All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque Essay

1. Title: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT 2. Author: ERICH MARIA REMARQUE 3. Published: 1929 4. SUBJECT: This book is written by a German veteran of World War I, who describes the German soldiers’ extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the frontlines. 5. OPINION: I think this book tells a tale of honor and courage, two of the three core values of the Marine Corps. The author brings his own experiences to light through the main character, Paul Bà ¤umer. Furthermore, I believe that the author is trying to characterize his generation, the young men who fought the Great War and who were destroyed by it. The group of men which Paul Bà ¤umer fights with reminds me of the camaraderie that lies within the Marine Corps ethos. 6. INTRODUCTION: All is Quiet on the Western Front begins with Paul Bà ¤umer’s company at rest, five miles behind the front lines between Langemark and Bixschoote. They have had very little sleep for the fourteen days since they relieved the front line and seventy of their one hundred and fifty men are dead at the hands of Russian gunfire. The cook, Ginger, has fixed rations for the one hundred and fifty and, after arguing with the lieutenant, grudgingly consents to give all the food to the eighty soldiers left, including double rations of smokes. As the narrator remarks, â€Å"Today is wonderfully good.† In All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque creates Paul Bà ¤umer to represent a whole generation of men who are known to history as the â€Å"lost generation.† Eight million men died in battle, twenty-one million were injured, and over six and a half million noncombatants were killed in what is called â€Å"The Great War.† Throughout the story, I feel that the generation has gone through an event that steals the memories of their childhood. As early as the second chapter, Paul Bà ¤umer describes the difference between his generation, his parents, and the older soldiers. They had a life before the war, a life where they felt comfortable and secure. But Paul’s generation never had a chance at that life. Even when the story begins, all Paul has known is death, horror, fear, and suffering. He and his fellow classmates are only nineteen and twenty years old; the age of the average Junior Marine today. However, they feel nothing, believe in nothing, and see no future because of their experiences in the war. Apart from being deprived of the sweet memories of childhood and the hopes of a bright future, this generation felt a terrible sense of betrayal by their parents, teachers, and government. The myths of the older generation become apparent when Paul goes home. A sergeant-major reprimands Paul for not saluting him when Paul has spent a good share of his life in the trenches killing the enemy and trying to survive. Many Marines can relate to this reference, as many find it difficult to transition back into garrison after being in country for so long. As the war story unfolds, Paul and his friends become cynical towards death and horror all around them, that the inhumanity and atrocities of war become part of everyday life. The author describes the atrocities, the terrible consequences of weapons of mass destruction, and how soldiers become hardened to death and its onslaught of sensory perceptions during battle. Atrocities are simply a part of the inhumane business of war. In chapter 6, Paul and his men come across soldiers whose noses are cut off and eyes poked out with their own saw bayonets. Their mouths and noses are stuffed with sawdust so they suffocate. This constant view of death causes the soldiers to fight back like animals. They use spades to slice faces in two and jab bayonets into the backs of any enemy who is too slow to escape. Their callousness is contrasted with the reaction of the new recruits who give in to front-line foolishness described over and over again in scenes of the front. Despite all the terrible stories of death and gore, the author revisits a redeeming quality: comradeship. When Paul and his friends ambush Corporal Himmelstoss and beat him up, I laugh because he deserves it and they are only giving him his due. As time goes by, however, the pictures of camaraderie relieve the terrible descriptions of front line assaults and death, and they provide a bright light in a place of such terrible darkness. A recruit becomes gun-shy in his first battle when a rocket fires and explosions begin. He goes to Paul and cries and Paul does his best to comfort him. This reminds me of when I was deployed and my fellow Marines would make me feel better and tell me we would be home soon when I was feeling homesick. Through thick and thin, battle and rest, horror and hopelessness, these men hold each other up. Finally, Paul has only Kat and he loses even this friend and father-figure in Chapter 11. This man, this hero, this father, this life — has been closer to Paul than his own blood relatives and yet Paul must say, â€Å"No, we are not related.† Remarque says that this novel â€Å"will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war.† If words can touch what men hold to be dear in their hearts and so cause them to change the world, this book with its words of a lost generation, lost values, and lost humanity is surely one that should be required reading for all generations. LESSON: I think that this book is great insight into what soldiers went through during World War I. It really captures the essence of basic Marine Corps Values, such as honor and courage. The main character Paul Bà ¤umer shows great courage in that he takes care of his fellow soldiers and pushes forward, despite all the day to day atrocities. Paul and his friends show honor by sticking up for what is right and being there for one another. Lastly, my favorite quality displayed by the characters was camaraderie. This is something that Marine Corps has taught me and that will always remain with me even after I get out, because it has showed me that no matter what, your peers will always be with you, during wartime and during peacetime.

Organizational Communications Strategy Essay

Leaders are responsible for motivating people to do their work effectively and achieve common objectives. Some believe leaders are born but some of the qualities can also be embedded in leaders through training and learning. Communication is the process when one person conveys thoughts or feelings to another individual or collection of people. The effectiveness of the communication process can be measured by message intended is equal to the message extracted. Feedback is essential for the communication process as this provides a response to on how successful we have been in transferring our message as originally intended. Teams focus on a collective style of working where the team members work together to achieve common goals. In teams the synergy level is positive, that is the performance of the team is greater than the individual efforts. The self managed teams discussed in this case are linked with empowerment, empowering employees enables them to participate better in team decision making processes. Leaders should facilitate and gain the trust of these teams rather than try to control and dictate to them. This allows instant action to be taken against a problem leading to valuable solutions. Communication is the back bone of an organization; it is one of the most important aspects required for the survival and success of the organization, whether the objective is dealing with corporate clients, employees or general public. The aim of the massage is to get across the Messages clearly, convincingly and to the relevant targeted audiences, Content that is delivered should be conveyed using the most effective and efficient channels, and a important aspect which is to be kept in mind is that Communications are customized to reflect cultural, and local diversity so it should be utilized accordingly for the betterment of the organization. Every thing done in the organization is through communication so it is a very significant element of any organization. The company I have chosen of the fortune 500 is FedEx the communication strategy is accordingly to the current trends in the business, I will emphasize on IT for the purpose of communication whether it be with in the organization or out side to customers, the internet will be used in fact for this purpose, as it is the most efficient and effective communication medium of present era. IT internal use it is a blessing as at present organization are moving toward paper less offices and e-mails are the best way to correspond and to Provide timely responses to all questions and feedback received. For external use website is a best source to attract new and maintain present customer as a large population of the world uses the WWW, for socializing, checking e-mails, browsing etc. using this medium will help FedEx in Developing focused, targeted communications at the right time to the correct audience, Communicate concise, pertinent, interesting content with a positive tone to cater the market. Website will be used for the purpose of providing a repository of business wide communications and questions and answers that is easily accessible to all FedEx concern employees. Another vital source I would use for my communication strategy will be the mobile phone, it has been growing rapidly at present and the cell phone has become one of the most vital means to convey messages, as the general public who use cell phones are addicted to it. We could target our customer by mobile massages which are used at present companies to attract customer, further the merge of the mobile and the internet has had a positive impact on the industry. Further, we could use other means of promoting their Internet marketing efforts offline like newsletters, direct mails, etc in order to reach more people nationally and internationally. The same tools can be used to promote not only the website but the company as a whole at the same time based on data gathered about customers online. Conduct online promotion using banner ads, e-newsletters, e-zines, etc. Since internet marketing is a new concept, those people who do go online may not be aware of exactly which companies have websites now. Therefore it would be a really effective idea right now to start placing banner ads on websites, there should be an overall increase in awareness of the use of Websites to interact with their customers online. I believe that the postal system is not very reliable but the usage of online advertisement can increase the interactivity and understanding of consumers and become more personalized. The World Wide Web has got billions of users with a great deal of attention from press and industry analysts. It’s got big names like Amazon and Yahoo which makes it sound even more intimidating to small businesses to use the Internet as a big part of their marketing solution. Like traditional advertising, Web marketing does not need a catchy slogan or striking images or animations. To get started, all one needs to do is state just the facts: who you are, what you sell, where you’re located, and other basic information. It does not cost a lot to fix mistakes, add new information or make other changes. That’s one source of anxiety absent in Web marketing. The same free tools used to develop web pages can be used to fix them, add to them or expand them. Today’s consumers rarely wait until they enter a store before they begin to develop a decision to purchase one brand over another. For most businesses this is one of the greatest opportunities of the Internet. By responding to the consumers’ need for information and providing them with the information they are looking for earlier in the sales cycle, a business of any size can develop the kind of branded relationship that at one time only corporations with large ad budgets could afford. To get maximum benefit one can blend conventional advertising with online advertising to further energize and empower the overall campaign and make it interactive. What is needed is creativity and imaginative thinking. There is no particular, sure-fire way of doing it right and there is hardly a code of conduct. That gives internet-advertising a lot of breathing space but also leaves no excuses for not being innovative. As I have mentioned above if we conduct a cost and benefit analysis it would portray more benefit than the cost, the major target market of this media are the corporate clients as they make up most of the market in using FedEx services, with this innovative medium we will attract new customer for our product as well, the stake holder are the employee, loyal customer, the management of FedEx etc. In order to cater cultural nuances of people from all over the world we will have website customized to match the particular countries culture, and we will endeavor to cater the worldwide culture accordingly for instance Take nudity, Many Mildest cultures are reluctant to displaying women’s skin, while Europeans are far more tolerant of public nudity than Americans, these cultural difference will be catered for the effectiveness of the organizational communications strategy. Culture is a very difficult term to define. However, certain people have gone on and defined culture well by saying that it is a ‘set of shared values, opinions and practices of a community or group of people. ’ (Definition of Culture) The importance of the understanding of a socio-cultural environment of any country is imperative to attaining business advantage and eventually translatable success. This understanding of socio-cultural environment is then translated effectively into business practices so that they appeal to the local crowd and create a positive image of the firm in their minds. (Cultural Barriers) In my opinion this organizational communications strategy will do wonders for the organization, I hope this strategy will be implemented for the betterment of the organization.

