the first World War was a reaction to the new conditions of production (the machine, the factory, urbanization), circulation (systems of transport and communication), and consumption (rise of mass markets, advertising, mass fashion), as it was a pioneer in the production of such changes. These influenced the trend of music such as Darius Milhauds Machine Agricoles (1919) and Sergei Prokofievs The Factory form Pas deacier (1927) demonstrate the influence of the machine age. Undeniably, modernism was also an urban phenomenon that emerged with explosive urban growth. Modernism was an art of cities which confirmed how important the urban experience was in shaping the cultural modernist movement (Harvey, 1990, pg. 25). Machines, new transport and communication systems, skyscrapers, and bridges were all influences from which aesthetic modernism drew much of its stimulus. Finally, modernism in the arts, music, literature, and architecture could not represent the world in a single language. It is so diverse that understanding had to be constructed through the exploration of multiple perspectives. 2.2 The Aesthetic of Modernism Music and Atonality In the twentieth century, concert halls became museums for musical artworks created over the last two centuries. Living composers at that time found themselves competing with music of the past. Composers sought to continue tradition while offering something new. They needed to make decision about what to preserve and what to change. Hence, individuality took over conventionality causing that some composers abandoned tonality while others redefined it. Moreover, their composition turned to more national styles. Composers in the early twentieth century faced the challenge of creating works worthy of performance alongside the classics of the past. The music they created had to be of high quality in the tradition of serious art music. The music also had to have lasting value that rewarded performers and listeners through multiple hearings and study. Thus, these gave rise to young composers wanted a more radical break from the past. They reassessed inherited conventions and did not aim to please their listeners on first hearing so as to challenge perceptions and capacities (Burkholder, 2010c, Online). The major movement in Modernism came from serialism. Serialism is the process of giving a mathematical order to the way one composes music. The techniques used in these kinds of pieces have been termed such as twelve-tone, dodecaphonic, matrixes, tone rows, and others. The serialistic style of composition, most notably employed by Arnold Schoenberg, Alan Berg and Anton Webern, became so influential that these composers are often referred to as the Second Viennese School (1903-1925). This band of composers and their students believed in the idea that the use of mathematical representations could restore order to the composition of music without having to rely on the techniques of the past. 2.3 Schoenberg and Atonality in Piano Music Schoenberg wrote Six Little Piano Pieces Op. 19 in 1911. This is an example of Schoenberg short refining works, but also represents his early free atonal piano masterpiece. The entire work, a total of six little pieces, each creation embodies its own characteristics. Schoenberg abandoned the traditional tonal harmony and took equal importance of every single notes. He showed a new way of musical organization in 20th century piano music. The sounds created were not ever heard before, but many times were not well received by audiences. However, he was championed for what he had invented and his influence spread. The emancipation of the dissonance was Schoenbergs concept of freeing dissonance from its need to resolve to a consonance. This indirectly creates a distinctive musical language of Schoenberg which reflects the composers deep inner spiritual meaning that is the aesthetics of expressionism. Schoenbergs new music not only breaks the stereotyped tonality which had ruled the music for more than thousand years, but also after breaking, he re-established atonal music to a new order the twelve-tone system. Hence the new aesthetics value in Modernism was created. There is no more tonal centre in his music which providing the core. There is also no functional relationship between notes to notes, chords to chords. Tonal harmony is avoided absolutely at it best. Thus as compared to the piano music in Romanticism, the melody in Schoenbergs music is no more impressive and not as beautiful as before, the melody cannot be even easily sung in the mind. Hence, the aesthetics towards Schoenbergs atonal music is ambiguous; it can be beautiful, sublime, or even the other sides. There are no more clear boundaries in appreciating the music. In Schoenbergs early tonal period (before 1908), the composer was greatly influenced by Brahms and Wagner especially in the late works of German Romantic music. They were full of flavour, and the chromaticism which Wagner had developed had reached the limit. Hence in order to express the music more meaningfully, Schoenberg had to destroy all the tonality systems and began to explore new expressive musical style. He was inspired by the Marxism and Expressionism movements at his time and the atonal works were then created. For instance, the performance of his famous melodrama Pierrot lunaire Op. 21 (1912) shows the work as despair, fear, tension, pain and other pathological mental status, while the emotional musical language is also exaggerated, distorted, and weird. In the first decade of 20th Century, Schoenberg successfully established a new concept of musical arts, and thus set another standard for the aesthetic values which are subject to a strong challenge at that time. The aesthetic concepts were changed partly because of the tremendous changes in social thinking. From a social point of view, the extreme fear, agitation, depression, and twisted soul were embodied in Schoenbergs atonal music. These actually were influenced by the serious economic crisis in Europe at that time, social conflicts, and disasters caused by the World War I. From the cultural point of view, the performance of this non-rational atonal music reflected the artists humanistic ideas where serious imbalance of sense and sensibility occurred in the Europe at that time. These let Schoenberg to open the door of his inner creative power. Where tonality had reached its extreme limit, his creation of atonality frees the spirit and essence of expressionism, which contains a pr ofound social content and psychological motivation in that anxious time. The Six Little Piano Pieces although are small and insignificant, it definitely reflects the creative thinking of Schoenberg the new Expressionist aesthetics. Hence in order to understand Schoenbergs atonal music, one should escape and avoid from any musical representation, but from the spiritual essence to feel him, learn from him. 2.4 New Piano Playing Style in Modernism Prokofiev In the composition arena, Schoenberg particularly had made the emancipation of dissonnance. However, besides the changes in compositional techniques, how is the piano playing technique like in Modernism? Do pianists still equip the traditional technique or playing