Children at work

This generation of parents have become more worried about what their children are watching and playing and because of this productiveness's The British Board of Film Classification (BBC) was established to give age ratings to movies. The board began fully operating in 1985 and since then they have rated thousands of movies.This wasn't a problem in the ass's as parents Just accompanied their children in the movies they couldn't watch alone but because of the growing amount of violence, sexual content and swearing in major motion pictures these days, parents are a lot more reluctant in coming with their children to those blockbuster flimsy they really wanted to watch. The main themes movies are rated with are: violence, sex, drugs, profanity, nudity, gambling or other types of mature content.However these themes are becoming more prevalent in movies these days and children learn about these things at a younger age so they should be comfortable with these topics. These age rating stop t he kids from coming to terms with these topics and it would be much better if they learnt about these things In a movie then through peer pressure and experience. Besides parents underestimate how much their children really know about these tauter topics and the amount of swearing In a mature movie Is about the same thing that you would hear in a high school.This Is why I believe age ratings are pointless and should be eradicated as they aren't really protected the children from anything just making them want to watch It more, as something becomes more desirable when its not allowed. The same applies to video games but Its a slightly different scenario as It costs only 10 pounds to watch a movie but about 40 pounds to buy a video game.

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe was born in a town called York in the seventeenth century, the youngest son of a merchant of German origin. Crusoe's father wanted him to become a lawyer but he expresses his wish to go to sea instead because he was adventurous. His family was against Crusoe going out to sea, especially his father. Initially, Robinson is committed to obeying his father, but he eventually gives in to temptation and embarks on a ship bound for London with a friend, without his family's consent: â€Å"but if he goes abroad he will be the miserablest wretch that was ever born: I can give no consent to it†(p. ) However he decides to runaway: â€Å"I resolv'd to run quite away from him†(p. 6) His character seems resourceful because whenever he feels that he has to do something, he manages to find the resources to complete what he wants to do. This is a theme as this continuous in the novel, he obviously manages to go to sea without any hassle, his friend gives him a free ticket and so therefore he makes a use of it. The first thing that caught my eye when reading this opening of the novel was that it has been written from a first person's narrative. â€Å"I† is the first word of the ovel, presenting what he himself observes usually, he favours a more factual narrative style and focuses more on events and actions. Crusoe is the narrator and also the main character of the tale, everything is described in his own words and as mentioned earlier, he expresses a factual and detailed narrative style. It goes on to talk about himself, the main character and his brother and father. This shows that his family had a big influence on him, this familiarization of his family bri ngs the readers closer to the character and shows that Crusoe an ordinary man. Having read the novel ‘Robinson Crusoe', I will now comment on how the opening scenes to introduce themes which will be important to the novel as a whole. The first theme I have noticed from the opening is betrayal because he disobeyed his father even though his father did not want him to go on an adventure. He then regrets this and wishes he were at home: † I would go directly home to my father and never set it in a ship again while I lived. â€Å"(p. 8) Crusoe says this long before the adventure has started, this quote gives a sense of egret and therefore makes the readers curious about what is going to happen next and therefore gives a sense of enigma. Regret meaning that whatever is going to happen, is not going to be good so therefore Crusoe is already unhappy with the adventure, so from this we, as the audience know that there is more to come. He prepares us for the adventure and makes it seem that at that time, he didn't think much of his father's advice. Now that he has experienced and found out he did the wrong thing he is on his father's side: My father, a wise and grand man, gave me serious and excellent council against what he foresaw was my design†(p. 4) There is an also religious element being portrayed here because religious people usually believe in a plan that has been designed by god. He becomes more religious due to being isolated on the island and starts communicating with god, so religion becomes a theme in the novel. Even though he seems to be religious later on, he still accumulates money from all his adventures and he also manages to make a profit out of his loss. This makes him an conomical man and this all comes down to his family background and the way he been brought up from what we gather in the first few paragraphs: â€Å"prospect of raising my fortunes by application and industry, with a lif e of ease and pleasure†(p. 4) His father always reminded him about the middle class people and told him that it is the best station of life and to be grateful of what he already has. You can tell that Crusoe is very fond of money because of the way he has been brought up, he thinks about raising his fortunes by application and industry, so we know that he has an educated background (father. He also sees money as ease and pleasure: â€Å"That the middle Station of life was calculated for all kind of Virtues and all kinds of Enjoyment; that Peace and Plenty were the Hand-Maids of middle Fortune. â€Å"(p. 5) The first few paragraphs are highly specific and detailed which fully informs the reader about every situation Crusoe goes through (his family's definition and his escape from home). This also makes the novel an eyewitness account and gives the sense of truthfulness, this makes the readers more connected to the character and therefore are able to relate more to the novel. This shows that Defoe is quite good at creating a sense of realism. Finally, Crusoe seemed to be in control of his life where he didn't want to listen to his father but later on in the novel manages to have success in mastering his situation, overcoming his obstacles and controlling his environment. So Crusoe wanting to be in control and independent of his life and rebellious against his father in the first few paragraphs seemed to help him later on in the novel and taught him to take control of his life. Every reader can in some way identify with Crusoe and his situation. His inner conflicts are obvious in the first few paragraphs, which are duty and independence, the duty being that he had to stay home and study law as his father wished, and the independence being the fact that he wanted to be independent and that happened to him. Hope and despair is another inner conflict because when he left home, he realised what he has done is not what he expected so therefore regretted the runaway which made him quite desperate but he had hope. His hope shows that he is an optimistic person. When he was at home, he was not happy with what he had, we know this by his haracter, always looking for something he didn't have, but later on in the island, he made himself happy with what he had and made the most of everything. This shows a change in his character to be a more mature man rather than a little immature boy with unrealistic dreams. The themes of religion, resourcefulness, independence, betrayal, management and economics are definitely important in the novel as a whole. They are emphasised on later when gets stuck on the island and I would say that the two most important themes would be religion and economy management. Robinson Crusoe Writing Assignment #1 From many people’s perspectives, Robinson Crusoe’s intention of going on a boat and observe the whole world is probably just a desire of youth and ebullience. He rejected his Father’s suggestion of a â€Å"middle-stage† life fulfilled with happiness that the higher and the lower stages have envied for ages. But is it true that the only thing attained from his desire is just setting foot on a boat? Needless to say, the trip also changes the way he has always been from the inside, which is clearly seen in the second and the third paragraphs on page 18 when Robinson and Xury were discussing who would go and find the water.Compared to other passages in the whole book, the language in this paragraph is not much complicated, but it signifies a huge change in Robinson’s attitude towards life and especially his little friend Xury. At the beginning of the book, Robinson is pictured as a man born in a fine family, whose Father is able to suggest and support him with a happy and peaceful life. But at the age of eighteen, it is hard for Robinson to simply accept all the things his Father offered without having to struggle, which motivates his dream of going to sea and rejects all the pleasure that he might have if he stays home.No matter how encouraging and excited Robinson is, it is undeniable that he was born and raised in ease, which explains why he decided to take his Father’s advice when he was suffering from the storm in his first time being on a boat. It seems that his dreams are big, but it needs a lot of effort to overcome the difficulties that he never faced before. On page 18, second paragraph, it is seen that there has been a significant change in Robinson’s thoughts. From a man who just wanted to go home and never go to sea again in the first place, Robinson turned into a man who is ready to support his own life and sacrifice himself for his friend. So much affection† and â€Å"Made me love him ever after† are the proofs for what has changed in Robinson: after listening to his friend Xury’s reason of wanting to goon shoar alone to protect him from wild mans, Robinson realized Xury’s loyalty that he insisted on going together with Xury and shall fight against the wild mans. The â€Å"affection† of another changed his attitude and his reason of existing: not only for himself but also for someone else. In the third paragraph, Robinson’s attitude is once again proved at the moment he found out that Xury might need his help. Pursued† and â€Å"frighted† described how Robinson is seeing Xury’s situation when he was running towards Robinson, which then led to Robinson’s reaction of â€Å"ran forward towards him to help†. Those simple yet descriptive words again showed how much caring and loving Robinson has become towards his little friend Xury and informed how Robinson has changed when being put in t his situation. In addition, these words â€Å"like a hare but different in colour, and longer legs† make the novel sound more real as Robinson now actually is a part of the wild life.As seen from the beginning, he did not know many things about the wild animals or creatures, which were not the main parts of his life. But as he steps in this adventure, Robinson achieves the great deal of knowledge, and comes to know how â€Å"very good† such â€Å"meat† of that creature can be, especially how joyful â€Å"good water†, which is not hard to find at all on land, can bring to him. The words used in those two paragraphs are simple, yet they still managed to describe how Robinson’s attitudes towards the real life and his friend have changed.From a Robinson Crusoe who was scared and sea-sick on the first trip to the sea, we now see a Robinson Crusoe with a loving heart towards Xury, who is willing to fight and protect his little friend, and who is now livi ng in a real wild life with creatures he has never seen before. Defoe, from my perspective, was successful in capturing the gradual change within Robinson’s thoughts, beliefs and actions, and the descriptive language somehow brings something up to readers’ minds about how the trip to the sea is going to affect Robinson’s life.

