Culture and Civilization

Culture and Civilization According to anthropologists of 19th century, Culture is earlier and Civilization is later. Everything created by man is culture, civilization is an advanced state of cultural development. Culture developed in three stages: Savagery >> Barbarianism >> Civilization (Acts of cruel and violent behavior) (Extremely cruel and unpleasant behavior) Alfred Louis Kroeber said Culture is super organic, he has given three forms of culture namely Social Culture (Status and Role), Value Culture (Philosophy, Morals) and Reality Culture (Science and Technology, etc).According to Kroeber civilization is a part of reality culture. Robert Redfield said culture is a totality of traditions and civilization is a totality of great and little traditions. Culture: The collective appearance of customs, faith, art, language, way of thinking and way of living of a particular group of people. And civilization is the developed part, when different cultures meet. Difference between Cultur e and Civilization, Sociologists View Culture| Civilization| Culture includes religion, art philosophy, literature, music, dance, etc. hich brings satisfaction and pleasure to many. It is the expression of final aspects of life. | Civilization includes all those things by means of which some other objective is attained. Type writers, motors, etc. come under this category. Civilization consists of technology or the authority of man over natural phenomenon as well as social technology which control man's behavior. | Culture is what we are. | Civilization is what we have. | Culture has no standard of measurement because it is an end in itself. Civilization has a precised standard of measurement. The universal standard of civilization is utility because civilization is a means. | Culture cannot be said to be advancing. It cannot be asserted that the art, literature, thoughts are ideals of today’s and superior to those of past. | Civilization is always advancing. The various const ituents of civilizations namely machines, means of transportation, communication, etc. are constantly progressive. | Culture is internal and an end. It is related to internal thoughts, feelings, ideals, values, etc.It is like the soul of an individual. | Civilization is external and a means. It is the means for the expression and manifestation of the grandness, it is like the body of an individual. | Difference between Culture and Civilization, Anthropologists View Culture| Civilization| All societies have culture. | Only a few societies have civilization. | Culture is earlier. | Civilization is later. | Culture is pre-condition for civilization to develop. | Civilization represents a stage of cultural advancement. | Culture is super organic. Civilization is a part of reality culture. | Culture is a totality of traditions. | Civilization is a totality of great and little traditions. | Culture Vs Civilization Firstly, civilization in theory is bigger than culture in which an entire c ivilization can encompass one single unit of culture. Civilization is a bigger unit than culture because it is a complex aggregate of the society that dwells within a certain area, along with its forms of government, norms, and even culture. Thus, culture is just a spec or a portion of an entire civilization.For example, the Egyptian civilization has an Egyptian culture in the same way as the Greek civilization has their Greek culture. A culture ordinarily exists within a civilization. In this regard, each civilization can contain not only one but several cultures. Comparing culture and civilization is like showing the difference between language and the country to which it is being used. Culture can exist in itself whereas civilization cannot be called a civilization if it does not possess a certain culture.It’s just like asking how a nation can exist on its own without the use of a medium of communication. Hence, a civilization will become empty if it does not have its cult ure, no matter how little it is. Culture can be something that is tangible and it can also be something that isn’t. Culture can become a physical material if it is a product of the beliefs, customs and practices of a certain people with a definite culture. But a civilization is something that can be seen as a whole and it is more or less tangible although its basic components, like culture, can be mmaterial. Culture can be learned and in the same manner it can also be transmitted from one generation to the next. Using a medium of speech and communication, it is possible for a certain type of culture to evolve and even be inherited by another group of people. On the other hand, civilization cannot be transferred by mere language alone. Because of its complexity and magnitude, you need to transfer all of the raw aggregates of a civilization for it to be entirely passed on. It just grows, degrades and may eventually end if all its subunits will fail.Summary: 1. Culture is by def inition smaller than a civilization. 2. Culture can grow and exist without residing in a formal civilization whereas a civilization will never grow and exist without the element of culture. 3. Culture can be tangible or intangible whereas civilization is something that is more tangible because it is what you see as a whole 4. Culture can be transmitted through symbols in the form of language whereas an entire civilization cannot be transmitted by mere language alone.

Different sides of Clive Linley

Which in this case makes him cold hearted and selfish human being who clearly does not have his priorities straight. This came as a big surprise to me after I had read how good of a friend he was. The book is mostly about two men who have been brought together again after their close friend dies.The way how Clive treats his friend differences a lot from how he reacted in the situation mentioned before. In fact he is there for his friend in every situation no matter how difficult it might be. â€Å"When Vernon was laid up with a rare viral infection of the spine, Clive visited almost every day, bringing books, music, videos and champagne†(Mclean 1998:43). This is one of many examples what Clive had done for his friend, without asking anything in return. It shows that he still cares and knows how to treat people but maybe Just close ones. On the other hand, he was still palpable of arranging his best friend's death and the other way around.The thing is, this part of the book cam e as a shock. He arranged the death of his best friend. That alone says something about him. He could be a self-centered and egotistic man. After having disagreed on a subject with Vernon and Vernon not taking his advice maybe he Just could not have let it go. Or he thought he was being a good friend and ending one's life because that was what he thought the one had wanted. In that case it would make him in some eyes loyal and committed. Clive had asked his friend to end his life if he would start to lose It.Yes, on one condition only: that you'd do the same for me. V. â€Å"(Mclean 1998:57) Maybe In Clime's eyes he was already losing It and he did what had to be done. In the end I think the book Is purposely ended with a mystery. It leaves a lot of questions about the characters as well. As to Clive Lintel- he Is a genius who does not let anything get In the way of his Inspirations, a person who knows how to treat his loved ones and a man who Is capable of doing terrible things ei ther out of fury or to keep his word. Mclean, Ian. (1998). Amsterdam. Great Britain. Jonathan Cape

Should parents spank their children Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Should parents spank their children - Essay Example I am of the latter view as this argument is based on certain theoretical perceptions found in relevant volumes of developmental psychology. To illustrate, a child goes through various stages of personality development from the very beginning of its early childhood. Every single behavior of the parent assists the child in molding its character. Since parent’s character and behavior can influence a child’s personality, an appropriate route has to be determined both for the parents and for the child. It would help children develop themselves into preeminent individuals of tomorrow. â€Å"Punishment teaches a child what not to do but doesn’t teach what to do†(Kazdin and Rotella 2008: 133). As a matter of fact, a child discovers the primary lessons of life from its parents. It can be recommended that parents must present themselves well conducted such that they can be the role models for their children. It is said, whatever a child gains and captures in the childhood will accompany it throughout the life. Therefore, children must be monitored and assessed for their activities. However, it does not necessarily require any sort of punishment from the part of parents or elders. Despite the innocence, children may be influenced by various socio-cultural and ethical factors which may pervert them to immoral activities. Hence parents need to examine their children’s activities frequently so that they are not misguided. Child’s activity should be well evaluated and understood prior to taking any decision against the child. Simultaneously parents must advise children and make them realize their mistake. A moderate view would suggest that punishment can be either a boon or a curse on children’s nature; it depends on parents whether their approach of guiding their children was apt to the situation. However, to be specific, punishment is not the effective tool for showing children their right path. It has taken several years of

Green Computing Literature Review Research Paper

Green Computing Literature Review - Research Paper Example Since strategy, IT, and business operations are continuously being affected by the green issues, lack of G-readiness can deprive a firm of the opportunities to become increasingly competitive and successful (Molla and Cooper, 2009, p. 20). The aim of this paper is to carry out empirical investigation of the influence of Green IT on the return of investment of businesses. Green IT has been identified as the most important strategic technology of the year 2008 (Thibodeau, 2007). Although plenty of research has been done on the societal role of business, not much has been said about the influence of corporate environmentalism or Green IT policies on the competitiveness of firms and return of investment (Banerjee, 2002, p. 179). The main question that is being researched in the paper is â€Å"To what extent do the green IT policies affect the return of investment of businesses?† The idea of green computing started around 1992 with the launch of Energy Star by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Ruth, 2009, p. 80). There are mixed opinions about the adoption of Green IT in businesses in the contemporary age. While some like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) foresee huge threats associated with this trend, there are many others e.g. Will (2009) that deny or downplay the estimated or assumed risks. Among the professionals and economists who acknowledge the risks, some lay down the option of either accepting lower living standards so that the climate change can be slowed down or reversed or else, pay the price of making modifications and adjustments according to its effects. Others like President Barack Obama are more optimistic and see the adoption of Green IT as a way to have an economy that is not only more energy efficient but also cleaner as he said, â€Å"We will put Americans to work in new jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced—jobs building solar panels and wind turbines; constructing fuel-efficient cars a nd buildings; and developing the new energy technologies that will lead to even more jobs, more savings, and a cleaner, safer planet in the bargain† (Obama, 2009 cited in Dedrick, 2010, p. 175). The community of information systems has started to seriously consider the importance of the role of IT in the creation as well as reduction of global warming. Dick and Burns (2011) carried out an exploratory study to determine the extent to which small businesses in North Georgia were utilizing the Green IT and also to identify the factors that are motivating or discouraging them to use Green IT, and found that although small businesses know the opportunities and possibilities associated with the Green IT practices, there is huge variation in the take-up. To date, most of the activity and discussion has been focused on the minimization of the direct impacts of IT on the environment by increasing the energy efficiency of the personal computing equipment and data centers. Organizations are feeling a strong incentive to adopt them because of the tendency of these efforts to cause a direct reduction of the costs associated with IT. A lot of research work is being done to introduce new and efficient ways of integration of Green IT in the work setup. Desai and Bhatia (2011) have introduced a Green IT Maturity Model (GITM) that can be used for the assessment as well as implementation of the services