way to interpret the more radical modern piano music? Or perhaps any new playing way formed? As the Romantic pianisism were striving for making incredible beautiful singing line on the piano, Prokofiev however developed new kind of piano playing style which is more percussive and ear sore on the first heard. This new type of piano playing not only expressive but also it carries some sorts of hidden messages the elements of irony and mockery. Hence, Prokofiev again wrote new aesthetics elements on piano playing in the Modernism. Debussy wanted to suggest a piano without hammers. Prokofiev, Bartok, Stravinsky and Hindemith had the opposite view. Nonsense, they said in effect. The piano is a percussive instrument, and theres no use trying to disguise the fact. So lets face up to it and treat the piano as a percussive instrument. (Schonberg, 1964, p.389-90) From this quotation, Prokofiev together with his contemporaries were trying to argue that the piano could not be a singing instrument with superbly legato, as it is the nature of piano to have hammer effects which cause the piano to be percussive. Certainly, they all were bored with the beautiful, heavily wet sustained sounds from the piano pedal effect that went far beyond anything Chopin had dreamed of. They looked for another kind of new sound for which the piano can produce. So, they had to accept the fact that piano is a percussive instrument, the tones produced cannot be cheated or covered by the sustaining pedal. Harold Schonberg, a music critic of the New York Times, said about the playing of Prokofiev in a recital: Young Serge Prokofieff, the pianist of steel, came raging out of Russia, playing his own music and startling the West with his vigor, his exuberance, his wild rhythm, his disdain for the trappings of romanticism. The anti-romanticism age was under way [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Prokofieff at the piano attacked the music with a controlled fury, blasting out savage and complicated rhythms, giving or asking no mercy. He went about it almost without pedal, and with a percussive, metallic-sounding tone. (Schonberg, 1964, p. 390) Noted that the anti-romanticism is also a key of Prokofievs piano playing style. Remember, in his time, the early 20th century piano performance practice, pianists especially like Alfred Cortot, Paderewski, Rachmaninoff, and others play expressively with great liberty. They took tempo rubato for granted and more aware of bel canto playing on the piano. This performance tradition was actually passed down from the time of Chopin and Liszt. The famous Russian pedagogue, Heinrich Neuhaus, who is the teacher of great pianist Sviatoslav Richter, said about Prokofievs piano playing: Energy, confidence, indomitable will, steel rhythm, powerful tone (sometimes even hard to bear in a small room), a peculiar epic quality that scrupulously avoided any suggestion of over-refinement or intimacy, yet with a remarkable ability to convey true lyricism, poetry, sadness, reflection, an extraordinary human warmth, and feeling for natureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Shlifstein,1968, p.233) Although the views are subjective, these quotations give us clearer views of Prokofievs piano playing. Basically, Prokofievs tone on the piano was somewhat dry, but he still played with amazing assurance and freedom. Beneath his fingers the piano does not sing or vibrate. Hence, this evoked contradictory on the piano playing style should the pianists tone be deliberately violent or ugly, or should he strive for musical beauty? Definitely, Prokofiev had made a revolution on the aesthetics of piano playing to the violently, ugly playing style on the piano. This playing style is obvious in his later piano sonatas, especially in the three War Sonatas. The Pianists Responsibilities No matter how the aesthetics of piano music changed, the relationships among composer, pianist, and listener are always inter-related. Pianist, as a medium between the creator and the beneficiary, carries an important role in a performance. For me, regardless of playing the pieces from which period or time to the hardly understandable extreme contemporary piano music, a piano performance is not just a musical performance, it contains rich and valuable aesthetics thinking. From the aesthetic view of Hanslick, he states that music only contains its sound movement and its musical form and structure. If that case, they should be the only essence of piano music without incorporating the personal feeling and emotion into it. However personally, as a pianist, I am more in favour to have music can express emotion and meaning other than just mere sound so as to communicate with the audience as well as to convey the composers messages and intentions. A piano music score is just a carrier of written material, it does not make sense from a hearing point of view. However, if the score is being played by the pianist, it can express meaningful significance. So in a piano performance where the music is accepted and played, it creates a social consciousness relationship with its audience. It thus gives impact to the audience whether auditory, visually or emotionally. At the end, the pianist translates all the static musical symbols on the scores and liberates them into reality so as to make it into life. The aesthetic of piano playing is always based on the individuality of performers as well as the commonality of playing facts. The provisions of piano playing is not absolutely clear, we can never play the music authentically. Hence it is the tendency that every pianists will show their understanding of the music based on their own aesthetical point of views. Together with their unique personality, different pianists play the same stories with different resonance. Their own unique playing style are irreplaceable and cannot be represented by other pianists because their characters of playing were accumulated continuously from the past creative performances. Their innovations always grow with their experience of playing. The commonality of piano playing however restricts and limits performers playing style. It is the style of composers, and the style of playing of that period, that merged into a common playing style. Pianists still have to follow the conventions. Hence pianists individuality cannot exceed the basic style restriction or the commonality of a work in other words. For instance, each performers show different characters of playing on Beethovens Piano Sonata with their own treatment, but they still restrict themselves in a framework of typical Beethoven style, which is the general spirit and characteristics of Beethoven. In short, before playing the music with our own individuality and feeling, we must first respect to the composers