International Bonds: Credit Ratings

Why do most International bonds have high Moody or Standard & Poor's credit ratings? Credit Rating Is a social Intermediary service to provide credit Information and reference for the community. Credit rating Is alma to show the size of a credit default risk the rating object, rating agencies focus on financial conditions and historical data to give the overall valuation of object. Currently, credit rating on the issue of international bonds is the popular investment risk valuation method in the international capital market.Specifically, this is assessed on debt servicing capacity of the issue bonds in a period, its fundamental purpose is to protect the interests of investors. At present, there are about 20 credit rating agencies on the issue of international bonds over the world, Moody, Standard & Poor's are the top 2 institution all over the world. Though they are private institution, but the rating scale and guidelines gradually become recognized as Internationally accepted sample s with considerable authority. Credit rating Is the traffic permit' for bond issuer to enter theInternational bond markets. International bonds with high credit rating mastered the global Information dominance and capital allocation rights. The rating will directly affect the level of costs and interest rates of oversea companies, it also can affect the strength of a business or even the survival and development of a country. Credit rating could provide objective and impartial credit information in order to strengthen management, avoid risks, optimize investment, boost sales and improve efficiency.High credit rating can increase the international business community awareness, improve competitiveness, to expand markets, increase sales and achieve rapid development of enterprises, expanding the scope of corporate finance at the same time, promoting financing success. High credit rating also can reduce financing costs in international enterprises. Companies with high credit ratings can get more credit policy In economic exchanges, easily to expand the scale of financing, therefore reduce financing costs.Q. What should a borrower consider before issuing dual-currency bonds? What should an investor consider before investing in dual-currency bonds? Dual-currency nod is a bond that is issued in a currency and pays coupons in the currency as well. At due date, the capital is paid in another currency. The coupon rates for dual- currency bonds are usually higher than other straight fixed-rate bonds. The amount of principal would set when the bond is issued based on currency appreciate.There are many motivations for Issuing the dual-currency bond, but the core reason is due to the long-term foreign currency offered by bank are rarely more than a decade, it must be used In order to avoid the foreign exchange risk. Exchange rate uncertainty would primarily considerate for both the borrower and Investor when dealing with dual-currency bonds. Currency fluctuation will Influe nce whether a borrower or issuer will gain or loss. As for the borrower, if the issued currency appreciates or principal, thus, the borrowers will benefit.However, if the issued and coupon currency depreciate or principal currency appreciates, the borrower will suffer a loss from exchange rates. As for the investor are opposite to borrower. If the principal currency appreciates or issued currency depreciates, the principal repayment they chive will be more valuable than the issued currency repayment, thus, the investors will benefit. On the contrary, they will suffer a loss from exchange rates. Normally, coupon rate dual-currency bond is higher than the single-currency bonds.On the publisher's point of view, the repayment in different currencies may get lower risk, therefore, the bond issuers were willing to pay a higher coupon rate in order to reduce exchange rate risk, and choose to pay the dual-currency bond. Q. Discuss the process of bringing a new international bonds issue to m arket. The main international bond issuance processes are as follows: (1) The issuer will contact an investment banker and ask it to serve as lead manager of an underwriting syndicate.

Attacking Cryptography Computer Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Attacking Cryptography Computer Security - Essay Example Operating Systems store information about commonly used programs and through the network, programs such as KeePass can read encrypted files, posing a serious attack to cryptography as a data protection technique. Even so, the challenge for KeePass is that it operates for a limited duration beyond which it does not have the capability to read encrypted files. A number of encrypted data files stored in the various cache locations are at risk of attacks by such malicious program as KeePass. These programs can study the number of times a cryptographic system used the same cache locations (Dong & Chen, 2012). This study investigates and presents cryptographic attack trees which illustrate the methods Charlie can use to read Alice’s data files in the data transfer channel. KeePass can use the memory address information in the network to access the locations of the files using a set of secret coded access keys in the operation (Vacca, 2012). The attack trees demonstrate a clear and r eliable procedure for studying the access keys considering the information on the patterns of memory access. The trees have to show the possibility of KeePass increasing its speed of data search in order to access the secret keys within a fraction of a second to enable the actual attack on cryptographic process to be successful. 2. Possibilities of Attack Out of the study, the expectation is to discover ways of improving cryptography as a means of data protection. Various computer security firms provide information about data protection methods, encryption and decryption being one of them (Echizen, Kunihiro & Sasaki, 2010). The experts in the field of information security use special software applications to block hackers from accessing information from their servers and in the entire unsecure channels in the networks. These hacker-proof programs are the targets of cryptography attack, using the same strategies as KeePass. Another common open source hacker-proof application in the g lobal network is triple-DES security. In essence, it is intriguing to realize that secure channels are also at risk of being broken into at any time. Cryptography has for a long time been among the safest methods for transferring information in the global data transfer networks. With the possibility of breaking through the unbreakable security calls for newer ways of improving the cryptographic designs apart from discovering other alternative options of data protection (Handschuh & Hasan, 2005). The capability of KeePass and other key cracking software programs is a real proof that even strong cryptography keys get broken into. This implies that there are attacks that are beyond the capability men. Information security experts must first exhaustively identify the sources of cryptographic attacks (Anupam, 2009). This can be done through designing ways of modeling threats of attacks against computer systems. This requires a god understanding of all possible ways through which system a ttacks can be possible. This study focuses on ways of designing counterattacks methods such as access key protection in order to frustrate the possible attacks. 2.1. Key Protection The possibility of information attacks emerges as a result of ignorance of information

Enterprise Resource Planning Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Enterprise Resource Planning - Research Paper Example The product that has been chosen for analysis, SAP ERP, also offers the services to manage one’s business and provide a structured form to the business operations. SAP (2011) explained that SAP ERP has a diverse range of services related to it; self-services for managers and employees, sales-order management, corporate performance management etc. The module of self services (for manager and employees) enables the employees to apply for leaves, in accordance with the number of leaves that have been unconsumed by them. The leaves are instantly sent to the manager in an automated manner for his approval. This system can be useful to create efficiency and productivity in the human resources operations since all the operations are automated. SAP (2011) stated that the availability of data, such as on-going projects and previous leave applications, facilitates effective decision making from the manager. The module of sales order management offers access control to sales data, order processing and basis for the analysis of relevant data. Enterprise Resource Planning Newsletter (2011) agreed that the automation of operations reduces the need for constant administration; therefore administration costs can be reduced significantly.

It's about odyssey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

It's about odyssey - Essay Example As leaders of their people and key figures in the war, both men tend to cast their personal values back upon those they lead, thus presenting a generalized conception of how the Greeks and the Trojans differed in their overall world view. For this reason, it is helpful to examine these two characters in particular to gain an impression of how these two peoples differed from one another. In their approach to battle, in their adherence to the code and in the way that they each violate this code, the two men demonstrate that the differences between their people is really little more than a gloss of locality. Both Hector and Achilles can be seen to struggle with the heroic code as they prepare themselves for war. Each character has received relatively reliable information that they will be killed in the battle – Achilles through his mother, the goddess Thetis who tells him that he will not die as long as Hector lives, Hector through the pleadings of his wife who urges him to fight from the walls. While Achilles withdraws from the battle on the pretext of a feud with Menelaus, Hector spurns his wife’s pleading to honor the heroic code that insists a true warrior should not hide behind the walls of a fortress rather than stand tall on the plain. Andromache provides him with a moment of foresight as she tells him, â€Å"your valour will bring you to destruction; think on your infant son, and on my hapless self who ere long shall be your widow – for the Achaeans will set upon you in a body and kill you† (Book VI). It isn’t until after Hector kills Patroclus , Achilles’ most devoted friend, who is wearing Achilles’ armor, that Achilles is finally driven to re-enter the war. â€Å"Hector’s words following this action show that he does not realize his own limitations and that he could never have been so successful without the help of Zeus† (Lefkowitz, 2003, p. 66) and the other gods.

