Ancient Art Essay

1. Between 35,000 bce to 12, 000 bce, people back then used to live a simple life that survive by means hunting. This period was called the Paleolithic era which means â€Å"old stone age. † The name was derived from the stone tools which were the main devices that were utilized by the early inhabitants to perform their daily activities for subsistence. It was also during this early period that man started to create artworks on the surface walls of caves. This later on became know as â€Å"paleolithic art† or â€Å"cave paintings† (Hoover). Most of the cave drawings or painting used animals as the subject matter. The reason behind this is that the animals were perceived as â€Å"either those needed for food and that the paintings were some type of ritual related to the hunt, or that the animals were sacred and were given god-like qualities. † More so, these visual artworks were considered as â€Å"calendars or almanacs, ‘coming of age’ ceremonies, records of tribal migrations and mystic paintings during a shamanistic trance. † Some of the examples of these paleolithic cave paintings are the following: Cow and a horse from Lascaux cave in France, â€Å"Big Cats† from Chauvet cave in France and the Horse at Lascaux cave in France. The animal theme was prevalent in these three paintings. More so, the colors used were mostly concentrated on earth tones such as red, brown, yellow and black. At that time, the resources of man were limited so the color scheme was monochromatic but with just a little touch of bold colors. For the outlines and silhouette of the animals, it was rigid and not proportional which was caused by the uneven stone surfaces. Also, it lacked depth making it appear two-dimensional. However, cave artists have mastered color blending that added some drama to the overall look of the painting. In Ancient Egypt, the royals were treated with utmost respect during their lifetime as well as in their after life. In order for them to be immortalized, sculptures were made in their honor. Also, it is to assure that the elites and royalist’s identity will be for eternity. The sculpture of King Menkaure and his Queen Khamerernebty is a clear example of this ancient practice. The statue of the two royal figures measures 4 feet 6. 5 inches in length and it is located within the pyramid of Menkaure which is the â€Å"smallest of the Great Pyramids. † The sculpture is primarily composed of a common material found in ancient Egypt, which is slate. The statue’s perfect body proportions and regal body gestures displayed Menkaure and Khamerernebty’s royalty. Back then, it was part of tradition that artists should represent their kings and queens in an ideal manner. Their flaws or physical defects should not be highlighted so that the public would forever remember them in a good light. Moreover, the formality of their position wherein the arm of Khamerernebty was wrapped around the torso of Menkaure and both their legs were straight and placed close together was intentional to ensure that the statue would last a lifetime. â€Å"By making the figures very compact and solid without any arms or legs projecting out, the sculpture has very few breakable parts. † Also, the headdress worn by the king as well as the â€Å"queen’s long hair† served as a support to the neck which is considered to be the most delicate part of the statue. More so, the perfect posture and affectionate gesture of the king and queen demonstrated that they were related through marriage. This strategic positioning of the figures was meant to look like that they are associated with each other. The artists wanted the viewers to immediately determine that King Menkaure and his Queen Khamerernebty are husband and wife and that they will forever remain that for the â€Å"rest of time† (Art History Adventure). Works Cited Hoover, Marleen. â€Å"Art of Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras. † 15 August 2006. San Antonio College Visual Arts and Technology Department. 17 November 2008 . â€Å"Menkaure and Khamerernebty, Gizeh, Egypt, 2490-2472 BCE, slate. † n. d. Art History Adventure. 17 November 2008 .

Origins of Nationalism in France

In terms of the origins of national identity in France it is agreed that the French Revolution was the single most important period of radical social and political upheaval and was henceforth a catalyst for the spread of nationalism in France aswell as throughout the rest of Europe. Despite the fact the French Revolution occurred over 200 years ago, in present day France, there remain various symbols of the revolution which have become deeply embedded in the national identity of the country.One of which being the tricolore flag which was created to oppose the flag of the King, which itself was a symbol of the Ancient Regime. Pre-revolutionary France was characterised by a social structure based on class and tradition, but more importantly, it was based on inequalities which were sanctioned by the force of law. The Ancient regime in France had been based on the division of society into legal categories. Membership of the first and second estates (clergy and nobility) conferred legal a nd social entitlements that were not available to the Third Estate.The idea of Absolutism meant that the Monarchy was entitled to expect the obedience of the people on the grounds that the King was the agent of God’s purpose. The French Revolution was the turning point in modern history. It was the first manifestation of nationalism in the Western world; it abolished the ancient regime and thus the absolute monarchy, giving birth to the French nation in a sudden burst of enthusiasm. In 1790 all the communities of France erected an altar to the fatherland with the inscription: â€Å"The citizen is born, lives and dies for the fatherland. The revolution began a new age in French political life, the old political order in France was destroyed and replaced by a new order that was based on individual rights, representative institutions and loyalty to the nation as opposed to the Monarch. This new era fostered new political ideals summarised in the French slogan; ‘Liberte, E galite et Fraternite which is still to this day a symbol of French nationalism. One of the key events in the development of nationalism in France which arose with the French Revolution was ‘The declaration of the rights of man of the citizen’ in 1789.This fundamental document harboured fervour that France belonged to its people, not Louis XVI and defined the individual and collective rights of all the estates of the realm as universal. It created shared values such as liberty, property, security, resistance to oppression and civil equality which bought the French people together as nation. Napoleon Bonaparte also had a significant role in creating a national identity in France. He was considered by some to be the ‘preserver of the French Revolution’ as he introduced the Napoleonic Code which attempted to unite the country by making everyone equal before the law.It spread the ideals of the revolution including legal equality and economic freedom and therefor e a sentiment of nationalism through France and the rest of Europe. However, often the nationalism that developed in reaction to Napoleon took one of two tracks. In some cases, it was a conservative nationalism, a desire to go back to the old ways that prevailed before Napoleon took over and started making reforms. On the other hand, there was liberal nationalism. Napoleon continued to spread some of the fruits of the French Revolution but some people wanted more: they wanted true self-government.As a result of the French Revolution and Napoleon, French people started taking great pride in the history, language, culture and religion of their country which helped create a strong French national identity. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces. Napoleon inspired national pride by reopening the Louvre in 1801 and bringing hundreds of famous paintings and other works of art to the natio n’s attention.The French nation-state unified the French people in particular through the consolidation of the use of the French language. The French language has been essential to the concept of ‘France' even though in 1789 only 50% of French people spoke it. Conscription, invented by Napoleon mixed the various groups of France into a nationalist mould which created the French citizen and his consciousness of membership to a common nation, while the various â€Å"patois† were progressively eradicated.Secularism in France is a fundament of the French nation. It is important when considering the national identity of France as it stems from the sense of ‘religious freedom’ which was a principle laid down by the French Revolution. It also emphasises the fact that the Republic has always recognised individuals, rather than groups and that a French citizen owes allegiance to the nation, and has no officially sanctioned ethnic or religious identity.

The Odyssey – What Is a Hero

Ashley Literature and Composition 1 8 March 2010 â€Å"The Odyssey† by Homer What is a hero? One who holds a proud countenance or obtains a strong build? Different cultures and ethnicities may have their own, unique definition of a hero. Although the Greeks believed that such a principled individual is someone that people look up to, and a title such as this cannot be bestowed upon the ordinary. In Homer’s â€Å"The Odyssey†, it is Odysseus who possesses the true characteristics of a hero wisdom, loyalty and showing moral improvement.Homer describes Odysseus as an intelligent individual; this statement is proven fact when in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, Odysseus’s first thought was to kill the giant. Instead of acting upon his first thoughts Odysseus takes the time to use his intelligence and realize that Polyphemus is the only way out of the cave. Odysseus offers wine to Polyphemus who then asks his providers’ name, Odysseus wittily replies with â€Å"Nohbody: mother, father, and friends, everyone calls me Nohbody† (Homer Lines 360-361). Even as he spoke, he reeled and tumbled backward, his great head lolling to one side and sleep took him like any creature† (Lines 360-366). Odysseus and his men blind Polyphemus while sleeping which results in the giant yelling to his brothers that, â€Å"Nohbody, Nohbody’s tricked me. Nohbody’s ruined me! † and no one came to his aide (Line 443). In this example, Odysseus shows his intelligence, a trait one can infer that the Greeks admired, by lying to Polyphemus to save the lives of his men.Also, after 2 eturning home to Ithaca to find many suitors begging for his wife’s hand in marriage, Odysseus disguises himself as a beggar to avoid attention. The seemingly beggar at first glance enters the home of Odysseus to witness the emotional destruction of his wife Penelope. Odysseus is disguised until the last possible moment when he eventually rev eals himself after completing the task to win Penelope’s hand in marriage. Odysseus is a marvel character whose characteristics allow readers to infer that the Greeks held the trait f intelligence in respect for a hero. During 720 BC, when â€Å"The Odyssey† was first published, the book explained that Odysseus preferred not to go to war, especially a war fought for an unfaithful woman. The Greeks showed no signs of disloyalty as a respectable trait for any man or woman, therefore when Odysseus is described as a faithful man, he is immediately categorized as a hero. To an extent Odysseus’s bravery can be substantiated by Athena’s constant support, and also proving his loyalty to the Greek Gods during his twenty years away from home.Locked away on the goddess Calypso’s island, Odysseus, despite the attraction he feels toward the nymph goddess, stayed as faithful as possible to his Penelope proving his devoted love for her. Calypso had offered him im mortality and a life bound her, but with his one goal in mind, (to return home) Odysseus declines the offer proving his loyal character. Along with the promised loyalty to his wife, Odysseus was equally faithful to his men. When in the face of danger, his men looked to Odysseus for help and guidance knowing that he will come to their aide.An example of this mutual relationship is when Odysseus and his followers landed on the island of Aeaea, where they rested to replenish their strength. His men were divided in half and Odysseus and his half of followers stayed behind when the rest of his men journeyed through the island to investigate. After finding the palace of the goddess Circe the men were 3 welcomed into the palace by the goddess herself. One man, Eurylochus, sensed danger and stayed hidden outside while the others ate and drank the pleasures provided by Circe.The win was drugged, causing the men to forget all memories of their home. After drugging the men, Circe used her twis ted magic and transformed the men into swine. Eurylochus quickly returned to Odysseus and explained the evil doings of Circe. Odysseus traveled to the house of the goddess alone, where she invited him in and gave him the same drugged wine. With the help of the Messenger God Hermes, Odysseus managed to escape the magic of Circe and threatened her with his sword into changing his men back.Taking responsibility for his men’s lives and sacrificing his own instead of running away from the danger is proof of his loyal character. Odysseus’s principle attribute is loyalty which the Greeks believe, is in belonging to a heroic figure. Everyone deserves a second chance; learning from your mistakes provides evidence of your improving character. Throughout â€Å"The Odyssey† one may make comments about the numerous faults they find in Odysseus’s character such as; his love of glory, and his abiding arrogance.However, nearing the end of the tale Odysseus does not immed iately react violently upon the dreadful sight of the many suitors destroying the heart of his Penelope. Instead of acting quickly, Odysseus patiently waits until the right time to reveal his identity and surprise the suitors with their own death. Learning and improving your reputation are the qualities one can infer from the epic that were greatly admired by the Greeks as a heroic trait. During the period where heroes were described as intelligent, loyal, and dedicated, Odysseus is described as a model warrior in Homer’s â€Å"Odyssey† and a true heroic being.With his intelligence Odysseus saves the lives of his devoted followers when a desperate situation calls for hero. His loyalty provides reassurance to his wife 4 Penelope and his men that he will soon return home. Odysseus shows his improving character by learning from his past mistakes to improve the future. These traits are just a few traits that the Greeks, during Homer’s time period, held in the highes t regard for a hero. 5 Works Cited Homer. â€Å"The Odyssey†. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973

