Articles About Digital Art: Summary Essay

Summary of Art Form For The Digital Age by Henry Jenkins In the article â€Å"Art Form For The Digital Age,† by Henry Jenkins, Jenkins elaborates on the ever expanding video game industry and cites that it is now being considered a digital art. The gaming industry is also said to be the form of art in today’s economy that has grown the most. The gaming industry has progressed the most in the past century, starting with silent ping-pong games and evolving into intense story plot and battle games liken to Final Fantasy. Games are becoming more and more realistic, characters can talk, blink, jump, wave and move individual body parts, mimicking human behavior. Parental advisory ratings are an incredibly large part of the industry. In this new age of video games, players can blow up enemies and viscerally rip them apart. They have become so realistic that it is surmised that some children have difficulties differentiating video from reality and act out mirroring the game characters behavior. It is obvious that the gaming world isn ’t promoting youth violence; rather show the artistic view point of what the creator’s vision is. Also, online play allows you to have opponents who are not only not in the same room with you; they can be across the globe. It is essentially like a chat room where players can view other player’s stats and choose who to play, creating a more intense and challenging game. More and more young adults seeking careers and degrees in graphic design are leaning toward the gaming industry rather than the film industry. Gaming is as big now as cinemas were when they were first introduced to the public. Now, you can stay home and play games rather than go out. There are so many types of games that you can virtually do anything you want to. Due to the endless possibilities the gaming industry will continue to grow as a respected digital art. Jenkins, Henry. â€Å"Art Form For the Digital Age.† Technology Review Sept. 2000: n. pag. Print. Summary of Do Video Games Kill by Karen Stemheimer In the commentary, â€Å"Do Video Games Kill†, Karen Sternheimer brings to light an interesting and incredibly controversial subject; are video games to blame for youth gun violence? She maintains that due to many biased opinions; political, religious and advocacy groups, the media have failed to provide ample information to the public resulting in the inability to form an educated opinion, in turn causing a mass hysteria resulting in tougher security guidelines in schools, stricter juvenile laws and far less personal and parental responsibility. An incredibly popular first person shooter video game, Doom, is ripe with gratuitous violence. So much so that it has been blamed for several mass shootings, perpetrated by middle-class, white, young-adult males. The media, politicians, advocacy groups as well as the FBI are steadfast in claiming that the only rational explanation is that of the individuals falling prey to the aggression inciting video game. In short, the violent vide o game made them do it. One might be reminded of the Salem Witch Trials, where no educated explanation can be derived, those which cannot defend themselves, no matter how far-fetched the reasoning, is the obvious answer. Religious and political dogma has run rampant. The media have created unnecessary fear and moral panic to legitimize their personal agendas under the guise of â€Å"protecting children†. More often than not, alternate explanations are not even taken into consideration. Depression, poverty, ignorance, self deprecation, bullying, violent home life are seldom cited and when cited are not explored in depth. The justice system in nearly every state has revised its juvenile justice laws to increase their penalties in many ways; however, the Supreme Court deemed juvenile executions unconstitutional, which in turn created even more fodder for the paranoid masses. In summation, the author goads the reader to delve more into the alternative explanations in hopes that by increasing the masses education, the masses will be less apt to point the proverbial finger at the video games and look more toward the socioeconomic and psychological reasoning behind the individual’s violent beh avior. Sternheimer, Karen. â€Å"Do Video Games Kill.† The Journal of American Sociological Association Winter Contexts (2007): n. pag. Print. Summary of In Defense of Hip-Hop by Cathleen Rountree In the article â€Å"In Defense of Hip Hop†, Cathleen Rountree details the  nation’s growing innate disrespect for the musical genre of Hip Hop and illustrates a way to understand, respect and even advocate for the genre. She further argues that uneducated masses immediately condemn the art form ignorantly without fully understanding it, and furthermore, are unwilling to attempt to understand it. According to numerous sources, Hip Hop has been attributed to ignorance, crime, incarceration, disrespect and has created negative monikers reinforcing the negative connotations and stereotypes associated with the oft misunderstood art form. Lyricists have been shunned and ostracized by the nation and targeted with blame for the derogatory actions of pop-culture today. Upon further investigation, hip hop has now been linked to positive media projects such as films and collaborative albums featuring individuals from many different backgrounds who have used hip hop as a means o f expressing their hardships and misadventures. Liken to the beatniks of the fifties, the artists merely attempt to satiate their want for personal development and self discovery rather than incite violence. The author concludes that through becoming more educated on the artist’s personal journey and actually listening to or reading and comprehending the lyrics, one is able to find the art to be poetic, cathartic and even inspiring. In doing so, the reader is able to positively redefine their personal opinion of the genre by delving into the back stories behind the songs and note the courage necessary to write such personal and sometimes endearing phraseology. Rountree, Cathleen. â€Å"In Defense of Hip Hop.† Santa Cruz Sentinel 19 May 2007: n. pag. Print.

Chagrin, Woman versus the Society

James Joyce’s â€Å"Clay† and Guy de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Diamond Necklace† satirize the conflict between woman and society. They illustrate the lives of two very physically different women of the common class and how they struggle against their environment, for society and fate seal their lives with chagrin. Joyce is more effective than Maupassant in revealing the fictional character in relation to community and social environment, because Joyce uses plot, design, perspective, and language to show subtly what the clay means in the story, wherein the clay depicts Maria’s frailty and commonness, and a life of conflict with herself and her environment, which she is not aware of, while Maupassant employs more of plot, narration, and character to enact a woman’s satirical lifelong struggle to resist her fate, which led her, paradoxically, to become her destiny, after all. Joyce does not reveal the meaning of the title â€Å"Clay† in the plot, which makes it quite difficult to understand the plot and its connection with clay. Soon the plot exposes itself- it is a story about how something so simple can be so complicated too. Maria’s simple life has its own complications, because she struggles with society and her destiny. Joyce provides details about Maria’s life and how she goes about it, day in and day out. For Maria, she is an efficient and reliable person, and a peacemaker. She feels proud of her work, which is portrayed in the barmbracks that she confirms she made herself. She also states that she is happy with her life, even if she has no companion, and she tells Fleming that â€Å"she didn’t want any ring or man either† (Joyce 184). The ring represents the synecdoche for marriage. The ring is also mentioned several times in the story, once by Fleming, once by Maria, and then during the game at Joe’s house. This ring represents Maria’s struggle. Apparently, there exists a gap between her self-perceptions and social perceptions of herself. Maria thinks of herself as more superior. She views Fleming as having the â€Å"notions of a common woman† (Joyce 184), and yet Maria herself is exceedingly common. When Maria thinks about how many minutes her travels are, â€Å"twenty minutes† here and there, it underscores how empty her life is in that she fills it with ordinary numbers. Maria also wants to think that she is happy with being single, but when Fleming jokes her about it, she â€Å"laughed†¦. with disappointed shyness† (Joyce 184). â€Å"Disappointed† juxtaposes with the satisfaction that Maria feels, which accentuates that she is not at all content with her life. The plot expresses, nevertheless, the cluelessness of Maria about herself, which makes it more effective to depict chagrin in several ways. Readers will also feel chagrin, because Maria is not just physically frail; she is also mentally and emotionally frail too. Maupassant employs plot that also does not readily give away the ending. His story satirizes a woman’s struggle to resist her fate, which led her, ironically, to become her destiny. Loisel feels that she is born for something greater, and yet, as Maupassant illustrates, she was born: â€Å"as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks† (Maupassant 297). This â€Å"error† implies how Loisel sees her whole life: a huge â€Å"error† of fate. But â€Å"error† takes in a new life, as Loisel makes the biggest of all- borrowing Mme. Forestier’s diamond necklace. This necklace brings Loisel the happiest day of her life, when she receives the life she dreams of- attention, richness, and fame. Ironically, this necklace also seals Loisel’s fate to poverty and toil, both of which she detests. She loses the diamond necklace and she and her husband paid for it for ten years, only to discover in the ending, that the necklace is false. The ending shows the climax of the struggle and underlines that women cannot fight society and their destinies. The language that Joyce uses portrays the common language of Maria’s class. Joyce uses the words â€Å"spick and span† and â€Å"nice and bright,† which are words of commoners and their life of toil (Commentary 192). Words are also frequently repeated, which symbolizes the lack of sophistication in Maria’s life. The repetitive use of â€Å"And†¦And†¦. And† and â€Å"always†¦always† (Joyce 183) is a â€Å"syntactical pattern† (Commentary 192) of the disproportionate plainness of Maria’s viewpoint of her life, and how readers also come to understand how â€Å"boring† her life is. The language reinforces the plot that depicts Maria’s humdrum life, and exposes the struggle against society and fate. Maria ardently believes that she needs no man or ring, but when a common man gives her some attention, she floats in the air enough to forget her expensive plum cake. Thus, Maria cannot deny it; she yearns for a lifelong companion, someone her fate has denied her, and someone society is quick to point out as the source of her loneliness and unhappiness. Maupassant uses narration to illustrate the satire of Loisel’s conflict with her life. He narrates the thoughts of a woman’s yearning for a wealthy life. Loisel dreams of â€Å"elegant dinners, of the shining silver† (Maupassant 298). This narration represents the perspective of Loisel and her endless chagrin. The narration contrasts her life before and after, however, of a dream come true. Before the diamond necklace, Loisel has at least a maid and comfortable lodgings. After the loss of the diamond necklace, Loisel is forced to be who she does not want to be- a common working woman. Furthermore, Maupassant also uses strong characterization, as he narrates the changes in Loisel. From a â€Å"charming† young woman, Loisel transforms into â€Å"strong, hard woman, the crude woman of the poor household† (Maupassant 303). Loisel has become the person she hates, and she has learned to embrace the life she could not ever cherish. Maupassant, however, seems to want to rub it in on Loisel, when he ends the story with the revelation of the false diamond necklace. Loisel must have fainted, or even unsurprisingly, died from chagrin, after this revelation. Joyce predominantly uses the perspective of Maria, from his choice of words, although in a way, it is also revealed that Maria is not who she thinks she is, in the viewpoint of other people. In general, she believes that: â€Å"Everyone was so fond of Maria† (Joyce 183). However, the snide remarks about her spinsterhood, in the laundry shop and at her friend’s home, accentuates that people look down on her or pity her, because of her homeliness and state of singlehood. When Joyce says: â€Å"the tip of her nose nearly met the tip of her chin,† this remarks of how people slate her homely features (Joyce 183). Joyce also designs the story in a way that is not always too obvious, and he compels readers to do extra work, which makes the story more effective in revealing the character’s need for companionship. As readers analyze and research about the missing lines of the song â€Å"I Dreamt that I Dwelt,† this pursuit for something more about Maria ironically responds to the â€Å"attention† that Maria craves for. Joyce’s story design is also different from Maupassant’s â€Å"Moonlight,† because â€Å"Clay† has a different and more meaningful connotation. The clay represents Maria’s emotional and mental frailty. When she chooses clay, a joke of the next-door girls on her, and which is not even directly stated by Joyce, clay represents the mortality of human beings (Commentary 190). Clay also reinforces the meaning of the omitted song lines. Joyce illustrates that Maria unconsciously forgets these lines, because it tells of â€Å"suitors† and â€Å"vows† that fate neglected to give her. Clay hints that Maria will soon die without living life, wherein society says that a lived life equals to a married life. Joyce is more effective than Maupassant in disclosing the fictional character in relation to community and social environment, because Joyce uses plot, design, perspective, and language to show delicately what the clay indicates in the story. The clay portrays Maria’s frailty and commonness, and her conflict with her society and destiny. It is also a suggestion of her mortality, which is limited to a life of loneliness that she has to bear with. Maupassant, on the other hand, addresses the same conflict with dark humor and satire. Of the two, Joyce creates a more distinctive image of a woman who has nothing, who is more pitiable, because of her lack of awareness and admission of her life’s perpetual struggles.