Father Junipero Serra's view on The Ohlone Way Essay

Father Junipero Serra's view on The Ohlone Way - Essay Example . Therefore, I humbly request Your Excellency to treat my Report with utmost secrecy. The name of the book is The Ohlone Way : Life in the San Francisco- Montrrey Bay Area .The authors are Malcolm Margolin, and Michael Harney The latter has also illustrated the book , which is a slim volume of only 174 pages divided into four parts. The authors start by giving the various Indian tribes such as Sioux, the Novajo and others a single name â€Å"Ohlone† The first part of the volume is dedicated to describing the Bay area as we know it now. Without thanking or mentioning our Savior even once, they describe a land of plenty.. The plentiful animal and aquatic life of the area seems to have vanished. at the time the book is written ,two hundred years hence. They write with regret about the wild geese and ducks which are so abundant now that they rise with a noise of thunder at a gunshot. About the grizzly bears, which our Spanish people catch for use in the reprehensible practice of Bear-and –Bull fight they say, â€Å"Today there is not a single grizzly left in all of California† (p.8) Their writings show a sympathy for wild animals, birds and aquatic animals which have been created by the Almighty God solely to serve man in his quest for salvation. More than the animals, it is the life of the savages whom the authors call â€Å"Ohlones† which shocks one. The Ohlones , as we already know, are a depraved people, who commit the cardinal sin of worshipping spirits of animals. According to the authors, â€Å"But their intimate knowledge of animals did not lead to conquest, nor familiarity breed contempt.† The Ohlones sing and dance at all times, living a life of pleasure, forgetting the next world which awaits them. .Instead of suffering for the sake of the Lord, they enjoy themselves in this world, without a care for the other world. The authors of the book are corrupted by the Devil. Although they have good,

Understand business objectives from an ethical perspective Essay

Understand business objectives from an ethical perspective - Essay Example business objectives are important things that owners can share with their company staff, they are statements that comprise of specific, realistic and measurable goals, which have certain periods that any business has to strive to stick to. In order to achieve its objectives rightly, there are important measures a business has to refer to in its quest to achieve set objectives, these are the business ethics. Business ethics refers to a certain kind of applied or professional ethics, whose role in business is to make an examination of the manner in which moral values are followed in the business environment (Audi 2009 67). It is important that a business, having set its objectives, devise ethical values to govern the manner in which it conducts its internal and external activities in achieving its set objectives. Business ethics defines the manner in which a business treats its staff, manages their affairs and responds to arising issues satisfactorily. At the same time, business ethics plays an important role in the way a business relates with its external environment, it ensures that competition is done in the best interest of all players in the industry. If a business fails to observe business ethics, then it is bound to affect its internal and external business operations including a possible confrontation with its stakeholders. Pfizer being a global company; it has a global vision of researching, manufacturing and delivering medicines for all people around the world. In this understanding, the company has created a statement upon which it operates, that is, â€Å"good health is vital† to all people. It has a major corporate objective of producing medicines that can prevent several diseases, currently; the company is working extensively to produce medicines that can cure and prevent some of the world’s most terminal diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer among others. Following the need to fulfill a wide range of health needs for people across the world,

HR1003 People, Organizations and Management Assignment

HR1003 People, Organizations and Management - Assignment Example Working in call center can be monotonous and seem tedious at times. It can be stressful if a single worker attends high percentage of calls in a single day. Generally, workers have to do night shifts and with not enough information (Norman, 2005, p.7). 3. A person’s involvement towards his work can be assessed by his instrumental orientation to work. An employee will be maintained in an organisation depending on the economic returns from his work. His involvement in his work will be calculated. His job will not be part of his social life. (View From Below, n.d., p.40) 4. Task significance is the concept of determining the positive effect that a person’s job can have on other people. By cultivating this concept, an employee’s job efficiency can be increased as it will make him feel that his efforts are being valued. One example is working for social causes in NGOs (Grant, 2008, p.108). 5. When focusing on gender issues in a factory, Anna Pollert described how women workers feel doubly oppressed by the male workers and also by capitalists. The domestic pressures also remain in the consciousness of these women workers. Pollert said that although these women work in a man’s domain, but still they have managed to create their own existence (View From Below, n.d., pp.46-47). 6. William Thompson says that if a person earns more money in a job of low standard, then he has the tendency to spend more. A person identifies luxury cars and expensive vacations as compensation for hard work. Thompson has seen this similar psychology in workers at slaughterhouses. This attitude helps the workers to tolerate the drudgery of slaughterhouses (Barton, 2006, p.94). 7. Intrinsic rewards of work mean the rewards that a person receives from his own performance towards his job. For such rewards an individual does not have to rely on others. When a worker receives intrinsic rewards from his work, he will not think

Organisational Design and Technology Case Study

Organisational Design and Technology - Case Study Example Then the current issues faced by the organization will follow with an internal as well as an external perspective. The research is based on primary as well as secondary data. But the process began with exploratory research to define the problem, descriptive research to better describe the aspects for further explanations, implementing the findings and then analyzing plus reporting the research findings. This research method was a survey of the organization. The major advantage is its flexibility. But it has limitations such as source reliability can be a problem since it is not necessary that the information obtained is correct and at times there is no way to check its reliability. British Petroleum or most commonly known to be as BP is one of the largest energy companies. They provide their customers with fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemical products. This company produces an Annual report at the end of every year. It is a huge organization and has a formal structure. They are a public ltd company with their shares floated on the stock exchange. The company boasts of more than 97000 workers who have managed to produce a turnover of $266 billion in the yr 2006. They have 18 refineries and active exploration in 26 countries. The company has 6 core brands namely: Castrol, BP, ARCO, ARAL, am/pm, and Wild Bean Caf. About BP BP has transformed from a local oil company into a global organization working in 100 countries across six continents. The expedition to look for oil began in 1901 and the company was founded by Mr. William D'Arcy in 1908. The company boasts of a remarkable 103 year journey. Purpose: The purpose of the business is to find, produce and market energy resources that satisfy the basic needs of people around the world. They also aim for fuel progress that will lead to economic growth and to invest in a sustainable environment. Organizational Structure: The structure of BP is divided into 3 segments or departments to enable effective management and success of the organization. 1. Exploration and Production: This covers the oil and natural gas exploration. The management of crude oil and natural gas pipelines plus the processing and exportation in included. The company is currently exploring in 25 countries. 2. Refining and Marketing: This segment is responsible for the supply, refining, trading, marketing and transportation of crude oil and petroleum products to wholesalers and retailers. They market their products in more than 100 countries. The company owns 18 refineries out of which five are in USA, seven in Europe and the rest are situated in different countries around the globe. Marketing focuses on three business areas; retail, lubricants and business to business marketing and they market a range of refined oil around the world. 3. Gas, power and renewables: The gas and power business was introduced in 1999 and renewables were added in 2002. This segment has three key aims to follow: to increase the value of their natural gas products, to increase the value of their natural gas liquids (ethane, propane, butane and pentane) and to build a profitable business of renewables. They market the