What do we owe each other in the social Contract Research Paper

What do we owe each other in the social Contract - Research Paper Example onfessing (assuming they wish to), they will be assured of punishment but by refusing to do so each of them is guaranteed a light one (Kreps et al., 1982). Ergo if each can depend on the other not to confess for the sake of them both, then it can be said they have a social contract in place. In the early part of this decade there has been a great deal of controversy and conflict in respect to the expectations of Americans from the social contract that has was established in previous generations (Edsall, 2013). There have been numerous complains for instant in the fast food industry with employees and employers at loggerheads over issues of minimum wage. In the 80’s and early 80’s for instance, the industrial social contract in the USA was characterized by companies that took care of their workers welfare and provided them with insurance cover and pension benefits (Lubchenco, 1998). As a result, they workers needed unions less and one could argue that the industrialist sacrificed their right to exploit workers and they in turn sacrifice theirs to agitate for better conditions than they were already enjoying through labor unions. There are other underlying issues that underpin the social contract challenge, for the first time in nearly half a century, Americ ans are forced to struggle with what they want to get from the social contract (Freedman & Lind, 2013). Retrospectively, it was founded on a premise of relatively high wages and reliable benefits; however today, the system is such that low wages are supposed to be offset by reduced consumer prices and government intervention. Explicably, there has been considerable disaffection with the state of affairs and this has necessitated a re-examination of what the social contract is expected to do for the people and how it is they seem to be getting a raw deal. Alan Krueger who is the chairperson of the Obama’s economic advisors posits that America has lost its ethical and moral moorings because of the

Academic describe your hometown Dalian, the city of China Essay

Academic describe your hometown Dalian, the city of China - Essay Example However, the region was converted into a small town-center after Sino-Japanese War controlled by both Russian and the Japanese. As such, the town underwent further several developments and became fully operational with modern port facilities in 1984. Since then, Dalian was pronounce a Chinese open city and awarded a provincial level to take up decision-making authority leading to the current Dalian port city. Owing to the strategic location of Dalian, the City is associated with an exemplary prosperity and unique cultural heritage. Firstly, the city is characterized by numerous museums for example Waxwork that has gained tremendous popularity across the world. Secondly, the city of Dalian is also open to the elements of foreign influence such as architectural designs. A typical example is the Zhongshan Square that has been constructed through a combination of varied international cultures. Besides, the town authorities have also been engaged in construction of city squares that are equipped with musical instruments in praise of Dalian culture. Ultimately, the city is emerging as one of the biggest garments manufacturing centers and has a well-developed football champion that have immensely contributed towards the development of Dalian progressive

Business report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business report - Research Paper Example Business report In the present day scenario, the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry of the world is experiencing immense growth owing to augmenting demand from the customers towards the facilities served by this particular industry. The industry is precisely explained as one of the major service industries that offer wide range of services like lodging, restaurant facilities, theme park benefits and transportation facilities among others, to a wide range of customers. Correspondingly, maintaining high level of integrity and delivering due significance towards the level of employee commitment is also crucial in order to obtain overall business efficiency. 1.0. Background Considering the chances witnessed in the modern era, it can be argued that the immense growth of the hospitality and the tourism industry has been stimulated largely due to the increasing number of people getting attracted towards the wide range of services offered by the participating companies. Notably, maint aining a balance between the quality and quantity of services in the hospitality industry often raise to be a noteworthy challenge, which in turn requires effective organisational leadership practices. Implementation of this particular approach is often argued as an important aspect for the long term sustainability of the industry (Laws, 2004). Aim of the Report. The aim of this report will to evaluate the importance of customer service in the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry around the world and the corresponding components that tend to influence the strategic effectives of its practices in this regard. Accordingly, the paper will recommended for the future approach that the participant companies should undertake with regard to providing effective and integrated customer services in this particular industry. 2.0. Discussion Customers are widely considered as the key attribute of any form of business, especially in the present day context, where the performance of the busin ess is entirely dependent on the behaviour of the customers. However, the importance of customers in the hospitality, leisure and tourism industry resides to a higher level owing to the fact that it is a service industry and also due to the reason that customer retention by ensuring maximum customer satisfaction is the key to sustainability in the industry structure. Providing services to the customers and that too in an efficient and dedicated manner is the core success factor for companies operating in this particular industry in today’s contemporary setting (Leland & Bailey, 2006). Customer Services. As described in the above section of the report, customers are the primary driving force in hospitality business in today’s contemporary world. According to the study of Leland & Bailey (2006), customer service is regarded to be a particular approach taken with the intention to ensure better customer satisfaction through effective and integrated service based business o perations. In precise, it is the assistance or the advice any business provides to its targeted customers on the purchase of services offered. Although the mechanism is not limited to the hospitality industry, it shall not be pious to state that the approach has its maximum significance in this particular

George Washington's Farewell Address Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

George Washington's Farewell Address - Essay Example From the essay "Farewell Address" it is clear that in the beginning section of the letter he addressed his concerns of the various security threats that the nationals of America might face in different sects of life. He stated and believed that the American population was secure all over the world including the United States itself if the various states of the country stay united and left peacefully with each other. He added that the constitution that created all the states of USA is experiencing and was going to experience continuous threat from enemies located both locally and internationally. He advised the American people that they should not support those who were looking forward to breaking the union and they should give importance to the unity of the United States over all other factors such as religion, culture and behavior. In his address, he even gave supports to the new government that will be taking over and emphasized the importance of constitution whenever the people of America wish to change the government. He even stated that the government should operate in accordance with the constitution and any changes to the constitution should only be made if the majority of the population of America votes in the favor of the change. Another warning given by Washington through his address was that there are certain political elements that will become an obstacle in the governemnt’s right to use their power and make the decision. These elements will try to persuade the citizens that such activities are in the best interest of the American’s.... These elements will try to persuade the citizens that such activities are in the best interest of the American’s, but the rel intention of these elements is to take power from the hands of the government and transfer this power in the hands of the unfair individuals (Hargrove, 2000, p.14). Washington warned the American people about the creation of political parties as political parties devide the population into groups by saveguarding and represnting the interest of a small portion of the entire population. He even pointed out that the activities of these parties face various obstacles from the government as government beilieves that these parties are their enemies. On the other hand these parties even try to crfeate differences and break governments that have been elected by the majority vote. Washington states that the constitution is very important to keep a track of changes in parties and to ensure that parties that are working for the interest of only one group do not se ek governmental powers. He even states that if certain authority that the government has is unjust, then changes can be made through constitution and not force. Through his letter, he even gave imporftance to religion and morality anad stated that religion is very important to live morally. Washinton supported the creation of balanced federal budget through his letter and stated that government credit should be used wisely, all debts acccumulated during the time of war should be repaid immediately to ensure that the burden of these debts do not fall on the shoulders of the generations that have yet to come. He even emphazied that in certain scanrios such as while safeguarding United States more expenditure needs to

Terrorism and civil liberties in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Terrorism and civil liberties in the UK - Essay Example The past two decades have brought forth a slew of harsher legislation   to deal with the problems of terrorism and deteriorating law and order, which seriously question former Prime Minister John Major’s contention that â€Å"we have no need of a Bill of Rights because we have freedom.†Ã‚   Some examples of the curbing of civil liberties of ordinary citizens are the curtailment of the right of public protest, control orders, indefinite detention and arrests without warrants.Public protests are generally encompassed within the framework of the right to free expression and free association   which is an essential part of a democracy. Restrictions on public gatherings, camping and other activities, to cope with criminal and terrorist elements, have resulted in a wider range of activities being construed as criminal offences.  Ã‚   Trespassing on land and refusing to leave when asked to do so by the police constitutes an offence . The Act also allows the police to pro hibit any gatherings of more than 20 people on any land â€Å"of historical, architectural, archaeological or scientific importance†Ã‚   by obtaining an order from a local authority to ban such an assembly if they have a reasonable suspicion that there could be disturbances . Such measures   have purportedly been introduced in the interest of controlling terrorism and public disorder, so that; â€Å"conduct which constitutes one or more offences shall be regarded as a serious  crime where it involves conduct by a large number of persons in pursuit of a common purpose.†

