Issue Management at Gap Inc. Essay

Introduction Gap Inc. : Low Morale and Absenteeism Low morale and absenteeism of are serious problems of Gap Inc. that cuts across industry. On a distinctive day between 2 and 4% of employees at Gap Inc. fail to show up for work, which does not sound like a high rate of absence, but more time is lost for the reason that of low morale and absenteeism than through strikes and lockouts. The yearly costs of low morale and absenteeism in the United States are estimated to be $29 billion and a change of 4. 99% in the national absence rate changes the gross national product by $10 billion. (London, 2003) A great number of studies are done to identify the determinants of low morale and absenteeism. Many variables are found to be considerably related to indices of absence, the results appear to be unstable across situations and time. The Way Incentives Work Every incentive program is based on a formula for enhancing motivation that engages four fundamental variables: effort, performance, outcomes, and satisfaction. The logic behind these programs goes something like this: employees at Gap Inc. will put in the accurate quantity of effort to meet performance hopes if these part time employees at Gap Inc.obtain the types of outcomes that include pay raises and promotions which will provide part time employees satisfaction. In simpler words, Gap Inc. should provide its employees what they want, and employees will work hard to get it. Effort => Performance => Outcomes=> Satisfaction Conversely, the problem with most incentive programs like of Gap Inc. is that they centre exclusively on the submission of outcomes and overlook the three beliefs that are the key to making the motivation solution work: †¢ Can one do it? †¢ Will outcomes be tied to one’s performance? †¢ Will outcomes be satisfying to one? The first conviction compacts with the relationship between employee effort and performance. The second compacts with the relationship between performance and outcomes. And the third compacts with the relationship between outcomes and satisfaction. These three beliefs form the basis of the belief system of motivation and performance. Accepting that these beliefs are decisive preconditions for motivation helps to explain why incentive programs generally yield such lacklustre results like in case of Gap Inc. Since employees do not always hold these beliefs to be true, attempts to improve motivation by using incentives cannot make the grade, even when the incentives are highly desirable ones. Types of Motivation Problems One cannot do it Motivation problem: Lack of confidence Associated feelings: Self-doubt Anxiety Frustration Outcomes are not tied to one’s performance Motivation problem: Lack of trust Associated feelings: Scepticism Disbelief Mistrust Outcomes will not be satisfying to one Motivation problem: Lack of satisfaction Associated feelings: Anger Rebelliousness Low Morale and Absenteeism At Gap Inc. a major transformation attempt only makes difficult the situation. If any of three beliefs are shaky to begin with, organisational change at Gap Inc. can weaken them even further. The result is often serious motivation and performance problems, at a time when organisations can least afford them, and a resultant surge in the negative emotions associated with change. When an employee believes ‘one cannot do it’ for example, one may develop a lack of self-confidence and begin to experience many of the unpleasant feelings that go along with it: self-doubt, anxiety, and frustration. About a year into the change effort, one manager portrayed the inner turmoil one went through by comparing the restructuring to building a ship at the same time one is trying to sail it. (Mele, 2003) Worker beliefs that ‘outcomes are not tied to one’s performance’ can also escort to noteworthy motivation problems, especially lack of trust. This is normally accompanied by feelings of scepticism or disbelief; precisely the emotions that another manager felt when one was told early on change effort that power would be allocated differently. Employee beliefs that ‘outcomes will not be satisfying to one’ often escort to a third major problem, chronic dissatisfaction, and to feelings of anger, rebelliousness, low morale and absenteeism. (Miner, 2002) Like as the negative emotions allied with change can often go undetected, the motivation and performance problems that cause them frequently remain hidden and unresolved. Due to this, managers who lead change are sometimes frustrated in their efforts. They fail to realise that it is not enough to appeal to the intellect of their workers. So managers must also win employees’ hearts in order to implement change successfully. The reason behind why are motivation problems so difficult to uncover is that employees are afraid to speak about them or even admit that they exist like at Gap Inc. Though most employees know when they have a motivation problem, many feel that acknowledging it is tantamount to admitting failure, and, naturally, they do not want to appear weak or incompetent to their manager. The belief system approach is practical method that can help manager at Gap Inc. resolve these problems effectively. It takes the guesswork out of the search for motivation problems and alerts managers to the three principal types: †¢ Motivation problems caused by a lack of confidence. †¢ Motivation problems caused by a lack of trust. †¢ Motivation problems caused by a lack of satisfaction. The approach is based on the expectancy theory of motivation and on the research of Yale University professor Victor H. Vroom. In conducting Vroom’s analyses of why motivation improvement so often fails, Vroom came to the conclusion that motivation at work depends on certain employee expectations or beliefs: that effort will lead to performance, that performance will lead to outcomes, and that these outcomes, when received, will be satisfying. (Thomas, 2004) Like other expectancy theorists, Vroom maintained that the tendency of people to act in certain ways depends on the strength of the expectation that their actions will be followed by certain outcomes and on the perceived value — or â€Å"valence† — of those outcomes. This combination of expectation and valence is what determines people’s behaviour, Vroom and colleagues argued, and unless both expectation and valence are present to some degree, there will be little or no motivation to act. For example, if a person wants a certain outcome but doesn’t feel it can be achieved through one’s efforts, then that person won’t be motivated. Similarly, that person will also lack motivation if one believes that a certain outcome can be achieved but is undesirable. The application model relies on structured, facilitated meetings between managers and their direct reports to find the answers to the three basic questions that uncover motivation problems: †¢ Does the employee believe that one’s effort will lead to the expected performance? †¢ Does the employee believe that outcomes will be tied to one’s performance? †¢ Does the employee believe the outcomes will be satisfying? Preconditions for Employee Motivation AT Gap Inc. managers have to note that an employee is motivated to perform when †¢ The employee believes that effort will lead to performance. †¢ The employee believes that performance will lead to outcomes. †¢ The employee believes that outcomes will lead to satisfaction. AT Gap Inc. once a manager has recognised a specific motivation problem, one can then work with the employee to find its cause and develop an appropriate solution. There are several reasons that this model performs far better than managers expect such as: †¢ This model prepares managers and employees for solving motivation problems by getting them to think about these issues before they meet. †¢ This model promotes effective change by clarifying expectations, uncovering hidden agendas, and managing emotions before they escalate. †¢ This model relies on the cooperation and involvement of the one person who knows most about the problem and what may be causing it: the employee. (Caruth, 2001) By gently forcing an accurate diagnosis of problems and their causes, the belief system model increases the prospects of finding good solutions to performance shortfalls. After all, it takes information to solve problems, and the goal of the belief system model is to uncover critical information about performance and motivation and to guide managers and employees in applying it productively. The model works to generate an environment in which managers and employees divide the responsibility for solving performance problems, and it fosters the kind of communication that helps managers maintain the critical preconditions for employee motivation: confidence in their ability to meet performance expectations, trust in others to tie outcomes to performance, and satisfaction with their job and the outcomes that they receive. Works Cited Butkus T. Raymond, Thad B.Green, (1999), Motivation, Beliefs and Organisational Transformation. Quorum Books. Westport, CT. Cameron Judy, Pierce W. David, (2002), Pay and Motivation: Resolving the Controversy. Bergin & Garvey. Westport, CT. Caruth L. Donald, Handlogten D. Gail, (2001), Managing Compensation (And Understanding It Too): A Handbook for the Perplexed, Quorum Books. Gorman Phil, (2003), Motivation and Emotion. Routledge. New York. Hanlan Marc, (2004), High Performance Teams: How to Make Them Work, Praeger. London Manuel, (2003), Job Feedback: Giving, Seeking, and Using Feedback for Performance Improvement, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Mele R. Alfred, (2003), Motivation and Agency, Oxford University Press. Miner B. John, (2002), Organisational Behaviour: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses, Oxford University Press. Thomas Neil, (2004), The Concise Adair on Teambuilding and Motivation, Thorogood. White Geoff, Druker Janet, (2000), Reward Management: A Critical Text, Routledge. New York.

Team Sports and Individual Sports

Learning to play team sports is an important part o f a child’s education. Do you agree or disagree? Practicing sports provides athletes with opportunities to develop their social skills during the academic portion of their life. Nowadays, the effect of practicing on children is very significant in a way they practice individual sport or joining a team. But is learning to play team sports an important part of a child’s academic portion? I personally agree and think that team sports are a much better option for the following reasons:First, there is no better alternative than learning how to be peer helper in your community, especially in a friendly environment. Practicing with a team will create an important relationship between the teammates that will know you and can direct your learning and adapt the pace of the practicing in a way that is more suitable to your capacities. Individual sports don't generally offer this type of flexibility as you don't really interact ph ysically with the others. What you basically have is a set of instructions, by your supervisor, that you have to follow alone.For example, if you have an exercise with a given discipline, when you are being in individual sport all you can do is to do it again and again alone and try to understand. You can maybe make it to succeed during the training but still that doesn't guarantee that you will get it in an official competition. But when you are with a group at your disposal, you can easily ask your mates and they would provide more information on the desired task from other perspectives that would definitely help you to understand better and get the idea.Another reason is that team sport, as opposed to individual sport, fosters the development and sustainability of social relationships between teammates. This is a very important point because learning after all is not only about acquiring information, but it is also about learning to interact with peers, forming social relationshi ps, being socially apt to live in a society of different individuals. Teamwork role is to prepare the members for an outer world, a society where having social skills and being able to form relationships is very critical.Individual sports contribute very little to the development of such a skill, as young athletes will be practicing alone in a very limited context while such skills are acquired through the physical interaction with other peers. If we take the example of a kid who practices with a team and another one who practices alone, we would clearly see differences in their personalities: The â€Å"team† boy would have a more extravert personality while the â€Å"alone† boy would be more introvert.There are no doubts cast on which one of the two boys will perform better in society. For these reasons, I believe that team sports are very important for the academic development of children, rather than individual sports. Even if the academic experience, the amount of information could be the same but team sports teach skills that cannot be guaranteed during a training of an individual sport, skills that are essential in the development of the individual later on in the society.

