Analysis of the Modernist Design Style

Modernism is appear in 20Thursdaycentury. And Modernism is including simple and no ornament design manner. Although this manner was appear early 20Thursdaycentury and have different interior decorators or designer have many spread. But still hold excessively small modern architecture physique in early 20Thursdaycentury. After World War II, they become many company and bureau. And do this manner be the top. Here have some designer is more celebrated. Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the celebrated designer in early 20Thursdaycentury. He is a American Institute of Architects, interior interior decorator, Writer and Educators. His design undertaking is over 1000 and complete about five 100s. And he believes that design should accomplish harmoniousness between worlds and the environment. And it become Organic architecture. For illustration, Fallingwater is the celebrated on the universe. This design can turn out his thought. Besides this design is one of the best designer on the American. More than 70 old ages of his calling at Architects. He design different architecture. It including Office, Church, Skyscrapers, Hotel and Museum. Besides he design some furniture and stained glass. In his life he write over 20 book and article. And he is the celebrated talkers. In 1991, American Institute of Architects name Wright â€Å"The best Architect† . He designed different architecture. And his design was celebrated. For illustration, Robie House, Imerial Hotel, Fallingwater, Taliesin West, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Price Tower and Jonson Wax Headquarters. Besides his thought was affected many interior decorator. Person said how Wright work alteration American architecture, but person said â€Å"How did n't Frank Lloyd Wright alteration architecture in America I think is truly the manner to state it because it is difficult to conceive of what American architecture would be like or even likely universe architecture without Frank Lloyd Wright. About the Organic architecture, he has a celebrated plant. It called Fallingwater. Fallingwater physique in 1934-1937. In 1991, members of the American institute of Architects named the house the â€Å" best all-time work of American architecture† and in 2007, it was ranked 29th on the list of Amercian’s Favorite Architecture harmonizing to the AIA. About the design, the form of the edifice expression natural, insouciant, stretch. Besides The chief room of the edifice with an out-of-door patio, platforms and roads, intertwined, besides obtained with the environing natural landscape with the consequence of merger. About the stuff, White concrete and rock Lashkar-e-Taiba this design expression merge in the environment. And this design is really particular. Because the platform is above the waterfall, this design in that clip is intensely. And this design was influence many designer. Besides it cause the new design manner. About the Taliesin West design, he thinks it has b een linked with the desert. So he utilize local rock and concrete. Besides the natural lighting is the chief function. Because he believes the natural lighting can allow inside the edifice connect to the exterior. His thought has affected some designer. For illustration Neville Gruzman, Kendrick Bangs Kellogg, Alvar Aalto, Nari Gandhi and Bruce Goff. All of them have build Organic architecture. Such as Neville Gruzman. Hills House and Gruzman House is the celebrated organic architecture. Besides Hills House is the work is thought of as a two 20Thursdaycentury houses: â€Å"Fallingwater† and â€Å"Farnsworth House† . And Gruzman House is use stuffs such as dark stained lumbers and natural brick. His designer is conform Wright method. About Bruce Goff, he said that his hero is Wright and Sullivan. Then he started to reach the original design. Bavinger House is important illustration of organic architecture. The house has no interior wall ; alternatively there are a series of platforms at different tallness, with drapes that can be drawn for privateness. The design usage many natural dark, make the inside country connect to the exterior. Kendrick Bangs Kellogg is an pioneer of organic architecture. In 1955, he met Wright and the brief meeting provided an inspiration. His design is non fit neatly into the same with Wright, Bruce Goff or other organic designers. His edifice are surveies of superimposed, segmented and unfolding infinite. And he design Onion house. It is a landmark of organic architecture. The design usage employs semitransparent curving roof panels. Since with no outside walls, the division between interior and exterior consists of screen or stained glass. But person possibly doesn’t cognize what organic designer is. So Wright explains that, it is term meant from nature, organic architecture was so a natural architecture. And now we eventually understand what organic designer is. And he believe good edifice is non one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the edifice was built. So he wants clean lines and simpleness. And disliked intricate item and irritability of the architectural manners. In add-on to organic designer, Wright steel has affected other designer. For illustration John S. Van Bergen. And his manner is Prairie manner places. About the Prairie manner. In 1909, Wright developed what known as the Prairie Style. Typical Prairie manner place is distinguished by horizontal lines on the outside, emphasized by a low-pitched hipped roof. But Wright use different colour, and allow the ceiling highs and hallway breadths to alternately compress and spread out the sense of infinite. His design went beyond the edifice to the finest inside informations of the interior infinite, include furniture, art glass and other interior design. And the celebrated prairie manner designer is Robie House. It was designed in 1908. Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs of place and edifice have inspired coevalss of designers, including most of what is called â€Å"modern architecture.† His influence is international—many other states have considered Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs as a major templet of their modern-day manners. More than 30 provinces in the United States possess Frank Lloyd Wright constructions and most architectural critics agree with that every province in the state has edifices that reflect Wright’s manner. Presents, when human want to develop something else, and they will destruct the natural. So they must retrieve that Wright has said the human existences and nature can conexist. And it is of import, even he is gone, but his architectural theory still affected other interior decorator. But person think he was chesty adult male. Because he want to allow his ain considerable on his clients. For illustration, Fallingwater. The design is particular and advanced. But despite there may be dangers he still carry out his out his design. I think his behaviour is right. Because if one’s creativeness is easy affected by the others, so that one is non a qualified interior decorator. Plagiarism:24 % hypertext transfer protocol: //encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6404/Wright-Frank-Lloyd.html hypertext transfer protocol: //freshome.com/2012/09/03/10-great-architectural-lessons-from-frank-lloyd-wright/ hypertext transfer protocol: //translate.google.com.hk/translate? hl=zh-TW & A ; sl=en & A ; u=http: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright & A ; prev=/search % 3Fq % 3Dfrank % 2Blloyd % 2Bwright % 2Binfluences % 2Bon % 2Barchitecture % 26sa % 3DN % 26biw % 3D1367 % 26bih % 3D840 hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Goff hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Gruzman hypertext transfer protocol: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendrick_Bangs_Kellogg hypertext transfer protocol: //www.distinctbuild.ca/neville_gruzman_architect.php

