Stock Options at eBay Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Stock Options at eBay - Case Study Example With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. It was started in 1995 with one employee and it has grown to employ thousands of employees today. Any company's future success and profits depend on their employees and the senior management. Even eBay feels that their success was dependant on their key management and their technical staff. As such eBay tries to retain their key personnel officers for the long-term to gain more profits, but they don't have any long term agreements with employees and they don't even maintain life insurance policies on their key employees. eBay attains more profits in land based auction businesses and those are dependent on specialists and senior management as these individuals have established good relations with sellers who transfer property for sale at auction. As the company is growing and the number of employees is also. The company has to attract more people and has to train them and retain them in the company for the long term, particularly the employees who are highly skilled, technical, and m anagerial. Stock options issued by a company allow the employee to buy specific amount of the company's stock at a certain price after a set period of time (the vesting period). Stock options are useful to align the interests of the employee with those of the company. Since the stock options will be profitable only if the company's stock goes up, the employee has incentive to work hard and ensure the success of the company. Also, since the options can only exercised after a certain period of time, the employee has to stay with the company. This promotes employee retention. Furthermore, by giving out stock options, the company can reduce other forms of compensation and reduce its immediate cash expenses. In this way, stock options are a better method of compensation compared to cash or stock. Let's take an example: Let's say you are hired by eBay and they offer you options to buy 10,000 shares of eBay stock at $10 within the next three years. This stock option gives you the right to buy 10,000 shares of eBay stock at exactly $10 after three years. Let's say after three years eBay stock is at $15, you can exercise your stock options, buy 10,000 shares for $100,000 and sell them on them for $150,000 making a $50,000 profit. Now, let's say eBay's price after three years is $5, your options would be worthless. Thus the options incentivize you to work hard to ensure eBay is successful as measure by a stock price greater than $10. Also, you are required to stay for at least three years to profit from your options. From this example, it is clear how stock options align the interests of employees with those of the company and promote retention. The options did not also cost the company upfront. Neither cash nor stock has all these advantages, and hence eBay compensates employees with stock options. Question 2: What are at least four benefits of choosing stock options over other compensation methods Compensation packages are a means by which companies can achieve several different goals related to recruitment,

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Design And Build Method Construction Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Design And Build Method Construction Essay While construction contracts serves as a means of pricing construction, they also structure the allocation of risk to the various parties involved. The construction field is a very extensive and unique in each project. In this world most of the projects are managed by contracts. And as a principle to manage the project effectively we should first manage the contracts. The owner has the sole power to decide what type of contract delivery method should be used for a specific facility to be constructed and to set forth the terms in a contractual agreement. A firm has to choose the right delivery method which is project to project base and present its bid offer to the engineer/client during tendering stage to enable it to present competitive price and win the project without compromising the functional and the quality of the project. Choosing the right method to deliver the project will ease the project execution and give flexibility during construction as well as saving money and time for a firm and subsequently the same to the owner. It is important to understand the risks of the contractors associated with different type of delivery methods. In this instant you may ask what the contract delivery methods are and we should choose the right delivery methods. Projects delivery methods. There are three types of project delivery methods. In this section we will concentrate on design and Build because it s the best method for small and medium projects. 1- Tender or design-bid-build method In this type the owner/client will choose engineer to design the whole project and get the Approvals from authorities then floating tender to choose suitable contractor for the Construction under his supervision. In this type of method the client /engineer has full control of the project and the contractor has to comply with full design given by the engineer. Most suitable type of contract for this method is lump sum contract which the price given by the Contractor is fixed and the whole project is already designed and the scope of work is clear and fully detailed. 2-indefinite quantity contract method Under this type of contract there shall be no design and it is based on maintenance or repairing projects. Under this agreement the owner and the contractor will upfront set up prices for the labors and Equipments and markup etc 3- Design and build method. The term design-build refers to a range of alternatives to the traditional project delivery system. A useful way to look at design-build is by what it is not. Traditional design-bid-build is a segmented, sequential process in which the owner first contracts With a design professional to prepare detailed, suitable-for-construction plans and specifications (or Sometimes has them prepared by its in-house engineers), then uses the detailed plans and Specifications to solicit competitive bids for construction, and finally awards the construction Contract to the low bidder. Design-build means a procurement process in which both the design and construction of A project is procured from a single contractor. Usually, the design-build contract is awarded by some process other than competitive bidding Providing the best value (in price, features, functions [and] life-cycle costs) Thus, design-build differs from traditional design-bid-build in two ways. First, the design and construction components are packaged into a single contract. Second, the single contract is not necessarily awarded to the low bidder after competitive bidding I-Why Design-Build? (Advantages) Potential Cost Savings Design-build has the potential to reduce over-all project cost because the design-build contractor performing the design has a better feel for the construction cost of various alternatives, Thus can come up with a design that is less expensive to build and has an incentive to do so. Another way to look at this advantage is that it moves value engineering cost reduction incentive After contract award (with the contractor proposing cost-reduction ideas and sharing the savings with the owner) to pre-award (with the owner enjoying most of the cost savings). B. Earlier Project Completion Design-build may result in earlier completion and occupancy of the project because there is no Dead time between completion of design and start of construction. Further, the design-build Contractor can begin construction of early phases of the project (e.g. mobilization, site utilities, Foundations) before design of later phases (building envelope, interior partitions, HVAC, electrical) Is 100 percent complete? This process sometimes is referred to as fast track. C. Reduced Claims Exposure Design-build eliminates the liability gap. Design professionals can obtain insurance coverage only for negligent errors and omissions, and virtually all design contracts limit the designers liability to such. However, there can be non-negligent errors and omissions, which cost the owner money but for which the design professional is not liable. For example, a design professional may undertake Reasonable subsurface investigations but fail to detect a rock outcropping that will require additional work. In the traditional design-bid-build approach, the owner warrants the correctness of the plans and Specifications to the construction contractor. There can be design mistakes for which the owner is liable to the construction contractor under the Warranty of correctness but cannot transfer the liability on to the design professional. Even when the designer is in fact negligent, proving negligence can be difficult. The owner must obtain a certificate of merit from another design professional and then prove that the designer failed to meet the applicable professional standard of care, which requires expert testimony. On the other hand, the contractor usually can prove there was a defect in the plans that cost the Contractor money based on fact testimony alone. Thus, the owner may have to bear the cost. Design- build eliminates this gap because the design-bid build entity has no one but itself to blame For defective plans and specifications or differing site conditions. D. New Technologies Public Contracts usually prohibits brand-name or model-number specifications unless the Specification lists at least two brand names and is followed by the phrase or equal. This makes it difficult for traditional design-bid-build to reach innovative, proprietary Products where there may be only one brand-name and no equal. Further, substitution of a new or equal product for a standard product often is impracticable Because of the ripple effect. The designer designs the project around current generation Products and substitution of new or equal products after bidding can require revisions to structure, mechanical or electrical components to accommodate the new product. Who is going to pay for these ripple changes? Design-build resolves this problem. The design-build contractor selects the equipment (right down to make and model number) and Then designs the building around the selected equipment, which is a more logical way to proceed. In fact, the design-build contractor can sometimes obtain free design assistance from equipment Manufacturers desiring that their new technologies be used. E. Over-All Project Optimization Design-bid-build can suffer from sub-optimization when individual project participants optimize their own positions, often at the expense of the over-all project. The total cost to the owner of a building element, such as the steel frame, includes the cost of the engineering to determine the required steel sections plus the cost of the steel. The designer has little incentive to use a sharp pencil to achieve the minimum amount of Structural steel; he optimizes his own position by spending only the design time necessary to Ensure that there is enough steel to meet gravity and seismic loads, often by employing Conservative assumptions that may result in more steel than necessary. So, the owner may save money on design but pay for it in steel. With design-build, on the other hand, the design-build entity has an incentive to use the Optimum amount of engineering. As long as an additional dollar of engineering will save more than one dollars worth of steel, the design-build contractor will spend the engineering time up To the point of diminishing returns when an additional dollars worth of engineering saves only a Dollar s worth of steel because both the cost of design and the cost of steel come out of the same pocket. This is not to say that design-build results in flimsy or less-safe structures. More (steel, concrete, etc.) is not necessarily better. Simply specifying extra steel or concrete in one place because the engineer does not have the time or incentive to calculate exactly how much is actually required does not improve the over-all performance of the building. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If the owner wants a building with higher floor Loadings, less floor deflection or resistance to a bigger earthquake than required by code, then The way to achieve this is by placing that requirement on the design-build entity up front not by Hoping that the designer will throw in some extra steel or concrete because he or she does not have time in the budget to use a sharp pencil. F.Reduced Administrative Burden Design-build may reduce the administrative burden on the owner because there is one solicitation, one award and one contract to administer. G. Earlier Cost Visibility The total cost of the project is apparent earlier with design-build. In traditional design-bid-build, Construction costs are not known until bid opening, and it is possible to spend money on a design that the agency cannot afford to build. All too often, construction bids exceed the budget, and the Project must be re-designed to bring it within the budget, thus delaying completion. H. Agency CM with Multi-Prime Contracts One of the advantages of design-build can be achieved by a construction management (CM) to Manage design and over-all project coordination and then contracting directly with several contractors, which are then managed by the CM. Construction project management s services provided by a licensed architect, registered engineer, or licensed general contractor. Under this approach, the early phases of the project (earthwork, site utilities, and foundations) can be placed under contract before design of the building shell and interior is 100 percent complete, and the structural steel and other long lead-time components can be ordered. Then, the contracts for the early phases can be awarded to follow-on contractors. There are two types of construction managers. An agency CM is a consultant to the owner; an agency CM is not in the chain of privity between The owner and the contractor(s) and does not guarantee the cost of the work. An at-risk CM, on the other hand, essentially is a brokering general contractor. The at-risk CM is either in the chain of privity between the owner and the trade contractors or Guarantees that the aggregate price of the contracts will not exceed some maximum figure. Any individual or firm proposing to provide construction project management services shall provide Evidence that the individual or firm and its personnel carrying out onsite responsibilities have Expertise and experience in construction project design review and evaluation, construction Mobilization and supervision, bid evaluation, project scheduling, cost-benefit analysis, claims Review and negotiation, and general management and administration of a construction project. Which type of contract is better for design-build? Most suitable type of contracts is lump sum contract because the owner has essentially assigned all the risks to the contractor, who in turn can be expected to ask for a higher markup in order to take Care of unforeseen contingencies. Beside the fixed lump sum price, other commitments are often made by the contractor in the form of submittals such as a specific schedule, the management reporting system or a quality control Program. If the actual cost of the project is underestimated, the underestimated cost will reduce the Contractor s profit by that amount. An overestimate has an opposite effect, but may reduce the Chance of being a low bidder for the project. The scope of work, the price, the time of performance is already defined. Usually the contractors include allowance for contingencies in their bid price so the price Small and medium projects are most suitable for this kind of project where is the design is easy not Complicated and can be managed by one party. II-disadvantages The potential advantages of design-build do not come without risk. A. Less Control. Under traditional design-bid-build, the owner has full control over the details of the plans and Specifications and does not publish them for bids until it is satisfied that they reflect its Requirements, including functional and aesthetic preferences. With design-build, the owner gives up some of this control. i.e., advancing the level of design through the design development stage (30 percent or so) before award of the design-build contract. Of course, by doing so the owner may give up some of the advantages of design-build. B. Need for Earlier Requirements Definition With design-build, the owner must lock in its requirements much earlier. With traditional design-bid-build, if the owner is a little fuzzy on its functional or aesthetic Requirements, it can clarify them during the design phase after if sees where the designer is heading. But with design-bid-build, post-award programmatic changes can be very expensive and disruptive. C. Recommendation So, if the city (country) rules are not certain what it wants, traditional design-bid-build may be the better alternative. D. Compliance with Subcontractors The Subletting and Subcontracting Fair Practices Act, requires that bidders list their subcontractors with their bids. This can be a problem for a design-build bidder. Without detailed design drawings, the subcontractors cannot precisely estimate costs. But, listing a subcontractor without a firm subcontract price puts the design-build contractor at a disadvantage in subsequently pricing the subcontract work. A listed subcontractor has the prime design-build contractor over the proverbial barrel. This is a manageable problem for a design-build contractor with many of the same type of projects in an Area, as a subcontractor can only get away with gouging the design-build entity once. Parking garages and housing are good examples of where the design-build entities work with a group of subcontractors on a repetitive basis, and subcontractors can estimate their work on a perspace. or.pre-square.foot.basis. Design-build contractor shall search for competitive bids for subcontracts not listed with its prime bid. The problem with this approach is that it depends on specific legislative authorizations that do not apply to the country. Thus, the safest approach may be to require listing of subcontractors at time of bid, even though this may result in either the subcontractors or the prime design-build entity including some contingency and mark-up. E. Payment bonds Generally it is required a payment bond payable by the terms of the contract. However, when the design services and the construction are procured under a single contract, must the payment bond be in the full amount of the design-build contract or only in the amount of the Construction portion? Logically, it would seem that 100 percent of the construction portion would fulfil the intent of the statute.