Staff Development Teaching for Preventing Falls in the Elderly Long Term Care Facilities

In the United States, unintentional falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries for people older than 65 years. Up to 32 percent of community individuals over the age of 65 fall each year. Females fall more frequently than man in this age group, especially due to the fact that most female elderlies have bone weakness such as osteoporosis, which makes the fall to cause fatal injuries sometimes. Fall related injuries are the most common cause of accidental death in those over the age of 65. Approximately 40 fall related deaths per 100,000 people per year.Thus, fall are a growing public health problem that need to be addressed. Patient would not only suffer from such fall but the facility goes through hardships as well to deal with the patient. Fall related death rate in elderly group has been increasing in USA. Recently, falling has been occurring a lot in the long-term facilities. Falling has the highest rate of incident in the long-term facility because most of the patients are elderly. Falls can cause serious injuries and accidental death. In order to prevent falls in the elderly is very important.There are several different approaches to deal with predispose factors for elderly type of injury. I am going to reviews the major risk fators of falls and how to prevention for elderly populations living in long term care facilities. The effective falls intervention programs should take a multifaceted approach.Assess the staff for ability of learning and understandingI explained the background of important fall precaution to our licensed nurses and CNAs, the ones who gives care to the patients with ADL most closely. The Staff members, Licensed Nurses, and CNAs have different nationalities with different language. Licensed Nurses are 70% LVN and 30% RN. The experience in the healthcare facility for most of them is at least 3month. Because 90% of staff can fully understand in English, it is not necessary for the educational materials to be in other languages than English. The learners already are familiar with this topic because they already have had experiences in long-term facilities.How to educate and when is the best time for as much as possible participated in service. In order to prevent further falls, fall precaution presentations will be held during the weekdays in the conference room. Staffs can come in 30 minutes before or after the shift change, and spend an hour on this topic. First, I will show some fall cases through video, so I can induce the staff’s interest in this subject through visualization. Even though the staffs are well aware of the fall incidents, it is not easy to keep an eye on every patient 24/7, which can be frustrating and tiring to the staffs. However, I can explain how much this is important and tell them to try to understand and do the best. I will be identifying what risk factors or what kind of patient has high risks of falling using a current published brochure and video.What is the cost effect of a fall?Fall related injuries among elderly are associated with economic costs, which is much greater than the cost to implement a fall prevention program. In the long-term care facilities, even with an interdisciplinary team with physicians, nurses, social worker, physical therapy and administrators, fall prevention is still difficult because there is no way of knowing when one of the patients is going to fall. That is why it is crucial to educate staffs and patients to help reduce these barriers over time. Fall-related injuries account up to 15 percent of re-hospitalizations in the first month after the discharge from hospital. Falls carry staggering economic costs. Annual acute-care costs related to falls are estimated at $1.08 billion and long-term care costs at $4.9 billion.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, medical costs related to falls totaled more than $19 billion in 2007–$179 million for fatal falls and $19 billion for nonfatal fall-rela ted injuries. By 2020, the annual direct and indirect cost of fall injuries is expected to reach $54.9 billion. While falls have a tremendous impact on the patients, they also directly affect a healthcare organization’s cost per case and length of stay. Injuries from falls lead to a 61% increase in patient-care costs. Nearly every nurse can recall an incident in which a patient fell or nearly fell. As patients continue to age and present with increasing vulnerability and comorbidities, their potential  for harm increases.Predisposing factorsMulti-factorial Medications: Lots of medications such as benzodiazepine, tricyclic antidepressant, selective serotonin uptake inhibitors, and trazadone should be identified as high risk for fall. Most elderly long term care residents are reffered to as â€Å"polypharmacy† which is high risk for fall. Education (reorientation): fall prevention programs should be reoriented as much as possible call to increase safety awareness and r educes the fear of falling. Environment: frequently check environment that is very important. Web areas, clutter, poor lighting, and other environmental factors can reduce the risk of falling in nursing home.How to prevent fall1. After completed fall assessment upon admission, initiate fall precaution as soon as possible. Before appropriate technology and equipment can be chosen to help prevent falls, the patient’s fall risk, functional readiness, and mobility must be assessed. Most of patients consider for high risk for fall. Post-fall assessment is important because a lot of incidents are related to fracture, which is a serious matter. Fall prevention interventions should be assigned that are appropriate for individual based on the result of fall risk assessment2. Educate patients about predisposing and precipitating factors. This supports them to understand and enable them to do multi-disciplinary approaching. It should be built on initial risk screening results and involv e not just nurses but an interdisciplinary team of physicians, pharmacists, and physical and occupational therapists.3. Educate about basic knowledge of medication to CNA who is closely giving care than others.Essential implementation of safety caring in long term care facility1. Transfers: Patients rise from a sitting position to a partial stand to keep the center of gravity relatively low. Transfer the patient to the stronger side with the wheelchair at approximately 45-degree angle from the bed. If patients are unable to bear weight through the lower extremities due to weakness, place one end of the transfer board under the patient between the  buttocks and back of the thigh, then place the other end in the seat. Have the patient push up with the arms while slightly lifting the buttocks and slowly moving toward the wheelchair.2. Get belts: during transfer, obtain a standing position, turn and sit onto another surface or stand and walk to a new location, then turn and sit onto a new surface. The belt is better choice than the alternative placing one arm under the patient’s arm for the lift and holding onto the patient’s clothing or gown, which can injure the arm or shoulder, but care individual need to basic training from PT/OT personal.3. Bed and toileting safety: height- adjustable beds, safety rails, and raised toilet seats can reduce fall. To promote safety when the patients stands or for transfers, raise the bed. Otherwise, a weak patient who tries to stand could fall. Transfers onto and off a toilet, fix raised toilet seats and safety rails on either side of the toilet are needed. Patients can hold onto these to steady themselves when transitioning from a standing to a sitting position, and to push off from while standing after toileting. If the patient is unable to safely ambulate with assistance to the bathroom, provide a bedside commode.4. Mobility devices: mobility devices such as canes, walkers, and wheelchair mobility should be ma de sure that it has been evaluated and deemed approporiate and in a good working order. If it isn’t proper working contact a physical therapist for further evaluation. All mobility devices should be adjusted to the patient’s height and other characteristics as appropriate.5. Walkers: Nurse can walk next to the patient as the patient ambulates. Walker with seat must lock the brakes when ready to sit or transfer and complete the activity. Patients who become dizzy from nauseas or orthostatic can easily turn and sit on the seat without falling. This arrangement is much safer than having another staff member trail behind with a wheelchair and lower the patient to the wheelchair seat if patient becomes fatigued or dizzy or loses balance.6. Wheelchairs: individualized wheelchair prescriptions must be customized to each patient because the standard wheelchair does not work for all patients. For example, a dementia patient with memory deficits cannot be expected to remember to lock the wheelchair.What to do for caring for high risk fall patient1. Visual check every 2hours or more often 2. Keep bed in low position all the time 3. Lock wheels, call light, water pitcher, urinal in easy to reach. 4. Provide well lit path 5. Check shoes ; check well fitting, floppy shoes or loose clothing 6. Keep room clutter free, floor dry ad not slippery 7. Check bed, wheelchair alarm, or bedside mattress as ordered 8. Promptly answer for need help with call bell systemEvaluationVerify the education and providing data is effective or not. Throughout this education program, it is important to find a way to help nursing staff deal with issue of patient fall. Staff members recognize how vital it is to be aware of the possibility of fall during care. This program provides gaining more confidence to staff in their abilities to work with care. Even though falls can’t be prevented 100%, applications of fall prevention educations will create a safer, healthier, and happier place for both patients and staffs.

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 32

History - Essay Example Governors known as satraps whose duties included being a vassal king to the Persian emperor, who administered the region on his behalf and oversaw the recruitment of the military whenever the need for it arose, administered these units. Under the satrap were often officials whose work was to ensure that all the records of the government of the satrapy were well kept and maintained. Depending on the period monarch ruled, the Persian Empire was often divided between twenty to thirty satrapies (Farazmand 280). Ancient Greece on the other hand, consisted of several hundred-city states, which were completely independent of each other. This situation was unique in the ancient world where societies tended to be organized either into tribes or into kingdoms that occupied quite a significant amount of territory. The Greeks fiercely defended the independence of their city-states and it was very rare for them to think of the idea of unifying themselves into one cohesive state. Their fierce sense of independence was clearly demonstrated during the second Persian invasion of Greece when while a group of city-states allied themselves to fight the invaders; a vast majority of the others chose to remain neutral in this conflict awaiting the outcome of the war. Once the Persians had been defeated, these city-states quickly resumed their independence and in fact, the conflict now became internal with those who were once allies fighting against each other. It can therefore be said that the Greek city-sta tes had two main features that were different from other states; the first is that they were very fragmentary by nature and the second was the focus that they had on their city-states rather than their identity as one people with a shared culture. Many Greek city-states had a form of government, which was based on some form of democracy, this meant that all adult males in the city could participate in the management of the affairs of the

World population Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

World population - Essay Example Hundreds of years ago Thomas Malthus forecast that the world’s population will surpass the earth’s feeding resources. In fact Malthus predicts that a world population collapse will result from the over demand for the world’s food resources by an overly large population.(World Population) After all these years, the world population continues to boom and although there are a large number living in abject poverty, it is not as a result of a lack of food. There are those who argue that the over population is on the decline as a result of increased infant mortality and low birthrates. Moreover, humanity will come to an end as a result of depletion of the earth’s ozone layer, pollution and toxic waste long before the population begins to die out as a result of an imbalance between food supplies and population numbers. When one looks at the distribution of the world’s population it is arguable that as long as the population growth is stable and sustained in countries such as Canada, the United States and European nations, the world’s food supply will not be endangered. Moreover, immigration to cities will not become a fact capable of threatening civilization as we know it. The significance of the population growth locations is relevant to the consumption of food. American’s consume almost 40 times as much food as Asians. Canadian’s and Europeans eat almost as much as the Americans. In other words there is more than enough food to go around. But thankfully, North American and Canada are not among the countries experiencing massive population growths.(World Population) Sixty percent of the world’s population is located in Europe. China alone hosts 20% of the world’s people. India, hovers dangerously close to China with 16% of the world’s population. Africa is not far behind with 12% of the world’s population. Europe hosts 11% of the world’s people and North America accounts for 8% of the world’s

My Experience with the Council Form Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