Examination Essay Example for Free

Examination Essay English Language and Literature (Specification B) Unit 3 Talk in Life and Literature 9. 00 am to 11. 00 am Thursday 24 June 2010 For this paper you must have: l a 12-page answer book. ELLB3 Time allowed l 2 hours Instructions Use black ink or black ball-point pen. l Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Examining Body for this paper is AQA. The Paper Reference is ELLB3. l Answer one question from Section A and Question 5 from Section B. l Do all rough work in your answer book. Cross through any work that you do not want to be marked. l Information The texts prescribed for this paper may not be taken into the examination room. l The maximum mark for this paper is 96. l All questions carry equal marks. l You will be marked on your ability to: – use good English – organise information clearly – use specialist vocabulary where appropriate. l l Advice You are recommended to spend one hour on Section A and one hour on Section B, including planning. H/Jun10/ELLB3 ELLB3 2 Section A – Talk in Life and Literature Answer one question from Section A and Question 5 in Section B (printed on page 10). The set plays for this unit are Hamlet, The Rivals, A Streetcar Named Desire and Translations. Read the passage from the play you have studied and answer the question related to it. NB: the questions are different on each play. EIThER Question 1 0 1 Hamlet – William Shakespeare Explore the ways in which Shakespeare presents the theme of falseness in this passage. In your answer you must consider how the playwright uses literary, linguistic and rhetorical devices and conventions to create specific dramatic effects. Where is Polonius? In heaven. Send thither to see. If your messenger find him not there, seek him i’th’other place yourself. But if indeed you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. king (to attendants) Go seek him there. hamlet ’A will stay till you come. Exeunt attendants king hamlet king Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety, Which we do tender as we dearly grieve For that which thou hast done, must send thee hence With fiery quickness. Therefore prepare thyself. The bark is ready and the wind at help, Th’associates tend, and everything is bent For England. amlet For England? king Ay, Hamlet. hamlet Good. king So is it, if thou knewest our purposes. hamlet I see a cherub that sees them. But come, for England! Farewell, dear mother. king Thy loving father, Hamlet. hamlet My mother. Father and mother is man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, Exit for England! king Follow him at foot. Tempt him with speed aboard. Delay it not. I’ll have him hence tonight. Away! For everything is sealed and done That else leans on the affair. Pray you make haste. Exeunt all but the King H/Jun10/ELLB3 3 And, England, if my love thou holdest at aught – As my great power thereof may give thee sense, Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red After the Danish sword, and thy free awe Pays homage to us – thou mayst not coldly set Our sovereign process, which imports at full, By letters congruing to that effect, The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England. For like the hectic in my blood he rages, And thou must cure me. Till I know ’tis done, Howe’er my haps, my joys were ne’er begun. Exit Turn over for the next question Turn over H/Jun10/ELLB3 U oR Question 2 0 2 The Rivals – Richard Brinsley Sheridan Explore the ways in which Sheridan presents father-son relations in this passage. In your answer you must consider how the playwright uses literary, linguistic and rhetorical devices and conventions to create specific dramatic effects. sir anthony And it is my wish, while yet I live, to have my boy make some figure in the world. I have resolved, therefore, to fix you at once in a noble independence. Sir, your kindness overpowers me. Such generosity makes the gratitude of reason more lively than the sensations even of filial affection. I am glad you are so sensible of my attention; and you shall be master of a large estate in a few weeks. Let my future life, sir, speak my gratitude: I cannot express the sense I have of your munificence. Yet, sir, I presume you would not wish me to quit the army? O, that shall be as your wife chooses. My wife, sir! Ay, ay, settle that between you; settle that between you. A wife, sir, did you say? Ay, a wife. Why – did not I mention her before? Not a word of her, sir. Odso! I mustn’t forget her though. Yes, Jack, the independence I was talking of is by a marriage. The fortune is saddled with a wife – but I suppose that makes no difference? Sir! Sir! You amaze me! Why, what the devil’s the matter with the fool? Just now you were all gratitude and duty. I was, sir: you talked to me of independence and a fortune, but not a word of a wife. Why what difference does that make? Od’s life, sir! If you have the estate, you must take it with the livestock on it, as it stands. absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony H/Jun10/ELLB3 5 absolute If my happiness is to be the price, I must beg leave to decline the purchase. Pray, sir, who is the lady? What’s that to you, sir? Come, give me your promise to love and to marry her directly. Sure, sir, this is not very reasonable, to summon my affections for a lady I know nothing of! sir anthony absolute sir anthony I am sure, sir, ’tis more unreasonable in you to object to a lady you know nothing of. Then, sir, I must tell you plainly, that my inclinations are fixed on another. Sir, my heart is engaged to an angel. absolute sir anthony Then pray let it send an excuse. It is very sorry but business prevents its waiting on her. But my vows are pledged to her. Let her foreclose, Jack; let her foreclose. They are not worth redeeming. Besides, you have the angel’s vows in exchange, I suppose; so there can be no loss there. You must excuse me, sir, if I tell you, once for all, that in this point I cannot obey you. Hark’ee Jack. I have heard you for some time with patience. I have been cool, quite cool; but take care. You know I am compliance itself when I am not thwarted; no one more easily led when I have my own way – but don’t put me in a frenzy! Sir, I must repeat it: in this, I cannot obey you! Now, damn me, if ever I call you Jack again while I live! absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony absolute sir anthony Turn over for the next question Turn over H/Jun10/ELLB3 U 6 oR Question 3 0 3 A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams Explore the ways in which Williams presents the relationship between the sisters in this passage. In your answer you must consider how the playwright uses literary, linguistic and rhetorical devices and conventions to create specific dramatic effects. This extract is not reproduced here due to third-party copyright constraints. H/Jun10/ELLB3 Turn over for the next question Turn over H/Jun10/ELLB3 U oR Question 4 0 4 Translations – Brian Friel Explore the ways in which Friel presents love and courtship in this passage. In your answer you must consider how the playwright uses literary, linguistic and rhetorical devices and conventions to create specific dramatic effects. Yolland Maire. She still moves away. Maire Chatach. She still moves away. Bun na hAbhann? (He says the name softly, almost privately, very tentatively, as if he were searching for a sound she might respond to. He tries again. ) Druim Dubh? Maire stops. She is listening. Yolland is encouraged. Poll na gCaorach. Lis Maol. Maire turns towards him. Lis na nGall. Maire Lis na nGradh. They are now facing each other and begin moving – almost imperceptibly – towards one another. Carraig an Phoill. Yolland Carraig na Ri. Loch na nEan. Maire Loch an Iubhair. Machaire Buidhe. Yolland Machaire Mor. Cnoc na Mona. Maire Cnoc na nGabhar. Yolland Mullach. Maire Port. Yolland Tor. Maire Lag. She holds out her hands to Yolland. He takes them. Each now speaks almost to himself/herself. Yolland I wish to God you could understand me. Maire Soft hands; a gentleman’s hands. Yolland Because if you could understand me I could tell you how I spend my days either thinking of you or gazing up at your house in the hope that you’ll appear even for a second. Maire Every evening you walk by yourself along the Tra Bhan and every morning you wash yourself in front of your tent. H/Jun10/ELLB3 9 Yolland I would tell you how beautiful you are, curlyheaded Maire. I would so like to tell you how beautiful you are. Maire Your arms are long and thin and the skin on your shoulders is very white. Yolland I would tell you †¦ Maire Don’t stop – I know what you’re saying. Yolland I would tell you how I want to be here – to live here – always – with you – always, always. Maire ‘Always’? What is that word – ‘always’? Yolland Yes-yes; always. Maire You’re trembling. Yolland Yes, I’m trembling because of you. Maire I’m trembling, too. (She holds his face in her hand. ) Yolland I’ve made up my mind †¦ Maire Shhhh. Yolland I’m not going to leave here †¦ Maire Shhh – listen to me. I want you, too, soldier. Yolland Don’t stop – I know what you’re saying. Maire I want to live with you – anywhere – anywhere at all – always – always. Yolland ‘Always’? What is that word – ‘always’? Maire Take me away with you, George. End of Section A Turn over for Section B Turn over H/Jun10/ELLB3 U 10 Section B – Talk in Life and Literature Question 5 0 5 Text A is an extract from Educating Rita (190), a play by Willy Russell set in a northern university. Frank is a middle-aged lecturer, and Rita his Open University student. She has just had an angry quarrel with her husband, who despises her longing for an education. She is anxious to know what Frank thinks about her essay on Macbeth. Text B is part of a transcription of a university tutorial. The tutor is discussing Julie’s essay with her. Compare the two texts, commenting on the ways in which they reflect the differences and similarities between talk in life and talk in literature. In your answer you must explore the relationship between context, purpose and audience and the ways in which speakers’ attitudes and values are conveyed. End of Questions H/Jun10/ELLB3 11 Text A (breaking away from him): It’s all right – I’ll be O. K. Just give me a minute. (She dries her eyes. ) What was me Macbeth essay like. frank: Oh sod Macbeth. rita: Why? frank: Rita! rita: No, come on, come on, I want y’ to tell me what y’ thought about it. rank: In the circumstances †¦ rita (going and hanging her bag on the back of the swivel chair): It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t; in the circumstances I need to go on, to talk about it an’ do it. What was it like. I told y’ it was no good. Is it really useless? frank sits in the chair. frank (sighing): I – I really donà ¢â‚¬â„¢t know what to say. rita: Well try an’ think of somethin’. Go on. I don’t mind if y’ tell me it was rubbish. I don’t want pity, Frank. Was it rubbish? frank: No, no. It’s not rubbish. It’s a totally honest, passionate account of your reaction to a play. It’s an unashamedly emotional statement about a certain experience. ita: Sentimental? frank: No. It’s too honest for that. It’s almost – erm – moving. But in terms of what you’re asking me to teach you of passing exams †¦ Oh, God, you see, I don’t †¦ rita: Say it, go on, say it! frank: In those terms it’s worthless. It shouldn’t be, but it is; in its own terms it’s – it’s wonderful. rita (confronting him across the desk): It’s worthless! You said. An’ if it’s worthless you’ve got to tell me because I wanna write essays like those on there. (She points to the essays on the desk. ) I wanna know, an’ pass exams like they do. frank: But if you’re going to write this sort of stuff you’re going to have to change. ita: All right. Tell me how to do it. frank (getting up): But I don’t know if I want to tell you, Rita, I don’t know that I want to teach you. (He moves towards the desk. ) What you already have is valuable. rita: Valuable? What’s valuable? The only thing I value is here, comin’ here once a week. frank: But, don’t you see, if you’re going to write this sort of thing – (He indicates the pile of essays. ) – to pass examinations, you’re going to have to suppress, perhaps even abandon your uniqueness. I’m going to have to change you. rita: But don’t you realize, I want to change!