Accelerated Reading :: Teaching Education

Accelerated Reading A.R. reading is the new choice of torture among teachers across the Issaquah School District (411). A.R. stands for Accelerated Reading. This is the process in which a student will take a vocabulary test at the beginning of the school year which will be graded. On this grading scale, students receive a reading range in which they are aloud to read books according to their difficulty level. As well as having to read according to what your reading level is, you have to also gain points by taking a test on the book you previously read. The number of points a book is worth has to do with its difficulty. For example; a book with a reading level of 10.5 with 390 pages and a character sizing of 10 point, might be worth 45 points. But a book with a reading level of 2.0 with 15 pages and a character size of 35, might be worth 1 point. In Ms. Hardy’s 4th period class, all students had to earn 60 points, 30 A.R., and 30 not A.R. this counts as 20 percent of your grade. When asked, "What is the point of A.R.?" Mr. Brown, a 7th and 8th grade woodshop and cooking teacher answered, "We love to see you suffer!" Honestly, A.R. really is pointless. Instead of forcing reading onto kids, teachers should make it fun. And teachers might even make it so it doesn’t make or break your grade. If you take the time to think about it, the average reading level is about 8.5. The average point level for a book is about the same, 8.5. The average person reads about two pages per minute, and the average number of pages for an 8 point book is about 300 to 350. Therefor, the average person would have to read about an hour a day, on top of the average amount of homework for each class which is about a half hour per class per day, so this adds up to about 3 to 4 hours of homework a day, not counting projects and studying for tests.

Barack Obama Essay

There is no doubt that President Barack Hussein Obama II has received much attention and interest from not only the United States, but international. He is not only praised because of his skin color, but because of the values he believes in and what he stands for. He represents something the country has needed for a long time. During his 2008 campaign for US president, he embodied the very meaning of the word â€Å"hope†. Obama’s election was truly revolutionary. His story can been considered a huge milestone in the United States’ history. The very fact that Barack Obama was voted in, and by a very large margin, shows proof that the country has abandoned its usual ideas on who is â€Å"fit† to run in high office. Barack’s multi-cultural background serves to represent the melting pot America is. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to a Kenyan father, Barack Obama Sr., and Stanley Ann Dunham, a Caucasian woman from Wichita, Kansas. He has gone through many hurdles and has climbed his way up a focused political ambition ladder. Being the first president of African American descent to the illustrious United States and also his many achievements have made him a person of much respect and high admiration. Obama’s presidency has gone through a series of success and accomplishments. After being elected, he successfully passed many legislations, such as the healthcare bill. The bill aimed for offering tremendous coverage while providing an affordable healthcare. Barrack’s presidency is also branded by other victories such as the $787 billion Stimulus Bill. The passing of this bill took place one month later after succeeding the presidency from George W. Bush. The stimulus bill helped boost the staggering economy. Two years later, he passed the Wall Street Reform to regain control of the economy after its practices which caused the Great Recession. This law tightens capital requirements on large banks and other financial institutions, requires that large banks provide â€Å"living wills† to avoid hectic bankruptcies, limits their ability to trade with customers’ money for their own profit, and creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to catch abusive lending products and companies. He was heavily praised for ending the War in Iraq. All U.S. military forces were ordered out of the country, with the last troops leaving on December 18, 2011. With new policies, diplomacy, and rhetoric, he reversed a sharp decline in world opinion toward the U.S. during the Bush years. From 2008 to 2011, favorable opinion toward the United States rose in ten of fifteen countries surveyed by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, with an average increase of 26 percent. To summarize, Obama, with his qualities accompanied with key factors such as human approach, empathy, positive attitude, courage to take risk, and bravery to face challenges is a great leader, particularly for the US and generally for the world. His background and experiences in life, united with vibrant qualities of a good leader, make him a wonderful role model and universally acceptable. References: Glastris, Paul, Ryan Cooper, and Siyu Hu. â€Å"Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments.† The Washington Monthly. N.p., Mar.-Apr. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2013. â€Å"Barack Obama.† Organizing for Action. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2013. http://www.barackobama.com/about/barack-obama?source=footer-nav

Emma & Clueless

Intro: C appropriates E’s 19th Century context into a contemp. Beverley Hill’s society embedded in material availability and conspicuous consumption. o Austen’s PURPOSE not changed ( C ( satire of context and human nature ( C has other purp. ( Question value and validity of texts ( POMO TRANSFORMATION THESIS: The transformation of a text helps develop and mold new meaning to its counterpart, and hence deepen the understanding of each text.However , it is important to note that for this meaning is to be conveyed, many of the themes within the original text must remain the same, it is the context and the values inherent within these themes that change. o Both texts present, deluded central character living in own upper-class microcosm. †¢ Emma living in C19th England ( ‘handsome, clever and rich’ woman of ‘one and twenty’ with ‘nothing much to distress or vex her’. ? Lives in a world based around inheritance, breeding, ma nners and respectability as means for social valuing. Cher is a 15 year old living in the ‘Noxema commercial’ ‘land of imagists’ that is Beverley Hills in the 1990’s. ? Social values based upon material availability, image and conspicuous consumption. o Both protagonists attempt to transform a protege of lower class and elevate them to their higher status. oEmma’s naive intention of transforming Harriet by refining manners and intelligence (not to mention elevating ego) = IRONIC. ( contradicts stagnant class mobility of C19th England. LINK ( sense of hierarchy retained in C. ? Cher introduces Tai to school cliques ‘Persian Mafia’ ( reflects sense of materialism and conspicuous consumption of society ( ‘you have to own a BMW to sit with them’. ( ALSO REFLECTED IN FIRST SCENE ( MONTAGE. o ‘Loadies that no respectable girl would date’ o LOADIES comment ironic because Cher tells Tai in the scene before that c hoosing a BF is a decision that ‘every girl has to make for herself’. o TAI ( her transformation is aesthetic (not like in E) through ‘Cher’s main thrill in life – a make-over†. ( reflects extent of importance placed on image and superficiality in modern context. When first presented with Tai she stands out dramatically wearing a flannel shirt, and with died red hair ( as opposed to everyone in gym scene wearing black and white ( she is an outsider, of another class. ?INTERESTING ( although she is supposedly moved up in class, she is always subtly dressed differently to Cher and Dionne ( collars, etc, o Ease with which Tai changes social status gives sense of social fluidity, as does fact that Tai talks back to Cher in confrontation ( â€Å"you’re a virgin who can’t drive†. LINK ((( more subtle in Emma where Harriet doesn’t confront Emma, but distances herself by communication through letters. (( Travis’ eleva tion of class also gives impression of social fluidity ( he gets off drugs, becomes serious about skateboarding and joins a rehabilitation program. THIS IS UNDERCUT BY COSTUMING IN WEDDING SCENE. AND ALSO THROUGH FINAL COUPLINGS IN FILM ( HECKERLING UPHOLDS AUSTEN’S SENSE OF HIERARCHY.( TELEOLOGY REFUTED. o Although idea of ‘coupling’ in C does not lead to marriage (as in Emma), important to note fact that marriage, or at least a ‘wedding’ is the ideal and final goal for women. RE: final scene ‘I want sailor hats’ o In C weddings are deemed more important than marriage itself ( ‘you divorce wives, not children’; ‘husband number five’. o Although marriage is not equally valued in both contexts, the idea of DOMESTICITY is. In the C19th context of Emma, there was an up rise of the bourgeois and of their domesticity-based values. o This is also reflected in C WHEN Cher’s father values her for the menial tasks she performs in the home ‘ who takes care of the house? Who makes sure daddy’s had his orange juice? ’LEADS BACK TO THE IDEAS OF FEMALE OPPRESSION AND THE REBUFFING OF THE NOTION OF TELEOLOGY. BOTH TEXTS ARE BILDUNGSROMANS o Both deal with the personal and character transformations of heroines. o Satirical social comment on composed contexts. o Transformation catalysed by male protagonist ( heroine has to submit to being wrong. CONTEXT CHANGED o Inherent themes same ( breakdown of high culture into POMO setting/society o COHERENT UNDERSTANDING OF E FOR SOCIETY EMBEDDED IN MATERIAL AVAILABILITY AND CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION. oCHANGE OF MOP ( reflective of context ( change of narrative voice to voice over o Omniscient 3rd person is visual language in CLUELESS o EG. Emma : ‘we’re just friends’ (in respect to Mr Elton o Omniscient 3rd person :’had it been 10x more, 10x less, her companions admiration for her would’ve remained the same ’. o EG. Cher : ‘I have a way normal life for a teenager’ o Shot of her picking out her clothes from a motorised wardrobe. ? IRONY AND CONTRADICTION BETWEEN AURAL AND VISUAL. †¢ Both texts still satires of respective worlds. Conclusion. RE: POMO INTRO AND RELATE BACK TO QUESTION. ALL ABOUT VALUES AND ATTITUDES.HECKERLING IMAGINATIVE, ETC IN TRANSFORMATION OF TEXT BUT REMAINS TRUE TO AUSTEN’S PURPOSE ( TO QUESTION AND SATIRISE THE FOIBLES OF HUMAN NATURE. WHILST ADDING TO HER OWN; THROUGH THE TRANSFORMATION OF EMMA, HECKERLING HAS PROVEN THAT EVEN A ‘TEENPIC’ CAN BE VALUED, AND HENCE REINSTATES HER POST-MODERN BELIEFS WITHIN THE TEXT. EMMA AND CLUELESS CONTRIBUTE OT DEVELOPING AND RESHAPING THE VALUE OF EACH TEXT. EMMA ALLOWS CLUELESS TO BE VALUED, WHILST CLUELESS ALLOWS EMMA TO BE UNDERSTOOD AND ACCESSIBLE TO A COHORT GROUNDED IN A CONTEMPORARY CULTURE.