My Experience with the Council Form - Essay Example The council helped me accept diverse opinions than before, in addition to understanding those who disagreed with me. During the session, I noticed that it was interesting to listen to others particularly those who had different opinions from mine, especially when they supported them with studies and pieces of evidence. My little voice was thinking on their reactions, telling myself that they could be either right or wrong. I did not have a problem listening because I listened to each and everyone in the group and realized that life is cool when we communicate to each other, as well as when we give each other an opportunity to argue and speak his ideas. To add to this, I discovered that, if one believes what he says and have evidence, then your conversation has a great effect on other participants in the group session and everyone will agree with you. I also learned from the controversial topic that we can all discuss and come up with a correct answer, although I did not expect such a topic and therefore, my opinion was not changed since I hate to hear or talk about it, though it was nice to hear people give their opinions on it. During the group meeting and group presentation, some of my strengths as a group participant were supporting my opinions with studies and pieces of evidence, showing that marijuana should be kept illegal. I was also the only member who was against marijuana, and therefore, my position was a specialist opinion. I played the role of trying to convince them in regards to marijuana risks, but at the same time respecting their views, though they insisted that they had to read and see more studies on its risks. However, they tried changing my views but they could not give me any strong and logic pieces of evidence either. I have learned a lot from the group sessions, like having to listen to each and everyone, in addition to, those who disagree with me and respect their opinions. During the preparation of our presentation, leadership emerged from our group, where Tom was elected to be the leader, where he led us effectively. The leadership was also shared, where Eric helped Tom in leading us as well as, helping each one of us. He was helpful as well as a good friend. There was also satisfactory leadership in our group session because we all got A’s. It was also easy for us to make decisions on how our presentation would be structured. This is because we respected and understood each other, which is very important in group work. If group members do not understand and respect each other, the group becomes disorganized in their final presentation. The consensus was easily reached because we all worked as a team although there were members with different views, we still maintained the friendship.  Ã‚  

Pollution Use in Future Life Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pollution Use in Future Life - Research Proposal Example Life in the future is more likely to involve taking advantage of pollution as a means of not only attaining economic but also social and political goals that are useful for the whole of society. In the future, there will be a realization of the inevitability of the world becoming further polluted than it is already. This realization will create a situation where the leaders of the world will stop attempting to fight pollution and will instead spearhead the development of means through which all human beings will be able to adjust to the new environment (Bakari 23). Under these circumstances, it will be necessary to devise new types of technology, such as houses which are resistant to the effects of pollution, so that individuals in the society might not be affected by its harmful effects. Furthermore, it will be essential for protective clothing to be developed and this will be done in a manner that ensures that individuals are not only dressed fashionable but are also protected from the dangerous environment that will have come about as a result of pollution. These developments will create a situation where there will be a rise of new industries specialized in them and this will ensure that there is greater economic development in many parts of the world. Industries based on the determination to ensure that human beings adapt to the new global environment might be considered to be another form of industrial revolution because it will not only help in the creation of better living conditions but will also help individuals in businesses all over the world to make plenty of money.  

Soviet American Relations 1929 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Soviet American Relations 1929 - Essay Example No incident in examining a history of relations between these two powers is independent of other events that occurred prior to or during any such dialogue. To understand the context in which it is written demands an understanding of the milieu of the era. In order to facilitate this, I will first examine briefly the period prior to the Litvinov/Stimson communications from both the American and the Soviet perspective. At the culmination of World War One the United States engulfed itself in what is frequently termed as "Isolationism". The term infers that foreign policy dictated that the United States not concern itself with outside influence and concentrate instead on building a solid national base. This idea of isolation although embraced by many simply was not the case, nor was it the United State's intention during the 1920's. After World War One many American's felt that, although the Allies were victorious, the reasons for American involvement in the war were politically motivated rather than in the United State's best interest. More so, the loss of life suffered during the war intensified this feeling. Although not implicitly stated, many, at the time, felt that the United State's involvement was, in effect, to help the British government save face and retain their position as a global power. Although the United States did in many respects remove itself from direct intervention in the world relations, it was far from isolating itself. Much focus was placed on internal strengthening and development within the country, but at the same time America was still a key figure in world diplomacy and politics. The greatest contention between the United States and the Soviet Union at this time was the fall of the Russian government and the establishment of a Marxist's doctrine in what became the Soviet Union. After World War One Germany and the Soviet Union were virtually 'social outcasts' within the world political scene. Dialogue between the Soviet Union and the United States at the conclusion of the war was further strained by the Soviet Union's realization that American prisoners of war held by the Soviet government could be used as bargaining leverage to gain the United States' legitimization of the new Soviet government. Having previously negotiated for exchange of prisoners w ith the Soviet Union, the United States was unwilling to relent to these pressures when the Soviet government withdrew from the agreement and steadfastly refused to acknowledge its world legitimacy. Instead, the United States turned to Britain and France to assist in the negotiation for release of all three countries prisoners of war. The United States although politically refusing to recognize the Soviet Union as a sovereign nation - did so after World War One as it built, developed and strengthened economic ties. The national agenda of the era was to fabricate a strong economic base within the United States, but foreign investment including investment in the Soviet Union was prevalent by American industry during this period. During such times, as steadfastly as the United States refused to acknowledge the new communistic creation of the Soviet Union,

Advanced Financial Reporting & Regulation Essay

Advanced Financial Reporting & Regulation - Essay Example However, the proponents of the fair value accounting method argued that this accounting technique was just a messenger and not a major cause or contributor of the subprime mortgage crisis. The paper critically assesses the arguments that have been placed regarding the fair value accounting method being a main reason for the occurrence of the subprime mortgage crisis or the GFC. The idea as to whether the fair value accounting method has actually contributed to the financial crisis or has only played a constrained role in exacerbating the intensity of the financial downturn is evaluated and assessed by taking into consideration the views and arguments presented by different scholars and academicians in their literary works prepared and presented in this topic. The use of empirical evidences and descriptive information are made to analyze and assess the role of the fair value accounting method in the financial crisis. The second part of the report includes a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the fair value accounting method with the traditional accounting methods like the deprival value method of accounting, historical cost method of accounting and the r eplacement cost method of accounting. The report is concluded with a suitable conclusion in which it is highlighted that the role of the fair value accounting practice is much limited as a major reason for the occurrence of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. The role of the fair value accounting technique in the financial crisis of 2008 is a controversial and highly debated topic. The fair value accounting method is the generally used accounting standard in the United States of America and has been specified in the FAS 157 in the year 2007. This accounting method includes the terms of accounting in which the different kinds of financial assets like the mortgage backed securities are priced and valued as per the current market value or mark to market value instead

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2nd Research Paper

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2nd - Research Paper Example The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2nd The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2nd edition is the most widely used personality assessment instrument in the United States. Significant areas of use that have become typical include personnel assessment in military and air controller sectors and in research involving the normal population, among many others. From 1943 through the 1980s, the MMIP was the subject vehicle of over 10,000 books and articles (Butcher, 251). Over the course of its life the MMPI has evolved through several formats, reflecting the changes in social culture and approaches to sciences. The MMPI-2 was developed in the mid-1980s to apply across cultures, and the MMPI-A was developed for youth for youth populations from 14-18 years. The latest format, the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), has not yet replaced the use of the MMPI-2. The MMPI grew from the research work of psychologist Starke Hathaway (1903-1984) during the 1930s at the University of Minnesota Hospitals. Hathaway led his colleagu es, including neuropsychiatrist J. Charnley McKinley (1891-1950) and graduate student Paul Meehl, through the task of compiling data from observations of 221 mental patients in the psychiatric unit. and comparing it to a normal nonpathological population of nearly 1,500 adults. With a goal of putting together a practical and easy-to-use assessment tool, they were able to build a 504 item true-false test from which answers could be used to formulate patterns of pathological behavior.