Seeing the value in art Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Seeing the value in art - Research Paper Example The great works of art purchase is not as is with normal public goods. Why then can’t art be able do fed and shelter us just like technology? What value have people therefore assigned art? According to Guest, (1), we concider art as feelings: the objective expwrience the the piece of art work instills in us. as such the quality of the artwork could be judged by how much feelings it evokes in us. As I investigate the value of art and why art needs to be assigned value just like technology so that it can feed and shelter us, this paper will establish the monetary, cultural and historical valuation of art. Additionally, it will discuss the reception of art work and art movements, as well art exhibitions that challenged tradition and subsequently broadened the definition of art present in contemporary visual artworks. Finally, the paper will outline the objectives and roles of public agencies involved in supporting the creation and installation of art before giving a brief summary conclusion on the findings. Assessing the value of an artwork involve a critical analysis of the term value. In economics, value refers to a commodity’s worth as measured against others. In ethics, it implies to those desirable and worthwhile qualities of a commodity. It may also include rating something in relation to its perceived worth, usefulness or importance. Sometimes value can also be understood in paintings and photography as the darkness or lightness of the given image. Monetary value refers to that property of having material worth. This is often indicated by how much money the property would bring if sold out. Monetary value of art has been an issue especially when it comes to how much is a given of art work decided. Smith (1) identifies that it is hard to seee art through the clutter of dollars. He asserts that the monetary value of art has been asigned by the new culture that differentiates

Critically discuss the proposal that effective HRM policies can Essay

Critically discuss the proposal that effective HRM policies can support the delivery of business strategies and affect their performance. The arguments for and against this proposal-show the evidence - Essay Example Morfeld (2003) however, notes that despite the popularity of the aforementioned initiative, the activities of human resource managers, specifically workplace staffing, can be described as tactical at its best. The author notes that these strategies are in fact, reactive as managers usually scramble to fill in a vacant position upon the resignation of an employee, as an example. Although the abovementioned is at times, unavoidable, Human Resource generalists believe that there are effective ways to use human resource policies to enable a company to deliver strategy and high performance. This strategy usually entails the full support of the corporate leaders. In the same manner, effective HR policies also imply changes within the processes and procedures of the company in order to become successful. Finally, it is also of vital importance to demand commitment and cooperation in all levels of management in order to ensure that a company drafts and implements effectual HR policies. HR seems to have taken a more strategic role in the enterprise – an apparent paradigm shift. The focus on the synthesis of HRM practices and policies with strategy has been depicted as a paradigm shift from an administrative to a strategic thrust or goal (Thomason 1991). Unlike traditional personnel management that is characterized as reactive, parochial, and concentrates on rank and file employees, HRM is proactive in finding and setting up practices and policies which are consistent across all organizational policy areas (Miller 1989; Schuler 1991). The HRM orientation makes it imperative for personnel practices and policies to respond to enterprise needs (Schuler 1991). In addition, HRM considers employees as valued strategic resources instead of merely being overhead cost. A core goal of HRM is the effectual management of people within the enterprise – when done, this is expected to garner competitive advantage (Kamoche 1991; Miller 1989). In comparison with

Gallery Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gallery Paper - Essay Example The contrast makes every item stand out. The artist has also used light colors in painting parts that get exposure to light and darker colors for parts that do not meet light. The artist has also used colors that characterize the items in real-life. For example, the skin of the people in the artwork is brown just as in real-life. Shape. The art entails many shapes that combine to form the people and objects on the picture. Since this picture is a representation of natural objects, the writer mostly uses freehand shapes. Such shapes, usually, consist of curved lines that are drawn or painted without the help of drawing instruments. Texture. The artist does not lose the texture of the objects despite the art being visual. It is full of visual impressions of texture. The clothes the two human beings are wearing have crescents and valleys that are not tactile, but visual. On the other hand, their bodies and the objects in the background also appear very smooth. Space. The artist creates an illusion of a third dimension by manipulating light, shading and overlap (Prince 13). The crescents on the clothes of the two human beings appear to overlap each other. Every crescent appears to be on top of the preceding one. The artist also creates a third dimension through using dark and light colors on different parts of the painting. For example, the woman’s forehead is bright while her cheeks are dark. Apart from shading, overlap and lighting, linear perspective also helps in the creation of the third dimension. For example, the windowpanes in the background vary in size depending on the proximity to the main picture. Harmony. The work has an extensive amount of harmony. The colors appropriately combine with each other. There is harmony between the colors of the clothes the two people are wearing. Besides the harmony in color, the shapes of the items are very consistent. In the background, the windowpanes are similar in size and color. The

Innovative Technology Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Innovative Technology - Personal Statement Example The difference between implementing internally and externally is that, in internal implementation, the technology is designed internally to fit the organization needs but in external implementation, you have to consider an existing technology that will meet the required needs of the organization. In both issues, resources and support, and costs are an important consideration. When evaluating an internally implemented technology, you need to consider the intended purpose of the technology, the period it has been in place, the cost incurred in implementation, and response from users. This is to assist in identifying if the technology has served the intended purpose by satisfying the organization and user expectations. It also helps in cost benefit analysis to determine whether the innovation technology has returns on investment and if it was worth investing in it (Kozma, 2003). When acquiring an innovative technology externally, an organization has to consider various factors. Pricing, which is the primary motivation and should get the best possible, whether the prospective vendor is flexible in their approach, ability to understand what is required and prompt reply by the vendor, and qualification and experience of those carrying day-to-day operations. Reliability and stability of vendor are also important factors of consideration. The reason why the above factors should be considered is to be able to identify the potential in the provider of the technology to meet your aspired goals and needs (Kozma,

Shark Cull Oral Essay Example for Free

Shark Cull Oral Essay Does any of you in the class know the themed music for jaws? of course you do, we all do. Because sharks are really scary arnt they? Sadly Films such as this as well as the media have built up this huge reputation of sharks being threatening, alarming ; Dangerous monsters of the sea. Its a tragedy! Today I will be arguing for the rights of these misrepresented sharks and how this new catch and kill policy is completely wrong. Firstly Id like to inform you on what the catch and kill policy actually is. It was a new policy introduced around January by the Western Australia Premier, Colin Barnett due to 6 fatal attacks by sharks in the past 2 years. Barnets plan to combat this is by killing off any sharks which exceed 3 metres long in the Western Australia waters. He has implemented 2 methods. Setting out â€Å"Drum lines† (baited hooks attached to drums) a kilometer of the busy shores and also paying professional fisherman to hunt down Great whites, Tiger sharks ; Bull sharks in designated â€Å"kill zones†. Pretty appalling isnt it? Especially when the Great White shark is an endangered species. 90% of the worlds great white sharks have been killed, and here we are in a country where we greatly appreciate our beaches and marine life are adding to those statistics. Shark are a predator in the ocean and the potential risks of being attacked by them are known but is killing them really the best solution? Scientist from all over Australia, as well as Marine Life Advocates have been trying to drill in to Barnett that there are better solutions available, and that killing them will have no impact on decreasing the fatal attacks. (Why barrnets doing it, his thoughts behind it) Since 2011 39 people have died in Western Australia due to fatal car incidents, that more then triples the deaths caused by shark. So does this mean that it is to dangerous to be driving on our roads? Is this going to be another up coming law to be made by Barnett? A quick, illogical solution to so called protect the people. Western Australia is a common place for shark sightings. Yet the reasons for this is not because of there growing population but due to the increasing numbers of seals and whales heading in to the shallower waters. Even though this is the case, the chance of a fatal attack is still extremely rare. According to a poll from the UMR research company, 80% of Australians havent changed how often they swim, surf or take part in other recreational actives in the ocean, even though there has been a rise in shark attacks. Australian Citizens and anyone else who decides to go and swim at the beach should be well aware of the potential risks of shark attacks.. The ocean is the home to these species, and us? Where just visitors. People keep getting this thought that the increase of shark attacks are due to the increase in there population, but really its the increase in the human population. Gradually as our population grows, more and more people are going to the beaches and participating in water related activities which leads to an increase in shark encounters. Marine life Activists and others who object to this have stated that it is inhumane, unnecessary and environmentally irresponsible. Throughout Australia there are similar programs that run on the eastern coast that use baited hooks and nets to prevent sharks from entering protected beaches, but the reason why WAs proposal is extra controversial is because theyre targeting great whites. The first shark that was killed since the program began was just after 7am on Australia day. It was a 3m female tiger shark caught in meelup beach. The shark had swallowed a large hook attached to a heavy chain in which caused the animal to become increasingly distressed as it was prevented from swimming. The animal thrashed about in the water in apparent agony until it was shot 4 times in the head at a close range with a .22 calibre rifle. Ever since the laws were passed there has been a lot of backlash from the community. There has been major protests all through out australia as well as internationally in New Zealand ; South Africa. Manly Beach protest organiser Alice Forrest, who is an aquarist at Manly Sea Life Sanctuary has said that the cull is not science based, and rather then helping with tourism all its going to do is give WA a redneck reputation and decrease the amount of tourism there. In the 1960’s and 70’s Hawaii implemented a similar proposal which did more bad then good. The program failed to create any kind of significant decrease in shark attacks but managed to kill over 4000 sharks. The fisherman who has been employed to set and monitor drum lines, and kill and dispose sharks is being paid more then $5,700 a day resulting in over $610,000 for the season. The opposition leader Mark McGowen has stated that the cost is exorbitant and is costing tax payers a lot of money that could have gone towards scientific methods to help save lives. Mr Barnett has said that he gets no enjoyment from seeing these shark dies, but he will put his food forward in trying to protect the people. From saying this, the majority of the Western Australian people are against the laws that Barnett has put in place. The Great White Shark is the top predator of the ocean, meaning that it is not hunted by other animals in the waters. The Great White has been listed as an endangered species due to the over hunting of them for shark teeth and there fins. Fatal snake attacks in Australia have risen from 2 to 5 deaths in 2013. The controversy with this is however is that these particular brown snakes are an Australian protected species so that even though they kill us, We will never kill them. And due to the fact that the great whites roam around waters other then Australians, this makes it okay for us to kill those endangered species. Scientists have estimated that Sharks are pregnant for roughly 18 months causing them to have slow reproduction rates. This means that it is hard for them to recover there over hunted population. What the Government is doing is not saving the people, but killing out an endangered species. There is no evidence that suggests that the killing of these sharks will help to prevent shark attacks. Scientists and shark specialists have been on the governments back about this yet they just dont want to hear it. The reality of this is, that whether you like sharks or they do play a crucial role on this planet. If Shark culling keeps going the way it is then it can begin to tamper with our primary air and food sources. Through out the past 450 million years sharks have kept our seas healthy due to being the apex predator of the ocean. The role of sharks is to keep other marine life in a healthy balance. Sharks also have a major impact on the ecosystem that provides for 1/3 of our worlds food, produces more oxygen than all the rain forests combined, removes half of the atmospheres manmade carbon dioxide and controls our planets temperature and weather. A world without sharks means disastrous effects including the collapse of fisheries and the death of coral reefs. Imagine if sharks do become eliminated from ours waters? Our best natural defence against global warming and the lose of more oxygen then what is produced by all the trees and jungles in the world combined. Going back to Jaws, 2 Australians Ron Valery Taylor who were marine conservationists pioneering cameramen for Spielbergs Jaws have stated that they felt a sense of shame in a way, that they made so many people terrified of sharks ; going in the water. The unfortunate side of the successful movie is how theyve demonised this beautiful majestic creature. So What is it going to take? Thousands of people from WA and all parts of Australia have been coming to together to try and put an end to this absolute disgraceful policy, I think its time for the Government to listen before its to late. We cannot let our shark population being become extinct, We cannot let colin Barnett keep killing these sharks We cannot give up on fighting for the rights of these sharks. Its there water, So stop the slaughter!!!!