Does Your PSAT Score Qualify for National Merit

Does Your PSAT Score Qualify for National Merit SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you gearing up to rock the PSAT this fall and wondering what score you need to qualify for National Merit? This guide will give you 51 different answers to that question. Don't worry, it's not a complicated response. It's just that the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) compares test takers on a state-by-state basis. To become a National Merit Semifinalist, you have to score in the top 1% of students in your state. This guide will fill you in on all qualifying cutoff scores from coast to coast (plus Alaska and Hawaii)for the PSAT. But first, let's review exactly who qualifies for National Merit. Who Is Awarded National Merit? Students who are US citizens, who plan to go to college, and who take the PSAT/NMSQT in their junior year are eligible to receive National Merit distinctions and scholarships. They also have to do really, really well on the PSAT. The top 3-4% of scorers arenamed Commended Scholars- an impressive distinction to put on college applications. The top 1%, or about 16,000 students across the country, are named National Merit Semifinalists. This is an honorin itself, and it also means you couldgo on to be named a Finalist and receive scholarship money. Some colleges also award their own merit scholarships to National Merit Semifinalists. To determine who qualifies for National Merit, NMSC uses a scale called the Selection Index. To get this, NMSC adds your Math, Reading, and Writing section scores, which each fall between 8 and 38, and then multiplies that sum by 2. Thus,the PSAT NMSC Selection Index ranges from 48 to 228. Using reports from individuals around the country who took the 2017 PSAT, we've compiled a full list of National Merit qualifying scores.(Note that since National Merit cutoffs don't vary much from year to year, this list should still be fairly accurate for those who take the 2018 PSAT!) Students who take the PSAT in their junior year are eligible for National Merit distinction. PSAT NMSQT Qualifying Scores for 2018 and 2019 Selection Indexcutoffs compare the scores of test takers in each state. You'll probably get national percentiles on your PSAT score report, butstate percentiles are the ones NMSC uses to award students. The chart below shows the National Merit Selection Index cutoffs for students who took the PSAT in October 2017 and were named Semifinalists in the fall of 2018: State Selection Index Alabama 216 Alaska 215 Arizona 220 Arkansas 214 California 223 Colorado 221 Connecticut 222 Delaware 222 DC 223 Florida 219 Georgia 220 Hawaii 220 Idaho 214 Illinois 221 Indiana 219 Iowa 216 Kansas 218 Kentucky 218 Louisiana 217 Maine 217 Maryland 223 Massachusetts 223 Michigan 219 Minnesota 220 Mississippi 215 Missouri 217 Montana 214 Nebraska 216 Nevada 218 New Hampshire 219 New Jersey 223 New Mexico 215 New York 221 North Carolina 220 North Dakota 212 Ohio 219 Oklahoma 215 Oregon 221 Pennsylvania 220 Rhode Island 220 South Carolina 216 South Dakota 215 Tennessee 219 Texas 221 Utah 215 Vermont 216 Virginia 222 Washington 222 West Virginia 212 Wisconsin 216 Wyoming 212 Average Score 218 The average of all the PSAT NMSQT qualifying scores is 218. Sorry to those students in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, DC: you'll have to aim significantly higher and get a Selection Index of at least 223. Any American students studying in international schools abroad will also have to meet whatever the highest state's cutoff score is. As for boarding school attendees? You'll be measured against a regional cutoff; it usually equals the highest cutoff of the state within your regional grouping. Again, these Selection Index cutoffs are estimates, and there's some fluctuation from year to year. To account for this, you should aim at least 2-5 points higher than your state's cutoff score. Want to improve your PSAT score by 150 points? We have the industry's leading PSAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today: Stellar PSAT scoresdon't happen by accident, and the PSAT requires a good deal of preparation to master. If you're aiming for National Merit, how can you achieve the top PSAT scores you need to qualify? How Can You Achieve PSAT Scores in the Top 1%? Like with the SAT, anyone can improve their scores on the PSAT with dedicated and effective preparation. Besides helping you qualify for National Merit, studying for the PSAT will prepare you for the SAT! The three steps below lay the groundwork needed to qualify for National Merit. Step 1: Know Your State's (Approximate) Cutoff Score It's important to find your state's cutoff, figure out what scores you need, and aim even higher in case the qualifying score increases (remember, there is slight variation year to year). Before you even begin studying for the PSAT, look at the chart above to find your state's cutoff score. For example, let's say you're taking the test in Ohio. According to our chart, Ohio's Selection Index cutoff is 219, which roughly translates to a PSAT score of 1460. Since the cutoff score could rise slightly, adjust your goal score to be a little higher as well- let's say 1490 instead of 1460. After, write down your PSAT target score as well as your goal of being named a National Merit Scholar on a piece of paper. Tack this sheet up on your wall and look at it as you study to help youstay motivated. Step 2: Read PrepScholar PSAT Study Guides Once you've figured out your goal score, spend some time learning about the test by reading our various PSAT study guides. Our articles offer expert help with designing your study schedule and making the most of your prep. One of our most helpful guides talks about gettinga perfect PSAT scoreandgoes into detail about how you can analyze and drill your mistakesto make big score improvements. Step 3: Take Official Practice Tests Finally, you'll want to take official practice tests to help you prepare for test day. The College Board offerstwo PSAT/NMSQT practice tests, along withonline practice questionsfor each section on the PSAT. Two tests isn't that many, though, so I also suggest takingofficial SAT practice testsor usingKhan Academy's SAT prep program. Since thePSAT and SAT are such similar tests, you'll get a ton of extra help by taking SAT practice tests (though expect them to be slightly harder). In addition, you can useold PSAT practice tests, as long as you focus on relevant question types and ignore the ones no longer on the test, such as sentence completions. A lot of the fundamental skills and knowledge on the PSAT didn't change much during the2015 revision, so you can still use older practice tests and materials to practice effectively if you familiarize yourself with the changes andadapt your approach accordingly. National Merit might be hard to get but the distinction is well worth it and could lead you to some handy scholarship money. Plus, it communicates a lot about your academic commitment on your college applications! What's Next? What should you do once you get your PSAT scores? This guide fills you in on your next steps. Not only is the PSAT important for National Merit, but it can also predict how you'll score on the SAT.Learn how touse your PSAT scores to predict, and plan to improve, your SAT scores. Are you wondering how to divide up your time most effectively to prep for the SAT? This six-step guide answers your questions about how long you should study for the SAT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

DROPPING OF ATOMIC BOMBS essays

DROPPING OF ATOMIC BOMBS essays President Truman faced a hugely difficult decision when he had to make the choice of whether or not to drop two atomic bombs over Japan. After much thought and consideration on his part, he came to the conclusion that the bombs would be dropped. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the chosen places, two residential and productive areas of Japan where several innocent civilians lived. Although that may have seemed like the only way to end the war quickly, there could have been another less destructive, rational, and morally right way to do so than dropping the two atomic bombs over those areas. The question shouldnt be Did President Truman make the right decision in having the two atomic bombs dropped? because that is something only he can find the correct answer to. So instead, the question should be: Can the dropping of the two atomic bombs, including the destruction of large productive areas and over a hundred thousand innocent lives of civilians be justified? Warfare alone is difficult to justify, even when both sides have a fair chance and opportunity to protect them-selves, because of moral issues. However, the atomic bomb doesnt even give the victims a chance for protection or even recovery after its been used. It would be one thing to drop the bombs over life-less land where no people and productivity were to just scare the Japanese as a warning, but thats not what was done. Instead the bombs destroyed an innumerable amount of things in Japan, most of which were innocent civilians who didnt even have anything to do with the war other than being part of the enemy country. No matter how much of an enemy a country is, it does not give the opposing country the right to do to them the destruction that an atomic bomb can do. Just because American lives were at risk in the war also, does not make it all right for them to kill over a hundred ...