A Comparison between Jails and Prisons Essay

Abstract This paper will demonstrate the comparison between jails and prisons. A description of jail’s and how corrections played a role will be explained, in addition to the history of jails and prison. Also a summary of the state and federal prison history will explained, as well as the comparisons of the similarities between security level jails, state prisons, and federal prisons. Finally, an explanation of factors influencing growth in jails, state prisons, and federal prisons will be discussed. â€Å"Jails are locally operated correctional facilities that confine people before or after adjudication† (Seiter, 2011). From a correctional stand point, jails serve a range of functions and possess a variety of categories which includes: individuals pending arraignment, awaiting trial, conviction, or sentencing: mentally ill people who are pending their movement to a suitable mental health facility: inmates pending transfer to federal, state, or criminal justice authorities: inmates who are sentenced no longer than one year: probation, parole, and bail bond violators, and juveniles who are pending transfer to juvenile authorities. These categories make the operation of current jails very complicated and require systems, staff, and facilities that are amenable to accommodate those innumerable demands. They have several diverse terms that are used to label facilities that handle these specific functions such as: correctional centers, house of corrections, and detention facili ties. During historic times there has been a substantial difference between federal and state prison systems. State crimes consisted of murder, assault, robbery, theft, and burglary. Federal crimes consisted of white collar crimes, fraud, or treason. Over the past decades Congress federalized crimes such as bank robbery, kidnapping the distribution of drugs, and murder of public officials. As a result of this, there is less discrepancy between the types of inmates in state and federal prisons than in the past. In the late 1800’s, offenders were housed in state prisons if their sentence was for more than one year. After the U.S. Department of Justice was established in 1870, a select official was responsible for the â€Å"care and custody† of all federal prisoners. Although, state prisons became overcrowded, the states became indisposed to house federal offenders and insisted the Department of Justice to establish facilities to maintain federal inmates. This led to Congress passing the Three Penitentiary Act. This act authorized the production of three penitentiaries to house federal offenders. â€Å"These three prisons served the needs of the federal government and housed almost all federal inmates for several decades (Seiter, 2011). The three penitentiaries became crowded therefore; in 1925 Congress authorized the creation of a reformatory for males between the ages of seventeen and thirty. Two years later a federal prison for women was established in 1927. Today the federal prison system is a nationwide system of prisons and detention facilities for incarceration of inmates who are sentenced for federal crimes and for the detention of the offenders awaiting trial or sentencing in federal court. Federal prison camps are established to be minimum-security institutions. These institutions have dormitory housing, low number in staff, and limited or no perimeter fencing. Federal correctional institutions are considered low security prisons. These institutions are double fenced, mostly dormitory housing, and a higher staff ratio than minimum security facilities. Most adult prisoners who are serving more than one year are housed in facilities that are run by the state. â€Å"As of June 30, 2008, the states operated almost one thousand two hundred fifty prisons are holding approximately 1.41 million inmates (Seiter, 2011). Each state adopts its own penal code that specifies what acts are considered felonies, what extent of sentences is available for each category of crime, and what type if sentencing configuration it will have. The state prison system security level classifications are similar to the federal prison system. One key difference is that many states have central reception centers, which all inmates are placed until classified. When the inmates arrive at the reception center they receive a security classification to clarify which prison they will be assigned. The ideal purpose of security classification is to counterpart offenders to institutions that have the physical security and staff resources to avoid escape and control their behavior. Over the past years, the prison population has grown due to an increase in violence and other major crimes. For instance, Louisiana has had over fifty killings this year compared the forty killings that took place for the entire last year. Louisiana’s prison population is crowded and overcrowded at some institutions. â€Å"At mid-year 2002, the population of the nation’s prisons and jails for the first time reached two million† (Seiter, 2011). The growth of prison incarceration continues to grow every twenty years. Over the years, jurisdiction has tried to come up with a solution to solve its jail crowding problem. They thought building new facilities would be the answer to their problems but they were wrong. Many factors influenced that decision including politics and budget challenges. In conclusion, jails and prisons are similar. Prisons are more populated than jails. The reader should understand the difference between federal and state prisons and local jails. Also the history of how federal and state prisons were explained to let the reader know how and where the prisons derived from and how they evolved into what they are today. Works Cited Seiter, R. P. (2011). Corrections: An Introduction (3rd ed.). : Prentice Hall.

Quadrant Homes Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Quadrant Homes - Case Study Example They align the goals of all stakeholders (Quadrant Homes ensures that the expectations of the stakeholders that have investment in their company are along the same lines so that everyone is all striving for the same cause. They recognize that variances will occur, and they design routines to handle them when they do (Quadrant Homes realizes that there will be times where the work doesn't flow like it should; as a result, they have routines set for their employees when these situation occur.) Quadrant Homes provides manufacturing and service because, not only do they build houses for people, but they also ensure that the customer is satisfied with their work. If not, they will strive to accommodate them. Quadrant Homes sold over 1,000 homes in 2003, and they produced over $250 millon in revenue; they turned an industry-leading profit margin, and produced a pretax return on investment (ROI) in the low 20s. Within its industry, Quadrant Homes was in the top ranking, in both net income and revenue, and they served as the number one homebuilder in its geographic market, doubling the sales of the next competitor. The success of Quadrant Homes was attributed to the fact that they changed the structure of the business and the way at which they were manufacturing houses (Quadrant Homes was building based on the forecase of houses they thought they could sell; as a result, houses would sit unsold for months which resulted in less revenue and high inventory.) As a result of Quadrant Homes losing revenue, in 1996, President Steve Dennis, Executive Vice President Peter Orser, and Operations Vice President Mark Gray decided to change the structure of the business by modeling the approach of successful Texas homebuilder, Rayco; they restructured the way homes were manufactured and sold, resulting in a system that would boost profits and revenue. 3. The high priorities of Quadrant Homes are best described as ensuring that the quality of the work that they manufacture are appeasing to their clients and the budget that they have set forth in their business. As a result, Quadrant Homes has focused on the relationships that they have developed with their subcontractors, helping to ensure that the work that they produce is of high quality to their clients. While Quadrant Homes sets a flowing chart for themselves to follow, they also set forth guidelines for their subcontract

Regulatory, Cultural and Ethical Dimensions to the Introduction of Essay

Regulatory, Cultural and Ethical Dimensions to the Introduction of International Accounting Standards - Essay Example According to the research findings companies are often placed under regulations with respect to international accounting standards to enable the accounting professionals to provide an honest and accurate financial image to company’s stakeholders. Through compliance with international accounting standards regulations, companies are bound to benefit from their investors’ confidence with regards to truthful and accurate reporting of the financial situation and performance of the company. More so, compliance to such standards would render financial information more understandable, reliable, comparable, and relevant among the users of financial information in assessing confidence in company management and making economic decisions. Regulatory dimensions of international accounting standards are subject to a two tier endorsement mechanism standards a technical and regulatory level. The regulatory level endorsement mechanism is based on proposals of local accounting commission s that decide on the levels and whether the International Accounting Standards are to be adopted. Local regulatory bodies aim to ensure that full accountability and transparency is achieved in financial reporting through both local regulations and compliance to International Accounting Standards. Countries and regions such as the European Union have enforced compliance regulations among its publicly listed companies to apply International Accounting Standards in preparation of their financial statements. ... The regulatory level endorsement mechanism is based on proposals of local accounting commissions that decide on the levels and whether the International Accounting Standards are to be adopted. Local regulatory bodies aim to ensure that full accountability and transparency is achieved in financial reporting through both local regulations and compliance to International Accounting Standards. Countries and regions such as the European Union have enforced compliance regulations among its publicly listed companies to apply International Accounting Standards in preparation of their financial statements. This is in a bid to improve transparency and foster efficiency in corporate functions in the interest of the public and more particularly, investors (Palea, 2006, p.7). On the other hand, technical level endorsement mechanism uses Accounting Technical Committees and advisory bodies made up of accounting professionals and experts from both public and private sectors. These professional accou ntants committees and advisory bodies seek to provide expertise and support that is needed to assess International Accounting Standards and to advise companies on whether or not it is suitable for them to adopt the standards according to local and country preferences and interests. However, there exist Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that encompass a wide spectrum of local and geographically dispersed accounting interests and preferences all over the world. The GAAP is a common set of accounting standards, principles and procedures that are globally applicable by companies in compiling their financial statements. More so, GAAP include a combination of commonly accepted practices and local board authoritative policies and standards of reporting

Knowledge and Horizon of Ignorance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Knowledge and Horizon of Ignorance - Essay Example The similarity between the definition for knowledge and that of ignorance is that both involve the need to understand (or not) of a "subject" or "something". This writer believes there are two keys points that provide direction to this essay statement. The first point is that there must be a purpose for expanding the field of knowledge. Working towards understanding a purpose or subject can only reduce the lack of knowledge in that specific area, and, as a result, reduce the horizon of ignorance. Secondly, while field of knowledge is most commonly understood to encompass the compartmentalized areas of pursuits like mathematics, natural and human sciences, history, the arts, and ethics, it must also be noted that without the ability to justify the knowledge within these fields (often using self-awareness, intuition, faith, and logic, authority) and form a point of view, knowledge is useless and the horizon for ignorance increases. In this instance, the word horizon refers to the "boun dary where the sky seems to meet the ground or sea, where the higher the observer (or the more a person expands the field of knowledge without a purpose and justifiable claim), the lower and more distant is his visible horizon (the more a person's ignorance increases, or horizon of ignorance increases)." (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary 2008) Essentially, the increase in the horizon of ignorance happens only if the expansion in the field of knowledge is not accompanied with a purpose that is justified with an achieved point of view. Therefore, this writer believes the essay statement to be untrue. While the opening argument for this essay uses another of Henry Miller's quotes to make a point, critics who are familiar with Miller's life work might also argue that the range of this man's work may not necessarily reflect a purpose in expanding his field of knowledge which is predominantly in writing. Miller was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1891, and died in 1980 in Los Angeles California. Between his birth and death, Miller lived in Paris so he could fuel his charismatic rebelliousness, albeit in destitute and depended on the charity of his friends. The French Surrealists and the Dadaism movement heavily influenced Miller, and this led him to write a number of novels, including Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, and Tropic of Capricorn, which challenged American cultural values and moral attitudes through the discussion of sexual subjects (Miller, Henry). In his professional lifetime, Miller wrote novels that were banned in the United States on the grounds of obscenity, played the piano, painted, wrote plays and had a part in a film. While it is difficult to understand the motivation behind Miller's zest for the varied subjects of concentration, it should be noted that even with his rebellious background, his forward-looking attitude provided a purpose for pursuing each field and could justify each need as