Wicked And Messy Environmentals Problems Environmental Sciences Essay

Human activities over the decennaries have doubtless affected the environment.The coming of industrialisation and technological advancement is one such activity that has been argued as the cause of great harm to the natural environment. Coupled to the increasing demand to supply for the turning populations around the universe, this has led to a myriad of environmental jobs some of which have been described as â€Å" mussy † or â€Å" wicked † . Amidst the huge technological promotions, these wicked jobs still remain unraveled and elusive. They challenge our administration constructions, our accomplishments base and our organisational capacity. It is of import, as a first measure, that wicked jobs be recognized as such. Successfully undertaking wicked jobs requires a wide acknowledgment and apprehension, including from authoritiess and Curates, that there are no speedy holes and simple solutions They are the antonym of â€Å" tame † jobs which have straightforward distinct solutions. Rittel and Webber ( 1973 ) describe wicked environmental jobs as withstanding categorization and devoid of clear cut solutions. They have besides been associated with â€Å" extremist uncertainness † and â€Å" plurality of legitimate positions † ( Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1991 ) .What does this mean for natural resource direction? This suggests that natural resource direction has been plunged into an epoch of turbulency with decreasing effects of the traditional/conventional attack to job resolution. This brings to bear the challenges conservationists and policy shapers have to postulate with in the direction of wicked environmental jobs rather commonplace in modern times. This essay attempts to propose ways by which natural resource direction can be effectual in covering with these wicked jobs. It begins by discoursing four challenges that wicked jobs present: alteration, struggle, complexness and uncertainness. It does that by utilizing the Sierra Nevada Forest and the European cap- and trade plan for C dioxide emanations in the European Union as instance surveies. Finally, proposes that for effectual direction of environmental jobs through policy and pattern, a combination of the precautional, adaptative and participatory attacks must be considered to cut down the uncertainness and complexness associated with wicked environmental jobs. The first challenge associated with wicked jobs is complexness ; a trait Gunderson ( 1999 ) suggests is built-in in natural resource jobs. Complexity implies a trouble in set uping cause and consequence forms due to the presence of mutualities and multiple variables. Complexity is determined by the grade of uncertainness and societal dissension on a peculiar issue ( Patton, 2011 ; Stacy, 1996 ; Zimmerman, 2001 ) .For illustration, the status and tendency exhibited by wildlife populations are as a consequence of the interactions between factors such as anterior population, conditions, marauders, home ground, disease, off-site factors and opportunity events. If there is species decline in a population, which of these factors can be blamed for this result? The reply is non every bit simple as a work outing to a mathematical job since the job may be caused by one of the factors or many moving in concert. The proficient and societal facets of complexness have besides been identified. The former is linked to restrictions in quality of information and a lack in cognition systems which makes the diagnosing of a job really feverish and introduces high degrees of uncertainness. A quotation mark by Lawrence J. Peter alludes that † some jobs are so complex that you have to be extremely intelligent and good informed merely to be undecided about them † . The societal facet on the other manus, emanates from troubles in the coordination of information, activities and stakeholders across several subjects. The differences in positions, values, perceptual experience and beliefs of assorted stakeholders introduces struggle: another challenge in deciding wicked environmental jobs. Adding to complexness is the diverseness and scope of stakeholder values, a formula for conflict.Values have been observed to be a cardinal component in the actions of people ( Rescher, 1969 ) .There is frequently small consensus on what the job is, allow entirely a general solution ( Ritchey, 2005 ; Rittel and Webber, 1973 ) .Whether the issue is about air quality, H2O usage, constructing a dike or protecting forest species, the differing values of stakeholders is non in doubt.Parties normally involved in environmental policy preparation normally span the full length and comprehensiveness of administration, from the politician to the peasant husbandman. Given the trouble of integrating the divergent positions all the parties may lawfully set frontward, struggles have left most environmental problem-solving efforts stranded and engulfed in judicial proceeding. For illustration, a H2O resource contention in Colorado started over a proposed dike ( Bingham, 1986 ) .Some parties declined to take part in the treatment until the inquiry of whether or non a dike was needed was answered. Others thought, a dike was the lone manner to work out the H2O deficit job. However, inquiring the inquiry † how much H2O do we necessitate? † is indispensable to understanding the job which brings into crisp focus problem-framing ; a critical but quite debatable measure in environmental policy preparation. The procedure of problem- bordering involves inquiring inquiries that explore different facets of the job. It ‘s amazing how frequently people fail to inquire what or why a job is happening instead than presuming the solution is apparent ( Watzlawick et al, 1974 ) .This premise of cognizing the solution before researching the job farther has chiefly been associated with experts who may see new jobs every bit precisely as old 1s ( Kaplan and Kaplan, 1982 ) .The presence of conflicting values, hazard and uncertainness does non intend a definite determination can non be taken.It merely stresses the director ‘s demand to believe beyond the traditional attack to job framing and job resolution. neglecting to see that most wicked jobs alone and associated with alteration, another challenge of wicked jobs. As discussed earlier, the assorted mutualities and multiple variables in wicked environmental job makes alteration inevitable phenomenon. Horst Rittel in his paper â€Å" Dilemmas in General Theory of Planning † explains that when covering with wicked jobs one must acknowledge that every wicked job is a symptom of another problem.Considering the fact that ecosystems, societal, econonmic, cognition, engineerings and public attitudes are so dynamic it is sensible for direction schemes and patterns to be dynamic as well.Policies must be continually be adapted to alter every bit good as constructed for local application.Wildavsky et Al, ( 1995 ) suggest that the lone manner to guarantee consistent advancement in dynamic and unsure state of affairss is to take incremental stairss that are bold plenty to go forth room for possible mistakes that enhance acquisition. Uncertainty is another challenge associated with wicked jobs due to the changeless alteration and reappraisal of scientific discipline and development. Therefore, it is rather rare for scientists to hold nem con on something as complex on an environmental or ecosystem level.In a complex unfastened system like the environment, cognition has bounds and certainty is far-fetched. What is the narrative today with the attack to work outing wicked environmental jobs? Is it working? It can be argued that uncertainness truly has played a function in the many statements that have characterized environmental direction treatments and a subscriber to the overplus of entreaties and judicial proceeding. The responses form authorities bureaus have been to bring forth more complex policy paperss warranting their actions and recommending for more research to do up for the cognition spreads that exists with the premise that differences are centrally about scientific discipline. On the contrary, grounds shows that difference in stakeholder places have more to make with conflicting values than with scientific uncertainness. This side of the statement is barely explored ensuing in the formulating of more paperss which have small to make with the underlying jobs. Owing to the fact that environmental direction makes determinations that affect both hereafter and present coevalss. There is a demand for better regulations and moralss to steer environmental directors. Bearing in head the challenges of changing ecological and societal conditions across big and spacial graduated tables, multiple stakeholder groups with really divergent values, high degrees of perceived hazard and scientific uncertainness, many research workers and environmental directors have espoused several theories and patterns which they deem are most appropriate for covering with wicked jobs. In the following subdivisions of this essay, three attacks ; adaptative direction, participatory procedures and the precautional rule will be introduced as the most appropriate for covering with modern-day environmental jobs. Adaptive direction has been argued as a direction scheme that will cover with scientific uncertainness and existent universe illustrations of its pertinence is apparent as reviewed in Stewart et al. ( 2004 ) . It has been associated with changing grades of success across a gamut of instances, each with results that enhance larning. The adaptative attack has been described as a acquisition attack that continually improves policy and pattern in the face of uncertainness and a tool to border philosophical, methodological and practical challenges that come with natural resource direction ( Holling 1978 ; Walters 1986 ; Lee 1993 ; Gunderson et Al. 1995 ) . † Learning by making † is the basic construct of adaptative direction. This attack has been recognized by international interdisciplinary attempts such as the sustainability scientific discipline plan ( Clark and Dixon, 2003 ) , the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment ( 2005 ) and the Equator Initiative of the United Nations Dev elopment Programme ( UNDP, 2005 ) as holding the possible to cover with the complexness of socio – ecological procedures and enhance acquisition. A instance survey of the on-going success of the adaptative direction attack is shown by Canada ‘s Model Forest. To cut down the uncertainness, complexness while advancing the development of advanced thoughts and sustainability the Federal authorities initiated Canada ‘s theoretical account Forest Program in 1992.The Program consists of 11 theoretical account woods across Canada selected to reflect the diverseness of ecosystems and societal systems present in Canada ‘s Forest environment. Each theoretical account Forest is designed to work as a life research lab where novel integrated forest direction techniques are researched, developed, applied and monitored in a transparent forum that engages and spouses with stakeholders from environmental administrations, industry, native groups, educational and research establishments, community – based associations, recreationists and landholders every bit good as all degrees of authorities. The success from this adaptative attack have been many and includes the development of voluntary wetland preservation plans for private lands ; establishemenrt of protocols for describing on socio economic indexs based on Statistics Canada nose count informations ; developing an ecosystem -integrated resource direction program for the Province of Saskatchewan, production of a codification of forestry pattern to assist landholders understand and use the rules of sustainable forest direction ; constitution of the Grand River Reserve to protect three eco-regions and home ground for the endangered Newfoundland pine marten. Research workers have identified two signifiers ; the passive and active types of adaptative direction ( Wilhere, 2000 ) . The passive is strongly science centred and formulates policy based on theoretical accounts and revises the theoretical accounts as monitoring informations becomes available. The active signifier nevertheless conducts direction action as deliberate experiments. Though the passive is rather simple and cheap the active signifier consequences in better apprehension of the responses of natural systems to direction and can assist develop better policy. However, no individual attack has the complete armory for contending wicked jobs and though adaptative direction has had many successes it has its restrictions. Short term undertaking frames, stiff marks and a focal point of success prompt directors to go on with conventional and controlled direction attacks, even when encouraged by authorities rhetoric to use adaptative attacks ( Allen and Curtis, 2005 ) This restriction is due to the fact that wicked jobs do non merely have scientific uncertainness but besides is engulfed in a overplus of stakeholder struggles. Therefore adaptative direction demands to integrate a societal side as good including institutional barriers. For illustration, institutional stableness, organisational civilization hinged on acquisition and equal political and administrative committedness of resources ( Lee,1993 ) .To be effectual, adaptative direction will necessitate to include cognition from multiple beginnings, system theoretical accounts and support cooperation among stakeholders ( McLain and Lee, 1996 ) .This demand has led to adaptive co-management an attack that combines adaptative and collaborative direction in which rights and duties are jointly shared to better battle the challenges that wicked jobs may convey. Thus, coaction brings into crisp focal point the demand for carefully designed public engagement. Public engagement has become an entrenched construct in the preparation, execution and direction of environmental issues owing to its suitableness for turn toing the involvements of multiple stakeholders and cut downing struggle. It is rather common to see National and subnational authoritiess require the input of the populace in managing and development of environmental policy. An illustration being the US National Environmental policy Act and the US Federal Advisory Committee Act. Thus engagement in decision-making is progressively regarded as a democratic right ( Reed, 2008 ) .Increasing calls for public engagement remainders on many factors including turning misgiving of public establishments and functionaries, inareaing legislative demands for public engagement, the complexness and uncertainness of modern-day jobs, different hazard perceptual experiences and a turning acknowledgment that determinations are non wholly scientific but societal values and political relations are bui lt-in in all administrative determinations. Politicss has non been extricated from how the environment is managed, degree of public engagement and at what point in the policy doing procedure it is incorporated. Participatory procedures besides have a challenge of placing groups of stakeholders and conveying these involvements together in an environment conducive for larning ( Gray,1989 ) .It has besides been associated with intensive resource committednesss ( money, clip and human capital ) , drawn-out determination devising, reduced determination quality, increased struggle and diminished likeliness of a successful result ( Sample, 1993 ; Steelman 2001 ) . The Precautionary attack is one possible response to wicked jobs in the face of uncertainness and hazard. Some bookmans assert that it is a powerful tool for protecting human wellness and the environment under unsure conditions ( Cameron and Boucher, 1991 ) whiles other believe it is ill- defined, unscientific and of small value to policymaking ( Manson 2002 ) . Still many states have some signifier of precautional rule in topographic point when confronted with unsure wellness hazards though they may non explicitly refer to it ( Zander, 2010 ) .While the chief importance of this rule is embedded in proverbs like † better safe than sorry † it cardinal thought is that engineerings or patterns that have the possible to jeopardize the environment should be banned or strongly regulated until proved safe. Under the precautional rule, the absence or deficiency of grounds refering the harmful nature of a substance or pattern can non function as a justification for detaining action to modulate them ( Raffensperger and Tickner, 1999 ) . For illustration, the issue of planetary warming normally includes statements that either favour business- as -usual or the precautional rule. Oppositions against the rule base their statements on scientific uncertainness sing how worlds have contributed to climate alteration and the badness of effects that may happen. They by and large advocate for farther research to cut down the uncertainnesss before dearly-won emission-reduction policies are implemented. Advocates of the precautional attack on the other manus argue that the likely inauspicious effects of the accretion of nursery gases in the ambiance are serious plenty to warrant potentially dearly-won ordinance despite staying uncertainnesss. Its part to long term, multigenerational effects of policy determinations has been emphasized nevertheless it can non individual -handedly provide a practical usher to covering with wicked jobs.