Economic Policy of Obama and McCain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economic Policy of Obama and McCain - Essay Example McCain claims that the country was successful in the development of the 'concept of the internationalization of national economies which required multiple measures to capture it adequately', and for this purpose the country was able to achieve prominent mark in economic indices relevant to 'economic internationalization, the volume of international commercial transactions', the candidate therefore strongly intends to continue with such plan. Democrat presidential candidate has promised that soon after his election he would impose tax cuts on wealthy, and will protect the interests of the middle class. The presidential candidate also promised appropriate usage of funds extracted through taxes; the funds shall be invested to offer health care, education and housing incentives to the middle class. The presidential candidate for Republican shared the similar belief, but he wanted people from middle class to be placed in higher tax bracket so broaden the scope of tax revenue generation. The presidential candidates Barack Obama and McCain shared difference of opinion towards tax imposition on oil exploration companies. McCain denied adoption of field specific policy towards imposition of taxes; the bracket for taxes shall be based upon profit earned by the company, and shall not be trade or industry specific. According to Robert (2008) Obama emerged as staunch supported for cut in emission gases, and for that he devised a spe cial taxation policy applicable on oil companies, "this shall cause drop in the momentum of explorations activities undertaken by the oil companies", and shall restrict their revenue generation outlook. McCain resisted such move, and wanted to adopt non-industry-specific tax policy, which shall be applicable on all and shall be function of revenue generation. Obama protested by claiming that such measure will curtail the investment plans of the companies adopted green technology. Title: Obama, McCain economic policies in spotlight as election approaches Author: Motoshige Itoh Obama has warned that the economic concerns related with the implementation of the globalization has been significant, although in some of the cases the impact has been as per the aspirations of the local traders, but in majority of the American economy has experienced jolts. Obama has evolved strategy such per which the declination on American exports shall be protected during counter measures and agreement which shall curtail the emergence of China and India as the economic hub for the Asian countries. Itoh (2008) explicitly mentioned that Democrats have expressed their intention to focus much upon the exploring the potential of US manpower and workforce, to improve the employment figure. Democrats have blamed Republicans for their failure on this particular front, and have failed to bring the shares back to its homeland. However, the corporate sector of the country in consultation with the government of United States have established their industrial units in China and India, ther efore the qualitative standards will be certified by the American company but the production will be fabricated

Police science College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Police science College - Essay Example 42). Police discretion has been further addressed and defined at the highest levels of the American criminal justice system. The United States Supreme Court, the ultimate arbiter of the reasonableness of police procedure, has sanctioned the use of police discretion in 4th Amendment search and seizure cases. Indeed, "There are many other intrusive activities that the Court leaves solely to the discretion of the police on the grounds that the individual has no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in the place or premises targeted by the police" (Maclin, 1996: np). In short, even from a constitutional point of view, there are situations when the use of police discretion is not only allowed, but necessary. Police discretion, therefore, can best be characterized as the use of judgment in fluid situations and settings. O'Connor presents a four-part framework for defining police discretion for a particular community: (1) discretion as judgment, (2) discretion as choice, (3) discretion as discernment, and (4) discretion as license (2005, np.). A police officer's judgment, for example, ought to be based on his experience, his particular area of expertise, and his insight into different situations as defined by that community. ... Discretion is therefore highly individualistic. Discretion one community might be exercised differently than in a different community. Choice means trying to find alternative solutions to problems. This aspect of discretion involves a weighing of the costs and the benefits of alternative courses of action. Discernment refers to an examination of the underlying merits of a situation. The police officer must use discretion, for instance to determine whether someone is being scapegoated or unfairly accused. Perhaps there is some excuse that, while not legally recognized as a defense, nevertheless is a very reasonable reason for employing discretion. Finally, the notion of discretion as license reflects the fact that there are times when it might be wiser to disobey standard operating procedures and rules. This is an area where the possibility for the abuse of discretion is the highest. In short, discretion is a multifaceted concept and it tends to be applied on an individualistic basis. Question 3: What is it about YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE POLICE Why is there so much conflict and animosity It has been established that police discretion exists, that police discretion is defined in various ways, and that there are many inaccuracies or myths surrounding the application of police discretion. The sources of police discretion regarding young people, however, are more definitely categorized and defined. O'Connor, citing the extensive research summaries presented by Gaines et al, breaks the causes of police discretion down into three main categories. The first category focuses on the age and the history of the offender and deals mostly with age-related factors. Does the offender, for example resist or respond

Differences Between Us and Russian Business Styles Essay Example for Free

Differences Between Us and Russian Business Styles Essay Everyone knows that the key to effective communication is knowledge. And cross-cultural communication is not an exception to the rule. Quite the contrary we have to know not only the basic data about our foreign partner, but also we ought to be acquainted with numerous rules and standards of behavior established in his or her country. To negotiate with our partner we should possess both the minimum personal information about him or her and the maximum information about his or her country. In this essay I’d like to examine differences and common points in styles, traditions and etiquette of the US and Russian negotiations. I believe that present relations between the United States and Russia are quite good. The two countries still have differences, but they increasingly work together on a wide range of political, economic, cultural issues. Despite the fact that we can still destroy each other with our nuclear weapons, our businessmen and entrepreneurs work very closely, and Russian-American enterprises and firms develop with increased speed nowadays. Naturally I reckon it makes no sense to have all those warheads. The Cold War is over, and the best thing our countries can do is to be reconciled and to get along well with each other. And business partnership is one of the factors to establish friendly bilateral relations in all aspects of cooperation. However, sometimes it is very difficult to build relationships with people of different cultures, mentalities and customs. And this point concerns both our peoples too, because the Russians utterly differ from the Americans. In fact I consider that actually we also have much in common. So further in this essay I’m going to compare our countries’ negotiation styles and traditions, and to define how much differences we have and how much we have in common. In the first place I want to compare appearance of business circles in Russia and the USA. Both Russian men and women leading the negotiations usually wear conservative dark, often pinstriped, and well-tailored clothes along with good dress shoes. A Russian man is not supposed to take off his jacket during the negotiations, while a businesswoman is more welcomed to be dressed in a pencil skirt than in pants. However on some shirtsleeve meetings Russian people of business prefer to look more casually, in such cases they untie their ties, take off their jackets and can choose suits of more light classic colors, such as gray or camel. Similarly American business people wear conservative suits and ties of dark colors. But women  are also allowed to put on not only classic skirts and dresses, but also pants. In rural areas American people of business can wear their suits even without jackets and ties. Both Russian and American businesswomen are not supposed to wear jeans even on casual occasions. All in all negotiators of both our countries have an utterly conservative look, avoid vivid colors of fabrics and gaudy accessories. In the second place it’s necessary to compare the ways of behavior of Russian and American negoti ators. Be ready to that your counterpart from Russia will not be in time. It is quite appropriate in this country, so do not wait any excuses. What is more is that the higher is the rank of your colleague in the company the more probability he or she will be late for much time. On the contrary it is inappropriate and very offensive for your counterpart in the USA to be late, as every businessperson in this country follows the rule â€Å"time is money†. Gift giving in the USA is discouraged by many firms and companies, because it can be considered as a bribe. A gracious note will be enough for your partner. In contrast of the USA gift giving in Russia goes without saying. The fact is that it is extremely difficult and even impossible to do business in Russia without help from local authorities, thus a pretty penny, a cognac bottle, a chocolate box, a bouquet of flowers or other items can help you by doing business in Russia. It is necessary to take into account that negotiations with Russians often can be unsystematic, as negotiators in Russia can focus on several issues simultaneously. Moreover, the Russians are very emotional, so tantrums and walkouts can occur during the negotiations. Although the Americans are quite emotional too, the negotiations with them are more ordered, as they prefer focusing only on the one issue. During their negotiations Russian businesspeople can make some pauses, while the Americans seem to fill the silent periods and do most of the talking. The Americans are individualistic aggressive self-reliant businessmen who do not care for cultural customs of other countries and very often just neglect them; they have a greater level of tolerance for a variety of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs within a business team. On the contrary people of Russian business most often resort to collective thinking and take collective decisions. However, there is a great hierarchy within the structure of any company, and the subordinates must respect the chain of command and do not offer any ideas their chiefs do not want to take. The US  businesspeople are really initiative and active in contrast with negotiators from Russia who very often bide their time, demonstrating their well-known patience. Russia is renowned for its hostility, so it will be a serious breach of etiquette, if you refuse to take a drink or to have a toast. In the third place I compare the gestures the Americans and Russians have. Both in Russia and the USA you greet your colleague by a firm and lasting a few seconds handshake, but in Russia this handshake should be a little bit firmer. Also shaking hands with someone in Russia be sure that you have taken off your gloves, as it is considered rude not to. Keep good eye contact during your handshake. In the USA the counterparts who are good friends can briefly embrace, though in Russia it is not appropriate. A smile is a sign of friendliness for the US businessmen, while Russian people of business prefer to maintain gravity during the negotiations and do not smile at every occasion. In Russia it is extremely inappropriate to show soles of your boots, as they are considered to be dirty, while in the USA they can put their legs on the table. To laugh and to talk too loudly is regarded as bad manners in Russia. Just quite the reverse it is regarded as a sign of sincerity of a person in the USA. To summarize everything that has been written above, I want to stress the fact that actually both our peoples, including negotiators, do have too many differences. They have a great heap of differences in all aspects, but nevertheless I assume they have one very important common thing: both the US and Russian strive to maintain economic links and friendly relations with each other. To achieve success, business organizations sand negotiators should follow the culture of every particular country. It can be quite a problem for American and Russian people of business, because they do not pay much attention to cultures of other nations. It is quite a bad trait business circles in these countries have. Without understanding culture of a country in which organization want to do business, the organization cannot achieve success because if they don’t know the norms, values, beliefs and attitude of customers and employees then they cannot run their business successfully.