The role of IT in generating competitive advantage for a business Assignment

The role of IT in generating competitive advantage for a business organisation of your own choice - Assignment Example he term information and communication technology (ICT) as people use and communicate to other people through a network connection (Laudon, & Laudon, 2010). Most organizations use ICT to interact with clients and become competitive in the market. The computer is made up of the hardware, which is the visible and physical part of a computer and the software that includes a set of commands that are understandable to the computer as well as the provision of instructions expected to be done by the computer. The basic principle of the computer is that information or data enters through the computer through an input device that is then processed and transmitted through an output device. Some of the output devices include interfaces like the screen or other electronic device like a storage device or computer network. For businesses to be successful and be effective, it is important for organizations to install information technology. Some of the business applications include databases, transactional systems like the real time order entry, web servers for example, the Apache. In addition, there are systems that manage customers and enterprise resource planning systems. Moreover, computer servers run business applications by interacting with client users and other servers across different networks (Kangas, 2003). In an organization, the IT department is tasked with the management of the organizations IT infrastructure and assets. The IT team relies on the specialized IT knowledge and skills to support the equipment and organizational activities. This paper will look at how Pfizer pharmaceutical company located in New York and spread across the globe is using IT to have a competitive edge over other pharmaceutical companies. Two cousins, Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart, incorporated Pfizer pharmaceutical in Brooklyn New York in 1849. The company is dedicated on improving the lives of human beings. Moreover, it is dedicated to do research and revolutionary processes and

Arabic Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Arabic Culture - Essay Example The Arabic language is a unifying language that is spoken by people classified as Semites and who are Asians of African origin while the language remains to have a lot of resemblance with Hebrew language. Arabic language is widely used among the Arabs and Muslims together with extensive use among the local communities as a vernacular language. There is a notable difference in the dialect of Arabic language which range from the modern standard, the media and the educated and the Arabic as vernacular (Mellor 55). Arabic language plays a significant role in the Arabic culture. For instance, some terminologies used in the Quran which is written in Arabic cannot be translated to other languages thereby, making Arabic a unifying factor in the Arab culture. Some of the terms that cannot be translated are kept in their original formats making it essential for people intending to become Islamic scholars to study the Arabic language (Mellor 111). In addition, Classical Arabic which is the main language used to write the Quran is the sole language used for presiding religious functions including prayers and Quran studying. It is for this reasons that I conclude that Arabic language plays a critical role in Arabic culture due to its usage in Quran writing which is a unifying book among the Arabs who are

Citizen Kane ,the mise-en-scene and cinematography Essay

Citizen Kane ,the mise-en-scene and cinematography - Essay Example It is an anomaly though, that, though the film was nominated for 9 Oscar categories, it only won in one. (Jackson & Merlock, 2006) The only plausible rationale for this discrepancy between its legendary status and lack of formal recognition by the Academy is that the film was way ahead of its time. The film pioneered and engendered so many facets of the filmmaking process that it took several years for members of the Academy to warm up to its accomplishments. This essay will focus on the cinematography of the film and highlight how it contributes to and enhances the overall cinematic excellence. The opening sequence of the film shows the funeral of the iconic American media baron Charles Foster Kane in his isolated residence in the monumental Xanadu. What follows is a10 minute obituary in the form of a newsreel that encompasses all the key moments in the life of the great man. Beginning with his childhood in the rural American wilderness, the newsreel traces how much wealth and power Kane was able to acquire during his peak. This newsreel sequence is one of the most original and brilliant in the history of cinema. The serious yet authoritative voice of the newsreel narrator ebb and flow in-tune with the events of Charles Kane’s life. The intonation, irony and subtle humour of this voiceover is executed to perfection. Matching this aural perfection is the visuals, which are some of the best montages ever assembled. The pace of the montage arrangement is brisk and the shots are short and crisp. The sequencing of these shots adheres to a musical rhythm, which is again in tune with the rhythmic oration in the voiceover. What is striking about this montage is its visual display of power – either political or economic. The shots of elephants and horses airlifted to the private zoo in Xanadu are forever etched in the mind. It is difficult to lose the symbolism of power in air-lifting one of the biggest mammals in the planet. Likewise, the bird’s e ye view of the sprawling Xanadu is a visual illustration of Kane’s wealth. When the voiceover narrates how politically influential Kane was, his image is embedded into a standard German propaganda shot of Hitler waving to a crowd. This is one of the earlier implementation of morphing and overlapping two discrete visuals into one shot. In the context of the film, not only was it humorous but also serves to illustrate the kind of political influence that Charles Kane wielded in his pomp. One of the most referenced scenes in the movie, illustrating Welles' and cinematographer Gregg Toland's use of deep-focus photography is the one about the childhood of young Charles Foster Kane. So much has been its impact that, â€Å"After Citizen Kane Deep focus photography became widespread, especially in the so-called film noir films of the following decade. Welles' audaciously effective idea of combining miniatures with full scale settings in sweeping camera moves harkens back to 1930's T he Bat Whispers, photographed by Ray June, ASC for Roland West. The Kane visuals also have much in common with those of Mad Love (1935). It is evident that Toland originated some of the ideas that Welles utilized so perfectly, and that Walker and Dunn also influenced Welles. The collaboration of unit art director Perry Ferguson was even stronger than is usual between director, cinematographer and designer. Ferguson worked closely throughout with Welles in

Summarize information from websites Essay Example for Free

Summarize information from websites Essay AIDS has become a universal crisis out of which the sub-Saharan Africa has 2. 1 million of estimated cases. The following are some of the reasons of the impact of AIDS summarized from the AVERT. ORG website. The impact on the Healthcare Sector Increase in the AIDS epidemic has caused an increase in demand for AIDS healthcare workers. According to the website the medical expenses is about US$30 per year for every infected person especially in the sub-Saharan areas. The hospitals find it difficult to accommodate HIV patients and in future it is estimated that AIDS care will account for 60%-70% of all hospital expenditures in South Africa. Hospitals find it difficult to cope with infrastructure as there are not enough beds, leading to shortage in admitted patients. In such cases patients develop complications and the epidemic worsens thereby reducing the standards of care at the hospitals. There are also many healthcare professionals who are affected with AIDS because they are in constant contact with patients. There is therefore an increase in workload, less pay all leading to a scarcity of healthcare workers. The impact on Households AIDS has caused mass impact in the poorer sectors wherein AIDS has been transferred from adults to children. Household income suffers because adults will have to give up their work to look after infected relatives. Children are also forced to stop studying. Families cut expenditures on clothing, electricity and food. There are many families who have abandoned agricultural work due to household illness causing severe food shortage. Looking after patients with illness causes an emotional as well as a financial burden on the household members. Household assets are also sold to meet basic expenses and health needs. The impact on Children Children loose their parents or guardians and are forced to give up their childhood. They are forced to become the breadwinners of the family. They lack nutrition, education and healthcare facilities. Many children are orphaned and they don’t have anyone to take care of them. This makes institutional care a must for such children. These institutions may not be that well equipped to handle the psychological and physiological traumas faced by the children. There are communities that aim to make the children more sociable and to help resolve their problems, but there are too many children and too less healthcare workers. The impact on Education Sector AIDS affects a child’s education which is one of the most cost-effective ways of imparting education. Children may be forced to look after their family members or they themselves may be affected with AIDS. Many of them may not be able to afford the school fees and need to work to afford even their basic necessities. Even the teachers are affected by HIV AIDS. Research shows that teachers have a lack of understanding on the subject and their socio-economic status causes them to get infected. If there are no teachers to teach, then this affects the child’s development. There will be many absent periods because a teacher takes time off to look after their sick relatives or to attend funerals. The impact on Enterprises and Workplaces Many people who are affected with AIDS are people who are employed this affects their socio-economic status. AIDS affects production costs, diverts resources and productivity and has depleting skills. Company costs for funerals, healthcare and pension are likely to increase as people take early retirement or are dying. The demand for products and services also falls. Absent staff also affects the productivity. The recruitment, training and healthcare expenditures constantly increase while productivity declines. There are also very few companies that have a policy to deal with HIV and AIDS.

How Is Power Generated With Hydroelectricity?