Philosophy of Science Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Philosophy of Science - Coursework Example ve knowledge about things and are capable of even discovering others including those which make up the fundamental truth of the structure of reality supports the underdetermination arguments. This therefore implies that both weak and strong underdetermination are critical aspects in the understanding of philosophy of science. It is however worth noting that his call for more epistemic  resources like the ampliative principles of beliefs which are meant to help in narrowing down merely logical possibilities to come up with those that are rationally defensible is very problematic. Despite the fact that underdetermination is known to pose a threat to the rationality of scientific enterprise, Laudan argued that the significance of underdetermination is often exaggerated in a variety of contexts and claims. To him, underdetermination comes with a variety of strengths2. However, the known or seen strengths primarily depends on what is being said or asserted about a given character, the rational defensibility of the competing hypothesis and the ways through which people revise their beliefs on different evidences which are available to

Post Modern Preaching Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Post Modern Preaching - Term Paper Example In words by Allen religion significance has declined over the years (78). The author further argues that this is attributed to the fact that preachers and religious institutions have lost touch with the modern generation. Most preachers still use the old ways of passing the message to the audience. As much as these methods are pure and original, their impact in the modern society has been diminished. The modern society needs something that connects with them with the current emerging trends- a message that may help them go through modern society challenges. This is one factor that preachers have failed to achieve in preaching. This has made most religious institution lose touch with the society. According to Allen just like we embrace technology and globalization in our societies, preachers should embrace the use of the same in delivering sermons (29). However, many religious practices have been able to adjust to these changes and still hold much significance in the society. They are referred to the igeneration preachers. They believe in preaching the word in the most appropriate way in the perspective of their audience. This includes use of modern tools and instruments, applying of global trending society topics and accepting the fact that exposure level of the modern spiritual is deep and the approach should be the same. The growth of the church has been significant throughout the centuries. In the ancient religious settings, preachers or religious leaders did not have a tiring task of passing the message to the audience. This is attributed to the fact the audience has so much believe in religion and they were not exposed to technological trends. LaRue argues life was simpler and less complicated to believe in (112). People in the ancient centuries did not have much of tasks and factors distracting them from adhering to the gospel. This scenario has completely changed in the modern generation. Hilliard argues that the modern society is exposed to less spiritu ality and more of economic or social activities (98). This creates the gap between the modern society and religion. Preachers have to develop ways to reach out to the occupied generation (Allen 85). It has ceased to be an obligation that people have to attend religious services like people used to in the back days. For the modern society to be inclined to religious activities, there must that outstanding factor driving this objective. In words by Arendell for preachers to remain significant in what they do, they must be able to advance to the same level as the social trends have (211). This may include using the most common tool to reach out the modern generation: the social network (Hilliard 90). The growth of the church in the African American perspective displays the same results. The ancient African American church was known for its significance in society. The church was a spiritual hub for all ages. It was a compulsory function in the whole society as parents exposed their chi ldren to spirituality at a tender age. This practice created a long line of spiritual generations. In words by Arendell the African American society was one of the most religious societies in the United States (145). The author further argues that this was attributed to the fact the passing down of religious beliefs in the society was effective. As generations passed, this fact slowly changed. One religious practice that was first to be rejected was the door to door preaching. It faced great

Brief outlines for social work portfolio Outline

Brief outlines for social work portfolio - Outline Example This will make learning more effective, easier, and enjoyable. Finally, it helps one to expand his her bandwidth of expertise from which they develop benefits (Honey & Mumford 2006). Spider diagrams are largely used in learning since they assist in creating ideas in a clearly and neatly structured layout. They enable one to think of the main concept and how the concepts are available in numerous parts. They help you to note down information and aggravate ideas. It begins with a central concept and branches out. They help the social workers to view the patients holistically, identify the solutions and needs, and develop a care plan, building affiliations with the family and the patient, among others. Finally, it also enables them to be proactive, confident, flexible, assertive, and to be able to know what to prioritize over the other. A portfolio is considered to be an operational document that is used often all through the student placement and the practice educator so as to review and set out learning results for the placement, to jot down assessments and to evaluate achievement and progress consistent with the progressive assessment principles. This portfolio enables the students to prove that at the end of their placement they are competent to practice skillfully and have attained the principles set forth in the Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF) at the needed level for the placement carried out. The PCF is an outcome statement that sets forth what a student social worker should understand and know so as to progress. During the assessment, the appropriate level should be demonstrated on the basis of the PCF so as to attain a Pass for the placement done. Supervision meetings are sessions between supervisors and the support staff where performance at work is debated in an organized manner. These meetings take the

CHOOSE ONE QUESTIONS FROM THE 5 QUESTIONS ON THE INSTRUCTION LIST Essay

CHOOSE ONE QUESTIONS FROM THE 5 QUESTIONS ON THE INSTRUCTION LIST - Essay Example The opinion of economists have varied on this issue regarding the considerable of the GDP is the appropriate measure to understand the well-being of the nation. While most of the economists have relied on this economic indicator as the main determinant of the standard of living, the others have differed stating that the other intangible and tangible factors like education, health as well as ecological environment to be important factors as well. Simon Kuznets who framed the term GDP even warned that the measure is not an appropriate indicator of the well-being of the nation (Kuznets, 1934). Thus is clear that the GDP was never devised to measure the well-being of nations. With the occurrence of the Bretton Woods conference this measure started being used widely in most of the nations of the world since 1944. GDP as an economic indicator The Gross Domestic Product of a country is the sum of the goods and services of the country taken at the market value. In order to understand the con cept of GDP it is important to know how the GDP of a nation is arrived at (Landefeld, 2008). There are a variety of ways in which the GDP of a country can be measured. The product approach measures GDP by summing the total production of all the enterprises during a definite span of time. Thus the value added of all the final products in a year minus the sum of the value added of the intermediate products gives the GDP of the economy. On the other hand, the expenditure approach considers the sum of the aggregate consumption expenditure, investment expenditure, government expenditure as well as the net exports of the economy. The circular flow diagram provides an idea about the income and expenditure flow in the economy that takes place involving the individuals, firms as well as the government. Therefore GDP measures the flow of the goods and the services that takes place in an economy. The income approach however calculates the sum of the total income of the individuals the firms as well as the government in the economy. From the various approaches it is clear that during the calculation of the GDP the monetary values are taken and hence no other intangible aspect could be captured by the GDP. In all these cases only the computation of the However in most cases it is considered that if the economic condition of the people improves the people of the economy would be better off. Thus it is not an ideal measure of the standard of living of the economy. Defects in GDP as a measure of the well-being of the economy The economic system is a subsystem of a larger system that drives the world. There are ecological, political as well as social systems which are intertwined. The effects of each of these systems influence each other and one cannot be thought of independently without thinking about the other. The economic system in a society can run only in connection with the other systems and depends on the other systems to a large extent. For example, in order to carry out the production in a factory system it is important to take the help of the natural resources as well as the human capital. Along with that the incorporation of the knowhow is also important. Hence the entire economic activity of production needs the intangible resources along with the tangible resources.

The International Accounting Standards Board and it role in Essay

The International Accounting Standards Board and it role in harmonization of accountign standards - Essay Example One example is in the availing of depreciation. In the United Kingdom, depreciation is determined according to, "convention and pragmatism, rather than exact rules[determining] the method of depreciation, estimates of the scrap value and the expected length of life (Ferrari L 2005). Germany, on the other hand, lays down exact rules and regulations for all these aspects in detail, leaving no room for manipulation. There is thus a need to introduce common internationally accepted norms, which would minimize such differences. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is one such institution that has undertaken the responsibility of formulating such standards to remove the anomalies between the 'generally accepted accounting practices' of different countries, through a process of harmonization of accounting standards. The IASB was founded in April 2001, as a successor to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). The IASC was an independent body formed in 1973, with the broad objective of, " [furthering] harmonization of accounting practices through the formulation of accounting standards to promote their worldwide acceptance" (Encyclopedia of Business and Finance [EBF]). In May 2000, a new structure for the IASC was approved, leading to the establishment of the IASB. As per KEWL (Knowledge Environment of Web-based Learning), the main objectives of the IASB are: - Develop, in the public interest, a single set of high quality understandable and enforceable global accounting standards that require high quality transparent and capable information in financial statements and other financial reporting to help the participants in the various capital markets of the world and other users of the information to make economic decisions. Promote the use and rigorous application of those standards. Work actively with national standards-setters to bring convergence of national accounting standards and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) to high quality solution. In order to most objectively achieve the above aims, the organization of the IASB has been structured as follows (KEWL): - Trustees. Comprises of nineteen individuals from all geographical regions of the world, of whom at least five should represent the accounting profession. The primary responsibility of the Trustees is to appoint Board members, exercise oversight and raise funds for the organization. Board. Consists of fourteen individuals (twelve full time members and two part-time members) and has the sole responsibility of setting accounting standards in the form of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Standards Advisory Council (SAC). This is another body of experts from different geographical regions and functional backgrounds with expertise required to contribute to the formulation of accounting standards. There are about fifty members of the Council. International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC). This is a committee of the IASB that assists the IASB in establishing and improving standards of financial accounting and reporting for the benefit of users, preparers and auditors of financial statements. The IFRIC assists the IASB in achieving international convergence of accounting standards. The IASC had introduced 41 International Accounting Standards (IAS) during its tenure