Reading Fluency Essay Example for Free

Reading Fluency Essay Reading fluency is defined as the ability to read smoothly and accurately, while using proper phrasing and expression (Bengeny,etal. ,(2010). It is important that students add emphasis and make inferences while reading to process the meaning to the information being read. When practicing reading fluency it is important that students develop automacity. A professional ballet dancer no longer consciously has to think about her form or steps to a routine, a fluent reader should no longer remember to be aware of phonics or spelling rules while reading fluency. These skills will be embedded in the process of reading that it will just come natural to the student. In order for a student to read fluency without consciously thinking of the skill they must be taught systematically and explicitly, at the proper time and sequence. Word recognition, phonological awareness, decoding, and sight recognition are areas struggled readers need most help in (Bengeny,etal. ,(2010). Without this knowledge the reader’s fluency slows down and it will affects their comprehension to the information being read. These are skills that need to be taught to become automatic. Researchers indicate that phonemic awareness and letter knowledge are very important in learning to decode (Bengeny,etal. ,(2010). A student’s inability to identify the sounds in a word as well as blend them to form the words pronunciation may lead to multiple attempts to pronounce unknown words, decreasing the students speed and comprehension. Many students, from elementary school to high school struggle with reading fluency and comprehension. For years researches have studied and investigated elements of effective reading and why there are such a high number of struggled readers. Statistics have shown that 65 percent of eight graders in secondary school students with learning disabilities read below the 20th percentile and the numbers are even greater in urban school districts (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007). Theorists argue that characteristics of proficient readers are to read reasonable and at an efficient rate (Spencer, S. A. , Manis, F. R. (2010). It is common for students who are struggled readers to have trouble achieving fluency in word and passage reading. Fluency is identified as a critical component to successful reading. Two reading theorist Laberge and Samuels made a direct link between reading fluency and comprehension as cited by (Spencer, Manis. 2010). Student must develop automatist in order to properly comprehend the text they are reading. If the student has not mastered fluency in reading, they will have difficulties learning new reading skills. LaBerge and Samuels (2010) state that as a reader’s fluency increases the cognitive resources are opened and the reader’s comprehension will increase. Many researchers suggest that early readers should develop fluency at an age appropriate level. Students between first and third grade should read connected text identified as the approximate time when most readers should develop this skill. In 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress founded a strong correlation between fluency and comprehension, and oral reading fluency and students overall reading abilities. There are effective ways that help improve a student’s reading fluency when implementing specific methods of instruction (OShea, L.J. ,Sindelar,P. T. OShea,D. J (1985). There are several fluency- based strategies that a reported to improve the range of students reading abilities, when specific instructional component are combined. Therrien believed that the Repeated Reading strategy (RR) was the most effective strategy to help students who struggled in fluency and reading compression (as cited by Bengeny,etal. , 2010). The RR strategy required the student to reread a short passage for a set number of times or until a certain criterion was met. This strategy was effective with both students who were struggle readers and students without learning disabilities. Therrien believed that a certain protocols must be followed in order for this strategy to be affective (Bengeny,etal. , 2010).. RR is most affective when a first reads a passage aloud to an adult, is provided with a cue during instruction (for example to read with comprehension, fluency, or speed), repeat reading passage at least three or four times, receive corrective feedback as part of instruction, and read until a performance criterion is met (Spencer,S. A. , Manis,F. R. 2010). Morgan and Sideridis (2006) conducted a meta-analysis with students who were identified as at-risk students with learning disabilities. They found that affective fluency strategies integrate goal setting, feedback, reinforcement and instructional components, like RR and listening to more skilled readers read (as cited by Bengeny,etal. , 2010). When using strategies in reading fluency its important follow right components that are associated with benifical outcomes for students. The first component being model reading, allowing students listen to a more skilled reader, either a classmate or an adult. Having a systematic error- correction procedure is important because the student is aware of the errors being made and will learn the proper way to correct it and will be prepared to self-correct errors before made again. Goal setting gives the students a criterion and applies a practicing text until the predetermined performance is met. Performance feedback combined with graphical display of student’s progress; keep the student informed with their performance. Graphs can be shown as visual improvements or regression. Use of a systematic praise and structured reward system are used for students reading behaviors and accomplishments (Spencer, S. A. , Manis, and F. R. 2010). Use verbal cues for students to read with fluency, by promoting greater speed and accuracy. Verbal cues for students to read for comprehension are repeated reading of ability appropriate text out loud to an adult at least three times (OShea, L. J. , Sindelar,P. T. OShea,D. J. 1985). By combining fluency based instructional components; a fluency based instructional package has been created with ready to use materials for teachers to use ad a form of intervention. The foundation of these programs were developed to serve as a addition to a students core reading program; providing systematic guidelines for easy implementation; and allow for greater publication across schools, districts, and states (Spencer,S. A. , Manis,F. R. 2010). Great Leaps is a reading program that is used to help struggled readers. Great Leaps includes two primary sets of materials. Its has a K-2 program used as and addition to a students core reading program and a third through fifth grade program that is used to remediate low-performing students’ reading skills. Great Leaps Reading program is used throughout the United States, Canada and over 40 countries. Over 1,400 schools in New York City Department of Education have adopted Great Leaps reading program in elementary schools (Bengeny,etal. ,2010). Great Leaps is currently one of the most popular and most used reading programs that educator’s uses in addition to students core reading curriculum in pursuit to improve a students reading fluency and comprehension. Great Leaps primary emphasis is on fluency, with the assumption that comprehension will improve if the student becomes a more fluent reader. This program is easy to implement, teachers will administer the lesson in a one-to-one setting for approximately 10 minutes per session daily. The procedure includes three of the evidence- based components such as; modeled reading, goal setting, and performance feedback with graphical displays of student’s progress (Bengeny,etal. ,(2010). During the session student will be reading three timed readings. Each reading will be under the following three headings; phonics, sight phrases, and stories. Each reading is timed for about one minute. The goal for the student is to read each page with no more than two errors a page. Instructors are encouraged to use some form of error correction and to reward students for accomplishments, with praise and small tangible rewards. Error correction must be immediate and followed by modeling of the correct response. When the student successful masters the page, he/she will then progress â€Å"leap† on to the next page, which contains slightly more difficult material (Mercer Campbell. , 1998,p137). Great Leaps reading intervention allows students to frequently practice reading material that are to par with their reading capabilities; practice does not occur during the same session. Furthermore, fluency and comprehension are learning disabilities that are increasing overtime. There are numerous intervention programs available to assist students with their disability. Every district and school has their own techniques and programs they use to help struggle readers with fluency. When choosing the right intervention program for students, research must be done on the program being used. Educators need to be aware of the eight components that are associated with beneficial out comes in students who struggle in reading fluency. The program Great Leaps after being evaluated has been fundamental, due to the minimal research done on this intervention. One study stated that Great Leaps (K-2) program did not aim to evaluate the portion independent from another reading program that was being implemented concurrently (Trout, etal. , 2003). Through researcher Great Leaps is proven to be an effective strategy to improve reading fluency. Researchers have found that this program can be improved by integrating more of the instructional components, such as repeated reading and systematic errors correction. If these improvements are made to the program, the effectiveness of Great Leaps will increase in students (Bengeny, etal. , 2010).