How Is Power Generated With Hydroelectricity? Hydroelectric power energy from falling water. Hydro electric power means getting energy from flowing water. This method of energy generation is viewed as very environmentally friendly by many people, since no waste happens during energy generation. However, hydroelectric power can have a deep impact on the surrounding environment, leading some people to question the help of hydroelectric power as a method of clean energy generation. Hydroelectric power is used to run water as an energy source and mostly in grind corn. Hydroelectricity produced enough power light for two paper mills and a house. Nearly ally of the hydroelectric power stations, provide around 20% of the worlds electricity. The Origin of Hydro Power was first used in Ancient Egypt. They used flowing water to make a machine work and grind their crops. The Size of the Hydro power plants today range in size from some hundred kilowatts to several hundred megawatts. Some of the larger plants have capacities up to 10,000 megawatts and supply electricity to millions of people. Over 80 percent of all electricity produced by renewable sources is produced by large hydroelectric dams. With low carbon dioxide emissions and working costs, hydropower is an important part of a climate friendly energy mix. More sustainable sources, such as wave and tidal power, could save the standing of water based energy production. Hydropower accounts for around 20% of the worlds electricity generation, and a little over 2 percent of the worlds total energy supply. Although dams often have big environmental and social impacts, the World Wide Fund for Nature estimates that another 370 Giga watts of large, medium, or small hydroelectric capacity could be developed without unacceptable impacts by 2050. The energy output Because most dams use gravity, a hydroelectric dams energy output depends largely on the height difference between the tank water source and the outflow. Water flow along the rivers is another important factor, as is the age and efficiency of a dam. Many of the worlds older dams will need to be upgraded or repowered in the coming decades to improve efficiency, which will be expensive but could eventually add another 30 GW to the global energy mix. Environmental impact Large hydroelectric dams have a number of negative impacts on the local environment and human society. Dams disrupt river ecosystems and passages, killing aquatic life that gets caught in turbine blades. Dams also create artificial reservoirs, which floods farmland and forests, and displaces wildlife and people. Hydroelectric projects are also susceptible to fluctuations in river flows and rainfall. Which depends on energy from the Volta River Dam, has suffered severe energy shortages in recent years because of lack of rainfall. The key environmental problem with hydroelectric power is that blocking changes the natural environment. The flow of a river is basically changed when a dam is installed, posing problems for fish and aquatic plants on both sides of the dam. However, there are some arguments in support of hydroelectric power. Once installed, a hydroelectric power plant does not generate any emissions or waste, making it very much preferable to something like a coal fired power plant. The technology of hydroelectric power is also always being improved, and sometimes simple measures like fish ladders can moderate the impact of a dam. How it worksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. 1. Hydroelectric power, or hydroelectricity, is generated by the force of falling water. Its one of the cleanest sources of energy and its also the most reliable and costs the least. 2. Water is needed to run a hydroelectric power-generating unit. The water is held behind a dam, forming an artificial lake. The force of the water being released from the reservoir through the dam spins the blades of a giant turbine. The turbine is connected to the generator that makes electricity as it spins. After passing through the turbine, the water flows back into the river on the other side of the dam. Basically the exciter powers the rotator. 3. Electricity is produced by spinning electromagnets within a generators wire coil that creates a flow of electrons. To keep the electromagnets spinning, hydroelectric stations use falling water. Hydroelectric power plants convert the kinetic energy contained in falling water into electricity. The energy in flowing water is ultimately derived from the sun, and is therefore constantly being renewed. As the rotator and its magnetic field turn, an electric charge is created in the stator. 4. Energy contained in sunlight evaporates water from the oceans and deposits it on land in the form of rain. Differences in land elevation result in rainfall runoff, allowing some of the original solar energy to be captured as hydroelectric power. Most hydroelectric stations use either the natural drop of the river or build a dam across the river to raise the water level and provide the drop needed to create a driving force. Water at the higher level goes through the intake into a pipe, called a penstock, which carries it down to the turbine. A transformer increases the voltage of the current coming from the starter. The turbine is a type of water wheel that converts the waters energy into mechanical power. The turbine is connected to a generator, when the turbine is set in motion it causes the generator to rotate, producing electricity. The falling water, having served its purpose, exits the generating station through the draft tube and the tailrace where it rejoins the river. Building a dam means flooding a lot of land. The sun evaporates water from the sea to the lakes. This forms clouds and falls as rain in the mountains which then keeps the dam supplied with water. For free. Gravitational potential energy is stored in the water above the dam. Because the height of the water it will get to the turbines at a higher pressure. This means that people can extract a great deal of energy from it. The water then flows down to the river as normal. There is another way of using the hydroelectric power is to build the station next to a fast flowing river. However using this way may cause a problem which when you do the arrangement the flow of the water cannot be controlled and water cannot be stored. Advantagesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Once the dam is built, energy is almost free. No waste or pollution produced It is more reliable than wind, solar and wave power Water can be stored above the dam Hydroelectric power stations can increase to full power quickly. Electricity can be generated all the time. Disadvantagesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It is very expensive to build Building a large dam will flood a very large area upstream which can cause problems for animals Hard to find a suitable site. Water quality can be effected which have an impact on plants. Hydroelectric power is renewable. It is renewable in the sense that people cannot take away the source of the energy by using them. The sun provides water by evaporation from the sea. No fuel is needed in this generation. Also energy of the tides will not go away if the power is used. Efficiency The equation for hydro electric power is P = Q X H X 0.18 X E The p is for power in watts. The Q is the flow rate in gallons per minute The H is vertical relief measured in feet 0.18 is a unit conversion constant The E is the efficiency of the turbine The micro hydroelectric turbines are an efficiency of 50%. However for the mini hydroelectric applications the efficiency is a bit higher usually around 65%. The Cost The costs of the hydro electric power is everything concerning hydro, the costs are site specific, they will depend on the head available such as the higher the head the smaller the turbine needed to generate the same level of power. The high head machines can be also be connected directly to the generator without the need for the belts. Hydroelectric power is attractive because its cheap for the consumer average price in the PNW is around 4 cents per KWH this is 3 times less than the national average. Low costs to the consumer reflect relatively low operating costs of the Hydro Facility. Most of the cost is in building the dam Operating costs about 0.6 cents per KWH Coal Plant averages around 2.2 cents per KWH which reflects costs of mining, transport and distribution. Energy density in stored important water is high, so one liter of water per second on a turbine generates 720 watts of power. If this power can be continuously generated for 24 hours per day for one month then the total number of KWH per month is then: 720 watts x 24 hours/day x 30 days/month = 518 Kwh/month. Power generating capacity is directly relative to the height the water falls. For a fall of say only 3m, 30 times less electricity would be generated but this is just for a miniscule flow rate of 1 kg/sec. Solar Power- Energy from the Sun Solar power is energy which comes from the sun. People have used sun for drying clothes and foods for thousands of years but only now people have been able to use it for generating power. The sun is about 150 million kilometres away and very powerful. Just a tiny fraction of the suns energy that hits the earth is enough to meet all the power needs many times over. Every minute enough energy gets to the earth to meet the demands for a whole year. Solar power is energy which comes from the sun. This energy is very powerful and hits the earth regardless of whether or not we take advantage of it. Even the tiny percentage of sunlight that touches the earth is plenty to meet the energy and power needs of the entire human population more than 8,500 times over. Energy from the sun is converted into solar power using solar collectors. Solar panels consist of solar cells designed to capture energy from the sun. The solar panels used in heating air and liquid are different from those used to provide electricity. To absorb the highest possible amount of solar energy, solar panels must be pointed at the sun. Energy from the sun can be converted into solar power in two ways. The first way involves the use of solar thermal applications. Solar thermal applications use the suns energy to provide direct heat to air or liquid. Solar thermal panels can be used for both housing and larger scale applications. The second way of obtaining solar power involves the use of photoelectric applications. Photoelectric applications use photovoltaic cells in converting energy from the sun into electricity. Photovoltaic cells are considered low maintenance and well suited to remote applications. They use semiconductors like silicon to convert energy from the sun into electricity. How solar power worksà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Solar cells- the Photovoltaic (Photo means light and voltaic means electricity) which convert light directly into electricity, for example in sunny weather you can get enough power to run a 100w light bulb from just one square metre of solar panel. Solar cells provide the energy to run satellites that orbit the earth. Solar water heating- this is where heat from the sun is used to heat water in glass panels. This means people do not use so much gas and electricity to heat water at home. Water is pumped through pipes in the panel, the pipes are painted black, and so they get hotter when the sun shines on them. Solar furnaces- it uses a huge collection of mirrors to concentrate the suns energy into a small space and produce very high temperatures. Solar furnaces are very huge solar cookers. A solar cooker can be used in hot countries to cook food. Solar energy isnt all about generating electricity: For example, photo luminescent products store light energy. Theyre also called self-luminous and are a useful source of emergency lighting in the event of a sudden power outage. The advantages of solar power areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Solar energy is free it needs no fuel and produces no waste or pollution. In sunny countries, solar power can be used where there is no easy way to get electricity. Handy for low-power uses such as solar powered garden lights and battery chargers, or for helping your home energy bills. The disadvantages of solar power areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Doesnt work at night. Very expensive to build solar power stations, although the cost is coming down as technology improves. Can be unreliable unless youre in a very sunny climate. Solar cells are expensive Solar power is renewable. The Sun will keep on shining anyway, so it makes sense to use it. 3 main ways to use it:- Sun heats water in panels on your roof Solar cells photovoltaic cells make electricity from sunlight Solar furnace Solar power isnt much use unless you live somewhere sunny Doesnt cause pollution, doesnt need fuel. Basics of solar power The amount of power generated by solar cells is determined by the amount of light falling on them, which is depending on the weather and time of day. Sometimes there will be too much power, other times these wont be enough. In this case the system battery can be damaged if it was overcharged or over discharged. The smallest system may have only 12 volts of light, but in bigger systems 23o or 110 volts will probably be needed. An invert is used to transform the low voltage Direct Current generated by the solar panel into mains voltage Alternate current. The costs of solar power Solar power is currently selling for between  £3 and 35 per watt of rated power output. A typical panel that you might install on your roof would be rated for between 100 and 300 watts and therefore will cost between about  £400 and around  £1500 or so. A complete solar power system also needs some other components and will have some installation costs and so the total installed cost of a solar system is usually in the range of  £8 10 per watt of rated power. Most home sized systems are rated in the 1000 to 10,000 watt range and therefore cost between about  £8000 and  £100,000 to install. Many states offer refunds and tax savings that can reduce this cost by as much as 50%.These systems will normally generate between about  £300 and  £2500 worth or electricity per year. Solar panels are expected to last between 30 and 50 years and so these systems will likely generate between  £9000 and  £120,000 worth of electricity over their life time. This will be different widely though based on local electricity costs and may well increase greatly in the future if electricity rates rise. Energy efficiency Energy efficiency saves money, where solar energy saves even more money. The efficiency rating of solar panels is fairly low for instance the amount of the suns energy converted into electricity. Depending on the situation it can range from 5% to 15%, although there have been some recent breakthroughs in technology which has increased this to 40%. However it will be some years before this technology becomes money making available in the solar panels we fit to our homes. When calculating how many solar panels you need for your home, you dont need to be too concerned about the efficiency rating of your panel because photovoltaic solar panels are specified by their energy generating capacity. For example, 100 watt panels will output 100 watts of energy under ideal conditions. So if you are looking to produce 1kw