English - Argumentative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Arguments in Favor of the Death Penalty - Essay Example This paper tells that criminals who have no regard to other people’s personhood must face this definitive penalty in order to maintain the community whose footing is in sheer violation, especially if they deliberately do this in distressing persistence thereby making it a routine. Some of the offenses that should be punished through death include repeated crimes, espionage, murder, rape and other sexual crimes, and treason. The death penalty should also be performed as part of martial justice. Any offender convicted of any of the above crimes should face execution executed as punishment over the offense. This is because as the criminal provisions deem them, such since he/she is a repugnant threat to the society. A key reason for supporting capital punishment rests of the morality of execution – once a human being applies force against an innocent person, in reality, he/she has affirmed the fact that that he/she does not conform to the principle of individual rights. It is a sign that he/she wants to live as a predator, to the disadvantage and obliteration of all the people around him/her – he/she is not prepared to live as a logical individual among other people. Rights stem from man’s nature as a logical being, and if a person decides on living irrationally, he/she has does not have rights. Executing such a harmful being is sensible. It is only just for the society if that individual is treated in line with his/her actions. Just as the reward should match the action, the punishment should also fit the crime. This concept is referred to as proportionality and it states that reaction should fit the action. As proportionality holds, the premeditated murder of a guiltless individual justifies a premeditated death penalty of the criminal by the state. The absence of justice would make people take justice in their own hands (Landauer & Rowlands, 2&3). Secondly, the capital sentence leads to deterrence. Deterrence refers to the notion that the state can mete out fear to potential and existing criminals by punishing criminals. An offender will dread being involved in a crime that is punishable by death (Robinson, 3). Without a doubt, the threat that a criminal will face execution prevents him/her from engaging in capital crimes and this works more effectively compared to imprisonment. Given that the society has the greatest interest in the prevention of such capital crimes as murder; it should make use of the death penalty, the strongest form of punishment, to dissuade criminals from engaging in such crimes. According to Tremoglie, in Britain, ever since the abolition of execution in the year 1964, cases of homicide have mounted from 0.68 for every 100,000 to 1 .42 for every 100,000 of the population. Reports from the Home Office indicate that there was an alarming rise in illegitimate killings from 300 to 565 and 833 in 1964, 1994 and 2004 in that order. As opposed to homicide and other illegal killings, the number o f criminals convicted for actual murder crime has as well been increasing rapidly. Tremoglie further notes that in 1965, the first year of death penalty abolition in Britain, fifty-seven and one hundred and seven cases were registered in ten years’ time. He confidently considers capital sentence as a definite deterrent to crime, seeing that criminals who were serving life sentences and later discharged from prisons committed seventy-one murders from 1965-1998. Another point in favor of the death penalty is the fact that it incapacitates the criminal – it takes his/her freedom away in such a way that he/she is not in a position to commit another crime.  

Religion Changing Societies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Religion Changing Societies - Essay Example In due time, this has caused societal pluralism with religion being viewed as an objective to individuals within a society (Santa, 5). This paper covers the effect of religion in the society, how religion raises questions on identity and questions the concept of identity, and lastly how it creates a dilemma between faith and way of life. Religion Changing Societies Even though religion has sparked a lot of debate, it has influenced the society both positively and negatively. It has attracted massive changes within the societies. A better example of how religion has been linked with the modern societies is politics. Furthermore, the voting patterns are largely determined along religious lines. Religion plays a major role when it comes to governing a nation. Some religions worldwide are entrenched in archaic modes of thoughts and have failed to launch new life in the societies. Some are co-opted by patriotisms; thus, are used to further various furies. This has worked to divide people, based on an individual religious belief (Herz, and Peter, 25). In the current face of pluralism, Elshtain in â€Å"toleration, proselytizing, and the politics of recognition†, offers â€Å"toleration†, as a way of being liberal and democratic to religious pluralism without causing any prejudice on a given religion belief whatsoever. This involves freedom to share ones religious beliefs joyfully, manifesting views so that others may consider it, rather than imposing one's faith to others; thus, ensuring a happy coexistence (Elshtain, 89-93). This has led to more liberal and democratic societies. This has been echoed by Witte in The Rights and Limits of Proselytism in the New Religious World Order (Witte, 109) He emphasizes on the need for individuals to choose their own religious affiliation in a religious pluralism society, although this has not had a smooth sailing as other religions such as Muslim allow for easy conversion into their faith (Witte, 109) Religion, Ide ntity and Citizenship With religion being a core aspect to be considered within any society, the idea of coming up with legislation governing such societies may sometimes be challenging without causing any religious prejudice, with the advent of religious pluralism. Particularly, France has held to her â€Å"lay state (laicite)†, implying a secular state of religious freedom without preference for any religious affiliation. These may not necessarily mean secularization, rather a way of bringing harmony within a religious pluralism society (Davie and Schafer, 5). Religious views, convictions and practices are seen as belonging to the private sphere of existence rather than in the public realm. It is true that religion is a crucial factor of social identity, being identified with a given religion means having a shared religious beliefs and practices and behavior that brings about the uniqueness within a large cosmopolitan society with religious pluralism in some cases (Appiah, 44-47). Despite an individual’s affiliation to a given religion, he/she has the right as a citizen to participate in decisions involving collective life together. These should be done without any religious prejudice, and thus, treated equally. This eliminates any hierarchy of faith (Mehta, 66). With Religious pluralism, the best way to tackle the issue of identity and citizenship in respect to one's religious affilia

What is the Attraction of Dove Ad Legacy Coursework

What is the Attraction of Dove Ad Legacy - Coursework Example By asking mothers how they felt about their bodies, and then linking their feelings, perceptions, thoughts, attitudes and general orientation towards their bodies with how their daughters, in turn, felt about their bodies, the ad makes a powerful case for urging mothers to consider what they want to leave behind for their daughters as their part of their legacy. This is a powerful emotional appeal, given the obvious importance of the daughter in the lives of women as mothers. This is probably the woman’s strongest bond with any person. The implied message is that Dove cares about how they feel about their bodies and how the women are in relationship to the most important people in their lives, their children. Bringing mother and daughter together evokes positive and very intense feelings of love and the intense feelings associated with motherhood and all that the bond implies. There is an obvious linking of all this powerful current of emotions with Dove, and how Dove wants to position itself as something that will make women feel beautiful and good about themselves and their bodies. There is the aspect too, of Dove being a part of what mothers can positively leave behind for their children as part of the mothers’ legacy to their children. The bigger legacy, of course, consists of positive vibes, happiness, being at home with one’s body, loving oneself and accepting oneself, that Dove representsÃ'Ž The key argumentation, in terms of Aristotle’s appeals, is the appeal to pathos, or the emotions. This is also an appeal to self-identity, the women’s interests relating to self (Writing Commons, 2014). As the literature on pathos suggests, and as the Dove ad demonstrates, this is a very powerful appeal. The very premise of the ad- that mothers pass on how they see and feel about themselves to the most important people in their lives, their children and their daughters-   is inherently laden with powerful emotions (Kemp et al., 2 012). The supporting ad elements, including the music, all work in concert to emphasize and enhance the appeal to pathos. This is by design. There is an attempt to on the part of the ad to appeal to the audience of the ad in the same way. In the same way that the ad elicits the emotional reaction of parents by linking the exercise to their young daughters, and saying that the daughters are affected by the mothers’ feelings about themselves, the ad also makes an appeal to the emotions as far as the audience is concerned. The buildup of the music cued to reach a crescendo towards the end is an obvious attempt to imprint a powerful and positive emotion to the hearts of the audience at the end of it, like in a movie. Moreover, the choice of adult mothers with young daughters as the participants in the ad is deliberate, as those constitute a major target market for Dove products. The appeal to the emotions work where the audience is able to identify with the characters in a   mo vie, a book, a story, and here an ad (Kemp and Kopp, 2011). The race mix of the mothers also makes sure that the different target market ethnicities are included, to make sure too that the different members of the target market are able to identify with the mothers in the ad. There is an Asian mother, an African American mother, and three Caucasian mothers.