Branding Universities Essay Example for Free

Branding Universities Essay The end of the 1990s witnessed the corporatization of public universities in Malaysia resulting in the publication of corporate literature in these universities and the type of writing Fairclough (1993) refers to as the marketization of academic discourse. Marketization is necessary in public universities due to stiff competition in attracting students among the public universities as well as from the increasing number of private universities. This article reports how Malaysian universities re-brand themselves using the results of an investigation on corporate brochures from these universities. The investigation employs a structural analysis and a textual analysis. Although informative in nature, these corporate brochures exhibit the use of promotional elements in the texts as seen in the contents and the language use. The communicative functions of university brochures are viewed to be more promotional than informative. ABSTRACT KEY WORDS: brochures, corporate culture, genre analysis, re-branding, universities Introduction Academic institutions, particularly public universities, used to be regarded as the pinnacle of learning. Most of these universities were reputed for providing the best tertiary education and the mere mention of their names lit up the faces of those who had the privilege of learning from these fountains of knowledge and those who aspired to be associated with them. There was a time when admission was ‘by invitation only’, otherwise young men and women were seen struggling to gain admission into these prestigious institutions. These public universities acquired a promotional value (Wernick, 1991) without having to promote or market themselves. In advertising terms, these universities did not go through the process of branding. Branding is a fundamental strategic process of effectively marketing a product or service which includes creating a brand name and identity, designing Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 58 Discourse Communication 2(1) the packaging and promoting the product or service (Randall, 1997). Although Randall (1997) argues that ‘brands (and therefore branding) are so fundamentally important to the survival and success of many firms’ (p.2), this was not the case in public universities in the past. This is significantly due to the fact that these academic institutions were claimed to be free from other influences as evidenced by Cardinal Newman’s view of universities cited by Wernick (1991) as: . . . the high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experiment and speculation; it maps out the territory of the intellect, and sees that . . . there is neither encroachment nor surrender from any side . . . (Cardinal Newman, 1847, cited in Wernick, 1991:151) That was the traditional image of public universities, independent of political or societal influence and this image was not built by advertising or branding. As centres of academe, public universities were known for their quality education based on the results of their graduates and their performance in the careers they embarked on upon graduation. As years passed, more aspiring young people would apply for admission in certain universities due to their reputation. This reputation in turn became the  image of the universities which automatically created the promotional value (Wernick, 1991) of these universities, mentioned earlier as the pinnacle of learning. Each university was identified by its name or logo and no further promotional strategies were required. By providing quality education, these universities successfully built ‘a distinct brand personality’ (Randall, 1997: 67) for themselves as the success of branding is justified when people are reminded of a particular brand just by looking at the logo or hearing its brand name. The traditional role of public universities was to manage society (Jarvis, 2001) by producing scholars in the various fields of study so that they can go out to make the world a better place to live or join the academia to continue producing scholars. However, towards the end of the 20th century, the role of universities started changing from serving the state in managing society to serving the industry and commerce in ensuring that people are employable (Jarvis, 2001). This is partly due to the demands of the contemporary knowledge-based society (Veitch, 1999) where consumers have become more knowledgeable and have started demanding for better education and improved quality of life. Changes started taking place in public universities in the West as early as the 1980s where the governments were forced to abolish academic tenure and decrease funding for these universities. This was when many traditional universities started transforming into corporate universities (Jarvis, 2001) where they have to assume a more corporate form and function more like a corporation. From being the centre of academe, universities have become business-like entities (Connell and Galasinski, 1998). In Malaysia, a number of public universities have recently been corporatized, a move taken by the Malaysian government in its effort to inculcate better and more efficient management of these institutions. As corporate culture (Treadwell and Treadwell, 2000) is a new culture in all these universities, most of them Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising have set up corporate communications departments (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to handle corporate matters. Among the functions of these departments are managing corporate information and publication and projecting a positive image of the universities which are part of corporate advertising. Corporate advertising Business corporations use corporate advertising to enhance the image of the whole organization, or of the general brand in order to influence social values or to establish a connection between the corporation/brand and an already established positive value and in this era of identity, a lot of emphasis has been put on the importance of brand and corporate identities (Richards et al. , 2000). Unlike business organizations, universities are non-profit institutions. Public universities are viewed to use corporate advertising to enhance the strong foundation and to highlight the quality of these institutions of higher education. While it is common for business corporations to publish informative or promotional literature from time to time to inform the public about new developments in the organization (monthly or yearly reports) or to introduce new products or services (product launch leaflets), the use of promotional literature in academic institutions is a recent development. Malaysian public universities have started producing informative literature in the form of university brochures and special booklets in conjunction with certain celebrations in the universities as well as promotional literature in the form of leaflets providing brief information on academic programmes offered by the universities or introducing new programmes (Hajibah Osman, 2005). By employing new strategies to market their traditional image, from the advertising perspective, these universities are re-branding their products and services. Re-branding is the process of marketing an existing product or service of one brand with a different identity involving radical changes to the brand name, logo, image, marketing strategy and advertising themes (Wikipedia, 2006). In the advertising industry, re-branding is often referred to as re-positioning, that is, re-positioning a product or service in order to improve sales. Although there was no actual initial branding taking place in universities, being non-profit making institutions, the term ‘re-branding’ is used in this article to illustrate the change in the image of these universities particularly since the late 20th century. Significantly, this change has been effected without compromising the traditional characteristics and values of these institutions as the pinnacle of higher learning. The process of re-branding is aimed at improving the image of the universities by focusing on the facilities and highlighting the quality of the academic programmes. This article attempts to investigate the process of re-branding in public universities in Malaysia by conducting a genre analysis on university brochures, one type of print materials published by the institutions that represent corporate advertising. Analysing genres can lead to a ‘thick description’ (Bhatia, 1993) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 59 60 Discourse Communication 2(1) of the texts contained in these genres, explaining why certain texts have been constructed the way they are. The specific objective of this article is to identify and discuss the strategies used in the re-branding process based on the structural organization of university brochures and the communicative functions of this type of brochure. Previous investigations of advertising genres mostly focused on straightsell advertisements of products or services. Bruthiaux (2000), for instance, investigated how advertisers make use of a limited space available to them to create successful advertising copies by examining the syntactic features in an undisclosed number of display and classified advertisements. His results show that the degree of syntactic elaboration ‘varies substantially even when content of equal simplicity/complexity or familiarity to readers is being presented. This variation appears to correlate with perceptions of status on the parts of both writers and readers’ (p. 298) and the persuasive elements lie in the vacuous displays of linguistic sophistication designed to create a largely artificial sense of exclusiveness among status-conscious readers (p. 369). Investigations have also been conducted on the language of advertising in Asia, for instance, Tej Bhatia’s (2000) investigation of language of advertising in Rural India and Henry and Roseberry’s (1998) investigation of the linguistic features in tourist information brochures from Brunei. Thus far, there have been very few linguistic analyses conducted on the genre of corporate advertising. Therefore, the genre selected for analysis in this article is brochure, specifically corporate brochure from academic institutions. A brochure is a printed document of six or more pages, used to introduce an organization, published only once and distributed to special publics for a single purpose (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). The discourse community of Public Relations (PR) specifies five characteristics of brochures, three of which are related to the present article: always having a singular message statement; having a purpose – to persuade or to inform and educate; and attracting and holding the attention of the audience. Brochure genre makes an interesting study because, first, this genre is viewed as a ‘blurred genre’ (a term borrowed from Scollon et al. , 1999) in that the term ‘brochure’ has been used to refer to other forms of publications including booklet, flyer, leaflet and pamphlet (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). Second, a brochure is a genre of persuasive discourse shaping the thoughts, feelings and lives of the public (Dyer, 1993) placing it under the field of advertising. However, according to Newsom and Carrell (2001), brochures are produced by PR practitioners rather than advertising practitioners. This is probably due to the fact that PR, among other things, incorporates looking after the reputation of an organization ‘with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour’ (Beard, 2001: 7). The question of ownership arises placing brochures in an even more ‘blurred’ state as the communicative functions of brochures have been set by the discourse community to which the genre belongs. In the context of this article, brochures are categorized as a corporate genre (basically PR) involving the principles of corporate writing (Treadwell Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising and Treadwell, 2000). Brochures are readily available, particularly in print version, and are easily accessible electronically. Finally, brochure genre needs to be investigated because brochure format is one of the most frequently used information formats in advertising and PR but is ironically the least written-about (Bivins and Ryan, 1991). Corporate genre in academic institutions This article establishes that any publications from universities, particularly those produced by the Corporate or Public Relations Office, are referred to as corporate genre. Corporate brochures are usually categorized as informative brochures (Richards et al. , 2000) providing all the necessary information about the organizations they represent. There are certain corporate elements present to qualify them as corporate brochures, but mostly these brochures are informative. However, an analysis of corporate brochures from multinational corporations by Askehave and Swales (2001) prove that these brochures also function to promote the organization. This is evident in the presence of promotional elements selected as syntactic choices in these brochures. Corporate brochures also function to establish long-lasting trading relationships which are in fact paramount in today’s industrial market. Hajibah Osman (2005) also notes that corporate brochures from academic institutions are promotional in nature with the use of promotional strategies apart from corporate and informative strategies. Another corporate genre in academic institutions, the university prospectus, started changing in form in the 1990s (Fairclough, 1993) where apart from providing information on the core business of the university, that is, the academic programmes, the prospectus has also included information on other aspects of the universities. Based on a critical discourse analysis of prospectuses from a number of British universities, Fairclough notes that these universities started promoting their programmes because they have come increasingly under (mostly government’s) pressure to operate like other types of businesses competing to sell their products to consumers. The university prospectus has become a ‘genre of consumer advertising colonising professional and public service orders of discourse on a massive scale, generating many new hybrid partly promotional genres’ (Fairclough, 1993: 139). Academic institutions in Malaysia have also published promotional leaflets (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to advertise their academic programmes and these are circulated to potential students particularly before a new academic year begins. These leaflets are no longer the plain, boring information sheets but colourful and interesting ones. This article concurs with Askehave and Swales (2001) that corporate brochures function as promotional brochures more than projecting the corporate image and providing information. Thus, the investigation in this article attempts to identify and discuss the strategies that realize the promotional functions in this type of brochure as part of the re-branding process in public universities. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 61 62 Discourse Communication 2(1) Methodology In 2005, there were 11 public universities in Malaysia (currently, there are 20). Brochures were obtained from the 11 universities and were initially analysed to identify the possible structural organization. Based on the organization, the communicative functions of these brochures were determined. The 11 public universities included in this investigation are: International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM/UIA); Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM); Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS); Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS); Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI); Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM); Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM); Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM); University of Malaya (UM). A textual analysis was conducted to examine the strategies used in the rebranding process. The strategies in the context of this article are tactical choices (Bhatia, 1993) which are cognitive processes ‘exploited by the writer to make writing more effective keeping in mind any special reader requirements, considerations arising from the use of medium or constraints imposed by organizational and other factors’ (p. 20). The strategies used by universities in re-branding the institutions are discussed within the framework of the sociolinguistic theory which considers writing as ‘part of the overall activities of a group and organization’ (Gunnarsson, 1997: 140) and in relation to the corporate culture (Hagberg and Heifetz, 2000) practised by the universities. As a genre is a typical form of utterances, it should be studied in its social contexts of use (Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1993). Sociolinguistics does not only describe linguistic variation and the social context in which such a variation occurs, but also shows how linguistic differentiation reflects social structure (Coupland, 2001). The sociolinguistic perspective in this article considers the existence of factors underpinning the construction of university brochures and the concept of promotional culture (Wernick, 1991). Re-branding academic institutions It has been established that university brochures form part of the corporate advertising strategies in Malaysian universities which in turn are part of the rebranding process in these traditional institutions. The structural organization in these brochures consists of 10 sections identified as moves (Table 1). Some of the moves are exemplified with extracts from the university brochures in Figure 1 (see Appendix). In identifying the moves, the term ‘service’ is used to refer to the educational services and the support services offered by the universities. All the brochures from the 11 universities include Moves I, C, L, D, J and S, indicating that these six moves are obligatory. Ninety-one percent of the brochures include Moves A, T and E, while 81 percent include Move V, making them optional moves. The 10 moves have been used to realize three communicative functions of the university brochures which are: †¢ To inform the public about the academic programmes offered in the university and the facilities and other services available to support the academic programmes; Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising †¢ †¢ To portray a corporate image of the university; and To promote the university as an academic institution based on the quality and the variety of academic programmes offered as well as the facilities available. These communicative functions of university brochures correspond with the general functions of brochures (Newsom and Carrell, 2001) set by the discourse community of PR. Re-branding strategies The 10 sections in university brochures have been identified as moves and these moves are realized with the use of strategies, and for the purpose of discussion in this article, re-branding strategies. The article discusses how the strategies contribute to the re-branding process and what their communicative functions are. NAME AND LOGO The first move in university brochures is called identifying the service which presents the name and the logo of the university. Although the brochures are in English language, the names of the universities are in Malay, the national language of Malaysia except two universities, International Islamic University Malaysia and University of Malaya. The names of the public universities were officially changed to Malay when the national language was made the medium of instruction in the mid-1970s. In the case of IIUM, however, the acronym by which it is commonly referred to by Malaysians is the Malay version, UIA. Similarly, University of Malaya is now popularly known as Universiti Malaya (UM). Interestingly, alumni up to the early 1980s still refer to this oldest university in the country as MU (Malaya University). TA B L E 1. Structural organization of university brochures Section Move identification Name of the university University slogan or motto Vision/Mission statement Profile or background of the university Location and size of the university Academic programmes offered at the university Facilities available to support the academic programmes Entry requirements, fees charged and duration of the programmes Career opportunities and recognition received by the university Contact addresses and telephone numbers Identifying the service (I) Attracting reader attention (A) Targeting the market (T) Establishing credentials (C) Locating the service (L) Describing the service (D) Justifying the service (J) Indicating the value of service (V) Endorsing the value of service (E) Soliciting response (S) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 63 64 Discourse Communication 2(1) In the past, universities were identified by their crests but now these crests have been generally referred to as logos. Although it cannot be ascertained when the change exactly took place, this is the first re-branding strategy. However, this is not an obvious re-branding element because some of the established traditional universities in the world still use the term crest, for example, Oxford University (http://www. ox. ac. uk/web/crest.shtml). As far as Malaysian universities are concerned, both terms are similar and a recent survey of the university websites shows that most of the public universities in Malaysia refer to the crest as the logo while two universities (UKM and USM) refer to them as emblems. Most of the websites also provide the rationale for the design of the logo (e. g. UiTM, UPM). Whether used as crest, logo or emblem, interestingly, there are two common shapes observed: the shape of a shield (six universities) and a round shape (five universities) (Figure 2, see Appendix). The shape of USM’s emblem differs significantly from other logos in that it resembles a state emblem. This qualifies for the use of the term ‘emblem’ (a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization or family – Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2001) by the university. Although the current shape of UPSI’s logo is round, it once had the shape of a shield (Figure 3, see Appendix). Compared with the logos of established universities which include traditional designs representing the academe, the current logos of Malaysian public universities include elements of modern designs. In fact, some of these logos have gone through some kind of ‘evolution’ as in the case of UiTM, UPM and UPSI. UPM ‘evolved’ from a training school to a college to a university focusing on agriculture. Later, the university started including more disciplines and the name was changed from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Malaysia University of Agriculture) to Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra University of Malaysia) in 1997, taking after the name of the first prime minister at the same time keeping the same acronym. UPSI and UiTM underwent almost similar ‘evolution’; from a centre to a college to an institute and finally to a university. Throughout the ‘evolution’, the logos have also gone through many changes where the concept incorporated in the logos mainly represents the focus of the university. While UPSI’s logo changed in shape but not in concept, UiTM’s and UPM’s logos underwent a total facelift (Figure 3, see Appendix). This is probably due to the fact that UPSI’s focus of training teachers remains throughout. MOTTO AND SLOGAN A motto is a short sentence or phrase that expresses a rule for sensible behaviour, especially a way of behaving in a particular situation (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, 2001). Most of the university logos have the motto inscribed on them as the motto represents the culture or the way of life in the university. Once again, all the mottos of the public universities are in Malay. The more established universities still retain this culture inscribed in the logo as seen in UM’s motto (translated as) ‘Knowledge, the Source of Development’, UPSI’s ‘Knowledge, the Beacon of Pure Character’, UTM’s ‘By the Name of God for Mankind’ and UUM’s ‘Scholarship, Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising Virtue, Service’. UPSI keeps the same motto inscribed on the logo throughout its ‘evolution’ but UiTM left out its motto of 39 years from its new logo. The newly established universities (UMS and UNIMAS) do not have a motto inscribed in their logos. While a motto is a traditional feature of a public university, having a slogan is a new phenomenon. A slogan is a distinctive catchphrase that serves as a motto for a promotion campaign (Wells et al., 2003) used to sum up a theme for the benefit of the product or the service in order to deliver a message in a few words which are easily remembered. There are two types of slogans (Russell and Lane, 1990): hard-sell slogans are strongly competitive, epitomizing the special significant features of the product or service being advertised. Institutional slogans establish a prestigious image for companies which they need in order to enhance their products or services. Slogans in university brochures fall under the category of institutional slogans. Again, it cannot be ascertained when universities started creating slogans but there is a strong probability that they started at the same time when Malaysian public universities were undergoing corporatization in the late 20th century. Slogans started appearing on brochures and prospectuses of these public universities. The use of slogans has been viewed as a significant re-branding strategy as slogans represent the most promotional element in advertising. The purpose of having a slogan is to attract the reader’s attention and to let it linger on the reader’s mind. According to Russell and Lane (1990), the memorability of slogans can be enhanced by making use of literary techniques. These techniques consist of certain types of words including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Boldness – use of strong powerful words, and startling or unexpected phrases; Parallelism – use of a repeated structure of a sentence or phrase; Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration – use of repeated sounds; Aptness – use of appropriate, direct words (Russell and Lane, 1990). Slogans in university brochures have been created based on good advertising principles as they have been observed to make use of the literary techniques, for example: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ boldness: Garden of Knowledge and Virtue (IIUM) parallelism: The National University with an International Reach (UKM) aptness: Your Inspiration parallelism: Contemporary and Forward Looking (UNIMAS) boldness: Towards a World-Class University (UPM) boldness: Towards Excellence and Supremacy (UPSI) Boldness is exemplified with words such as ‘virtue’, ‘world-class’ and ‘supremacy’ where the universities are bold enough to associate themselves with such high stature. Traditionally, public universities are centres of academe which do not portray an image of flaunting. Slogans using parallelism aim for jingle-like sounds so that readers can remember them easily while aptness acts like punchlines, strong and effective to be easily remembered. The bottom line is that a slogan is an Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 65 66 Discourse Communication 2(1) advertising concept and a marketing tool. The fact that public universities as nonprofit making academic institutions use slogans place them in a different light. They are currently functioning more like business entities. MISSION STATEMENT This move is identified as targeting the market based on the communicative functions of the mission statements. A mission statement provides information about what type of organization it is and what it does (Falsey, 1989) at the same time highlighting the positive factors in the organization. Stating the mission of the university is viewed as one of the two crucial strategies (the other being using slogans) in re-branding academic institutions as this move never appeared in academic genres before. This move has placed public universities in the same league as other successful corporations. Mission statements of public universities in Malaysia are observed to provide information as to what and how they can contribute to the public in terms of tertiary education as highlighted (underlined) in the following examples: (10) To become a distinguished university, aspiring to promote academic excellence in higher education and professional training necessary for the country’s socio-economic development (UiTM). (11) To be a premier university seeking excellence in the advancement of knowledge to meet the aspirations of the nation (UM) (12) To become an exemplary university of internationally acknowledged stature and as a scholarly institution of preference and choice for students and academics through the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and scholarship (UNIMAS) (13) To lead in the development of creative human resource and technology in line with the aspirations of the nation (UTM). The words ‘distinguished’, ‘premier’, and ‘exemplary’ are used to emphasize the quality of the universities. Other words like ‘excellence’, ‘advancement’ and ‘stature’ as well as ‘to lead’ are all bold words of promise by the universities. PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY This section is identified as the move to establish the credentials of the university as it provides information on the background and/or the current status of the university. The background information includes the date of establishment and the reason for the establishment while information on the current status of the university usually includes the achievements of the university in terms of academic programmes and physical development as well as the quality of the programmes offered. This move is supposed to be informational but there are a number of instances where the brochures provide the information on the current status of the university using ‘promotional’ words and phrases. For example: (14) UNIMAS is an ISO-certified university . . . Its undergraduate programmes have been designed to suit the needs of society and industry. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising An ISO certification for an organization confirms the quality of that organization and it is now a common practice among public universities to obtain such certification to convince the public about the quality of the university, particularly the academic programmes on offer. Universities with ISO certification usually highlight it in their brochures as a strategy to promote the institutions. Other instances of promotional words can be observed in the following examples: (15) The university is the catalyst for regional growth in the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia (UUM) (16) From these humble beginnings, UM grew hand-in-hand with the young nation to become the nucleus for producing graduates of the highest quality and calibre. The word ‘catalyst’ denotes the importance of the university in the regional growth of the northern region of the country, without which there would not have been much growth in that region, thus promoting the significance of the university. Similarly, the word ‘nucleus’ conveys the significance of UM to the developing nation. Another instance is when a university states the commitment of the university to the public or the nation. UPM boldly states its commitment to become a worldclass university to convince the public to come and enrol in this university. (17) Named Universiti Putra Malaysia in honour of the pioneering Prime Minister of Malaysia, . . . has adopted this pioneering spirit and is committed to become the world class Univers.