The Story of Tom Brennan Essay Example for Free

The Story of Tom Brennan Essay Biggie’s song Juicy was a song where the lyrics depict his journey to fame, he talks about his hardship leading up to celebrity status. These consequences are distinguished through the use of techniques composers have used. The story of Tom Brennan covers the life of Tom who has a brother who in a horrific car accident took the life of two and leaving his cousin in a wheelchair, from here on we see Tom develop and move into the world, but as a result of this there are consequences. In tom’s case the consequences are positive. Tom as part of his journey as he transitions into the world he gains a girlfriend, chrissie. His girlfriend is symbolic of Tom growing up and maturing, before the accident he never would have thought he’d â€Å"get a girl before his brother†, in this case Tom has grown since the accident, grown up and got himself a girlfriend with the use of symbolism we are able to identiy this is part of growing up as he is maturing as part of his transition into the world. Biggie’s song Juicy explores his time from young to where he was up until the time he wrote the song. The first verse explores his time as a kid and his dreams. â€Å"I used to read word up magazine salt’n’pepa and heavy D up in the limousine hanging picture on my wall every Saturday rap attack mr. Magic marley marl†. As a kid he looked up to all these rappers and his dream at young . His dream is symbolic of the start of his transition into the new world. As we hear out the song lyrics come up â€Å"Sold out seats to hear biggie smalls speak† this is the point where he is at, at the time he wrote the song. The lyrics are symbolic of his success. It began with a dream now reality is he is standing in front of sell out crowds. He grows upon the fame. His consequences for moving into the world are expressed throughout the song to all be ‘succesors to the overall achievement J. C Burke uses colloquial language as well as First Person Narration which allows us to better understand the characters. â€Å"that’s the thing I couldn’t quite get my head around – there would be a tomorrow and a day after that and a day after that, the world went on regardless how I feel. At this point we are able to understand his depressive feelings, through the use of colloquial language and first person narrative we are able to get a better understanding of exactly how the character is feeling. As a result of moving into the world for Tom he has to overcome the tragedy, with tragedy comes sadness, this is what Tom is feeling here. Allusion is used within Juicy to help distinguish between the start of the transition into the world and being able to establish the difference between the end. we used to fuss when the landlord dissed us, no heat, no wonder why Christmas missed us, birthdays were the worst days, now we sip champagne when were thirsty†. The allusion from the beginning being the unable to pay rent, not affording heat nor affording birthday or Christmas and reaching the point that champagne is in a lasting supply, Biggie is able to express the change from the beginning of the transition to the end. As part of growing up we understand the pain of missing parts of the year we all enjoy and having to live in the style he had to, this was all a consequence to growing into the world. Tone and repetition of first person pronoun ensure us that in the story of Tom Brennan Daniel is willing to change and transition into a new world himself. â€Å"I’m going to get there I promise. I’m going to make walk out of here one day, and i’ll make it up to you all i swear†. His tone can be expressed as serious and the repetition of I informs us he is taking responsibility. Using the two also allow us to understand Daniel as a character better. From this we can tell, hes determined to make a change, he is strong, and he is willing and accepting. As a consequence of Daniel Moving into the world he has to accept that he has done something wrong which he is accepting here, its part of his consequence to feel the guilt from his actions, but he will manage to get through it if he stands by his word. Biggie smalls uses a prologue as a technique to set the tone of the song. The prologue says â€Å"This album is dedicated to all the teacher that told me i’d never amount to nothin’† he finishes the prologue with â€Å"it’s all good baby baby† here he states his issue then he goes on to forgive what has happened showing he has matured from when he was younger showing that he has begin his transition. His consequence is forgiving the people who put him down, establishing ground amongst the people who told him he was nothing. Despite the differences between the two texts they are still able to compare in a number of ways. Both come from a dark star whereas Tom has to deal with his brother in jail, biggie also had to deal with his good friend in jail, they both mature and we see them both reach success.