Nick Djokovic Essay Example for Free

Nick Djokovic Essay In today’s world, there are many sport figures one can look up to. We have chosen the best of the best in the tennis world, Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world number 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals. Despite being the underdog during his early years as a professional tennis player, he is now the best professional tennis player overtaking the previous king of tennis Rafael Nadal. Ever since the age of four, he has been interested in tennis. Unlike most children his age, it was not a fleeting interest. He was determined to achieve his dream of becoming the best tennis player in the world. With his steadfast dream, he has won six Grand Slam titles and has brought him to where he is now. This report will cover Djokovic’s personality, values and attitude, motivation and leadership skills that had helped him to achieve his dream. The points highlighted are also the main reason he is worth following as an influential leader. 2.0 Personality The big five model of personality consists of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience. Djokovic can be seen as a person that is highly extrovert as he is fun-loving, expressive and sociable. During his comeback as the winner in the Australian Open, he was so overjoyed that he threw his racket, wristbands and his shirt to his fans (AOL News, 2011). Djokovic is also socially attached to his fans that he created an application known as ‘Nole4You’ that focuses on a direct coverage of Djokovic’s real time games (New Newsworthy, 2012a). On the other hand, Djokovic is low on the neurotism category as he is much balanced and emotionally stable. According to Suttles (2013), Djokovic was â€Å"gracious in defeat† as every defeat he channels it back into better concentration for the next match. Next, Djokovic is rather high on the agreeableness meter as he shows a great deal of care towards others through his charities. Djokovic created the Novak Djokovic Foundation which supports young children from disadvantaged communities especially in native Serbia (New Newsworthy, 2012b). Besides that, he was also elected as the ambassador of The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Serbia as he was utterly concern in the welfare of the people in his hometown as well as the importance in early childhood education in Native Serbia (Look To The Stars, 2011). He was also keen in participating in fights for the betterment of society such as the fight against acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) which required him to use the Head Red special edition bag collection from Head to the French Open Grand Slam (Look To The Stars, 2013a). Djokovic is also high in conscientiousness as he is responsible for his career and he is well organized after his achievement in the Australian Open. Although being reckless in his previous season, he is where he is now due to his hard work in perfecting his service techniques and getting his diet right (Carter, 2011). According to Djokovic in an interview, he wants to be consistent in his games and to do this, he has to stay fit and take care of his health and physical condition (The National, 2011). Lastly, Djokovic is very open to new experience. One afternoon in year 2010, Djokovic received a phone call from Dr. Igor Cetojevic who said that his fatigue in the 2010 Aussie Open was due to his diet that consists of glutens that caused an accumulation of toxins in his large intestines. Djokovic listened to his advice to practice a gluten-free diet as well as to build him up spiritually. Besides that, Djokovic also took risk to change his serve technique as advised by Marian Vajda. As a result of Djokovic’s openness, he no longer suffers from fatigues and he felt much happier and balanced. In addition, a change in his serve technique enabled him to defeat the former world number one five times consecutively and brought him to the top of the tennis world (Saslow, 2012). 3.0 Values and Attitude As a well-known figure in the world of tennis, Djokovic has certain values that enable him to enjoy the success that he has today. According to George and Jones (2012, p.93), values are defined as personal convictions about what one should strive for in life and how one should behave. Values are further divided into two categories; work values and ethical values. In terms of work values, there are intrinsic and extrinsic work values. In definition, intrinsic work values are values that are related to the nature of the work itself. Some examples of intrinsic work values that are prominent in Djokovic’s work are the ability to make important contributions to the public, the interesting work and the challenging work that can be done. Firstly, in terms of the ability to make important contributions to the public, Djokovic is well known for his philanthropic work. Due to this status as the highest ranked tennis player, he is very well-connected and is able to influence his fans over his beliefs. From this, he has helped to raise awareness for AIDS, human trafficking, poverty, human rights, women’s rights, children’s rights and many more (Look To The Stars, 2013b). Aside from that, his ability to make important contributions to the public and society is further supported by his status as the ambassador of UNICEF in Serbia. Aside from him advertising his beliefs on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and his video blog, UNICEF has also advertised their cause through Djokovic because of his popularity among the younger generation (UNICEF, 2011). Although generating a high pay from his career, he did not choose this career lifestyle because of it. He started playing tennis at the age of four and played professionally when he was 16 years old. This is due to his passion and interest in tennis. He has trained and played in every single tennis tournament to gain the experience he needed. Even though he has been injured quite a number of times in terms of ankle and knee injuries, that has never stopped him from pursuing his dream of being the best tennis player (Mitchell, 2013). However challenging his work may be, Djokovic never gave up. He continuously pursues his dream of being the best. After relentless practice and competitions, he finally replaced Roger Federer as the top ranked tennis player in the world. This attitude of his is admirable and serves as a constant reminder to his fans that nothing is impossible. On the other hand, extrinsic values are values that are related to the consequences of work. One of the more prominent extrinsic values is the high salary. Not only does he get paid for playing tennis, he gets paid through his endorsements deals with well-known companies such as UNIQLO, Fitline and Telekom Srbjia (Badenhausen, 2011). His salary also includes appearance fees, exhibitions and prize money. Besides that, his career as a tennis player provides him with many job benefits. One of the many is fame. Unlike most athletes, Djokovic enjoys being in the limelight and often shares news and funny anecdotes of his life with his fans. Next, his job provides very flexible working hours. He practices his tennis with his coaches at any time he wants. Due to his flexible working hours, he gets to spend more time with his family and to indulge in vacations as well as hobbies. According to George and Jones (2012, p.97), work attitude is defined as the collection of feelings, beliefs and thoughts about how to behave in one’s job and organisation. Although similar to values, work attitudes are more specific and are not as constant as values as work attitudes change over time. In 2008, although he was winning tournaments, Djokovic hired a new fitness coach in hopes that it will help boost his performance. After the change, he was able to defeat the two reigning champions in the tennis world, namely, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. His attitude changed once a new factor was introduced into his life (ESPN, 2010). 4.0 Motivational Theories Everyone in the world possesses a particular set of skills that they are good at in their lives. People who managed to realize their potential often harness that skill and sharpen it to become a much better person. During those times, motivation towards that ability drives them to keep pushing forward in harnessing those skills. Many professional sportsmen and sportswomen started training during childhood. Motivation is what has kept them and pushed them into training harder every day until they finally achieve their goal. According to George and Jones (2012, p. 183), there are three elements of work motivation; direction of behavior, level of effort and level of persistence. Novak Djokovic, world’s best tennis player, possessed all these three elements. For example, although his family had economic problems in Serbia, he still chose to fly to Germany to train despite only being 12 years old. Even as a child, he loved tennis with a passion. He once skipped afternoon classes in school just so he could attend tennis training with his coach (PRPepper Production, 2012). His passion, effort and persistence during training are boundless. His motivation was driven because he loved tennis rather than his parents forcing the sport on him. 4.1 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Djokovic’s efforts and achievements relate a lot to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs consists of five different types of needs from the lowest to the highest; physiological, safety, belongingness, esteems and self-actualization needs (George and Jones, 2012, p. 187). The two needs most emphasized by Djokovic are the esteem needs and self-actualization needs. Right from the beginning, Djokovic was always focused and determined to be the best in the tennis world, which directly means beating the best players in the world such as Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Tommy Haas and Rafael Nadal. Esteem needs emphasizes on an individual being recognized and respected by others (George and Jones, 2012, p.187). Djokovic strived hard during his early years under the guidance of Nikola Pilic. At the age of 16, he was awarded the champion of â€Å"La Boule†. This event leads to the start of his professional career (PRPepper Prodcutions, 2012). However, he did not stop that as he was motivated aim higher. This further explains Maslow’s self-actualization need theory, which is defined as â€Å"needs to realize one’s full potential as a human being†. Djokovic trained hard every day motivated by one goal; to be the best tennis player in the world. Due to him having a high self-actualisation, Djokovic obtained the title of being the best tennis player in the ATP rankings in 2012 after obtaining a 43% winning rate in 2011. Today, Djokovic is further motivated by his lost to Rafeal Nadal in the 2013 French Open. Instead of giving up, Djokovic evaluates his loss as a sense of motivation to train harder in order to win the next tournament, Wimbledon (Gajaria, 2013).