Aspects of Thai Buddhist Culture

Aspects of Thai Buddhist Culture CHAPTER V Thai Culture At the outset of this study I had intended to have two sections in the final chapter, one section detailing the Buddhist roots of all things Thai and the other showing Hindu / Indic influence. This idea has been abandoned by the author due to the limited solely Buddhist influence. There are many aspects of Thai culture that have combined elements of other countries such as China, Laos etc but I have chosen to limit the comparisons to Buddhist / Hindu wherever possible. The study will instead focus on detailing the aspects of influence and state whether they have a combined influence or whether they have been influenced by only one of the subjects. The reader will by now appreciate the massive scope of Hinduism and as such it will prove very difficult to find aspects of Thai Buddhist culture that do not have at least some basis in Hinduism. The common origin of the Indian sub-continent and the antiquity of Hinduism make such a subjective study difficult. For this reason I undertook a survey of many Thai people, including but not limited to, my friends, my students, neighbours, monks, etc. I asked them to make a list of 20 things that they considered to be Thai or that which they thought might be perceived by foreign visitors as representative of their country and culture. The answers were varied (and, at times amusing due to language) and from the answers they gave I have composed a list of the results. (shown on next page). The list has been arranged alphabetically and I have limited the list to the most common answers. The list may have been influenced by regional representation as many of the people gave regional answers such as Isan, or the rocket festival. The answers were unprompted by the author and I feel that the list is accurate for the purpose of this study. Almsround by the Monks Arts and Crafts Boat Races / Royal Barge Procession Buddhism Elephants Buffaloes Isan / Isarn Monuments Mai Pen Rai ! Offerings / Merit Making Rain Dance Respect for Royalty Rocket Festival Royalty Temples / Shrines Thai Smile / Friendliness The Wai ( Thai Greeting ) Thai Boxing Thai Festivals Ceremonies Thai Dance / Thai Dress Thai Food / Fruit Sculpture Thai language Thai literature Thai Massage / Traditional Thai medicine Thai music / musical instruments Thai Silk Tuk Tuk ( 3 wheel vehicle) Sanuk ! Sukhothai Kingdom The discerning reader will note that Hinduism is absent from the list. This was a little surprising to the author as I had distributed approx two hundred surveys and had about 60% returned completed and not a single reply had Hinduism or Brahmanism as an answer. Buddhism was on every single list returned to me and that was not in the least surprising. I had not thought to make my own list prior to asking the Thai people their opinion and I think this was a mistake or rather an oversight on my part. I am unable to remember exactly what I conceived of as Thai-ness, but the Thai smile and the Wai greeting would definitely have been included in any list. Westerners who visit the Kingdom generally know in advance about the Kingdoms Buddhist temples and the friendliness of the people. The Thai language appears to be very difficult for the average foreigner / westerner to master and for that reason I have chosen to begin my analyses by looking at the Thai Language / Thai Script. There was obviously a Thai language long before there was a written Script. By far the most interesting thing about the Thai script is that it was invented by a Thai king ! Not many countries can make such a claim, but is there any basis to the claim which is widely accepted by the majority of the Thai people? The sources I consulted all agreed that the Thai script has its roots in India. In fact, many of the South East Asian scripts are very similar as they all have the same root, namely the Brahmi script of ancient India. At the time of the Sukhothai Kingdom the country of Siam was under the control of the Khmer Empire. It is very likely that the Khmer alphabet had an influence on the Thai alphabet. A look at the first vagga/ varga of Khmer Thai consonants will show the striking similarities. Khmer Palm Leaf Script Modern Khmer Modern Thai The other Scripts which Thai has borrowed from are the Mon, Burmese, as well as the Khun, Tham or Lanna scripts which were existent prior to the first known Thai writing. Tham/Lanna Khun Burmese Burma Northern Thai Scripts Modern Thai Script The Tai Tham script, also known as the Lanna script is used for three living languages: Northern Thai (that is, Kam Muang), Tai Là ¼ and Khà ¼n. In addition, the Lanna script is also used for Lao Tham (or old Lao) and other dialect variants in Buddhist palm leaves and notebooks. The script is also known as Tham or Yuan script. The oldest Thai inscription dates from 1283. The Thai script is a syllabic alphabet based on the Brahmi script which was adapted to write the Siamese / Thai language. Its invention is attributed to King Ramkhamhaeng, who reigned over Sukhothai from 1275 to 1317. The Ramkhamhaeng Stele This stone, now in the National Museum in Bangkok, was allegedly discovered in 1833 by King Mongkut, who was a monk at the time, in Wat Mahathat. It should be noted that the authenticity of the stone or at least portions of it has been brought into question.[[1]] Piriya Krairiksh, an academic at the Thai Khadi Research institute, notes that the steles treatment of vowels suggests that its creators had been influenced by European alphabet systems; thus, he concludes that the stele was fabricated by someone during the reign of Rama IV or shortly before. The matter is very controversial, since if the stone is in fact a fabrication, the entire history of the period will have to be re-written.[[2]] Scholars are still divided over the issue about the steles authenticity.[[3]] It remains an anomaly amongst contemporary writings, and in fact no other source refers to King Ramkhamhaeng by name. Some authors claim the inscription was a complete 19th-century fabrication, others claim that the first 17 lines are genuine, that the inscription was fabricated by King Lithai (a later Sukhothai king), and some scholars still believe very much in the inscriptions authenticity.[[4]] The inscription and its image of a Sukhothai utopia remains central to Thai nationalism, and the suggestion that it may have been faked in the 1800s caused Michael Wright, a British scholar, to be threatened with deportation under Thailands strict lese majeste laws .[[5]] Phra Lewis, a western monk who has lived in Thailand for the past 8 years, went to great lengths to explain the construction of the Thai language and demonstrated that while the spoken language has evolved over time, ie the sound of the consonants changing, their position in the surd/sonant grid has not altered accordingly. This was very helpful to my research work in this study as I had encountered some difficulty researching Thai words due to the many different spellings I encountered. There is in fact a Royally approved system of translation, but it is not always followed and there are numerous informal systems in wide use. For example, the Sanskrit word Dharma is the Pali word Dhamma but the Thais call it Tam, another example is the Thai word Bangsakun which is actually Pamsakula in Pali. Written Thai is very structured and follows simple rules with no ambiguity as to the pronunciation like there is in English. The Thai language is tonal and that is where most problems arise for the foreigner. The old style of pronunciation was no doubt altered when the capital moved from Sukhothai in the north, to Ayuddhya in the central region. The letter ? (K) became G, the ? (C) became J and the ? (J) became CH, and so on. The vowels were also altered slightly. Unless consonants are otherwise marked they carry an inherent vowel. In Indian languages this is normally an a but in Thai the rules are slightly different. The inherent vowel is an o but if the word has more than one syllable then the first inherent vowel is an a and the second inherent vowel is an o. The example below shows the word for road Thanon Before moving on to examine festivals and ceremonies I would like to look at a remarkable feature of the Thai language. For this information I am indebted to Phra Lewis who not only pointed it out but explained it to me as follows :- The above 44 consonants of the Thai alphabet have been shown with their modern phonetic sounds. Some letters change sound change depending on where they are in the syllable. They have been shown horizontally in vaggas dependant upon where the sound is made. The first vagga is guttural, made in the throat. The last line are not shown in their vaggas. The first vertical column should show the surd, the second column the surd aspirate, the third column shows the sonant and the forth shows the sonant aspirated. Column five is the nasal sound made. In the first vagga of the diagram we can see that the G and K sounds of modern Thai have switched positions and if one looks at the next vagga ie the palatal vagga, we can see the J has also moved. The monk has speculated that this happened when the Thais moved their capital to Ayuddhya. The letters M, L, H in the chart indicates the class of consonant ie middle , low and high. This should not be confused with the tones of the language. Looking down the first column we see all the letters are middle class, the next column are all high class and the remaining letters in the 5 vaggas are low class consonants. The consonants in the last, longer, line can also be placed in their vagga, ie Y would belong to the palatal vagga, H in the guttural etc. This class of consonant feature is unique to Thai but the grid is the format of the majority of Indian languages. The king did not invent the grid but he may well have been the instigator for the format of the letters, a man in his position could no doubt summon the best minds in the Kingdom. Phra Lewis speculates that the need for a new script was prompted by the wish to write the Pali Canon. As the old Thai / Lao alphabet had only 18 consonants this would not be possible as Pali has 33 consonants. It was therefore necessary to add new letters for the sounds that did not exist is Thai. This is where the uniqueness of the script can show the root of the word for the Thai script was designed with this in mind. The king started with the basic grid and filled it with the letters existent in Thai. There were some gaps in the grid where Pali had sounds that Thai had no letters for, the aspirated G or the pallatal NY for instance. The first step taken was to add letters to fill in the gaps. These letters were (English letters give OLD pronunciation The ingenious part was the addition of letters where Thai already had a letter for the existing Pali sound. The Thais already had a letter for the aspirated K (KH), but they added an additional letter ? (KH) to be used in Pali / Sanskrit words. The practice has continued up until very modern times with foreign loan words being spelt in Thai using the new letters. This allows a person reading Thai to tell if the word is of foreign origin. Most ingenious, some modern English words may be able to trace their Greek or Latin roots from the spelling but this is not the norm as it is with Thai. Those wishing to delete obsolete letters from the Thai alphabet do not have a true understanding of its well thought out and practical design. The additional letters means that Thai has 44 consonants whereas Pali only has 33. The Thai letters used to write Pali in Thailand today should be pronounced differently from spoken Thai but most Thai monks do not do this. After this had been explained I found it a simple matter of looking at a grid chart in order to translate Thai words into roman lettering such that I could research the words online. All of this information was obtained from the monks personal notes and, after checking, I have found it to be correct though I wish to point out I have no linguistic training. The controversy over the Ramkhamhaeng Stele remains unresolved but that is of no concern to the study. The one thing that can be said for the inventor'(s ?) of the Thai script is that he or they were very intelligent and methodical in its design. I personally favour a single person as committees tend to mess things up and this system, in its original form, was perfect. ( and Indian influenced ) Festivals and Ceremonies The foreign visitors perception of Thailand and the Thais is not gained from the language but from the visual aspects of Thai culture such as festivals and ceremonies. There are some public holidays which have no Hindu or Buddhist roots such as days commemorating past kings or celebrating the founding of the constitution. The study has omitted these and others which may have there roots in other foreign countries ie Chinese New Year. To begin with I have chosen to look at three celebrated days which are definitely Buddhist in origin and are known as Puja days. Wisakha Puja Day Wisakha Puja Day is a very important day in the Buddhist tradition, for it was on this day that Prince Siddhattha Gotama was born, 35 years later became the enlightened Buddha, and in another 45 years, passed away into total Nibbana (Parinibbana). In each case, these events took place on the full-moon day in the Wisakha month (usually in May). Wisakha Puja Day is a great Buddhist holiday. It falls on the 15th day of the waxing moon in the 6th lunar month, i.e. full moon day. In Thailand, Wisakha Puja is celebrated throughout the country. On Wisakha Puja Day people put up religious flags outside their houses. They take part in ceremonies at temples and they make merit. They bring flowers, candles, and incense to pay respect to the Triple Gem, i.e. Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha (the community of followers). In the evening, people take part in candle-lit processions and walk clockwise around the main chapel of the temple three times. In the procession, each person carries flowers, three incense sticks and a lighted candle. The concept of walking clockwise around shrines etc is a Hindu / Indic practice clockwise for auspicious occasions and anti-clockwise for inauspicious ones such as death. Magha Puja Day Magha Puja Day is one of the most important Buddhist celebrations in the Thai Calander. This day, which falls on the full moon day of the third lunar month (either the last week of February or early of March). marks the four great events that took place during Lord Buddhas lifetime, namely; 1250 Buddhist monks from different places came to pay homage to Lord Buddha at Valuwan Vihara in Rajgaha, the capital of Magaha State, each of his own initiative and without prior notification or appointment. all of them were the enlightened monks (Arahants) all of them had been ordained by the Buddha himself (Ehi Bhikkhu) They assembled on the full moon day of the third lunar month. On the evening of that day, Lord Buddha gave the assembly a discourse Ovadha Patimokha laying down the principles of His Teachings summarised into three acts, i.e. to do good, to abstain from bad action and to purify the mind. It was unclear as to when the Magha Puja Ceremony took place. However, in a guide book of ceremonies for the twelve months written by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), it is said that, In the past, the Magha Puja was never performed, the ceremony has just been practised during the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV)? Realizing the significance of this day, King Rama IV ordered the royal Magha Puja Ceremony to be performed in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in 1851 and this has continued up to the present day. In later years the ceremony was widely accepted and performed throughout the Kingdom. The day has been declared as a public holiday. Thai people go to the temple to make merit and perform religious activities in the morning and return to take part in the candlelit procession or Wien Tien in the evening. At this auspicious time, His Majesty the King will preside over the religious rites to mark the occasion at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and will later lead hundreds of people in a candlelit procession held within the temples compound. Asaha Puja Day Asaha Puja means the ceremony in the eighth lunar month. On the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, the Lord Buddha gave his first sermon and one of his followers became the first Buddhist monk. The ordained followers of the Buddha are collectively called the Sangha, (Asaha Puja is sometimes referred to as Sangha Day.) During his first sermon, the Buddha talked about The Middle Way, to be successful in Spiritual life, we should avoid the two extremes: Trying too hard, such as not eating or not sleeping enough and Not trying hard enough, such as eating and sleeping too much. The Buddha also spoke about the Noble Eightfold Path. This path instructs the faithful to to live in a way that does not harm ourselves or others, to help ourselves and others and to purify the mind. He advised the people to Do good: Avoid evil: Purify the mind. He gave eight guidelines to help people to live in this way, and they are commonly spoken of as the Noble Eightfold Path. He advised people to speak, act and earn their living in moral ways. He further advised them to practise meditation in order to purify their minds and gain deep wisdom (Panya in Thai). These three days are very low key as far as celebrations are concerned and a foreign visitor may not even be aware of them unless they choose to visit a temple or Wat. The next Buddhist ceremony or festival to examine is the Robe Giving ceremony of Kathina. Kathin Ceremony At the end of the three-month Rains Retreat (July to September / October), monks throughout the country are allowed to travel from place to place and are eligible to receive new robes in an annual presentation ceremony called Thot Kathin. Besides new robes, Buddhist literature, kitchen equipment, financial contributions and building materials e.g. nails, hand-saws and hammers etc. are also presented to monks on this occasion. In fact, the word Thot means making an offering to the monk and the word Kathin literary means the embroidery frame used in sewing the robes which, in those days, were collected from rags on dead bodies (pamsakula, rag robes) or rags found in the forset since clothes were not available in plenty as nowadays. Buddhist people regard the Thot Kathin ceremony as the most significant form of merit-making next to the ordination of their close kin. To sponsor a Kathin ceremony involves a lot of time, manpower and expense. Above all, an advance booking must be made with the Wat if a person wishes to be the sole sponsor of the Kathin ceremony but this may not be possible in all Wats, especially temples which are held in high esteem by many people. Nontheless, those who fail to be the sole sponsor of Kathin can also take part in the ceremony which, in this type, is known as Kathin Samakki or the United Kathin. Sometimes a Kathin group will travel for several hundred kilometers by bus, train, boat or even by plane to present the Kathin robes and other necessities to monks in remote temples or in other countries where Buddhist temples are established. People thus hold this merit-making festival not only for earning merit for themselves but also for enjoying a holiday free from the daily hectic life full of stress and strain in the city. During the Thot Kathin period, it is very common to see Kathin processions traveling to and fro throughout the country. In fact, anybody can take part in the event through the simple method of enclosing a small amount of money in the white envelope given by friends or relatives. Songkran Festival Songkran is a Sanskrit word in Thai form which means the entry of the sun into any sign of the Zodiac. But the Songkran in this particular instance is when the sun enters the sign of Aries or the Ram. Its full name is Maha Songkran or Major Songkran to distinguish it from the othes, though most Thais are totally unaware of this fact. Songkran is in fact the celebration of the vernal equinox similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter. Due to the precession of the equinox the introduction of spring, ie when the sun crosses the equator, now occurs on or around the 21st of March. For the Thai people it is simply their traditional New Year when they can enjoy their holidays to the full with no economic hindrance. Songkran begins on the 13th April and ends on the 15th April, (occasionally, in certain years, on the 16th April). The Songkran Festival is the most striking, for it is widely observed not only in this country but also in Burma, Cambodia and the Lao Republic. On the eve of Songkran Day, i.e. on the 12th April, people clean their house and burn all of the refuse in the belief that anything bad belonging to the old year will be unlucky if left and carried on to the coming New Year. Early on the first day of Songkran, the 13th April, the people both young and old in their new clothing go to their local Wat or monastery to offer food to the monks. A long table is erected in the compound of the Wat where monks alms bowls stand in a row on either side of the table. The people donate many types of food and dainties by placing these in the monks alms bowls. In the afternoon of the same day there is a bathing ceremony of the Buddha images and in some wats this includes the abbot or statues of other famous monks of high regard. It is after this that the well-known water throwing begins. The bathing of images is done as ritualistic ceremony, which will be dealt with separately. Thai people will go on this day, and the succeeding days, to pay their respects and ask blessings from their elders and respected seniors. They will pour scented water into the palms of the old people and often present them with small gifts. In previous times it was an actual bathing where the young people helped the old people to take a bath and to change their old clothing and put on the new clothes which the young people presented them as an act of respect to the aged on the occasion of the New Year. An important thing to be done during the Songkran Festival is a religious service called Bangsakun (Pamsakula in Pali) performed in sacred memory to the dead. When a person died and was cremated, the remains were often placed in a chedi in the Wat. In later times a portion of the bones was sometimes kept in the house in a receptacle. On Songkran Day a religious service in memory to the dead may be officiated by monks at the place where the ashes and the bones have been deposited, or as in some localities the people bring their dead bones to a village wat in company with others where a joint memorial service is performed. In some parts of the country the guardian spirits of the village and town receive also their annual offerings on Songkran Days. Obviously there are reminiscences or traces of ancestor and animistic worship in by-gone days. The monks are presented with cloth, symbolizing the death shroud, which in olden times was cut up and used as rag cloth to make the robes of the m onks. Loy Krathong The most colourful festival during the year is Loy Krathong wich is held on the full moon of the 12th lunar month, usually in November. This is a festival to pay respects to the Mother of Water and to ask forgiveness for polluting the water in the past year. Loy means to float and a krathong is a kind of bowl. A typical krathong is made using banana leaves and the base is from the stem of a banana plant. Incense sticks, candles and flowers are placed inside the krathong along with small denomination coins. (perhaps this acts as an encouragement to the people who have to remove them from the klongs!) On the afternoon of the festival a parade normally takes place through the city or town. Krathongs of all shapes and sizes are placed on floats and carried by locals and their children. During the evening, thousands of people go down to their local river or klong (canal) to float their krathongs. They light the candles and incense sticks, say a prayer and then float it on the water. It is a wonderful sight with flickering lights bobbing up and down on the river, much more interesting to witness than to read about.There is a Loy Krathong song, (in Thai language) which is often played throughout the day. Below is a translation of this popular song: November full moon shines, Loy Krathong, Loy Krathong and the waters high in the river and local klong Loy Krathong is here and everybodys full of cheer Were together at the klong, Each one with his krathong As we push away we pray, We can see a better day The Loy Krathong festival dates back to the period of the Sukhothai Kingdom, 700 years ago. It marked the end of the rainy season and the main rice harvest. It is based on a Hindu tradition of thanking the water god(s). The farmers of Sukhothai held a festival of floating candles. One year, a beautiful woman called Noppamas, who was the chief royal consort, made special lanterns for the festival. She made them from banana leaves and shaped them like lotus flowers. The king was suitably impressed with what he saw, and announced that krathongs would be floated every year from then on. Today, in memory of her and her innovation, there is a beauty contest called The Noppamas Queen Contest. Laying the Foundation Stone Thai people like to consult the astrology charts (and / or Buddhist monks though this is spoken of as a low art in the Brahmajala Sutta) in order to find an auspicious time to do something important. This can be anything from the day of a marriage or when to make a business deal. The date and time for starting to build a house is also important. A special ceremony is arranged for erecting the first pillar or foundation stone. Previously I had the privilege to attend the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for the Paknam Tower. This is going to be a 139 meter high tower with amazing views over Bangkok and the Gulf of Thailand. Thai people are mainly Buddhists, but ceremonies like this one are conducted by Brahmin priests dressed in white. During the ceremony a priest asks forgiveness from the guardian spirit of the land. He also asks the spirits permission to build on the land. This was followed by offerings for the guardian spirits. Although this ceremony is mainly Brahmin, nine monks were also invited to do some chanting. Local dignitaries offered food to the monks in order to make merit during this event. I was reminded of the fact that many Thais see no conflict of interest by partaking in both Brahmin and Buddhist ceremonies, even simultaneously. The Thais themselves would rather make auspicious offerings twice than not make them at all. According to Thai astrology, there are three days of the week when you should never start construction of a building. These are Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. For the consecration ceremony of the Paknam Tower the date chosen was Friday 18th May 2007. The time for the actual laying of the foundation stone was set for exactly 2:19 p.m. The number nine is considered auspicious by Thai people. Everything is done in multiples of threes or nines wherever possible. There were nine monks and nine different kinds of food offerings for them. As well as the marble foundation stone, nine symbolic bricks were used during the ceremony. Three made of gold, three made of silver and three made of an alloy. There were also nine symbolic pegs made of nine different types of wood. In addition to these items, there were jasmine garlands, flowers with popped rice and one baht coins which were all utilized during the ceremony. After the conch shell had been blown and the small drums sounded, it was time for the foundation stone laying ceremony to begin. Khun Anuwat Methiwibunwut, the Governor of Samut Prakan Province hammered one of the pegs into the sand. Each of the dignitaries then took turns hammering the remaining pegs into place, followed by pouring of the cement. The nine bricks had been laid in a star pattern where the pegs had been driven into the sand. Additional cement was then poured on top. At this point all of the senior dignitaries jointly placed the marble foundation stone onto the bricks. Following this, they then took turns to sprinkle flowers and coins onto the marble slab. Once the main ceremony was over, the local people, who had been patiently waiting and watching everything, were allowed to come forward to do the same with their own flowers and coins. There were two identical copies of this foundation stone. I presume that one will be covered in cement while the second one will be placed in a prominent place once the building has been completed. The photo below shows the dignitaries placing the marble foundation stone onto the bricks Ploughing Ceremony The Ploughing Ceremony, which is observed every year, is an age old tradition, and according to the Thais it dates back to the Sukhothai Period. It was observed in the Ayuttaya Period and passed on to the Rattanakosin Period. The Ploughing Ceremony is held at Sanam Luang in Bangkok during May and it signals the start of the planting season in this country where the majority of the population are farmers. The ceremony is aimed at making predictions about the years crops. In the reign of King Rama IV, the Ploughing Ceremony was held in the ancient capital of Ayuttaya as well as in Phetchaburi. Later, it was held on a field, called Som Poy, in the outskirts of Bangkok, it was at this time Buddhist elements were added to the previously Brahmin-dominated proceedings, these took place at the temple of the Emerald Buddha on the eve of the ceremony. This Buddhist part of the ceremony involved the processing of Khantarat Buddha images of the past reigns, along with citations blessing such grains as rice, glutinous rice and sorghum, sesame seeds, taro, potato, gourd seeds, melons and sweet basil. A ceremonial pavilion was built at Sanam Luang for the occasion, which was participated by the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony (Phra Raek Na) assisted by four Celestial Maidens (Thepi) carrying gold and silver baskets full of grains. Before the start of the ceremony, the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony and the four maidens were anointed on the foreheads and in the palms, and given a conch and bel leaves. Selected from among high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Phya Raek Na wore a ceremonial ring with nine different gemstones which the King had given him. The ceremony in the reign of King Rama IV was performed in grand style, with a processing of 500 people led by the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony in resplendent attire and carrying his ceremonial sword. Before the start of the ceremony, the Lord of Ploughing Ceremony was offered three pieces of loincloth from which he chose one. The cloths were of different lengths four, five and six kheub (one kheub is about six inches) and the length of the