Language in Anthony and Brutus’ Speeches Essay Example for Free

Language in Anthony and Brutus’ Speeches Essay Compare and contrast Henry’s use of rhetoric to affect others in his Harfleur speeches with the effectiveness of the language in Anthony and Brutus’ speeches In Henry V, Henry uses rhetoric very effectively as he persuades the Governor at Harfleur to surrender and encourages his troops onward with his ‘Once more unto the breach’ speech. This is very similar to Anthony and Brutus of Julius Caesar as they use rhetoric to influence the ‘mob’; firstly Brutus wins the crowd over and they believe the death of Caesar is a good thing and then Anthony turns them around and they end up hating Cassius and Brutus. Henry uses rhetoric to create a number of different effects one of them being to persuade the Governor to surrender. Rhoda Koenig suggests that this scene ‘points up the character of this immature and disaffected king’, which I disagree with as I believe that this speech shows just how the King has matured as he is able to bluff his way through as his army is, really, worn and battered. This speech shows how Henry’s words are more powerful than his army, which is similar to Anthony in Julius Caesar who turns the mob into a state of madness just through the use of his oratorical skills. For example, Henry starts his speech with short, sharp sentences: â€Å"How yet resolves the governor of the/ town?† This creates an assertive beginning and one that makes Henry seem powerful and stern. This coupled with the use of a rhetorical question puts the Governor in a situation where the mercy of Henry is in his hands, as if the outcome of his men depends on his decision. This also removes the responsibility from Henry’s shoulders which is a recurring theme throughout the play. Henry also describes what the outcome could look like if the Governor doesn’t surrender: â€Å"The gates of mercy shall be all shut up.† The use of a metaphor here, ‘the gates of mercy’, refers to Henry as if once he starts the battle there’s no goi ng back. This is used to scare the Governor so that he believes Harfleur will be desecrated once the battle has begun. This, of course, is a faà §ade as Henry knows full-well that his army is worn thin and lacking in strength. This demonstrates Henry’s good leadership, as he bluffs his way through with confidence. Also, this quote contains lots of monosyllables which make it very powerful and reinforces the threat which forces the Governor to surrender. Bernard Richards raised an interesting point where he said that Shakespeare ‘wanted to show the full range of war – the glamour as well as the squalid and obscene violence.’ This interested me as throughout this speech there is talk of atrocities of war such as ‘shrieking daughters’ while elsewhere in the play we see the French think of war as glorious. This is very similar to Brutus in Julius Caesar who has to use rhetoric to convince the crowd to surrender, as they are initially angry at the conspirat ors for killing their leader. For example, he uses rhetorical questions to force the crowd to realise that the murder of Caesar will benefit them: â€Å"Who here is so base [†¦] Who here is so rude [†¦] Who is so vile [†¦] for him have I offended.† The crowd are forced to ask themselves if they would want to be slaves, for example, which they of course answer ‘no’. The use of a three-part list also emphasizes this and would allow the crowd to remember this more accurately: â€Å"Let him be Caesar!† This quote shows that Brutus’s rhetoric successfully convinces the crowd, although they appear to have missed the point as they want Brutus to be ‘the new Caesar’ and the sole leader of Rome which is what the conspirators were fighting against. It is also interesting to note that Shakespeare’s main characters usually speak in blank verse, but here Brutus speaks in prose. This is because prose is the perfect way to persuade so has a stronger affect on the crowd. It could also be argued that because he speaks to the low-life characters, they will understand prose better than blank verse. Within his speech Brutus also uses repetition which reinforces his message: â€Å"Hear me for cause [] hear.† The use of framing repetition here grabs the crowd’s attention and makes them listen. He also repeats ‘honour’ throughout his speech: â€Å"Believe me for mine honour, and have respect for mine honour.† This repetition is used to emphasize to the crowd that the conspirator’s cause was honourable and that they have done the right thing while it also serves to remind the crowd how Brutus is an honourable man, which is a similarity with Henry who also takes great care in ensuring the cause for going to war is moral. The repetition would ‘grind’ it into the crowds’ heads so that it’s almost like subliminal messaging. The repetition also shows how Brutus is still unsure himself and that he is trying to convince himself that they have done the right thing. Henry also uses rhetoric to empower his army and urge them on at Harfluer in what Hal Hinson of the Washington Post calls ‘the greatest half-time speech in human historyà ¢â‚¬â„¢. Here, Henry is forced to persuade his army that they should not retreat but attack once again: â€Å"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.† Similarly to Brutus, Henry uses framing repetition to encourage his army to attack Harfleur once more. The repetition helps to reinforce the message and will stick in their minds through the battle. Also in this quote, he uses an endearing pronoun ‘friend’. This affects the army as they will feel that they are all friends of the King and will have a surge of confidence. This will help the army to conquer whatever they face, even though they have had to retreat. Interestingly, this contrast to what the Chorus says in the preceding scene as he states that the great British are invading France when really they are being forced to retreat. Henry also uses alliteration: â€Å"But when the blast of war blows in our ears.† The use of plosive alliteration here creates a powerful sound which suggests that the English army are powerful enough to defeat the French. This also shows Henry’s passion as if it’s bursting out of him as he desperately wants his men to survive as he feels guilty that the war may not have an honourable cause. Also is this speech, sibilance is used: â€Å"Stiffen the sinews.† This also creates quite an aggressive sound which would be passed onto the soldiers and make them feel aggressive and willing to fight. Henry also uses figurative language: â€Å"Let it pry [†¦] like the brass cannon.† This simile likens the mind prying to a cannon – an item associated with war – which would rile up the soldiers and also remind them that they are at war, its kill or be killed. Another simile used refers to Alexander the Great: â€Å"On, on, you noblest English [†¦] like so many Alexanders.† Here, Henry likens his army to a group of Alexander the Greats. Alexander the Great is a figure of Greek legend which states that he conquered the Persian Empire. It also says that he was often reckless with his own life and his soldiers as he believed he was indestructible. This would encourage his men and fill them with confidence as Alexander was a great warrior and Henry’s army will feel equally invincible. Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audience were very interested in Greek culture so the simile would have been more relevant and had more effect than it would on our society who have a lesser interest. Also, in this quote he addresses the ‘noblest English ’while further on he addresses the â€Å"good yeomen.† Henry directly addresses each social class as his army was compiled of a number of different classes, even nationalities. King Henry V was known for uniting people under him as he prevented a civil war between the Church and the Government and th is unity is shown in the scene between Gower, Fluellen, Jamy and MacMorris. This scene also, as James Shapiro suggests, ‘prophetically anticipates the notion of a united kingdom’. Although these nations were far from united in 1599, when the play was written as England and Ireland were at war, and some were very hostile during Henry’s reign. For example, James Shapiro criticizes that Henry says the Scots may attack yet here they are united. This would make each soldier feel important, needed and a friend of the king’s, which would, ultimately, provide the soldiers with confidence to fight, and beat, the French. Likewise, Mark Anthony in Julius Caesar also addresses his crowd individually while manipulating them until they run riot around Rome: â€Å"Friends, Romans, countrymen.† Anthony immediately begins with a three-part list which grabs his audience’s attentions and the first word used is ‘friends’. This instantly makes the crowd warm to him as he is speaking to them as equals. This is similar to Henry who calls his army the ‘noble English’ and ‘good yeomen’, while it contrasts with Brutus who says, â€Å"Romans, countrymen, and lovers†, as if ‘lovers’ is an afterthought. This may hint at why Henry and Anthony were successful at convincing their audience while Brutus failed, because Henry and Anthony allowed the audience to warm to them while Brutus did not. Another way Anthony wins his crowd over is by using repetition: â€Å"And Brutus is an honourable man.† This is repeated at regular intervals throughout his speech and each time it becomes more sarcastic. The sarcastic tone induces the crowd to question whether killing Caesar was an honourable thing. Here, in the same way as Brutus, he uses subliminal messaging; however he uses it against Brutus and to much better effect as the crowd end up rampaging across Rome. In conclusion, Henry and Anthony use rhetoric and their oratorical skills very well combining repetition, friendly language, and other techniques to persuade their respective crowds to see their way of thinking. Brutus, however, fails to convince his crowd (or is unable to deliver a speech worthy of Anthony’s) which goes to show how good Anthony’s speech is. Henry manages to convince the Governor to surrender, and convince his battered army to continue, while Anthony manages to convince an audience who love Brutus, to hunt him down. Brutus, on the other hand, cannot prevent the people of Rome from turning against him as he didn’t endear himself to the crowd.

A design of the promotional gift Essay Example for Free

A design of the promotional gift Essay Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Jackie Lee, designer of a company. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to participate in this competition to introduce my promotional gift design. The goal of my presentation is to introduce my promotional gift design, silicone watch, which is for my company. Firstly, I will introduce my company background and the reason of why I have a qualification to participate of this competition. Next, I would like to talk about why my design can have the market value. Then, I would like to describe the feature and benefits of my design, and explain how do my design can promote my company business. Finally, I will have a question and answer. I would like to begin with some background information. My company is a large corporation which is with many businesses and the business of my company are mainly develop some innovative and technology products. As last time I have designed a new silicone watch to be my company’s promotional gift. After this, we have received many positive comment from our clients. As the result, my company ask me to join this competition to enhance our company popularity. See more: Unemployment problems and solutions essay As you all know, ready-made gift in the market are not satisfy the dynamic design of trend. Therefore, my company design unique company gifts which best to suit our clients’ normal needs and lifestyle. The product of this kind of silicone watch is very popular nowadays. Many watch company and electronic company are both produce and selling the silicone watch and most of the customer are quite interest of this product because of the long lasting quality and it is practicality. As a result I design a unique silicone watch for our company clients. And this is the design of my silicone watch. On my design, I have chosen different color range to suit to my product that can let our client to choose their color which also represent our company is giving many chooses to our clients. Moreover, I also add a waterproof function into the product which can make it long lasting and to present the high professional quality of my company. And the final special benefit of the design is there are a function can connect with your octopus which also showing our company technology and make the customer more convenient. After we sent the gift to our client, we received many positive comment of our client and finally promote the business of our company effectively.

Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Internal Controls

Impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on Internal Controls 1. Introduction In 2001, Enron reaffirmed that their previous financial report had to revise as accounting errors existed in their computer system. After that, Enron the largest US corporate with assets of $63.4 billion faced the end road of bankruptcy suddenly. Four thousand employees face losing theirs job and retirement pays (Benston, 2002). It is not merely one person can break a solid business structure. The result of investigation shows this case was a corporate scandal. The Enrons top executive empowered the employees to manipulate the stock price. As a result, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was legislated because of the fraud behaviors which created by Enron. President Bush described this scandal as the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the Great depression when he signed SOX Act (Hays 2003, cited in Eichar S. 2009, p.1). It seems likely that the weak internal control system were has ability to prevent the accounting scandal happening. Moreover, the top managers did not function effectively in order to monitor theirs companys financial condition as well as involving in accounting scandal. Another problem is that the managers ethics behavior needs to be tested and considered. The main purpose of SOX Act is to prevent a fraud such as Enron case happening again, whereas some people have the skepticism with SOX Act that can still work for modern corporation. This paper attempts to analyse that internal control was generally become more effective since the Enron scandal. 2. Accounting Information Systems The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) has a definition on internal control that as a process is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of objectives in effectiveness and efficiency of operations, reliability of financial reporting, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. (http://www.coso.org/resources.htm) When Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act (to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws, and for other purposes, US congress) (SOX Act) has been signed in 2002, the concept of internal control has been carefully considered in information system improvement. The section 404 of SOX Act indicates that company has the responsibility to declare the assessment of internal control structure in each fiscal financial report. For an organization, an accounting information system (AIS) which is a key framework for information system plays an important role in organization, processing and management the process of transaction, which is a foundation for building information system in business (Moscove, 1999). Because accounting information system could bring benefit for computerized company. Not only can it control obvious audit trail (an obvious evidence to confirm the transactions accurately) for purpose of assurance and auditing, but also it has connecting general demand for physical protection of assets. Nowadays, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is used popularly after SOX Acts had announced. ERP system is built based on the advantage of accounting information system. According a research indicates that 80 percent of the fortune 500 firms have implemented the ERP system (SAP, 2005 cited in Brown Nasuti, 2005), because of the following benefits: accessing data in time, integrating the process of business operation and transferring internal information correctly. The SOX Acts requests the enterprises should keep going on evaluation of the management risk, ERP systems still has significant effect on collecting risk management data as companies used it (Brown Nasuti, 2005). Research (Huang, Hsieh, Tsao, and Hsu, 2008) shows the most important factor of internal control dimensions is the control environment: monitoring. There is a good example illustrates some main elements of internal control as using ERP system. Research (Huang, Hsieh, Tsao, and Hsu, 2008) finds some featu res of using ERP systems in Taiwan public companies and there are most important results tally with the purpose of internal control:(1) Establishment of IT organizations and their relations, (2) Integration and communication of financial information, (3) Development of IT strategic plans, (4) Management of information quality, and (5) Monitoring of operating procedures (pp. 104). This result is exactly integrated with the original definition of control environment by COSO: The Control Environment sets the tone of an organization, influencing the control consciousness of its people. It is the foundation for all other components of internal control, providing discipline and structure.(COSO, 1992 cited in Huang, Hsieh, Tsao, and Hsu, 2008, p. 114) As the result, the primary task is making security for physical control, in order to process the internal control function effectively. In addition, the senior management support could be a main factor caused ERP and IT project implementation successfully. The second issue which should be considered for internal control is integration and communication of financial information. The ERP systems could support utilize IT to combine organizational resources and information about finance and accounting for companys operation strategies. Furthermore, the SOX section 404 has regulated the internal control leading to contribution of financial reporting (Huang, Hsieh, Tsao and Hsu, 2008). The company mangers not only could use financial information for evaluating their companies financial structure and the result of operating, but also public users have more confidence to invest these companies with their safety financial information. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the relevance and reliability of financial information. Today, firms should consider implementing a new concept of internal control monitoring (ICM) technology for purpose of support and facilitate internal control processes. There are two definitions that explain ICM function: ICM technology encompasses a range of control monitoring tasks, including the automation of routine control tests, enhanced risk assessments, evaluation and documentation of controls, and managing and communicating control assurance activities (COSO 2009 cited in Masli, 2010, pp.1103-1104) and The goal of ICM is to enhance the overall visibility of the organization to risk and performance through the effective use of technology (KPMG2008 cited in Masli, 2010, p.1104). Masli(2010) shows that most companies had imputed large-scale investment in IT development in the last ten year. Unfortunately, these funds were wasted, because some reasons caused the plan to fail, such as untrained workers can not fully use the leading software effectively and physical hardware inco mpatibility. Different than AIS and ERP system, the ICM concentrates on risk assessment and responds a message immediately if somebody intends to break internal control system. The ICM technology can link with other data of operating index. For instance, if the supervisor finds companies stock price has an unusual fluctuation in stock marketing, the monitoring system will respond to high executives and list the potential factors together. For these reasons, there is no question that the ICM technology can be used in every firm. 3. Organization of board of directors In Enron Company, the board of directors does not have responsibilities to detect the weak financial structure. Even though there were 15 members in the board of directors, they do not prohibit managers using high risk accounting standards, and ignore any potential because all members are. Furthermore, the each member had received more salary and owned high amount of Enrons stock (USA senate report). The board of directors could affect the quality of companies internal controls. First of all, one thing which has to be considered is the number of outside directors on the board of directors. Research (Beasley, 1996 cited in Yan, Jian Nan, 2007) suggests that the board independence does not usually lead to the problem of financial fraud. Then, other expertise indicates it is necessary to consider the number of directors in a board. Enhancing the board structure could reduce the likelihood of the business being exposed in weak financial system and improve the financial reporting rationality. Research (Dalton, 1999 cited in Yan, Jian Nan, 2007 p.308) states a large board has more expertise than a small one, and that it tends to be more effective in monitoring accruals. It seems that the phenomenon of weak internal control does not exist in a large board. Moreover, another expertise finds that the board size is beneficial for audit committee independence and a large board of director could have the effective audit committee as well as served high-quality audit services (Yan, Jian Nan, 2007). It seems that there are more outside directors can enhance the quality of internal control, because their independence can not be affected by compensation such as the director fees and stocks. Under SOX, the primary issues of setting up the independent auditors could lead to the reliability of the internal control. The SOX section 301 requires that the audit committee has responsibility for ensuring the audit report and each member should be independent (SOX Act). From the Enron case, it is clear that the audit committees can enhance the financial report quality and offer effective monitoring censorship in internal control. An audit committee has some responsibility of such as: review of the internal audit department and the annual audit plan, evaluate of annual financial reports and the results of audit, criticize of the internal accounting controls, and security of business assets. (Steven T., 2005 p.58) Steven T. (2005) points out that companies have the reliable financial information, because their audit committees are independent. Then, if the members of audit committees have high financial background, it can find that these companies are unlikely to have problem of i nternal control and have more abilities to find the faults of internal control (Yan, Jian Nan, 2007). One issue which should be considered the audit independence has a significant effect on disclosure of firms internal control problems. Because the fees are a potential factor to affect the relationship between auditors and client businesses, the auditors are more likely to ignore potential problems and issue an incorrect opinion on clients internal controls. Conversely, an expertise claims that there is no relation between non-charge services and independence. In order to maintain auditors reputation, they could provide high-quality service and prevent anyone doubted about their independence (Yan, Jian Nan, 2007). It can be concluded that the independence for board of directors is more important than the outside auditors (Certified Public Accountant films). 4. Business ethics In this decade, the world economic system faces one big challenge that more and more frauds have happened in each year, such as accounting manipulations, and unethical behavior. The early law and legislation aimed at purpose of financial establishment and the security of the monetary system (Rockness, 2005). Consequently, the fraud scandals happened again and again. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has the function of providing a regulation for companies ethical behavior. The SOX section 301 has ruled on the responsibilities to the audit committee, because the audit committee plays an important role in board of directors. Analyzing recent ethical failures, one study (Lublin and Carms, 2003 cited in Rockness, 2005 p. 45) indicates the audit committee was directly involved, perceived as too closely tied to the corporation, or oblivious to financial reporting situations. In this way, the audit committee has to provide a mechanism which communicate the unethical behavior to companies employees and the external auditors. Additionally, it is obvious that SOX Act not only provides strict rules for business, but also giving guidelines for companies to establish the ethical atmosphere in order to maintain the high working performance. The SOX section 406 requires that public corporations should set up a code of ethics for senior managers, and moreover, they have to explain in annual report why not having code of ethic. The main purpose of code should be included: promotion of honest and ethical conduct, full and fair disclosure, compliance with laws, internal reporting for violations, and accountability for adherence to the code. (Securities and Exchange Commission, 2003b cited in Rockness, 2005, p. 46) In last two decades, most American companies have had an ethical code. Some of European companies also have accepted this trend. These companies have installed the codes to give theirs employees a guideline for work (Sobczak, 2003 cited in Stevens, 2007). According to one study (Kaptein, 2004 cited in Stevens, 2007) different countries companies have the different results, when those companies have implemented ethical codes. A study (Kaptein, 2004 cited in Stevens, 2007) finds that European codes concentrated on work environment are 50% that more than American codes. Conversely, the honesty was a significant issue for American codes (64%) compared with European codes (45%) and Asian codes (38%). It is clear that Americans organizations usually less concern fairness in the work. In the Enron case, it found that Enron were willing to offer high reward in order to motivate their employees to reach the business goal with the unethical behaviour. To summary all mentioned above, successful companies should have a unique ethic value that connected with business goals. These employees could use different business skills at work. It can be more flexible and adaptable without losing their important ethical values. The long term goal for businesses is that infuse a new thinking of purposeful task with the pure ethical values rather than pursuing the high income (Stevens, 2007). 5. Conclusion In conclusion, SOX Act makes the profound impact on internal control building and there are three aspects could explain why recent internal control is effective for the organizations. First of all, the role of accounting information system offer the important audit trail for accurate auditing and another benefit is protection for the physical assets. Moreover, enterprise resource planning software has an additional function which is risk management. Taiwans example shows that the ERP is linked with enhancement information quality and monitor the operating process and another function is it can integrate internal control with the communication of financial information for the operation strategies. Then, new trend is for implementation of the internal control monitoring combined with ERP system. It can ensure security of the information effectively and detect the unusual signal immediately. Secondly, the independent audit committee is an essential requirement for enhancing the financia l report quality and monitoring the internal control. More members in the board of directors could enhance the quality of audit committee and provide high-quality audit job for the companies. The last aspect is that the SOX Act has mentioned organizations should disclosure the code of ethics in financial report. It means the business have the responsibility for training the ethical culture to theirs employees. As discussed above, the SOX Act has ruled to make the internal control effective. It seems that the information system, managers structure and ethical concept have been improved and achieve the internal control effective.