Estimating And Pre Contracts Quantity Surveying Construction Essay

Estimating And Pre Contracts Quantity Surveying Construction Essay The most important stage of any project is Estimating and Pre-Contracts Quantity Surveying. Care has to be taken at this stage, to produce a more accurate and realistic cost of the project so that the client is in knowledge of the financial requirement with no major surprises, for successful completion of project within the budget. Construction projects are always out of budget and delayed completion date. The two main reasons are either a wrong assessment of the cost and duration for the completion of the project or the client is being deliberately presented with a reduced budget and a tight schedule for completion of project. However the most common reason is the combination of the cost and time estimates and the latter being used by most consultants / architects to convince the clients to go ahead with the project. The reduced budget and the tight time schedule is sometimes way away from the actual, which is the main reason for the collapse of the client. One of the bitter experience is with the Dubai Government Roads and Transport Authority being provided with a Cost Estimate of about 4.25 billion dollars (15.5 billion dirhams) for the Dubai Metro Rail Project, which went over budget and crossed time limit while crossing 7.67 billion dollars (28 billion dirhams) expenditure with still part of the network stations being incomplete. As per RTA there were four reasons of the increase, first the project was extended by 4.5 km, secondly adding a station with few more kilometres of the rail, thirdly adding two more stations on the Red Line and lastly the changing of the interior of the stations drastically and including footbridges. Also to the fact that in my career of 10 years in Dubai, I have noticed only one project completed within the budget and within the allotted tight time period. The project was executed with good management and proper allocation of resources to achieve the completion within a short period of time. However it is not fair to put the blame on Pre-Contracts procedure deciding the major part of the fate of the construction project. ABSTRACT The PCQS has to submit various documents according to the various stages in Pre-Contracts. The various areas to be considered in the Pre-Contracts Quantity Surveying stage are as following 1) Selection of team. 2) Collection of historical data. 3) Identifying key personals specialised in particular field to co-ordinate. 4) Incorporating inputs from various departments heads. 5) Defining and implementing practically a clear quality check procedure. 6) Following the various steps according to the stage of the document submittal. 7) Team leader to identify and distribute the work to the responsible personnel. 8) Quality Management, especially during the end of the submission date. 9) Preparing a more realistic cost estimate. 10) Back-checking by comparing the Engineers Estimate and the realistic tender opened. 11) Client can make the consultant responsible by asking to provide backups for the quantities and rates. 12) Including feedback and data provided from ongoing projects by Post Contract Quantity Surveyor. 13) Preparing of BOQ for Remaining Works of a contract after the termination of the Main Contractor. 14) Making the Consultant responsible for cost estimates provided to clients, to avoid huge variation. 15) Quantity Surveyors to be fast and accurate in dealing with Notice to Tenderers. To learn good lessons and avoid future loss to the members of the construction industry, some case studies are being provided. ESTIMATION AND PRE-CONTRACTS QUANTITY SURVEYING The Pre-Contracts stage needs a very good Quantity Surveyor having a wide range of experience with skills to manage the calculations with the available software and most importantly the historic data available in the organisation for using it as a base in Estimating. The normal procedure in the pre-contracts estimating is preparing the estimate during the Preliminary Study, Preliminary Design, Final Design and Tender Design. For repetitive or similar projects, for which the organisation has good sound recent historic data, the difference between all the stage estimates shall be very less, provided there is no drastic change in the scope of the work. The Quantity Surveyor shall prepare and keep standard rates derived from historic data and keep as common. It is better that the person preparing the estimates, derives the standard rates himself, so that he is in knowledge of those items which are lumped into some unit rates or for those items whose cost to be separately calculated if possible, or just allow some percentage in the contingencies or any other line item. As the stage progresses the quantities and items becomes well defined and then only applying appropriate unit rates becomes a key factor. But at each and every stage the Quantity Surveyor using any assumption shall keep records for any future justification of all the estimates even until the start of the project. The various stages of Pre-Contracts document submittal with approximate time frame is mentioned below: Stage 1 Preliminary study One page estimate prepared by PCQS to be included by the Project Manager in is study report. Stage 2 Preliminary Design (After approximately one month from stage 1) Volume 1 Tender and Contract Conditions Sample copy from previous project Volume 2 Specifications Sample copy relevant to the project Volume 3 BOQ Sample copy with item description and without quantities, relevant to the project Volume 4 Drawings Relevant to the project, including standard drawings relevant to the project Preliminary Design Cost Estimate One page estimate of the project Stage 3 Final Design Document (After approximately one month from stage 2) Volume 1 Tender and Contract Conditions With all details relevant to the project Volume 2 Specifications Only relevant to this project Volume 3 BOQ Actual items and quantities from drawings of this project Volume 4 Drawings Relevant to the project only Stage 4 Final Design Cost Estimate (On the 7th day from stage 3) Final Design Cost Estimate Detailed cost estimate with quantities from drawings and current market rates. Stage 5 Tender Design Document (After approximately one month from stage 3) Volume 1, 2, 3 4 Tender and Contract Conditions Same as in stage 3 with incorporation of corrections and changes. Stage 6 Notice to Tenderers (After the floating of Tender documents to the bidders and not after 10 days before Tender opening date) It consists of a report stating the changes in all or any of the Volumes and the new pages. Stage 7 Engineers Estimate (On the day of Tender opening date, after all Bid documents are opened and is submitted to the Client separately) It consists of a detailed cost estimate with quantities from drawings and current market rates, after incorporating all NTTs. Stage 8 Tender Analysis (On the 14th day after stage 7) The PCQS has to prepare an analysis report of the bid documents submitted and compare it with Engineers Estimate. Stage 9 Contract Documents (After stage 8 and finalization of the successful bidder to award the contract) The PCQS has to compile all the documents of Volumes 1, 2, 3 4 submitted by the bidder and check if all the NTTs are incorporated and include if any missing. He has to also include any post tender correspondence and changes as agreed. This document is sent to the Contractor for him to check and sign. This signed document is then signed by the Client and thus the Contract is formed. One copy of this signed document goes to the Post Contracts section, with which the responsibility of the PCQS is completed. Below are the various formats used in Pre-Contracts Documents: The software required is very nominal such as MS Word and MS Excel for preparing documents. And for calculating quantities MS Excel is most powerful which can be used along with Autocad, Microstation and Geopak. The Preliminary Study and Preliminary Design BOQ, consists of sample BOQ items with nil quantities as shown below: Figure 1 The Final Design BOQ and Tender Design BOQ consists of actual work items with quantities calculated from drawings as shown below: Figure 2 Preliminary Study and Preliminary Design Cost Estimate format is as given below: Figure 3 Final Design Estimate and Tender Design Estimate is a detailed estimate with work items, quantities and rates, as given below: Figure 4 A sample page of the Tender Analysis is shown below, which compares the rates and amounts quoted by three contractors. It also calculates the minimum, average and maximum rates of all the contractors: Figure 5 The index of the Volume 1 Tender and Contract Conditions is shown below: Figure 6 A sample of the unit rate calculation sheet is shown below: Figure 7 PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF PRE-CONTRACTS QUANTITY SURVEYING The study is fine tuned to Infrastructure projects like Roads and Bridges and using FIDIC contract conditions and CESMM3 method of measurement. The following are important areas to be considered in Pre-Contracts stage. 1) Selection of team depending on the project and client : This is the job of the person in-charge of the QS team to select the particular QSs who shall be able to deliver the required project with accuracy and in time. If the project is more specialised and unique then the key QSs shall have a better engineering background and innovative skills to deal with issues which comes up during the preparation of BOQ and estimate. However some portion of the work shall be similar to routine work, which can be done by other QSs. Thus within the team roles and responsibilities shall be divided as per calibre and capacity of doing the job. The most important aspect is of communication, i.e. each and every person of the team shall be communicated of any changes and share new information received from other departments or client. 2) Collection of historical data from similar kind of projects : The various stages of estimates are Preliminary Study, Preliminary Design, Final Design and Tender Design. The first two stages needs the estimate to be a one page estimate, having most of the items clubbed together to form a single line item like Roadwork, in which the items included are preparation of formation, laying sub-base, road-base, prime coat, asphalt base course, tack coat, asphalt wearing course, road markings, trial trenches, any demolition works, etc. The cost per meter square of roadwork can be calculated by adding the unit rates of all the above items, except for trial trenches and demolition works for which a percentage of around 5% of the unit rates can be applied. The per unit cost of bridges can be worked out by calculating the total cost of a concrete bridge from previous project and then dividing it by the plan area of the bridge giving us the unit rate of bridge per square meter. Thus in the preliminary study and preliminary design stage the major line items ha ve to be identified and their most likely unit rate shall be derived in terms of unit which can be calculated easily from the available drawing. Since the areas of roads and bridges are clear at these two stages, the quantities are defined in area unit. All the rates used in these line items, shall be taken from the recently opened tender and if required apply uplift for inflation on a quarterly basis. 3) Identifying key personals specialised in particular field to co-ordinate during the progress of Bill of Quantities preparation : Depending on the type and nature of the project and the various departments involved like Highway design section, structural design section, traffic study section, steel structure section, landscape section, intelligent transportation section, various service departments, the QS team leader has to co-ordinate with respective section heads. The point of contact person shall be the same throughout the project. Any message or information passed on by sub-ordinates to sub-ordinates of QS section shall be communicated through the responsible section head. Frequent meetings shall be arranged between all the section heads, by the project manager so as to assure proper progress and to nullify any delay by any team being lagging behind which shall effect the project delivery. 4) Incorporating inputs from various departments heads including on-site and off-site : The QS team can refer to the historic data available with their company for usage in the current project. In addition to this, the PCQS also shall co-ordinate with the post-contract QS to get some feedback from the ongoing projects so as to rectify those mistakes committed in previous documents and incorporate in their next submission. This procedure is normally not followed practically as the two sections behave as separate distinct entity. But there shall be a better communication between the pre and post-contract QS and it can be achieved very easily by the head of the QS section with very little effort, enhancing the overall quality of pre-contracts works. 5) Defining and implementing practically a clear quality check procedure before submitting the document to the client : A very important procedure of quality check shall be included in the pre-contracts work, to provide quality documents for the clients. Any document after preparation and before sending it to the client shall undergo quality check by Senior QS or experienced QS in the section. This procedure shall eliminate minor mistakes definitely and also have a check on major items to avoid any blunder in quantity or description of items. It is sure that certainly the quality of the document shall be enhanced even if this procedure is implemented for atleast about 1 to 5 hours, depending on the time available for submission. This procedure of checking can be made effective by making the person sign the document after his checking of the document. This procedure can be followed if the internal audit plan cannot be followed due to time restrictions. However the normal internal audit procedures available with Corporate are good enough for a quality product. 