Managing Ascii (Text) Files From Delphi Code

Managing Ascii (Text) Files From Delphi Code Simply put, text files contain readable ASCII characters. We can think of working with a text file in Delphi as analogous to playing or recording information on a VCR tape. Although it is possible to make changes to a text file, jump around when processing information or add some data to the file other than at the end, it is advisable to use a text file only when we know that we are working with ordinary text and no such operations are necessary. Text files are considered to represent a sequence of characters formatted into lines, where each line is terminated by an end-of-line marker (a CR/LF combination). The TextFile and the Assign Method To start working with text files you have to link a file on a disk to a file variable in your code - declare a variable of type TextFile and use the AssignFile procedure to associate a file on a disk with a file variable. var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile; begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, FileName) Reading information From a Text File If we want to read back the content of a file into a string list, just one line of code will do the job. Memo1.Lines.LoadFromFile(c:\autoexec.bat) To read information from a file line by line, we must open the file for input by using the Reset procedure. Once a file is reset, we can use ReadLn to read information from a file (reads one line of text from a file then moves to the next line) : var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile;    buffer : string;begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, c:\autoexec.bat) ;    Reset(SomeTxtFile) ;    ReadLn(SomeTxtFile, buffer) ;    Memo1.Lines.Add(buffer) ;    CloseFile(SomeTxtFile) ; end; After adding one line of text from a file to a memo component SomeTxtFile needs to be closed. This is done by the Close keyword. We can also use Read procedure to read information from a file. Read works just like ReadLn, except it does not move the pointer to the next line. var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile;    buf1,buf2 : string[5]; begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, c:\autoexec.bat) ;    Reset(SomeTxtFile) ;    ReadLn(SomeTxtFile, buf1,buf2) ;    ShowMessage(buf1 buf2) ;    CloseFile(SomeTxtFile) ; end; EOF - End Of File Use the EOF function to make sure that you are not trying to read beyond the end of the file. Lets say we want to display the content of the file in message boxes - one line at a time until we get to the end of a file: var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile;    buffer : string;begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, c:\autoexec.bat) ;    Reset(SomeTxtFile) ;    while not EOF(SomeTxtFile) do    begin   Ã‚   ReadLn(SomeTxtFile, buffer) ;   Ã‚   ShowMessage(buffer) ;    end;   CloseFile(SomeTxtFile) ;end; Note: It is better to use While loop than the Until loop to take into account the (unlikely) possibility that the file exists but does not contain any data. Writing Text to a File The WriteLn is probably the most common way to send individual pieces of information to a file. The following code will read a text from a Memo1 component (line by line) and send it to some newly created text file. var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile;    j: integer; begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, c:\MyTextFile.txt) ;    Rewrite(SomeTxtFile) ;    for j : 0 to (-1 Memo1.Lines.Count) do   Ã‚  Ã‚   WriteLn(SomeTxtFile, Memo1.Lines[j]) ;    CloseFile(SomeTxtFile) ; end; Depending on the state of the file provided to the Rewrite procedure it creates a new file (opens the file for output) with the name assigned to SomeTextFile. If a file with the same name already exists it is deleted and a new empty file is created in its place. If SomeTextFile is already open, it is first closed and then re-created. The current file position is set to the beginning of the empty file. Note: Memo1.Lines.SaveToFile(c:\MyTextFile.txt) will do the same. Sometimes well just need to add some text data to the end of an existing file. If this is the case, well call Append to ensure that a file is opened with write-only access with the file pointer positioned at the end of the file. Something like: var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile; begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, c:\MyTextFile.txt) ;    Append(SomeTxtFile) ;    WriteLn(SomeTxtFile, New line in my text file) ;   CloseFile(SomeTxtFile) ;end; Be Aware of Exceptions In general, you should always use exception handling when working with files. I/O is full of surprises. Always use CloseFile in a finally block to avoid the possibility of corrupting a users FAT. All the previous examples should be rewritten as follows: var    SomeTxtFile : TextFile;    buffer : string; begin    AssignFile(SomeTxtFile, c:\MyTextFile.txt) ;    try   Ã‚   Reset(SomeTxtFile) ;   Ã‚   ReadLn(SomeTxtFile, buffer) ;    finally   Ã‚   CloseFile(SomeTxtFile) ;    end;end; Manipulating With Structured Files Delphi has the ability to handle both ASCII files and files that hold binary data. Here are the techniques for working with typed and untyped (binary) files.

Incidence of ill effects from exposure to the radio frequency Essay

Incidence of ill effects from exposure to the radio frequency emissions emitted from wireless cell phones - Essay Example It is also generally believed that children are at a greater risk of being effected from the RFR since they are in the process of growth. Research has also shown that the Radio Frequency Radiation could also be dangerous for the unborn child during pregnancy. Since mobile phones are a new technique, there is a need to study the long-term ill effects caused by the RF emitted from the mobile phones. Further study in this field is also needed to clarify certain inconclusive research. Over the past few years, there has been a rapid growth in the use of the mobile phones, wireless local area networks (WLANs) and other wireless devices all over the world. Such wireless devices emit Radio Frequency/ Electromagnetic waves that, under certain conditions, can have undesirable effects on human health. Different individuals, in particular, use cell phones in different ways. Some people use the mobile phones for an extended period of time due to which their head is exposed to radiation. However, people seem to ignore the safety measures due to the lack of awareness of the ill effects caused by exposure to such radiation. There has been no conclusive research published on the ill effects caused by exposure to Radio Frequency emitted from wireless cell phones. Still in various countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, the governments have made it necessary that the cell phones carry a health warning about their ill effects. Although no possible links have been found of the relationship between the RFR emitted from the wireless cell phones and the major ill effects. However some research carried out in this field has shown that the RFR emitted from wireless cell phones could interfere with the pacemakers, could effect the blood brain barrier, could damage the DNA which could lead to abnormal genetic changes. Research has also shown that the radio frequency could also

All Shooting Is For Editing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

All Shooting Is For Editing - Essay Example Editing is important to ensure the footage has been used to the level best, there is proper pictorial continuity and the goal of the film has been met. In regard to editorial judgment, it â€Å"is exercised before shooting by means of advance planning† (2006, p. 53). For editing to be done properly and thoroughly, a complete footage is crucial. The main goal of editing is to remove unwanted footages, selecting the best footage, creating a systematic flow, adding effects, graphics and music, and giving the film particular angles. Although the process of filmmaking can be regarded as a traditional one since it began decades ago, editing implements digital technology today. The editing process is classified into three stages, that is, the selection of takes and their lengths, the arrangement and timing of shots, scenes, and sequences. Editing begins immediately after the film has been shot. Occasionally, the actors are given a chance to view their early scenes. The directors ofte n prevent showing actors the edited scenes for fear that it will affect their performance. The first editing is called rough cut and can take approximately three months to finish. The sound designers and music composers make the final stage of editing. When the editing is said to be complete, it means that the directors and producers have approved the final version of the video. In the past, editors worked with negatives called work prints. These were plain films, scenes, and transitions. Once an editor got satisfied with the final film.

Film comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Film comparison - Essay Example One particularly important factor to note, with regards to the differences exhibited in style between Hollywood blockbusters and â€Å"new wave† films of the 1960s and beyond, is the freedom of expression and experimentation that is oftentimes exhibited within such â€Å"new wave† films. As Hollywood is creating films on a profit basis and positioning and/or advertising them according to the belief of the analysts that the film is a money maker, the overall ability of the actors, directors, writers, and producers to exhibit the same level of experimentalism and free expressionism that films such as Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless is severely limited if not non-existent. To a great degree, this helps to explain the fact that even the more thrilling and action packed movies that Hollywood churns out for consumption by both the international and domestic market rely on an a heavily formulaic approach that gives many viewers the distinct impression that they may have wa tched the film - or one highly similar to it before. This is a decided drawback to the way that Hollywood blockbusters are made in that expression and experimentation are discouraged in lieu of whatever factors might most broadly appeal to a diverse international audience with different levels of film knowledge, experience, expectations, and likes. In this way, films such as Mel Gibson’s Braveheart have to appeal to the lowest common denominator among these groups without affording the luxury to employ stylistic expression and experimentation throughout the medium. For instance, Jean-Luc Godard experimented heavily with the technique of the â€Å"jump shot† in Breathless in order to convey an unrealistic and decidedly cinematic feel to some of the shots exhibited within the movie. This decision enraged many as it worked to draw the viewer’s attention to the fact that the work was edited and took away from the overall illusion that cinema often had of creating th at alternate reality that film-goers so deeply craved. What is especially fascinating is that although Jean-Luc Godard employed these jump shots to great effect within Breathless, he juxtaposed this with heavy reliance upon another technique that was experimental, somewhat unappreciated at the time, and definitely a harbinger of change that many future films would employ. A secondary feature that Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless employs that was considered highly avant-garde at the time was the use of handheld cameras to film many of the sequences. This allowed for many of the scenes to have a true-life, gritty, and raw feel that was otherwise uncustomary for the movies of the time. Although Jean-Luc Godard did not pioneer this approach, he successfully employed it in such a way that he re-introduced the technique to such great effect that it was later picked up and re-introduced to a number of subsequent highly profitable films. On a side, note, it is possible to say that Hollyw ood might not employ this technique to the extent it does today in such films as the Bourne Identity if it were not for such a bold introduction and use of such an innovative tactic by Jean-Luc Godard during the 1960s. It is important to note that

Problem at China Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Problem at China Airlines - Essay Example This paper stresses that CAL has continuously faced different challenges within the Chinese market relating to political, social, economic as well as technological aspects that drastically affected in its overall performance. In accordance with the case study, it has been viewed that the organisation successfully performed its various business operations by offering superior services to the customers in its different operating areas. In this regard, the organisation has adopted an effective strategy during the year 1995 in terms of procuring 15 numbers of advanced Boeing 737 medium-haul jets for expanding its businesses. This essay declares that the political disturbances have been witnessed as one of the major difficulties for CAL while conducting its business operations. The political association between Taiwan and Mainland China has been observed to be quite strained because of the growing disputes concerning political status of Taiwan. The political problems between Taiwan and China have drastically affected the airlines business of CAL because the Chinese tourists are allowed to visit Taiwan in a group but they are not allowed to visit individually. In addition, the cargo transhipment service was also restricted between these two countries that also affected the business operations of CAL at large. Due to political disturbances, CAL and other Taiwanese airlines had changed its international flight route via southern region by connecting Southeast Asia and Middle East countries that ultimately emerged major difficulties for CAL.... In this regard, the organisation has adopted an effective strategy during the year 1995 in terms of procuring 15 numbers of advanced Boeing 737 medium-haul jets for expanding its businesses (Samanta & Faheem, 2010). Question 1) Macro-Level Issues The different macro level issues that faced by CAL can be understood by conducting a detailed environmental analysis based on PEST framework. PEST Analysis PEST analysis is regarded to be an important analytical model for an organization that assists to identify different circumstances concerning social, political, economic as well as technological factors (Lorat, 2009). Political Factors The political disturbances have been witnessed as one of the major difficulties for CAL while conducting its business operations. The political association between Taiwan and Mainland China has been observed to be quite strained because of the growing disputes concerning political status of Taiwan. The political problems between Taiwan and China have drasti cally affected the airlines business of CAL because the Chinese tourists are allowed to visit Taiwan in a group but they are not allowed to visit individually. In addition, the cargo transhipment service was also restricted between these two countries that also affected the business operations of CAL at large. Due to political disturbances, CAL and other Taiwanese airlines had changed its international flight route via southern region by connecting Southeast Asia and Middle East countries that ultimately emerged major difficulties for CAL (Samanta & Faheem, 2010). In this regard, it has apparently observed that the association between Taiwan and China remained quite strained because of the disagreement concerning political