Oklahoma City and Low-Tech Terrorism :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Oklahoma City and Low-Tech Terrorism    Abstract: Ammonium nitrate can be a very beneficial compound when used correctly. It has allowed American farmers to produce more and better agricultural products for decades. The Oklahoma City bombing revealed ammonium nitrate's dark side, however. That bomb, constructed from basic fertilizer, awakened America to the dangers of the common compound. It also caused America to loose its innocence of domestic terrorism.    On April 21, 1995, America was forced to come to grips with terrorism on a scale never before witnessed on American soil. The bombing of the Murrah Federal Office building in Oklahoma City was the most deadly single act of terrorism ever perpetrated within the United States. Two factors combined to make the Oklahoma City bombing even more sinister and frightening than previous terrorist attacks against Americans: the identity of the alleged terrorists and the relative ease with which the attack was carried out.    In the immediate aftermath of the attack, media speculation focused on the possibility of religious extremists, possibly with the support of rogue Middle Eastern states such as Iran or Libya, having carried out the attack to make a political statement against their avowed enemies the United States. The World Trade Center bombing, the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut had all been tied into Middle Eastern politics. When the FBI announced its intentions to prosecute Timothy McVeigh, a former US serviceman, and a couple of American accomplices, America was forced to come to grips with the idea of Americans committing mass terrorist acts against their own government and compatriots.    The initial speculation that focused on the Middle East was based on two principles: motive, an avowed hatred for America, and capability, a proven ability to make bombs and use them. The Oklahoma City bombing, if McVeigh is indeed found guilty, demonstrates that both motive and capability are present right there in America's heartland. As the FBI outlined how it believes the plot transpired, Americans learned just how vulnerable we are to terrorists.    The details of the bombing unfolded quickly. The FBI tracked McVeigh through his rental of a Ryder rental van that was located at the bomb's epicenter. Despite the tremendous force of the explosion, remnants of the van survived. The FBI was able to lift a Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, from some piece of the 1993 Ford van.

Liberal Equality Essay -- Political Science

Throughout the ages, the principles of equality and liberty have been a subject of great disputes. Liberal minimalism [1] holds a distinct outlook in the explicit implications of these expressions. For a minimalist democracy must strive to primary reduce control of authoritarian power through restraining most if not all constraints to the individual, allowing them to dictate their own lives by implementing a representative government. In addition, it implements an equal, consistent, and indiscriminate regulation. Thus effectively preventing tyranny, and creating equality before the law, irrelevant to the citizen’s position, which denies high ranking individuals legal advantages seen during the feudal era. Accordingly, the rule of law comes across to liberals as their greatest triumph, for they perceive it as the lawful representation of equality and liberty. There are numerous critics of the liberal minimalist interpretation of equality and social liberty before the law. Such as inequalities of opportunity, and material inequality which results in exploitation. However, liberals will reject â€Å"to impose upon the public a consciously selected model of distribution, whether it promotes equality or of inequality.†[2] Numerous critics agree that capitalism in the liberal minimalist model does not depict true equality and thus is problematic. Critics such as Sherman dispute that it produces "formal equality, such as civil rights, yet presents actual ongoing inequality for employees (Sherman, 1990)[3]. Nevertheless, despite the fact that liberals may possibly appear to support significant material equity, they will be cautious of forcefully creating this result through authoritarianism on the basis of their belief.[4] The reduced goal... ...27 11, Cohen G, 1989, Labor and Freedom, Oxford University Press, Oxford 12, (Marx, economic and philosophical manuscripts, p.120-31, Ollman, 1971). 13 Friedman M, 1962, Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago University Press 14 Frank R. and Cook P, 1996, The Winner-Take-All Society, Penguin press, New York: Penguin 15 Graham G, 2006, Postcapitalist Politics, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 16 Street, P. Capitalism and Democracy "Don't Mix Very Well", February, 2000. 17 Rothbart M, 1998, The Ethics of Liberty: chp 14, Children and Rights,. New York University press, New York 18 Hayek F, 1994, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago University press, Chicago 19 Hayek F, 1994, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago University press, Chicago 20 Hayek F, 1994, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago University press, Chicago Liberal Equality Essay -- Political Science Throughout the ages, the principles of equality and liberty have been a subject of great disputes. Liberal minimalism [1] holds a distinct outlook in the explicit implications of these expressions. For a minimalist democracy must strive to primary reduce control of authoritarian power through restraining most if not all constraints to the individual, allowing them to dictate their own lives by implementing a representative government. In addition, it implements an equal, consistent, and indiscriminate regulation. Thus effectively preventing tyranny, and creating equality before the law, irrelevant to the citizen’s position, which denies high ranking individuals legal advantages seen during the feudal era. Accordingly, the rule of law comes across to liberals as their greatest triumph, for they perceive it as the lawful representation of equality and liberty. There are numerous critics of the liberal minimalist interpretation of equality and social liberty before the law. Such as inequalities of opportunity, and material inequality which results in exploitation. However, liberals will reject â€Å"to impose upon the public a consciously selected model of distribution, whether it promotes equality or of inequality.†[2] Numerous critics agree that capitalism in the liberal minimalist model does not depict true equality and thus is problematic. Critics such as Sherman dispute that it produces "formal equality, such as civil rights, yet presents actual ongoing inequality for employees (Sherman, 1990)[3]. Nevertheless, despite the fact that liberals may possibly appear to support significant material equity, they will be cautious of forcefully creating this result through authoritarianism on the basis of their belief.[4] The reduced goal... ...27 11, Cohen G, 1989, Labor and Freedom, Oxford University Press, Oxford 12, (Marx, economic and philosophical manuscripts, p.120-31, Ollman, 1971). 13 Friedman M, 1962, Capitalism and Freedom, Chicago University Press 14 Frank R. and Cook P, 1996, The Winner-Take-All Society, Penguin press, New York: Penguin 15 Graham G, 2006, Postcapitalist Politics, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 16 Street, P. Capitalism and Democracy "Don't Mix Very Well", February, 2000. 17 Rothbart M, 1998, The Ethics of Liberty: chp 14, Children and Rights,. New York University press, New York 18 Hayek F, 1994, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago University press, Chicago 19 Hayek F, 1994, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago University press, Chicago 20 Hayek F, 1994, The Road to Serfdom, Chicago University press, Chicago

Studying Humanities :: essays research papers

Studying Humanities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout life one faces many obstacles against himself and mankind. By triumphing over these conflicts a person develops characteristics in correspondence to his or her experience. Humanities is the study of this basic cycle of life and its effect upon all cultures and nations. Today's generation, like many before and many to come, can attain a better understanding of the present course of history through the study of the past mankind experiences, or Humanities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The question of time travel into the future is simply a raw thought. Therefore, until one can travel into his or her future, mankind must rely on the past actions of society to determine the future course of life. For this reason, I believe that my enrollment in the advanced placement Humanities course is a necessity in preparing me for my future. Also, my previous academic decisions have been the foundation for this class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The driving force behind my final decision to apply myself to an advanced placement class is due to the fact that I want to be able to go into the real world with some understanding of how and why it functions as it does on a daily basis. Through the study of humanities, I hope to attain this goal. The past classes which have helped to prepare me for the advanced placement Humanities course have been three years of English honors, one year of United States history honors, and the present enrollment of advanced placement United States history. These classes have challenged me as a student to strive, achieve, and excel beyond my expectations. More importantly, the instructors of the classes have placed in me a better understanding of the world in which I live in and how it came to be. Beyond the classroom, many life experiences have prepared me for this course. In my seventh year of grade school I moved to Dallas, Texas. This was one of the most difficult periods of my lifetime as of yet. I had to learn how to start all over again and still be everything that I