6) Following the various steps according to the stage of the document submittal : Various steps has to be followed according to the stage of the submission, whether preliminary study, preliminary design, final design or tender design. During the preliminary study the pre-contracts QS has to prepare only a one page estimate based on the key layout plan for e.g. Calculate the area of the road and bridges from the plan and then multiply it with the area of the road and bridges from the plan and then multiply it with the derived rates from previous standard projects. And consider percentages for services, landscape works, street lighting works, contingencies, etc. to arrive at the total project cost. In the preliminary design stage the PCQS has to submit a one page cost estimate and a detailed sample BOQ with the quantities as nil. The BOQ items shall be standard items, from previous projects relevant to the current projects. Even the tender and contract conditions is provided same from the previous similar project. In the final design stage, the Volume 1 Tender and Contract Conditions, Volume 3 Bill of Quantities and a detailed cost estimate is submitted. This stage is a more detailed stage and may be entirely different from the preliminary design, based on the changes being incorporated during this stage. The PCQS has to prepare volume 1 incorporating the description of the project, duration of the project, any milestone, any stage handover, the particular conditions of contract, penalties, liquidated damages, conditions for advance payment, performance bond guarantee form, tender bond form and the general conditions of contract. The volumes shall be a detailed BOQ, with no assumed quantities and all the items and quantities shall be derived from the available drawings. In addition to this there shall be a Bill No. 1 for General Items, containing the items for Method Related charges and Time Related charges for the contractor to price, so that he receives the initially invested money early a s mentioned in this Bill. But sometimes contractor uses this Bill to front load these items to get initial profit earlier as he shall put all his profit in the Bill and price less profit in the actual work items. The next submission is the Tender submission which is similar to Final Design submission, with the only difference that any changes in the drawings from Final Design to Tender Design has to be incorporated into the BOQ. Care has to be taken in this document as it shall be provided to the Tenderers for bidding and any mistake at this stage shall be borne by the client and in turn by the Consultant. A real example of a very serious mistake happened by inserting the Quantity as One in the BOQ for costly items, whereas in the drawings there were huge numbers. The contractor being aware of this fact priced high for these particular items and later during the project execution, when the client got aware of this he claimed the excess amount from the consultant as it was a pure mistake of the consultant, by putting the item in the BOQ, but not putting the exact quantity as per drawing. This could have been avoided by having a QC check before floating the document as Tender. The cost estimate known as Engineers Estimate shall be provided on the date of the Tender Opening. In between the Tender submission and the Tender Opening, the consultant can issue a number of Notice to Tenderers to incorporate any changes in drawings or any tender documents. In this process, the PCQS can also rectify his mistakes which were not seen in the Tender Submission. The NTT is of standard form, consisting of serial numbers and the front page summarising the pages to be replaced or added from any of the Tender documents. 7) Team leader to identify anD distribute the work to the responsible personNEL of various departments and within Quantity Surveying department : The team leader of the PCQS has to carefully allocate and distribute responsibility of preparing the Volume 1 and various parts of Volume 3 such as roadwork, bridges, landscape works, services, tunnel works, electromechanical works, etc. accordingly. Also he has to co-ordinate and be aware of instructions and details provided by different section heads for preparation of the BOQ. Any change in any of the service or other section, shall be communicated through the section heads to the team leader and the PCQS doing that part of BOQ. The project manager shall also be aware of all these communications. 8) Quality Management, especially during the end of the submission date, when major design changes occurs : As discussed earlier there shall be a specific quality management plan for the PCQS works for a better quality product to the clients. This can be achieved by conducting a 1 to 5 hour QC check of all the documents prepared before sending it to the client. Criteria of checking each document is to be set out and the document used for quality check shall be stamped and signed duly by the Quality checker QS and the Team leader so as to be responsible for the document. This procedure shall atleast make 90% free of mistakes or blunder in any of the documents. This specially becomes difficult when huge changes in design are done when the submission date is very near and even getting 1 to 2 hours for checking is difficult. But it is suggested to have a quality check even in this tight schedule, when chances of mistakes are more. 9) Preparing a more realistic cost estimate for Tender Opening : After the tender document submission, the cost estimate known as Engineers Estimate is submitted to the client at the tender opening time. Care has to be taken in preparing this estimate for the following reasons, a) there shall not be large variations from the final design estimate, other than the changes in design. b) the estimate shall be reflecting the current market rate, since it is derived from a previously opened tender and hence inflation rate has to be applied. c) The estimate shall be within the range of the offers submitted by the bidders at the tender opening time. d) Justification and hard copy proof shall be kept for those items, for which rates are not available from previous tenders and is derived from basic as there might be major differences when compared with the bidders. Since these proofs might be required to justify these rates at a later stage if the estimate is way out of the range of the lowest bidder. For the fact that certain clients fix the maximum limit of variation of engineers estimate as 15% and if it goes beyond it then the consultant is responsible for that variation. 10) Back-checking by comparing the Engineers Estimate and the realistic tender opened, for future incorporation of any shortcomings : After the opening of all tenders the offers of all the bidders shall be compared with the engineers estimate. This is submitted to the client which is a part of tender analysis report. However the consultant shall also check for items where the engineers rates have large variation from all the bidders and try to avoid this mistake in future estimates, to provide a more realistic estimate to the clients. Normally the bill amount for General Items is considered as a percentage of the cost of work items and ranges from 15% to 30% depending on the class of the contractor and their overheads cost. But sometimes some of the contractors price these bill items less than 10% or even more than 30%, however we have to consider the average percentage from a majority of normal class contractors pricing. 11) CLIENT CAN MAKE THE CONSULTANT RESPONSIBLE BY ASKING TO PROVIDE BACKUPS FOR THE QUANTITIES AND RATES : Another way of achieving quality and accuracy in the BOQ and estimates, is by asking the consultants to provide backup and calculation of each quantity and rate. By checking this client can ensure the reality of the BOQ and the estimates. 12) Including feedback and data provided from ongoing projects by Post Contract Quantity Surveyor to the Pre-Contracts Quantity Surveyor for future contracts in design stage : One of the most important aspects of Quantity Surveying is the co-ordination and exchange of information between the pre-contracts and the post-contracts quantity surveyor. This is not done practically. However this can be done very easily by arranging monthly or bi-weekly meetings among them by their in-charge personnel. This will provide the PCQS the data about the new rates, missing BOQ items, quantity variation, claims due to BOQ, high rates for provisional items, high rates for mis-calculated BOQ quantities, to elaborate BOQ items description, insufficient BOQ description creating ambiguity of the scope of work. The comments and suggestions of the meetings can be used to incorporate in all the future tender documents to get a refined product for the client. This is a way by which the PCQS can assess the application of the documents prepared by them at site and measure the quantum of loss, occurred due to small or negligible mistake done during the pre-contracts period. This woul d also suggest the PCQS to include QC checks relevant to these mistakes in their checklist of quality control. 13) Preparing of BOQ for Remaining Works of a contract after the termination of the Main Contractor, to award the remaining works to a new contractor : This is a very rare case that the main contractor is terminated and the remaining works is awarded to the new contractor. However, if this happens then the PCQS has to be very cautious in preparing the BOQ for the remaining works. The BOQ of the balance works to be prepared by taking the difference between the tender quantity and the actual work done quantity at site. However, care shall be taken to prepare some new items such as manholes and such other works which are partially completed by the main contractor and remaining has to be done by the new contractor. These item quantities shall be accurate if possible to be measured at site and no assumptions shall be made, as if the quantities are less than actual, then the new contractor shall price it more, the excess of which shall be paid by the main contractor, it is not good from an ethic point of view. Any item partially done and unsure of quantity shall not be included in the BOQ. Also to avoid major losses to the main contractor , items of this kind shall not be included in the BOQ, since the new contractor shall price it very high during tender stage, which we cannot control his pricing. However, if these items occur at site and if there is no BOQ item, then a better controlled new rate can be approved by the consultant, minimizing the loss to the main contractor. Items like testing of pipes, duct proving etc. shall not be included in the BOQ as the new contractor shall definitely price it very high than the actual incurred by them. 14) Making the Consultant responsible for cost estimates provided to clients, to avoid huge variation after the opening of the tender : One important stage of the PCQS is to provide the cost estimates to the client. Sometimes the consultant might underestimate the cost of the project to make it look cheaper, so that the client goes ahead with the project and the consultant is free from the responsibility of providing the most economical design for the client. This can be nullified by making the consultant responsible for the cost estimate and impose a fine, if the cost estimate varies more than +15% to -15% of the lowest bidder. Also the fees for the consultant design fees shall be based on the lowest of all bidders including the consultants cost estimate. In this case the client shall also take particular interest and ask justification for the rates being priced for the BOQ items by the consultant. 15) Quantity Surveyors to be fast and accurate in dealing WITH Notice to Tenderers within A short period of time : Notice to Tenderers provides a sort of cover to the mistakes or late design changes for the consultant and the client. Always these are issued within a short span of time in hurry and most probably having a risk of containing mistakes and errors being sent to the tenderers. Since the time is short and a lot of parts such as drawings, specifications or BOQ has to be re-issued there is chances of error. However this shall be avoided by having a rapid and thorough QC check. If it is not possible to do even this check, then the consultant shall request from the client to provide an extension of time, for the tender opening. This would avoid and nullify any future major loss of money or ambiguity during the post-contracts period. Also this is good opportunity for the consultant to rectify any mistakes done by any of their department during the pre-contracts stage in the tender documents. In this notice even the consultant has to send in the answers to the queries raised by the bidders. La ter on during the formation of the contract document, each page and every answer of the query forms an integral part of the contract document in Volume 1 and other Volumes as applicable. Notice to Tenderers, before issuing to the client who in turn issues it to the bidders, shall be authenticated by the responsible heads of department, who is related to the contents of the Notices. The PCQS responsibility is the preparation of Volume 1 and Volume 3 and cost estimates at any stage. After the tender opening, even the preparation of the contract documents has to be done and thoroughly checked by the PCQS. A very systematic procedure shall be followed in preparation of the contract documents. Because, even if in the pre-contracts stage a mistake of the consultant is rectified in the subsequent NTT and that page is not incorporated in the Contract document, then the purpose of NTT is lost and the contract after signing has to be executed with that mistake, giving rise to disputes and claims. Initially the original Tender document has to be taken and then one by one the succeeding Notices shall be applied by the PCQS. He should take responsibility for all the Volumes, because the other department personnel might not remember or not have any documentation to replace the pages as mentioned in the NTT. A important point to be noted is that each and every page issued in each NTT shall become a part of respective Volume. Sometimes or more often there are certain discussions negotiation being held after the Tender opening known as the Post Tender stage. Each correspondence and documents submitted during this post tender stage shall become a part of Volume 1, as it shall be the deciding factor of the contract during a later part of the construction stage. Once the contract document is signed by both parties, ie. The client and the contractor then the contract is formed. At this point of time the responsibility is transferred from Pre-Contracts Quantity Surveyor to Post Contracts Quantity Surveyor. TO LEARN GOOD LESSONS FROM CASE STUDY TO AVOID MISTAKES AND AVOID HUGE LOSSES : Case Study 1 The items for Drainage Manholes were included in the bill, but the quantity take-off from the drawings was not included in the Tender BOQ. The contractor knowing this fact priced it four times high, since the quantity in BOQ was unit and it did not effect the overall tender price. The client became aware of this fact that the actual Manhole quantity is more and the client shall have to pay around 5.48 million dollars (20 million dirhams) more. The client wrote a letter claiming this excess amount from consultant. This mistake happened at the pre-contracts stage, due to non-inclusion of the working of the Drainage bill quantity done by team member into the main BOQ excel file. Conclusion: Teamwork is important and each team member shall ensure that his part of work is included in the main work. Case study 2 Due to lack of time the area of concrete retaining wall was calculated as length multiplied by average height of 3.5m. During the execution of the work, the actual quantity seemed to be three times more than the quantity mentioned in the BOQ. This excess amount was out of the clients budget and he asked a justification from the consultant. This mistake happened since the QS preparing the quantities did not refer the road profile drawings in which, the starting and end point stating the heights of retaining wall were clearly mentioned. Conclusion: To check each and every drawing while calculating quantities, referring to partial drawings shall definitely mislead and create error. Case study 3 Due to non-availability of time between Tender document issuing date and Tender Opening date and also the pressure created from the project manager, major electro-mechanical items were missed from the Tender BOQ. Later on during construction period, lot of variations cropped up and the consultant was responsible for this loss to the client, as the contractor would have priced these with a competitive rate during the tender stage as compared to the present new rate. Conclusion: This mistake happened due to the pressure created by project manager to complete the work in short time. However this could have been avoided by extending the tender period and giving sufficient time to issue a proper well developed NTT. Case study 4 The client asked to submit all the four stage documents of the pre-contracts stages urgently one by one, by