Office Software Essay

In a typical organization for example Exxon Mobile security, uses an office automation software named as â€Å"e-integrate† which successfully manages the various integrations of data sharing among each other. The group collaboration software used is named as â€Å"e-communicate† which allows all the employees of the organization in accordance to their departmental rules and regulations. Advantages of Office Automation software: The advantages of an office automation and group collaboration software can be attributed to effectively manage the resources like office employees and jobs. The database containing all the records of the employees and the resources at use would make sure to fetch the right amount of detail for working with it when needed. The record also facilitates the requirement of efficient data storage and to maintain a standard practice for handling records. Another advantage would be to record every task done and to record large useful data of various transactions, issues and various exceptional situations which may be required as audit trail. The large data and its association would also assist the higher management for preparing MIS reports. Automation also enables one to figure out the achievement of the set of objectives that the business is about to decide. The various business processes can be effectively managed and must be synchronized well for implementing the processes in action. The effective gain of the business processes can be measured only through the automation of business tasks. It efficiently keeps a record of every business objective and the process to execute in every way. The prime importance is the way the organization distributes data and knowledge among various resources mainly the human resources. The way one views data depending on the right and privileges one possess, makes sure that all the various views are well regularized pertaining to correct use and safety of the data. The business objectives are recorded and the very data integration and sharing is done at a large scales Demerits of Office automation system: The primary disadvantages of office automation software’s is that it is too expensive to maintain and periodic updates are not possible at all times, the maintenance cost is high as concrete technical batch is required for getting the job done. Another aspect is to take care of the evolution of the software which changes in the dynamic business environment. IITB.ac.in (2008) mentions that another demerit is the high dependence on such software makes it quite difficult to trust any human being on information and would derive all trust on the software which further may cripple the office operations on a case of disaster. Advantages of Group collaboration software: The group collaboration software makes it easy to communicate among peers and external business units. The advantage would be to fetch communication and effectively obtain data for functioning in the tough business scenario. The group collaboration software also makes sure that all the various communication channels are maintained well for information distribution in a timely and correct manner so that one is able to fetch the right perspective for doing their job. The group collaboration software helps one to video conference with clients, suppliers, manufacturers and save a lot of time and money. They can forward samples, brochures and resource materials and lots more. Large file sharing is made possible using such collaboration software which would enable one to fetch the detailed information about a particular decision (Hyperoffice.com, 2008). Large decision parameters would make sure that all the various domains of employees are catered to their information needs. Disadvantages of Group collaboration software: The biggest disadvantage of the group collaboration software is that the communication would always be dependent on such software use only and employees would neglect any form of human in person communication. Although the company associated would cut costs but would fetch the mechanical way of taking care of communication aspects. Over dependence on the software would make sure that all the various communication mediums would not be trusted no more. A huge amount of dissatisfaction would prevail and would incorporate only transferring of data and messages through the electronic medium. The disaster recovery schemes are often not taken care resulting in huge risk of data loss and thereby information loss in the process. The disadvantage is the high degree of information sensitivity is high so several communications are often recorded and leads to disaster when the software collapses. The office automation and group collaboration software’s are used in Exxon Mobile security with an intention to fetch better methods to organize information for its effective storage and efficient retrieval techniques. The basic purpose for fetching the right direction towards handling information would be served for making a right journey. On the other hand, the economy part of the automation software is quite weakening as the organization requires large scale investment, not only in one time installation but in periodic investments which require a lot of strategy in this direction.

The advantages and disadvantages of rationalism Essay

The advantages and disadvantages of rationalism - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that in the organizational context, rationalization can be described as the reorganization of a company with the intention of increasing its efficacy; this can be done through a variety of ways. For one, the size of the organization in question may be reduced, alternatively, there could be a change in policy or alteration of strategy concerning a given product or service. From a sociological point of view, rationalization often denotes the replacing of traditional values as well as emotions as key motivators in society; instead, people are expected to apply calculated and set goals with objective means and ends. Examples of such scenarios include the bureaucracy in government and to some extent in the private sector; decisions are made not according to the ideas of feelings of any one individual by through strictly following a set of pre-set rules. One of the main benefits of rationalization is it facilitates efficiency in social organizati ons such that the people involved follow the rules which guide them in making the right decisions and by extension meet the goals of their society. Nevertheless, rationalization has also been highly criticised, for one, it is seen as a force for the dehumanization of people in favor of rules organizational behaviors. In addition, the fact that rationalization has been retrospectively dubbed as progress has been opposed on the basis of its tendency to move modernity away from the tenets of enlightenment.

Acting discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Acting discussion - Assignment Example When acting as Benny Carson in the movie, Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story he is able to use his body movements and facial expression in a way that viewers will be easily convinced that he was a real doctor (Edelson, 2000). Cuba Gooding Jr. is also very good at using his voice to fit different characters in different movies. If you listen to him in the movie, The hit list and Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story you will realize that the use of tone and other variations in the way he speaks (Smith, 2013). Listening at the two films you might think that the actors in the two cases have two different identities and characters. Imagination and analytical is also something that Cuba Gooding has shown in many of his movies. In the movie, One in the chamber you can notice that after his first assassination and he is being pursued by a group of his victim’s guards, he walks forward despite calls by the guards for him to stop and as soon as he gets to the staircases he starts running just as he takes the corner knowing that at the corner would be the right place to start increasing the distance between him and his

Organizational Behavior Analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organizational Behavior Analysis - Term Paper Example If that is true, it is logical to say that no two organizations are the same either in behavior, culture or attitude. Organizational behavior plays a vital role in determining the success and failures of modern organizations. Globalization and liberalization have brought huge changes in organizations world. Modern organizations are working in a multicultural environment. Diverse workforce is common in most of the current organizations. Multicultural workforce would definitely have diverse communication means. Same way, strategies necessary to motivate a diverse workforce could be extremely different. Instead of intelligence quotient, emotional quotient of the employees appears to be more important in modern organizations. In short, new paradigms of OB are entering organizational world as time goes on. Apple Inc. is one of the prominent organizations in the world at present. They are the second largest in terms of market capitalization and also the most valuable technology company in the world at present. This paper analyses the importance of culture, communication, motivational techniques, emotional quotient and new paradigms in controlling the behavior of modern organizations, by taking Apple Inc. as the example. Culture As mentioned earlier, multiculturalism is not a myth, but a fact in modern organizations. ... When people from different cultures are working in the same organization, human resource managers may face lot of problems. The success of the organization lies in how well the HR managers solve such problems. For example, Muslims always like to have weekly off on Fridays whereas Christians like to have that on Sundays. These kind of contrasting interests or beliefs often cause problems to the HR managers. Even in the same culture, different subcultures often exist. For example, Roman Catholics and Protestants are two of the prominent communities in the Christian culture. Same way, Shia, Sunnis Kurds and Arabs are the subcultures in Islamic culture. The behavior, rituals, and customs of these subcultures are often different. â€Å"Some cultures put more emphasis on universal commitments (like honesty) while others put more weight on loyalty to particular people and relationships† (Ghemawat and Reiche, 2011, p.2). For example, people from some cultures are ready to tell even li es to save the interests of their companion. Such people places the value of relationships much above than anything else in this world. At the same time there are plenty of people who are not ready to tell lies even when their friends need their support badly. In short, modern organizations are operating based on the principles of pluralism and dualism and hence the salad bowl theory is extremely relevant to the modern organizations. As everybody knows, salad in a bowl consists of different vegetables and fruits. In other words, salads integrate the tastes of different vegetables and fruits and give eaters a unique taste. The taste of a salad is the sum total of the tastes of the individual components in it. It should be noted that the