President Bill Clinton Was Responsible For 9/11 :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Clinton administration was at fault for the 9/11 attacks. During the course of his presidency, Bill Clinton had more than a single chance to catch those responsible for the 9/11 tragedy. During his term of 8 years, Clinton had seen a fair share of terrorist attacks, all of which were quickly forgotten. Clinton not only sparked the attack on the World Trade Center, but he may very well have sparked hatred towards the United States by many of the Middle Eastern countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1993, the World Trade Center was attacked from the basement floor by a bomb in a truck. â€Å"Six people were killed, while one thousand were injured.† (A Synopsis: Clinton Set The Stage for 911) Bill Clinton, to involved with interns to investigate, did not do anything about the attack. Clinton did decide to investigate the event, only it was two years after it had happened. Now in 1995, investigators found that Usama Bin Laden had been in charge of the 1993 attack. Once the news was released about this information, the country of Sudan came to the United States telling us that they could get us Usama Bin Laden if we wanted to press charges against him. Bill Clinton was reported as saying â€Å"Usama Bin Laden is not a threat to the United States.† He was reported saying this in the year 1995, after he found out that Bin Laden was responsible for the acts. However, Clinton did take action in 1998, in which he bombed a Sudanese aspirin factory, wh ich he claimed held chemical weapons, on the eve of the Monica Lewinsky trial. This killed hundreds of innocent workers in the factory. â€Å"If any one act inspired hatred towards America, that was it.† (A Synopsis: Clinton Set the Stage for 911) With each terrorist attack, Clinton went before the American people on more than one occasion saying â€Å"those responsible would be hunted down and punished†Ã¢â‚¬  (Sept. 11: Bill Clinton‘s Ultimate Legacy) However, which each terrorist attack, Clinton backed down, showing negligence towards himself and his administration. Another example of Clinton’s lack of knowledge in foreign affairs can be seen in Iraq. After the Bush administration defeated Hussein in 1991, he ordered that UN officials be stationed in Iraq to make sure that Hussein would be incapable of creating weapons of mass destruction. Under the Clinton administration, the UN officials were told to leave immediately, leaving Hussein to create weapons at his leisure.

Rabbits in Australia :: Rabbits Animals Australian Herbivores Essays

Rabbits in Australia Introduction Coevolution is a natural phenomenon that has affected all habitats throughout the world. In general, it encompasses the interactions among different species within a general population and the adaptations each species makes to survive in such a diverse environment. The mere presence of all species that are currently in existence is proof that those species have adapted over thousands and millions of years in such a way that allows them to survive and reproduce. Through millions of years of evolution, well-balanced habitats have co-evolved to provide for the wide variety of species and their needs. Trees have adapted to weeds, weeds have adapted to the predation from herbivores, and so on up the food chain. Similar scenarios are seen throughout the world. Through the process of natural selection, specific species or broad species families will go extinct. However, these occurrences have largely been due to the natural flow and evolution of time. It wasn’t until recently that dominant species, such as humans, have taken the course of nature into their own hands. Throughout history, humans have had an increasingly profound impact on the areas in which they inhabit. Human population has increased in a slow yet exponential pattern since their evolution. These growing populations, along with species evolution have directed humans such that they have domesticated themselves and the things around them in ways that are both functionally and aesthetically pleasing. Plant species were transformed into useful crops, wild animals were converted to willing (and sometimes not so willing) companions, animals were hunted for food and for sport, and man's surroundings were modified as were seen fit. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As the environment has become modified, harmful consequences have resulted causing many of the natural coevolutionary processes to fall out of balance. Slowly, the disruption of these delicate balances are taking their toll on the native habitats and transforming small temporary changes into permanent problems. The area of environmental modification that will be emphasized in this paper is the introduction of non-native species to new habitats and the resulting effects on that habitat; specifically, the introduction of the European Rabbit to Australia. History of rabbit origin in Australia It all started in 1859. Australia was slowly becoming populated with European pioneers who sought the newness of the great, unsettled continent. However, there were a few things from home from which they just couldn’t part.

American Capitalism Essay -- Economics Politics

American Capitalism Capitalism - "An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state." America was an ideal breeding ground for capitalism, a relatively new country, in need of young entrepreneurs to kick start it's already buoyant economy. The country was an ideal place to get rich quick, an idea that inspired the immigrants that poured into it each year. In America it seemed you could turn your rags to riches in no time at all. It's this idea that fueled the American Dream Capitalism was motivated in the 20s by the Republican government. They believed in non-interference or "laissez faire", the policy of letting businesses regulate themselves and to have any caps in how far or how much they go. The government thought that businessmen could work best in a climate made by themselves, not coordinated by the government. Americans believed in rugged individualism, the fact that anyone could make a fortune if they put in enough hard graft. Republicans helped American capitalism prospering by introducing tariff barriers, making it that all goods coming from abroad had to taxed heavily before entering the country, meaning that prices in the USA for those products raised so the foreign companies could still make a profit. When presented with two items of similar quality, one with ultra-inflated prices from England, and one with a cheap price from America, it's likely that a normal person would choose the cheap American home brand product. By doing this Republicans helped the idea of American capitalism to prosper. As well as being the ... ... towering monolith such as this falls, it's going to make a sizable dent. It triggered off the great depression, people lost all their money, all jobs were stopped, property was taken away and life became a nightmare to all involved. Of course, some people survived relatively unscathed, but, as normal, those people were the rich. The whole concept of an American dream could have worked if the country had taken their time, realised that there was no rush, if companies had expanded slowly and if people hadn't been so interested in the stock market. Of course all these problems came from the idea of an American dream and people, being only human, are selfish and want to have more money, and more money is what is offered in a system of capitalism. The American dream soon turned sour and turned into an American nightmare.