The impacts of structural and infrastructural elements to service o

The impacts of structural and infrastructural elements to service o I. INTRODUCTION With the ever-changing nature of a global business operation that requires firms to adjust rapidly, operations flexibility capability has become more influencing, underpinning the strength of an organization. World-class service organizations rely on right strategies and practices to enhance their operations flexibility. In Malaysia, for instance, the world best budget airline, AirAsia, applies certain principles, practices and procedures that align with its operations objectives to achieve appropriate level of flexibility in their operations that suited its market segments requirements [1] [2]. In another example, there was a lot of confusion on the part of the passengers and employees of Jet blue airlines in Florida when weather conditions delays flights. In any eventualities, organization must plan ahead on how to deal with the changing circumstances that will affect their operations. Some of the impact of changes must be dealt at the source through some standardization of products, services and process delivery. The remaining must be dealt with at the point of impact using robust structural and infrastructural resources deployment strategies. Among the most essential move to establish and eventually enhance the operations flexibility is the use of technology especially the IT to better communicate internally within organizational units and externally with their customers thus providing flexibility in their operations. Others may rely on smart networking with clients and suppliers so that they will handle the uncertainties together as a group. At the same times, having a flexible workforce will ensure certain level of variability will be absorbed by tactically reassign the workforce. In summary, the changing nature of the environment requires flexibility to be one of the primary competitive components to be applied and considered seriously. To enhance the flexibility capability, firms need to strike a balance with structural and infrastructural decisions. In this paper, we will evaluate the dimension of structural and infrastructural elements and service operations flexibility and their relationship in a multivariate outlook. Few important questions need to be addressed here namely: What is service operations flexibility; what are the important structural and infrastructural elements and how they affect the operations f lexibility of service organization. II. LITERATURE REVIEW It is widely argued that operations flexibility is very much related to changing the structure and infrastructures of the organizations. However, the discussion on the important elements that fall into each category is debated. In following the definitions given by Hayes and Wheelwright [3], and Schroeder [4] suggested structure resources include capacities, facilities, process technology, and vertical integration whereas infrastructures include people, information system, organization, production and inventory control, and quality control system. Slack [5] suggested labor and technology as structural resources that must be supported by infrastructural assets such as the system, relationship and information couplings. Relating the structural and infrastructural elements to operations flexibility, there have been several studies done to address the issue. One of the important studies conducted by Correa and Gianesi [6] associated the broader term of flexibility as being able to respond effectively to unplanned change. They linked uncertainty and variability with unplanned change, which require firms to understand the concept of unplanned change. Managing unplanned change can be divided into two dimensions. One is labeled as flexibility in dealing with change after the unplanned change has occurred. The second dimension is the ability to deal with a certain amount of change and reducing the effect of change. This can be done by finding ways to control the changes by implementing strategies like forecasting technique, maintenance system, parts standardization, and manufacturing focus. These strategies are to prevent and avoid the change before it occurs. This is where the structural and infrastructur al elements play their roles. For example, in order for service firms to be able to implement the chosen strategies both before and after the occurrences of unplanned changes, firms ought to have suitable structural elements such as integration and technology supported by systematic infrastructural elements such as quality leadership and teamwork activities. Harvey et al [7] explained that a flexible firm is the one that can handle variability with minimum penalty and suggest the difference between internal robustness and external flexibility. Internal robustness must be dealt with minimum efforts due to the fact that it will not create value to customers. Harvey et al [7] suggested that in order to deal with the internal variability, firms may require organizational arrangement such as cross-functional teams, empowering contact personal, and building a flat organization, which factors are related to infrastructural elements of operations as well as modifying the structural elements such networking capability. It is the external flexibility that must be managed carefully in order to gain competitive advantage. Central to the issue, Harvey et al [7] proposed the use of structural element, mainly IT technology in order to manage flexibility. This is also supported by Bucki and Pesqueux [8] who also proposed the components of operations strategy on structural and infrastructural elements that contribute to operations flexibility. Adler [9] agreed that flexibility in organizations is a useful tool to improve firms competitive position as related to the use of technologies in implementation and the decision- making process. Upton [10] supported the idea and added that firms should create an infrastructure to allow for system flexibility. As a result of technological improvement and changes in customer preferences, service operations have become flexible and this requires adjustment in the delivery process. Upton [10] also pointed out that customers expect and prefer to get services at their convenient time and location, therefore capability on the part of the service provider to be flexible is imperative. One specific example on how structural elements such as technology and integration play an influencing role in service operation flexibility is the use of ATM machines. Banks that have ATM services have been providing convenient services to customers for years. In accordance with this, ATM services have improved over time. Two of the improvements mentioned include the increase in the limit of the amount in withdrawal transactions and the multiplication of ATM units strategically situated in many convenient locations. In elaboration, ATM services nowadays are not solely restricted to bank premises but can also be found at airports, petrol stations, bus stations, fast food restaurants and many others. The change in the way banks deliver services indicates the degree of flexibility in service operations that benefits banks and customers alike. ATM technology may require some investment on the banks side, but in the long run, it reduces operating costs by decreasing the number of staff a t counter services. Davis and Heineke [11] concluded that reduction in customers waiting time at counter services by improving better services management of process design can certainly reduce customers dissatisfaction and defection and technology could help to achieve this goal. Technologies have proven to be able to offer more opportunities in improving services processes. Collier [12] in a study on electronic devices for check-in and check-out systems in the hotel industry, automatic toll booth in transportation, electronic fund transfer in banking services, the practices of e-ticketing in the airline business have given huge impact on the ticket purchasing system, airport checking process, and service industries as well. Therefore, in responding effectively to customers demand variations, improving services process design by using technology is another approach to increase flexibility of the service system. Based on the above discussion, we have recognized several elements that must be considered in enhancing flexibility capability of a firm which could be further divided into structural and infrastructural elements. Among the most cited structural elements in discussing the service flexibility is technology, particularly the ICT, integration, and facility. With regards to the infrastructural elements, some of the most important factors cited in the literature are team management, worker empowerment, and quality leadership. As for the dimensions of service operations flexibility, we incorporate the types given by Correa and Gianessi [6] who suggest service flexibility capability as design, package, volume, delivery time, delivery location, system robustness and customer recovery with Harveys internal robustness and external flexibility[7]. Thus, we hypothesize; H1: Structural elements consists of facility, location, technology, integration/networking positively influence the external flexibility; H2: Structural elements consists of facility, location, technology, integration/networking are positively influencing the internal robustness, H3: Infrastructural elements consists of teamwork management, worker empowerment, and quality leadership positively influence the external flexibility, H4: Infrastructural elements consists of teamwork management, worker empowerment, and quality leadership positively influence the internal robustness We also propose that the infrastructural elements are more dominant in service industries as the soft power related to human potential are the silent forces that determines the operations flexibility, H5: Infrastructural elements have a greater influence on both external flexibility and internal robustness as compared to the structural elements. III METHODOLOGY This research uses a survey approach. We employed several techniques leading to the final large scale survey. First we conducted a thorough literature review on topics leading to the development of items to measure structural and infrastructural decisions and operations flexibility. Subsequently, the researchers conducted several interviews with operations managers in selected service companies namely; hotel, port management, and airline, to check if the factors found in the literature are relevant to the practical ideas of the managers, particularly in the Malaysian business environment. This technique allows the researcher to explore any relevant ideas pertaining to the issue. The interview will also provide some valuable information on the keywords or the indicators from the Malaysian perspective since the literature is too replete with studies from the different environments of western countries. Each session usually takes more than an hour. Combining the literature review and the interviews, an instrument was developed to measure structural and infrastructural elements, and operation flexibility. The structural and infrastructural elements are mainly adapted from the instruments developed by Boyer and McDermott [13]. The items to measure operations flexibility capability are taken from Correa and Gianessi [6] and Harvey et al. [7]. In summary, the instrument consists of (A)Infrastructural elements divided into worker empowerment(7 items), quality leadership(6 items), team management (4 items) (B) Structural elements consists of location(2 items), integration(5 items), technology(6 items) and capacity(2 items) (C) external flexibility (6 items) and internal robustness (5 items).  A sample of questions is given as follows; Technology: Indicate level of investment in the latest technology relevant for enhancement of the business operations (e.g. latest scanning system for hospital or new ATMs for banks) Capacity: Indicate the level of investment in upgrading / improvement of existing facilities Several workshops and discussion were conducted leading to the final version of the instruments. Before conducting a pilot study, we pre-tested the instrument on our MBA students, whose backgrounds included experience working in service organizations to identify potential problems with respect to the ability of the respondents to understand the questions asked, and clarify the instruments when it is necessary. No major change was made. Consequently, a pilot test was done to test the reliability and validity of the instrument. This is also done to minimize the administration of the questionnaires in the real study. 30 companies were conveniently selected to test the instruments. 25-100 observations were thought adequate for this purpose [14]. The reliability of the instrument was assessed before we proceed with the large scale study. We employed the Cronbach alpha method in gauging the reliability of the scale. All constructs show the alpha coefficient of greater than 0.7. We conclude d that the measurement scale is reliable and thus, will maintain all items measures. The large scale study that involved companies from 9 service industries was followed subsequently. Instead of using mail, which often result in poor response in an emerging economies countries such as Malaysia, we sent enumerators to operations managers or equivalent positions whom we had contacted earlier and expressed their desire to participate in the study. To choose the companies, we used the appropriate directory when it is available. For example, for the hotel industry, we utilized the Malaysian Hotel Association directory and select hotels with the rating of three stars and above. The selection represented both low contact and high contact category [15] :(a) Hotels (Service factory);(b) Fast foods (service factory);(c) Auto repair (Service shop);(d) Private hospitals (Service shop);(e) Private colleges; (f) Retailing (stores) (Mass service);(g) Retailing banking (mass service);(h) Accountant(Professional);(i) Architect firms(Professional).   The total final response was 254 firms. We then analyzed the data using the appropriate statistical techniques such as Factor Analysis and Regression Analysis TABLE 1 SERVICE CATEGORIES Sectors Frequency Percent Hotel Fast Food Private Hospital Auto repair Retail stores Retail banks Private colleges Architect Accountant Total 31 30 24 26 30 30 30 30 23 254 12.2 11.8 9.4 10.2 11.8 11.8 11.8 11.8 9.1 100 III. RESULTS Descriptive Statistics: We had about equal numbers of respondent across the 9 industries as shown in Table 1. With regards to the years of operation, more than 30% of all companies have been in operations for more than 10 years. Of all respondents, close to 60 percents are managers or above with 7.1 percentile hold top management positions. Most firms (about 60%) do business locally or nationally whereas about 25 % cover international market. Factor Analysis: A series of factor analysis was conducted to establish uni-dimensionality of the variables and to reduce the independent variables (structural and infrastructural elements) and the dependent variables (external flexibility and internal robustness) to appropriate factors. In doing this, there is an opportunity to redefine or reduce the number of factors according to the commonalities within the variables. SPSS provides the test for the appropriateness of the use of factor analysis and the adequacy of the sampling size. Bartlett tests indicate that factor analysis is suitable and the KMO test calculated that the sample is enough to conduct factor analysis. The first analysis on the structural elements resulted in three factors with percentage variance explained 74.674 percent. We define the factor as facilities related factors (capacity and location),technology, and integration/networking. We then run the second factor analysis for the infrastructural elements and foun d only two factors with 64.958 percent cumulative variances included and name the factors as teamwork management and quality leadership. Finally a separate analysis for external flexibility and internal robustness, as suggested from the theory, maintain most of the items that measures both constructs. The results of exploratory factor analysis shed light on structural, infrastructural elements and the service operations flexibility: external flexibility and internal robustness. The previously mentioned separate structural factor; facility and location, were remerged into one factor that we could call a facility related factors. Examining the items that measures capacity and locations seem to highlight the facility issues and the merging is not totally surprising. Meanwhile, worker empowerment from the infrastructural elements was diluted as some of the items are highly correlated with the team management. This is also justifiable as the team needs some forms of empowerment to be abl e to work effectively. We however intend to cut short the detail discussion of the result s of the factor analysis as the emphasis of this study is on the impacts of the independent variable to service operations flexibility. Multiple Regression: The first model with internal robustness () as the dependent variable has a good fit with R = 0.662 and R square = 0.439. The strongest factors to influence the dependent variable seem to be the structural elements, with technology ( Ã‚ ¢ = .387; t = 6.839), capacity location ( Ã‚ ¢ = .320; t = 5.706), integration/networking ( Ã‚ ¢ = .180; t = 3.353) show the highest beta-coefficient consecutively. Only team management, one of the two factors of infrastructural elements significantly influences the dependent variables. ( Ã‚ ¢ = .156; t = 2.609). The second model has also a good fit with R = 0.686 and R square = 0.471. This time, technology also plays an influencing factor ( Ã‚ ¢ = .342; t = 6.219), followed by capacity/location ( Ã‚ ¢ = .299; t = 5.499), integration/networking ( Ã‚ ¢ = .197; t = 3.783), team management ( Ã‚ ¢ = .187; t = 3.215), and quality leadership ( Ã‚ ¢ = .151; t = 2.678). Here, it seems that quality leadership fac tor play a significant role in delivering the external flexibility of a service firm. We also notice a reducing degree of influence of structural elements (except integration/networking) to affect the external flexibility of the service firms. Further, it is also quite surprising to observe the structural elements enforcing a higher degree of influence to the service operations flexibility where as we hypothesize that the soft elements of infrastructural should lead the list. The results enable us to confirm H1, H2, H3, and H4 but H5 which it is partially confirmed. This requires further explanations that will be discussed in the next section. IV. DISCUSSION This study confirms the importance of structural and infrastructural elements to the service operations flexibility. As suggested from Harvey et al [7] that the variability will have to be dealt with organizational arrangement such as cross-functional teams, empowering contact personal, and building a flat organization, which factors are related to infrastructural elements of operations as well as modifying the structural elements such as networking capability. Our study not only supported the literature but also specifying which factors contribute the most to the operations flexibility. Contrary to our belief that the soft elements will impact more on the operations flexibility of service firms, we found that the structural part especially the element of technology show a greater influence. We believe this is not totally unexpected as the infrastructural parts have also been found in the literature to play a supporting role in the operations effectiveness. Idris and M Ali highlighted the importance role of quality leadership and best practices in steering the effectiveness of firms [16]. Idris et al. [17] emphasizes quality leadership as an important component of organizational capability to drive company performance. Hussain et al [18] also proposed the prime role of leadership in their Excellence model. Further, regarding a reducing degree of influence of structural elements (except integration/networking) to affect the external flexibility of the service firms, this study highlights the role of infrastructural elements on the enhancement of the external flexibility. External flexibility usually deals with the customer demand that require more involvement on the part of the human resource to bring about the needed adjustments whereas more structural elements such as technology is needed to provide consistent internal results in the form of less confusion and glitches. Implying the results, service companies must invest in the structural elements such as technology and networking capability to boost the operations flexibility. These initiatives must also be back up with the human dimension in the forms of team management, and quality leadership. By recognizing the five factors prescribed in this research, a service company would be able to develop and strengthen the operations flexibility of their firms. There is no further analysis of the categories of service companies that may moderate the level of deployment of structural and infrastructural resources. For example, it is a possibility that a low contact service firms will utilize higher level of technology as compared to professional services. Thus future studies should highlight the issues. In addition, the importance of having operations flexibility may also be moderated by the competitive priorities of the companies and the categories of firms themselves. It is presumed that those companies who strive to make flexibility as their top agenda will deploy higher level certain structural and infrastructural resources as compared to those who have cost minimization as their operation objectives. Finally, this study uses managers perception to assess the operations flexibility. Other objectives measures should be explored for future studies V. CONCLUSION In this study, we investigate the relationship between structural and infrastructural elements and their effects on service operations flexibility. We divide the structural elements decisions into capacity, location, integration/networking, and technology while infrastructural elements decisions include worker empowerment, quality leadership, and team management. Service operations flexibility is divided into internal robustness and external flexibility. An instrument to measure all the factors is designed and pre-tested on 30 MBA students with slight changes as required. Thereafter, a pilot study was directed to operations managers of 23 Malaysian service organizations to check the reliability of the instrument. All items used to measure the studied factors are found to be reliable. Factor analysis readjusts our independent factors. With the new defined factors, we regresses them against the internal and external flexibility. We also found the dominant influences of structural and t he supporting influence of infrastructural elements to the service operations flexibility. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This research is supported by a research grant of National University of Malaysia (UKM GUP EP 07 18 113)