Brain Wave Genereation :: essays research papers

Theory behind BrainWave Generator EEG and the brain's state EEG (Electroencephalography) technology is used to measure brain's electrical vibrations from the surface of the scalp. The resulting EEG pattern will contain frequency elements mainly below 30Hz. The frequencies are categorized into four states as follows: State Frequency range Amplitude State of mind Delta 0.5Hz - 4Hz high (up to 200uV) Deep sleep Theta 4Hz - 8Hz low (5uV - 20uV) Drowsiness (also first stage of sleep) Alpha 8Hz - 14Hz high (up to 200uV) Relaxed but alert Beta 14Hz - 30Hz low (less than 10uV) Highly alert and focused The dominant frequency in the EEG pattern determines what shall be called the current state of the brain. If the amplitude of the alpha range frequencies is highest, then the brain is said to be in the alpha stage. Note, that other frequencies still exist and it is impossible to give any "exact frequency your brain is operating on". However, later references to the brain states use the simplification of assuming that such a single frequency exists. Entraining the brain to a desired state If external stimulus is applied to the brain, it becomes possible to entrain the brain frequency from one stage to another. For example, if a person is in beta stage (highly alert) and a stimulus of 10Hz is applied to his/her brain for some time, the brain frequency is likely to change towards the applied stimulus. The effect will be relaxing to the person. This phenomenon is also called frequency following response. When the brain's state is close to the applied stimulus, entrainment works more efficiently. Thus, when doing a sweep from one frequency to another, the starting frequency should be as close to your current brain state as possible. The sweep speed should be such that your brain's state changes steadily with it, so that the difference never gets very large. In practice, it is difficult to determine your brain state without extra equipment (like EEG devices). However, you can quite safely assume that during the day your brain is in the beta stage (about 20Hz) and you can start the sweep from there. If you are already somewhat relaxed, you can use a start frequency of 15Hz or a few Hz lower. Stimulating the brain with binaural beat frequencies The easiest way of applying stimulus to the brain is via ears. Other senses could be used as well, and vision is actually used quite often (often in addition to hearing).

Reasons to Act Morally Essay -- Ethics Morals Philosophy

Why be moral: A Purpose to Life In our culture, many people are asking the same questions. What makes me better than you? Who says I have to treat you that way? Why does America think it is better than any other country? All of these questions arise from the same question: what are morals? This questions leads to another relevant question: why be moral? What, if anything, makes man (in this paper, I will use the word man in a generic sense meaning the entire human race) a moral creature and thus makes him responsible? However, is there any way we can really know that there are certain inherent laws which govern man, and behind these laws is there a Lawgiver that holds men accountable to these laws? I believe that all these questions can be answered through careful observation and logical thinking. Let us first look at the one thing we know for sure and that is man. We can know this for sure because we are men so we would know how we act. When we associate with others, we do so with some rules of fairness in mind. We treat others in a certain way and expect them to treat us in the same way or we say it is â€Å"unfair† or â€Å"selfish.† We just expect the other person to know that such an act is wrong and that they must play by the same rules that we are. Why do we expect this though? They did not grow up the same way you did. They were not raised by the same parents or even in the same household. So why should one expect them to know the same rules of fairness that you know. If the only basis for your assumption that they should know the rules is because you think the rules are right, then you have no reason to expect them to act that way. However, the other person does indeed know these rule... ...belong to us, we might as well be able to steal because there would be no reason not to. If there was no lawgiver there would be no law, but there obviously is this governing law in men that compels them to do certain things and not do others. If there were not consequences for these actions, anything would basically be moral right. If there was not a being behind the law to enforce it, there would be absolutely no real right or wrong. Everything would be relative, but it is not. There are things that everyone agrees are absolutely good, and absolutely bad. There is no other way around it. The lawgiver has given man a purpose and a reason for life, and it is man’s moral obligation to fulfill that purpose by upholding the law given him. Works Cited / Consulted Lewis C.S. Mere Christianity. New York, New York. Macmillan Publishing Company. 1943. pp 17-39.

How did you spend the Kadayawan Festival?

Kadyawan is a festival celebrated by Dabawenyos each year in the month of August. It is celebrated to thank our creator for the good harvest and blessing. There are lots of events, tourist from around the globe, TV Icons visiting and having Mall Shows, Sale and many marked down prices on almost all items in the Malls, Sporting events namely Motocross, Fun runs, marathons and many more. There is also street dance and float parade where each participants showcase the culture and creativity of Dabawenyos and many spectators enjoy the colourful costumes and designs.I spent the Kadayawan Festival with friends, classmate and family. On the first day of the festival me and my Classmates in English 102 namely Erix, Princess and her friend Jela went to a KTV near People’s Park. We sang, danced, and stuffed ourselves with delicious food and snacks. Even if we don’t hit the right pitch of the song we still had fun laughing at ourselves. We had so much fun starting at 4 o’cl ock in the afternoon up to 8 o’clock in the evening. After the KTV we went separate ways and my friend and I went to Gaisano Mall and had our dinner at Pizza Hut then went home.On the second day, my friend and I went to Crocodile Park and watch the motocross. It was my first time to see it in person and I was so amazed to see the stunts like floating in the mid air. I was also impressed to see kids driving side by side with professional motocross racers. After watching motocross we to a restaurant and had some Pancit for snack then went to Nccc Mall. I bought some toys and books for my son. It was so crowded in the Mall because Enrique Gil was there but I was not able to see even just a glimpse of him.Then me and my friend went to Jade by the sea at Times Beach where we had our dinner and sang again in a KTV room. I went home past 10 o’clock in the evening. On the third day, Sunday, My Family went to church. I thank God for the protection and for all the blessings He h ad given me and for the good health especially during the celebration of the Kadayawan. Even if there are bomb threats and the City is on Red Alert, I would say that God shielded my friends, family, love ones and all who Dabawenyos from any harm. I never stop thanking him for everything.Before, I don’t usually enjoy Kadayawan because I only watched it on TV but this time that I had experienced the fun that I’d missed for all those years. But this time, next year I would make sure that in every celebration I will be there to have fun and see the different presentations of our culture. Three days of enjoying was not enough for me but it was still worth it. I would also like to thank our City Mayor for a well organized Festival and especially for keeping the City safe from terrorist attack. I am so lucky to be born in Davao and I am very proud to be called a Dabawenyo.