Boeing Internal Analysis

Boeing Internal Analysis Purpose This report discussed the components of internal analysis, competitive advantage, and strategic competitiveness of Boeing Company. This is done by analyzing the tangible & intangible resources, capabilities, and core competencies in order to clarify Boeing’s strengths and weaknesses. Resources Exhibit 1 Tangible| Intangible| Manufacturing plants| Boeing’s digital design software| Composite and metal materials| Dynamic assembly line| Headquarters building| â€Å"Moonshine teams† strategy|Machinery used for lean production| Boeing’s brand name| Financing/ Launch aid from NASA | | Boeing’s newest jet, the 787, is made out of composite plastics and carbon fiber in order to be more efficient and comfortable. The new materials allow the plane to be pressurized at a lower elevation, which results in less jet lag. Also, the cabin humidity can be raised to around 20% because these materials do not corrode like metals. Through the use of lean productions, Boeing significantly reduced the cost of machinery used for manufacturing, along with inventory costs.For financial resources, Boeing received $12 billion from NASA to develop technology. They also received $1 billion in loans from Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, and Fuji for the development of the 787. Furthermore, Boeing had received launch aid from U. S. Government subsidies. Boeing has a reputation as one of the best manufacturers of commercial and military jets. Its strong brand and name represents the position in the aerospace industry. Boeing has encountered some scandals in upper management, however they are trying to restructure its reputation and make a comeback.Capabilities Exhibit 2 Capability| Valuable| Rare| Costly to imitate| Non-substitutable| Dynamic Assembly| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Lean Production| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Composite Materials| Yes| Yes| Yes| Yes| Lean production at Boeing was a very important and effective decision. They were able to de sign equipment that cost amazingly less and was much more efficient than the machines they were using at the time. A router was built for 0. 2% cost of their larger one and a drill machine was built for 5% cost of the previous model.They used a hay loader to put the seats into the planes, rather than using a crane, which reduced production time from twelve hours down to only two hours. Production of landing gear components took 32 moves over 10 months, but with the lean production strategy it only took 3 moves and the time span was reduced to 25 days. Dynamic assembly was an important change at Boeing as well. Before, planes had to be jacked into position at one station, worked on, down-jacked from the station, and moved with a power cart to the next station.This process could take up to two, ten hour shifts. By using a sled that drags the plane two inches per minute, Boeing reduced production time in half. Core Competencies One of Boeing’s core competencies would be utilizin g composite plastics in the manufacturing of their jets. This is valuable because it allows them to build a jet that can travel faster, farther, and with more comfort than on previous jets. It can be considered costly to imitate because when Airbus built a model to compete, the A350, its performance was unable to compare to that of Boeing’s 787.The composite materials are non-substitutable because it is currently the highest grade technology jet manufacturing industry. It is rare because only Boeing and Airbus are in the commercial jet industry, and Airbus’s model cannot compare. Another core competency would be Boeing’s ability to use lean production. This is valuable because it allowed Boeing to free up 1. 3 million square feet of space and sell seven buildings by switching to a â€Å"just-in-time† inventory. Also, they were able to reduce costs of equipment and speed up the manufacturing process drastically.It is socially complex because it uses numero us different strategies to create one finished product. There are no substitutes that compare to lean production as far as time and money savings, and it is rare because Airbus and Boeing are the commercial jet companies to use it. The third core competency is Boeing’s dynamic assembly line. This was a valuable change to Boeing because it reduced assembly time by 50%, or from 22 days down to 11 days. The planes move 80 feet every shift and lights determine the status of the assembly line.Dynamic assembly lines are costly to imitate and rare due to the size of the plant and the components used in order to pull such a large craft throughout the building. The only substitute of a dynamic assembly line is a static assembly line, and the dynamic one performs much more efficiently. Weaknesses * Ineffective top management Boeing was recently faced with the scandals which hurt the reputation of Boeing. The top management recognized the problem and tried to figure it out by effective management strategies. * Outsourcing In 1997, Boeing lost $1. billion against their earnings due to problems with the supply of critical components. They had to halt the production of the 737 and the 747. In 2006, suppliers for Boeing’s 787 fell behind schedule which resulted in a delay of production. Value Chain Analysis The industry value chain is the process from the suppliers of the raw material to the end customers who demand the service of transportation. Boeing found itself in the crucial situation of having lost market