Movie Girl Interrupted Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Girl Interrupted - Movie Review Example Girl Interrupted is a story told by Suzanna Kay son who has been on a locked psyche unit for females for almost two years. She is a bright teenager of 18 when she signs herself in on the suggestion of a family friend and psychiatrist. The story is set in the 60's when it was truly an embarrassment to have this kind of illness and Suzanna goes to the hospital alone, in the back of a cab. Suzanna has already had many problems in her life. She does not get along with her parents, she has had an affair with a high school teacher and contrary to what was alright for a girl in that day and age, she has decided to "write". The ward she is on seems almost to be a dorm. There are several other young women there, some are silly and some are angry but is this not the same elsewhere The truth of the situation occurs when any small thing changes to set off these women and then chaos erupts and everyone seems different than they did just a few minutes before. The head nurse is Whoopie Goldberg and she has previously worked for a State institution and believes this job is a "piece of cake" in comparison. She, however, has a great deal of compassion for these women though she also runs the unit with a needed strong hand. Treatment for misbehaving is an ice bath and many of the nurses use the "there is not going to be any trouble is there" to be sure the patients take their medications etc. There is also, of course, four point restraints. Not to many of these kinds of treatments are used today but seclusion rooms are still prominent on most lock ups. These rooms are padded on all four walls, the ceiling and the floor and you are placed there to do away with you hostility. Suzanna is diagnosed by her psychiatrist as a borderline personality disorder In today's DSM IV her symptoms would seem to match this disorder which is Borderlin epersonality disorder, 301.83. It actually is difficult to see Suzanna as having any psychiatric disorder and she is the kind of patient that is difficult to miss when admitted with problems to the medical surgical floor. Suzanna took a bottle of aspirin and drank an bottle of alcohol but for most of the movies states it was an accident and she did not mean to kill herself, "she had a headache." DSMIV lists the main symptoms of personality disorder as revolving around unstable relationships, a poor negative sense of self, inconsistent moods, and significant impulsivity. They have an intense fear of abandonment and usually push people away so they cannot be abandoned. They become overly involved and very attached to various people (DSM IV) Suzanna does meet all of these symptoms and like she says it is a wavy line because she seems normal. We would not admit her to a locked psyche unit today but we might regularly run into her in clinics and other healthcare facilities and as nurses, have a need to understand that this can be a problem personality and may be why these people are alone. The prognosis here is good if they attend treatment and begin to understand that they are not "crazy" but need to understand their disease. Suzanna does end up being able to go home and has gained a great insight not only into her own illness but into the illnesses of so many of the other patients on the unit. Lisa, on the other hand is what in the days the movie was placed would have

Can Abortion be a Morally Acceptable Choice Essay

Can Abortion be a Morally Acceptable Choice - Essay Example The fact that a majority of the people are in fact somewhere between the two positions is often lost in the vitriol of the debate. Pro-life groups state that human life begins at conception, and thus an abortion is the killing of a human being. There are some differences within the pro-life position however. Many people who say they are pro-life agree that abortions should be allowed in the case of incest , rape or to save the woman's life. This seems a somewhat odd position as, if a person believes that human life begins at conception, should it matter how the baby was conceived Is the baby any less human because its father was a rapist Is it any less human because its mother may die because of the pregnancy The answer to both these questions would seem to be 'no'. The two positions have been set out and logic, practically and ethics falls on the side that some abortions are indeed morally acceptable. Perhaps the 'easiest' types of abortion to defend are those in which the mother's life is being saved. These can be defended on a number of bases. First, the practical fact is that if the mother's life is at risk so is the baby's. If the mother dies, the baby will as well. So in this case, even if a person believes that life begins at conception, it is surely better to have a situation in which one person lives and one dies, rather than both dying. Second, the legal principle of 'self-defense' might be applied here. If the baby is a human being, then it (albeit unintentionally) is killing the mother. The mother has a perfect right to defend herself against this attack. The abortion is an example of self-defense. In cases of incest and rape, a less certain ground exists for those who believe life begins at conception. Incest may lead to genetic problems and diseases for generations to come, indeed, this is the reason that incest is taboo in most societies in the world. It seems logical that a pregnancy produced in this way, which might have hazardous effects for generations to come, should be terminated. Rape is a more difficult issue. Here the argument moves into the territory of when a fertilized egg 'becomes human'. An abortion that occurs because the mother is raped essentially falls into the 'choice' category. The pro-choice side says that a woman has the right to self-determination guaranteed by the US Constitution, specifically "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", and that any attempt to tell her what to do with her own body directly contradicts this right. Pro-choice groups maintain that a baby is only a 'human life' when it is able to exist independent of its mother. Thus abortions up until about six months are morally legitimate as until this time the baby cannot survive outside the mother's body. These are not abortions of independent human life but merely medical procedures undertaken by a woman and her doctor, and as such should be no one's business but the individual woman and her doctor. If a person believes the "independent of its mother" of human life then any abortion up until that time is morally justifiable. The question of rape, incest, or saving the mother's life does not come into play because the mother is just having something done to herself. This position essentially

Maths ans. to Two of the Big questions posed by the New Science [dated Article

Maths ans. to Two of the Big questions posed by the New Science [dated 18th November 2006] re creating an objective way of viewing the world and a identity for - Article Example I have just completed a seven year research project exploring the idea of using the natural symbolic / mathematical properties of language to construct an objective technique for thinking about and viewing the world as a commonly experienced and quantifiable reality. I feel that my research goes hand in hand in solving the Two of the Big Questions posited, "What is Realty?" by Penrose and "What is Consciousness?" by Broks My proposed solutions to these questions along with appropriate quotes from the article sections are included. These responses stem from my research and are presented first in statement form as feasible answers to these queries and second in tabular / mathematical form in the included Appendices. After a careful study of patterns within language, I formulated a concept that would relate these patterns to SET theory, the fundamental concept in mathematics wherein all members have the same characteristics. My mathematical degree allows me to think objectively when relating seemingly subjective viewpoints of the world and reality. I believe that this mathematical approach to the perception of reality is the "Holy Grail" that Professor Penrose has been looking for. He states, "To address the nature of reality we need to understand its connection to consciousness and mathematics" (38). Furthermore, "We have to understand the connection between physical reality, conscious mentality and the wonderful world of mathematics" (2). This mathematical approach is reflected throughout my research and my responses here are actually a small, but important, part of the entire project. "Can we be sure that the world we experience is not a figment of our imaginations?" (Penrose 32). The supposition of my research states that it is possible to attain an objective, and thereby universal, way of perceiving the world / reality. Penrose goes on to ask, "Should we not

Teenagers and Gang Violence in Connecticut must be in the last 5 years Research Paper

Teenagers and Gang Violence in Connecticut must be in the last 5 years - Research Paper Example Initially, gang violence among teenagers was only prevalent in inner cities of Unites States but now it is spreading in to every part of the country. Connecticut is one such state which is following other states and seeing an increase in teenager based gang violence. The teenager involving in gang violence in Connecticut is slowly increasing and the families and government of the city has a great responsibility to fight this social evil. As per (Hearst Communications)â€Å"Connecticut is not immune to gang violence issue. According to the Department of Public Health, 10 percent of teens surveyed were in a physically violent dating relationship last year; 17 percent were in an emotionally abusive dating relationship†. The teenagers in Connecticut City are slowly getting violent and major blame could be put on the domestic violence occurring in the homes of the state. Dating violence and atrocities at colleges and universities are the major concerns for the government and parent s in the city. Teenagers can get violent for many reasons and mostly they get an affinity towards violence when they see the same at their homes. The Teenager and Gang Violence activities in Connecticut Recently gang violence have spread to many communities in United States and Connecticut is one of the city joined the group. In United States, much of the violence is caused by the youth gangs. They create violence in neighborhood and schools where they are more active and interact commonly. According to (Brown) â€Å"The police in many Connecticut cities only had to look inside the schools to see that the problem of youth violence is on the rise. There's more fights resulting in violence over little things and more violence involving girls†. It is also seen that these violent youths get access to guns as they are sold on the streets .Children as young as 14 year old possess gun and using it at unpredictable situation which give rise to injury and fatal killing. The fights amo ng teenagers start on petty things and move on to become a deadly encounter. Since they are immature to think about the consequences of their action, things get out of their hand. This is a concern among the police authorities as the age of homicide victims are getting younger than ever. There have been many shootings and stabbings happening in the state in the past years that Federal, state and local authorities are highly concerned about the security of teenagers. More of violence is especially observed in the Hartford and Manchester towns of Connecticut State. The gang violence among teenagers has taken over the nature of adult fights and local police are more active to trace the reason for such violence. The teenagers involved in gang violence perform activities like petty theft, vandalism, fights over turf, drug dealing and burglary. Since the teenagers are mostly set free they have the tendency to repeat the same action as they know that there would not be any negative consequ ences for their atrocities. The involvement of teenage in gangs is what mostly provokes them to end up in violence. In his book(Gerali,32)writes that â€Å" Teenagers who get involved with gangs may begin carrying weapons such as knives, baseball bats, pipes, brass knuckles, hammers, pipe wrenches, and guns†. In Stratford town there happens rapes, brawls and killing which is caused by the teenagers who are member of violent gangs. The police in Connecticut have found out that these teenage

Fashion Marketing and Promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Fashion Marketing and Promotion - Essay Example As maybe part of my artistic inclinations, is my personal quest to be highly fashionable and trendy, always up to date with the latest styles in fashion and beauty. I have a watchful eye towards the latest clothing designs, keeping track of famous brands and its new clothing lines. I am as interested in creating designs as well as finding the right strategy to market it, thus my current course fits me perfectly. At the moment, I feel like I am being molded into the profession that I eventually wish to embark in. I do not only practice my creativity, but also learn the science behind it. I get to understand the marketing concepts, create marketing ideas and be in touch with every aspect that makes up a really good brand. I am geared towards brand and product management, marketing and design all at the same time. And I feel that I am ready to learn more by advancing to the next step, which is being hands on in real company, with more tasks and greater responsibilities to handle. Moving from China to London has been inevitable, yet the crossover proved to be beneficial, as I am now exposed to another culture, with relatively other ways to execute creative concepts, and a totally different perspective to look from. The new opportunities fueled my desire to pursue a career in this field. I have met new people, explored new grounds and realized many other abilities that I have. This even prompted me to look beyond my initial goals and saw a whole lot of other opportunities for me to conquer. As a Marketing student, I have moved on to find interests in media and communications as a whole. Having spent the last few years being immersed in retail operations, I now understand that it takes a good communication plan and media connections to be able to successfully market my products. Â  