Impact Of Economic Recession on Wet Bulk Shipping

Impact Of Economic Recession on Wet Bulk Shipping Abstract Global economic integration and the world economy is closely linked with the world shipping market, 2009 world economic recession caused a negative impact on the economy of each countries, the shipping industry has been seriously affected. This article assesses the economic recession affecting the wet bulk shipping sector from four parts. Key words: economic recession; freight rates; wet bulk shipping; excess capacity. The Impact of the Economic Recession on Wet Bulk Shipping Introduction Shipping is a global industry, which is the lifeline of the world economy. The global bulk shipping markets consist of two main sectors dry bulk and wet bulk (Stopford, 2003). The carrier of wet bulk is tanker. It can transport oil or oil-based products liquid petroleum gas (LPG), vegetable oil etc., liquid chemicals or liquid natural gas (LNG) (House, 2007). However, crude oil carried in Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) is the biggest wet bulk shipping market. The world financial crisis has brought a great impact to the international economy, which created the economic recession deeply and widely in 2009, especially in transport sector (European Commission, 2009). The crisis has triggered a slowdown in global economic growth that is manifesting itself in a demand-driven fall in international trade exacerbated by the deficit of credit and trade finance; falling commodity prices; declining remittances; contracting foreign direct investment (FDI); and the potential of declining offi cial development assistance (ODA) (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). This has given rise to the most significant challenges for wet bulk shipping (tanker) that involved volume, freight rates, operational productivity and job cuts. Effects on Tanker Freight Rates Transport market usually makes a direct reflection to a downturn in demand. The price of chartering tanker ships indicates the demand-supply balance for different wet bulk. The demand of tanker can be measured in tonne-miles. Table 1 describes the tonne-mile demand of most tanker sectors. There is a downward trend which dropped nearly 1.6% in 1H09 comparing with 1H08 (TANKEROperator, 2009a). The reason was that the demand of crude oil declined since last year. Different indices can present different market, i.e. The Baltic Exchange Dirty Tanker Index (BDTI) represents the crude oil market, which in major trading routes includes VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax and Panamaxes. Moreover, the Baltic Exchange Clean Tanker Index (BCTI) makes up of clean Panamax, Handymax and Handysize tankers (TANKEROperator, 2009b). Table 2 illustrates that comparing with the same period of 2008, freight rates of tanker vessels in the middle of 2009 were down. The deppening ecomomic crisis cause oil demand decline. BDTI shows an upward trend, which fell from 849 points in January 2009 to 482 in June 2009. It nearly fell half. BCTI also showed an downward trend, from highs of 623 in January 2009 to lows of 479 in June 2009 (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). Table 3 shows average freight rates, which is a unified measure for establishing spot rates. The areas of the table indicated including Persian Gulf, West Africa, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Singapore, East Asia, South Africa, North-West Europe and the East Coast of Norh America. Comparing feight indices of tanker market between the first half of 2008 and 2009, it can be seen that the freight rates on all routes declined. Though the feight rates in some routes in June of 2009 had a little increased than previous months, but overall trend was downward. Among them, there was a dramatic declines in freight rates for VLCC and ultra-large crude carrir (ULCC). The routes which they serviced were the Persian Gulf to Easern Asiam Europe, the Americas and South Africa. Table 3 clearly shows that the freight rates for VLCCs in April and May of 2009 on the Persian Gulf to Japan and the Persian Gulf to Republic of Korea routes decreased by nearly 50 percentage, from WS51 to WS27 and WS53 t o WS27 separately. The reason can be attributed to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members cutting the oil production thus, the volume of cargo which transport from Persian Gulf to other areas was reduced (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). In addition, LNG shipping reached in record-low freight rates in the spot and short-term LNG trades in spring 2009. The LNG industry has been closely tied to gas demand in Japan and Korea, because the two Asian nations account for nearly one-half of the global trade in LNG (Corkhill, 2009a). The Arab countries exports to Japan and Korea went down in July 2009 by 4.7% or 88 thousand tons to 1.801 million tons a share of 27.5% of total Japanese and Korean LNG imports (OAPEC, 2009). Effects on Voulme OPEC which provides about 40% of the worlds oil supply try to stabilise oil prices therefore, it decided to recuce daily production from 4.2m barrels per day to 24.9m bpd (Calderas-Mendez, 2010). Tanker shipping has been dealt with the delayed impact of declining demand. This cutting supply decision caused decline in the amount of oil carried by VLCCs (Calderas-Mendez, 2010). From the international oil market situation in recent years, the oil supply disruption is not happened, the oil market focus mainly on oil prices. In the downturn, table 4 shows that there was a large demand declines from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the second quarter of 2009, whcih attributs to the developed countries economics, particularly the United State (economic crisis). The demand of oil decline, the freight rates decline. Therefore, OPEC carried out a series of production cuts to support prices in order to faced with the demand weakness (International Monetary Fund, 2009). Effects on Operational Productivity Decline in demand for shipping, plus the financial crisis led to banks tightening credit on shipping finance, many shipping companies have been cancelled shipbuilding orders and have a wave of defaults began to appear. According to UNCTAD secretariat (2009) analysis, the share of liquefied gas carriers (of LNG and LPG) has stood at 10.8 per cent on 1st April 2009. As the volume of cargo per carrying capacity and freight rates decreased, the productivity in terms of tons carried per deadweight ton (dwt) of oil tankers were seriously surplus. There was 4.0 per cent of the world tanker fleet overcapacity in April 2009 (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009b). The market always showing that when cargoes fall away and the demand for ships drops. The fundamental reason for the decline in average productivity in recent years is the oversupply of tonnage available, which contrasts with the reduced growth in world seaborne trade (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). Although taking longer time, some of the shippin g companies chose routes that cost less. Some ships are being laid off to reduce the tons carried per dwt because of the reduced seaborne trade. Figure 1 shows the productivity of the world fleet has a significantly decline in 2009 and the values between 27,000 and 28,000 ton-miles (UNCTAD secretariat, 2009a). In addition, after some shipping companies and shipping agencies re-scheduled cargo routes, due to the pressure of freight rate, which is not enough to make up the cost, lay off ships was thought more cost-effective way. Effects on Job Cuts Affected by the depressed market, the ship owner started a large number of labour layoffs. Inevitably, some shipping companies wanted to cut additional cost; therefore, they closed overseas offices in the rescue plans in the current depressed market. During this hard time, shipping industry faced up to the challenges of over-tonnage, ship owner try to streamline their fleets in order to ease the increasing cost and manpower burdens. In addition, another reason for job cuts was the rising price of crude oil, other raw materials which had driven up the costs of ship maintenance, repairs and bunkers (Corkhill, 2009b). Conclusion With the process of global economic integration, international trade becomes a chain of countries in the world market, while the shipping industry as the main carrier of world trade that has become an important part of the economy. Every time of the fluctuations in the global economy will obviously reflect in the shipping market. In the global context of economic slowdown, both of the volume of trade and demand has a decline in different degrees, and at the same time it leads to the consumer and investor lack of confidence, which has brought great impact on the shipping industry. There hasnt been a major bankruptcy in the shipping market, which is an economic miracle in 2009 economic recession (BIMCO, 2009). The growth of the total carrying capacity greatly exceeded the growth of the economy and shipments, thus capacity has become surplus. When supply exceeds demand, the freight rates under the pressure or even have declined, the profit of shipping company dealt a heavy blow in the hard time. Since the outbreak of the financial crisis, the credit system has been practiced in a crisis, some banks refused to provide credit guarantees, which leads traders to pay shipping difficulties. Additionally, the operation of the shipping industry to make matters worse.