Mexican Educational System Essay

The Mexican Constitution, established in 1917, outlined the necessity for public education, creating a definitive forum for addressing the educational needs of the country at the beginning of the century (Althaus 1). Though the Constitution addressed the issue of education, it did not provide a directive for promoting educational systems, and Mexico has had to address the difficult problem of providing an educational system for hundreds of different indigenous languages and cultures (Improving 1). Though the Mexican governments of the last two decades have attempted to address educational reform, there are a number of difficulties that have presented themselves, including a growing school-aged population and the issues of language and culture, which have prevented any major widespread changes to take hold. As for the United States, the American education is hard to single out. The United States does not have a national school system; so a single school draws resources from several di fferent public and private institutions (USIA 1). Mexico’s current educational system is one of free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 and 14 (Saleem). In order to provide for the requirements of this educational system, the Mexican government has had to focus on social infrastructures in rural as well as urban communities in order to support the national programs. Mexico has been definitively more successful in implementing educational reforms in urban settings, especially in constantly increasing low-income urban areas. But over the past two decades, the focus has been on bringing primary schools to even the most isolated villages. Nearly ninety percent of the students in America attend public elementary and secondary schools. All states require young adults to attend school. Although the age limit may vary, most states require attendance until the age of 16, and some states until the age of 18. Every child in America will receive a minimum of eleven years of education regardless of their sex, race , religion, learning problems, physical handicaps, ability to speak English, citizenship, or status of immigrant (USIA 1-2). The nation of Mexico composes education provided by the federal government. The government spends approximately 25.3 percent of its budget on education. Education is divided into four different levels; the first two sections are mandatory which includes primary school that holds grades one to six, and secondary school that are grades seven to nine (Educational 1). School attendance through sixth grade was obligatory until 1993, now children are required by law to complete the entire nine years of education. In larger cities students must past an entrance exam before advancing to the next grade (Althaus 2). Then a student can go to either college prep school for three more years or to a vocational school which he or she can learn a skill or trade. Then finally comes the university level, this section is qualified for students that have graduated from either a preparatory or vocational school. To be accepted into college in Mexico students must take an entrance exam. State colleges and universities charge Mexican citizens an ostensible tuition, although some charge more. Private colleges are not superior to the public schools but are more expensive (Educational 1). In the past two decades Mexico’s educational system has made major strides to improve their average of schooling years. â€Å"In 1970, a child received an average of four years of schooling. By 1990, the average was six to seven years† (Althaus 1). â€Å"‘In 1960, 5 million schoolchildren enrolled in Mexico’s public school system’, says educator Guevara. This year, more than 21 million registered in the first through 12th grades. More than 14.5 million children go to primary school, and another .5 million attend junior high† (Althaus 2). In 1989 President George Bush and the governors of all 50 states gave the movement to reform American education a new impetus when they set six goals to be achieved by the year 2000: That all children will start school ready to learn; that 90 percent of all high school students will graduate; that all students will achieve competence in core subjects at certain key points in their progress; that American students will be first in the world in math and science achievement; that every American adult will be literate and have the skills to function as a citizen and a worker; That all schools will be free of drugs and violence and offer a disciplined environment that is  conducive to learning. (USIA 3) The normality’s of education as well as the planning, programming, and selecting  the content were the responsibility of the Mexican government. The intention and educational decisions made by this central organ were standardized for all the children and were to be equally applied throughout the entire nation. For many years Mexican education was prearranged, synchronized, directed, and supervised by a central educational agency located in Mexico City (Erdmann 136). The management and control of the public as well as private educational sectors did not allow for any individual accommodations; therefore, children who differed from the majority in any way were not offered opportunities in general education settings. Teaching principles and materials were used regardless of the location, population, ethnic and cultural values, and regional particularities. Private schools were allowed to teach another language, only after the principles and mandates imposed by the board of education (Erdmann 136). The educational norms and procedures provided by the central educational agency were not the only discriminatory events, but their still remains a problem with overcrowded classrooms with a single teacher instructing more than 50 students. In the last few years, the Mexican Ministry of Public Education has openly recognized the following four educational problems as priorities: The greater demand for education in relation to nationwide availability; the uneven quality of education among different regions in the country; the number of children who fail to learn appropriately and who, as a result, are retained in the same grade at then end of each school year; the number of children who drop out of school before finishing their elementary-school education. (Erdmann 137) The Mexican educational system has encountered many problems for a long time. These unresolved issues prevail in spite of the enactment of the general  education law and present a challenge to the successful implementation of the new law. Currently the educational decentralization law gave way for Mexican states to have the power to control their on educational plans, programs, and select their on contents according to their students needs. In addition, American schools have encountered problems. â€Å"The schools must cope with an influx of immigrant children, many of whom speak little or no English. The schools must make sure that students develop basic skills for the job market, and they must consider the needs of nontraditional students, such as teen-age mothers† (USIA 4). In conclusion, Education is a dynamic field in both the United States and in Mexico (Erdmann 135). The United States has mandated inclusive education since 1975, and 18 years later Mexico took the same position with the new education law of 1993. â€Å"For Mexico, a country that has gone through three profound economic crises in the last twenty years and has experiences a substantial increase in its population, the challenge to provide appropriate education for all of its children has become and enormous task† (Erdmann 144). Works Cited Althaus, Dudley. 1995. Twilight’s Children. Houston Chroncicle: 1-3. The Educational System. http://www.isep.org/handbooks/mexico/mexico.htm.: 1-2. Improving Rural Primary Education: the Mexican Experience. http://www.idrc.ca/nayudamma/CEEmx_84e.htm: 1-2. Reich-Erdmann, Georgina. 1998. Educational Opportunities For Children With Disabilities. Ebscohost: 135-46. Saleem. El-Hajj Malik. http://www/csudh.edu/global_options/375Students Sp96/Mexico/EducSys.htm. USIA: Portrait of the USA, ch.6. http://www.usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/ch6.htm.: 1-5.

Psalm 23

Ann Lim Essay #5 In Class Poetry/Song Analysis Psalm 23 is a well known and often recited, memorized and studied passage of the Bible. It is probably one of the most cherished and treasured Psalms of Christian Religion. Even those who once attended the Church at the young age can recognize and recall Sunday School lesson of â€Å"The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. † The book of Psalm consists of total of 150 poems. It is divided into 5 books: Book I (Ps. 1-41), Book II (Ps. 42-72), Book III (Ps. 73-89), Book IV (Ps. 90-106) and Book V (Ps. 107-150).The book of Psalms is written by numerous authors including King David and Psalm 23 is written by this King who reigned and ruled the Israelites with justice, and righteousness. His name is mentioned the most in the Bible and he is the most beloved King by the Israelite Nation. This particular Psalm was probably written in David’s later life as King. In studying 1 and 2 Samuel, David was the youngest son of Jesse of Bet hlehem. Though King Saul was already reigning as the King of Israel, by the command of God, the prophet Samuel anointed David as King of Israel instead because of King Saul’s disobedience and pride.However, before David was officially recognized and put on the throne, he suffered persecution and hardship from King Saul who wanted him to be dead. Because King David has relied on the Lord his God to bring him to the place of Kingship at God’s timing, he was humble and trusting in God. According to the Bible, because he was such a character, God himself has called him a man after God’s own heart. Before he was a King, he was a shepherd himself who protected and tended his father’s sheep. The Bible also notes that he was a skillful musician.Psalm 23 has been given the title, â€Å"A psalm of David. † In this psalm, David claims himself to be a shepherd who is led by God, his shepherd. The shepherd guides, protects and comforts the sheep. Good things ar e prepared in the presence of his enemies. And because this is the kind of shepherd God is, the sheep or himself shall not want anything else. And in all of his life, goodness and love will follow him and he will dwell in the house of God. King David is addressing to himself and meditating on his God, the good shepherd.He confesses about the shepherd, his Lord who leads him, who refreshes his soul, who guides him and protects him. He then switches to addressing God directly, â€Å"You prepare a table before me/†¦You anoint my head† (Ps 23:5). When the reader reads, they are able to make the same profession of trust in God and who God is, then able to speak to God, like David himself. They are able to pray and confess the same faith and assurance. Psalm 23 is a prayer of David and his conversation with the Lord, his shepherd. Many pastors and evangelist has preached of Psalm 23.Without the help of religious experts, anyone can understand and comprehend this Psalm. This sh epherd, or David’s Lord is a good shepherd, or a leader who tends the sheep with love, care, gentleness and goodness therefore I, the shepherd lacks nothing and will dwell in the shepherds house forever. â€Å"The LORD is my shepherd† (Ps. 23:1) personifies God as a shepherd. The first stanza indicates â€Å"I† the speaker as the sheep. Humans do not â€Å"lie down in green pastures,† or needs to be led â€Å"by quiet waters† nor do they need â€Å"rod and staff† to be comforted (Ps. 3:2, 4). These actions signify the speaker as the sheep and God as the shepherd. The sheep is known to be blind, needing constant attention. They do not know how to protect themselves nor do they know how to rest because they are the most anxious and paranoid animals. The shepherd in the days of David guarded the sheep with their lives. Not only does the shepherd needs to be with the sheep at all times, shepherd often had to protect them from wild animals such a s lions, or bears even if it coasted his life. This is why they carried both the rod and staff.The rod was used for protection and staff was used for leading the sheep. By personifying humans as the sheep who is blind, always needing guidance and attention shows how helpless and needy humans are. This signifies the relationship between the men and God and their need for each other. King David shows in Psalm 23 how much himself and the children of God are in need of the Lord, the good shepherd. He is the kind of shepherd who provides, who protects, who guides from â€Å"green pastures† to the â€Å"house of God† (Ps. 3:3, 6). Those who practice Christian faith are once again reminded of God’s grace when reading this passage. They are assured once again of the Lord’s goodness and love and his good way of leading, protecting and providing for them. Psalm 23 truly reflects on the Christianity because it shows the Lord as the leader and the people as follower, like sheep and shepherd relationship revealed in this Psalm. And it is God who leads his people into His presence, or the house of the Lord.

How accurate is it to say that the causes of the demonstrations outside the Holy Cross Primary School in August 2001 date back to 1968?