per hr of energy you will need 10 x 100 watt panels. Solar panels range in their energy output. normally they range from 30 to 205 watts. If you are DIY then pay special interest in calculating your energy requirements. If you are getting a company to draw up plans for you then they will take care of this calculation. There are three main types of solar photovoltaic cells and these are polycrystalline, mono crystalline and thin film. Each has different efficiency ratings when converting the suns energy into electricity and they all have their advantages and disadvantages. The main difference between them is size and price. The more efficient technologies like mono crystalline panels are more efficient than the other two and so the panels are smaller and take up less space when comparing like for like in energy output but they are more expensive. So before you decide which panels to go for, you need to calculate your energy requirements, establish how much you want to invest and then go and compare the different panels. There are many other aspects that can affect the efficiency of your panels. We find the following to be the most common: how often you clean them, are they infrared, how much sun do they get and how hot do they get. It is a surprise to many people that for most panels their efficiency drops when the temperature starts to go above 25 Deg Celsius. If you want a hot water heater conversion then solar thermal panels are a lot more efficient. In summary, on face value solar energy does not seem very efficient, although it is improving year on year. However, dont get too tied up about the efficiency of the panels, focus more on the output, size and level of investment. Sustainability Solar energy will burn for billions of years; it wont run out any time soon. This is sustainable because it will not reduce in the near future. They use primarily silicon, which is one of the richest materials on earth. But they can also use other things, like metals (copper, silver, gold), and some toxic chemicals (arsenic, cadmium) etc. The sustainability of these materials are recyclable, and it is thought 99% of a solar cell can be recycled. But the production of them does has some toxic site affects, which means we have to balance the clean energy production of the cells with the bad by products of their manufacturing process. Appropriate energy The biggest gains are usually found in lighting. Solar power doesnt have to be used for heating, but it would help. However, electricity is a bad way of heating things, but you can use solar power to heat water. Most houses are not designed for energy efficiency especially old houses. Normally light bulbs waste a lot of energy, thats because they work by getting hot. Its like getting a little light and a lot of heat. Always use low energy lamps. However in low voltage lamps if your solar power is small and you dont have a big inverter, then you will be better off with low voltage lamps. Tidal power Coming and going of the tides gives this form of renewable energy a different advantage over other sources that are not as predictable and reliable, such as wind or solar. The Department of Trade and Industry has stated that almost 10% of the United Kingdoms electricity needs could be met by tidal power. Tides come and go is because it is all to do with the gravitational force of the Moon and Sun, and also the rotation of the Earth. This diagram shows how the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun affect the tides on Earth. The size of this attraction depends on the mass of the object and its distance away. The moon has the greater effect on earth even with having less mass than the sun because it is so much closer. The gravitational force of the moon causes the oceans to swell along an axis pointing directly at the moon. The rotation of the earth causes the rise and fall of the tides. When the sun and moon are in line their gravitational attraction on the earth combine and cause a spring tide. When they are as positioned in the first diagram above, 90 ° from each other, their gravitational attraction each pulls water in different directions, causing a neap tide. The rotational period of the moon is around 4 weeks, while one rotation of the earth takes 24 hours; this results in a tidal cycle of around 12.5 hours. This tidal behaviour is easily predictable and this means that if harnessed, tidal energy could generate power for defined periods of time. These periods of generation could be used to offset generation from other forms such as fossil or nuclear which have environmental consequences. Although this means that supply will never match demand, offsetting harmful forms of generation is an important starting point for renewable energy. Tidal energy is a type of energy that produces electricity and other form of power through the use of water. Tidal energy is the energy that could be obtained from changing sea levels. It is a direct result of tide changing from low to high. The two basic theories on how to convert tides into power are: Is involves in converting the power of the horizontal movement of the water into electricity. Involves producing energy from the rise and drop of water levels. LIKE THIS! Most are at the concept proving stage and have links to universities such as Plymouth, Manchester and Imperial College. Technologies in development include: Use of a shore based oscillating water column, Trapping and compressing air in successive waves to build enough compression to drive a turbine Using pressure differences under wave crests to drive water flows through turbine chambers Floating buoys that use the kinetic energy of the buoys rise and fall to drive a turbine Using the motion of joints in an articulated structure to drive hydraulic rams that power motors. There are different types of turbines that are available for use in a tidal barrage. A bulb turbine is one in which water flows around the turbine. If a repair is required then the water must be stopped which causes a problem and is time consuming with possible loss of generation. When rim turbines are used, the generator is mounted at right angles to the to the turbine blades, making access easier. But this type of turbine is not suitable for pumping and it is difficult to control its performance. The blades of this turbine are connected to a long tube and are leaning at an angle so that the generator is sitting on top of the barrage. The turbines in the barrage can be used to pump extra water into the basin at periods of low demand. This usually works with cheap electricity prices, generally at night when demand is low. The company therefore buys the electricity to pump the extra water in, and then generates power at times of high demand when prices are high so as to make a profit. HOW IT WORKS Step 1: First a place must be chosen for the plant to be built Step 2: Then it must be tested to make sure the waves are big enough to produce enough electricity to make up for the price. Step 3: After this they must build the power plant Step 4: Then they have to test it to make sure it works Step 5: The tidal power plant should do the following: The waves should go into the plant. The pressure of the waves should turn the turbines making electricity. It would cost at least  £15 billion to build a tidal power. However there would be a number of benefits, including protecting a large stretch of coastline against damage from high storm tides and providing an already made road bridge. Although the drastic changes to the currents in the estuary could have a huge affects on the economic and huge number of birds that feed on the mud, so when the tides goes out the birds would have no where to feed. Efficiency of tidal power The benefit of tidal range power is its remarkable efficiency: once constructed, up to 80% of the potential energy of the water captured which can be converted to electricity with no greenhouse emissions. Tidal energy is also attractive from the point of view of energy security which makes uses of resources naturally available on and around the stores. Economics The capital required to start construction of a barrage has been the main awkward block to its deployment. It is not an attractive plan to a saver due to long payback periods. This problem could be solved by government funding or large organisations getting involved with tidal power. In terms of long term costs, once the construction of the barrage is complete, there are very small maintenance and running costs and the turbines only need replacing once around every 30 years. The life of the plant is unclear and for its entire life it will receive free fuel from the tide. The economics of a tidal barrage are very complicated. The optimum design would be the one that produced the most power but also had the smallest barrage possible. Social Impact The building of a tidal barrage can have much social cost on the surrounding area. During the building of the barrage, the amount of traffic and people in the area will increase and will last for a few years. The barrage can be used as a road or rail link, providing a time saving method of crossing the bay or estuary. There is also the possibility of include wind turbines into the barrage to generate extra power. The barrage would affect shipping would have to be made to allow ships to pass through. The biggest disadvantages of tidal barrages are the environmental and ecological affects on the local area. This is very difficult to expect, each site is different and there are not many projects that are available for comparison. The change in water level and possible flooding would affect the plants around the coast, having an impact on the aquatic and shore ecosystems. The quality of the water in the basin or estuary would also be affected, the remains levels would change, affecting the turbidity of the water and therefore affecting the animals that live in it and depend upon it such as fish and birds. Fish would certainly be affected unless condition was made for them to pass through the barrage without being killed by turbines. All these changes would affect the types of birds that are in the area, as they will travel to other areas with more favourable conditions for them. These effects are not all bad, and may allow different species of plant and creature to grow in an area where they are not normally found. But these issues are very fine and need to be independently assessed for the area. Advantage Once tidal power is built it is free. It doesnt produced no green house gases or other waste It needs no fuel It produces electricity Its not expensive to maintain Tides are totally predictable Offshore turbines are not ruinously expensive to build and do not have large environmental impact. Unlike wind and solar power production using the tidal forces is constant and predictable. No Waste produced Sustainability of energy production. Easy and not expensive to maintenance. Has little impact on the environment. Tidal energy turbines are dropped into deep water, so they are not a danger to ships. Tidal power cannot be used up Disadvantages A barrage across an estuary is very expensive to build and effects wide areas Many birds rely on the tide uncovering the mud flat so that they can feed and Fish cant travel Only provides power for around 10 hours a day- when the tide is actually moving in and out There are few suitable sites for tidal barrage. Heavier that wind turbines More expensive than wind turbines. Usually producing power for around 10 hours each day. This is the time frame in which the tide is actually moving in or out. Tidal energy has potential to become a possible option for large scale, base load generation. Tidal Streams are the most attractive method, having reduced environmental and ecological impacts and being cheaper and quicker to be installed. Tidal barrage is where a dam or barrage is built across an estuary or bay that experiences an enough tidal range. This tidal range has to be in overload of 5 metres for the barrage to be possible. The purpose of this dam or barrage is to let water flow through it into the basin as the tide comes in. The barrage has gates in it that allow the water to pass through. The gates are closed when the tide has stopped coming in, trapping the water within the basin creating a hydrostatic head. As the tide moves away out with the barrage, gates in the barrage that contain turbines are opened, the hydrostatic head causes the water to come through these gates, driving the turbines and generating power. Power can be generated in both directions through the barrage but this can affect efficiency and the economics of the project. The structure of a barrage requires a very long national engineering project. The barrage will have environmental and ecological impacts not only during building but will change the area affected forever. Just what these impacts will be is very hard to measure as they are site specific, and each barrage is different. There are different types of turbines that are available for use in a tidal barrage. A bulb turbine is one in which water flows around the turbine. If protection is required then the water must be stopped which causes a problem and is time consuming with possible loss of generation. When rim turbines are used, the generator is mounted at right angles to the to the turbine blades, making access easier. But this type of turbine is not suitable for pumping and it is difficult to control its performance. Bulb Turbine Rim Turbine Tubular Turbine The turbines in the barrage can be used to pump extra water into the basin at stages of low order. This usually matches with cheap electricity prices, generally at night when the order is low. The company therefore buys the electricity to pump the extra water in, and then generates power at times of high claim when prices are high so as to make a profit. This has been used in Hydro Power, and in that context is known as pumped storage. The economical effects of tidal power are when they start building of a barrage has been the main uncertain block to its use. It is not an attractive to a saver due to long payback periods. This problem could be solved by government funding or large organisations getting involved with tidal power. In terms of long term costs, once the building of the barrage is complete, there are very small maintenance and running costs and the turbines only need replacing once around every 30 years. The life of the plant is unclear and for its entire life it will receive free fuel from the tide. The economics of a tidal barrage are very complicated. The best design would be the one that produced the most power but also had the smallest barrage possible. Social impact The building of a tidal barrage can have many social costs on the surrounding area. During building of the barrage, the amount of traffic and people in the area will increase a lot and will last for a number of years. The barrage can be used as a road or rail link, providing a time saving method of crossing the area. There is also the possibility of including wind turbines into the barrage to generate extra power. The barrage would affect shipping and navigation and but would have to be made to allow ships to pass through. Wind power A wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy. Such as people use wind turbine to make electricity, wind mills for mechanical power, wind pumps for pumping water or dra