share to Airbus. Boeing had to act in response by enhancing customer benefits to recapture an advantage over its competitors.The fundamental idea was an innovative renovation in the supply chain process, which would redefine Boeing’s role as a coordinator and integrator rather than simply the manufacturer. At the heart of the supply chain transformation process was the strategy to outsource more than 70% of the 787’s production. Boeing int roduced new project management techniques by sharing risk with partners. The companies sharing risk transformed the entire 787 program. The risk shared by partners in investing their own capital in the 787 program cut approximately 55% of Boeing’s development cost required for the program, which was $6 billion.Boeing’s outsourcing process has dramatically reduced the manufacturing time from roughly two weeks to as little as three days. Saving such significant time greatly decreases labor and inventory costs for the company as outsourced components reach the assembly site with pre-fitted sub-systems. This approach streamlines and adds efficiencies to the assembly process. (Boeing value chain report, 2010) Competitive Advantage * Works more with both its customers and suppliers to design and build the best aircrafts on the market. R&D departments which are able to design and implement better aircrafts which reduce the costs and make more efficiency. * Flexible work sched ules for the employees. * Boeing’s name and brand bring a strong competitive advantage between Boeing and Airbus. Exhibit 3 Profitability ratios| Boeing| Airbus| Net profit margin| 3. 6%| 0. 3%| Gross profit margin| 18. 02%| 11. 95%| Asset turnover| 1. 1| 0. 55| Return on assets| 6. 16%| 1. 07%| The profitability ratios show that Boeing had a moderate and good profitability compare with other company (such as Airbus).The return of assets of over 6 % shows an overall strong earning power of Boeing’s total assets. Strategic Competitiveness Boeing has implemented outsourcing to build better and more efficient airplanes by using portions of other companies’ knowledge and research with their own. This has helped them produce airplanes at a much lower cost. Boeing's strategy was to develop the 787 at a very low cost. By doing this, Boeing believes it can compete with Airbus' new Super Jumbo project. Boeing focused on medium capacity aircraft which can hold 250 people, whereas Airbus focused on super jumbo jets, which contain 550 people.Overall Boeing has achieved higher quality and efficiency. Boeing pins its hope on a different strategy and does not take the hub-and-spoke concept as a given. The Boeing 787 is the solution for non-stop, point-to-point flights between secondary cities. Conclusion Boeing’s ability to develop lean production, use of composite materials, and dynamic assembly methods are their strengths. Their weaknesses include poor upper management and unreliable outsourcing. In the future, Boeing needs to find higher quality upper management and more reliable suppliers.

Homework Assignment Essay

1.Prepare an analysis of the automobile manufacturing industry using Porter’s five forces framework. For each component force provide support for your conclusion. In addition, at the completion of your analysis provide a conclusion, along with support, of whether you expect the automobile industry to report high or low profitability in the near future. 2. Tremble Company manufactures outdoors wear for women. During 2009, the company reported the following items that affected cash. Required: Indicate whether each of these items is a cash flow from operating activities (O), investing activities (I), or financing activities (F). A. Paid cash for supplies B. Purchased equipment by paying cash C. Collected cash on account from customers D. Paid dividends to stockholders E. Paid suppliers for fabric F. Borrowed money from a bank on a long-term note G. Paid interest to bank on the note H. Paid wages to employees I. Sold shares of common stock to new stockholders 3. The following selected financial data pertain to four companies: a hotel, a travel agency, a meat packing company and a pharmaceutical company. Required: Match each with the financial information and explain why you made your choice as you did. Balance Sheet Data (component percentages)Company 1Company 2Company 3Company 4 Cash7.222.06.011.2 Accounts Receivable28.040.03.423.0 Inventory21.40.50.927.4 Property, Plant & Equipment 32.019.075.125.0 Income Statement Data (component percentages) Gross Profit15.2Not ApplicableNot Applicable44.0 Profit before Taxes1.83.32.57.0 Ratios Current ratio (over the last five years)1.61.30.51.8 Inventory turnover ratio27.8Not ApplicableNot Applicable 3.4 Debt-to-equity ratio1.82.35.81.4 4. Use the current asset section of the balance sheets of the El Paso Company as of January 31, 2012 and 2011 presented below to answer the questions that follow. 2012 2011 Cash and cash equivalents$ 75,000$ 58,800 Trade accounts receivable, net 157,500 193,200 Inventory 208,200 253,400 Other current assets 18,400 15,500 Total current assets$ 459,100$ 520,900 Total assets$2,650,000$3,430,000 Required: (a) In the spaces provided below, complete a Percentage Change analysis of the current asset section of El Paso Company’s balance sheet for 2012, using the following format to provide your answers for the amount of dollar change and the amount of percentage change, rounding â€Å"% Change† to one decimal place, e.g., 8.3%. Accounts$ Change% Change (b) Provide a short evaluation of this analysis.