On September 3rd 2001 the students of Holy Cross Primary School were due to return back to school for the new term, however this was made difficult due to the Protestant protesters who had gathered outside of the school and the surrounding area to show their objection to the Catholic children and their parents walking down what was regarded to be a Protestant street on their way to school. These riots made it extremely difficult for the young Catholic girls to get to and from school every morning and afternoon; their parents faced a choice, to either take their children through the barricades hastily erected by the police and army, therefore showing the Protestants that they would not back down, or to take their children to school via the back entrance, which avoided the riots, but meant that the children and their parents had to walk a much longer, and more difficult route. The Catholic parents also felt that this meant that the Protestants were getting their way, and so many of the parents chose to take their children through the police barricades, even though this meant subjecting the young girls to the violence and abuse that the Protestant rioters hurled at them. These riots were not unprovoked. Tension had been growing in the surrounding area for some time and the events outside of Holy Cross were a result of the growing hostility that was felt between the two sides. Both the Protestants and the Catholics felt threatened by each other, and neither wanted to show any weakness. There were a number of short term causes for what happened outside of Holy Cross. The first of these was the fact that there were the two separate religious communities, the Protestants and the Catholics, living in such close proximity to each other, both communities felt threatened by each other, believing that the other community was taking liberties and trying to drive their community out of the area. Another of these short term causes was the fact that there was a very high rate of unemployment in the area, this meant that there were a lot of unemployed adult men with nothing to do all day, therefore they had too much time on their hands to object to everything that the other community did, and also many of them would purposefully try and antagonise the other side so that they could release some of their pent up energy and anger. One of the main short term causes however was the way in which the younger generations of both faiths were being brought up. Both Protestant and Catholic communities kept their children separated from children of the other religion, both by sending them to single faith schools such as Holy Cross, where only Catholic children attended, and by living in small communities of predominantly one religion families. Therefore these children did not get to know each other or become friends and so there was nothing stopping them from taking on their parents prejudices and political beliefs. However, as I mentioned earlier the events outside of Holy Cross were not only caused by short term causes, but long term causes as well. In 1171 the king of England Henry II visited Ireland and decided to name himself the ‘Lord of Ireland', this change made very little difference to the ruling of Ireland, and by 1500 English kings had little or no power over any of Ireland except a small area surrounding Dublin known at The Pale. This all changed in the 16th century when the English rulers started to take more of an interest in Ireland. As Ireland was still inhabited mainly by Catholics the English monarchs feared that it could be used as a useful base for invasion from surrounding Catholic countries such as France and Spain because by 1560 England was an entirely Protestant country and this was disliked by Catholic European countries. To take more control of Ireland Henry VIII of England changed his title from ‘Lord of Ireland' to ‘King of Ireland' and told Irish nobles they were to be his subjects. The Irish did not take this well, and in Elizabeth I's rule the provinces of Ulster and Munster rebelled. Elizabeth sent in her army to deal with the rebellion. In the 17th century the English Monarchy realised that the best way to gain control over Ireland was not by force, but by land. The main source of power in Ireland was held by Irish landowners. The English monarchy set about taking land from the rich Catholic nobles in Ireland and giving their land to English Protestants, these were known as plantations, and the aim of them was to take control over Ireland by giving the land to people who were loyal to the king. The main plantations were in Ulster which is now where the main conflict between Catholics and Protestants takes place. This created both economic and social reasons for what would later become the troubles in Northern Ireland and so for what happened outside Holy Cross Primary School. The economic reason was that taking a great deal of land off of people left them homeless, without a means of income and also introduced a lot more people into the communities and so therefore the communities had to deal with more people to support. The social reason was that taking the land off of the Catholics and giving it to the Protestants caused a great deal of resentment towards the Protestants. However, even though the Protestants now held a large proportion of the land in Ireland they did not have complete control, and when Catholic king James II became king of England in 1685. King James II lost his throne in 1688 but soon returned to Ireland with French troops intending to invade England. He was not successful and Protestant King William of Orange defeated James in the battle of the Boyne on the 1st of July 1690. This is a social reason for the prolonged fighting in Northern Ireland because the Protestants still celebrate their victory at the Battle of the Boyne by organising Orange Marches, these only increase the tension between the two communities and often end in violence. The Protestant victory now meant that they had complete control over Ireland and the Catholics, and they intended to keep this control, the Irish parliament introduced penal laws, which were in place to keep the Catholics out of power. These laws stated that Catholics could not own large amounts of land, be properly educated, become a member of parliament or own weapons. This therefore made it extremely hard, if not impossible for a Catholic to gain any power whatsoever. I think that this is both a religious and a political reason for the troubles in Northern Ireland because the Catholics were being discriminated against simply because of their religion and they were not able to gain any political power to help themselves to gain equal rights. Towards the end of the 18th century many of the Catholics in Ireland decided that it was time to do something about the British rule over Ireland. They called themselves Nationalists because they wanted Ireland to become a separate nation from Britain. They fight between the Catholic nationalists and the Protestant unionists, who want to keep Ireland part of Britain, is the fight which still continues today in Northern Ireland and cause the events outside of Holy Cross Primary School. During the 18th and 19th centuries the Catholic nationalist attempted 3 revolutions, all of which failed. Ireland was still controlled by Protestants. In 1905 a nationalist political party was set up by Catholics, it was named Sinn Fein. With the start of nationalists having a voice in parliament changes slowly started to come around. The political nationalist were not demanding that Ireland became a separate state from Britain, only that it had its own government which would be fair to both Protestants and Catholics. In 1918 the Irish people, both Protestant and Catholic voted on the future of Ireland, the outcome was that Ireland would have Home rule but stay part of the British empire. However, this did not please the predominantly Protestant province of Ulster where the majority of inhabitants were unionists and wanted Ireland to be entirely ruled by Britain. In 1921 a partition treaty was signed, this excluded Ulster the home rule, meaning that it was still ruled by Britain. However, this created a social problem in Northern Ireland because although Northern Ireland was mainly inhabited by Protestant thousands of Catholics were now left stranded in a country where they were the minority and very unfairly treated and most were unable to move. The Stormont Parliament was set up, this was intended to look after both Catholics and Protestants but was not successful in this because it was entirely controlled by Protestants, who did not want to give equal rights to Catholics in fear of the Catholics taking control. This meant that they gave Catholics poor council housing, few jobs and unfair treatment towards all Catholics, causing political, economic, and social problems. These past events show how the rivalry between the Catholics and the Protestants developed and grew. These events were long term reasons for what happened outside of Holy Cross Primary School because if it were not for the tension between the two religions and the segregation of Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland the short term events, such as what happened in 1968, would not have happened. In 1968 Catholics in Northern Ireland started peaceful marches to try and gain themselves equal rights. These peaceful marches only ever ended in violence, because the Protestants felt very threatened by the Catholics trying to regain equality. The Protestants did not want to give Catholics equal rights because they did not want to relinquish their control over Northern Ireland. The fighting which was started by the 1968 Catholic demonstrations continued for many years, calling a halt to any prospect of peace talks between the two religious groups. The fighting caused the resignation of the Protestant Prime minister Terence O'Neill, who had been so keen to install peace and equality into Northern Ireland. By August 1969 the British army had been sent in to try and control the fighting. This was intended to be a temporary measure, but the army have never left, and are still there today. At last the British Government managed to get unionist leaders of Northern Ireland to make changes in their policies to attempt to make things fairer to the Catholic communities in Northern Ireland. The things that were changed were: Elections, elections at the time were extremely biased in the Protestants favour as gerrymandering took place very often. Housing, The council housing had been unfairly given out by local Protestant councils and this was an attempt to give Catholics decent housing. Unemployment, the government promised to reduce the levels of unemployment in Northern Ireland, these promises were never fulfilled. Police, the police force in Northern Ireland was an entirely Protestant armed force, which naturally was biased against the Catholics. By 1970 Northern Ireland was in crisis, The British government had decided to suspend the Stormont government and take direct rule, meaning that Northern Ireland affairs were controlled directly from Westminster. This had little effect however as paramilitary groups started to take hold over the country. A new strand of the IRA had emerged calling themselves the provisional IRA, they took control of many of the Catholic areas. They were determined to rid Northern Ireland of British control, and would do so by force. However the Protestant paramilitary units, the Ulster Freedom Fighters, Ulster Defence Army and the Ulster Volunteers Force were equally as determined to keep Northern Ireland linked directly to Britain. Northern Ireland was in chaos, the fighting between Catholics and Protestants continued. I believe that this fighting is directly linked to the riots outside Holy Cross in 2001, such recent fighting meant that both sides were still angry and threatened by one another. The long term causes of the events outside Holy Cross demonstrate how the two religious sides became rivals, the introducing of Protestant plantations and the Protestants slowly gaining control over Ireland and the Catholics are what fuelled the fighting between the two communities for hundreds of years. However, I do not believe that the fighting in Northern Ireland, and in particular the rioting that occurred outside Holy Cross Primary School in 2001 was entirely about religious beliefs, I feel that the fighting was caused by the political situation in Northern Ireland, the fact that the minority Catholic group want more control over what happens in Northern Ireland and that the Protestants do not want to give up their level of control, which is why they did not want to let the Catholic families walk freely down their streets to get to Holy Cross Primary School. I think that the riots outside of Holy Cross where not entirely just about children walking down a street inhabited by a different religious community to get to school but about the fear the two communities have installed in each other during the short term causes such as the fighting. Both sides are scared that they will be driven out by the other. In conclusion I think that it is not accurate to say that the causes of the demonstrations outside the Holy Cross Primary School in August 2001 date back to 1968 because the causes of the conflict in Northern Ireland dates back many centuries. I believe that It would be correct to say that the troubles from 1968 onwards are a major factor in causing the demonstrations outside Holy Cross Primary School in August 2001 but that the actual cause dates back a lot further than 1968.