Business Model of Amazon Essay Example for Free

Business Model of Amazon Essay Amazon.com is the pioneering bookstore on the Internet that first opened in July 1995 by Jeff Bezos. The firm offers online shopping services and partnership opportunities such as online search for books, music and video items. The products that they sell include an array of audio, video and book titles. Amazon has one of the widest selections and employs international shipping to virtually every corner of the globe in just a few days. Amazon’s focus is having the biggest selection of free-electronic greeting cards, online auction and millions of books, CDs, videos, DVDs, toys and electronics. They have expanded to different areas of the world, such as Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de, to service consumers outside of the United States. They aim to be a Cost leader in which their firm has lower costs than the competitors. They have employed different Amazon branches in different parts of the world to lower costs. This allows Amazon to ship their products at a lower price from each point of shipment to the consumer. In recent years, Amazon.com has expanded from being just an online bookstore to an all around online shopping experience. They have coined the tag line Earth’s biggest selection. Amazon has diversified into different websites. These are the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), LiveBid.com, amazon.livebid.com, drugstore.com (an online retail and information about health and wellness), gear.com (online sporting goods company), homegrocer.com (online grocery shopping and delivery), pets.com (largest pet supply online shopping site), ashford.com (online luxury and premium shopping) and eZiba.com (online retailer of handcrafted products). Five Forces Model for Industry Analysis New Entrants The online bookstore industry that Amazon.com has pioneered in was, at first, very hard to penetrate. There were different barriers such as distributing capabilities and the variety of the selection offered that are supposed to be hurdled. Amazon successfully solved the tricky parameters as being the first one to get into the whole idea of online retail. With being the first, they had the luxury to set what were the norms for the industry. Factors that may lower these barrier tactics would be a wider selection and the  ability to go to an actual bookstore to exchange or return books or other products. This network of actual retail spaces makes it easier for the consumer to return or exchange the products they were not satisfied with. These handicaps of Amazon were the basis for the emergence of book retail giants Barnes and Noble and Borders in the online shopping industry. Industry Competitors The major competitors of Amazon are Barnes and Noble and Borders. Barnes and Noble is a retail giant offering books and CDs both in their outlets all over the country. It opened their online industry in 1997 and has become the fourth largest e-commerce sites today. Focused largely on the sale of books, music, software, magazines, prints, posters, and related products, the company has capitalized on the recognized brand value of the Barnes Noble name to become the second largest, and one of the fastest growing, online distributors of books. Their advantage to Amazon is the brand name and the availability of actual retail outlets in which consumers could go in to exchange or return products easily. They also have an established book selection based in their retail operations. Borders is another multi-media retail store found in major cities around the country. Started out as a small bookshop in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, it has since expanded into one of the finest bookstores. In 1992, Borders was bought by the Kmart group which further flourished the company into a Multi Media Giant with a wide selection of Audio, Video and Books found throughout the United States. The Online Bookstore industry have become a fierce business which involves discounts, varied selections and fast delivery in which all three companies are challenging each other. Buyers The consumers of this industry can be found in every corner of the population. These are mostly people who have had some form of higher education and have access to the Internet and computers. The segment of online shoppers has increased dramatically in recent years due to the convenience of shopping in the comforts of the home and the accessibility of the Internet. These developments have made it easier for consumers to log on and buy on the Internet. Consumers also tend to compare prices among the retail leaders such that buyers are able to buy products with very big  discounts compared to ones bought in actual retail outlets. The bargaining power of the consumer is based on the competitive strategies of each active firm in the industry. Thus, consumers can challenge one firm for charging more than the other one such that the firm will beat the price of the competing firm. Suppliers Amazon’s suppliers range from the publishing and media houses to electronics’ manufacturers. Amazon buys all their books, videos and audio CDs from the multi media houses and publishing giants such as Time Warner, Doubleday etc. Amazon also has alliances with other bookstores to cover orders that they cannot serve. Substitutes The substitutes for Amazon and other online bookstores are the actual book retailers and music stores such as Barnes and Nobles, Virgin Megastore, Tower Records, Sam Goody and other small mom-and-pop outlets. With the rise of online retail, there will be little impact from these substitutes. One impact would be some consumers who would like to hold or listen to their purchases prior to buying and those who are into the whole shopping experience. Barnes and Nobles have jumped into online retail and have succeeded into diversifying into the new e-commerce industry. Industrial Organization Model Degree of Competition Due to the shift of focus for Amazon, it has become the Earth’s biggest anything store. Its competitors have expanded from just online book retailers Barnes and Nobles and Borders to top audio retailers CDNOW.com and online auction house EBAY.com. Amazon has an overall lead of 40% market share against the other online retail firms. Their international business has more than doubled over the past 2 years and this growth increased Amazon’s share in the online business market. Life Cycle Amazon, in it’s first years, had negative income but the rise of e-commerce sites and being the pioneer made the succeeding years led to boom time for them. Their growth period was during 1994 to 1995 when they were the first of its kind in the world. They incurred very high costs in terms of  distributions to customers. Still with a negative income, Amazon went public in 1997 and had one of the biggest IPOs of the time. With investors banking on future positive cash flow for this company, Amazon’s market value soared. Many people caught on with the idea of online shopping, thus, Amazon’s success. Amazon’s success as an online retailer prompted bricks-and-mortar rivals Barnes and Noble and Borders to join in. Competition decreased Amazon’s profitability so in the past couple of years, Amazon has expanded to more than books, audio and video to electronics and other retail concepts. Social Relevance Amazon’s products are marketed for every consumer possible. Books, audio, video and electronics are appreciated by majority of the population especially those who have access to the Internet. Amazon is active in pursuing literacy programs for young children by collaborating with the makers of the Dr. Seuss books. They have actively participated in the Dr. Seuss shops, story telling sessions and Dr. Seuss days. Degree of Globalization Amazon’s strength internationally lies within its networks in major ports and cities around the Globe. Amazon first started out in Seattle but as soon as they have established a niche market, they have opened shop all over the nation and in cities such as London, Berlin, The Hague, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore and many more. These branches overseas improves their delivery service to a wide consumer base. Extent of Government Control There has not been many government regulations regarding online retailing. A group of CEOs whose firms that are engaged in such practices have formed an organization called Global Business Dialogue. This GBD group supports the development of a seamless global system that delivers the broadest array of goods and services to the largest number of consumers at the most competitive prices. This work effort will: offer recommendations to the WTO, including making the moratorium on online tariffs permanent; and collaborate with governments to target and eliminate discriminations against, or other non-tariff barriers to global trade in, electronic commerce. This working group will also provide an avenue for the GBDs to consider and promote the  growth of the electronic marketplace in an environment unencumbered by detrimental taxation. Degree of Vertical Integration Amazon’s primary value chain includes purchasing/sourcing, marketing, distribution and after-sales services, which includes returns and exchanges from unsatisfied customers. Their main focus is in the purchasing/sourcing and in the distribution of the products to the consumers. Their investments are therefore, geared towards warehouses in key points of high consumer demand areas and an efficient delivery and distributing system to service all its consumers. Thus, Amazon controls most of its distributing system that spans across borders. Inter Organization of Network Economics Amazon in its efforts to sustain its market leadership in the online retailing industry has tied up with various online organizations. Netscape Navigator and Amazon will offer members of Netscape Netcenter a co-branded storefront where Earths Biggest Bookstore will be easily accessed through Netscape Netcenter (home.netscape.com). In addition, Amazon.com has multi-year exclusive and premier bookseller relationships with 5 of the top 6 sites on the World Wide Web: AOL.com, Yahoo!, Netscape, GeoCities, and Excite. These partnerships widen Amazon’s presence in the World Wide Web. Sensitivity to Business Cycles The Online retailing business has a very quick cyclical growth. Amazon being one of the firsts to venture in this type of commerce are all ready in what seems to be in their decline stage where market share is declining. Therefore, Amazon is expanding to different industries within online retailing. Amazon and other online retailing firms are very sensitive to business cycles due to the speed of technology involved in the services they offer. Dynamics of New Knowledge Generation Online retailing relies on the work of an excellent distribution system. Amazon has invested their money into expanding their network of distribution centers around the globe. They also have investments in creating better technology for tracking orders and giving efficient delivery systems for their customers. Amazon.com has remained on top of the online retailing  business despite the entrance of giants such as Barnes and Nobles and Borders. Their success is attributed to two factors; timing and continuing to invest heavily into the inventory and distribution systems. Amazon, by being the first of its kind, has a big lead over the nearest competitors due to their experience and its reputation as the first movers. Their thrust remains on improving efficient delivery systems across borders and to build name recognition as the number one retailing firm in the Internet. They have also ventured into different retail options to keep that lead. Marketing, Innovative inventory and distribution systems, and name recall have helped Amazon build a sustainable competitive advantage. In order for any online retail company to remain prosperous and income generating, they must invest a lot of time and money into research and development of more efficient operations and distributions systems. This proved to be key for the Market Leader in online retailing, Amazon.Com. Mary Grace Velasco,College of Business Administration,Senior, Fordham University,Fall 2000