Effect of Military Takeover on Thailands Businesses

Effect of Military Takeover on Thailands Businesses HOW MILITARY TAKE OVER IN THAILAND WILL AFFECT DOING BUSINESS IN THE COUNTRY RISHI RAJ [DM15141] ROHIT KUMAR GOEL [DM15142] GLIMPSE OF POLITICAL FORMATION Thailand, was known as Siam till 1939, for around 5,000 years it had been inhabited with the earliest civilization believed to be that of the Mons in central Siam, even though the first Siam state is the Theravada Buddhist kingdom of Sukohthai. Among the most glorious periods in its history was the reign of Ayutthaya, which was established in 1351 by King Ramathibodi. During that time it was one of the centers of trade and commerce in Southeast Asia, Ayutthaya allure the disdain of the Burmese, and they conquered the kingdom twice in the 16thand 18thcenturies. During the second invasion, the capital of Siam was looted, laid to waste, and left in demolishes, a pale phantom of its aged glory. Thailand has one of the oldest existing monarchies, and in 1782 by King Rama I the current Chakri dynasty was founded with the capital shifting for the first time to Bangkok. During the 20thcentury saw the dawn of immense change in Thailand. King Mongkut (Rama IV) was instrumental in developing a strategy that enabled them to avoid the yoke of imperialism that overtook Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam –Siam’s closest neighbors. The King’s strategy was simple: his ministers signed unequal treaties that gave free trade, additional rights, and special advantages to imperial powers liketheU.S., Great Britain, Japan and France. The consequence was that by playing each one of these powers to one another, Siam figured to maintain its independence. A peaceful coup revolved the country into a constitutional monarchy in 1932, as earlier Siam now known as Thailand in 1939. Controversially, During World War II Thailand sided with Japan. The period following the war was a chaotic one for Thailand as it battled a number of military coups even as dissatisfaction rose against inexperienced public officials, food shortages and rising inflation. The democratic elections of 1979 had its first period of stability, as the economy sturdy with the crumble of military rule. The country was rocked by several coups over the next two decades before violent demonstrations in February 1991 forced the military to relinquish power to a civilian government led by Chuan Leekpai, leader of the Prachatipat (Democrat) Party. He is credited with starting the methodology of making a totally new constitution, and initiated a few changes that led to Thailand having one of the highest growth rates during this period. At the turn of the 20thcentury, a relatively unknown party called the Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT) led by the charismatic Thaksin Shinawatra came to power on the promise of economic reforms. Thaksin delivered on his promises but was unyielding by allegations of mass corruption. Then the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in December 2004 affected Thailand too, it caused nearly 5,000 deaths, and eroded a major source of its revenue which came from tourism. General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin led a bloodless coup in 2006, overthrow the unpopular Thaksin and leading to fresh elections in December 2007. A new party called the People’s Power Party, consisting large members of the disintegrated TRT, won the majority number of seats under the leadership of Samak Sundaravej, came into power in February 2008 and lead 6 party coalition. And then was replaced by Somchai Wongsawat as Sundaravej had violated the constitution by hosting a television cooking show and had to step down. The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) stated that both Sundaravej and Wongsawat were puppets of Thaksin. There were repeated protests held in Bangkok since May 2008 and five months long protests considerably weakened the government’s ability to implement policy. Matters came to a head when the PAD overtook the Bangkok International Airport in November, leaving around 350,000 travelers unattended which resulted in a good loss of tourism revenue and wielded a body blow to the country’s image. Eventually, opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva of Democrat Party become Thailand’s t hird prime minister within four months duration. Thailand’s GDP Growth Rate, over the last few years CONTEXT The financial crisis that broke off in Thailand in 1997 has not only brought on the need to understand the immediate genesis and possible cures of the crisis, but also a more fundamental question as to what had gone wrong with the growth process leading to the crisis or due to some of the subtle imbalances in macroeconomic management, or was it inadequate technological advancements in the right directions? Could it be flaws in the design and operation of some of the political/economic/social systems or institutions, furnishing the whole economic system vulnerable to major economic shocks? Final answers to the above questions are difficult to obtained, or agreed upon. However, one can begin to pursue the answers by first trying to understand the historical aspects of the growth process of Thai economy. The probability of getting the right answers can also be enhanced substantially by comparing its experiences with those Asian economies that have gone through the similar path of growth and crisis, and also with those that were much less hit by the crisis. Studies on sources of economic growth of East and South East Asian countries are numerous. On the more recent account, Hahn and Kim (2000) argue that macroeconomic policies, trade policies and, especially, institutional quality, are important in ‘explaining’ East Asian high economic growth during 1960-1990†. The purpose is to look into accounts of the past fifty years, from 1950-2000, of changes in policies and environments in Thailand that are potentially crucial to the understanding of the growth process. The Thai economic history is divided into four sub-periods for the same: I) 1950-1973, which is the period that Thailand laid foundations for the subsequent high and stable economic growth. II) 1974-1985, which is the period of macroeconomic uncertainty, hardship and difficult adjustments. III) 1986-1996, which is the decade of extraordinary high growth. IV) 1997-2000, which is time of economic crisis. FRAMEWORK: THE MILITARY RULE GDP is now growing, albeit slowly. Military rule has its benefits as new policies look to be moving Thailand in the right direction. At the beginning of this year, THD hinged, and has since been on a steady rise and the ETF is up 31.51% YTD. Driving this growth is an economy that continues to grow, ignoring political turmoil. The economy has reversed course and is now growing. In a recent Wall Street Journal it reported that Thailands gross domestic product from April through June likely grew 1% over the previous period. Consumer confidence is skyrocketingas the government pushes a campaign to return to happiness. Thailand may be happy with their military ruling, but elections in the future are likely to upset many. TheThai baht is risingto its highest levels since November. Weak monsoon rains in India have allowed Thailand toreclaim its status as the worlds top rice exporter, hopefully enabling the country to offload rice purchased in preceding years through government subsidy programs. Military rule has its merits. Manygrey industries are under attack from the military government, who has declared a ‘War on Vice’. Reasons for this crackdown may be political, but the results should be commendable. Six weeks ago, Thai army Chief Prayuth Chan-ochaannounced a military gained control of power. The constitution was left aside, and leaving the monarchy in place. Army soon re-examine, though, and kept much of the 2007 constitution. This also included sections handling with the succession of the monarchy. This was 14th successful coup after 1932’s absolute monarchy end. The bloodless coup followed months of mass protests andchaos in governmentbefore Yingluck Shinawatra wasforced to resignas PM. This was provoked bygovernment last November attemptsto restore a fully elected senate and extend an amnesty that would have enabled convicted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return from exile eight years after being deposed. It has been reported that in effect the military takeover was executed on behalf of the royal network or old elite. Journalist Andrew Mac Gregor Marshalldepicts an enormous struggle over access to the tremendous wealth controlled by the palace, specially by the Crown Property Bureau, between the old world class and that hosts underpinned Thaksins Pheu Thai gathering and exploited its general population supporters. The key to such access, is control of the royal succession and control over the national assembly. People’s Democratic Reform Committee lead by Suthep Thaugsuban, who also headed the protests, isbelieved to have been plotting with Prayuth since 2010 to bring down the Thaksin regime. 4. THE IMPACT OF MILITARY RULE Since the takeover, the army has invited critical journalists, protestors, supporters and academics of the last government, with members of the red shirt movement – as well as some PDRC leaders. With prohibiting habeas corpus and the customary civil rights, the regime hasdetained people who publicly opposeits exercises. Several local TV and radio stations are off the air. The army is rumored to be planning severe control of the internet. It was reported from Bangkok post that panels taken from the armed services and others will watch all media. The citizenry has been muted in its reactions to the coup. The red shirts have back down from the streets of Bangkok and even indicated some willingness to participate in the army’s reconciliation games. Authorities banned the three-finger sign that was adopted as a sign of disagreement. Occasional rumpus have occurred between soldiers and the few citizens flout the ban. Citizens are promoted to give photos to the junta of persons who do so. The army has acted quickly to give rice farmers their belated payment for the last yielded crop. Civil servants can be heard praising the fact that projects are running again after enormous delays under the previous government. The army claims it is checking large projects for corruption and malfeasance. A three-finger salute showing disagreeing against military rule To keep the public happy, the army is to review fuel and energy prices. During the World Cup, authoritiesurgedall matches be screened free to air and agreed to compensate the cable network owners of the broadcast rights. The military takeover caused an enormous efflux of Cambodians working illicitly in Thailand. The army very soon sought to silent the fears and promote the return of the workers to the multitude of enterprises that have come to rely on them, as long as they get visas and work permits . 5. THE COUP AND THE NATIONAL DIVIDE Young people migrating to Bangkok from Thailand’s north and north-east are not as committed to the red-shirt movement or as likely to be enlisted into a Thaksinist party as their parents were over the last two decades. The emphasis was on getting good jobs and career opportunities on the back of improved rural education. Likewise, Bangkok’s middle class of business owners, professionals and civil servants are primarily committed to high incomes and stylish consumption. One can argue, both groups wanted corruption to end and the old order of entitlements and to get on with effective economic management and social justice, as long as someone else goes to the trouble. With the current scenario, the coup can appear as a required straightening out in advance of restoration of parliamentary democracy, which itself is seen as being as much about protectingrelations with the USas anything else. The army claims to be capable of reconciling red shirts and supporters of the previous government and PDRC. There is uncertainty in what it proposes to do. Some moves have inferred charges of army bias while others have raised wry smiles. The army believes it can appoint 200 members from all important sections of the community to a new national assembly who will be willing to settle. The last coup was only eight years before, the new constitution, subsequent constitutional assembly, and restoration of parliamentary democracy. Regardless of all that exertion, important structures have not changed. A new national assembly won’t change these foundations which would require steps such as effectively redistributing income through reform of the land tax, directing more resources to education and health care in rural and suburban areas; providing social security to the poor; securing farmland by better land-use regulation; and using government initiatives and resources to realize opportunities created by a newASEAN Economic Community. The trafficking and misuse of illegal migrants can’t be allowed in order to provide a dishonorable floor to incomes of Thais throughout the country. STRATEGY CONTEXT Export led economy Major exports are electronics, vehicles, machinery and equipment and agri products Main Trading Partners Japan (10% of total exports, 20% of total imports), China (12% of exports, 15% of imports). European Union, US Malaysia Focus on increasing trade between its neighbors through bi lateral agreements Free enterprise economy with pro investment policies and strong export industries Trying to stabilize growth by promoting domestic consumption and public investment Founding members of WTO and ASEAN and also a member of APEC and IMT-GT Current Strategy: Promote industries that have high domestic value-added and can find niches in the world economy Following cluster model in certain Industries such as Automobile and Tourism Redirected its 5yr plan towards a holistic people oriented development model philosophy of a Sufficiency Economy Focus on upgrading educational policy, strengthening agricultural sector, and restructuring the economy with an emphasis on Green Growth Focus on strengthening infrastructure and banking system CONCLUSION: STRENGTHS CHALLENGES Location helps in easy trade and attracts tourists. The fertile land helps in agriculture and these products are exported to many countries. Well-developed infrastructure Diversified, high performance production in agriculture and industry- highly dynamic country. It is moving upmarket in manufactured goods Opening local hub for dynamic neighbours Growing middle class Particularly strong medical industry that is turning into a major foreign exchange earner for the country and a generator of â€Å"medical tourism† The agricultural sector Strong contributor to the economy and a buffer that can absorb surplus labor from urban areas during cyclical downturns. Thailand is far ahead of other ASEAN countries in attracting foreign direct investment into the automotive sector and supporting industries Foreign trade subject to competition from China. Rise of neighbours like Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Indonesia and Malaysia Thailand’s Taxation : It’s corporate tax rate of 30 percent is more than that of its neighbours The relative costs of energy, transportation and logistics is very high, linked with global oil prices High hidden costs in the business sector due to corruption of politicians and government officers. Business climate marked by continuous ties among the private sector and politics circles. Recurring political volatility since 2006 A well-functioning legal framework is not secure in place, and the judiciary continues to be unprotected to political interference Worst income inequality in Asia Susceptible to short-run volatilities in world trade and output Education system is unable to prepare graduates suitable for the labour market DISCUSSION: LOGISTICS PERFORMANCE INDEX Productivity of customs clearance of Thailand is 2.96 ranking 42 globally. Efficiency of customs clearance of Thailand is similar to that of Slovenia, Cyprus, Croatia, Uruguay, Bulgaria, , Georgia, Slovak Republic, Pakistan, Uganda Czech Republic with a respective Logistics performance index Efficiency of customs clearance had a negative growth (decline) of 1.99% since the end of the Great Recession Quality of trade and transport of Thailand is 3.08 ranking 43 globally. Quality of trade and transport of Thailand is similar to that of Morocco, Poland, Malta, Bahrain, Egypt, Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, Slovak Republic Cyprus, with a corresponding Logistics performance index Quality of trade and transport had a negative growth (decline) of 2.53% since the end of the Great Recession Frequency with which shipments reach consignee within scheduled or expected time of Thailand is 3.63 ranking 39 globally. DISCUSSION: FDI FII Thailands financial liberalization in 1990. moderate recuperation after the 1997 crisis, FDIs part got to be considerably more vital in helping re-capitalizing failing industries, assisted with policy reforms Thaiboard of Investment(BOI) offers an arrangement of motivators in six modern sectors. (Agriculture and food; Renewable and alternative energies; Electronics, information and communication technologies; Fashion; Automobile High added value services) As per TNCs top prospective most recent Survey, Thailand is ranked among the Top 10 prospective host economies for foreign investments. BOI Incorporates exemptions on corporate income tax (for a maximum of eight years), and import tariffs on equipment, machinery and raw materials. From 2006 to 2009 Thailand saw the highest and the lowest FDI contribution to GDP. In 2006 it was 16.2% while in till 2009 because of crisis it was reduced to the lowest of mere 5% of GDP. Thailands political crisis likewise assumes a vital part in affecting sharp falls of FDI inflows from 2006 onwards. our observation is that, of course, the normal FDI to GDP degree of the industrial sector is the most noteworthy (1.37 percent), took after by FDI to GDP proportion of the service segment (0.25 percent). and Agriculture FDI to GDP proportion is just 0.01 percent. Thus for an agricultural Economy to be a continuously growing should be more focused on the agricultural FDI. The Major Drive for Foreign Investment is The low cost of labor and relatively low exchange rate REFERENCES www.businessinsideer.in www.thatembassy.ca South China Morning Post Articles www.tradingeconomics.com Past, Present Prospects for Thailand’s Growth, Sra Don, Bank of Thailand