The Land is Mine Essay -- Hebrew Scriptures

The author identifies and analyzes six discrete land ideologies found in the Hebrew Scriptures that have influenced its readers. (preface) In his book land refers to not only as physical realities where there is dirt and rocks, and where plants are growing, and where humans build their cities. Land refers to a social symbol with a range of meanings in which we construct its meanings for ourselves.(p.1) A subtle distinction between theology and ideology can be ; biblical theology is the doctrine and discourse about God expressed within a biblical literary unit that reflect the living faith of a given community, and Biblical ideology is a wider complex of images and ideas that may employ theological doctrines, traditions, or symbols to justify and promote the social, economic, and political interests of a group within society.(p.10) The evidence that they both are closely interrelated can be found in the biblical Prophets such as Jeremiah or Amos The author has taken five basic categories of analysis for exploring the land ideologies. ; Dominant images of the land, Location of God ( what is God’s position relative to the land?), Locus of power in the land (locus of power and interest), Charter justifying entitlement to the land (who is justified in claiming and why?), Rights to/of the land (what rights do people have to the land?) (p.14) Land as the Source of Wealth: A Royal Ideology This justifies the king’s right to control and rule the kingdom and basically â€Å"to this royal land ideology are the concepts of the land as the source of wealth, the divine right of the monarch to appropriate that wealth, and the entitlement of the monarch as God’s representative to have dominion over the whole earth as an empire.†(p.17) The author ... ...tes respect the ownership of the land YHWH holds. YWH is a local landowner and the land is YHWH’s extended sanctuary.(p.99) Land as Host Country: An Immigrant Ideology Abraham immigrated with his household to Canaan to settle down. In the course of Abraham’s journey to the land, he did not have to confront with hostile indigenous people; it is written â€Å"They set forth to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan.† (Gen. 12:5) (p.118) Abraham shared the land through generous grants, peaceful negotiations, or legal purchase. Abraham found God at sacred sites. Abraham’s rights and responsibilities were not those of a monarch or conqueror, but involve acknowledging YHWH as the host deity, teaching justice to the Abraham household, establishing peaceful relations with the peoples of the land, and dealing justly with the land itself.(p.132)

Gainsborough, A Story of a Painter and an Era Essay -- essays papers

Gainsborough, A Story of a Painter and an Era To be able to appraise the originality of eighteenth century English art, one must recognize its importance in history. A great painter to research is Thomas Gainsborough. His artwork was an important aspect of the art community of the middle seventeen hundreds. His paintings seem to bring brightness and color to a period in art that needed his creative boost. His combination of portrait paintings along with beautiful landscapes was not recognized in his time, but would be recognized as remarkable later in history. Thomas Gainsborough was born in 1727 in the town of Sudbury in Suffolk (Internet 1). He grew up as the son of a woodworking father and his mother was a teacher. He had 7 brothers and sisters, with whom he attended school until he was thirteen. He traveled to London and worked for a Silversmith. While there he saw many painters, he enjoyed it and began painting himself. It was impressive that he began painting without any formal academic lessons (Woodall 11). In spite of that his work was very astonishing and he published his first sketches in 1747. He was greatly influenced by the great painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck before he decided that it was time for him to leave the silversmith’s shop (Internet 2). He married and had two daughters, his love for painting continued on. His love for painting landscapes brought great paintings, but these were not popular enough to earn a living. He had to paint portraits to keep an income. Gainsborough’s combination of both po rtrait style painting and landscape painting was to give him a large contribution to his era of painters. Up until this point in time, paintings were usually face shots or occasionally full body sho... ... may seem confusing, but with just a little conversation with it should have all the details figured out. Art is History. Bibliography: Sources Woodall, Mary. Gainsborough. London: Phoenix House Limited, 1949. Internet sources 1 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jgainsborough.htm 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 2 http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/04854.html 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 3 http://acker.cwrl.utexas.edu/~scoggins/britishprojects/eighteenth/economy.html 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 4 http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/gainsborough/ 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 5 http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/4F/04F02000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1 6 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 7 http://tetrad.stanford.edu/hm/HorseNMusket.html 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. Gainsborough, A Story of a Painter and an Era Essay -- essays papers Gainsborough, A Story of a Painter and an Era To be able to appraise the originality of eighteenth century English art, one must recognize its importance in history. A great painter to research is Thomas Gainsborough. His artwork was an important aspect of the art community of the middle seventeen hundreds. His paintings seem to bring brightness and color to a period in art that needed his creative boost. His combination of portrait paintings along with beautiful landscapes was not recognized in his time, but would be recognized as remarkable later in history. Thomas Gainsborough was born in 1727 in the town of Sudbury in Suffolk (Internet 1). He grew up as the son of a woodworking father and his mother was a teacher. He had 7 brothers and sisters, with whom he attended school until he was thirteen. He traveled to London and worked for a Silversmith. While there he saw many painters, he enjoyed it and began painting himself. It was impressive that he began painting without any formal academic lessons (Woodall 11). In spite of that his work was very astonishing and he published his first sketches in 1747. He was greatly influenced by the great painter Sir Anthony Van Dyck before he decided that it was time for him to leave the silversmith’s shop (Internet 2). He married and had two daughters, his love for painting continued on. His love for painting landscapes brought great paintings, but these were not popular enough to earn a living. He had to paint portraits to keep an income. Gainsborough’s combination of both po rtrait style painting and landscape painting was to give him a large contribution to his era of painters. Up until this point in time, paintings were usually face shots or occasionally full body sho... ... may seem confusing, but with just a little conversation with it should have all the details figured out. Art is History. Bibliography: Sources Woodall, Mary. Gainsborough. London: Phoenix House Limited, 1949. Internet sources 1 http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Jgainsborough.htm 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 2 http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/04854.html 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 3 http://acker.cwrl.utexas.edu/~scoggins/britishprojects/eighteenth/economy.html 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 4 http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/gainsborough/ 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 5 http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/4F/04F02000.htm?z=1&pg=2&br=1 6 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999. 7 http://tetrad.stanford.edu/hm/HorseNMusket.html 8 December, 1999. 12 December, 1999.