Resource Shortage Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resource Shortage Paper - Essay Example I would not say that this is an immediate problem which must be dealt with immediately. However this situation might become a problem for the future generations of America if nothing is done about it now. The political issue of this problem is that governments do not realize the degree of importance of dealing with this problem now. Any attempts that were made at global level were conveniently ignored by the United States of America for e.g. United States of America refused to sign the Kyoto protocol which was an international agreement for the reduction of some greenhouse gases. The reason behind this is that America thinks that if it signs this treaty, its economic interests would be threatened (BBC News, 2002). While the economic issue behind this problem is that if the country tries to decrease the amount of pollution that it emits, its economy might be affected negatively. One resource management factor that could be used by the government of the United States of America includes putting restrictions on that amount of pollution that can be emitted by factories. This could be done by imposing laws and regulate the amount of pollution that is given out accordingly. Besides this, the government may also start public awareness campaigns which will promote saving the air and water around people. These public awareness campaigns could include informing people of the negative effects of pollution and also the ways that can be adopted by them to fight against it individually. In my opinion, these resource management factors will prove to be very effective and at the same time there would not be a lot of costs involved on the part of the people or the government. They will be effective because by employing the factors mentioned above, the government will succeed in regulating the two most important polluting figures, the factories and general public. The approach that can be used by the government to regulate factories could

Employee rewards and performance management Essay

Employee rewards and performance management - Essay Example mportant for leaders of a particular team within an organization to should focus on individual performance and thus cumulatively the entire group will post very good returns. The team leader should focus on improving the output of each and every member. As such, it is important to bring on board individuals who are performers. This is normally done when workers are being recruited for various posts. According to the material, the team leader should focus not only on the positive issues that affect the group, but also should put measures that solve negative issue that impact the group. As such, the group should recognize each and every effort put by the team members regardless of the results that it yielded. The correct model of rewarding should ensure that appraisals are used to meet the intended purpose. The approached used in the system includes steps such as Measurement, Feedback, Positive Reinforcement, Exchange of Views and Agreement. After carefully analyzing the materials, I have come to realize that constructing a well thought-out technique to designing the performance appraisal is key to ensuring that the entire group works harmoniously to achieve the intended goals. The team should carry out regular assessment on the appraisal model to make sure that it serves the intended purpose of encouraging good results. The course has enabled me to gain a better insight on leadership. As such, I have been able to develop leadership skills that include effective collaborative practice and confidentiality that are essential when managing a team. The module has changed my perspectives on various issues that surround the reward system and leadership and management in

Resource Shortage Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Resource Shortage Paper - Essay Example I would not say that this is an immediate problem which must be dealt with immediately. However this situation might become a problem for the future generations of America if nothing is done about it now. The political issue of this problem is that governments do not realize the degree of importance of dealing with this problem now. Any attempts that were made at global level were conveniently ignored by the United States of America for e.g. United States of America refused to sign the Kyoto protocol which was an international agreement for the reduction of some greenhouse gases. The reason behind this is that America thinks that if it signs this treaty, its economic interests would be threatened (BBC News, 2002). While the economic issue behind this problem is that if the country tries to decrease the amount of pollution that it emits, its economy might be affected negatively. One resource management factor that could be used by the government of the United States of America includes putting restrictions on that amount of pollution that can be emitted by factories. This could be done by imposing laws and regulate the amount of pollution that is given out accordingly. Besides this, the government may also start public awareness campaigns which will promote saving the air and water around people. These public awareness campaigns could include informing people of the negative effects of pollution and also the ways that can be adopted by them to fight against it individually. In my opinion, these resource management factors will prove to be very effective and at the same time there would not be a lot of costs involved on the part of the people or the government. They will be effective because by employing the factors mentioned above, the government will succeed in regulating the two most important polluting figures, the factories and general public. The approach that can be used by the government to regulate factories could

Egyptian art Essay Example for Free

Egyptian art Essay In Egyptian art, style is everything. In the Egyptian Art we have examined, we see striking similarities in the objects d’art that are included in this view. One thing that we can see in all the art works that we have seen is that the style remains consistent throughout the history of Egypt. The view of this writer is to look at each work and compare it to other works later in Egypt’s history. To that end, we will examine four separate works—the Palette of King Narmer, which was predynastic, the tomb of Ti at Saqqara which is of the Fifth Dynasty, the Portrait of Ni’Ankhesut, which is from the early Sixth Dynasty, and finally the Funerary Stele of Iamu, from the First Intermediate period. Each of these unique works has their own similarities to each other and their own unique differences. Three of the works are worked in limestone, which was a primary medium of Egyptian art, especially when it came to tomb or funerary art. The fourth is in stone, and was used to hold makeup and was intricately carved with a well for that express purpose. The first work that this writer will examine is the Palette of King Narmer. This work is done in what is probably basalt or some other stone, as it is not done in the soft limestone that was common in other Egyptian art forms. Egyptologists are unsure exactly what event this depicts, but what we can see is that King Narmer is the largest figure on the palette. On the front of the palette Narmer is depicted leading an army and slaying an opposing army. The opposing army is dead and decapitated, with their heads between their legs. This is pictured in the top third of the palette. In the middle third of the palette is a round depression made up of the entwined necks of two cats. This indented area is where eye makeup would have been placed. In the bottom third we see a warrior fighting a bull, a common theme in early Egyptian art. It should be noted here that the cats with the entwined heads is a distinctly Mesopotamian feature, showing the influence of the Middle Eastern art forms on early Egyptian art. On the back of the palette, we see a large figure who appears to be Narmer, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. He appears to be subduing an enemy, who appears to be the leader of Lower Egypt. This is obviously meant to symbolize the supremacy of Upper Egypt over Lower Egypt. We notice from the position of the figures that every figure is in the profile position, but the arms are facing forward. This shows early on the foundations of Egyptian art, mainly, the consistency of keeping a majority of the body in profile, while only putting arms and chest in full frontal view. We also notice that on both sides of the palette, Narmer is the largest of the figures, making it clear that the palette is about him and his accomplishments. This is also a recurring theme in Egyptian art—the making of the main figure larger than other figures in the work. This assures the viewer that they are aware of who the main subject is. The second work that we are going to examine is the tomb of Ti at Saqqara. Again, we see that Ti is the largest figure in the work. This tomb relief is in color, which sets it apart from the other works we have examined. It probably retains its color due to the fact that it was not exposed to the elements as were other works. The paint brings out the striking details and shows the intricacies of Egyptian tomb art. It is also worked in limestone, which was a primary medium in Egypt. In this relief, we se that Ti is on a boat on the Nile. The Nile is teeming with all sorts of marine life. From our knowledge of the hieroglyphics, we know that Ti and his hunters are hunting hippopotami in the Nile marshes. Again, Ti is in profile save for his hands and chest. It is at this point, however, that we can see that there is very little difference between the picture of Ti and the picture of Narmer. This shows us that the Egyptians did not think about differentiation between human forms. They counted on the hieroglyphics and the idea of the larger figure being the focal point of the work. The third work that we will examine is the portrait of Ni’Ankhesut. It is a limestone portrait, which makes us assume that it is from the tomb of this individual. This is from the Sixth Dynasty. In this work, we see Ni’Ankhesut as the central figure in this work. Out of necessity, Ni’Ankhesut is the largest figure in the work, and above his head are hieroglyphics. These probably tell his story or his name, though we do not see the characteristic cartouche that accompanies the name. The fact that this individual has a tomb indicates that he was of sufficiently high rank to have the wealth and prestige that a tomb connotes. Again, if we physically look at the portrait, we see that the head and the legs are in profile, but the chest and the arms are in full frontal view. This again shows the idiosyncrasies in Egyptian art. If we compare the physicality of the portrait to the other two works that we have examined, we see that there is very little physical difference in the three figures. Again, the lack of differentiation among figures is evident. The final work we will examine is the Funerary Stele of Iamu. It is worked in limestone, which is the primary medium of Egyptian tomb art. This work is a more complex work than the portrait, but not as detailed as the Palette of Narmer. In this work, we see again that Iamu is the largest figure, and above his head are hieroglyphics. In this relief, it is difficult for one to tell what Iamu is doing. Again, we see little physical differentiation with the other figures that we have examined, and we see that all the figures are in profile and that this is totally in keeping with all Egyptian art. This writer does see some beginnings of differentiation in the figures, which begins to pave the way for more realistic portraiture. What conclusions can we draw from these four works? The first thing is that Egyptian art changed little over the years of Egypt’s rise and fall. Second, we see that Egypt chose art to express and transmit their culture. We also note that hieroglyphics were used to great effect to tell the individual stories that each work shows (with the exception of the Narmer Palette). Fourth, we can see that relief is the main form of art used by the Egyptians. Fifth, color is used throughout the Egyptian artistic world to give life to the two-dimensional images on the limestone walls. Sixth, relief is also a way to provide the art with a depth that it would otherwise lack. We must continue to learn from ancient art as it is the way that we learn the most about ourselves. To understand it is to better understand ourselves and our own culture.