Book: Kindergarten and Bibliographic Citation Essay

Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Blackstone, Stella. (2010) Octopus Opposites. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books Title: Octopus Opposites Author: Stella Blackstone Illustrator: Stephanie Bauer Year Published: 2010 Genre: Concept Brief Synopsis: This book discusses animals and their opposites. Suggested Developmental Level: This book would be appropriate for children birth to first grade based on the children’s reading levels. It will help in teaching the concept of opposites. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Matzke Ann, H. (2011) Can you guess? Vero Beach, FL: Rourke Publishing Title: Can You Guess? Author: Ann H. Matzke Illustrator: Tara Raymo Year Published: 2011 Genre: Interaction Brief Synopsis: This book is based on the math concept of more or less. It gives young children the opportunity to test their math skills with answering the questions in the book. Suggested Developmental Level: I think this book would be appropriate for young children in grades in kindergarten to first grade. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Lyon, George, Ella. (2010) The pirate of kindergarten. New York, NY: Antheneum Books For Young Readers Title: The Pirate of Kindergarten Author: George Ella Lyon. Illustrator: Lynne Avril Year Published: 2010 Genre: Storybook Brief Synopsis: Ginny is a kindergartner who has double vision making it harder for her to successfully participate in her class’s activities. She sees two of everything so Ginny has trouble reading, coloring, and cutting. One day, her class has participates in vision screening day where Ginny learns she has to visit and eye doctor to get glasses. Ginny’s eye doctor tells her she will be wearing a patch until her glasses come in. Once Ginny’s glasses are in, she can see everything in her classroom and this makes her very happy. Suggested Developmental Level: The appropriate age level for this book would be children in pre-school to second-grade. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Gibbs, Edward. (2011) I spy with my little eye. Templar Books Title: I spy With My Little Eye Author: Edward Gibbs Illustrator: N/A Year Published: 2011 Genre: Interaction, Predictable Brief Synopsis: This book is a predictable I spy book. On the pages a small circle is cut out leading to what’s on the next page. Clues are read to help the children guess what animal may be on the following page. Suggested Developmental Level: This book would be appropriate for children in pre-school to first grade. Because some of the clues are colors, this book will aide in helping children learn colors as well as taking educated guesses. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Sierra, Judy. (2012) Wild about you. NY: Alfred A. Knopf Title: Wild about You Author: Judy Sierra Illustrator: Marc Brown Year Published: 2012 Genre: Storybook Brief Synopsis: A new egg has arrived at the zoo but the zookeeper doesn’t know what animal may be inside. All of the zoo animals debate on who will hatch the egg and take care of the baby. The kangaroo decides to take care of the egg and soon to her surprise; it turns out to be a baby penguin. All of the zoo animals all help the kangaroo with the baby penguin. Soon after, a panda finds a baby kitten and soon falls in love with him just like the kangaroo and baby penguin. Suggested Developmental Level: This book would be appropriate for children in pre-school to second grade. The rhyming repetition in this book will help young children in learning new concepts of speech. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Whybrow, Ian. (2006) What’s the time little wolf? Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, Inc. Title: What’s the Time Little Wolf? Author: Ian Whybrow Illustrator: Tony Ross Year Published: 2006 Genre: Interactive, Storybook Brief Synopsis: The Wolf family consists of mom, dad, Little Wolf, and Smells. Little Wolf and Smells are sent out by their parents to catch dinner for the family. Throughout the story Little Wolf and Smells try to catch dinner and have no luck. Finally, they come across mice who want to play â€Å"what’s the time Little Wolf? † Little Wolf and Smells use this opportunity to their advantage and trick the mice into playing the game to capture them for dinner. Soon, Little Wolf and Smells return home with a sack full of mice for their mom and dad where they all have mice pies and rolls. Suggested Developmental Level: The appropriate age level for this book and activity would be preschoolers to first graders. Extension Activity: After reading the book, play the game, What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf? One player is Mr. Wolf. This player stands far away from the others facing away from them. The other players call out, â€Å"What’s the time, Mr. Wolf? â€Å" If Mr. Wolf answers, â€Å"Five o’ clock! † the players must take five steps toward Mr. Wolf and so on. When everyone is close, Mr. Wolf, answers, â€Å"Dinnertime! † The other players turn back to the start while Mr. Wolf chases them. Whoever is caught first is the next Mr. Wolf. But if everyone makes it back to the start, the same player must be Mr. Wolf again. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Koelsch, Michael. (2001) Discover and explore. Penguin Putnam Inc. Title: Discover and Explore Author: Rosemary Wells Illustrator: Michael Koelsch Year Published: 2001 Genre: Storybook, Interactive Brief Synopsis: Timothy and his friends are kindergartners who learn about many different subjects throughout the school day. Timothy and his friends learn about the food pyramid, the seasons, the Earth, planting seeds, and many other subjects. Suggested Developmental Level: This book is appropriate for children ages three and up who are about to enter kindergarten. The concepts that can be learned in this book are the five senses, planting seeds, and the seasons. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Browne, Anthony. (2011) How do you feel? Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press Title: How Do You Feel? Author: Anthony Browne Illustrator: Year Published: 2011 Genre: Concept Brief Synopsis: This book discusses different emotions that many of us sometimes feel. Suggested Developmental Level: I think the appropriate level of this book would be for preschoolers to kindergartners who are just beginning to learn and understand the different emotions we have. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Cabrera, Jane. (2007) Old MacDonald had a farm. Great Britain: Gullane Children’s Books Title: Old MacDonald Had a Farm Author: Jane Cabrera Illustrator: Jane Cabrera Year Published: 2007 Genre: Interaction, Audiovisual (read-along), Storybook Brief Synopsis: Old MacDonald had a farm is a sing-along storybook that discusses all of the different things found on the farm like animals and Mr. MacDonald’s wife. Suggested Developmental Level: The appropriate level of this book is for young children in kindergarten who are can follow and sing along with the reader. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Fraiser, Debra. (2010) A fabulous fair alphabet. New York, NY: Beachlane Books Title: A Fabulous Fair Alphabet Author: Debra Fraiser Illustrator: Jim Henkel Year Published: 2010 Genre: Alphabet Brief Synopsis: A Fabulous Fair Alphabet gives is about all things found at a fair that correspond with a certain letter in the alphabet. Suggested Developmental Level: The lever appropriate for this book would be preschoolers to kindergartners who are still or just learning their ABC’s. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Adams, Diane. (2009) I can do it myself. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree Publishers Title: I Can Do It Myself Author: Diane Adams Illustrator: Nancy Hayashi Year Published: 2009 Genre: Storybook Brief Synopsis: Emily Pearl is a big girl who can do many things such as putting peanut butter on her bread or blowing her nose all by herself. Her mother always asks Emily and if she needs any help and Emily will respond, â€Å"I can do it myself. † Once it is time for bed, Emily finds herself needing her mom’s help with reading a bedtime story and finding Emily’s bear. Emily learns sometimes it’s nice to let someone else help. Suggested Developmental Level: Kindergartners through second graders will enjoy this book because it is teaching that although they can do many things on their own, sometimes they need help from someone else. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Reiss, Mike. (2008) The boy who wouldn’t share. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books Title: The Boy Who Wouldn’t Share Author: Mike Reiss Illustrator: David Catrow Year Published: 2008 Genre: Storybook, Concept Brief Synopsis: Edward is being a selfish boy and not sharing his toys with his younger sister Claire. All day Edward keeps his toys in a huger pile away from Claire and finds himself stuck inside of the pile. When Edward and Claire’s mother comes in with a plate of fudge, she gives it all to Claire because Edward is nowhere to be found. Claire shares with her brother and teaches him that sharing is good. Edward then begins to let Claire play with his toys and they turns out fine, Suggested Developmental Level: Children who are in pre-school or kindergarten who may be new to sharing toys with other children will learn that sharing toys is the nice thing to do. It may help them to understand that sharing with result in having a better time. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: McPhail, David. (2002) The teddy bear. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company Title: The Teddy Bear Author: David McPhail Illustrator: David McPhail Year Published: 2002 Genre: Storybook, Concept Brief Synopsis: A young boy carries his teddy bear everywhere with him. One day, the boy and his parents decided to stop for lunch. The little boy’s teddy bear was accidentally left behind and thrown out into a garbage can. A homeless man found the teddy bear and soon started calling it his own. Months had passed, and the little boy had almost forgotten about the bear until one day as him and his parents walked through park. The man had left the teddy bear sitting on the bench as he looked for something. The little boy grabbed the teddy bear and went on his way when he heard the man upset, looking for his bear. The little boy decided to let the man keep the teddy bear saying that he used to have a similar one. Suggested Developmental Level: This book would be appropriate for young children in first through second grade. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Wheeler, Cindy. (1995) Simple Signs. New York, NY: Penhuin Group Title: Simple Signs Author: Cindy Wheeler Illustrator: Cindy Wheeler Year Published: 1995 Genre: Nonfiction, Interaction, Concept Brief Synopsis: Simple Signs illustrates the signs of American Sign Language for simple words such as cat and ball. Suggested Developmental Level: This book should be read to children who are in both kindergarten and first grade. This in an interactive book that promotes the use of sign language as another form of communication. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Brimmer, Larry. (2006) Bigger and Smaller. Chanhassen, MN: The Child’s World Title: Bigger and Smaller Author: Larry Dane Brimner Illustrator: Patrick Girouard Year Published: 2006 Genre: Storybook Brief Synopsis: A brother and sister learn the concept of bigger and smaller by taking a trip to the zoo and comparing themselves to all the different sized animals. Suggested Developmental Level: This book should be read to children birth to first grade. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Schaefer, Lola. (2000) A Rainy Day. Mankata, MN: Capstone Press Title: A Rainy Day Author: Lola M. Schaefer Illustrator: Lola M. Schaefer Year Published: 2000 Genre: Nonfiction, Storybook Brief Synopsis: This book is about the importance of rain and offers other information about rain such as rain forms in clouds. Suggested Developmental Level: The developmental level for this book is for children birth to first grade. Annotated Bibliographic Citation: Gordan, Sharon. (2006) We follow the Rules. Tarrytown, NY: Matshall Cavendish Corporation Title: We Follow the Rules Author: Sharon Gordon.

A History of the Arab Peoples Albert Hourani Essay

Albert Hourani’s book â€Å"A History of the Arab people highlights the Arab history in general since the early beginning of Islam –and even before that-, till the modern ages in the nineteenth century. The book is great for westerners interested in the Arabs and for Arabs, who are not familiar with their history. The book is a good add to any interested reader. Back ground information Lebanese-American historian Albert Tourane represent this book as an addition to his previous works discussing Arab’s history and Arabian affairs such as, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1789-1939,which was first published in 1962. It would be a mistake to deal with this book as a pure history book. It’s not depending only on dates and chronological extent of the Arabic people and civilization and this is a good point to build our review on it. Summary Hourani’s book begins with the story of Ibn-Khaldon, the great Arab socialist. The following chapter talks about the appearance of Islam and Muhammad and then his successors and the formation of the Islamic empire 3 . Next, the book talks about the Islamic society and its Koranic accounts 4 with the great revolution in translating science and Greek philosophy with the appearance of Sufism 5 . Islamic expansion and the description of minorities like Jews and Christians 6 followed. Life in countryside 7 and cities 8 and the rulers of the societies 9 were mentioned in later pages. † way of Islam† 1o and â€Å"The culture of the Ulema† 11 are two chapters talking about the faith in Islam with sense of community and low determination. The book also shows how culture was well represented 12 and how the following Ottoman empire 13 sustained the Arab world, with a brief description of Ottoman societies 14 . Chapter fifteen starts talking about the eighteenth century 15 and the European powers in the Arabic areas 16 like French intervention in Algeria. Opening of Suez Canal and Zionism arose with Jews settled in Palestine 16 and how the culture of Imperialism 17 started to have a loud voice in the area. Word War One 18 and its influence discussed in Chapter nineteen 19 with the modern life in Arabic societies 20 . Book show how the emergence of Israel started and the independent movements were held from French & British and The tragedy of the triple attack on Egypt on 195621. Chapter twenty two 22 show a rapid change in Arabic societies and the Arabic culture extended 23 with the climax of Arabism started from 1950s 23 . Final chapters of the book discussed the difference between Arabs, the sudden death of Nasser and the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel 24. final chapter states some major problems in the area, including Kurds struggle for independence, Sudan problem and women issues. Number of twenty pages of maps followed, which make a great way to represent the places that was mentioned in the book. Evaluation of the book This book is well represented with all the illustration and maps introduced. The Index is well-written and helpful in finding any information directly. As mentioned before, the book couldn’t be categorized as a history book; its better described as Social-history book and starting with the life of Ibn-Khaldun is such evidence. It represents a vast look on the Arabic societies through history, describing the life style, science, different religion and civilization. Many chapters described the same period of time but dealing with different subjects, like chapters twenty 25 two and twenty three 26 in the (1950s and 1960s). From the other point of view, this book skims some important details such as, the detailed pre-Islamic era, the great empires of Umayyad and Abbasid which was represented with partly amount of pages that doesn’t exceed seven pages in some cases. Also the detailed life of Prophet Muhammad, which has a great impact on the Arabic societies. Also Crusaders wars weren’t well mentioned, although it has a very huge impact on Arabs in its time. Conclusion Dealing with the history of Arabs is such a great effort and a hard game to play. This book tried to do the most of the job with a different way, which is representing history from the social point of view. I would recommend this book if one already has a minimum knowledge and understanding of Arab history . Otherwise I recommend alternatives such as, History of the Arabs from the earliest times to the present, of Philip Hitti. It would be useful for a good specialized historical reading.