Essay on Voltaire’s Candide: Relevance of Candide’s Message Today

Relevance of Candide’s Message in Today's World       Voltaire's Candide is a philosophical tale of one man's search for true happiness and his ultimate acceptance of life's disappointments. Candide grows up in the Castle of Westfalia and is taught by the learned philosopher Dr. Pangloss. Candide is abruptly exiled from the castle when found kissing the Baron's daughter, Cunegonde. Devastated by the separation from Cunegonde, his true love, Candide sets out to different places in the hope of finding her and achieving total happiness. The message of Candide is that one must strive to overcome adversity and not passively accept problems in the belief that all is for the best.    Candide's misfortune begins when he is kicked out of the castle and experiences a series of horrible events. Candide is unable to see anything positive in his ordeals, contrary to Dr. Pangloss' teachings that there is a cause for all effects and that, though we might not understand it, everything is all for the good. Candide's endless trials begin when he is forced into the army simply because he is the right height, five feet five inches. In the army he is subjected to endless drills and humiliations and is almost beaten to death. Candide escapes and, after being degraded by good Christians for being an anti-Christ, meets a diseased beggar who turns out to be Dr. Pangloss. Dr. Pangloss informs him that Bulgarian soldiers attacked the castle of Westfalia and killed Cunegonde - more misery!    A charitable Anabaptist gives both Candide and Dr. Pangloss money and assistance. Dr. Pangloss is cured of his disease, losing one of his eyes and one of his ears. The Anabaptist takes them with him on a journey to Lisbon. While aboard the ship, the ... ... that in life there will be many obstacles which can and should be overcome. Life has its difficulties but the world would be a miserable place if people passively accepted that everything that happened to them was for the best - shrugging off responsibility. Voltaire believes that people should not allow themselves to be victims. He sneers at naive, accepting types, informing us that people must work (be active) to make their happiness.    Works Cited and Consulted: Durant, Will, Ariel Durant. The Story of Civilization: Part IX: The Age of Voltaire. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965. Frautschi, R.L. Barron's Simplified Approach to Voltaire: Candide. New York: Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1998. Lowers, James K, ed. "Cliff Notes on Voltaire's Candide". Lincoln: Cliff Notes, Inc. 1995. Voltaire. Candide. New York: Viking Publishers, 1996.

Tropicana Drops Package Redesign Essay -- Business Analysis

This article discusses how Tropicana redesigned their packaging and how it plans to bring back the previous version. This change was made in order to attract more customers to buy the product. Introduction The source for this article was found on New York Times online. Stuart Elliott. â€Å"Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Pacakaging†. Retrived Feburary 23, 2009. http://www.nvtimes.com/2009/02/23/business/media/23adocl.html? Why Change? Tropicana has decided to return to its orginal packaging and symbol of one of the most favorite bands of organge juice. The PepsiCo Americas Beverage division is changing their flagship product of Tropicana Pure Premium organge juice because some of the customers did not like the new design of the product. One of the worst things about the Tropicana redesign was the lost of the famous orange and straw. They described the new packaging as being† ugly†, and â€Å"resembling a generic brand†. When I first saw the Tropicana juice pacakaging, I thought that it was a store brand. Therefore I did not purchase the product because I assumed that it would not taste the same. The new design made it more difficult to distingush among the varities of Tropicana juices. A lot of the customers missed the old design which consisted of an organge with a straw in the middle. According to our text, â€Å"a firm’s external envionment consists of all the conditions and forces that affect its strategic options and define its competitive situation†. (Pearce & Robinson. 2009, pg. 12). The customers who used Tropicana felt better buying the orginal tropicana because they said that† the organge symbol meant to evoke fresh taste†. When you change the packaging of the product, most feel as though the conte... ...ny more ways to come up with new products for them to try. If customers are dissatified, it gives the company an opportunity to allow customer feedback and be able to change what they do not like about the product and to improve it. Tropicana has been around for a long time and some customers are use to drinking this kind of organge juice. I know the customers did the right thing by voicing their opinion because if they didn’t the company would think that customers were pleased with this new design when apparently they didn’t like it at all. Works Cited Pearce J., & Robinson R. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation implementation and control (11th ed.) New York : McGraw-Hill Irwin. Stuart Elliott. â€Å"Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Pacakaging†. Retrived Feburary 23, 2009. http://www.nvtimes.com/2009/02/23/business/media/23adocl.html?

Limiting Death Row Appeals :: essays research papers

Limiting Death Row Appeals   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Constitution of the United States outlines the rights of a person accused of a crime. The individual has a right to a trial and to be judged by a jury of his peers. When the result of a trial is a guilty verdict and the individual is sentenced to death, the individual has a right to appeal the verdict and the sentence. At the present time, there are virtually no limits on the number of appeals the individual is entitled to and the process could take years. Therefore, the process should be altered to limit the number of appeals to one.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Supreme Court of the United States re-instituted the death penalty in 1976. Between that year and 1995, 314 inmates have been executed in the 37 states, districts, and providences of the United States that allow the death penalty. There are more than 3100 inmates on death row. The majority of executions are of white males. Most executions are by lethal injection or electrocution. In the years since the Supreme Court re-instituted the death penalty through 1994, there have been approximately 467,000 homicides in the United States. Based on that number, 2.8 people will die every hour at the hands of another person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Death row inmates are often on death row for years, some upwards of twenty years. This puts great financial strain on taxpayers' money. While in prison, inmates have many privileges, including cable television, the chance to pursue a college degree, and free health care, all at taxpayers' expense. There are many law-abiding citizens who don't get these benefits. It is appalling to think these people have a virtual life of leisure while in prison. There are some death penalty opponents who believe that convicts don't get enough privileges and lobby for better living conditions and the rights of the convicted felons. Lost in this passionate pursuit of human rights are the rights of the dead victim and those of that victim's family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The appeal process is lengthy and time-consuming. The appeal process is almost automatic for individuals sentenced to death. Many appeals are filed by the convicts in hopes of overturning their conviction or to change their sentence to life imprisonment. Although a great majority of these cases are handled pro bono by lawyers ethically opposed to the death penalty, no consideration is taken in respect to the cost to taxpayers for the local, state, and federal government to respond to and process these appeals. A little known fact about the appeals process is that many states have laws providing funds for the legal defense and appeals for convicted felons.

Computer software Essay

What were some of the problems with DST Systems’ old software development environment? Some of the problems with the DST Systems’ old software development environment were:  often manual and time-consuming  (AS used a mixture of tools, processes, and source code control system without any repository for code or a standardized developer tool set; different groups within the org. used very different tools for soft ware development)  hard to locate where resources were allocated  the DST struggled to update its most important product, AWD B. How did Scrum development help solve some of those problems? Scrum development helped solve some of these problems by accelerating its software development cycle from 24 months to 6 months and developer productivity increased 20%. What the scrum development pretty much acted like was the coach for the team. This is how the scrum development helped solve some of these problems. Information: Agile development approaches like Scrum is designed to reveal problems, not solve them. The solutions are situational — they take different forms depending on the organizational context. Let’s say we have a software development team that is often late in delivering the final product. They’ve been together for a while and delivered multiple releases but they are almost always late. Management and the team decide to try Scrum hoping that a fresh approach will enable the team to deliver on time. The team dives in defining stories, planning sprints and delivering working software iteratively. Will they deliver the final build on time? If the late deliveries stem from poorly defined business requirements and  lack of business participation, Scrum will not solve the problem. What Scrum will do is highlight the lack of business involvement earlier in the project thus providing an opportunity to fix the problem. If the late deliveries result from optimistic work estimates by the development team, Scrum will not solve that problem either. Sprints will deliver less than planned and alert the team that they need to adjust their estimates for future sprints. They may still deliver the final build later than expected but at least the problem will be well publicized in advance. If the late deliveries are caused by lack of teamwork and in-fighting amongst the team members, those behaviours will likely continue. The frequent deliveries mandated by Scrum may draw attention to these issues but won’t solve them. The critical concept behind Scrum, the agile development approaches is continuous improvement — identifying problems and solving them — continuously. The effort will never be perfect — technology changes too fast for that — but the team will continuously adjust and improve. C. What other adjustments did DST make to be able to use Scrum more effectively in its software projects? What management, organization, and technology issues had to be addressed? The other adjustments DST was able to make to use Scrum more effectively in its software projects were by setting up a project evaluation team to identify the right development environment. Another key adjustment was DST’s adoption of CollabNet’s products. This adjustment allowed DST to complete all of their work within the ALM platform. The management issue being addressed was production being slowed down. The organization issue was the lack of organization so processes were breaking down. Finally, the technology issue being addressed was the problem occurring with the software so production was taking a major hit.