Determinants of Exchange Rate in Malaysia

Determinants of Exchange Rate in Malaysia Chapter 1: Introduction 1.0 Introduction As the world develops and getting more integrated, business trading or even international trading has became a very common activity. Currency or most commonly known as money is use or circulation to pay in exchange for goods and services, money are use as a medium of exchange. There are two kinds of money form, the banknotes and the coins. Banknotes are more commonly used because of its convenience. Money is indeed a very important invention in human kind history. As times goes by, more and more different kind are introduced by countries and these different currency are controlled and printed by their national banks. As the world getting more integrated, the relationship of these currencies is getting more complicated. The dominating currencies include the US dollar, British Pound Sterling and the Euro Dollar. Malaysia is a developing country located at the South East Asian; Kuala Lumpur is the capital city for Malaysia. Malaysia has gain independent from the British colonist in the year 1957. In 1967, the National Bank of Malaysia had introduced the Malaysia dollar and it had been using it as the official currency to trade in Malaysia. During the decades, the currency had developed and minor changes were made. Now, the currency is already known as the Ringgit Malaysia (RM). Ringgit Malaysia (RM) had always been stable and developing during the course of decades. However, during the Asian currency crisis, Ringgit Malaysia (RM) was badly affected and the volatility of the currency is severe. Due to the effect of the Asian currency crisis, the Ringgit Malaysia (RM) is fluctuating between 3.80 and 4.40 a US dollar. The Malaysia currency was implying the floating rate regime until end of 1998, the government of Malaysia decided to peg Malaysian Ringgit to US dollar at a rate of RM3.80 to a US dollar. In this research, a study will be conduct with a topic of â€Å"The determinants of exchange rate in Ringgit Malaysia.† In this chapter, brief explanation will be done for background of study, problem statement, research question, research objective, significant of study and outline research. The other chapters of literature review, data and methodology, data analysis and also conclusion. For Malaysia, exchange rate is one of the most important factors affecting the development of the countries’ economy. It will influence the interest of investors because exchange rate risk plays will affect the profitability of their investments. Many studies had on exchange rate but very little is about the Ringgit Malaysia. However the factors influence the movements of Ringgit Malaysia that will be discussed in this research are Inflation rate, Interest rate, Gross domestic product, and Balance of Payment. 1.1 Background of Study On the day of June 1967, it is an historical moment for the Malaysian history because the new central bank of Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia had introduced the Malaysian dollar. The Malaysian dollar was use to replace the Malaya and British Borneo dollar. The word ringgit means pointy inBahasa Malaysia. It came from the idea of the serrated edges of silver  Spanish dollars. Silver Spanish dollars was commonly spread in area the 16th and 17th century throughout the area during Portuguese colonial era. The word â€Å"Ringgit† means dollar in Malay, Singapore dollar and Brunei dollar are sometimes also referred as the ringgit. In August 1975, ringgit and sen were formally used as the official names. The sign used â€Å"$† (or â€Å"M$†) is finally replaced by â€Å"RM† (Ringgit Malaysia) in around 1997, â€Å"MYR† is being used internationally as the code for Ringgit Malaysia. The ringgit is separated into 100 sen. As for Malaysian coins, the denominations will be 1 sen, 5 sen, 10 sen, 20 sen, 50 sen, and RM 1. For the denominations for banknotes, it will be RM 1, RM 2, RM 5, RM 10, RM 20, RM 50, RM 100, RM 500 and RM 1000. Ringgit Malaysian had replaced the Malaya and British Borneo dollar, the new currency was initially priced to British pound with the ratio of 1 sterling to RM 8.57 as same as the old currency. Five months from the launching of the new Ringgit Malaysia in November 1967, the pound sterling had depreciated approximately 14%. The Ringgit Malaysia was not influenced much as it is not pegged to pound sterling but the value of Malaya and Brunei dollar fall in value too. Despite of the appearance of the new currencies in Malaysia, the three neighbors countries which includes Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei still keep the Interchangeable Agreement which stated the currency union that Malaysian Dollar was able to change at the equality with the Brunei Dollar and Singapore dollar. Yet in May 1973, the Malaysia government decided to withdraw from the agreement, Malaysia Ringgit will no longer pegged to Singapore dollar or Brunei dollar. However, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Brunei Currency and Monetary Board still preserved the interchangeable of their two currencies. In the 1990s, Malaysia experienced a economy boost. A lot of investors were making tons and tons of money from the Malaysia Capital Market. However, when the Asian Currency Crisis happened in 1997, the unanticipated wave kept many investors stocked, they wasnt prepare to face such ciao. The currency market was badly affected, ringgit was much affected too. Many economists came out and analysted the reason behind this crisis, many even put the blame on the famous speculator, Mr George Soros. At that period, Ringgit Malaysia was valued between 3.80 and 4.40 to the US Dollar,the former Malaysia Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir decides to  peg the national currency to the US dollar in September 1998, fixed its 3.80 to the US Dollar. This peg lasted as long as seven years. After the crisis, Ringgit Malaysia had yet to regain its value against most major currencies. During 2004, ringgit seems to be undervalued by 15 to 20 percent. In the same year, because of the depreciation of US dollar, ringgit was weakens by 17.9 percent against euro and 10.2 percent against Japanese Yen. In July 2005, China had announced that the Chinese’s currency, Renminbi will no longer peg to US dollar. After the announcement, Malaysia also announced the end of the peg of Ringgit Malaysia with US dollar. According to Bank Negara, Malaysia will now allow the currency to float in a managed  range  against numerous major currencies. This has made the price of the ringgit increasing closer to its supposed market value, the national bank has intervened to maintain the stability of Ringgit and not to allow too much fluctuation. After following the free float regime, the ringgit  value went upto as high as RM3.16 to a U.S. dollar in April 2008. On 24 April 2010, TheStar online reported, the ringgit value has increased about 6.7 percent yearly against US dollar. According to Business Times, January 15, 2011, ringgit had hit almost a 14 years high of RM3.052 for a US dollar. Ringgit Malaysia shows a movement of appreciation year by year. It is also a good sign of stability of economy in Malaysia. 1.1.1 Development of Ringgit Malaysia 1.1.1. a. Development of Bank Notes First series of Malaysian Dollar Malaysian dollar banknotes were initially issued by Bank Negara Malaysia on 6 June 1967. The dollar banknotes are denominated in $1, $5, $10, $50 and $100. On September 1968, the Malaysian national bank, Bank NegaraMalaysia had also issued $1000. Additionally, the image of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia was printed on the first banknote of Malaysian dollar. Also, Tun Ismail bin Mohamed Ali’s signature was printed on the first dollar note of Malaysia who was the Malaysian Governor of Bank Negara at that moment. On 16 August 1972, Bank Negara Malaysia adopted an new administrator to include the national language, Bahasa Malaysia into the printing of the new banknotes while remaining the old designs. (Jack, H. 2008) Second series of Malaysian Dollar In 1982, Bank Negara Malaysia had designed and issued the second series of Malaysian Dollar, the Malaysian traditional decorative was used as design on the new Malaysian dollar. The second series of Malaysian dollars come in $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, and $1000. However, the numbers of $20 bank notes were less compare to the other amount of the currency. In 1997 when the Asian Financial Crisis happened, large amount of number of $500 and $1000 were transferred out of the country. In about 1993, $1 coin was introduced to substitute the $1 notes. Since then, $1 notes were discontinued. Third series of Malaysian Dollar In 1996, in the spirit of Wawasan 2020 Bank Negara Malaysia had issued the third series of Ringgit Malaysia. They are denominated in RM2, RM5, RM10, RM50 and RM100. To deter and avoid counterfeiters, additional hologram strip was added on the RM50 and RM100 notes. A new series of RM10 note was issued by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2004. Security features previously implied in RM50 and RM100 notes like the holographic strip is added to the new series of RM10 note. Also, RM 5 note with distinctive transparent window designed was introduced; they are made in polymer material which was never had in Malaysia. Bank Negara Malaysia also suggested all paper notes will be replaced by polymer notes in the future. Fourth series of Malaysian Dollar Bank Negara Malaysia had released a new design of RM50 banknote which will enter the circulation at the beginning of January, 2008. The banknote RM50 remained the unique colour of green-blue but changed a new design. The new design is to support the national mission which expresses the moving up of value chain for economy of the country. Malaysia economy is under the transformation of higher value-added activities such as agriculture,  manufacturing  and services. One the right of the currency, the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong,  Tuanku Abdul Rahman is remained. The national flower, hibiscus is also designed to present at the centre of the banknotes. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Independence day, the logo of 50th Anniversary and features  Malaysias first Prime Minister,  Tunku Abdul Rahman declaring independence is also printed on the reverse of the banknotes. New security features include a watermarked portrait of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, a security thread, fluores cent elements, and multi coloured latent were also added to prevent counterfeiting. On 2011, Bank Negara Malaysia announced the re-introduction of RM20 banknote. 1.1.1. b. Development of Coinage First series of Malaysian Coinage In 1967, the first series of Malaysian sen coins were introduced. They are denominated in 1 sen, 5 sen, 10 sen, 20 sen, and 50 sen. After that, in 1971 the 1 Ringgit Malaysian coin was introduced to the public. First, the Ringgit Malaysian coins are varied by diameters. Practically all the coins were minted in almost consistent obverse and reverse designs. The frontage is depicting the Malaysian Houses of Parliament, the official star and crescent moon from the Malaysian flag, Jalur Gemilang. Malaysian coins are all minted from cupronickel with the only exception of 1 sen. The 1 sen coin was minted in bronze  in the year 1967 to 1972. From 1973 onwards, the national bank of Malaysia minted the 1 sen coin with steel clad combined  copper. Redesigning was made on the50 sen coin. For the 50 sen coin, minor modification was made to add the Bank Negara Malaysia letterings at the edge of it. The first Malaysian coins series was halted in 1989 because the second series of Malaysian coin s was introduced. The first series of Malaysian coins are still in the circulation till now, but the number had reduced significantly. Second series of Malaysian Coinage In 1989, the second series of Malaysian sen coins was introduced and entered into the circulation. Second series of Malaysian coins was redesigned, but principally retaining the design of edges, diameters and composition of the previous series. However, changes were made for the 1 Ringgit Malaysian coin. Modification include drawing of Malay cultural items on the front of the coin. On the upper half of the bank of the coin, the the  national flower, Hibiscus was printed. The designer of this series of coins was Mr Low Yee Kheng. The size of the 1 ringgit coin was also changed, from the original diameter of 33mm to 24mm. It was then minted from an alloy of copper,zincandtin. On December 2005, Bank Negara Malaysia decided to withdrawn the 1 ringgit coin from circulation because it was demonetised. The standardisation of the 1 ringgit coin from the two different versions was the problem behind it. Bank Negara Malaysia announced that a rounding mechanism of prices to the nearest 5 sen will apply to all the billing all around the country. This policy will start effective from April 1, 2008 onwards. With the latest policy from Bank Negara Malaysia made the 1sen 1 sen coin irrelevant. Items selling are still allowed to be priced in multiples of 1 sen, but the total bill will be rounded to the nearest 5 sen. Third series of Malaysian Coinage On 25 July 2011, the third series of Malaysian coins is being announced by the Bank Negara Malaysia. The new series of coins are released on 2012. The third series of Malaysian coins are being issued as commemorative coins. A theme â€Å"Distinctively Malaysia† is carried by the third series of Malaysian coins. Motifs of flora and fauna drawn are used in the design in this series of coins also the various cultures in Malaysia. It also reflects the diversity and richness of Malaysias national identity. These coins are denominated in 5 sen, 10 sen, 20 sen and 50 sen. According to Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim, the productions of the coins are reduced by approximately 50% because of the change in metal composition. The diameter of the coins have also changed, colour on the 20 cent and 50 cent had changed from silver to yellowish gold. New designs like the fourteen dots symbolizing the thirteen states and the Federal of Malaysia are included in the new series. The five horizontal lines on the coins indicate the five principles ofRukunegara. As for the 50 cent, the round shape of the coins with nine indentations represents the original BANK NEGARA MALAYSIA lettering. Besides, the 50 cents from the third series will have a latent image security feature. When the 50 cent coins are tilted slightly, denomination 50 and SEN can be seen. 1.2 Problem Statement Exchange rate risk is a one of the key risk that international investors will take account when evaluating an investment. Therefore, determinates of exchange rate is a very important topic. Factors affecting the exchange rate are critical in determining the price of Ringgit Malaysia. A stable and predictable exchange rate will help the economy of a country to grow. If we know the significant factors affecting the exchange rate, we will be able to predict and determent what is the price of Ringgit Malaysia. Many studies have been conducted to determine the determinants of exchange rate and most studies are done used different methods and approaches on how to evaluate the exchange rate. However, the results obtain by some of these studies such as Louis Kujis (1998), Eiteman et al (2001), Otuori, O. H. (2013) and Fracis Fong (2006) differs. This is due to the fact that the results are influenced by the changes of countries’ internal conditions and the macroeconomic environment. U nfortunately, most of the studies concentrate only on major currencies like US dollar and pound sterling but not Ringgit Malaysia. Furthermore, Ringgit Malaysia had also shown potential and its immunization against financial crisis like the sub-prime mortgage in mid 2008. However, there has been little reference when analyzing the Ringgit Malaysia’s price determinates. Besides that, by using the same determinants and quantitative methods, the result for Ringgit Malaysia might differ from the result obtain towards the major currencies, as there could possibly be other factors not important in the developed countries that affects the Ringgit Malaysia or vice versa. Therefore, this paper is to attempt to fill in the gap by investigating determinates of Ringgit Malaysia hence make it possible to predict the price of Ringgit Malaysia. 1.3 Research Question The key research question asked is thus: â€Å"What are the factors affecting the exchange rate of Ringgit Malaysia against US dollar?† 1.4 Research Objective To explore the determinates of Ringgit Malaysia To evaluate the relationship between price of Ringgit Malaysia and major macroeconomic variables 1.5 Significant of Study Many studies had done to investigate the factors affecting the exchange rate. It had no doubt that exchange rate will an important topic to study. Exchange rate is influence by both countries’ internal conditions and also the macroeconomic variables. Most studies done are concentrating the major currencies like the US dollar, Euro dollar and British Pound Sterling. The result obtained from this research will be compare and check with these prior researches. Furthermore, most of these prior studies are done on developed countries’ currencies; this paper will also attempt to check for any similarity or differences between the currencies from developed countries and developing countries. In conjunction, the lack of studies done concerning the exchange rate of Ringgit Malaysia, this paper is done with the hope of assisting and helping more research that will be done on exchange rate of Ringgit Malaysia in the future. 1.6 Scope of Study This paper studies the impact of interest rate, inflation rate, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Balance of Payment (BOP) toward the exchange rate of Ringgit Malaysia. Quarterly data are used in this paper. 40 observations were used to carry on this study. However, due to the lack of data point from some variables, the sample size of this study had readjusted to 32 with a sample period of 2006 to 2013. 1.7 Outline Research Chapter 1 consists of the general background and aim of this paper. Besides, this chapter has briefly explained the problem to be investigated, the objectives and the significance of this study. Chapter 2 provides the literature review and more detailed facts about how the investigation will be carried. Hence, prior research theories that are related to this topic are presented. Using the theories previous discovered by other researchers, a framework will be constructed to analyze the volatility of exchange rate of Ringgit Malaysia from the data collected. The journals collected are from different sources; there include the online databases, journal articles and books. Chapter 3 presents the methodology and the data used in this research for analyzing the volatility of exchange rate of Ringgit Malaysia. Here, this chapter also explains how the investigating had been done. Furthermore, this chapter is divided into parts such as theoretical framework, sample of analysis and the hypothesis-testing framework. Chapter 4 describes and explains the empirical results and data analysis of the result obtained. It consists of statistical reports, and how do these reports related to the topic studied. Above all, this chapter mainly analyzes the relationship between the dependent variables and its determinants. Chapter 5 will summarizes and highlights all the key finding of the study. The conclusion will be a summary of the overall analysis and investigation done in the study.