Korean College Students Reading Strategies Essay

1. INTRODUCTION Korean universities take a variety of different approaches to ensure college students obtain a strong level of English proficiency during their education. This is why many university English classes use authentic literature written for native English speakers. There are a variety of used resources; journal articles, research reports, thesis, online catalogues, databases, and internet materials. The number of English professors and universities that prefer to use authentic material is increasing. Reading authentic English text can be a burden for EFL learners. Kern (1994) mentioned that understanding texts written in a foreign language is a significant challenge for most students. To understand texts,a majority of readers not only translate a foreign language into their mother tongue, but also use translation to grasp the whole meaning of the content, and content related to their prior knowledge. When learners encounter authentictext, they tend to take the text for granted, not questioning the text or thinking about it in other ways. Many college students have previously been taught to read in order to solve the question without understanding the deeper meaning of the textand what influences the writer. In English education in Korea, reading is regarded as decoding the meaning of a written text to get knowledge and information. Thus, it is natural that reading activities in English textbooks focus on just getting information and grasping the content of the textbooks. That is why instructions from the teacher, reading strategies, and the classroom English reading textbook play important roles in training the learner how to read critically and gaining a full comprehension of what they read. Many studies in second or foreign language reading have investigated how second or foreign language readers deal with texts when reading in the target language (Block, 1996; Sheorey&Mokhtari, 2001). Meanwhile, the cognitive processes involved in reading comprehension in a second or foreign language are equivalent to those in the first language (Cummins, 1994), though constructing meaning in the second language is more demanding. While second language (L2) readers may think cognitively in reading, they generally face more difficulties in L2 reading because of their lack of grammar knowledge, limited vocabulary, or different cultural backgrounds, all of which impede comprehension. Many researchers like Chesla (1998), Cunningham and Stavonich (1997), Eskey (2005), and Hudson (2007) are interested the cognitive ocessesinvolved in reading comprehension, and have conducted a lot of research on effective reading lessons, reading materials, and students’ reading attitude. Ko (2005)found that students need to employ certain kinds of strategies in order to improve their reading skills: (1) They need to improve reading through extensive reading; (2) they need to find interesting content for motivation; (3) they need to enhance content knowledge in various areas; (4) they are willing to improve their spoken skills; (5) they want to improve their general writing skills; and (6) they need to increase their vocabulary knowledge. In this research, I will analyze whether Ko’s (2005) strategies and activities that teachers think are effective can be applied to gain reading comprehension. Reading strategies are referred to as the mental operations that are involved when readers approach a text effectively and make sense of what they read as well as what they do when they are lost while reading (Barnett, 1998; Block, 1986). As a part of helping readers to better comprehend L2 texts, some techniques or skills associated with reading proficiency have been examined. Many researchers have been making experiments about reading strategies. Some of these reading strategies range from skimming, scanning, contextual guessing, activating schemata, and identifying text structure, all of which are considered to be effective in enhancing comprehension (Block, 1986; Kern, 1994). Moreover, the Survey of Reading Strategies,known as SORS, introduced by Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002) will be adapted for use in this research project. This SORS has three major strategies: global reading strategies, problem solving strategies, and support strategies. For the students’ reading strategies, Korean college students tend to use the support reading strategy when they read; the global reading strategy is least preferred.However, research findings do not find a substantial gap among the three major strategies of SORS. This indicates that Korean students are not afraid of using different reading strategies, and do not limit themselves from receiving other perspectives. Teachers, who teach reading strategies, prefer one of the three main SORS strategies more. They use the global reading strategy most; meanwhile, they areunlikely to use the support reading strategy in the classroom, or even to recommend it to students. In this study, the researcherfocuses on Korean college students’ attitudes and preferences for using reading strategies, and the native English teachers’ attitude towards teaching reading, and the teacher’s preferences of reading strategies for teaching reading. Moreover, the researcher also investigates student’s reading difficulties and their expectations. The main research questions are as follows: For Korean college students: 1. Which reading strategies do Korean college students like to useand think effective in helping them to improve their reading comprehension skill? 2. What are the difficulties and problems that inhibit their effective reading comprehension? For native English teachers: 3. Which reading strategies do native English teachers like to teach and think are effective in helping students to improve their reading comprehension skill? 4. What are the difficulties and problems that inhibit you from teaching reading strategies effectively? 2. LITERATURE REVIEW Reading is an all-important language skill that is now in more demand than in any time in our history. With the exposure of the Internet in a global arena, students need to master reading in order to understand the vast knowledge the world embraces them with. It has been said that the literate adult today is reading more in one week than their great-grandfather did in a whole year (Swalmand Kling, 1973). This fact places pressures on the student to perform reading at a higher level than the student before them.Reading is the best way to absorb content materials and to increase critical thinking skills. It is also a hidden process that often goes unnoticed in the language classroom. In addition, reading is also a complex activity, where the goal is ‘to construct text meaning based on visually encoded information’(Anderson andNunan, 2007). In the first language (L1) reading, readers use only one language, whereas in the second language (L2) reading, learners have at least two languages to deal with. On the contrary, readingin a first or second language contextinvolves the reader, the text, and interaction between the reader and the text (Rumelhart, 1977). Although reading in the L1 shares numerous important basic elements with reading in a second or foreign language, the process also differs greatly. Intriguing questions involve whether there are two parallel cognitive processes at work, or whether there are processing strategies that accommodate both first and second language. Although on the surface first language and second language are different, readers can apply visual linguistic and cognitive strategies that they readily use in their first language reading to assist in their L2 reading. Whether the readers are reading in their first or second language the reading strategy operates in the same way: the readers look at the page and the print, then use their knowledge of sound or symbol relationships, order, grammar, and meaning to predict and confirm the meaning. In short, when readers have well-developed first language reading strategies, they can learn a second language more easily and rapidly.Students should have effective reading skills in their first language to assist their reading comprehension in a second language. 