A Christians Experience In A Mosque Religion Essay

A Christians Experience In A Mosque Religion Essay I am a Christian by personal faith, genetics and through circumstance of being raised in the church. I have been a Christian so long that any other religion to me is of little concern to me personally. But, I do not say this to be mean because I have many friends of different religions, beliefs and races. Whatever they believe in is fine with me and vice versa. I decided to go to a mosque with my best friend since fourth grade since she is a Muslim. I learned a lot more than I originally thought and this is my journey. Humama and I have been best friends since fourth grade. My family and hers are close despite one being Christian and the other Muslim. To each other we are people, friends, and religion does not define our relationship. I asked Humama to come with me to the mosque downtown on King Street because I would feel more comfortable being with someone who knew what was going on. We decided to go on a Friday, which is their holy day. Before leaving her house in Goose Creek, we performed ritual called a Wudu. It is washing of body parts important to performing formal prayers, called Salah. She said that there is a station at the mosque for it, or they use a sink for it but it would be easier to do it before we left home. She gave me a blue outfit to wear with a matching veil to cover everything from our wrists to our ankles for modesty and respect. On the drive downtown, bundled up in a beautiful outfit completely out of my normal form of dressing, I wondered how I would be greeted and how I would be changed by this. I have walked and drove past the mosque on King Street many times. After living downtown for almost a year, you would have to be blind not to notice it. It sits there on the corner of King and Romney street, quiet and not architecturally designed like the mosques I have seen in pictures. It is simplistic in its design for its purpose. We parked and walked to the mosque and I noticed people of different races entering the mosque which surprised me. There were Blacks, Whites, and many people of Middle Eastern descent. There were young people, old people and all seemed unified in their beliefs of Allah. We entered the mosque and entered a quick prayer to bless the mosque. The prayer had not started yet, so Humama introduced me to other Muslims in the hallway. My anxiety was easing somewhat speaking to others that did not seem to mind I was there, despite being a Christian. Before entering the actual mosque, Humama and I took off our shoes to show another form of respect. Humama and I sat facing Mecca, after speaking for a few minutes to the others, she said we could offer other quick prayers while waiting for the sermon to start. I realized for the first time that the men and women were separated in the mosque. The men were in the front and the women in the back, though we could still see everything. I noticed that there were two rows of chairs and I saw that the handicapped or men of importance sat there. I sat beside Humama thinking, this is kind of unfair having to sit all the way in back and not among the men. In my church you sit anywhere, but I pulled the thought back, to not judge but participate in her faith. To get my mind off it, I thought to myself that I really enjoyed not having my shoes on since I am somewhat bohemian. Humama informed me we were waiting for the Imam, the preacher and leader of the mosque, to come out and preach which is called the Pre-Prayer. She informed that the Imam would usually come out and give a sermon on whatever he wished to or tell a religious story. He would later in the sermon connect the meaning of it to his sermon. I became a little impatient waiting for the Imam to come out, but she reassured me that he would be out shortly. After five more minutes he walked out and reality finally set in that I was completely out of my depth. The Imam, whose actual name is Mohamed Melhem did not look like a preacher to me. He seemed like a regular man yet easy to talk to. He began the sermon by welcoming everyone to the mosque and praising Allah. He was easy to listen to and to understand. He gave a sermon on serving Allah and fasting. That by fasting you gain a closer relationship with Allah. Allah is there for us and there is only one. Prayer should be consistent (they pray five times per day) and that the Quran is there to guide us. He spoke of being a Muslim in the world, that all aspects of being a Muslim should be retained once leaving the mosque. As a Muslim, your ethics and how you stick to them in the world shows how Allah is working through you. I noticed that everyone seemed in awe and took in every word he said. They seemed completely devoted to listening to the Imam speak about this, because by looking at them you could tell some found themselves again by being among peers like themselves. After finishing the sermon, the Adhan or Azan, did a call to prayer. Everyone listened and moved forward face down listening to the Azan pray. After the prayer was finished, some people continued to pray and others got up to socialize. The mosque offered food to us to raise money for the mosque. The food was similar to what I had eaten before at Humamas house and it was delicious. I do not remember the names of the food, but it did not matter at the time. Everyone socialized for about an hour and a half and some continued to speak about Allah, others about school and work. Some people were coming in late having just got off work to come in at the right time to pray. Leaving the mosque, I felt a little different. The peace of praying with others who get along despite your race. The sacredness of leaving the world outside and finding yourself again when entering the mosque. Facing Mecca and everyone praying in one direction and at one time. They all believe the same way and it shows why they have such a strong community. No one is trying to pull away and do their own thing. It made me feel closer to my own God, and that it makes life easier knowing that essentially we all have the same belief in one God, despite the different ways we worship. I gained a closer relationship with my best friend and with my God and that really changed me.

Use of Satire and Irony in The Widow of Ephesus and the poem True Love

Use of Satire and Irony in The Widow of Ephesus by Gaius Petronius and the poem â€Å"True Love† by Judith Viorst In the story The Widow of Ephesus by Gaius Petronius and the poem â€Å"True Love† by Judith Viorst, the authors portray love through the use of satire and irony. They do this though a series of ironic twists, humorous accounts, and life experiences. A satire is a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn. In The Widow of Ephesus, the narrator recalls a tale of love in which an apparently faithful woman discredits her vows of marriage after her husband's death. She is tempted into this by a handsome young man, who attempts to save her life after she decides to entomb herself with her dead husband. This was not a very smart decision on her par...

Terrorism - No Public Discourse on Terror :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

No Public Discourse on Terror Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) said the following in casting the lone vote against giving President Bush full congressional approval for carrying out his War on Terrorism as he sees fit: I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of international terrorism against the United States. This is a very complex and complicated matter. . . . However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint. Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, let us step back for a moment. Let us just pause for a minute and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control. . . . I have agonized over this vote, but I came to grips with it today and I came to grips with opposing this resolution during the very painful yet very beautiful memorial service. As a member of the clergy so eloquently said, "As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore." I agree. But what is striking to me as a linguist is the use of negatives in the statement: "not prevent," "restraint" (inherently negative), "not spiral out of control," "not become the evil that we deplore.'' Friends are circulating a petition calling for "Justice without vengeance." "Without" has another implicit negative. It is not that these negative statements are wrong. But what is needed is a positive form of discourse. There is one. The central concept is that of "responsibility," which is at the heart of progressive/liberal morality (See Moral Politics). Progressive/liberal morality begins with empathy, the ability to understand others and feel what they feel. That is presupposed in responsibility-responsibility for oneself, for protection, for the care of those who need care, and for the community. Those were the values that we saw at work among the rescue workers in New York right after the attack. Responsibility requires competence and effectiveness. If you are to deal responsibly with terrorism, you must deal effectively with all its causes: religious, social, and enabling causes.

Moral Obligations about Charity views of Peter Singer and John Arthur Essay

The fact that we can afford to provide for ourselves even beyond our basic needs bring an important question. Is it then our duty to provide financial assistance to those who do not have enough to provide for their own basic needs? Peter Singer, in his piece, â€Å"Famine, Affluence, and Morality† would argue that we ought to prevent bad things from happening without sacrificing something of equal importance. Here is the argument Peter Singer presents to us in standard form 1) Millions of people are suffering from hunger every day. 2) Suffering and death from hunger is bad. 3) If it is within our power to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought to morally do so. 4) It is within the power of affluent people to prevent hunger by sacrificing only their luxuries, which are of lesser moral importance. However, John Arthur disagrees with Singer’s conclusion in his piece, â€Å"World Hunger and Moral Obligation: The Case against Singer† and believes that although we should help those in need, it is not imperative to do so. John Arthur’s argument in basic form looks like this: 1) Singer says that all affluent people have a moral obligation to give their money to poor people to the extent that the affluent person would be on the same level as the poor person. 2) Poor people have no positive right to our assistance, because affluent people made no contract to do so. 3) Affluent people have a negative right to their property, which weighs against their obligation. Therefore, the obligation that Singer imposes on affluent people is not as extensive as Arthur. I will analyze both sides of this argument and in the end, propose my own position on this subject. Singer’s main point as stated above is that we ought to prevent bad things from happening without having to sacrifice something of equal importance. In other words, we should give to those in poverty as long as we do not put ourselves in a position of poverty. Singer starts his argument by making the assumption that it is a bad thing when people suffer and die from the lack of food and shelter. Since this is a bad thing, we ought to do something in order to prevent these things from happening without sacrificing anything of equal moral importance to ourselves. This point essentially puts the responsibility of the well-being of all people who are in some way suffering from lack of food and shelter into the hands of those who are in a position to do something about it. The fact that it is now our responsibility makes it morally wrong to not care for these people with our financial assistance. Singer does not see the act of giving money in order to prevent something bad from happening as charity, but instead as our duty. With charity comes the moral option to not give and to spend money on luxuries. If giving to prevent bad things from happening is something that we ought to do, to not do it would be wrong. Money that would have been spent on luxuries should be sent to parts of the world that need it on the basis of their lack of food, shelter, and adequate clothing. On the other hand, John Arthur brings up a strong argument against Singer. Arthur contests that a person has a right to do with their money as they please. There is no contract between ourselves and those in need, therefore we are entitled to invoke our own rights as a justification for not giving to those in need. The interesting thing about this argument is that Arthur is not saying that it is a good thing that we ignore the needs of others, but is instead saying that we have to right to not give. Arthur thinks that we are expected to give to those in need, but we also have the right to invoke our own rights of not giving to those in need. Arthur argues that if we were to live by Singer’s moral standards by following â€Å"greater moral evil rule† then we should not only give monetary charity but also give to the extent of donating parts of our bodies to help someone from dying. He says this because if you can survive without a certain body part (like a kidney) then according to Singer you should give it to someone to save their life because the kidney is less significant than a person dying  (Arthur 473). Arthur does not agree with this idea he sees this as a person violating our negative rights to property, protesting, that it’s your body, and you have a right to it, outweighs any duty you have to help. Both Arthur and Singer agree that there are millions of people suffering from hunger everyday and that this suffering causing death is a bad thing. However Singer believes that it is our moral duty to assist the poor not a choice to do so. While Arthur believes that although we should help those in need, it is not required of us to do so. Therefore the obligation that Singer imposes on people is not as extensive as that of Arthur. As a moral person, one is morally obligated to act in a way which will bring about the greatest happiness. Whether that action is positive or negative doesn’t matter to the pain or pleasure that is produced. No distinction is necessary to the morality of the action. Pain and pleasure are still the measure of moral significance that are used to judge whether a given charity is good or bad. Then the given rules of charity are used to judge the morality of an individual’s acts of charity. Arthur argues that duty to help a stranger in need would be some sort of positive right such as an agreement or contract. However when it comes to assisting in the world hunger situation there are no such agreements or contracts between flourishing countries to assist non flourishing countries. Arthur is correct in arguing that there is something more in the terms of Singer’s argument in the case about the drowning child that if we are able to prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing something of moral significance then we have the moral duty to do it. With the example of the drowning child in the shallow pond, even though we might get our clothes muddy if we were to save the child. As a consequence, like this child case, people have an obligation to rescue strangers when they have the ability to do so that it is our moral duty to do something. Arthur argues the point that these rights as well as deserts are important parts of our moral code based on values such as fairness, justice, and respect. From Arthur’s point of view, there are two significant human rights which are â€Å"negative rights† and â€Å"positive rights†. â€Å"Negative rights†, â€Å"rights of noninterference† (473) in another word, are rights not to be interfered by  anyone such as a right not to be killed. The other rights which are also ignored are â€Å"positive rights† same as called â€Å"rights of percipience† These rights are based on agreements. As long as people have an agreement something, they have a right to receive it. In addition to rights, desert is a second form of entitlement. As an example, a hard working farmer is able to harvest a lot of wheat as a result of his great effort. On the other hand, a lazy farmer is starving because of his laziness. In this case, the hard working farmer should not have any obligation to give wheat to the lazy farmer. Thus, the farmer should consider â€Å"fairness, justice, and respect.† (474). In this case is the farmer who worked hard be obligated to give some of his harvest to the farmer who didn’t do anything to secure a harvest to provi de for him and his family. Looking at Singer’s view on charity makes me wonder, He believes that as citizens of affluent countries we are morally obligated to donate most of our wealth to the starving poor of countries unable to provide for their own with their basic needs to survive like food, shelter and adequate clothing. That theory sounds great, however I have a problem with the fact that are focusing on the welfare of the struggling poor in other countries, while we ignore the suffering of our own right here in our backyard. Yes, I said the United States of America should take care of its own first. Before we spend our precious dollars taking care of the rest of the world. Let me say I cannot fathom a world as progressive as ours and yet people are still starving and dying right here in our own backyard. But it is a reality. Billions of dollars are given to aid so many other countries. While less and less is used here to provide relief for our own who are suffering. So, what is my point you say, my point is we spend a lot of money taking care of people around the world. As a society we are generous. Everyday I listen to politicians and others pointing fingers at each other playing the blame game for our economic crisis. Blaming the Republicans, or blaming the Democrats, Blaming the rich or poor, but the fact is all the blame in the world isn’t fixing the problem. Seeing all the dollar amounts being used to fund all these different relief efforts worldwide is simply amazing. But just think how far those dollars would go if they were to keep them here in the United States and use them to help keep a family member or a neighbor from losing  their home or life. Why are we providing billions of dollars in scholarship aid to foreign students when graduates of our own high schools can’t afford a college education? Why are our religious organizations donati ng billions of dollars to provide health care and literacy programs to foreign countries when our own kids are on Medicaid and illiterate? How much money would go back into restoring our own economy and helping citizens of the United States of America if we kept our money here? Will become the nation known for letting its own people suffer while we take care of the suffering in other countries. Will we keep playing the blame game and turn our backs to the pain and suffering of the people on our own soil. If so, maybe we should change our name to â€Å"The United States Charitable Citizens for the Rest of the World.†