John Donnes The Holy Sonnets Essay -- Donne Holy Sonnets Religion Ess

John Donne's The Holy Sonnets By making many references to the Bible, John Donne's Holy Sonnets reveal his want to be accepted and forgiven by God. A fear of death without God's forgiveness of sins is conveyed in these sonnets. Donne expresses extreme anxiety and fright that Satan has taken over his soul and God won't forgive him for it or his sins. A central theme of healing and forgiveness imply that John Donne, however much he wrote about God and being holy, wasn't such a holy man all of the time and tried to make up for it in his writing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In sonnet 1, the speaker is talking to God. He tells God that his death is near. He feels that with all of the sins he has committed he is leaning towards hell instead of heaven. Satan has tempted him too much and he doesn't know if he can even go an hour without giving in to Satan's evil ways. The speaker asks God to give him wings so that he may ascend into heaven and prevent Satan from taking him to hell. There is a sense of manipulation in the speaker in the beginning of the sonnet. "Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?'; In other words, "You're making your own creation look bad if you don't help me to become holy again.'; This starts out the sonnet with a bitter tone, a favorable way for Donne to begin. But in the end, the speaker is pleading God to give him wings, ending the sonnet with a sense of desperation. The worried tone of the last few lines is a rather common one in the Holy Sonnets. It exhibits the r...

Free Trade? Essay -- essays research papers

In an economic age in which speedy transactions of imports and exports are essential, is free trade a necessity for aiding worldwide economic development? At least John F. Kennedy thought so, he being the initiator of removing tariffs and other limitations on U.S. imports. His hypothesis was that by doing that, other nations would follow America’s example and leadership. However, that never happened because the other nations were more concerned with their own problems. Even today, the United States continues to support free trade, an example being NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement). The problem is that America’s generosity has caused the foreign industry to take over the U.S. marketplace. This unfortunately has resulted in high unemployment rates just because consumers and firms can purchase foreign goods for a little less than domestic products. But with this country’s abundant resources, is free trade really necessary? From a conservative viewpoint, the only remedy to decrease unemployment and stimulate our own economic growth is to abandon the free trade policy and raise tariffs. Free trade has only crippled the American work force, increased poverty, and added to our national debt. If the liberals in Washington D.C. need proof, look at the figures: today there are about 10 million unemployed citizens and 35 million Americans are living in poverty because of free trade. It’s obvious that the foreign industry is taking advantage of us. Just visit any clothing sto...