2.1. L1 Reading L1 reading is reading in the reader’s mother tongue. Reading contexts in general require knowledge of content; formal and linguistic schema. Reading is also a meaning-making process which involves an interaction between the reader and the text. Recent theories in second language reading stress that the L2 learners’ first language skills are very important when they learn a second language (Hakuta, 1986; Krashen, 1982). One of the main reasons supporting this claim is that when students have well-developed first language skills, they can acquire second language skills more rapidly. Concepts which were readily and strongly developed in their first language acquisition become accessible skills to learn a second language. This process is what is known as common underlying proficiency as described by Cummins, 1994. Although on the surface the two languages are different, readers can apply visual linguistic and cognitive strategies that they also use in their first language reading, to read in an L2 (Ovando, 2005). This means in both languages readers look at the page and the print, and then they use their knowledge of sound or symbol relationships, order, grammar, and meaning to predict and confirm meaning. There are four elements that are important in reading comprehension in either in L1 or L2: (1) whether the readerreads a lot and is familiar with reading in another language; (2) the length, type, and language difficulty of the text; (3) whether the reader uses the global reading, problem solving, or support strategies; and (4) fluency. In L1 reading, researchers have emphasized two factors potentially influencing readers’ processing strategies: the type of material that will be read and the purpose or goal for which a text will be read. 2.2. L2 Reading Second language reading is one of the four skills in mastering a foreign language. Seond language reading is gathering the syntatic and semantic processes as well as vocabulary, which include speed of letter naming, phonological processes, orthographic processes, and working memory. In addition, background knowledge also takes part in L2 reading comprehension (Malley, 1990). Moreover, based on Bernhard and Kamil (1995), second language reading comprehension processes have two main crucial variables; they are L2 vocabulary and L2 grammatical skills. In addition, there are six elements that intereact and blend together in forging the construct of L2 comprehension. The six elements are the phonemic/graphemic features, syntatic feature cognition (grammatical ability), word recognition, vocabulary, prior knowledge, and metacognition. Reading in an L2 is different from reading in an L1, in that L2 reading is influenced by a variety of factors that are normally not considered in L1 reading (Bernhardt andKamil, 1995). Among these factors, the two most frequently used ones to explain L2 reading fluency are readers’ L1 reading ability and L2 language proficiency. According to Teillefer (1996), these two factors significantly affect L2 reading comprehension, but to a different extent depending on different reading styles. With regard to importance and actual contribution of the above-mentioned two factors to L2 reading, there are two conflicting hypotheses: The Linguistic Threshold Hypothesis and the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis. The first hypothesis, also known as the Short-Circuit Hypothesis (Clarke, 1979), states that in order to read in an L2, a certain level of L2 linguistic ability is required. In another definition, the L1 reading ability can be transferred to L2 reading only when L2 proficiency is higher than the linguistic threshold. Therefore, a certain amount of linguistic ability is a prerequisite for the transfer to take place. That is, a certain amount of knowledge of L2 grammatical or linguistic skills is necessary in order to allow L1 reading knowledge to assist L2 reading (Bernhardt andKamil, 1995). Based on this hypothesis, it is assumed that without some L2 skills, the L2 readers’ limited language proficiency prevents their good L1 reading skills from being transferr ed to L2 reading (Lee, 2000). The second hypothesis is the Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis, also known as Common Underlying Proficiency (Lee, 2007 and Cummins, 1994),which states that the reading performance in L2 is largely influenced by L1 reading ability, so L1 reading ability transfers to L2 reading. Therefore language skills such as reading and writing in the L1 are interconnected and transferable to L2. This hypothesis proposes that L1 skills and L2 skills are not so different, but at some fundamental core they are interdependent or even the same (Bernhardt andKamil, 1995). Hence, once a set of language skills has been acquired, it can be adapted to enhance reading in the L2 context. Despite the conflict of the two hypotheses, it has been acknowledged that each hypothesis is accurate to some extent that both L1 reading ability and L2 language proficiency are important factors to increase L2 reading fluency, and that the product of reading refers to the level of understanding, which is considered to be achieved by one’s reading ability and various reading strategies that the reader uses. Another finding from August (2006) states that learning to read in a second language is an entirely different process from learning to read in the first language, and the methods used to teach adult second language learners should be somewhat different from those that are used to teach children. August also mentions that L2 readers can build reading proficiency by using previously developed L1 reading skills and knowledge to support newly developing L2 language skills. So, in effect, L2 readers need less academic training to advance their skills in L2 reading. In other word s, the adult L2 learner needs to acquire most of the requisite academic skills from L2 instruction itself rather than from the transfer of the skills. Although some degree of skill transfer occurs from L1 to L2 for all second language readers, the academic goals of an individual with a weak L2 background are more dependent upon the newly acquired L2 language skills. Therefore, the L2 leaner requires a curriculum which provides a highly intensive focus on L2 language and reading skills. Transfer of L1 skills has a very powerful influence on the acquisition of L2 skills, but many adult second language readers need a great deal more thantransferred skills to achieve their academic goals. A well-developed L1 reading skill can be automatically transferred to L2 reading, and L2 readers as well as L1 readers contribute to the reading process in a constructive manner. However, there are other aspects that can limit the L2 readers’ contribution in reading second language material or text, which are language misinterpretation, lack of both background knowledge, and limited resources (Berhardt andKamil, 1995; Block, 1992; Koda, 1989). Therefore, one cannot simply assume that L2 readers will be able to interpret text in the same manner as competent L1 readers do (Gass, 1987). 