Analysis Of Amerindian Perspectivism Philosophy Essay

Analysis Of Amerindian Perspectivism Philosophy Essay Brazilian anthropologist Viveiros de Castro has been an essential force in new strands of anthropology within the last decade, and his foremost contribution has been the development of Amerindian perspectivism. Viveiros de Castros objectives were to produce a more generalised framework of Amazonian cosmologies and shamanistic practices, with an aim to dispose of the nature versus culture dichotomy that had always prevailed within the discipline of anthropology. By rediscovering the notion of animism, Viveiros de Castro was able to formulate new modes of relation between humans and non-humans, and perspectivism may be seen as simply a potent rendering of animism. This essay will explore the comparisons that have been made in recent ethnography between Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism and the application of perspectivism to other parts of the world. This will ultimately result in the questioning of whether perspectivism can, in reality, be labelled a theory. Initially an ex amination of Viveiros de Castros analysis of Amerindian perspectivism is crucial in an attempt to draw comparisons with the deployment of perspectivism in ethnography within northern Asia, in particular Mongolia and Siberia. Viveiros de Castro purports that his development of the notion of perspectivism forms a vital component of most Amerindian cosmologies, and is founded upon spiritual unity and corporeal identity. In opposition with the distinction between nature and culture, Viveiros de Castro illuminates a contrastive feature between Western and Amerindian cosmologies. Anthropology itself centres on the multiculturalist notion to the nature vs. culture dichotomy; the idea that there is one universal nature and many cultures, as building blocks structured upon that which is pure and unifying; nature. This approach implies the universality of the body, and the subjective distinctiveness of spirit and meaning. The concept of multiculturalism has consistently been applied to the demographic constitutions of a particular place with multiple ethnicities and religious groups, and to notions of identity (Visweswaran, 1998). Viveiros de Castro proposes that for Amerindian cosmologies however, an inversion of the multiculturalist notion, that is multinaturalism. Multinaturalism is the conception of spiritual unity and corporeal diversity, the unifying and objective being culture and the subjective distinctiveness of nature; bodies (Viveiros de Castro, 1998). Amerindian cosmologies share mythology and the notion of a creation myth that there was once an original state of undifferentiation between humans and animals, and this serves to unfold Amerindian perspectivism. This is the shared mythological belief that animals are ex humans, and that the original common condition that both humans and animals shared was humanity rather than animality (Viveiros de Castro, 1998). This origin myth can be employed to explain the general meaning of perspectivism. Viveiros de Castro states that animals and spirits see themselves as humans: they perceive themselves as anthropomorphic beings. their social system as organized in the same way as human institutions are (1998:470). This is the principal idea of perspectivism; that nonhumans see the world as humans do, but what they see differs from what humans see because of the distinct medium through which they see things differs from the medium through which humans see things (Pedersen, 2001). Every being t hat has a soul is capable of having a point of view, and it is the point of view that creates the subject. The point of view is located within the body, and differences between viewpoints concern the differentiation between bodies (Viveiros de Castro, 1998). What Viveiros de Castro refers to as the body is an assemblage of affects or ways of being that constitutes a habitus (1998:478). The concept of habitus has most recently been elaborated by Bourdieu (1972) as a system of dispositions in response to determinate structures and other fields that are neither wholly voluntary nor involuntary. Acquired dispositions or ways of being include taste, communication and habitation. To tie this in with multinaturalism, every subject creates their own conception of nature. Viveiros de Castro refers to the form of a being as like a piece of clothing which masks an internal human form that is only visible to those within the same species or trans-specific beings such as shamans. It is not so much that the body is a clothing but rather that clothing is a body (1998:482). An animals clothing (their body) is not simply manipulated as a disguise, but rather their equipment that differentiates them from one another, and provides them with their habitus. The internal human form is the beings soul or spirit (1998). By undergoing metamorphosis, the being sheds its clothing and, through a process of transformation, adopts the point of view of another being. The shaman is the only being that is capable of assuming the point of view of the Other; the extra-human animal, and returning back to its original state of being unharmed (Viveiros de Castro, 1998). Amerindian perspectivist cosmologies bear striking similarities with the notion of animism, initially proposed by Tylor in the nineteenth century. Tylor attributed animism to the almost universally held beliefs of primitive people that certain objects and persons were animated by something incorporeal called spirit' (Kraus, 1971:487). Descola (1992) developed this idea of animism that all spiritual entities are similar in that they share spiritual features, with the difference being the body that they are endowed with (Latour, 2009). Thus, animism would appear in accordance with Castros proposition of multinaturalism within Amerindian cosmologies. In contrast with the multiculturalist notion of the nature vs. culture dichotomy, animism holds society as the unmarked pole, as the unifying dimension, rather than nature. Totemism, on the other hand, is the conception that individuals and clans share kinship with other forms of non-human being. Levi-Strauss (1962) discusses totemic classifications as a form of organisation which emphasises discontinuities between species to confer a conceptual order on society. The totem is a non-human being which is normally accompanied by a totemic myth, and they are manipulated to make the social world a more coherent classificatory system. Therefore, there is a very striking difference between animism and perspectivism, and totemism; in totemic societies the non-human being is regarded as a sign, and in animic and perspectivist societies, the non-human being is regarded in terms of the relationship it makes available (Pedersen, 2001). It will be brought up later on with an analysis of northern Asian cosmologies, that some ontologies in northern Asia are predominantly animistic, and some predominantly totemistic. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Viveiros de Castros notion of perspectivism is wholly an animistic concept. His analysis of Amerindian perspectivism has been supported by Pelusos research undertaken in Peru. Peluso critically discusses her ethnography on dream narratives amongst the Ese Eja, an Amazonian community, and acknowledges that multinatural perspectivism is present within the ontology of dream narratives (2004). Naming dreams are common for the Ese Eja, and reflect multiple overlapping realities of time and space, acting as a reminder for its subjects that transformations are possible between multiple worlds. Eshawa, for the Ese Eja is the concept of personhood that connects the self with all species and the spirit world (Peluso, 2004:2). The dreams always involve an interaction between the animal and the dreamer, and involve the animal transforming itself into a child and addressing the dreamer by the appropriate kin term. This action eludes the mother/father/grandparen t dreamer to the childs dream name, and they must use this name for everyday life (Peluso, 2004). Viveiros de Castros notion of perspectivism in Amazonia is quite clearly at work here. People validate the links between dream names and their namesake animals through perceived shared physical and character traits, relating to Viveiros de Castros corporeal affects that form the distinctive viewpoints of subjects. Similarly, multinatural perspectivism such as the dream world, implies that all subjects (human or not) share personhood and interact socially as enacted in dream narratives. (Peluso, 2004:9). The dream world allows the capacity for carrying over the same viewpoint into different cross-realities, and dreams are sources of knowledge and channels of communication between multiple worlds, unhindered by physical or ontological distance (Peluso, 2004). Pelusos ethnography based on the Ese Eja community in Peru is a fine example of Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivist cosmology in practice, but the question still remains as to whether perspectivism can be applied to another part of the world other than Amazonia. The vast majority of the rest of this essay will attempt to apply perspectivism and its deployments through ethnography, to two very different regions of northern Asia; Mongolia and Siberia. Pedersen (2007) has written extensive ethnography concerning the Darhads of Mongolia, and their relationship with perspectivism. It is clear that Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism is prevalent within Darhad animist cosmology, but at the same time there are several distinctions that must not be overlooked. A stark contrast between Darhad and Amerindian cosmology is that the Darhads do not share the conception of a creation myth; an original state of undifferentiation (Pedersen, 2007). Viveiros de Castro suggests that mythology is a precondition for perspectivism, in that the period from whence everything was undifferentiated and humanity, is crucial for spiritual unity and the universality of beings (1998). Nevertheless, Darhad cosmology is amythological yet animist and comprises multiple points of view; different perspectives unchanging over time. The majority of the Darhad animist cosmos is perceived as an unmarked territory, and that it is along specific paths where the social lives of beings occurs. Therefore Darhad cosmology itself is not one unified whole, but rather many parallel worlds, with each parallel world containing the totality of relations enacted through a given point of view (Pedersen, 2007). Similarities can be drawn here with Amerindian perspectivism in that exchanges of perspectives between different kinds of beings are being experienced by the Darhad people, however there appear profound differences. The Darhads nomadic landscape is organised according to the constellation of centres within it, with the nomadic households as physically moving entities, and sacred stone cairns such as those on the top of mountains as fixed components. All nomadic movements centre around these gravitation points, for the rest of the nomadic landscape is void (Pedersen, 2007). The Darhad conception of the landscape appears mo re of a totemic reality than an animist one in this sense. Rather, as a discontinuous grid that places beings in relationships of homologous differentiation (Holbraad Willerslev, 2007:331). Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivist cosmology amounts to a boundless whole, a continuous universe where all beings relate to one another, whereas Darhad perspectivist cosmology lacks this perception. The narrative of the Badagshin that Pedersen (2007) recollects however, can be seen as the representation of a distinct form of Mongolian perspectivism that draws parallels with Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism. The Badagshin are half-people non-human beings that appear most frequently to Darhad hunters. Similarly with Amerindian perspectivism, the shaman is the only being capable of undergoing complete metamorphosis and returning back to their original state of being unharmed. Therefore for Darhad hunters, adopting the point of view of a nonhuman being is something that should be avoided at all costs. Pedersen recalls an account of a Darhad hunter and his friend encountering a Badagshin whilst traversing the nomadic landscape. For the hunter, the Badagshin appears before him as half a deer, yet for his friend it appears before him as half an old woman. Within a few weeks the friend is dead. This phenomenon may be explained in terms of the Darhad perspectivist cosmology i tself, for the friend has undergone transformation from human being to non-human being through the complete adoption of the Badagshins point of view and crossed through to the other side, resulting in death. It is not the hunter himself comprising two perspectives, but rather the cosmology itself, and by being seen only in the form of halves, they reveal in the form of their virtual, invisible halves an occult vicinity between the human and the non-human (Pedersen, 2007:323). Exchanges of perspectives for the Darhad appear essentially abrupt, as one leaps from one form of being to another, with the nomadic void playing the role of a trampoline, as one jumps between finite worlds (Pedersen, 2007). A key difference between Darhad perspectivism and Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism is that the Darhads encounters with spiritual beings are always incomplete, as the Badagshin example illustrates. Humphrey (1996) also reveals that encounters with spiritual beings amongst the Daur of Mongolia tend to always be incomplete and intermitted. Amerindian perspectivism appears more symmetrical and horizontal, whereas Darhad perspectivism appears asymmetrical and transcendent (Holbraad Willerslev, 2007). The Mongolian shamans ability to undergo various metamorphoses and gain the perspectives of another being can be directly linked to the evasion of the hierarchy within a society that is highly rigid (Pedersen, 2001). As a consequence of this spiritual hierarchy, exchanges of perspectives are vertical rather than horizontal, a direct contrast to Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism. Holbraad and Pedersen (2007) suggest that in Inner Asia, beings can become other not because they are themselves already other (as in Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism), but rather because the perspectives that they can occupy remain other to them (p.331). These are transcendental perspectives and reflect more of a totemic reality than an animistic reality apparent in Amerindian perspectivism. It would appear that Mongolian perspectivist cosmology is very different to that of Amerindian perspectivism. Much ethnography in Siberia has revealed a more animistic cosmological perspectivism, and yields more similarities to Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism. Stepanoff (2009) studied cannibal shamans in Siberia and adopts a perspectivist approach to elucidate that the shamans become cannibals because they see humans as prey animals. Similarly, Bogorazs (1904-1910) ancient ethnography on the Chuckchee can be seen to draw parallels with Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism in that others, in this case the kely spirits, see themselves as humans and humans see themselves as others. Kely spirits live like humans in villages and hunt humans which they call little seals. Social relations in Siberia appear horizontal rather than vertical, which, as a condition for animism appears to align them with Amerindian perspectivism rather more than their Mongolian neighbours. Likewise, the space constituted by human beings and non-human beings amounts to a boundless whole rather than a discontinuous grid (Pedersen, 2001). Pedersen (2001) puts forward the notion of animist analogous identification in Siberian cosmology, which holds the viewpoint that one has the ability to imagine oneself in someone elses position, and the ability to imagine someone else in ones own position. This correlates with Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism. Thus, I would argue that Siberian perspectivist cosmologies are much more similar to Amerindian perspectivist cosmologies than their Mongolian neighbours. However, it is challenging in itself to stretch Viveiros de Castros concepts that fit Amerindian cosmology to other parts of the world due to the fact that there is so much differentiation. The question ultimately comes down to whether Viveiros de Castros perspectivism can be seen as a theory or not, and whether it should be applied to other parts of the world. Holbraad and Willserlev (2007) suggest that Viveiros de Castros Amerindian perspectivism may be regarded as a theory due to the fact that it is an essentially intellectual artefact: theory is born of the anthropologists mental effort (p.330). However, this particular theory appears somewhat constrained by its ethnographic material of which the theory was conceived of, and the context from which it derived from cannot necessarily be applied to other ethnographic contexts. This does not detract from the fact that Viveiros de Castro has put forward an Amerindian perspectivist theory, which does exactly what it says on the tin.

How Women Are Poortryed In Homers Odyssey Essay -- essays research pap

Women Portrayed in Homer’s The Odyssey Women were very important to the Greeks, and they showed this value in many ways. In The Odyssey Homer shows us the different ways women were looked upon through female characters, such as Penelope, Naussica, and Anticlia. With Penelope, a faithful and loving wife to Odysseus, Homer reveals to us how the Greeks believed wives should act. She was loyal to Odysseus the entire time he was away on his journey, and even when it appeared as if he had passed on she still had faith that he would return. She resisted the suitors on the sole basis that she loved Odysseus and could not see herself with another man when he could still be alive. She was smart, and cunning. She shows us this in Book II when we learn she has avoided having to choose a husband by telling the suitors she would choose one of them once she finished the garment she was weaving. She would work all day, and remove the stitches by candlelight while the suitors slept. Odysseus was "blessed in the possession of a wife endowed with such rare excellence of understanding, and so faithful to her wedded lord" (p.256). Penelope was the picture of a perfect, devoted Greek wife. Homer also portrayed the loyal daughter type using Naussica, the young princess of Scheria and daughter of King Alcinous. Like most daughters from the Greek civilization, she thought the world of her parents, and they thought the world of her as well. We see that she thinks highly of her father be...

alan turing Essay -- essays research papers

Alan Turning   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alan Turning is known to be a pioneer of many facets of the computer age. The digital computer, artificial intelligence, memory subroutines, the Turning Machine, the Turing Test, and the application of algorithms to computers are all ideas somehow related to this man. Alan Mathison Turing was born in Paddington, London, on June 23, 1912. He was a precocious child and began his interests in science and mathematics at a young age, but was never concerned about other right-brain classes such as English. This continued until an important friend of his passed away and set Turing on a path to achieve what his friend could no longer accomplish. When his friend Christopher Morcom died, Turing was launched into thoughts in physics about the physical mind being embodied in matter and whether quantum-mechanical theory affects the traditional problem of mind and matter. Many say today that this was the beginnings of Turing’s Turning Machine and the test still used today for artificial intelligence, the Turing Test. Soon after his public schooling Turing began working on his undergraduate at King’s College. Here he became interested in the readings of Von Neumann’s quests into the logical foundations of quantum mechanics. Through these readings Turing was believed to structure his thinking from the emotional states that he had been suffering from to a more valid form of thought. Turing earned a fellowship at King’s college and the following year the Smith’s Prize for his work in probability theory. Afterward, he chose a path away from pure math into mathematical logic and began to work on solving the Entscheidungsproblem, a problem in decidability. This was an attempt to prove that there was a method by which any given mathematical assertion was provable. As he began to dive in to this he worked on first defining what a method was. In doing so he began what today is called the Turing Machine. The Turing Machine is a three-fold inspiration composed of logical instructions, the action of the mind, and a machine which can in principle be embodied in a practical physical form. It is the application of an algorithm embodied in a finite state machine. The Turing Machine is a simple kind of computer. It is limited to reading and writing symbols on a tape and moving the tape along to the left or right. The tape is marke... ...at today is known as the Turing Test. This was a test where a person would ask questions from both a human and a machine without knowing which was which. If after a reasonable amount of time the difference between the two was not obvious, then the machine was thought to be somewhat intelligent. A version of this test is still used today by the Boston Museum of Computers to host a contest of the best artificial machines for the Loebner Prize. Turing continued working on the digital computer and ideas in artificial intelligence until he died on June 7, 1954. He was found with a half-eaten apple loaded with cyanide, the half-eaten apple a familiar symbol of innocence. Some say he had committed suicide over an embarrassing incident with a 19-year old student , while his mother says he was just performing another experiment with household chemicals and became careless. Whichever it may be, Alan Turing passed away and left the world with many raw ideas to work out. In my opinion, the biggest contribution that he left with us was his idea of a single machine running off a finite number of algorithms to perform multiple tasks. This being the vision of the computers we all use today.