Carl Jung Theory Essay

Jung’s theory divides the psyche into three parts. The first is the ego, which Jung identifies with the conscious mind. Closely related is the personal unconscious, which includes anything that is not presently conscious, but can be. The personal unconscious is like most people’s understanding of the unconscious in that it includes both memories that are easily brought to mind and those that have been suppressed for some reason. But it does not include the instincts that Freud would have it include. But then Jung adds the part of the psyche that makes his theory stand out from all others: the collective unconscious. You could call it your â€Å"psychic inheritance. † It is the reservoir of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are all born with. And yet we can never be directly conscious of it. It influences all of our experiences and behaviors, most especially the emotional ones, but we only know about it indirectly, by looking at those influences. There are some experiences that show the effects of the collective unconscious more clearly than others: The experiences of love at first sight, of deja vu (the feeling that you’ve been here before), and the immediate recognition of certain symbols and the meanings of certain myths, could all be understood as the sudden conjunction of our outer reality and the inner reality of the collective unconscious. Grander examples are the creative experiences shared by artists and musicians all over the world and in all times, or the spiritual experiences of mystics of all religions, or the parallels in dreams, fantasies, mythologies, fairy tales, and literature. A nice example that has been greatly discussed recently is the near-death experience. It seems that many people, of many different cultural backgrounds, find that they have very similar recollections when they are brought back from a close encounter with death. They speak of leaving their bodies, seeing their bodies and the events surrounding them clearly, of being pulled through a long tunnel towards a bright light, of seeing deceased relatives or religious figures waiting for them, and of their disappointment at having to leave this happy scene to return to their bodies. Perhaps we are all â€Å"built† to experience death in this fashion. Archetypes The contents of the collective unconscious are called archetypes. Jung also called them dominants, imagos, mythological or primordial images, and a few other names, but archetypes seem to have won out over these. An archetype is an unlearned tendency to experience things in a certain way. The archetype has no form of its own, but it acts as an â€Å"organizing principle† on the things we see or do. It works the way that instincts work in Freud’s theory: At first, the baby just wants something to eat, without knowing what it wants. It has a rather indefinite yearning, which, nevertheless, can be satisfied by some things and not by others. Later, with experience, the child begins to yearn for something more specific when it is hungry — a bottle, a cookie, a broiled lobster, a slice of New York style pizza. The archetype is like a black hole in space: You only know its there by how it draws matter and light to itself. The mother archetype The mother archetype is a particularly good example. All of our ancestors had mothers. We have evolved in an environment that included a mother or mother-substitute. We would never have survived without our connection with a nurturing-one during our times as helpless infants. It stands to reason that we are â€Å"built† in a way that reflects that evolutionary environment: We come into this world ready to want mother, to seek her, to recognize her, to deal with her. So the mother archetype is our built-in ability to recognize a certain relationship, that of â€Å"mothering. † Jung says that this is rather abstract, and we are likely to project the archetype out into the world and onto a particular person, usually our own mothers. Even when an archetype doesn’t have a particular real person available, we tend to personify the archetype, that is, turn it into a mythological â€Å"story-book† character. This character symbolizes the archetype. The mother archetype is symbolized by the primordial mother or â€Å"earth mother† of mythology, by Eve and Mary in western traditions, and by less personal symbols such as the church, the nation, a forest, or the ocean. According to Jung, someone whose own mother failed to satisfy the demands of the archetype may well be one that spends his or her life seeking comfort in the church, or in identification with â€Å"the motherland,† or in meditating upon the figure of Mary, or in a life at sea. Mana You must understand that these archetypes are not really biological things, like Freud’s instincts. They are more spiritual demands. For example, if you dreamt about long things, Freud might suggest these things represent the phallus and ultimately sex. But Jung might have a very different interpretation. Even dreaming quite specifically about a penis might not have much to do with some unfulfilled need for sex. It is curious that in primitive societies, phallic symbols do not usually refer to sex at all. They usually symbolize mana, or spiritual power. These symbols would be displayed on occasions when the spirits are being called upon to increase the yield of corn, or fish, or to heal someone. The connection between the penis and strength, between semen and seed, between fertilization and fertility are understood by most cultures. The shadow Sex and the life instincts in general are, of course, represented somewhere in Jung’s system. They are a part of an archetype called the shadow. It derives from our prehuman, animal past, when our concerns were limited to survival and reproduction, and when we weren’t self-conscious. It is the â€Å"dark side† of the ego, and the evil that we are capable of is often stored there. Actually, the shadow is amoral — neither good nor bad, just like animals. An animal is capable of tender care for its young and vicious killing for food, but it doesn’t choose to do either. It just does what it does. It is â€Å"innocent. † But from our human perspective, the animal world looks rather brutal, inhuman, so the shadow becomes something of a garbage can for the parts of ourselves that we can’t quite admit to. Symbols of the shadow include the snake (as in the garden of Eden), the dragon, monsters, and demons. It often guards the entrance to a cave or a pool of water, which is the collective unconscious. Next time you dream about wrestling with the devil, it may only be yourself you are wrestling with! The persona The persona represents your public image. The word is, obviously, related to the word person and personality, and comes from a Latin word for mask. So the persona is the mask you put on before you show yourself to the outside world. Although it begins as an archetype, by the time we are finished realizing it, it is the part of us most distant from the collective unconscious. At its best, it is just the â€Å"good impression† we all wish to present as we fill the roles society requires of us. But, of course, it can also be the â€Å"false impression† we use to manipulate people’s opinions and behaviors. And, at its worst, it can be mistaken, even by ourselves, for our true nature: Sometimes we believe we really are what we pretend to be! Anima and animus A part of our persona is the role of male or female we must play. For most people that role is determined by their physical gender. But Jung, like Freud and Adler and others, felt that we are all really bisexual in nature. When we begin our lives as fetuses, we have undifferentiated sex organs that only gradually, under the influence of hormones, become male or female. Likewise, when we begin our social lives as infants, we are neither male nor female in the social sense. Almost immediately — as soon as those pink or blue booties go on — we come under the influence of society, which gradually molds us into men and women. In all societies, the expectations placed on men and women differ, usually based on our different roles in reproduction, but often involving many details that are purely traditional. In our society today, we still have many remnants of these traditional expectations. Women are still expected to be more nurturant and less aggressive; men are still expected to be strong and to ignore the emotional side of life. But Jung felt these expectations meant that we had developed only half of our potential. The anima is the female aspect present in the collective unconscious of men, and the animus is the male aspect present in the collective unconscious of women. Together, they are referred to as syzygy. The anima may be personified as a young girl, very spontaneous and intuitive, or as a witch, or as the earth mother. It is likely to be associated with deep emotionality and the force of life itself. The animus may be personified as a wise old man, a sorcerer, or often a number of males, and tends to be logical, often rationalistic, and even argumentative. The anima or animus is the archetype through which you communicate with the collective unconscious generally, and it is important to get into touch with it. It is also the archetype that is responsible for much of our love life: We are, as an ancient Greek myth suggests, always looking for our other  half, the half that the Gods took from us, in members of the opposite sex. When we fall in love at first sight, then we have found someone that â€Å"fills† our anima or animus archetype particularly well! Other archetypes Jung said that there is no fixed number of archetypes that we could simply list and memorize. They overlap and easily melt into each other as needed, and their logic is not the usual kind. But here are some he mentions: Besides mother, their are other family archetypes. Obviously, there is father, who is often symbolized by a guide or an authority figure. There is also the archetype family, which represents the idea of blood relationship and ties that run deeper than those based on conscious reasons. There is also the child, represented in mythology and art by children, infants most especially, as well as other small creatures. The Christ child celebrated at Christmas is a manifestation of the child archetype, and represents the future, becoming, rebirth, and salvation. Curiously, Christmas falls during the winter solstice, which in northern primitive cultures also represents the future and rebirth. People used to light bonfires and perform ceremonies to encourage the sun’s return to them. The child archetype often blends with other archetypes to form the child-god, or the child-hero. Many archetypes are story characters. The hero is one of the main ones. He is the mana personality and the defeater of evil dragons. Basically, he represents the ego — we do tend to identify with the hero of the story — and is often engaged in fighting the shadow, in the form of dragons and other monsters. The hero is, however, often dumb as a post. He is, after all, ignorant of the ways of the collective unconscious. Luke Skywalker, in the Star Wars films, is the perfect example of a hero. The hero is often out to rescue the maiden. She represents purity, innocence, and, in all likelihood, naivete. In the beginning of the Star Wars story, Princess Leia is the maiden. But, as the story progresses, she becomes the anima, discovering the powers of the force — the collective unconscious — and becoming an equal partner with Luke, who turns out to be her brother. The wise old man guides the hero. He is a form of the animus, and reveals to the hero the nature of the collective unconscious. In Star Wars, he is played by Obi Wan Kenobi and, later, Yoda. Notice that they teach Luke about the force and, as Luke matures, they die and become a part of him. You might be curious as to the archetype represented by Darth Vader, the â€Å"dark father. † He is the shadow and the master of the dark side of the force. He also turns out to be Luke and Leia’s father. When he dies, he becomes one of the wise old men. There is also an animal archetype, representing humanity’s relationships with the animal world. The hero’s faithful horse would be an example. Snakes are often symbolic of the animal archetype, and are thought to be particularly wise. Animals, after all, are more in touch with their natures than we are. Perhaps loyal little robots and reliable old spaceships — the Falcon– are also symbols of animal. And there is the trickster, often represented by a clown or a magician. The trickster’s role is to hamper the hero’s progress and to generally make trouble. In Norse mythology, many of the gods’ adventures originate in some trick or another played on their majesties by the half-god Loki. There are other archetypes that are a little more difficult to talk about. One is the original man, represented in western religion by Adam. Another is the God archetype, representing our need to comprehend the universe, to give a meaning to all that happens, to see it all as having some purpose and direction. The hermaphrodite, both male and female, represents the union of opposites, an important idea in Jung’s theory. In some religious art, Jesus is presented as a rather feminine man. Likewise, in China, the character Kuan Yin began as a male saint (the bodhisattva Avalokiteshwara), but was portrayed in such a feminine manner that he is more often thought of as the female goddess of compassion! The most important archetype of all is the self. The self is the ultimate unity of the personality and is symbolized by the circle, the cross, and the mandala figures that Jung was fond of painting. A mandala is a drawing that is used in meditation because it tends to draw your focus back to the center, and it can be as simple as a geometric figure or as complicated as a stained glass window. The personifications that best represent self are Christ and Buddha, two people who many believe achieved perfection. But Jung felt that perfection of the personality is only truly achieved in death.