Finding Nemo Film Analysis

Finding Nemo Film Analysis  »Ã‚ ¿ Pixar Animation Studios made a large splash at the summer box office on May 30, 2003 with Finding Nemo. Directed by Andrew Stanton and Co-Director Lee Unkrich, Finding Nemo won an Oscar, thirty-four other awards, and thirty-five nominations; also, the film was ranked in the top ten American Film Institutes list of the ten greatest films in the genre Animation in June 2008. With all of the movies accomplishments, how could one not see this joyful movie? This film also stars Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, and Alexander Gould (Finding Nemo). Finding Nemo is a tale of an adventurous young clownfish, Nemo, who ends up in an aquarium. In search to find his son, Marlin finds Dory, and the two of them encounter adventures and reunite with Nemo. Finding Nemo is a remarkable movie due to the enlightening theme, meticulous and glorious animation, and a well-played cast. The theme of Finding Nemo forms through a father-son love story. Several components of the story help interpret the message of the film. One major element is the concern about Nemos short fin, a deformity that keeps Marlin worried. Stanton states: [Nemos disability is] a metaphor for anything you worry is insufficient or hasnt formed yet in your child (Corliss). Parents become worried about a handicap in their child and think that the disability is a corrupt view of the parent. This movie can teach parents that there is no perfect father or child, like Marlin and Nemo. On Marlins journey, Marlin is set on finding his son when divers take Nemo; on his journey he meets the unforgettable Crush who is the complete opposite of Marlin, relaxed with parenting. Corliss explains, When Marlin asks the sea turtle Crush how a father knows when his kids are ready to swim out on their own, the wise dude replies, Well, you never really know. But when they know, you know- yknow?'(Corliss). Parents c an relate to Crush and Nemos devoted dad that children need to grow up and discover the world. The message of the movie is important for parents; the message is about letting go and getting back. According to Corliss, Nemos fish-out-of-water plot was hatched back in 1992, when he visited Marine World in Vallejo, Calif. His feelings of protectiveness towards his own boy Ben inspired the father-son story (Corliss). By looking at the views of Stanton, readers may see how he and other parents feel about the letting go and getting back policy. Even though parents may find the policy hard to follow, watching this movie can help relieve the hard way of stress by understanding the lesson of the movie. O Sullivan elucidates, [Nemos]father is forced to enlist the aide of a beautiful stranger to decipher the only clue left at the crime scene, even while the pair narrowly averts such threats as a trio of predatory thugs foundering in a 12-step program (O Sullivan). Through all of Marlins comica l, action-packed, and nerve-racking encounters, he learns his lesson after gaining Nemo back, knowing when to hold means knowing when to let go. The spectacular animation is a huge hit in Finding Nemo. The almost impossible underwater animation requires many elements and hard work and Pixar has outdone it. The animation consists of glorious images that represent the ocean in varying degrees of darkness and light, stillness and turbulence, clarity and obscurity, and in ways that high light the myriad colors possessed by underwater life(McCarthy). McCarthy describes the underwater animation with such beauty that how could one resist to see the hard work paid off. In addition, the underwater detail is the product of meticulous effort. Ansen proclaims, High on the movies list of accomplishments is its creation of an undersea wonderland whose opalescent colors and shifting light reflect the enchanted aura of dreamy aquatic photography (Ansen). The movie successfully sustains a watery ambience, which is not an easy thing to do given that water is semitransparent. With an unexpected beauty, Finding Nemo is able to portray decent use of color and form. According to Ebert, Finding Nemo is one of those rare movies where I [want] to sit in the front row and let the images wash out to the edges of my field of vision (Ebert).This animation makes people feel like they are inside the movie. Also, for many people, they could have a second-viewing for the effects. A perfect cast comments the perfect movie. Dory needing an enthusiastic personality was matched with the perfect voice, Ellen DeGeneres. Ansen believes, Ellen DeGeneres, hilarious and poignant, gives a tour de force reading (Ansen). DeGeneres attracts a prodigious crowd to Finding Nemo. According to Holden, Ms. DeGeneres infuses what could have been a one-note role with an irresistible enthusiasm and playfulness (Holden). Without her reading, Dory would not have the same personality. Other characters are also very memorable. Michael O Sullivan observes, Pixars attention to minute details of characterization—lobsters speak with New England accents, seagulls are mindless, yapping clones [fixate] on their next meal—pay off big time (O Sullivan). These voices also bring in the full effect of the characters and movie, making the movie very comical. Finding Nemos fame is an outcome of an unforgettable theme, breathtaking animation, and a comical and perfect-fitting cast. The paradox of love theme can relate to all parents and future parents. Furthermore, the spectacular and detailed animation can warrant for a second viewing and make people feel in a state of reverie. Finally, the cast produces a stunning success. This film is outstanding connecting to each person in the audience. Finding Nemo is a success to Pixar films and one must not resist seeing it! Works Cited Ansen, David. Freeing Nemo: A Whale of a Tale. Newsweek. Newsweek, Inc., 2 June 2003. Web. 12 January 2010. Corliss, Richard. Hook, Line, and Thinker. Time. Time Inc., 19 May 2003. Web. 12 January 2010. Ebert, Roger. Finding Nemo. Rogerebert.com. Rogerebert.com, 30 May 2003. Web. 14 January 2010. Finding Nemo. Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. Web. 27 January 2010. Holden, Stephen. Film Review: Vast Sea, Tiny Fish. Big Crisis. The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 30 May 2003. Web. 13 January 2010. McCarthy, Todd. Finding Nemo. Variety. Reed Business Information, 26 May 2003. Web. 12 January 2010. O Sullivan, Michael. Finding Nemo: This Fish Story is a Keeper. The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company, 30 May 2003. Web. 13 January 2010.

Napoleon Bonaparte’s Invasion of Russia Essay -- European History Russ

Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Russia was a major factor in his downfall. In 1812, Napoleon, whose alliance with Alexander I had disintegrated, launched an invasion into Russia that ended in a disastrous retreat from Moscow. Thereafter, all of Europe, including his own allies, Austria and Prussia, united against him. Although he continued to fight, the odds he faced were impossible. In April 1814, Napoleon’s own marshals refused to continue the struggle and stepped down from their positions. During the actual Russian campaign, there were many key factors that greatly impacted his downfall. The largest army ever assembled for one single invasion was reduced to a mere fraction of its original size. Because of the rebellions from his allies, Austria and Prussia, Napoleon had to fight a war on both the western and the eastern front. The losses he suffered in Russia greatly affected his future campaigns. Throughout his reign, Napoleon was able to overcome many obstacles that others before him could have only dreamed. One was the idea of having a United Europe under France. With his Grand Armà ©e, Napoleon had already conquered, and was controlling an enormous amount of Europe, such as Switzerland, the Confederation of the Rhine, Austria, and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (Broers, 47). These countries, or provinces, made up the bulk of central Europe. Napoleon had recently ended a war with Spain, and now had signed a peace treaty with them. In 1805, France, under Napoleon, and Russia, under Alexander I, signed the Treaty of Tilsit. The treaty was one of peace under certain conditions. Russia was prohibited to trade with England, and they were also obligated to turn over some of their land to France (Elting, 63). The territory that France gained control over was the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. The treaty was extremely harsh on Russia. The prohibition of trade with England greatly affected the economy of Russia. The Continental System, which Napoleon instituted, prohibited trade with England. Alexander I violated the Treaty of Tilsit by renewing trade with England. Napoleon invaded Russia in an attempt to force Czar Alexander I to abide by the Treaty of Tilsit (Web, Russian Embassy). The summer of 1812 was an ideal time for Napoleon to begin an invasion. Russia’s economy was weak due to the trade embargo and other internal problem s.... ..., New York. 1997. 4. Palmer, R. France Under Napoleon. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. 1990. Internet: 1. Connelly, Owen. Tempe of Napoleon. http://sangha.net/messengers/napoleon.htm 2. Minard. Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812. http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~jrubarth/gslis/lis385t.16/Napoleon/ 3. Russian Embassy. Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia. http://www.interknowledge.com/russia/rushis05.htm 4. Saglamer, Emin. 1812: Napoleon's March to Russia. http://www.ddg.com/LIS/InfoDesignF96/Emin/napoleon/textindex.html 5. Unknown. Napoleon is Russia: 1812. http://home.rmci.net/toddjohnson/russia.htm The map, based on the 1869 chart by Minard, graphically illustrates (both literally and figuratively) how the size of the French army dwindled during the march into Russia and was reduced to almost nothing on the wretched rout back into Poland. The map can be read in several ways. The size of the peach colored bar indicates the relative strength of the French army during the march on Moscow. The black bar shows the dwindling French army during the retreat. In the lower portion of the map, the temperature in degrees Celsius is shown, along with dates during the retreat.

Affective Gaming Essay -- essays research papers

Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of the Mario and Zelda franchises, tells us that he designs his games around a series of specific emotional experiences. Console manufacturer Sony have christened the PlayStation 2's CPU the ‘emotion engine'. Clearly the gaming community understands the importance of emotion in games, so why do most games offer the player such a shallow emotional play experience? The reason is partly due to the relative immaturity of the games industry. Whereas the film industry has a mature and well developed structure for how the auteur might evoke tears in the eyes of the audience, the digital games industry is still in the process of writing the rule book. With digital gaming being a visual medium, you might expect techniques for eliciting emotion to be transferable across media. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. The film director has complete control over the image appearing on the cinema screen – the camera angle, the sequential order of each scene, and the pacing of a scene. In contrast, the game designer hands control of such things to the player. The player will choose the camera angle best suited to getting Mario across the tight rope, as well as the direction and pace at which the game progresses. Interactive media needs to find their own rules for supporting emotion in games, and they have a couple of neat tricks which set them apart from the competition. Evoking an emotional response in the player The interactive nature of digital games provides new and very different possibilities for eliciting emotions. For example, whereas the movie goer simply watches the narrative world unfold, the game player gets to interacts with it - and each environment has the potential to evoke a different emotional response. For example, a large building with towering marble pillars is generally considered much more imposing and makes people feel smaller and more uncomfortable than a small room with a sofa and a blazing wood-fire. At Glasgow Caledonian University we are currently looking specifically at those environments which are renowned for producing supernatural experiences. By modelling and adapting reputedly haunted places in Edinburgh, UK we have been able to create game environments which evoke ghostlike experience for approximately 60% of people who experience it. Reported experiences include the feeling a ghost breathing on the... ... how to control their avatar. With the arrival of online gaming it is often the case that a player's opponent is not physically present, thus diluting the social experience of multiplayer gaming. However, if the software could determine the player's affective state, an on-screen persona could be adapted to reflect the player's emotional state. 3. AFFECTIVE GAME-MECHANICS Knowing the affective state of the player allows for novel game mechanics based around the player's emotions. An example of such can be found in Zen Warriors, a game currently in pre-development at Glasgow Caledonian University. Zen Warrior is a fighting game where, to perform their finishing move, the player has to switch from fast paced aggression, to a Zen-like state of inner calm. These are exciting times. Games have taken the huge aesthetic leap from two dimensions to three dimensions. The next evolutionary step is for games to elicit deeper and more varied emotion in players. And we are still only writing the first chapter of the rule book. -- Jonathan Sykes Jonathan Sykes currently heads the eMotion Laboratory at Glasgow Caledonian University, where he investigates emotional engagement with technology.