2.2.1. Process of Reading Reading processes such as bottom-up, top-down, and interactive, can be used before, during, and after reading (Goodman, 1976; Rumelhart, 1977; Smith, 1971). According to Carell andGrabe (2002), L2 readers use different reading processesthan L1 readers do because (1) they are limited in their linguistic knowledge; (2) they do not have enough cultural and social knowledge that is common in the English content; (3) they do not necessarily retrain prior knowledge, which is the basis of understanding English materials; (4) they study English for a variety of reasons, including making themselves familiar with English speaking countries, and (5) they use both their first and second language. That is why knowingL2 learners’L2 reading ability and the type of texts will help in choosing reading processes which can make the text better understood. 2.2.2.1. Bottom-up processing Bottom-up processing is a type of reading process where reading comprehension starts with the fundamental basics of letter and sound recognition, then later builds up to letters, letter clusters, words, phrases, sentences, and longer text, and finally meaning in the order to achieve comprehension. Beginner learners need a strong bottom-up component, which includes phonics instruction. In bottom up reading, students start with the basics of letter and sound recognition, move from morpheme recognition to word recognition, grammatical structures, and sentences in order to achieve basic comprehension. According to Iwai (2007), in bottom-up processing readers focus on letters, sounds, syllables, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. The process of constructing the meaning begins with written words. These learners view reading as beginning with the printed page, proceeding linearly from visual data to meaning by a series of processing stages. The most typical type that applies to bottom-up processing is intensive reading. Intensive reading involves a short reading passage followed by textbook activities to develop comprehension and/ or a particular reading skill. In an English lesson or in an English language course, this type of reading is often applied for sharpening students’ L2 knowledge and ability. 2.2.2.2. Top-down processing Top-down processing is a reading process where readers use background knowledge to predict meaning of the text. They search text to confirm or reject the predictions that they made. Within the top-down processing, the teacher should focus on meaning-based activities rather than on mastery of word recognition. By using this process, the reader builds comprehension skills by first applying general information already learned (larger elements) and moving down towards the specifics of the language (smaller elements). In top-down processing, readers make and evaluate experience and background knowledge. Coady (1979) wrote that the top-down processing model makes readers use their background knowledge schema and connects the schema with conceptual abilities and processing strategies to accomplish comprehension. University students have to do lots of research which requires lots of reading. This requires extensive reading and top-down reading processing. Extensive reading is also called pleasure reading, free voluntary reading, sustained silent reading, and supplementary reading (Bamford and Day, 2004; Nunan, 2003). In extensive reading, readers read as many books as they can outside of the classroom, to broaden their comprehension skills in order to get the main ideas or key points they need to imply top-down reading processing. The primary purpose of using extensive reading as a tool is to encourage students to enjoy reading in English, and thereby increase their motivation to improve their English skills by focusing on the understanding of broader and longer texts rather than the processing of a particular academic text. 2.2.1.3. Interactive Processing Reading is an interactive process that goes on between the reader and the text, resulting in comprehension. The text presents letters, words, sentences, and paragraphs that encode meaning. The reader uses knowledge, skills, and strategies to determine what that meaning is. This strategy is known as interactive processing; it is a combination of bottom-up and top-down processing which assumes that ‘a pattern is synthesized based on information provided simultaneously from several knowledge sources’ (Nunan, 2003), and it would include aspects of both intensiveand extensive reading. When put into practice, it is assumed that knowledge acquired from one strategy can compensate for the lack of knowledge from the other strategy. Fluent readers are considered to be those who can efficiently integrate both bottom-up and top-down strategies (Dubin, 1986; Grabe 1991; Murtagh, 1989). Aspects of interactive reading that help readers to interpret the author’s meaning are: 1) u sing their prior knowledge, 2) having a purpose for reading, 3) monitoring their understanding, and 4) working within the constraints of the situational context (Walker, 2001). The first aspect is that readers combine what they already know with the information from the text to figure out the author’s meaning (JohnandPrice, 2001). This textual information is comprised of pictures, letters in words, and headings, and the structure of sentences is used combined with prior knowledge (Kerringan, 1979). The second aspect is that readers tend to elaborate on what they read. They make connections using previous knowledge or experience to help them remember and interpret what they are reading. These new connections become part of thereaders’s knowledge base. The third aspect of interactive reading is that readers will continually monitor their understanding to see if it makes sense. These readers actively monitor their understanding through self-questions and various fix-up strategies to repair their comprehension. The fourth aspect is that readers use the situational context (elements given at a present time) to form ideas and adjust their purpose to each reading. 2.2.1.4. Interactive-compensatory model The interactive-compensatory model of reading was mainly developed to show how word recognition during reading can be affected by developmental and individual differences in the use of context (Stanovich, 1980). It is different from the bottom-up or top-down model in that in this model, readers process information simultaneously, not step by step. So, it seems that understanding of written and spoken language relies on a balanced combination of top-down and bottom-up processing. The readers have to pay attention to features in the text, orthographic knowledge, semantics, syntax, and lexical (vocabulary) knowledge when reading (Nutall, 2000). Thus, the perceptual-automatic recognition skill noted by Grabe (1992) seems psychologically real and theoretically possible, both in terms of Stanovich’s statement. Underwood (1982) asserted that when learners have achieved comprehension through practice, attention can be deviated. This interactive-compensatory theory states that all read ing skills develop independent of each other and in a different span of time. The purpose of the interactive-compensatory model is to provide a framework for understanding and improving L2 reading. The interactive-compensatory model includes 5 main components: cognitive abilities, knowledge, strategies, meta-cognition, and motivation. Knowledge and regulatory skills such as strategies and meta-cognition are combined into one category because of their close relationship among the components. There are three interrelated components within the model: cognitive ability, knowledge and regulation, and motivation (Underwood, 1982). Each of these components could be divided into further subcomponents. For example, the motivation component would include self-efficacy and attribution beliefs. It is assumed in the model that each of the components leads either directly or indirectly to learning.Since all components lead to learning, if a student is lacking in a particular skill (for example, knowledge) it could be compensated by greater strengths in other areas.