Training & Development Proposal

Industry Development Programme – Introduction to Broadcast Technology VENUE Wireless Communication Centre, Faculty of Telecommunication, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor. 5th to 7th November 2012 A collaboration programme between SKMM Academy, Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia and Wireless Communication Centre (WCC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Overview of the program The Introduction to Broadcast Technology training is conducted over a period of 3 days and delivered by Academics. The programme will be held at the Wireless Communication Centre of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Skudai Johor.The course is designed by academics and SKMM regulators with extensive knowledge in spectrum management. The programme looks at the development of the broadcasting systems and services (in Malaysia – options). It covers both analog to digital broadcasting standards. Specifically, it describes in detail, television, radio (sound), and satellite broadcasting . The programme begins with an overview of broadcasting services followed by the academic definition of broadcast channels. It covers topics such as the broadcasting transceiver structures, modulations and standards.The concept of satellite TV and radio broadcasting will also be presented. The information of digital dividend will be the draw attention to of the three days programme, where the values of digital dividend for the emerging technologies are discussed and explained. At the end of the programme, a dialogue is performed on the issues of digital dividend in Malaysia in order to exchange views between participants and facilitators. Objective To ensure at the end of the programme, all participants should be able to: * Comprehend the concept of analog and digital broadcasting services. Make different between broadcasting standards, i. e. Radio, TV, and Satellite. * Express knowledge of broadcast channels from the perspective of information theory. * Give details the concept of the digital dividend. Audiences The course caters to the needs of those working within the broadcast sectors with a concern in the future improvement in terrestrial broadcasting. Participation evaluation At the end of the programme, all participants will be tested on their understanding of broadcast technology and concept of the digital dividend.Thereby, a certificate will be awarded to those participants that successfully pass the examination. Trainers (Instructors` Biodata) Dr. Norhudah Seman received her B. Eng. in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2003 and M. Eng. in RF/Microwave Communications from The University of Queensland, Brisbane, St. Lucia, Queensland Australia in 2005. In September 2009, she completed her PhD at the same university. She previously worked as an engineer with Motorola Technology, Penang Malaysia in 2003 where she was involved with RF and microwave components design and testing.She is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of WCC, UTM 8th to 10th October 2012 Electrical Engineering UTM and an academic staff member of Wireless Communication Centre (WCC). She has published two book chapters in a book entitled â€Å"Microwave and Millimetre Wave Technologies† and written about 16 technical articles of international journals and conference papers. Her research interests concern the design of microwave circuits for biomedical and industrial applications, UWB technologies and mobile communications. She may be contacted at [email  protected] utm. myDr. Marwan Hadri Azmi received his B. Eng. in Electrical Engineering (Telecommunications) from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in 2003 and M. SC. Degree in Communications and Signal Processing from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of London in 2005 and the Ph. D degree from the University of New South Wales, Australia in 2012. He is currently a lecturer in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. His research inte rests include communication, information and coding theory focusing on cooperative communications and LPDC coding.He may be contacted at [email  protected] utm. my Programme Agenda DAY 1| Time| | Module/Activity| 8. 30am – 9. 00am| | Registration| 9. 00am – 9. 20am| | Opening Address| 9. 20am – 9. 30am| | Group Photo Session| 9. 30am – 10. 30am| | Topic 1: Introduction to Broadcasting Services| 10. 30am – 11. 00am| | Tea Break| 11. 00am – 1. 00pm| | Topic 2 – Broadcast Channel from The Point of View of Information Theory. | 1. 00pm – 2. 00pm| | Lunch| 2. 00pm – 3. 30pm| | Topic 3 – Analog Broadcasting – Radio| 3. 30pm – 4. 00pm| | Tea Break| 4. 00pm – 5. 0pm| | Topic 4 – Analog Broadcasting – TV| DAY 2| Time | | Module/Activity | | | | 8. 30am – 10. 30am | | Topic 5 – Digital Broadcasting | 10. 30am – 11. 00am | | Tea Break | 11. 00am – 1. 00pm | | T opic 6 – Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) | 1. 00pm – 2. 00pm | | Lunch Break | 2. 00pm – 3. 30pm | | Topic 7 – Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) | 3. 30pm – 4. 00pm | | Tea Break | 4. 00pm – 5. 30pm | | Topic 8 – Satellite Broadcasting | DAY 3| Time | | Module/Activity | | | | 8. 30am – 10. 30am | | Topic 9 – Digital Dividend | 0. 30am – 11. 00am | | Tea Break | 11. 00am – 1. 00pm | | Topic 10 – Issues in Digital Dividend | 1. 00pm – 2. 00pm | | Lunch Break | 2. 00pm – 3. 30pm | | Topic 11 – Written exam and closing ceremony | 3. 30pm – 4. 00pm | | Tea | Training methods There are lots of training methods to be used in this training program which could enhance the interest and cooperation of the participants which will be more effective instead of using old training materials like one way communication that not really function to the purpose of the progra m.Below are the training methods that will be used in this training program which includes: * Card games * Survey * Pre workshop questionnaire * Focus group * Conceptual input * Teamwork and presentations Registration Form Course Title:| | Introduction to Broadcast Technology| Dates:| | 5th to 7th November 2012| Venue:| | Wireless Communication Centre, Faculty of Telecommunication, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai. | Fees*:| | RM300/-| *Fees do not include accommodation and travelling expenses and these are to be borne by participants.Delegate Details Name of Participant | Designation and Department | Organisation and Address | | | | Email Address | Direct Line | Mobile Number | | | | | Signature and Company stamp | | Date | The closing date for registration has been extended to 3. 00 pm 12th October 2012. For any queries please contact us at the address below, send an email to skmm. [email  protected] gov. my or call any of the following numbers: Azhar Zin | +60 (3) 8688 816 2 | Gayathiri | +60 (3) 8688 8394 | | | | |