Rate of Isomerism of [Co(en)2Cl2] Essay

In the course of this experiment the rate of isomerism for the coordination complex cis[Co(en)2Cl2]Cl was determined using UV/Vis spectrometry. Using a range of wavelengths the optimum spectrometer setting for analysis was identified. The corresponding maximum and minimum absorbance of the cis and trans isomers respectively at 540 nm meant that it was selected as the wavelength to determine the rate of conversion between the isomers. The first order rate constant was calculated to be 0.0092 m-1 which is somewhat similar to the literature value of 0.00845 m-1 (Brasted and Hiriyama 1958). The half-life (t 1/2) was found to be 75.34 minutes. Introduction: The compound [Co(en)2Cl2]+ is known as a coordination complex, that is, it consists of a Cobalt atom surrounded by an array of molecules to which it is bound, called ligands (Brown 2010). In this case the ligands are Ethylenediamine which are ‘bidentate’, meaning bound in two locations. These ligands are bonded between the two Nitrogen atoms as seen in figure 1 below. This complex occurs in two geometric isomers, cis-[Co(en)2Cl2] + and trans-[Co(en)2Cl2] +. In this experiment the Chloride salt form of the complexes were used i.e. cis-[Co(en)2Cl2]Cl. Figure 1: The Trans and Cis isomers of [Co(en)2Cl2]+ Source: Shapter ,J. 2014 Experiment 1: Rate of Isomerism cis[Co(en)2Cl2]Cl, Flinders University, Australia The Cis- isomer form of the complex which is purple in solution reacts to form the Trans- isomer which is green in solution. This experiment uses spectroscopy to quantify the conversion of the Cis into the Trans isomer due to the fact that the concentration of the Cis isomer is proportional to the difference in absorbance of the two complexes in solution. This isomerism of the Cis-form is a first order reaction and its rate is expressed in equation 1 below. Equation 1: By measuring the optical densities at time 0, t and infinity the rate constant k can be determined with equation 2, a rearranged and substituted form of the formula used above. Equation 2: a) Which rearranges to give: b) Experimental: Solutions of 2 Ãâ€" 10-3 M Cis- and Trans-[Co(en)2Cl2]Cl were prepared and placed in volumetric flasks of 100 ml and 10ml volumes respectively. Samples of these solutions were placed in cuvettes and measured in a spectrometer over the range of wavelengths between 350 and 700 nm. The Varian Car 50 UV-Vis spectrometer recorded the absorbance of the two isomers and produced a print out which was used to identify the correct wavelength for further spectroscopy (see Appendix 1). Using the SP – 880 Metertech spectrometer, the absorbance was measured and recorded as seen in Table 1. Next the Cis isomer solution was warmed in a water bath at 40 degrees Celsius and a sample was taken and cooled in an ice bath. The absorbance of the sample was then measured using the wavelength previously selected. This was repeated at ten minute intervals for an hour. Finally a last sample of the cis[Co(en)2Cl2]Cl was analysed with the spectrometer 24 hours after to determine the value. Results: Table 1: Absorption of the Two Isomers at Various Wavelengths Wavelength (nm) Cis Trans 350 0.468 0.144 360 0.289 0.090 370 0.207 0.087 380 0.180 0.091 390 0.170 0.091 400 0.466 0.397 410 0.123 0.070 420 0.092 0.057 430 0.066 0.049 440 0.049 0.047 450 0.041 0.048 460 0.043 0.048 470 0.049 0.045 480 0.061 0.039 490 0.076 0.031 Wavelength (nm) Cis Trans 500 0.093 0.025 510 0.110 0.020 520 0.124 0.017 530 0.134 0.017 540 0.137 0.020 550 0.134 0.025 560 0.129 0.034 570 0.122 0.044 580 0.116 0.055 590 0.065 0.109 600 0.102 0.071 610 0.095 0.075 620 0.085 0.074 630 0.073 0.067 640 0.060 0.055 650 0.049 0.049 660 0.035 0.038 670 0.026 0.028 680 0.018 0.020 690 0.013 0.013 700 0.009 0.008 Figure 1: Absorbance against Wavelength of Cis and Trans Isomers Table 2: Absorbance of Cis Isomer at 540 nm Time (min) Cis Abs ln[Dt-D∞] y = -0.01104 X – 2.40936 10 0.117 -2.51331 -2.519758607 20 0.108 -2.63109 -2.630158414 30 0.100 -2.74887 -2.74055822 40 0.093 -2.8647 -2.850958026 50 0.089 -2.93746 -2.961357833 60 0.082 -3.07911 -3.071757639 t ∞ 0.036 Figure 2: Natural Logarithm of the Cis Isomer Absorbance against Time Table 3: Slope, Y intercept and Regression Error Generated by Linest Function -0.01104 -2.40936 0.00036364 0.014162 0.995679 0.015212 921.711268 4 0.21329205 0.000926 Calculations: Mass of Cis Isomer Required to Make 2 x 10-3 M 100ml M = Mass/(Volume Ãâ€" Molar Mass) Mass req. = 2 Ãâ€" 10-3 Ãâ€" ((100/1000) Ãâ€" 285) = 57mg Mass of Trans Isomer Required to Make 2 x 10-3 M 10ml M = Mass/(Volume Ãâ€" Molar Mass) Mass req. = 2 Ãâ€" 10-3 Ãâ€" ((10/1000) Ãâ€" 285) = 5.7mg k k = (ln[D0-D∞] -ln[Dt-D∞]) / t k = 0.0092 m-1 ln[Dt-D∞] ln[D0-D∞] -3.0718 -2.5198 Half life t 1/2 = ln[2/k] = 75.3422 min Error Propagation: Measured weight of isomers Cis 56.7mg Trans 5.7mg Resolution of Scales ‘Satorius Extend’: 0.1mg Volumetric glassware 100ml  ± 0.1 ml ‘A’ Class 10ml  ± 0.025 ml ‘A’ Class Discussion: Methanol was used as a solvent in this experiment to avoid the chemical interactions that may have occurred had water been used in its place (Mahaffy 2011). In the initial solution of the Cis isomer accuracy wasn’t as important as it was being measured to find the optimal wavelength for analysis as seen in Figure 1 and Appendix 1. Preparation of the Cis Isomer solution measured to produce Figure 2 required a mass of the compound as close as possible to the calculated amounts (See Results – Calculations) in order to produce results that allowed for the accurate determination of the rate constant (k) and half-life (t1/2). The relationship between k and t1/2 is that k is a factor in the formula of t1/2 (See Results – Calculations) and determines what unit of time that the half-life is expressed in (in this case minutes-1). Figure 1 plots the absorbance of the two isomers against the various wavelengths from 350nm 700nm. From this graph the wavelength of 540nm was id entified as the ideal to be used to determine the reaction rate of the isomers. This was due to the local maxima of the Cis isomer at this  point which coincides with the local minima of the Trans isomer. This data is confirmed by the printout of the Varian Car 50 UV-Vis spectrometer which also marked the 540nm point on its plot (see Appendix 1). This clear difference in absorption of the two isomers at this wavelength meant that the rate of inter-conversion could be determined. The graph of the natural logarithm of the absorbance of the Cis isomer against time can be seen in figure 2. By observing the points on the plot a straight line of decay confirms that this reaction is first order, a logarithm of the measured absorbance values (Christian 2010). Calculations were carried out on the data in table 2 to determine the k and t1/2 (see Results – Calculations). The k value calculated of 0.0092 m-1 roughly matches the figure generated by the linest function 0.01104m-1 (see Table 3, top left) and is also similar to the literature value of 0.00845m-1. With the calculated k value of 0.0092 the t1/2 was determined to be 75.3422 minutes. Slight variations between the k value calculated from the points in figure 2 and that generated by the linest function can be accounted for by the fact that the linest function is a calculate d line of best fit and so does not fit the data points collected exactly but is an approximation. The slight difference between the literature value of k 0.00845m-1 and the calculated k of 0.0092m-1 can be accounted for by human error in time, volume and mass measurement. The range of error in this measurement is  ±0.00075 which is the difference between the calculated and literature values. Conclusion: In this experiment the rate constant (k) was determined to be 0.0092m-1  ±0.00075 and the t1/2 was calculated to be 75.3422 minutes. References: Brasted, R. Hirayama C. 1958 The cis-trans Isomeration of Dichlorbis-(ethylenediamine)-cobalt(III) Chloride and Dichlorbis-(propylenediamine)-cobalt(III) Chloride in Alcohols, Journal of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Minnesota. Vol. 80 pp 788 – 794. Brown, T. LeMay H. Bursten, B. Murphy, C. Langford, S. & Sagatys D. 2010. Chemistry: The Central Science, Pearson, Australia. pp 1196 – 1197. Christian, G. 2010. Analytical Chemistry 6th Ed., John Wiley & Sons, USA. pp 159, 270 – 271. Mahaffy, P. Bucat, B . Tasker, R. Kotz, J. Treichel, P. Weaver, G. & McMurry, J. 2011. Chemistry: Human Activity, Chemical Reactivity, Nelson Education, Canada. pp 99, 115 – 116. Appendices: Appendix 1: Figure 3: Absorbance of Cis and Trans Isomers at Various Wavelengths (Varian Car 50 UV-Vis spectrometer)