Commerce and the Internet :: Internet E-Commerce Business Essays

Commerce and the Internet Introduction The company I work with wants to 'get on the web.' Few of the staff are experienced computer users, but they know how to make the machines spit out invoices, purchase orders, reports, letters and pretty packaging designs. They know that 'everyone' is on the web nowadays, they want to 'do it,' but they're tardy in undertaking the project, and the subject has ignited a series of internal power struggles among the staff. This paper is a broad exploration of communication issues related to a small business's desire to utilize the internet . As a speech communications major, I am interested in studying all facets of communication. What I have learned in four short weeks is that the subject of commerce on the internet is complex and widely misunderstood -- even feared -- by many members of our community. Thomas Sebeok, in his paper Communication states that "because the concept of communication is so central to our contemporary civilization, and because of the intensive social shaping of technology by governments and commercial interests, our age has increasingly come to be characterized as 'the information society'. (11). I posit that this intensive social shaping of technology, and the multiplicity of information communicated therein, is straining our human ability to accurately decode messages due to entropy (the measure of disorder in the system) created by a 'blind' rush for profits. Yet, i f "the power of money does not lie in the coin, nor that of justice in the buildings that house our courts or the people that operate the system," (Plotkin) where do they lie? This presentation will tell my story, humbly state an opinion, and possibly raise further questions for readers. Fear and Loathing in Canoga Park My employer's company has experienced meteoric growth over the past year. In the scramble to keep up with the demands of a burgeoning business, I was employed as an administrative assistant and given the task of researching for, designing and purchasing a sophisticated infranet and automated voice mail system for the workers to use. The telephones and computers had to be compatible, to accommodate a planned telemarketing department. The system was designed with 'security' in mind -- a simple DOS based accounting package was provided via diskless workstations to the sales staff, while the administrative staff received WIN 95 'executive' workstations, but could drop into the DOS loop when necessary.

Preventing Falls in the Elderly

Preventing Falls in the Elderly Natalie StJohn University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville As health care becomes more sophisticated and better, other concerns are starting to surface. Such interests that started as mere nuisances are now becoming the focal point of involvement that aims to correct and improve the welfare of individuals. One such clinical concern is the phenomenon of falls, especially with the older population.Falling in elderly individuals is a significant, yet under-recognized and underestimated public health concern (Woolcott et al. , 2009). About 30% of people over 65 years old and living in their respective communities fall annually, with such figures even higher in health institutions and about a fifth of such incidents requires medical attention (Gillespie, Gillespie, Robertson, Lamb, Cumming, & Rowe, 2009).In a one year follow-up study of persons aged 75 years and above living in the community, about one-third reported at least one incident of fall (Tinetti, Speechley, & Ginter, 1988), with a higher annual fall risk of up to 50%, occurred in the oldest population or with the individuals living in nursing homes, with the consequences of injuries and fractures because of falls (like mortality, hospitalization, disability and institutionalization) rise as with the age (Berdot et al. , 2009).The estimated costs associated with falls and fall-related complications are at billions of dollars worldwide (Scuffham, Chaplin, & Legood, 2003; Lewin Group, 2000; Smartrisk Foundation, 2009). Hence, research regarding the factors why elder people fall becomes all the more necessary (Woolcott et al. , 2009). There are several reasons why people fall. Fall risk is multifactoral in nature, with risk factors being intrinsic and extrinsic (Graafmans et al. , 1996). The most common reasons are uncontrolled hypertension, orthostatic hypotension, and use or inappropriate use of certain medications (Gangavati et al. 2011); Woolcott et al. , 2009; Be rdot et al. , 2009). With regards to hypertension and systolic orthostatic hypertension, older individuals suffering from such conditions are at greater risk for falls within a year (Gangavatti et al. , 2011). The study also noted that older patients with their hypertension controlled have no effect with regards to falls (Gangavatti et al. , 2011). The older populations with an increase use of antidepressants, benzodiazepines, hypnotics, and sedatives have a larger and increase chances of falls with elderly persons (Woolcott et al. 2009). This marked increase is most due to the long-lasting effects of benzodiazepines as well as inappropriate psychotropics, and since these medications have anticholinergic properties (Berdot et al. , 2009). There are several ways to mitigate, lessen, or even prevent the chances of the elder population from falling. Interventions with multidisciplinary properties are proven effective in minimizing fall incidents, as well as muscle strengthening balance retraining prescribed at home and assisted by a trained health professional (Gillespie et al. 2009). Tai Chi is also another effective alternative intervention for mitigating falls (Gillespie et al. , 2009). For those with a history of falling, home hazard assessment and modification by a healthcare professional could also minimize chances of falls (Gillespie et al. , 2009). Cardiac pacing for individuals with high risk of falls due to cardio-inhibitory carotid sinus hypersensitivity also has a high chance of being beneficial, as is the withdrawal of psychotropic medications (Gillespie et al. , 2009).Studies have also shown that individually tailored interventions delivered by healthcare professionals are more effective than standard or group delivered programs (Gillespie et al. , 2009). Falls is a highly preventable, yet still highly prevalent cause of injury and even mortality with the elderly. The abovementioned interventions could help in minimizing its detrimental effects. Ref erence: Berdot, S. , Bertrand, M. , Dartigues, J. F. , Fourrier, A. , Tavernier, B. , Ritchie, K. , & Alperovitch, A. , (2009). Inappropriate Medication Use and Risk of Falls-A Prospective Study in a Large Community-Dwelling Elderly Cohort.BMC Geriatrics, 9(30). doi:10. 1186/1471-2318-9-30. Lewin Group (2000). Estimated savings from falls prevented by targeted home modifications. Washington, DC: AARP Public Policy Institute. Gangavati, A. , Hajjar, I. , Quach, L. , Jones, R. , Kiely, D. , Gagnon, P. , & Lipsitz, L. (2011). Hypertension, Orthostatic Hypotension, and the Risk of Falls in a Community-Dwelling Elderly Population: The Maintenance of Balance, Independent Living, Intellect, and Zest in the Elderly of Boston Study. Journal of American Geriatric Society, 59(3), 383-389. doi:  Ã‚  10. 1111/j. 1532-5415. 2011. 03317. x Gillespie, L. D. , Gillespie, W. J. , Robertson, M.C. , Lamb, S. E. , Cumming, R. G. , & Rowe, B. H. (2009). Interventions for preventing falls in elderly peo ple. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (4). DOI:  10. 1002/14651858. CD000340. Graafmans,  WC. , Ooms,  M. E. , Hofstee, H. M. , Bezemer,  P. D. , Bouter,  L. M. , & Lips, P. (1996). Falls in the elderly: a prospective study of risk factors and risk profiles. American Journal of Epidemiology, 143(11), 1129-  1136. Scuffham P. , Chaplin,  S. , & Legood,  R. (2003). Incidence and costs of unintentional falls in older people in the United Kingdom. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 57(9) 740-  744. Smartrisk Foundation. 2009). The Economic Burden of Unintentional Injury in Canada. Smartrisk Foundation Website. Retrieved from http://www. smartrisk. ca/researchers/economic_burden_studies/canada. html. Accessed October 20, 2012. Tinetti ME, Speechley M, Ginter SF, (1988). Risk Factors for Falls among Elderly Persons Living in the Community. New England Journal of Medicine,  319,1701-1707. Woolcot, J. , Richardson, K. , Wiens, M. , Patel, B. , Marin, J . , Khan, K. , & Marra, C. (2009). Meta-analysis of the impact of 9 Medication Classes on Falls in Elderly Persons. Archives of Internal Medicine, 169(21), 1952-1960. doi:10. 1001/archinternmed. 2009. 357.