Death in Prime Time

American Academy of Political and Social Science Death in Prime Time: Notes on the Symbolic Functions of Dying in the Mass Media Author(s): George Gerbner Reviewed work(s): Source: Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 447, The Social Meaning of Death (Jan. , 1980), pp. 64-70 Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/1042304 . Accessed: 02/01/2012 20:34 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . ttp://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email  protect ed] org. Sage Publications, Inc. and American Academy of Political and Social Science are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. ttp://www. jstor. org ANNALS,AAPSS, 447, January 1980 Death in Prime Time: Notes on the Symbolic Functions of Dying in the Mass Media By GEORGEGERBNER ABSTRACT: The cultural (and media) significance of dying rests in the symbolic context in which representations of dying are embedded. An examination of that context of mostly violent suggests that portrayals of death and dying representations functions of social typing and control and tend, serve symbolic of on the whole, to conceal the reality and inevitability the event.George Gerbner is Professor of Communications and Dean of The Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania. He is a principal investigator, along with Larry Gross and Nancy Signorielli, also of The Annenberg School, in the Cultura l Indicators research project studying television drama and viewer conceptions of social reality. He has been principal investigator on international and U. S. projectsfunded by the National Science Foundation, U. S.Office of Education, UNESCO, the International Sociological Association, the National Institute of Mental Health, The Surgeon General's Scientific advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, the American Medical Association, the HEW's Administration on Aging, and other agencies. He is editor of the Journal of Communication, and a volume on Mass Media Policies in Changing Cultures. 64 DEATH IN PRIME TIME 65 D YINGin the massmedia-both news and entertainment (a distinction increasingly hard to make) -has a symbolic function different from death in real life but investing life itself-with it-and particular meanings.We can begin to consider what these might be by reflecting on the nature of representation. A symbol system is an artifact par excellence. It is totall y invented to serve human purposes. It can serve these purposes only if those interpreting it know the code and can fit it into a symbolic context of their own. They must share the rules of the invention and the interpretative strategies by which it should be understood. Symbolic narrative, a story, has two basic elements of invention: fictive and selective. Selective invention is factual narrative such as news.Presumably true events (facts) are selected from an endless stream of events. A narrative is invented to convey some meaning about the selected facts as interpreted in a previously learned framework of knowledge. Fictive invention is fiction and drama; the â€Å"facts† are invented as well as the narrative. (Selection is of course involved in both. ) The function of fictive invention is to illuminate (literally to embody and dramatize) the invisible structure and dynamics of the significant connections of human life. It is to show how things work.Invention that can onl y select events but not create them must be more opaque; it can only show what things are but rarely why or how they work. The full development of the connections between events and human motivations and powers requires the freedom and legitimacy to invent the â€Å"facts† in a way that illuminates the otherwise hidden dynamics of existence. In this totally invented world of and fictivesymbols-selective without some purnothing happens pose and function (which need not be the same). Let us use as example the world of television which we have studied for some years. This discussion also applies to other media and cultural forms, with the difference that television is the generally non-selectively used universal storyteller of modern society. It is, therefore, more a symbolic environment than a traditional medium. People are not born into the world of television. They are selected or created for a purpose. The purpose is usefulness to the symbolic world (called news values or st ory values) that the producing institutions and their patrons find useful for their purposes.More numerous in both news and drama are those for whom that world has more uses-jobs, power, adventure, sex, youth, and all other opportunities in life. These values are distributed in the symbol system as most resources are distributed in the society whose dominant institutions produce most of the symbols: according to status and power. Dominant social groups tend to be overrepresented and overendowed not only absolutely but also in relation to their numbers in the real population. (For example, men outnumber women at least three to one in television and most media content. Minorities are defined by having 1. The long-range project was first described in my article on â€Å"Cultural Indicators: The Case of Violence in Television Drama† in the Annals, Vol. 388, March 1970. The most recent report, including a description of methodology, appears in George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Nancy Si gnorielli, Michael Morgan, and Marilyn Jackson-Beeck, â€Å"The Demonstration of Power: Violence Profile No. 10,† Journal of Communication, vol. 29 (Summer 1979). 66 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY less than their proportionate share of values and resources.In the world of television news and drama, this means lower underrepresentation numbers, less usefulness, fewer opportunities, more victimization (or â€Å"criminalization†), more restricted scope of action, more stereotyped roles, diminished life chances, and general undervaluation ranging from relative neglect to symbolic annihilation. DEATH IN NEWS AND DRAMA Death in such a context is just another invented characterization, a negative resource, a sign of fatal flaw or ineptitude, a punishment for sins or mark of tragedy.It is always a reminder of the risks of life, cultivating most anxiety and dependence for those who are depicted as most at risk. In other words, death is one feature of the more general functi ons of social typing and control. Obituaries are the Social Register of the middle class. Even a â€Å"nobody† of modest status and power (i. e. a person of no symbolic existence in the common culture) becomes a â€Å"somebody† if the flicker of his or her (and it's mostly his) life can leave its final symbolic mark of existence in the obituary column.Death in the news is a tightly scripted scenario of violence and terror. Murders, accidents, â€Å"body counts† and catastrophies scatter a surfeit of impersonal corpses in ghoulish symbolic overkill across the pages of our family newspapers and television screens. By the time we grow up, we are so addicted to this necromania of our culture (and we are not alone), that its constant daily cultivation seems to add to a morbid sense of normalcy. Yet it is all well (if unwittingly) calculated to cultivate a sense of insecurity, anxiety, fear of the â€Å"mean world† out there, and ependence on some strong protec tor. It is the modern equivalent of the bloody circuses in the Roman empire's â€Å"bread and circuses† that were supposed to keep the populace quiescent. At the center of the symbolic structure of death is the world of stories invented to show how things and drama. The most work-fiction massive and universal flow of stories in modern society (and history) is of course television drama, most of it produced according to the industrial formulas developed to assemble large audiences and sell them to advertisers at the least cost.That is a world in which practically no one ever dies a natural death. Assembly-line drama generally denies the inevitable reality of death and affirms its stigmatic character. Violent death, on the other hand, befalls 5 percent of all prime time dramatic characters every week, with about twice as many killers (many of whom also get killed) stalking the world of prime time. The symbolic function of death in the world of television is thus embedded in its structure of violence, which is essentially a show of force, the ritualistic demonstration of power. THE STRUCTURE OF VIOLENCEAND POWERDominated as it is by males and masculine values, much of the world of prime time revolves around questions of power. Who can get away with what against whom? How secure are different social types when confronted with conflict and danger? What hierarchies of risk and vulnerability define social relations? In other words, how power works in society. The simplest and cheapest dramatic DEATH IN PRIME TIME 67 demonstration of power is an overt expression of physical force compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt or killed, or actually hurting or killing.That is the definition of violence used in our studies of television drama. Violence rules the symbolic world of television. It occurs at an average 10-year rate of 5 violent incidents per hour in prime time and 18 per hour in weekend daytime children's programming-a triple dose. Violen ce as a demonstration of power can be measured by relating the percent of violents to the percent of victims within each social group. That ratio shows the chances of men and women, blacks and whites, young and old, to come out on top instead of on the bottom.Conversely, it shows the risks of each group to end up as victims instead of victors. Table 1 is a summary of these â€Å"risk ratios† based on annual samples of prime time and weekend daytime (children's) programs major dramatic characters, a total of 3,949, from 1969 through 1978. It shows for each of several demographic and dramatic groups the ratio of violents over victims (including killing) and of only killers over killed (or the other way around) within each group. It also shows the percent of characters in each group involved in any violence as either violents or victims (or both).For example, of the 415 children and adolescent characters studied, 60. 5 percent (65. 0 percent males and 49. 1 percent females) were involved in violence. Of the males, victims outnumbered violents by 1. 69 but killers outnumbered killed by 3. 00. In other words, for every 10 child and adolescent violents there were about 17 victims, but for every 10 killed there were 30 killers in that group of characters. Overall, 63 percent of all characters were involved in some violence. For every 10 violents there were 12 victims, but for every 10 killed there were 19 killers.However, as we have just seen, involvement in violence and its outcome-as with values and resources-is not randomly distributed. Some features of the distribution of violence as a demonstration of power can be illustrated by selecting a few risk ratios from the Table, showing how these victimization rates define a hierarchy of risks within which the depiction of dying (and killing) is embedded. A hierarchy of risks Combining prime time and daytime characters, we find that victimization rates define a social hierarchy of risks and vulnerabilities.For e very 10 characters who commit violence within each of the following groups the average number of victims for white men is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. nonwhite men is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. lower class women is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ young women is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. nonwhite women is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. old women is †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 12 13 17 18 18 33 If and when involved in violence, women and minorities, and especially young and old as well as minority women characters, are the most vulnerable. Now let us look at dying (and its dramatic counterpart, killing) in that context.We can compute a lethal pecking order by relating the number of killers to the number of killed within each group. Unlike violence in general, killing eliminates a character and must be used more sparingly, either as curtain-raiser or as the â€Å"final solution. † Therefore, in most role categories, there are more killers than killed. â€Å"Good† m en, the TABLE 1 RISK RATIOS': MAJOR CHARACTERS IN ALL PROGRAMS (1969-197 ALL CHARACTERS INVOLVED IN VIOLENCE VIOLENTVICTIM RATIO KILLERKILLED RATIO MALE CHARACTERS INVOLVED IN VIOLENCE VIOLENTVICTIM RATIO K N NAll Characters Social Age Children-Adolescents Young Adults Settled Adults Elderly Marital Status Not Married Married Class Clearly Upper Mixed Clearly Lower Race White Other Character Type â€Å"Good† Mixed â€Å"Bad† Nationality U. S. Other 3949 415 813 2212 106 1873 987 269 3549 131 3087 360 2304 1093 550 3100 264 63. 3 60. 5 64. 5 59. 8 47. 2 65. 6 45. 5 59. 5 63. 4 69. 5 60. 1 55. 0 58. 4 61. 4 88. 0 58. 1 73. 5 -1. 20 -1. 60 -1. 36 -1. 12 -1. 15 -1. 23 -1. 27 -1. 38 -1. 19 -1. 25 -1. 19 -1. 33 -1. 29 -1. 22 1. 00 -1. 20 -1. 31 +1. 90 +3. 00 +2. 00 +2. 07 -1. 75 +1. 90 +1. 67 +1. 50 +2. 07 -1. 11 +1. 97 +1. 69 +2. 93 +1. 3 +1. 84 +2. 06 +1. 31 2938 297 539 1698 80 1374 626 182 2650 106 2235 280 1659 807 471 2263 203 68. 4 65. 0 69. 6 65. 7 50. 0 69. 7 52. 9 67. 6 68. 3 73. 6 65. 1 61. 1 63. 7 65. 8 89. 4 63. 2 80. 8 -1. 18 -1. 69 -1. 23 -1. 12 +1. 07 -1. 18 -1. 27 -1. 26 -1. 17 -1. 20 -1. 16 -1. 27 -1. 24 -1. 21 -1. 01 -1. 16 -1. 29 + + + + + + + + – + + + + + + + 1Risk Ratios are obtained by dividing the more numerous of these two roles by the less numerous within eac violents or killersthan victims or killed and a minus sign indicates that there are more victims or killed than violent victimsor killersor violents or killed.A +0. 00 ratio means that there were some violents or killersbut no victims or k killed but no violents or killers. DEATH IN PRIME TIME 69 male heroes of prime time drama, are at the top of the killing order. For every 10 â€Å"good† men killed, there are 38 â€Å"good† men killers. Next are young men and American men; for every 10 young males killed, there are 22 young male and American male killers. The killed-killer ratio of all white males is only slightly lower: 21 killers for every 10 whi te males killed.In other words, if and when involved in some fatal violence on prime time television, â€Å"good,† young, American and white males are the most likely to be the killers instead of the killed. They kill in a good cause to begin with or are the most powerful, or both. Women do not fare so well. Their most favorable ratio is 20 killers for every 10 killed, and that goes to foreign women. The second highest female kill ratio goes to â€Å"bad† women: they kill 17 characters for every 10 â€Å"bad† women killed. Next are middleaged women who kill 16 for every 10 killed.Thus women who tend to kill, kill much less than men, have relatively more lethal power when they are foreign, evil, or past the romantic-lead age, than when they are â€Å"good,† American, young, and white, as is the case with men. Their killing is more likely to be shown as unjust, irrational, and â€Å"alien† than is killing by men. At the very bottom of the lethal peck ing order are old women who get involved in violence only to get killed and â€Å"good† women who get killed 16 times for every 10 killers. Old and â€Å"good† women get into violence mostly as sympathetic (or only pathetic) victims, rousing male heroes to righteous (if lethal) indignation.Next in line are lower class men, lower class women, and old men. For every ten killers in each group there are, respectively, 11, 10, and 10 killed. Unlike those of greater ability to survive conflict or catastrophy,older and lower class characters pay with their lives for every life they take. Provocation and retribution In general, then, as can be seen on the Table, the pecking order of both mayhem and killing is dominated by men-American white, middle class, and in the prime of life. At the top of the general order of victimizers are â€Å"bad† women, old men, and â€Å"bad† men, in that order.The presence of evil at the top of the power hierarchy suggests the drama tic role of villains provoking heroes to violent action. Heading the ranking of killers over killed are â€Å"good† and other majority-type males. We can begin to discern not only the provocative role of the â€Å"bad† but also the retributive function of the â€Å"good† and the strong. Lowest on the dramatic scale are women, lower class, and old people. Of the 20 most victimized groups (both total violence and killing), all but three are women. Old women are at the bottom of the heap of both the battered and the killed. Good†women are among the charactersmost likely to be both general and fatal victims of violence ratherthan the perpetrators. â€Å"Good† men have power as indicated by their heading up the killer-killed list; â€Å"good† women, on the other hand, end up near the bottom of the power hierarchy. When it comes to violence, â€Å"good† are the strong men and the weak women of the world of television. Dying on television is a violent retribution for weakness, sin, or other flaw in character or status. It is part of the social typing and control functions of centralized cultural production.Our research has found that heavy viewers (compared to light 70 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY viewers in the same social groups) derive from their television experience a heightened sense of danger, insecurity, and mistrust, or what we call the â€Å"mean world† syndrome. It can be conjectured that the symbolic functions of dying are part of that syndrome, contributing not only to a structure of power but also to the irrational dread of dying and thus to diminished vitality and self-direction in life.