The Religious Symbolism and Architecture of Angkor Wat and Borobudur

Built by the Khmers between 802 and 1220 AD, the ancient temples of Angkor Wat exist as the remaining relics of a historically and religiously rich city. While many other historical and religious structures in Cambodia have disappeared due in part from being constructed out of vulnerable materials like wood, Angkor Wat still remains as a symbol of the divinity of its former kings, as well as for the palace itself. Likewise, Indonesia’s Borodubur temples exist as the single remaining structures of the city.The temples of Angkor Wat and Borodubur hold several similarities within architecture and symbolism, both being heavily based on religious belief. However, different features within both structures, architecturally and symbolically, distinguish and provide insight into the individual cultures. Significance of Hinduism, Astronomy, and Cosmology In Angkor Wat Architecture With Hinduism serving as the prevailing religion of Cambodia, the temples of Angkor Wat serve as a visual b ridge between the terrestrial plane and the spiritual one.The temples of Ankgor Wat uses architectural features in order represent various ideas of Hindu Cosmology; â€Å"The walls, moats, central sanctuary, entrances, pyramidal temples and bridges with naga balustrades, and monuments such as the Neak Pean, or Bayon,† all contribute to the re-creation of the heavenly world on Earth. By re-creating this, Earth and the heavenly world are entwined; creating a bond between the two worlds that allows humanity to flourish. In constructing Angkor Wat to represent religious beliefs, the Khmer people literally built heaven on Earth.By creating a tangible representation of what is believed to have happened in the past, the past becomes more real and more concrete to viewers and believers alike. In order to honor the Hindu God Vishnu, Suryavaram II built Angkor Wat during the early years of the 12th century, around 1150 B. C. Structurally, the central building of Angkor Wat is serves as a re-creation of Mount Meru, the mountain that the center of the Jambudvipa within Hindu cosmology as well as being considered the axis of the Earth by the Hindu religion.The central mammoth of a tower represents Mount Meru, and uniquely faces west instead of east towards the sunrise, as all other temples do. Several theories explain why the temple faces west; the first theory being that the west is associated with Vishnu. In facing the temple west, the temple continues to serve as a means of honoring Vishnu. The second theory states that King Suryavarman intended Angkor Wat to serve as his funerary temple while a the third theory explains that the alignment of the central tower with the sun adds another dimension to the divinity of the temple.Ankgor Wat’s architecture does not only exhibit its religious roots, but also displays the importance of astronomy and cosmology. It â€Å"contains calendrical, historical, and mythological data encoded into its measurements. † Because solar movement regulates the position of the bas-reliefs, the architecture exhibits the importance of the sun to the Cambodians. The Cambodians built the structure of Angkor Wat to align directly with the sun during the spring equinox, â€Å"where the sun can be seen rising over the central tower. Although no concurrent reason exists as to why the sun is so important to the Cambodians, what can be said is that the sun was so significant to the Cambodians, that they not only based their calendar on the solar and lunar cycles, but they constructed their King’s palace, a place of great importance that connects the heavens with Earth, to align with the sun. The five central towers of Ankgor Wat that stand 77 meters tall hold religious significance as well. These five inter-nested rectangular towers represent five peaks of the mountain Meru.Also, the moat surrounding the central temple that measures 190 meters wide symbolizes the cosmic ocean that existed before the dawn of creation, and the enclosing wall represents the rock encircling the universe. Creating a replication of â€Å"Mount Meru, enclosing walls as the wall of rock, and the moat filled with water as the ocean† serves as the essential architectures for the Cambodians to re-create and symbolize their Hindu religious beliefs. Decorative elements through out the towers and galleries present their own characteristics and fulfill specific needs within the temple.The towers are formed into the shape of the ever-popular lotus buds, and the galleries are used to expand the many passageways of the temple. Also, the axial galleries within the temple are used to connect several enclosures. Characteristic decorative components of Angkor Wat include narrative and historical bas-reliefs, pediments, and devatas. The bas-reliefs located in the gallery of Angkor Wat holds a special signification for Angkor Wat. The gallery displays heaven and the underworld in which garudas and lions are holding the celestial palaces.These gerudas indicate that the palaces were floating in heaven, comparing Angkor Wat to the palaces of the Gods. This display furthers the idea that Angkor Wat acts as a liason between the world of Heaven and Earth. Because the palace physically remains on earth but spiritually resides within heaven, the palace acts as communal place for believers to gather. The bas-reliefs and pictures did not only serve to decorate the palaces, or depict stories of the past. They hold the important task of transforming the palace into a â€Å"celestial dwelling† or heavenly place.Further evidence to support this notion is the fact that many scenes are hidden to the point where they cannot even be seen by the naked eye. This highlights the spirituality of the place, that spirituality is not necessarily tangible or seen. In hiding the bas-reliefs, or making them subtler in the overall construction of the temple, furthers the idea that the palace is not meant to be just a place of beauty, but also a place of divinity. Candi Borobudur Layout Unlike Angkor Wat, Buddhism more heavily influences Borobudur.Built in Indonesia in the 9th century as a shrine to Buddha as well as a pilgrimage site for believers, Borobudur consists of six square platforms topped with four circular platforms. Nearly 2. 700 relief panel and 500 statues of Buddha decorate the temple. Additionally, 72 Buddha statues surround the center of the top platform of the monument. As a pilgrimage site, Pilgrims climb from the bottom of the monument, ascending to the top. While on their voyages, they are said to pass two three levels of Buddhist cosmology, or three stages of Buddhist enlightenment: the Kamadhatu, Ruppadhatu, and Arupadhatu.These levels represent the world of desire, the world of forms and the world of formlessness. Borobudur differs from Angkor Wat in that is constructed as a single, large stupa, with no inner space. It is the single remaining temple of its kind in Java, and is more than likely intended as a shrine to Buddha, instead of temple or house of worship. Typical Buddhist temples were built with rooms, intended to possess icons; Borobudur does not have the same amount of space or rooms to properly house icons, suggesting that the purpose of Borobudur differs from the other temples of Java.Various theories exist to explain the purpose behind Burobudur and architecture. It has been said that Borobudur represents Mt. Meru, that it contains three levels of Buddhist enlightenment, that the â€Å"round upper terraces were meant to form the base for an enormous stone stupa which contained a precious relic of Gautama Buddha,† or that Borobudur was simply a stupa or for initiation rights. Religious Symbolism in Borobudur Architecture Similarly to the uniqueness of Angkor Wat facing the west, Borobudur is unique as well, for it was constructed on a bedrock hill, between two volcanoes, instead of on a flat surface like other temples.Similarly t o the Khmer temple, Borobudur also displays several variations of religious significance throughout the architecture. The lotus is prevalent in the architectural and decorative aspects of the shrine. The architecture of Borobudur is similar the appearance of a lotus and the Buddha statues within Borobudur symbolize the Lotus Sutra, which is found in several Mahayana Buddhism texts. Additionally, the four circular platforms located on the top of Borobudur are also considered to embody the leaf of a lotus.The foundation of Borobudur measures approximately 118 meters on each side, in the form of a square. Of the ten platforms that make up the structure six are square and the remaining four are circular. The highest platform exhibits seventy-two small bell shaped and decoratively pierced stupas. Statues of Buddha reside within these pierced stupas. When Borobudur is viewed from above, the monument resembles the appearance of a tantric Buddhist mandala, furthering the representation of t he Buddhist cosmology.The division of Borobudur into three parts, the base, body, and top, symbolizing the three stages of what Buddhist cosmology considers the â€Å"ultimate goal. † The base represents the Kamadhatu, the five square platforms the make up the body represent Rupadhatu, and the three circular platforms that compose the top represent Arupadhatu . Similarly, the paths that guide pilgrims to the â€Å"ultimate goal† were designed through sacred Buddhist knowledge, based on Buddhist cosmology. Comparable to Ankgor Wat, Borobudur possessed exact measurements that possibly indicate calendrical, astronomical and cosmological themes.The exact ratio formula 4:6:9 has also been discovered in the Pawon and Mendhut, two other neighboring Buddhist temples. The monument further represents cosmology because it can be concluded that the 360 squares that surround the central square of the monument symbolize the 36o degrees of the â€Å"celestial circle that surrounds t he Earth. † However, details of the Buddhist system details vary from those of Hinduism origins, although the Buddhist system’s temples also focus on the idea of a central mountain that represents Meru.