Good human development indicators and globalization in Kerala Essay

Introduction Thesis: Globalization has caused more problems than advantages to the state of Kerala Much has been written about globalization and its effects on our world. In fact, no corner of the modern world, except in some extreme cases, has escaped the good and bad effects of globalization. On the brighter side globalization involves an increased openness in the international business relations, an integration of markets on a worldwide basis, and a movement toward a borderless world. The sources of globalization are varied and include the technological advances and liberalization of trade policies brought into force over the past decades. Of all the effects of globalization, the chief source effect is the technological advances that have significantly lowered the costs of transportation and communication and dramatically lowered the costs of data processing and information storage and retrieval. Electronic mail, the Internet, and the World Wide Web are some of the manifestations of this new technology. While these are the more evident aspect of globalization, the meeting of minds across the constraints of culture and language has also become a reality The impact of globalization and internationalism on society is also huge. Today everybody talks about the ‘global village’ and nations on either side of the globe are just hours away from each other. Cities are expanding by the hour and the new technologies that are impacting us are creating a unified world culture; what many would like to call as the brave new world. In retrospect, is this new culture based on bravery or untamed consumerism? World cultures are being annihilated by the wave of crass consumerism and scant regard for values. The populations of today have lesser family values and more internal strife, which threatens to tear apart social order. Violence due to the lack of family and supportive values are reducing a whole generation to waste. People are being tempted to think beyond their means, and the end result is that the family has become the casualty. Today we have individualistic aspirations and the feeling of ‘I’ is strongest in people. The stress on ‘We’ is almost non-existent. Economically also, there is a terrible imbalance in the world. We see a few nations that are well off economically and the majority does not have enough even to feed their people. We see increased migrations from poor populations to rich economies. Lack of economic power compels these migrants to be dominated by the rich and the influential. One of the many advantages of globalization is the fact that cultures across the world could interact with each other and help each other in integrating with each other. It is only natural that such interactions and the inculcation of modern ideas and interaction will bring about so many changes that come into conflict with the existing norms and belief systems of a society. In fact, the ability to assimilate productive changes and the capacity to discard beliefs that are detrimental to the interest of the society are the essential qualities of a good social order. If a society allows itself to be dominated by beliefs that are not in tune with the needs and aspirations of the changing times, one cannot say that it is a progressive society. On the other hand, it must also be said that a society that is open to change without considering the detrimental effects that such a change can make in the long run will not add quality to that society. Hence, ideally there needs to be a balance between age old ideas that form the foundation of the society on which modern progressive ideas needs to be implemented The position of Kerala in the world scenario The tiny state of Kerala, which is located in the southern most end of India, has a place of its own in the global map of developed regions. In many respects, this tiny spec of land and its population has been able to assimilate the good values of globalization while mostly rejecting its evils even though the undesirable effects of globalization are for everyone to see in the state. The so-called ‘Kerala Model of Development’ was a few years before a role model in developing and shaping a society. (Devi, Lakshmy K R, (2002). Education, Health and Women’s Empowerment – Kerala’s Experience in Linking the Triad). Kerala has demonstrated that social development is not always linked to economic superiority. Many human development indicators in Kerala are in par or above international standards and all of them cannot be attributed to globalization, which is a relatively new happening in India. For example, Kerala’s infant mortality rate comes close to Ireland, which leads the world in this respect (Richard, Douthwaite. (2002). Kerala and Quality of Life – Interesting Richard Douthwaite Article). Similarly, life expectancy is much higher than some of the advanced nations of the world. There are many other factors, both social and political that has helped the state achieve a level of human development indicators that matches the best nations in the world. Progressive redistribution measures like land reforms, and a wide network of the public distribution system has helped the state lay a strong foundation of social upliftment (Franke, Richard W and Chasin, Barbara H. (1995). Kerala State: A Social Justice Model). Similarly, welfare oriented policies of the state government, especially with regard to education and minimum wage, and the role of a socially engaged population has also helped the state to achieve a place of its own in the global scenario. (Akash, K apur. (1998). Poor but Prosperous. & Jean, Dreze and Amartya, Sen. (2002). India: Development and Participation). It should also be noted that Kerala, which has only a fraction of the buying power of most advanced nations, has been able to devise a culture that utilizes its resources in an efficient manner. The one single factor that has made Kerala such a success story is perhaps the level of education that Keralites enjoy. With a 100 percent literacy rate and a high level of women literacy, it is not a surprise that Kerala has been able to assimilate the good effects of social and individual development. (Antrobus, P. and Christiansen-Ruffman, L. (1999). Women Organizing Locally and Globally: Development Strategies, Feminist Perspectives. & Lourdes, Beneria and Gita, Sen. (1997). Accumulation, Reproduction and Women’s Role in Economic Development: Boserup Revisited). Effects of globalization in Kerala It must be said that globalization has affected Kerala in both good and bad ways. Even though Kerala has been able to resist some of the destructive effects of globalization, it is not immune to the thrust that globalization has been having on the state. The most important aspect of globalization is that the state has become a hotspot for consumerist tendencies. Evidences indicate that the state is more a consumer than a producer. Agriculture is almost dead in the once thriving green belt of India and over exploitation of resource is the norm of the society. With a high percentage of Non Resident Indians who are responsible for one of the largest foreign remittances in the world, it is not surprising that the economy of the state is more and more dependent on its citizens working abroad than within it . In the job sector, the state has not been able to provide the required levels of employment to its youth and this has in turn affected the social milieu of the state. The increasing social unrest is often attributed to dissatisfied informed youngsters who wants to match their facilities in par with the modern world, but do not have the means to do so. Â  Criticism has also been raised on intellectual property rights and other similar issues, which are also a fallout of globalization. The western world is in a hurry to patent many processes and medicines, especially the indigenous system of medicine in Kerala called Ayurveda, in spite of the fact that these systems have been transferred across many generations in the state. Recently, farmers in Kerala protested against WTO practices that prevented them from conducting their traditional farming practices. All this indicates that the process of globalization in not smooth in the country and that there is much resistance to change from within the state. The potential of Kerala in the new world Experts opine that Kerala, with its unique resources, both natural and human, have certain potentialities to match the increasing effects of globalization. (Nair, A. Balakrishan. (1994). The Government and Politics of Kerala. Structure, Dynamics and Development). The core difference between a manufacturing industry and a service-oriented industry is not only restricted to the way in which business is carried out, but also extends to various dimensions such as its organizational culture. Companies that have made a transition from a predominantly manufacturing-industry attitude to a service-industry attitude have had to adjust to the phenomenal changes in attitude and culture that goes along with the change. Perhaps, the most important factor that comes into play is how human resources are attuned to respond to the challenges posed by such transitions. Companies that have undergone the transition can provide knowledge on the change to companies that are planning for such a change. A service oriented organization has to create, manage and advance its cultural values in order to cope up with the specific challenges that are posed to it by factor such as location and local culture. It is in this context that cultural values in Kerala attain significance with regard to service-oriented institutions. Within the past two decade, Kerala has increasingly cemented its position as one of the ‘must-see’ tourist locations in India. Kerala, which was rather obscure to the foreign tourist and even to the Indian traveler, shot into fame only about 10-20 years ago because of a concerted effort by the state government and private operators. The state, which had, and still has, a lot of unexploited tourism potential is one of the most popular destinations in the world and each year an ever increasing number of people are flocking into this state to relish its beauty and rich varied culture. Tourism, which has developed into an industry status in the state has attained the status because of globalization. It is believed that tourism is one of the most prominent symbols of globalization in the state. In terms of other factors that encourage business, a survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) (Kerala government policy. (2006)), which covered 18 states in India, indicates that Kerala stands 13th as far as its investment climate is concerned. However, Kerala ranks first in law and order and education, and ranks high as far as affluence and social sector are concerned. All this indicates without doubt that Kerala has all the potential to attract foreign investment. However, recent event shows that that consumer debt is increasing since the past decade or so. More advertisements that speak about debt consolidation and take-over of existing debts are a definite indicator of the amount of debts that the average consumer owes to different credit companies in the country. Debts in the farm sector, which has been the worst hit industry because of globalization, is increasing and recently Kerala reported many deaths due to poverty and debts. Many experts believe that bad credit management happens because people are carried away by the features that are offered by modern financial institutions. (Pillai, P. Gopinadan. (1999). Left Movement and Agrarian Relations in Kerala). Kerala’s stature with regard to globalization Detractors of globalization argue that much has changed in the state that had been a model of development to the world. Today, reports show that the economy of the state is in tatters and that the advantages that the state had in terms of social equality and distribution has been whiled away. Advantages that the natives had gained as an agrarian and self-reliant economy had been wasted in favor of consumerist attitudes. Social and political indicators point to the fact that the state has undergone a sea change in terms of development and expansion. Today, Kerala is a tourist hub and is developing in a manner that is similar to other third world tourist destinations such as Thailand and Singapore. The social system has broken down and people are no more connected to each other as a few decades before. Kerala is unique politically because it had instilled one of the first democratically elected communist regimes in India. It must be said that the spirit of the communist ideology is fairly deep rooted in the state. The ideologies of the pioneers of the communism in the state are also largely responsible for the social improvements that the state has so far witnessed. The communists in Kerala, as in other parts of the world are strictly against globalization and capitalist motives in the state. They argue that globalization takes away a lion’s share of autonomy and that the effects of globalization will further deepen the divide between the deprived and the affluent classes. The loss of autonomy, especially in the farm sector, as evidenced by the recent global against the WTO regimes lends credence to the argument of the communists in Kerala. The communist ideology that globalization, which they infer as hegemony of capitalist nations over poor countries, will deepen the divided between the poor and the affluent is also true to some extent considering the fact that open market policies and regulations, which are by products of globalization will remove a lot of protection that investors used to enjoy previously. Other challenges in maintaining social welfare in Kerala Ironically, economic factors are one of the major facts that could affect social welfare in the state of Kerala. Without the flow of money that critics attribute as the ill effects of globalization, social order in Kerala will be very much affected and governments will find it difficult to maintain social order in the state. For example, many experts have mentioned that Kerala in its zeal to maintain its position with regard to health and education has incurred huge deficits that cannot be easily solved without the advantages of globalization. Similarly, the ageing population of Kerala will cause productivity to drop in the near future and it will become mandatory to attract and retain young blood in the state to take care of its own resources and guide development in the state. Globalization has also helped to rectify some of the past mistakes of the leftist governments who were also responsible for driving the winds of change in the society. Conclusion The state of Kerala has been able to so far select the advantages derived from globalization and reject most of the bad effects it might bring to a country’s overall economy. However, it will not be long before the state will start succumbing to pure market-oriented practices that can destroy the carefully created social advantages the state enjoys today. The advantages that the state enjoys today as a model state is not a fallout of globalization, but were achieved even much before foreign investors invested in independent India. The general degradation of quality in many aspects of social life and the huge cultural changes that the state is going through can be directly attributed to globalization. Hence, it is imperative that globalization is accepted in it right perspective and applied in order to ensure that the state maintains its inherent advantages while becoming a global role model in many more spheres. The state has much to offer in terms of both its rich cultural heritage and highly proficient workforce but if it doesn’t stride in the right path, the negative effects of globalization might hamper its economical and social progress. Work Cited Devi, Lakshmy K R, (2002). Education, Health and Women’s Empowerment – Kerala’s Experience in Linking the Triad. Department of Economics: University of Calicut. Franke, Richard W and Chasin, Barbara H. (1995). Kerala State: A Social Justice Model. Multinational Monitor. India: Open for Business. 2 Mar. 2007 . Akash, Kapur. (1998). Poor but Prosperous. The Atlantic Online. 2 Mar. 2007 . Antrobus, P. and Christiansen-Ruffman, L. (1999). Women Organizing Locally and Globally: Development Strategies, Feminist Perspectives . London & New York: Zed Books. Lourdes, Beneria and Gita, Sen. (1997). Accumulation, Reproduction and Women’s Role in Economic Development: Boserup Revisited. Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing Company Ltd. Jean, Dreze and Amartya, Sen. (2002). India: Development and Participation. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ester, Boserup. (1970). Women’s Role in Economic Development. London: Unwin Ltd. Richard, Douthwaite. (2002). Kerala and Quality of Life – Interesting Richard Douthwaite Article. 2 Mar. 2007 . Gemma, Cairo. (2001). State and Society Relationships in Kerala: Explaining the Kerala Experience. Asia Survey. 41 (4): 669-692. Nair, A. Balakrishan. (1994). The Government and Politics of Kerala. Structure, Dynamics and Development. Thiruvanthapuram: Indira Publications. Kerala government policy. 2 Mar. 2007 . Pillai, P. Gopinadan. (1999). Left Movement and Agrarian Relations in Kerala. The Eastern Anthropologist. 15 (3): 237-246.